Mr. Fox

I have always loved guns and assault weapons in particular. I used to own quite a few and my younger brother is still heavily into firearms (he actually designs and fabricates them new from raw materials and restores antique and special interest firearms). But, I can only afford one hobby. If the performance computing hobby continues on its current path and turns to crap like it seems to be the path we are heading down, the time and money spend will be diverted back to guns again. Before I got married and started having kids it was street rods, drag racing and motorcycles. That is no longer an option due to cost being totally out of control in motorsports. These are rich man sports. Besides that, the cleanliness of computing has pretty much ruined that for me. I am no longer interested in having busted knuckles or grease under my fingernails, or paint, solvent or exhaust fumes in my nostrils. That ship has sailed and I no longer want to be on it. I do still love the roar of a a high-revving V8 with open headers and the whistle of a belt-driven blower, but only if someone else is paying for it.

My gaming satisfaction tends to scale with the product and price tag. I find it easier to be satisfied with the performance of products that are consistent with how much (or how little) I paid for it. The more inexpensive the product is, the more likely I am to overlook deficits in performance and minor flaws. I expect a great deal (near perfection) from expensive items and become very critical in forming opinions about them. The flip side is when something is inexpensive and can do what you need it to (with appropriate expectations) without costing a lot, those products are easy to love... or at least appreciate even if you don't love it. I would find it unforgivable for a halo-tier GPU (3090 Ti, 4090, 5090, 7900 XTX, etc.) to not tackle 4K @ 120+ FPS with very high or maxed out settings.

Do we actually know for certain there is going to be a K|NGP|N model, or just hope that Vince will save us from the sucky trash card hell tomorrow is almost certain to bring? If I am remembering correctly, Vince was in talks with PNY? Or was it Zotac? I do not remember hearing if that was ever solidified or became official. For less than $100, can't hate this... one 6-pin power connector. I wish it was not white, but whatever.

While it is impossible to mandate decency and morality, I am all for mandates that uphold the ethics, traditional family values and Judeo-Christian fabric that our nation was built upon. While conceptually supporting freedom of speech and thought, it is unacceptable to give preference and afford special consideration or legal protection to those that drive a controversial and socially reprehensible minority agenda that opposes the principles our nation was founded upon.

Probably the same reason ASUS does. People will pay more for it, even if it doesn't actually perform any better. This has never been more true than it is today. The niche-model high-end flagship GPUs (K|NGP|N and Galax HOF being the exceptions with more things unlocked) generally perform the same as the cheaper models in the same SKU. That started to become more evident with 3090/3090Ti and it got worse with 4090 as the cheaper entry-level cards frequently outperformed the 4090s models that were ~25% more expensive. It has become very common for a low-end $1500 Zotac Trinity or PNY 4090 to run the same as a $2300 Strix 4090. That's hard to forgive. You're not getting better QC or silicon bin quality. All you're getting is a harder punch to the wallet. It is starting to become true on motherboards as well. Especially the undesirable 4-DIMM garbage. Why spend $1,000 on a Godlike or Maximus Extreme board that sucks to the same degree as a budget Tomahawk or Prime motherboard? Basically getting fleeced for twice as much money for something that is not any better, and might even be worse, in terms of performance.

I may sell one of my 4090s and buy fifteen RX 590 at $100 each. (Yes, I am being facetious.) I haven't decided if I am going to consider a 5090. The idea of having something more powerful than a 4090 is compelling because of my fetish. Saying no to it will require a degree of restraint and level-headed thought. I am starting to feel like this hobby is no longer worth pursuing. I often feel like all I am doing is being complicit with (and bamboozled by) part manufacturers and their ludicrous over-the-top cash grabs for overpriced enthusiast-focused products that actually suck at overclocking. If my primary goal is overclocked benching and these new parts don't have any mojo to spare then the joke is on me. At least it is starting to feel that way. The idea that a 4090, much less a 5090, is "needed" for gaming is kind of asinine. The fact that much weaker and far less expensive GPUs comprise the vast majority of what is being sold for gaming will ensure that "need" for $2,000 video cards among gamers does not, and will not, exist for the foreseeable future. As much as NVIDIA might like the idea, game developers are not going to burn a lot of calories producing games that require that their customers spend $2,000 on a GPU capable of running it smoothly with respectable framerates. The game developers are going to focus on producing games that are playable and enjoyable on affordable computer systems since that is what most of their customers own. I threw out the sarcasm about the RX 590 only because I bought a brand new one to upgrade the legacy build I gave to my son-in-law with the X79 Gene and GTX Titan Black. Both of my teenage grand daughters are gamers and that antique Titan isn't getting the job done for them. I tested the $99 RX 590 8GB GPU in my Z90i Edge system (still in it at the moment) and it is a substantial upgrade over the generationally insanely expensive and supreme Titan for a measley $99. As I played some BF2042 and Crysis 3 Remastered at 1080p and medium settings with 75-100 FPS I was impressed with what a cost-effective entry point it is for a gamerboy (or gamergirl in their case). Nothing to write home about. But, insanely easy on the wallet that will give them a lot more enjoyment than the comparatively slow Titan that is on its last leg for driver support. $99 for a ~35% performance uplift feels like a nice gift. If they want something better they can buy their own GPU, LOL. https://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/32045608/fs/32754644 https://www.3dmark.com/compare/sd/6476802/sd/6502319 https://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/16365577/3dm11/16525382

