Talon

Exactly why I haven't even bothered with PCIE 5.0 drives. They run hot, it's not a noticeable improvement in daily use, and they're expensive. I doubt PCIE 6.0 drives will be any better. PCIE 4.0 isn't even saturated yet, not even close, but newer is always better!!

Pretty much just as I had said before. 253/253 and 320/320 with max 400a for defaults and gaming/daily's. This is not rocket science. But idiot outlets ran around recommending downclocking, using unsafe Intel Fail Safe SVID, and a host of other wild ideas. If you can't use the recommended settings, RMA. Simple really.

I've got the $599 4070 Super FE and it's an incredible card. The price to perf is unreal.

Got a free GTX 980 Ti Strix OC edition with Samsung GDDR5 modules. Was told it had a corrupt vBIOS and would not load/flash. Well the vBIOS is fine and it's still on defaults. Also was never touched/opened. So I think it just finally gave up. It works and then it doesn't work. Randomly will just crash games/quit benchmarks. Sometimes corrupt, sometimes not. I game on it for a bit last night after I cleaned it up, and repasted it. It passes TimeSpy Stress Test, but then won't randomly won't. Seemed better when I maxed out voltage slider. I wonder if I use a higher voltage setting it might limp a long awhile longer. Could just be a bit degraded at stock voltage given it's age. When I opened it up I saw an inductor that looked broken. I think those are actually allowed to have some scratches/chips from the factory from what I read so maybe not that. Should I bother attempting to get this fixed or just shelve it as a nice decoration lol? I sort of want to fix it for some reason. Although I doubt it would be worth the price someone like Northwest Repair would charge at this point. http://www.3dmark.com/spy/47818888 Managed a Legendary during some testing.

Baseline with Intel Failsafe Voltage is a joke. Just set 253/253 and 320/320w and auto and if that doesn't work then RMA. Crank it up for those with real cooling.

I'm confused, why did they use 125 or 188w? Did they just pull some random number out of their rears? Intel's spec sheet shows 253w for K and 320 for KS. Isn't 125w for non K or HX. What is 188w from? LOL wtf.

So I have a Mini LED IPS LG 27" 4K 160Hz with 1560 dimming zones that I purchased before deciding I would give OLED a go with the new 4K 240hz panels. There is no disputing it, MiniLED still looks incredible and the brightness cannot be understated IMO. The LG MiniLED is NanoIPS/Quantom Dot so the colors are incredible, they also used an ATW (advanced true wide) Polarizer so it's the best IPS panel I have ever laid my eyes on. The ATW Polarizer means no IPS glow, near perfect panel uniformity, and it doesn't have that Mini LED off axis hazing. Easily the best IPS panel I've ever used. Unfortunately with all the OLED hype and early firmware issues, this panel never got the attention it deserves IMO. I'm not keeping both of the OLEDs, I got lucky with a Microcenter pick early one morning, and I had already ordered the LG WOLED. Just as I went to cancel the LG, it had already shipped earlier than projected by LG. After a couple weeks with the MSI and about a week with the LG WOLED, I decided to keep the LG as it just fits me better. I prefer the inky blacks in all lighting, the whites aren't as warm/red, and I need speakers. The 1080p 480Hz mode is just icing on the cake for me. It feels like CRT gaming when playing esport titles at 480fps, incredible clarity and mouse connectedness. I'll give up a bit of color saturation to have all of that. I also prefer the closer to normal sub pixel arrangement for text clarity, because for it's easier on the eyes. A lot of that is subjective, and the MSI QD OLED is also phenomenal and I would be happy with it. Like I said, I tried to cancel the LG order once I had the MSI and made sure I was pleased with it. In fact for most the MSI $949 price tag makes it the one to get. But OLED comes with some babysitting that annoys a bit. I have to remember to shut off my screen when I'll be gone for extended periods, or I just shut down the PC now. I change the background regularly, I hide the taskbar with auto hide, and I try to watch things in full screen and avoid constant windows or content. So why do this? The gaming is phenomenal. The motion clarity and responsiveness is worth it if you enjoy FPS gaming. I'm never going to go pro, but I would be lying if I said I don't feel as though I now have a leg up that I didn't have before. HDR is a wash or even a downgrade compared to the MiniLED due to brightness. It's good, but the MiniLED was eye searing great. Sorry kinda ranty.

Niccceee!! I'm sitting here with both the LG 32" 4K 240Hz WOLED and the MSI MPG 321URX 4K 240hz QD OLED.

