Mr. Fox

Just based on my personal preference, but dadgum... that is one hella butt-ugly GPU. I bet the kiddos just love the worthless card and tacky ring. I guess dreams are inclusive of nightmares, so by that measurement it could be my dream GPU, LOL. Hmm... I scanned through his last few posts to see what I missed, but I am not spotting it. What happened with Brother @electrosoft? I hope nothing bad.

I am always suspicious when I see unopened BNIB listings for computer parts that are deeply discounted. I tend to be cynical, but I always first assume they are stolen. (Entire truckloads of CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, laptops, printers, etc. being stolen is fairly common.) If they are not stolen, then what? Being suspicious of good deals from people you do not know that never have to look you in the eye, or interact with you in a forum like this, is the best approach. Scams used to be few and far between, but now they are status quo and as common as dirt.

That looks really nice. Please post more photos (inside and outside) after you have the build complete.

Gears of War 5? I think that is UE5, isn't it? I know I have some on my computer. I remember seeing the logo on loading screens, but I don't really pay that close attention to it since I do not do a great deal of gaming on a frequent basis. If I like it and it runs good I don't usually look at what engine it runs on. Epic has a lot of UE-based offerings

Notice that the benchmark score is merely an expression of the average frames per second. You can see that in your score and you can see that in this example from my 3060 Ti. While it is not very scientific or creative, it seems logical and simple enough.

We will get a more accurate view of how it works when I get mine because right now I am running delidded CPU with liquid metal on top and bottom of the IHS. This is how I was able to see the original version of the SuperCool direct die block was a failure on 12900K. Had I only compared with stock solder and normal paste it might have seemed like a good product even though it was a failure. The more the die size shrinks and more cores are added, the more concentrated the heat is in a small area, so I expect the benefits and gains of delids and bare die configurations to be less evident. You can only put 5 pounds of sand in a 5 pound bag. At some point you can only remove a certain amount of heat because it is passing through a small surface. Also like the diameter of the hose and the size of the nozzle on a fire hose limits the amount of water than you can push out of the hose. You can add more water pressure, but the volume will be limited by the volumetric capacity of the hose. So far I find nothing to complain about. The ability to at-will change from CPU microcode 10E to 105 is nice and 105 microcode definitely lowered VID. My memory overclocking seems to be great as well. Unless I find something I do not like that I have not seen yet, I think this is the best BIOS update they have had since launch.

Well, certainly not until we take the trash. Canada is in an equally horrible spot with the Trudeau Clown Possee. But, hallelujah, that is starting now. Republicans do not need to accomplish anything new to be successful. If they can block the socialist left agenda from moving forward and undo some of their messes it will be a huge win for America and an accomplishment in its own right. A lot of damage has been done in just two short years under the dominion of utterly insane, evil people. There may be hope, but the first step is stopping the insanity in its tracks. This is a good start.

LOL... 🤣 things are going to start getting fun very soon. I just love seeing the panic set in when the tables get turned and you give them a taste of their own medicine poison. As they say, "what's good for the goose..." Hopefully, it is not too late to undo all of the damage they have caused.

Did you even find one at a Microcenter? It is rare to find one available anywhere except from scalpers. I am not sure why availability is so poor. Maybe just a way to keep pricing jacked up. Even at MSRP ($700) on the ASUS store page it is overpriced. It wouldn't be as bad if their warranty and support service were not so slow and sucky. It would be nice if we started seeing ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte and others do like EVGA and essentially only sell their products on their own store pages or micro-sites managed through their own sales department and cut out resellers entirely. This would help keep prices in check, as the OEM would determine the price, and anything sold through another channel would be deemed as undesirable overpriced scalper/gray market trash, or consumer-to-consumer sales or used parts. @Talon BIOS 2.08 (E699 DARK K|NGP|N / E698 Classified) Please note that this is a Beta BIOS, but it is stable enough for those of you who wish to test to give it a shot. Updates CPU microcode to 10E and provides microcode option 105 (has lower VID value) Supports CPU 13900KS OC table. Supports CPU 13100. Adds undervolt protection item (Microcode 10E only). Adds CPU power limit item. Improves memory stability. Edit: So far I find nothing to complain about. The ability to at-will change from CPU microcode 10E to 105 is nice and 105 microcode definitely lowered VID. My memory overclocking seems to be great as well. Unless I find something I do not like that I have not seen yet, I think this is the best BIOS update they have had since launch.

