Mr. Fox

You should do you, brother. If I were you I would buy a 4090 now and cross the next bridge whenever I got to it. It is anyone's guess when the 5090 will drop and how many internal organs you will need to sell to pay for it. Tomorrow is always approaching, but never arrives.

Thanks. I know a couple of guys that might be interested. Looks like it is going for about $240 on NewEgg. How much do you want for it? I will let them know and put them in contact with you if they want it. If you haven't already tried, overclock.net marketplace is also a good option.

The ignorance and stupidity of the general public, including "gamers" is more than astounding. It's actually rather pathetic and tragic. I remember you posting earlier in this thread. I will see if I can find it using the forum search to see which kit it is. I don't remember if it is the part part number as both of my 8000 kits or not. Edit: @RaidermanI have looked and coming up with nothing using forum search posted by you, which is really strange. I know I remember seeing it posted, more than once. What is the part number? Can you post a picture of the box showing that? I might know someone that is interested depending on the part number.

In that case just let him do whatever he wants to and don't try to influence him. He will either be happy or regret it and either way it will be his decision and not your problem. I used to have family members ask me for advice on computer and automotive purchasing decisions all of the time. I would tell them exactly what to do and why, and then they would do the opposite. Then they would come to me asking for help resolving issues I told them they would have buying what they were planning to buy against my advice. It was frustrating for me to deal with that, so I stopped giving advice and I just tell them to do the research on their own and make a choice. Then I don't have to be tempted with saying "see, I told you so" or frustrated by the lamenting "I should have listened to you" because I didn't tell them anything. They eventually figured it out and stopped asking for help with car problems after my response was always, "sorry, I changed professions a long time ago, and I'm no longer interested in working on your car or mine. Take it to a shop." And, I don't provide any advice on that either. If they don't like the repair shop or they get screwed, that's on them. Then they can't pull the "your shop did... to me" card. They still ask for computer advice and I tell them that my opinions are not compatible with theirs, so just buy whatever they can afford as long as it is not made by Apple. It was usually some piece of crap they bought because it is cheap or because some idiot they thought was smarter than me told them to. I still get sucked into their computer problems most of the time. I tried the "bring it over and leave it here and when I have spare time I will look at it" trick and that never works. They always do. I did have a few relatives buy Apple products even though I told them not to and when they asked for help fixing problems or doing upgrades I just told them, "no, I'm sorry you should have listened to me, I am not interested in working on crApple products" and wish them good luck getting it fixed or upgraded. Now the crApple fans don't even bother asking me anymore. Glad to hear it is working nicely for you as well. What CPU, IMC and DIMM voltage values and tight secondary timing are you using the memory?

I was thinking 4090 not 4080S when I said that. I guess it depends on whether you are paying scalper prices or the correct price, LOL. You know me. We're the same. Don't want the less expensive red cards. Rather pay more for the green crud than the red crud. Less crappy costs more.

Good questions from Brother @electrosoft. If he has not owned an AMD GPU before, this has potential to go either way. He may be happy with it and saving several hundred dollars might be what he is trying to accomplish. He could be tickled pink. But, if he is easily annoyed by some things, including change, and he is used to NVIDIA features he may have massive regrets. This is going to depend on his personality to some degree. If he enjoys ray-traced games, (or playing WOW like @electrosoft does) I would urge him to stick with the Green Goblin's overpriced GPUs. I have a friend that has been an AMD GPU fan for a long time that purchased a 7900 XTX and regrets it. He loves his 6800 XT, but he is not impressed with his most recent purchase. It might be the only way to know is for him to FAFO, but if he is not happy in the end it is a costly mistake.

Here's this: CORSAIR MP600 ELITE with Heatsink M.2 SSD Review by Mr.Fox

Paying less and getting less is true most of the time. The bar is set low here and those that choose this path like it set low. Merchants like this group because it lets them make money selling garbage to people that embrace garbage because it is cheap. Fast food dollar menu, fat and happy. Their tummy is full of crap and it didn't cost much. They're not hungry and they'll come back for more crap very soon. Paying more and getting more is not guaranteed, but it should be. The group that chooses this path are often disappointed. Nobody likes getting screwed or being lied to. They expect their steak to be tender, juicy, delicious and cooked to order. That's what they paid for. If it is not, they reject what is on their plate. And, they should. They're a pain in the butt, and they should be. They will tell others what sucked and won't be polite about it.

