Leaderboard

I converted a Clevo RTX 3060 to be a 3080Ti: I can't post links because 3dmark blocks viewing scores from unrecognized hardware combinations: The score is a little bit disappointing. A shunt modded 3080 can beat this (just barely though). I did a 50% shuntmod, but this is giving me OCP throttling and I need to lock the core to 0.84V to avoid it, which is only around 180W. Doing a weaker 10% shuntmod should yield a better result to avoid needing to lock the core voltage. I'm also having vRAM overclocking issues. The vRAM can only run up to 16.3GHz before the system hard freezes like an NES. With the same vRAM chips the 3060 core could run 17.7GHz. This requires further investigation. I currently have the card set to be 8GB. I can run more benchmarks if there is something someone is curious in seeing.

Got a text to get to MC. I grabbed the very last one.

FedEx showed up, but no 5090’s on the truck. Looked like an unmarked delivery van. Dang…Not looking good. EDIT: FedEx truck came back!!!

I think now is the time to show off this RTX 3080. Who would have thought that this 12 year old M18xR2 would stretch its wings so far. I may try RTX 4090 in the future but its pricey. CPU score will be low because it's an old 4-core. I didn't bother going over 4.5Ghz since the 3080 is a 115w TDP model so won't help it much. I think @Mr. Fox @Papusan @Raidriarwould get a kick out of this. Perfect example of how MXM would have continued fine. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (notebook) video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme Edition,Alienware M18xR2 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (notebook) video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3920XM Processor Extreme Edition,Alienware M18xR2

Hey Bros. Tomorrow morning I have my first brachytherapy procedure, with the second scheduled for 2/27. So, having me in your thoughts and prayers would be cherished.

I'd like to officially welcome @Mr. Fox and @Talon to not only Team Red, but also more important the even rarer Team Purple for those of us who own, test, compare and enjoy both AMD and Intel at the same time. We meet every Wednesday at the local Dennys. 🤣 (You also have a bit more insight as to why my RGB color scheme is routinely purple FYI)

Same... beast mode in red and blue now, at least for the time being. Will see where Intel takes us. https://hwbot.org/submission/5686765_ Well... enough of the AIO. I installed the Heatkiller IV Pro block with some cooling line extensions (temporary) on QD3 fittings to connect to the same cooling system as the Apex. That way I do not need the entire system dedicated to one machine. Will do something more permanent later. This is still for testing. I must have overtightened the block because this was intially unstable until I backed off all four thumb nuts about 1 turn each. I also pulled the stock heating blankets off the RAM and dropped the memory temps about 10°C with them naked. My memory jackets for water cooling the RAM are on order, but are coming from China and make take a week or two. I already had the Bykski 4-DIMM block for the top from my DDR4 days.

Hey guys. If you haven't seen this benchmark tool, check it out. I saw it on a Buildzoid video. https://github.com/clamchowder/MicrobenchmarksGui/releases/tag/v0.000006 It can be used to benchmark system RAM bandwidth and latency, and GPU VRAM when copying from CPU to GPU and GPU to CPU memory.

The 9950X3D with the improved cache die layering and 3d vcache on both CCDs could be the most interesting high end enthusiast chip for a while.

5090FE is fine man. If I didn't like it, I would not keep it that's for sure lol! I had a 4090 Gaming OC and @johnksss that thing was cheap as hell, flimsy, light weight, and loud as hell with bad coil whine, but not this card, this card feels nice and premium and heavy etc. So, it's okay for $1,999.99 (People do try to convince me that my own GPU sucks though, they do not like it, that I like it I guess 🤣) Last I checked, Astral+Block = $4,000, too much for me to afford. But at least they perform TOP NOTCH once you water block it, flash it, and solder it.. Yes, the FE's have weak coolers; I cannot hold that against it. It's going on water/shunt anyways. I mean, your Astral is probably faster than an RTX Pro 6000, but that doesn't mean it's better than one. FE's have weak coolers but not weak cores. Definitely an acceptable GPU for the price tag and performance. Card scores perfectly acceptable for a stock cooler, hot, non-shunted 5090 FE. Plenty of other 5090's that cannot hit these numbers out there, and this is the hottest one you can buy. 🥵 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 video card benchmark result - Intel Xeon W-3175X Processor,ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. ROG DOMINUS EXTREME