Yes, you're absolutely right. I was using that terminology as a figure of speech, not intended literally. On the West Coast we often refer to people from the East Coast as being "from the opposite/other side of the world/planet" in casual conversation and that is what I was doing here. Russia is a half day (12 hours) ahead of my time zone (Mountain). I think @ryanmay be in the Pacific Time Zone.

CPU performance is degraded with the newer driver (which is unfortunately very common). Do not compare stock with overclocked. It will lead you to very wrong conclusions and false assumptions. It is important to keep everything as consistent as possible, including ambient temperatures. A minor increase in ambient temperature can lower GPU scores. It only takes an increase of 1°C to take you past the threshold of the point where firmware will drop the GPU clock down by the next step in the bin. It can also go the other way. A decrease of 1°C can be all it takes to allow the GPU to boost a bin higher. Either way, benchmark scores will immediately reflect that change.

The best place to start is often the first or second driver released on a new GPU launch. So, figure out when your GPU was first released and test the first and second driver, maybe third. Things often start going downhill after that, but the Green Goblin puts its best foot forward at launch to make the new GPU stand out from the GPU it is intended to replace. Older is often better where drivers are concerned. The exception is the changes they do to fix glitches with specific game titles, and those fixes might be good for the game, but maybe not so good for benching. Then, they do so-called "security" updates and those are almost always bad for performance. I am not aware of any example, ever, of a computer performing better after security updates are applied.

He is on the opposite side of the world (UK) so there is a big time difference. He also has a young family and works, so he may not have as many opportunities during the hours we keep. I think people that complain about hot air coming from their radiators (or laptop exhaust vents) is a reflection of not understanding how thermal management works. While it is certainly not pleasant if you are in the line of fire of that hot air, and makes for an uncomfortable workspace if you do not have good air circulation in your workspace, the hot air being created is actually good from the perspective that it means the cooling system is working efficiently. If hot air is not being produced, the heat is staying in a place where you do not want the heat.

The right to keep and bear arms is no less important than freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and all other articles of our Constituion. The push against it is diabolical and against everything that has made this the greatest nation on the planet. Disarming of citizens has historically been a first step in the powers of darkness establishing a totalitarian government. I am in a meeting and will watch the video when I have a minute. Ironic that I just said to @Papusanlast night that we would likely see reviews from Roman and Jay before I get mine. Edit: Watching it now. I suspected that Roman was directly involved in the development, as he often is with EKWB, but I had nothing to base it on. His involvement enhances the likeliness that it will be good. @Papusanit looks like KitGuru's initial involvement was the prompting of the product and EK ran with the idea, rather than the other way. That probably explains the lackluster initial results as well. Before Direct Die: Over 90°C EKWB Direct Die: Below 80°C (roughly 13°-15°C improvement versus IHS)

That could be useful depending on the installation. An example of where it could be useful is an open bench setup. We are starting to see more examples of really goofy-looking cases as well. Weird doesn't even begin to describe how ridiculous some of them look. With the fan facing downward, it would put all of the cables exiting the on the closed side panel side of normal tower case. If you had enough space between the PSU and side panel, it could be helpful to make extra space for drive cages in in front of the PSU and maybe help with cable management. On a case with very little space between the side panel and PSU it would not work at all. On a case that has no basement cover hiding the PSU and the horrible rat's nest of cables, this could also greatly enhance the appearance of the build, assuming there is enough air space between the PSU and side panel for the cables.

Time will tell. Almost everything sucks now. It is nice when we discover an exception and it doesn't suck. If it works as it should it will be a nice cooling upgrade. If it works correctly it will be a helluva lot better than the SuperCool design that requires taking special steps to avoid dumping water on your motherboard. The 7000X3D not launching on Valentine's Day is a gift. It would be cruel to release a crippled CPU on a day where you should be honoring the people that love you.

Right, but it was obvious that the parts did not fit together correctly and it was a rough prototype barely under development. Hopefully, it will be turning out good, but it would be kind of wrong to believe that initial concept prototype shown in that video is the same result as the final product 5 months later. He was sanding it on a belt sander to try to get it to fit and I can't believe that they would sell a product like that and place their brand reputation in such jeopardy that way. At least they took an extra 5 months time to get it right before sending it to production. I wish SuperCool would have done that instead of sending me a piece of garbage. Anyway, we will find out together and if it is trash I will demand a refund or place a dispute with my credit card if they refuse.