I find it difficult to understand the logic behind this. But, I am not a gaming enthusiast. If playing PC games ranked high on my list of important things in life I might find it easier to relate. They don't seem to be useful for much of anything else from what I can see. It will be interesting to see if the dual CCD Ryzen 9 X3D will overclock any better than a 9950X. The +200 overclock cap is really annoying.

As far as the turdbook topic goes, there is no longer any such thing as a "good laptop" and you can have whatever you want as long as you want a piece of trash. I honestly do not anticipate that I will ever purchase another laptop again for the rest of my life. I find them all utterly disgusting. As for the desktop, there is never a shortage of trash for the zombie fanboys. It's somewhat comical that the Alienware brand still exists. I guess that means there is also no shortage of stupidity. It's actually rather pathetic when you stop and think about it.

Having everything metered and controlled really ruins things. PCs are becoming nothing more than electronic equivalents of hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers. Having one that is gold plated doesn't make it any more functional than one painted black. The gold plated screwdrivers are designed for people that derive pleasure from wasting money on shiny things that do not perform better. In other words it will be business as usual for turdbook lovers. It's the performance desktop enthusiasts that will be left with nothing worth buying, and a worthless option available for every budget.

That cooler looks a lot like the air cooler from my 4090 Suprim. Not metal, but the lines and geometry are very recognizable. Happy New Year to you as well, brother. Sorry to hear about your CPU. Both of my Z790 systems are still running like a top. I needed something new to play with and decided to give AMD another chance since the top dog Core Ultra offered zero interest. I hated the X570/5950X that I previously owned. This new AM5 build is pretty decent overall. While I still prefer my two Z790 builds, I am content with the 9950X overall and don't regret buying it. It was definitely the better option compared to Core Ultra 285K. All modern platforms have at least a few things that are disappointing. I think the days of awesome PC stuff are behind us now. I have an X670E Gene inbound from China. I think it will be a better candidate for overclocking, especially on the memory side of things. If it gets here before my extended holiday return window closes (assuming the Gene functions as expected) I will be sending the X870E Carbon back to NewEgg for a refund.

It will be interesting to see what they do to 5080, 5070 and 5060 to make the lesser SKUs unattractive so that everyone wants to donate spare body parts to buy the 5090. Wonder if there will be any 5090 overclock headroom left or if it will be pushed to the brink of failure like 14900KS?

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

The new normal... never the best from any tech company, but some failing harder than others. Sad times. Maybe 2025 will not be as bad.

Happy New Year!

If they mute the performance they can squeeze out an additional 15 minutes more on turdbook battery life and shave 0.5mm off the thickness. That will bring glee to the sheeple. 😑

Happy New Year... less than 24 hours until 2025!

It's unfortunate there is not an AIDA64 memory benchmark in that Safedisk screenshot. I find it a bit annoying that this is frequently omitted from AMD memory overclocking screenshots because it makes it hard for me to gauge my tuning success with rarely anything to compare with. The Apex is sure to be irrationally overpriced simply because it is a ROG part and severe overpricing is status quo with A$$zeus. Add a decent CU DIMM kit to that and I bet it is going to be excessively expensive.

People that have never been here and believe what they see and hear on the "news" being critical of the United States. Equally annoying, those born here that do the same thing, don't know how good they have it, and foolish enough to believe the grass is greener. To them I say, "Go ahead... FAFO." 🤣

The Gene definitely is not an ideal solution. Form factor alone is a severe strike against it. I don't have it yet, so I can't say what I think of it. Its only noteworthy virtue is the fact that it is not compromised and degraded as an idiotic 4-DIMM abortion like virutally everything else. Hopefully I will see it as good enough that I will find a way to overlook what I already view as faults and design defects. The only thing that is actually desirable about an mATX motherboard design is that it is not iTX. The Gene may be a rare exception. I view the Z90i Edge as a rare exception for iTX acceptability, but really only because of 2-DIMM config and respectable overclocking. Who knows what they'll charge for the X870E Apex and how much extra will get tacked on by dishonest retailers and scalpers, or how limited the availability will be. All part of their despicable scumbag plan to keep profit margins high, I reckon. The Gene is obsolete and still selling for $200 more than it was worth when it was cutting edge. And, sourcing one isn't easy. Yeah, the Core Ultra thing is just really sad by every measurement. If Nova Lake is not any better, then I think the future for high performance PCs will be hopeless. AMD is already showing us again they're really not serious about winning with their latest GPU launch. If they don't have Intel gnawing at their ankles and trying to make them look bad on the CPU side they'll do worse and offer less. The entire performance and gaming PC industry is circling the drain. We're overdue for a hard reset. If and when we reboot we need to deny life support to all of the retarded and dishonest OEMs making stupid decisions. A$$zeus needs to be the first one we unplug and flat-line. Do not rescuscitate. The question is, is there another one good enough that is less scummy? Probably not. That much is evident by the fact that they're all peddling sucky 4-DIMM trash boards as industry standard. They'll never get back on my shopping list with pathetic limp-wristed mama's boy trash like that on offer. Is 5.0GHz supposed to be something impressive? Since when, maybe like 10 years ago?

