Mr. Fox

I've never truly liked them and was always a desktop-only guy until a career change had me only home only on PTO, holidays and weekends for about 12-14 years. That's why I accepted the big Alienware 17 and 18 inch and then Clevo DTRs as a necessary evil. After a while I kind of grew numb to how pathetic they are and even began to view them favorably. I even made lame excuses and rationalized a degree of legitimacy for their glaring shortcomings, but it did not take long after moving back to desktops for the misguided novelty to die and my disdain for them quickly reignited. My new job is going to require a little bit of travel, unfortunately. My last two business trips I did not even bother packing my Precision turdbook. If something happened to it, there is a fair chance that I would probably not purchase a replacement turdbook. Using a notebook keyboard and screen is annoying to me, even for web browsing. The only thing worse to me than a turdbook is a slimy touchscreen smartphone or tablet, but all of them are garbage cut from the same cloth to me now. Turdbooks are engineered from end-to-end as compromised products, in varying degrees of trashification... none actually worth a damn. I really like my 5080 Prime. I might end up with another 5080 at some point. The thought of selling my 5090 for significantly more than what I paid for it, spending 25% of the proceeds on a 5080 and doing something else with the remaining 75% has crossed my mind a time or two. The possibility for regret is the only thing that gives me pause. I'd not consider buying another 5090 again but I own it and it is paid for, so why tempt fate? Finally stopped tinkering with the new hardware toys and took a few minutes (literally all it takes) to get Kubuntu installed and configured on the Z890 Apex. I'm so used to it now that a clean Linux install is faster and requires less effort than debloating, removing garbage and the extensive manual de-configuring of all of the trash necessary to make Windoze an acceptable OS. Having to use the Windoze Cancer OS for everything was starting to make me feel kind of icky on the inside. The longer I use Linux, the harder I find it to forgive the Micro$lop clown posse for their atrocities. The only thing saving their lousy hind ends from perma-death is the Windoze-only software that I sometimes want or need to use.

Easy and hassle-free installation on the Z890 Apex. Everything just works, and works well. No debloating or tweaks necessary.

If the BIOS mod was created by Prema after the GPU was released it should be supported and it is about 99% certain it will be supported. If it was before the GPU was released then it is very unlikely. I'm glad that I don't have to worry about that kind of nonsense anymore. Sometimes I forget how bad laptops suck. Even the better non-BGA turds with desktop CPUs and MXM suck without a lot of stupid rigmarole. In hindsight I don't know how I put up with them for as long as I did.

Actually this version might be even better. I adjusted more obscure timings after doing a bit more research. Totally stable with my G.SKILL Trident F5-8400J4052G24G kit. Testing now with the TeamGroup Xtreem CUDIMM kit and seems to be identical. Below is a link for the settings. Z890 Apex 8600 Validated - BIOS 9901

Does your chassis have fans in the bottom blowing directly on the cable and GPU? I also wonder if the width and frequency of the temperature delta between room temperature (cold) and maximum sustained load temperature affects anything, even when the high is totally fine, how often it experiences that range from low to high to low. The frequency of that delta shift might be causing fatigue of these incredibly fragile turds? It is unusual how fast your system chews through these crappy cables. But as you said, thank God for the WVP2. It is a reasonable expectation for PSU cables to last beyond the lifespan of anything in the system, including the PSU. But, these are such $hitty examples of engineering incompetence that it is not the case. There is no reason that anyone should ever have to replace any PSU cable due to any reason except for accidental physical damage (cuts, pinches, etc.). "Normal wear and tear" is an unacceptable reason, especially if they are less than 10 years old.

I wonder if ambient conditions such as humidity come into play with the connection integrity? I don't think I've ever seen or heard that mentioned anywhere and I can't help but wonder if it has any effect.

Sorry to hear about the 2080. You might be able to see if Tony at Northwest Repair could fix it for you. Worth a shot asking. Probably much cheaper than a replacement or upgrade if he can. I suspect the problem is failed memory chip(s). I think Rockitcool are still in business... https://rockitcool.myshopify.com/

The developer has a thread at overclock.net and you can download it from the opening post (or his web site). It is a great program. You can export your memory settings as an XML from HWiNFO64 and import it, click the analyze button, and it will tell you want timings are non-compliant with JEDEC. If you run the stability test if it can determine what setting is off it will identify it for you. Unless the price is crazy, I plan to buy it when the free beta access expires. [BETA] Memory Foundry Pro – RAM Stability Tester & Benchmark | Free Beta Access Now all we need is a clone of ZenTimings that works for Intel. The ASUS MemTweakIt and ASROCK Timing Configurator crapware tools are buggy junk. The ASUS tool is missing too much stuff and the AROCK tool misreports some values.