Hiking in the @Mr. Fox backyard. 😎

It's actually a very real issue, I've personally seen it myself. Unfortunately this issue happens when running completely unrestricted on a system with less than adequate cooling. The problem lies with the motherboard vendors allowing 4095w on PL1/PL2 and over 500A at "default". After a fresh driver install, many games have to recompile shaders and this hits the CPU hard, like unrestricted hard. This is why some are attributing games crashing to new drivers. It has nothing to do with Nvidia. It's the 100c temps some are seeing at unlimited power and their games are crashing, or even BSOD. The simple and easy fix is to simply run the CPU at Intel's recommended spec of 253w or 320w extreme modes on KS. This should be on by default. We have too many Xbox kiddos coming over to PC, they have no idea what they're doing, and then crying when their 240mm AIO crashes when loading up Fortnite after they spent the evening hammering the CPU with 400w loads in Cinebench. Force motherboard makers to run defaults and let those that want to, go in there and tweak. Seeing "default" Intel CPUs drawing 380w in headlines is just stupid and is not helping Intel's PR. The truth is, at 253w, the 14900K is very close to AMD's 7950x in multicore and power draw. It's the lower end where AMD tends to shine. Yet the unlimited power draw paints a completely different story. Intel needs better people in charge over there. They need to get their heads out of their asses. I would say it is completely possible Intel has poorly binned and the higher temps/current/power are causing edge case CPUs to crash, but we will have to wait and see. For now, running them at SPEC and as designed should fix all issues. For those that may be wondering, here is Intel's difficult to locate spec sheet. As you can see, there is a 253w PL1/PL2 "Extreme Config" for K/KF chips. and a 320w PL1/PL2 config for KS chips. https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/platforms/details/raptor-lake-s/13th-generation-core-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/processor-line-thermal-and-power-specifications/

I dunno, those guys clearly have no idea what they're doing. Running Intel Fail Safe makes absolutely no sense. It shouldn't even exist in the menu. As it reads, that setting follows an absolute fail safe voltage guidance that is likely when using an Intel Reference Motherboard for testing/design. The VRM and electrical layout of that board is not going to be anywhere near as robust or capable as the Apex board they were using. They are shoving a ton of voltage and current through the chip, something the reference board is very likely not capable of supplying in the same capacity due to the VRM design. All they have to do is set Auto, XMP I, set 253w for long/short power, and limit the board to around 400a and the chip would have been running far cooler and stable. If this config is not stable, then it's time for an RMA as the chip is not able to run at SPEC. Simple as that. Unfortunately, they are spreading FUD, they are giving out terrible advice, and perpetuating and furthering ignorance in the community. Simple as that. I blame the motherboard vendors. They should be setting Intel spec limits by default and forcing you to bypass them on your own afterwards. Asus does in fact as this question upon any CPU swap on FIRST boot. It will ask you if you want Intel limits or Asus optimized. Almost everyone selects Asus limits which remove all limits. Intel should force the vendors to enable stock limits, and then let those that want, bypass them.

Honestly I had great luck with my Asrock X99 and my current Asrock Z790 Nova is actually a budget banger. The Nova is a crappy 4 dimmer, but it can achieve around 7800 with some tinkering, something the $600 Asus Hero can't do. For the $279 I paid vs a $650 Apex, it's no slouch. An Asrock BIOS guy has been pretty active in the OC forums and they've been putting out regular updates for it. I mean it will never be an Apex, but I haven't had any issues I can speak of. I've never had to use their warranty though, so maybe that would sour me. But for now, I've been pretty happy with their product.

I need to test lower, but got busy with work. I'm will try and shave down more tonight or tomorrow. 1.225v IMC is where it's bee rock solid stable. Ran TestMem5, Karhu and BF2042 as my testing lol. But TestMem5 with Absolute or Extreme for over an hour was no issues at all. For 8200 CL38 XMP that is crazy good voltage. The Asus Auto was shoving 1.4v into it which is obviously not necessary. I also leave the other voltages on autos and let it configure those.

I picked up some Thermalright 140mm AIO fans a couple weeks ago because Noctua has yet to release a 140mm version of there excellent Noctua NF-A12x25s. Honestly no complaints. While they're definitely not as good as Noctuas, they feel premium, made with thick plastics and are relatively quiet even at 100%. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTCP7CVL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details I should have grabbed that cooler before it went out of stock. That price is incredible for a 360mm AIO. I could have used it for another build or replacement eventually.