I don't have WoW, but here's this. CP2077 4K w/ RT and PT SOTR 4K w/ Highest Graphics settings Looks like I need to do something about the memory temperatures. The memory chips must need thicker pads. The core max is 61°C but the memory junction is 90°C. But, it runs 3350+ on core with no issues. (I have not tried higher than that.)

That’s fantastic. Nice graphics cards!!! Since I gave away my sons 3060, we juiced his system up with a RTX 3090 Founders Edition! It blows his hair back now in 1440P now lol. He is 12, and this is his first “Real Man’s” graphic card. 😂 Sons Rig: 12900KS/Z790 LGA1700/ DDR5 6400c32/ RTX 3090 FE/ EVGA 1300P+

Opened the box. The 4 small foams in each corners saved the inner box. And as you should know... Asus offer cheapo glossy thin cardboard boxes. There is no class with Asus. They go cheap where they can. Even for their flagship products. The box that come with the HOF is 100 times better. It's just a box... But I'm an collector and prefer to take good care of all my products and in an nice box. Cheap or expensive doesn't matter. A good quality box should be minimum to ask for when you pay this amount money for flagship cards... And for the records... I would be equal happy with a 10 years card. But what I don't like... Pay xx80 prices for xx60 tier cards. Hence you'll never see me buy brand new cards from mid tier class. The 5090 Astral looks like a small xx70 class card vs the monstrous creature 4090 HOF. Hmmm. Nope. It increased the value. Crocs ain't cheap here home😁 And it's time jou buy a pair. And in black😎 What reduce the value of an Asus Astral 5090.... Huang's autograph on the card. Hmmm. Loads of 5070's in the retail here. Every single of them is massively overpriced. The so called market don't work. Gigabyte 5070 at $871.65 without tax. Or better say close to 59% above the MSRP. It seems https://www.proshop.no/Grafikkort/GIGABYTE-GeForce-RTX-5070-AORUS-Master-12GB-GDDR7-RAM-Grafikkort/3331090 Nvidia need to ship 10 times as many cards if the prices shall come back to more normal levels... And not only 5070's. Is this Nvidia's answer on AMD's coming xx60 class cards? And will gamers buy 8GB xx60 cards in 2025? The GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 have reportedly been delayed until mid-April and May.

Grabbed the ASUS GeForce RTX 5090 ROG Astral LC OC - $2,966.35 USD today. 1 out of 3 card was available for the whole scandinavian market (4 countries). Next delivery of 5090 cards from the retail shops... Unknown. Loads of 5070's is ofloaded today here home. And a few 5070Ti and 5080. I see there is still 3 out of 10 pc of Asus 5080 Astral OC available for purchase here home now 6.5 hour after the slip. $1660 USD. I think Asus have reached the limits what they can sell their 5080 flagship for right now. I doub't they increase the prices in the pace they have done. And no other brands 5080 is listed yet you can buy Asus 5080 cards. That speak loudly about the price point Asus want. As a side note... Gigabyte want $1730 for their best 5080. Not sure what's up with Gigabyte this gen cards. The cards should be delivered to Papusan's plaza within the next 5-7 days. And exactly the card I tried to buy.

I GOT IT!!!! RTX 5090FE on the way! Man, the support of this community and trust of this forum and also overclock.net is pure astounding. I was able to get the funds together and secure my order for a 5090FE at $1,999. Paying more than $1,999 is too much for me. This is very reasonable. Looking back now, I originally had a budget of $2,800 range. Anyways, I think Nvidia saw how much I was hating on them, and they sent the email to see if I’d still bend over for them 😂 (I did of course)

Now without pigtailed connectors lol. Grabbed the corsair type 4 premium single end cables.