I hate Meta/Facepoot and only want the worst for them. However, I am not sure I agree with them being accountable for the irresponsible behavior, poor judgment, etc. of people that use the platform. I would blame the irresponsible parents and schools for not having control of their children and raising them the right way. Blaming Meta seems as misguided as blaming guns for crimes commited with guns, blaming the keyboard for misspelled words and silverware for the obesity problem some people have. I look at this as a state cash grab/robinhood mentality by states that are failing financially due to their idiotic, incompetent leadership. Three of the four states are run by overtly leftist imbeciles (CA, CO and NJ).

Nice "Country Metal" tune dropped 2 hours ago.

So, did a little bit of digging for elusive information online and found a solution that works with my TeamGroup CUDIMM kit. Forcing the clock driver to work for manual tuning without using an XMP profile allows me to keep the NGU, Ring and D2D values the same and still boot at 9000+ (example in above post). It will not work with my G.SKILL 8400 kit (non-CUDIMM). With the CUDIMMs installed after POST there is a new menu under the Skew Control menu in memory configuration. CKD Configuration and manually set Single PLL mode forces the CUDIMM clock driver to take over and do the heavy lifting on manual tuning. If you have not booted at least once with a CUDIMM kit installed or have normal DIMM installed the CKD Configuration menu does not exist.

Definitely not a daily driver like this, but worth a few giggles... https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/memory_frequency/submissions/6044182 https://valid.x86.fr/qiv4lc https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/aida64_-_memory_read/submissions/6044183

Thanks. Happy to share it. Let me know when you get home and are ready to use it. I've got an 8600 and and 8800 CMO I can send. Edit: Here is a zip of the folder (BIOS, CMO and Settings TXT files). @Talon

I think this is going to be good enough for now.

https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/cinebench_-_r23_multi_core_with_benchmate/submissions/6043707

OK, I got it to boot and validate 9200 in Gear 4 without overclocking the CPU, NGU and Ring, so I will see what happens if I start tweaking those. Will first see if it will boot in Gear 2. If not, then maybe no point in experimenting further except for memory frequency submission on HWBOT. https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/memory_frequency/submissions/6043616 https://valid.x86.fr/kdh1u2 Edit: Nope on G2 above 8800. Back to G2 at 8800 for now. These sticks are not on water yet, so I can't run this too long due to thermals. It doesn't take long for the sticks to hit 50+ °C running Karhu on air. (About 3 minutes.)

He should see more than 5°C decrease, even with the Thermal Grizzy performance IHS. I am using that with the AIO on the B850MPOWER now and it is very close to the same as bare die, which was at least 15°C reduction. I have not watched the video yet (will later) but if he is not using liquid metal maybe that is why he only saw 5°C? Edit: I jumped in and skipped to the thermal interface application. He did use liquid metal. Hmm. Maybe his application is not ideal.

Probably not. I still like it a lot. I might put it in a Lian Li A3 or B4 and leave it connected to the living room TV if Mrs. Fox will put up with it. If I change my mind you will be the first to know. I certainly do not "need" it, but I technically don't "need" any of them, LOL. Maybe I can sneakily get Mrs. Fox addicted to it with a cute case that doesn't wreck her tasteful decor. It is about the same distance... 45-60 minutes depending on traffic (time of day/congestion) and how fast I can drive without standing out as a problem based on the flow of other traffic (which means everyone is doing 85 in a 65 MPH zone, LOL). I'm able to get to 8800 MT/s so far. 9000 seem elusive, but I hear that it takes a golden IMC to do 9000+ (Not sure it is true, but it's the excuse I am hearing if it is not a fact.) I cannot get it to boot with either of the two XMP (8800 and 9466) profiles on the CUDIMMs but I will have to research to see if that is noob user error or I have just hit the limit with the IMC. I might have to do something something in the BIOS to enable the memory clock driver. Just setting the XMP doesn't get it done. https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/aida64_-_memory_read/submissions/6043524