I agree with that because it is a huge problem for the merchant and the honest customers. It sucks that it takes such a long time to process a refund, but (as usual) bad actors screw things up for everyone.

It's nice to see such a sense of urgency and emphasis on service from DHL. Puts them in the same League of Losers (LOL) bucket as USPS.

Amen. It is taken for granted that newer is going to be trash, and even in the rare circumstance it might have something better it comes with something worse. It is pretty sad how some people deliberately look for ME updates. I mean, they obviously don't understand things. There should be a public outcry against it, yet some of the sheeple purposefully update it as a standalone item even. Can't fix stupid. EVGA is was the only manufacturer that actually understood Intel ME is undesirable. Not only did they refuse to update it (appropriately) they provided a way to disable it with a simple firmware option. This should be standard on all motherboards (consumer, business or enthusiast). It offers nothing of value to anyone other than spying governments and hackers. It's designed solely for the purpose of remote access and created to be a backdoor access point. It makes sense that the CCP requires that motherboard manufacturers keep it updated.

I linked to it in the above post. But, here is a link to the file Safedisk put on his Google Drive. https://drive.google.com/file/d/12BvcW0xg68IQfGmv1K0-blIk6606YY1S/view That link above is for the white Apex. This link is for the Apex Encore https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SABixIb6seTaeyyPJNC9rISTGZ_IAtfc/view Both are version 9901. You can also tell by the file name. The Encore version has Encore in the file name.

Well, I returned the 14900KF turd to Amazon today. The previously returned 14900K from Amazon was received by them Monday of last week. They have it, haven't updated the order to show it received and still no refund. I spoke to their customer service twice and both reps confirmed they have it and I will just have to wait until they process the return. The garbage 14900K returned to NewEgg was refunded within 2 days of them receiving it. The SP102 (P114) 14900K coming from Germany is still in Germany sitting in a DHL shipping container for 4 days waiting to be put on a flight to the US with no date specified. Once it is received here by DHL it will be handed off to the goons at USPS for delivery via "Priority Mail" (LOL). So now it is a waiting game to get the one from Germany and get my $1200 back from Amazon. I am using the SP96 14900K purchased from @Talon in the white Apex. It is delidded and bare die now and overall a very respectable sample. It is very similar to my SP108 13900K installed in the Munchkin PC for P and E cores, but weaker on the IMC/memory overclocking. The memory controller SP was reported as kind of weak (MC78) on other BIOS versions and I could not get it stable past 8000 on the memory until I flashed test BIOS v9901 from Safedisk. That changed the MCSP to 82 and now it's stable at 8200 and running fine using the settings that were stable at 8000. This one from Brother @Talon is WAY BETTER than the trash bin crap samples sent back to NewEgg and Amazon. They must be saving all of the "average" 14900K to be rebranded as "KS" and leaving the trash for those that can't wait and don't want to pay extra for normal. I also flashed test BIOS v9901 for the Encore and it is very solid. It did not change any SP numbers on the SP117 13900K, but I was able to lower the VDIMM for 8600 from 1.650V to 1.600V without losing any stability. BIOS v9901 seems like the best for both versions of the Apex. An observation in comparing four 14900K/KF CPUs to four 13900KS CPUs (including the one the white Apex killed with TurboV Core) is that the 14th Gen seem slower at the same clocks than 13th Gen. Probably due to vulnerabilities mitigations. All of the 13900KS CPUs are 500-700 points higher in Cinebench R23 than the 14th Gen CPUs at P58x/E47x/C50x on both the Apex and Apex Encore. I'm really not identifying the 14th Gen CPUs as being a legitimate upgrade over 13900KS. Ignoring the SP ratings and VF curves and giving them what they need to run stable, the 14th Gen seem equal or worse depending on how much voltage is needed, but not demonstrably a better product in terms of performance or benchmark results when run at the same clock speeds. None of the samples I have so far will overclock higher, so kind of pointless product unless if you have a decent 13900KS. With the LLC tuned this 14900KS needs 1.280V for Cinebench R23 at P58x/E47x/C50x which is coincidentally identical to the SP108 13900KS (P120), but doesn't score as well. Temps and power draw are also the same. Pretty interesting. So, moral to the story is, don't pass up a nicely binned 13900KS in favor of a 14900K. You'll accomplish nothing. Thanks for killing my SP112 CPU ASUS. Your garbage motherboards have killed 3 so far (one 10th Gen and two 13th Gen). Good job, guys.