My $600 equivalent (when you account for VAT) 9070 XT arrived EDIT: PCI-E Gen 5 on a riser no issue. Stock https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/127667606 100mv undervolt stock clocks https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/127668715

I managed to get a close to MSRP 9070xt reaper from powercolor that fits in my case. It will arrive tomorrow 😊

I received my 4090 laptop in the mail today. This was purchased with funds intended for an RTX 5090. However, since the RTX 5090 does not actually exist, (I’m not really near any local stores to really buy one) so I just gave up with trying to buy one online, and moved on with life. With my job, I’m finding my self having to stay at my desk 7a-7p. It’s paying well. But getting promoted to an operations manager requires me to play at a level of pure beast mode/be the best mode/no excuses allowed. 😂 So, I really needed a laptop for constant monitoring and check-in’s etc. First impressions: incredible panel! 😱 .. It’s just like OLED, maybe even better sometimes since it’s 1,000 nits bright and all.. No back light bleeding anywhere, I don’t even see any glowing at all. It’s 250Hz/ 16:10 aspect ratio, and 2560x1600/ Mini LED. So it’s really beautiful! You can run the brightness on 5% and it looks perfectly normal brightness like a regular monitor lol. CPU: 14900HX, feels very fast just using the machine. With fans silent it’s idling about 55-60c while downloading a game on Steam. With fans at 100% it’s not too bad. It’s LOUD! But the pitch and tone of the noise doesn’t make it annoying at all. It’s just noisy. But not annoying. GPU: Haven’t really gotten an opportunity to really use it just yet. But I’m expecting good things. It’s a 175w 4090 Mobile. Performance: So, I’m not expecting 4090 desktop power here obviously. But, it has DLSS3, and Frame Gen, and it’s 2560x1600! If my old 3090 Kingpin had frame Gen, I’d have never sold it! These are amazing features to have. Since Nvidia and AIB’s a like just recently killed the affordable gaming market for average people like me all together, buying a 4090 laptop seemed like the only way to go. Since even a RTX 5090 laptop MSI Raider will set you back an eye watering $5,000+ after taxes. Value: It’s a $2,000 dollar laptop. So, I think it’s going to offer a great value for what you get. A whole computer capable of decent gaming performance that is portable. Overall: This is a BIG laptop being 18 inches. I’ve never owned an 18” laptop before. The screen doesn’t feel like I’m squinting or leaning forward to find things like my last 15” laptop. And the 16:10 offers a little more desktop space to get things done. I really like the machine.

