D2ultima

Not sure if this is relevant enough but it may help

What I have seen is that it actually specifically bans the e-cores in general from being seen by the games, except perhaps for some specific logic threads, which is why it's on a per-game basis. If that's the case then it shouldn't be too focused on e-cores but rather making sure the right threads for the game stick to the P-cores. Some people were reporting checking the load balance and said the APO driver on/off toggle was an almost perfect process lasso effect to the P-cores. Take it with a grain of salt, because I can't personally check it, and I don't currently have the link to it (though I believe it may have been in here? But some tens of pages behind). As for intel not having such fragmentation, I agree. However if their arc GPU software improvements are anything to go by (as @Mr. Fox will attest to) I would hope that this APO movement is under a similar branch where they'll try to work for it.

See I agree with you here, but this CPU isn't soldered hooray! That said, I think they'll eventually expand it to the i5 line, apparently it needs per-game testing and the reason both i7 and i9 get it at the same time is because their number of P-cores are the same. So perhaps EVENTUALLY the i5s will join. We will wait and see.

I want that APO driver

I remember that bit from you, you really wanted an 8700K and they were just evaporating off shelves. Was such a good chip at the time, superior in functionality to its replacement the 9700K too. I think I know what you're talking about, I heard that they wanted to shove processes all to E-cores before deciding if it's necessary to use a P-core, but I also heard that design was only for the low power chips for laptops somewhere on the grapevine. What I don't know, however, is where they're putting their 3D cache chips. At first I heard it was 14th gen and then that failed, then I heard it was 15th gen and then I heard 15th gen was mobile only (for the reasons mentioned above), so it might be 16th gen? Either way, when they produce the 3D cache, e-core-using systems I'll be over the moon. Especially if by that time their optimized driver software that they released with 14th gen chips is more mature as well. I have no idea how AMD would compete with that, and why intel doesn't just hurry up and release it asap.

I'm unsure. I can't remember if you got it to pop into the P870DM or if it was for the F5, but I just remember you having access to a 7700K earlier than normal hahaha

I remember you getting a 7700K early So you're right. You didn't buy it on launch day. You bought it prior 😄

Please buy yourself a good SSD and then forget about it. I do not expect the memory to die, I expect the controller to, so you want a solid controller unit. WD Black SN 850X or Samsung 980 Pro aren't very expensive for their storage amount up to 2TB these days.

Happy holidays to everyone and merry christmas to who celebrate it! All the intel GPUs get significantly better with driver updates all the time. Intel is ACTUALLY doing work there. Surprising, I know. However if you are the kind of person who - Doesn't like to wait for games to be playable - Wants everything (especially older games) to just "work" problem-free - Want higher fps in very recent games at high settings You certainly do not want an Intel GPU. They are going to take names in the market, in about 2 years, and they WILL eventually cause everyone else to crash prices on their GPUs and/or make better lower end cards (same difference to me) but until then, see it as a midranged enthusiast's card. I don't know where you're finding a good $3000 CAD laptop with a 4090, 32GB of 5600MHz+ RAM and a 13700HX or better with 1TB+ storage with a good SSD & open SSD slots. Because that is bloody cheap and more people than I'd like to admit should jump at it. That said, the benefit of a desktop in this case is better memory, better cooling options, quieter operation, better CPU performance (I.E. the ability to actually use 5GHz+ on intel, along with the memory benefits), more storage capacity and better main screen options (though you could just ignore your laptop screen and use an external for games). If you think a laptop is enough and you're willing to fiddle with it and you have a good (and I stress *GOOD*) brand option at the price point you're looking for, then it might be for you, but I can't see how the laptop is actually going to cost less than a similarly built (or even better built) desktop these days.

That XL EVO looks really nice, I would love to build a PC with one

Well... stuff like basic workhorsing the CPU doesn't much matter. At that resolution the CPU also does not matter, he will never achieve high enough fps in any game made in the last 10 years or so, to the point where I need to ask the difference between 120/144Hz and 240Hz if you can never achieve the actual smoothness or the frames? But either way, it's up to him. I'm going to bow out from the recommendations though, because it sounds like he isn't actually asking for any, but rather wants to know the cheapest way to complete the PC with parts he's already decided on.

Well what does he wanna do with the PC? If he is the type to turn on a game and close everything else, then a 7800X3D will probably do fine for him. If he likes to multitask or do productivity work I'm going to hard suggest intel due to that E-cores magic. As for the GPU, I don't understand why AMD is necessary to get the best out of the monitor, but if he wants to play games, a 4090 is just going to be better, of course. If he still wants the 7900XTX then my obvious (and only) recommendation is Sapphire brand

Man I really want access to that intel APO driver. Especially since I was gifted Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered and that game can ***EAT*** a CPU whole for breakfast lunch dinner and midnight snack, look at this sorcery

Ahhh if I had a second device I would definitely consider it. Well I do have my old P870 but I gave it to my brother in law to use since he doesn't have a gaming PC, and he's enjoying it.