Probably paying attention to things that matter and are of importance. Windows 11 is not important and it doesn't matter. It is stupid and irrelevant.

I haven't heard anything of late. I certainly hope that it's still going to happen.

They have done away with some of the fancy schmancy trim that makes things look special even if they are not. That may account for part of the cost reduction as well.

I might have to try to get one of these for testing in my Munchkin PC.

AI is just a highly automated version of GIGO on steroids. It reflects the views (right, wrong or indifferent) of the minority programming it, not the masses that they claim will benefit from it. It will never be good as long as idiots are providing the logic it runs on. Looks like Google is having a Bud Light moment. GIGO is a problem. It always will be. We've known this for decades, but the agenda was business, not social re-engineering and computer-assisted brainwashing. That part is new. So is the programming being orchestrated by agenda-driven goofballs.

I love the messaging in just about everything he does. All of his songs cut to the quick and call out the insanity of the left and woke. I like this metal version of Funky Cold Medina.

I'm surprised you are running all of the pumps and external things off the system PSU. On both of my larger desktops the radiator fans and pumps run off of an inexpensive PSU with a jumper on the 24-pin motherboard cable. They do not connect to the system PSU at all. For one thing they are too far away from the computer. I'd need too many long SATA and Molex extensions. Plus it would seem kind of messy having the extensions strung across several feet.

Looks like MSI is making a comeback of the affordable MPower mobos focused on overclocking memory and CPU. Would be nice if they can get Apex or Dark performance out the door for $199. https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-mpower-series-return-with-new-z790-overclocking-board-ddr5-8000-memory-support-at-199-usd AND, Tachyon is back in stock again. I would have purchased this instead of the Encore, but none were available anywhere. @tps3443 https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145490?Item=N82E16813145490&Source=socialshare&cm_mmc=snc-social-_-sr-_-13-145-490-_-02262024

Interesting on the GPU having no thermal paste. I would love to know the whole story behind that. Hopefully, the owner picked it up cheap from someone that thought it was broken. Not much I have for comment on the Dell other than better than a Mac. But, that's not saying much. Any number multiplied by zero is zero. Isn't it interesting how it is so easy to tell lies for marketing purposes. It seems like it is becoming the new normal.

Nice. Here is an interesting look at the GPU performance stack. https://www.3dmark.com/compare/sw/568282/sw/1256256/sw/239604/sw/726068/sw/115478/sw/1065449/sw/920239

I have two RM1200x SHIFT and they are very good. So many people in a hurry to fix things that are not broken...

I am not disagreeing and find it objectionable to be denied the ability to do whatever I want to. But, the example of the one-off weird things that happened with Clevo and Alienware laptops does not seem to be what the people complaining are complaining about. The way I read it they were bent out of shape that MSI was not going to release firmware updates. I will go back and read it again in case I skimmed too much and they actually had a legitimate reason of some kind to worked up over it. My point was, and still is, if the monitor works correctly I don't care if MSI, LG, Sony, Dell, AOC or any other monitor manufacturer ever releases a firmware update for it even once. I would not look for a firmware update and if I became aware of one I would not flash it if my monitor was working correctly. Edit: Yeah, they expect MSI to release firmware UPDATES for the monitors. That's just stupid. That's a problem that isn't a problem. They just want something to mitch and boan about. Nothing is mentioned about being unable to re-flash the original firmware, only that MSI is not offering any "updates" or "limited" updates, LOL. MSI does not need to provide a mechanism for consumers to flash monitor firmware that doesn't belong on their monitors. Not providing an easy or convenient way for it to be done is not the same as interfering with it. Interfering or blocking it is evil. They're not doing that based on the article. The only reasons we were able to fix our Clevo and Alienware monitors was through unorthodox means. It wasn't because Clevo and Alienware were trying to prevent it, it was because they didn't have a fix for it.