Hey fellas, this is a less ideal post that will go down in my catalog, but i think it ought to be discussed. Some touchier topics will be discussed, so if you would rather not peer into my personal life, I completely get it. I will edit this with a spoiler here at some point, but I cannot figure out how to add one on mobile. My appologies. Last night, on Febuary 6th, 2025, I was leaving a laboratory at my university. There's a sketchy road I must always cross by foot to get to my apartment, and while I thought I could make it, the impatience of man taught me a valuable lesson at a terrible time; Man does NOT win against automobile. The speed limit was 35mph on that road, and the driver did not see me. Luckily, he had an old, intelligently engineered car (a late 90s - early 2000s Chevrolet Cavalier I believe), so I ended up rolling over and on top of the car. I was blessed with some wonderful bystanders, and with the remorse of the driver. I was carried away on an ambulance and to a hospital that is essentially on the campus of my university. I remember it all clearly, and I've been given every drug known to man it seems. The medical staff here and every gear in this machine has done phenomenal work, and I appreciate every person who has helped me along the way. Luckily, my head and spine are fine, and the only thing that needs repairs is my right leg, where my tibia shattered into multiple pieces. I'm only 18, and I will have to live with a titanium rod in my right leg for the rest of my life... I'm not inherently a funny individual as I tend to be serious and practical, but during this whole situation, I have tried my absolute hardest to keep my family and friends from stressing all too much. There were times last night and today where I had managed to knock all of the air out of someone's stomach, and successfully bringing light to such a dark situation. It's a really strange time, and my outlook hasn't changed much. I must keep rolling with the punches and focus on the good instead of the bad. I type this from a hospital bed, expecting a somewhat speedy, but life changing recovery. I don't write this out for any of you to pity me. As a matter of fact, the best thing you all can do is read this as a lesson, and NOT worry about me. I know I'll be fine, so you all spend your energy doing what you guys do best, I hate to be an obstacle in everyone's seemingly jam-packed lives. However, I want this to be a message to you all to keep pushing to be the best person you can. This might sound a bit grim and edgy, but that is not my intent. I also realize it may sound like I am struggling with life, but I want you all to know that, even in my worst times, I have never had a desire to give up. I'm still learning and growing, but right now, I am a man who fears death in its entirety, and want nothing to do with it. As bad as things seem to get, there is always a future, and while it may be impossible to see the light at the end of the tunnel, light will always welcome you. It's up to you to have faith in the light, even though you may never see it. Take care of yourselves fellas and keep working to do your magic! Without you all, my life would be so different that I couldn't even fathom explaining it. You guys have enlightened me to some of my greatest passions, and I cannot thank you all enough! I'm usually one to stay anonymous, but I think now is an appropriate time to quit. I might still be naive, who knows, but you guys are either good people, or really good at convincing me the you're not ill-intented. I guess I'll never know!

Always measure results, not marketing information. I am interested if the consistency (viscosity) is better and anticipate the cooling will be what it always is for liquid metal. Darn it, you caught me. I need to update the logo.

I have not seen this liquid metal before. Looks very interesting--especially the higher viscosity part--so I ordered some to try the next time I need to take something apart. It seems like over the years that liquid metal formulas have changed and have a lower viscosity than they used to, and I think that makes it more likely to drip or run. (The original Liquid Ultra was much thicker than Conductonaut, then they changed it and made it extra watery.) It looks like they use more indium and silver in their formula. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CJ9QGDFV They have some other products on their web site.

Didn't come out as nice as I had envisioned (hard tubing was hard to bend LOL) but still was a fun build: Just a test at 4.6Ghz:

The latency killer feature MSI added to the UEFI seems worthless to me. It seems to only offer value if a person is using an XMP/EXPO profile, which seldom ever produces impressive memory performance. This EXPO Trident Neo definitely works better (for some reason) than the equivalent XMP kit. Maybe the IC bin quality is better, or maybe the SPD firmware is different or AMD-specific JEDEC. But, I am not using the EXPO profile, only manual settings. This would be so much easier and better with a 2-DIMM motherboard. It's so sad the only great option for that on AMD is getting screwed over paying new retail price for a used X670 Gene motherboard that might have something wrong with it. I finally received the RAM jackets from China, so I will be pulling off the trash stock G.SKILL heatsinks heating blankets and getting this RAM under water like my Intel systems. The memory temperatures with the trash G.SKILL covers are just so lousy (actually cooler even naked, but ugly to look at). I received the parts ordered from Thermal Grizzly, so maybe tonight or tomorrow I will decapitate the 9950X, test the TG heatspreader, then remove that and install the Mycro. I ordered a heatspreader to compare the thermal difference between that and bare die. Just for curiosity, in case I am ever asked I will know the answer.