The question is, will it even be available? And how absurd will the price be? Or will it be like the Z790 version and only available to a few lucky buyers with perfect timing. For many it has felt more like a publicity stunt than anything else. Intel needs to get back on track. 285K is a perma-broken joke. With only 24T and no HT 285K can't be taken seriously. Obsolete prior to release. No forgiveness available because you can't fix stupid. The purchase of the 9950X is my way of drawing a line in the sand. It didn't need to be a better product than 285K, it only needed to be not retarded.

Sad to share this news, but there were no interested buyers and the infamous @Enterprise from ExtremeHW.com (for years at overclock.net as a lead moderator before he opened ExtremeHW) is shutting things down for good. I enjoyed interacting with several guys there and doing the hardware reviews. If anyone has the time, desire and resources, you could take it over for free (no purchase)... https://extremehw.net/topic/3923-extremehw-site-auction-bidding-ends-jan-1st/?do=findComment&comment=48336

Unless AMD releases a 4090 killer they still won't have anything worth buying as far as I am concerned. It looks like the 9070 XT won't even beat a 7900 XT if the rumors are true, so there is a great big nothing burger with flies all over it. Not beating the 7900 XTX by a solid 10-15% margin is unacceptable. Finding something nice to say about it, good job to AMD for sticking with legacy 8-pin PCIe cables. That allows one to take advantage of pre-PCIe 5.0 PSUs that are getting discounted to appropriate value price levels. Let's hope the rumor is baloney, but AMD being true to form this will not come as a surprise. Pay extra for a GPU downgrade because newer is always better newer. Better off grabbing a RX 590 8GB GPU for under $100 and playing in 1080p with medium settings, or buying a 4090. The middle-ground option blows. Hot or cold is always better than lukewarm. Lukewarm is disgusting. Nothing is ever too trashy for the kiddos. https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/asus-leaks-its-rog-nuc-2025-on-social-media-ahead-of-ces-debut-—-compact-gamer-focused-rtx-50-and-core-ultra-200-mini-pc-on-the-way.3867671/#post-23402890

This is a personal choice, but I definitely would stick with soft tubing and QDC fittings for the maximum quality of life benefit. Hard tubing looks fantastic when done right, but it is impractical and inconvenient, and unnecessarily costly. It provides no benefit other than having something nice to look at (assuming it turns out perfectly to your liking on the first try) and the likelihood of leaking is enhanced due to how the fittings are designed. The simplest type of maintenance becomes a huge pain in the butt. You literally can't do anything without draining the system except maybe swapping RAM sticks. Depending on how the loop is designed, you may not even be able to do that. I think even the King of Hard Tubing (JayzTwoCents) has decided that it's just too impractical for anything built for daily use. It's purely for show. The need for maintenance won't be any different, but it could occur less frequent than it should due to the dread of having to work on it. And, if you don't capture and reuse the coolant, a simple CPU or GPU repaste will turn into a very costly and inconvenient project that would otherwise be inexpensive, quick and easy. Heaven forbid that one of the tubes get cracked in the process unless you spend extra to have spare hard tubing on hand in case of an unexpected emergency. I am not sure how large that case is (haven't looked closely at measurements) to see what kind of wiggle room there is, but building a self-contained custom loop is a challenge in all but the most gargantuan cases. I did a couple of builds that way before moving to open benches and enclosed cases with external cooling components and there always seems to be something that manages to get in the way of doing what you want. But, if you enjoy jigsaw puzzles you might actually enjoy the challenge. Some people really do enjoy that aspect of the build. I prefer it to be quick, easy and convenient most of all. Having to do a lot of pre-planning, measuring and starting over again when your planning and measurements were off just enough to present a problem tends to ruin it for me. At the end of the day, I think you should do what you think will ultimately make you the most happy. The only person you need to please with the PC build is yourself (or the owner if you are building for someone else).

It is rare to see such a grand demonstration of an engineering abortion, even from a company as dishonest as A$$zeus. Maybe Frank Azor is working there now. That rises to Frankie's level of failure and its price tag is guaranteed to identify the greatest of the world's idiots that have decided to identify as a gamerboy.