We will find out after I get it because I am running a delid with liquid metal on both sides of the IHS right now. My temperatures are higher than they showed in the video, but it's not a good comparison because they were using the default voltage and causing the CPU to overheat. The video is worthless from a technical perspective. It was poorly executed. But, it is interesting to see what they were working on. I think the video was not a good thing to release for a beta product because it shows results that may not be an accurate reflection of the final product. Viewers may form opinions based on flawed or inaccurate information. Since it just now became available for pre-order we may see some reviews by Roman or Jay before I get mine.

Newer versions of 3DMark are screw up and results over time are unreliable because they change too much between versions. It is no longer a good benchmark tool due to its flaws. That second "update" video was from 5 months ago when the product was a work-in-process beta prototype that did not fit properly. So, I do not think we can put much weight on it. Even so, the temps shown here after sanding down the frame are better than I saw with 12900K with the first (flawed) version of the SuperCool direct die block. If I remember correctly, in that video they were using BIOS defaults, which would be far too much voltage and cause the CPU to run crazy hot. BIOS defaults voltage is always way too high. Both of my Z690 Strix and my Dark motherboard apply over 100mV too much with BIOS defaults appled. If it is no good I will demand a refund for selling a defective product. But, I expect it will be good, and better than with an IHS. I do not believe EKWB would release it if it is not properly functioning. It would be harmful to their reputation. But, we will find out in 5 or 6 weeks when I get it.

This video was just posted today. They use the direct die kit. I am watching it now to see if it shows anything in terms of results. The early prototypes from 6 months ago that we saw on KitGuru had a way to go before being ready for prime time. Their new delid kit looks better than Rockit Cool. Man, what an ugly looking case. Edit: No results on cooling, just a build video for the kiddos.

The part they are missing is the complaint is not about "no benefit" but actually harm to the functionality of the 980 Ti. That is different than "no benefit" to older GPUs.

To be fair, I would not expect a better response from any of the other vendors. NVIDIA is at fault for it. It affects all brands, correct? Remember all of the problems a long time ago with clock-blocking and the way they ruined 780M SLI performance? It is likely that nobody has the ability fix it except for NVIDIA because it was their cancer driver. What would have been an appropriate response from Zotac is "Thank you for alerting us. We are sorry this has happened. We will see if we can confirm the problem in our product support team and reach out to NVIDIA to have the problem corrected." But, I doubt ASUS, MSI, Gigabutt or any other brand would do that. None of them give a rat's butt about end users. EVGA might have, but now they are out of the picture. I agree the example of Pontius Pilate is fitting here. Sadly, NVIDIA does do whatever NVIDIA wants. They do not care about end users, their AIB "partners" or any of their products that are not current generation. That is one reason why EVGA is no longer in the GPU business. And, in other news, AMD drivers are killing 6000-series Radeon cards. What a wonderful slice of heaven we have in PC tech today.

Yes. The point being is that the problem is probably driver and Windows and/or 3DMark version. Scores go up and down and things change, and it is rare that scores ever improve with 3DMark version updates. It is also rare that performance improves as the Redmond Retards update their trash OS. Things almost always decline. Sometimes scores can improve with NVIDIA driver version changes, but almost never does 3DMark or Windows performamce get better after an update. More often than not, Windows Updates actually impair performance and recovery from the performance loss is rare, if not outright impossible. Like everything else, newer is always better newer. It is not a coincidence that it rhymes with manure.

Yes. Straight from the NVIDA playbook of dirty, rotten tricks like 3090 Ti. Did you follow up on my previous post? Look at your unmatchable high score. Note the date and what NVIDIA driver was used. Go back to that NVIDIA driver and re-test. If still low, refer to the date and remove all Windows Updates installed since then, and retest. Bear in mind, 3DMark is known for being buggy. Sometimes you will get a high score than neither you nor anyone else can match because the test run with the high score glitched out. Firestrike, for example, is notorious for having horrible results in the combined test (last test in the sequence) if you are using the wrong NVIDIA driver. Even with the same driver, you can reboot and rerun the test and the combined score can be much higher. The combined test result will have a major impact on the overall score as well.