(While visions of 5090's and Taichi x870e equipped 9950X3Ds float through my head)

Ah what a roller-coaster it's been. Bought Z790 + 14900K to replace 10980XE + X299 Returned 14900K and bought 12700K as stop-gap for Z890. Bought Core Ultra 9 285K on release with no MB. Returned the Core Ultra 9 285K, sold Z790+12700K system. Bought Xeon W7-3465X + W790 ASUS SAGE MB and the money has been draininngggggggggg But so happy I'm back in HEDT land...lol Just a teaser, I'm probably gonna need liquid cooling instead of my Noctua cooler. This is exactly what I am experiencing. Especially with the Optane P5800X drive. Everything feels so smooth.

Does this mean I am on a special team, RGB (AMD, Nvidia and Intel for CPUs/GPUs)? 🤣😂 EDIT: With @Mr. Fox and @Talon currently visiting team Red, my question is when will @Papusan take the plunge? These are some strange times, next thing I know @ryan would be joining the desktop crew as well.

It seems the Team at UserBenchmark once again try help Pat an Intel with the sales😆 UserBenchmark suggests you buy the i5-13600K over the Ryzen 7 9800X3D — says AMD drives sales with 'aggressive marketing' rather than 'real-world performance'

what goes through my head when i read Zen6 in late 2026/27: AM5 promise by AMD goes until "2027+", so best to push Zen6 right up until that point to avoid having to include ANOTHER gen on AM5 😛 keeping their promise but doing everything they can to offer less by it....

Have to fully agree on power draw. Been testing this 9800X3D with PBO +200 and -15 C0 and in BF2042 and 1080p low for max fps, it's pulling 135-140w package with temps hitting 75-85c. That is a heater compared to my 24 core 285K chip that pulls the same power, nearly exact same power, and runs around 50-60c. The memes about Intel temps in this care are completely fabricated as I expected. Power does not equal core temps, it equals room temps. But unfortunately these tech dummies push this narrative that your chip is melting and will fry itself. The only chip near melting is my new 9800X3D lol. I'll have to see what I can do to improve the temps. On a side note, apparently there is now confirmation were getting Zen 6 on AM5 in late 2026 or early 2027. So that is awesome. I'm wondering if we won't get a Zen 5 refresh before that, that would be wild. Maybe improve the IMC. So far, I am glad I built the AM5 rig, I like the ability to test both brands and the chip is an absolute monster for punching out FPS in many games. Now I'm wondering do I swap it into my main rig? The idea of 8 cores as a daily driver makes me want repulsed lol. 2018 called, they want their 9900K back.