I wish memory was not so retarded expensive. It could easily be your IMC is weak, and it could also be you memory kit isn't playing nice with ASUS firmware. It's too expensive to experiment at this point. Even if it is your memory, getting the right SKU for best results will be ridiculously and unjustifiably expensive, and sometimes very difficult to find at any price. If you lived nearby I would drop my G.SKILL 6000 CL26 EXPO kit into your Hero so you could see how it does. ASUS has some kind of goofy love affair going with G.SKILL and all of their AMD firmware development seems to be focused on making two G.SKILL memory kits sing. It's really annoying. My MSI and Gigabyte AMD motherboards have all performed well with other brands of memory and were less finicky because they haven't invested all of their time and energy in making one or two part numbers work best. I have G.SKILL 8000 CL38 XMP memory that worked fantastic in the Z790 Apex/Apex Encore and it doesn't even like to boot correctly. It was very difficult to get it tuned to run stable at any speed (including 6000). I had to jack around with all kinds of ODT and voltage resistance settings that can normally be left on Auto. That is when I gave up and bought the magic G.SKILL 6000 CL26 sticks before RAM prices turned to crap.

There is a penalty for the CCDs just as there is for Intel with P/E cores and now their chiplet nonsense. Monolithic processor design is MUCH better. I'm not sure what gave you the impression that you are needing to give it "too much" VDD/VDDQ. Literally everyone that I know one is using VDD and VDDQ of 1.600V or higher if they are pushing high clocks. AMD will not function correctly with low VDDQ like 13th and 14th Gen Intel did. You'll need to have VDD and VDDQ either the same or VDDQ almost the same. You might get away with 50mV less for VDDQ but MSI and Gigabyte AMD motherboards set them equal by default. You have to literally manually make them different values. When you set VDD they automatically sync them. You also need to be using at least 1.475V for VDDIO (MC voltage). You can match all three without any harm. Many AMD overclockers are using 1.550V-1.600 for VDDIO as well. If I leave mine on "Auto" it goes to 1.475V and works fine. If I try to dial back the VDDIO I have instant issues. You should be able to run LOW VSOC, like 1.175V. This is the equivalent of Intel System Agent. I am running 1.600V VDD and 1.550V VDDQ at 8000 and 1.650V VDD and 1.600V VDDQ at 8200 and 1.175V SOC for both of my AMD platforms. Running less makes them unstable. Increasing VSOC does nothing. The hardest part of the adjustment to AMD for me was having to deliberately set aside my knowledge from Intel overclocking because it was really messing things up and making it impossible for me to get any overclock stable. What works for one seldom works for the other. AMD is also funny on CPU core voltage. If you are stingy with it you might not see BSOD and the normal tell-tale signs you do with Intel, it will seem stable but performance will drop like a rock. Cinebench scores will go down. If you go too far you will see the same behavior as Intel with crashing, but AMD is weird and I suspect a lot of people are living with lackluster Ryzen performance from trying to undervolt the CPU too much.

I have heard several people with 9950X3D2 complaining about memory overclocking being limited by a weak IMC. Whether that is relevant I can't say, just mentioning it as a potential common complaint. Your CPU might not be below average for a 9950X3D2.

Had to make a place for the Z890 Apex. X870E Apex is now installed in the O11D Mini V2 with the 4585PX and 5080. Getting it to fit was a HUGE pain in the butt. Never buy a distro block with the pump facing the inside of the chassis. Big mistake. I have the Alphacool reservior shoved tight against the roof of the case and the 5080 still touches it. With the reservoir against the floor the GPU will not fit. Always choose one with the pump that is in the closed in area behind the mobo tray. (That will also allow you to run the system laying on its back. You can't do that if the pump is pointed up toward the ceiling.) Now that it fits, it looks great. I love this case for mATX/ITX. For ATX it's not ideal unless you love having to spend a lot of time figuring out how to make things fit. (I don't enjoy that. I also hate puzzles.) The Z890 Apex is in the O11D XL EVO with the 5090. It was super easy because all of the connects and mobo layout on the Z890 Apex is the same as the X870E Apex. I only had to modify the two lines going to the CPU block because the orientation of the ports on the block was different than the Thermal Grizzy Mycro direct die block. Speaking of waterblock, I was going to use one of my Optimus Foundation blocks. The silver looks perfect with the white and silver on the mobo. I could not use it. CPU would overheat SEVERELY for some reason (109°C doing CPU-Z stress test). I disassembled it and found it spotless on the inside. Not sure why. Had to run to Microcenter this moring and grab an Alphacool Core 1 block. Now it works amazing. Almost don't need to delid now, but still will. Because I can, and it will be much better. Not because it is unavoidable due to stupid temps. It runs as cool as the bare die Ryzen 9 processors. The B850MPOWER is now on the open bench with the 9950X and 3070.