My MC SP shows 89. I ran TestMem5 for an hour and 10 minutes yesterday as well as a lot of BF2042 at 8200 C38 with just 1.225c IMC. Autos everything else. Pretty incredible especially given the auto Asus setting was 1.4v. Completely overkill voltage to the IMC. I'm going to keep dropping it to see how low it can go. I need to test out that other SP105 chips MC a bit now. I didn't really test that chip enough. Nice OLED! I had the PG32UCDM Packaging at Newegg before I decided to cancel. I have the LG 32" 4K 240/1080p 480Hz OLED on preorder and decided it's best to just wait for what I truly want. Supposed to ship around April 15th. Very excited to get it. The dual mode, OLED at 480Hz is going to be wild for FPS games.

Don't pay any attention to that MC score. It's total and complete nonsense. If you have a good 2 dimmer board, I have yet to find a single 14900KS that can't do 8200+. That score is with your memory at autos. Set XMP and check SP again, I bet it's over 90. I've discovered the IMC score changes a lot, it's not reliable. https://imgur.com/kh6qRjw Here is my 14900KS SP109 with running XMP II 8200 CL38 with just 1.225v IMC !! Asus auto settings were 1.4v to the IMC. I've been shaving it down the last couple days. BF2042 and memory tests and I still have yet to crash the system. I'm going to keep shaving down. These IMCs seem rock solid on 14900KS, at least some of them.

If you get one of the new cheap Z790 boards I would expect around 6600-7200 depending on IMC.

Just gets weirder and weirder for that package that arrived. Apparently looking back at my emails I ordered it in August last year and they actually shipped it on August 31 according to the box label. It was an overnight shipment service. Shipment label was sharpied over and had "No Scan" written on it on black sharpie. Box is beat to hell and it arrived almost 6 months late lol. Overnight uh huh. I got the full castaway service.

Today must be my lucky day or something. I came home from the gym tonight and had a box at my garage that I was not expecting. Pretty large heavy box, I look at the label and it was for me and from a company I ordered an Item from back in early September 2023 lol. I actually had cancelled the order after an extended backorder after it was listed as "in stock" and ready to ship when I ordered. I had waited a few weeks of back and forth with the company, and eventually just asked to cancel and refund. They did and that was that, I got my money and moved on. Well turns out, they overnighted the item to me? Almost 6 months late and we cancelled the order? Either way I now have an AIO water block for an RTX 4080 Strix/TUF that I have no use for lol. Looking at it, it does look like the quick disconnects can be used for something else? Maybe look into a waterblock from alphacool? My initial plan was for the 4080 TUF that was pretty decently golden and had that unlocked vBIOS for the high voltage limits. I might just send it back to them, I'm not sure what I'd use it for TBH. As long as they give me a shipping label and what not. https://modmymods.com/alphacool-eiswolf-2-aio-360mm-rtx-4080-strix-with-backplate-13531.html

Hope it goes smoothly man! I got lucky on both my 14900KS it seems. Honestly, I've had a pretty decently average to crap streak before these 2 CPUs. My 13900KS was total and complete garbage. SP101 and thankfully I had the MC warranty. After 6 months of use that chip actually degraded and then fully died shortly after. I got a full refund in store. It was wild. Never had a chip die like that, but it was a truly terrible sample. My 14900K were all just average or slightly above IMO. So getting this 14900KS feels like a relief of finally getting a good chip again.

Central Computers 14900KS arrived today. I left it on the desk for a minute, I really didn't want to open it, almost sent it right back. But my curiosity got the better of me, and I cut it open. I hate but also love that feeling. https://imgur.com/ryRty6M https://imgur.com/ouJQb62 https://imgur.com/VOGU05I

That does not look bad at all! I would test it and not worry about the stupid SP personally. Can almost guarantee that chip is going to react far better than any 14900K/KF you've had. I mean really were talking small potatoes mV here. And that doesn't mean it won't clock higher or better. Looks like a good MC score but again has to be truly tested. Edit: Looking over your P V/F curve, honestly they are stupid close. 15mV is nothing. I ordered another chip today and it shipped. Central Computers $699 and no tax is a nice perk. Arriving Monday from CC, good to see you got an USA chip too. I'm hoping I get something in the range of yours/mine again. Better would be nice of course.

Apparently I got decently lucky in the lottery this time. Now I'm kinda curious to go back today and grab another sample and see if those 5 at my local MC are decent bins. Mine was "Manufactured in the United States with Global Content". Made in the US of A. 😀

Grabbed my KS this morning at MC. Had 5 in stock. Better than my SP98 K.

Ya that is 100% not worth. Just a tiny upgrade for such an investment. Turn on the AC instead lol. Later this year we will see the real upgrade for her. 5070 with 16gb and 4090 "perf" with DLSS Time Travel™️. Nvidia making tomorrow's frames, yesterday's news.