I know a lot of people think brother @Papusan and @Mr. Fox are bat-poop crazy for hating on Winduhz 11 so hard, especially newer versions, (also including the newer Windoze 10 cancer,) but we actually do our homework. If performance was better we would actually be using it as our preferred OS. The ugly part is subjective and fixable. Try as we may, people are still going to think we are nuts and form their own misinformed opinions and continue to believe the lies that it works better. Well, bless their hearts. The only way to know is to test. All of my systems boot multiple operating systems and it immediately becomes as plain as the nose on your face which one sucks when you can reboot and run the same tests back-to-back among OS versions and watch the newer ones reveal their suckiness. It leaves no wiggle room for speculation on which one deserves the most hate. CPU and memory performance have declined and degraded with newer OS versions. Graphics performance sometimes improves and sometimes regresses. That part is inconsistent. The Redmond Retards add silly gimmick features to entice gamers into running their crappy cancer OS and pray nobody notices what a steaming deep dish colon loaf it is. And, guess what? Most of the gamerboys don't notice. No, my surprised look is not on my face. Us old farts know what we're talking about most of the time. Windows 11 is a pile of crap. Even Jufus the potty mouth has documented that the claims that newer versions of Winduhz run better is a load of crap. Even as recently as the 9900/9950X release he debunked the excuses that AMD fanboys were making that Windoze 11 needed an update for the new CPU to work right. I generally view the opinion that newer OSes work better as a sign of inexperience and ignorance. Some smart people believe that and it is probably because they make assumptions rather than exercising due dilligence and testing, or they are not doing the right tests. Even if the latest cancer OS performed exactly the same as every version before it, who wants to own a zombie computer and have the Redmond Reprobates stealing data and making all of the decisions about what happens with the OS? Hard to believe there are many otherwise intelligent people that drink that Kool-Aid. Letting Micro$oft decide what happens is essentially a plan for failure if you like the idea of having a system perform at its best. Believing the next update or version release of Winduhz will improve performance is utterly insane, and contrary to historical evidence that suggests the complete opposite should be expected. It will be interesting to play with the 9950X and discover what my opinion will be in the end. Parts arrived yesterday so I will install them today or tomorrow. I'm not sold on 3D v-cache being all that, but probably because I am not a gamer and don't value that as much as gamers do. It is good that 9800X3D is not as terrible at productivity as its predecessor. The idea of buying an 8-core CPU doesn't really do anything for me other than invoking a feeling of disgust. That seems very lame to me by current standards, kind of like saying 8GB of RAM is enough. It might work, but it's barely adequate for much more than email and web surfing. For the same reason, I was offended that the Core Ultra 9 flagship was downgraded to 24 threads from its predecessor's 32-thread i9 flagship and I didn't like the 285K before it released for that reason alone. I was surprised that it didn't perform worse than it does, but losing 8 threads and having lower boost clocks with less P-core overclock headroom is a downgrade to me no matter what angle I choose to look at it. It would be hard for me to find something to be happy about because of both of those things. I never like the concept of doing more with less. That always rubs me the wrong way no matter where the concept is applied. Looks like I lucked out on the 9950X purchase. It is now sold out at NewEgg and I purchased it for $110 less than launch price. Maybe Core Ultra 9 adopters will get lucky with a similar price drop in a couple of months.

Took advantage of the Newegg trade in deal. $380 for my 14900KS SP105. Newegg has combo available for 9800X3D and X870E Hero for $999.99. I got free overnight shipping too. Grand total after my trade in was $619.99 + $62 tax. Not bad for a brand new 9800X3D and X870E Hero. O ya, it will be here tomorrow and saves me a trip to Microcenter.

That might be when I test the water. Depends on what they do. I'm always watching though. If any stones need to be cast (at either Team Red or Team Blue) I will throw them as hard as I can. There is no mercy for selling lackluster components or buggy crap.

I'd be somewhat excited if they were talking about a super efficient variant for specific laptops but everything else? Nah.... I was hoping with 285k and it running a least more efficient along with the 7800/9800 X3D variants we would see the return of proper DTRs or at least one model but the NH55 really does seem to be the end of the road for desktop CPU support. 😞 As I was adding up the pricing of the 285k, a decent motherboard and CU Dimms, I was quickly over $1300 and climbing. I just went, "whoa whoa whoa...." Toss in a 5090 and suddenly I'm looking at $3k+ and most likely 3.5k+. Plus I still have my complete other AM5 system I'm holding onto besides having sold my Powercolor 7900XTX. Since my daughter abandoned it (lol), I'm going to rebrand it into an anime themed chassis and that leaves open the chance to slap in a 9800X3D or 9950X3D to play around with in the future. Right now, it is rocking a 7600x. If my daughter suddenly gets the urge to play something else, I can always swap in another GPU as needed. I just want to keep at least one AM5 platform in the house going "just in case" Unless someone offers a decent price, I'm going to ride my 4090 up to and through the first part of getting a 5090 and eliminating bad samples/coil whine units till i get something decent. 2+ yrs of solid service from the 4090 can't be beat. Then it has to provide a real, tangible upgrade in 4k from the 4090 calculating in not much uplift from CPUs (9000 X3D testing of course needed). From there, I might slap it in my wife's system to upgrade her 3080 10gb which would be pretty monstrous. Or when all is said and done, I might ride it to the 6090! 🤣

I went ahead and cancelled my 285k order. Sanity prevailed and I'm going to return to my "wait and see" approach to see how it pans out over the next few months. With the 9950X3D slated early next year, we should see whatever refinements / the OC community can tune up by then for comparison. Plus...you know....5090 Wallet Slayer Editions will be hitting the market most likely in Q1 too. Have to have a sufficient buffer to properly be able to yay or nay that Balance Destroyer.