I guarantee you, I would never have the patience to keep my PC down for as long as it'd take to build something like that, but at the same time, MAN would I love to use such a chill PC

Huh... I heard lots from various outlets that you basically can't go past 6000MHz on AMD without fclk tweaking and a ton of trial and error, and it's also pretty board/CPU dependent. Didn't sound like a sweet spot to me, more of like a limit unless you want to dedicate days to it

I see... in my case the first time the game screen went black but it didn't close, and audio still played but I couldn't interact with it. The second time it just froze and closed itself. I had a youtube video on my second monitor and that did not even blink and simply kept playing as normal, and I was able to alt tab the second the game froze up as if the whole system was operating completely normally. So it felt very weird. There WAS an error report in error logs, but it didn't say anything, or even register really as an "error". Well, I'll try my old settings and see if it still happens. If it does, it's the game, since it was stable all the time until now. If it doesn't, then I'll have to adjust my daily driver for that one game that runs about 50% GPU load, for reasons I'll never truly understand.

I'll be honest with you... why would they be interested? Glowing reviews for every product abound and so few are willing to call out company garbage like gamers nexus. The average user goes off word of mouth and buys these things. I can't tell you how many times I've caught people ready to buy ASUS 4090s just before buying them and had to tell them they're a hard no. But all they know and hear from others is "well ASUS is good". No need for them to focus on customer experience if they're still making all the money.

Don't you mean the maximum frequency AMD boards can get without EXTREME instability issues and IIRC fclk tweaking? My issue with Zotac is I know their post-sale support. And they have tried to take a dig at a friend of mine before, when his still-in-warranty 980Ti needed to be replaced and they basically told him they didn't have it, so they wanted to give him a 980 and $50 back instead, or he could go buy something else entirely and keep his broken card. Wouldn't even trade him up. I know it's been a long time since then but I haven't exactly heard anybody jumping at the bit to praise them either. As for MSI, focusing on gaming cards is perfectly fine and should also be done... just not at the expense of the top end cards like a Lightning. You want all your customers to get quality goods with quality warranty. The majority of their customers won't be high end overclockers and WILL want good hardware and should not be denied it, and same for the post sale service. Well, we'll see. Shame about EVGA but hopefully somebody that isn't ASUS takes up the mantle.

Yeah. I've defaulted to MSI for the 4000 series because it's more like process of elimination... gigabyte cracking PCBs, ASUS has the worst board design and highest coil whine, Zotac has least coil whine but they're ZOTAC, MSI is just kind of sitting there not doing anything waiting for people to quietly buy their products. Hopefully MSI gets brought up by their britches, I remember when their Lightning cards were the way to go as well for the enthusiasts.

Ha, in terms of their motherboards, maybe. But their GPUs? They were the world-wide go-to recommendation for their customer service. Even if their GPUs weren't the fastest, or the quietest, or the best overclocker (like their XC3 line) they always were what you'd find suggested all over. By far the biggest threat. It makes me very sad to see them vanish. It feels like now it doesn't matter what you even get anymore.

This is a travesty That poor company going out of business like that And Sapphire not picking up their slack =(

Wait, if you put a Zotac 4090 on an EVGA Z790 board it doesn't work? Whut O_O? Why? Is there something wrong with the 4-DIMM boards beyond their inability to OC memory as well? Or is this more of a Mr. Fox thing? And further expanding on that, do the boards that aren't the most top end have similar care given to them? I ask not necessarily for myself, I can't afford to make any changes to this computer, but more because it is good to know what are good boards to recommend others, and lower end ASUS (especially after getting to know my somewhat poor excuse of a BIOS) does not cut it. Wait a minute, is this their last reign of motherboards? No more after Z790?

So you think EVGA boards are the best for the time being?

nah I actually highly value E-cores. They make using the system magically smooth. Issues I had before like media on second monitor while games were open causing extra stuttering, especially in borderless windowed mode, OBS preview window stuttering, how slow the PC gets when CPU is near max and you're still trying to do anything in the background... all of those issues vanished with E-cores. AMD doesn't come close to that functionality, and I don't recommend AMD to anyone who does a lick of things outside of purely gaming anymore as a result. I wish media outlets would comment on the non-benchmarkable benefits the E-cores tech grants to a system instead of saying "well 7800X3D is better for gaming than a 13600K so might as well buy that"