From what I understand, things are really funky now with the NPU and fabric crap but the E-core voltage is adjustable independently from the P-core voltage. The tiled nonsense sure does jack up the memory latency though. Very much like Ryzen in that respect, unfortunately. It is very intriguing while pretty disgusting at the same time. Microcenter get any 285K in stock yet? Seems like this happens every time. The part most in demand isn't available on launch day except in single-digit quantities with merchants, or not even at all. I am still tempted to buy a Taichi OCF. If I do (still not sure I will) it won't be until 285K is available. The Z890 platform looks great and I love a lot of things about that motherboard, but I am not very keen on Core Ultra so far. I don't really give a rat about gaming performance. The compute performance looks really good even though the memory latency looks pitiful compared to Raptor Lake. It is sad that Intel caved in and moved to a glued together mess like AMD. That monolithic design, even with the crappy E-cores, was one of the things that set them apart as superior. Now their part of the belly-buttons and buttholes club, doing what is popular instead of what is good, and stooping to partnering with TSMC. Today Mrs. Fox and I celebrate 38 years of marriage. Seems weird to even say that. Sometimes I forget that I am not 38 years old, LOL.

I went ahead and grabbed me a 265K/Apex Z890 as well.

Go time boys.

Dominus+3175X+128GB Samsung B-Die is ALIVE!!!! Same OS and everything LOL. I love it! I did not experience a cold bug at all. XMP 3200c14 loaded on all 128GB very first try. 😎

I wouldn't shed too many tears for tech workers in Silicon Valley. I've lived in the Bay Area for 40 years now, and these tech workers will find new jobs, probably with more pay, within a few weeks. That's one great advantage of living in a place like this - plenty of competition among employers. I've had numerous friends who got laid off during the various 'tech layoffs', only to find a better, higher paying job very quickly. Also, people forget the flip-side; these companies go on big recruiting binges (the easier it is to fire, the more likely they are to hire without restraint). The Semiconductor industry is on a roll right now, with companies like NVidea unable to meet demands for AI-related GPUs. The people who need our sympathy are people in minimum-wage jobs, people working basic jobs to put food on the table, or provide medical insurance. Employers like McDonalds and Walmart will keep the workers' hours under the limits where they have to provide insurance benefits, and/or fire them when they get close to eligibility for such benefits - those are the scumbags.

I got the B650E and a 7700 because the value was very decent, the 9xxx series is not that interesting but the next gen might be with the 12 core CCDs.

Well I guess I have to admit defeat. I gave in and pre-ordered a 5090 from MSI for $2350. There site was pretty buggy so I had to keep resetting page elements every time it timed out so I could keep resubmitting. PHP and jQuery... I both agree that it is overpriced, but also think that in a way it is not.. The die size is 750mm^2 which is almost as big as the w7-2495x Sapphire Rapids MCC die - 770mm^2.

Nvidia needed to boost the power consumption with 125W. I wonder how much the performance would sink with lower 450W TDP as for today's 4090's. The increased TDP is probably needed because there is not a major change on the node for 5000 series cards. Edit. Blackwell for data centers is fabricated using a custom 5nm-grade (4NP) node from TSMC, which is said to be an enhanced version of 4N seen on Ada Lovelace and not a full-fledged node jump. This likely explains why Nvidia is pushing power limits to extract every last drop of performance. Hmm. Papuan's delayed Christmas present to himself🙂 Say hello to MSI GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z. In pristine condition, both for the card and the box. And the card is clean and nice. Never tampered with and still with the avoid sticker on the screw. Damn nice. I also got the orginal invoice from the seller. The owner paid $900 in 2017 for this beauty. If I include the price hike since 2017 which is 22.81 percent then the card would cost around 1100 USD in Norway with todays money. Yep, half the price vs custom AIB 4090 flagship. But remember in the old days the price premium for the flagship models was mostly below or around $100. Etc a 4090 Strix have several hundreds in premium above MSRP cards nowadays. Sad direction, indeed. MSI offered Lightning cards in 3 versions. Vanilla version. Lighning X and then the flagship Lightning Z. The box is the same for all 3 SKUs (and the 3 cards is exactly same) but you can differenciate the different cards with the small sticker on the box and on the card. The tp model (Z) was produced in limited quantity. Only 3000 cards made.

MrFox`s y-cruncher - Pi-1b score: 10 sec 909 ms with a Ryzen 9 9950X https://hwbot.org/submission/5739152 BIOS Settings in spoiler... https://imgur.com/a/9ydiFYa

Intel is really in a precarious position right now and once mindshare and perception shifts fully to AMD, they could find themselves no longer the standard bearer for x86. Nevermind ARM gaining market share at an alarming rate and we have Nvidia coming on next with CPUs..... The fact @Mr. Fox and @Talon have finally taken the plunge to run systems in tandem and like what they see so far is very telling in and unto itself. Personally, I love dipping in and out of AMD, Intel and Nvidia hardware since 2005 with X2 and FX from AMD and going back and forth with ATI and Nvidia then AMD and Nvidia. I just love hardware!

LOL, I saw that last night and meant to say something and forgot. Good catch. I was going to make reference to it in the context of Core Ultra being a Satanic abortion. 😜 Well, in spite of my words and behavior repeatedly demonstrating that I don't care about brand it is going to be surprising to some. I'm hard to please, but not a fanboy. I value results and do not believe in brand loyalty or forgiveness for companies that do things I don't like. If I get what I want, they score a win. If I don't, then they'll get scortched earth. Time and testing will tell whether or not it was poor judgment. Once I determine that nothing needs to be RMA'd I will likely sell one of my nicely binned i9 CPUs and the Encore, or Velocita, or both mobos and 2 CPUs. I have extras, so I still have an exit strategy if I don't like it. 😂 And, if I don't like it then I will merely validate a basis for having an opinion. I hope I do like it though. We shall see. It will start out initially on the Praxis Wetbench with the CR360 Dark AIO, then move to the Antec case if I decide to sell the Encore. The chiller setup is plug and play, with both benching systems on wheeled carts and QDC fittings, so that part is easy peasy. I ordered a Heatkiller IV Pro block cheap from Titan Rig. If it is worth keeping then I will order a der8auer Delid Die Mate and Mycro direct die block in December or January. Since my memory tuning is manual anyhow, I expect my TG Xtreme 8200 sticks to work fine without Expo profiles. Everyone can rest assured that I will show no mercy when it comes to calling balls and strikes. And, if credit is due it will be given freely and in good measure.

So good news. I ended up finding a real retail Xeon W3175X. I traded my Z790 Apex A04 for a complete HEDT system. I traded my Apex Z790, and (2x24GB) 8200 ram kit, SC ram block, lga1700 waterblock, and 360mm AIO. For a Asus Dominus motherboard, 3175X retail CPU, EKWB WS waterblock, EKWB DOMINUS VRM block, and 192GB of some poopy DDR4. I will have (2) Dominus boards. The only thing wrong with this system is, it needs a hair dryer to fire up, or just hold your finger on the SMD to warm it a couple seconds then it fires, most don’t know which exact SMD it is, so they just use a hair dryer blowing in the general area, very limited info on this subject, apparently this happen with prior X99/X299 Extreme boards as well (That’s Asus for ya lol). But, it actually includes the replacement SMD to fix this. So I will fix the cold bug my self once I get a magnifying glass so I can see what I’m soldering. I thought it was a really great trade.

TDP 150W or 130W, no more details!😂