electrosoft

I agree, they let me know my old PSU was indeed failing when I asked and an RMA exchange was authorized and on the way. Didn't expect to open the box and find a Titanium. I only sent the PSU back, so now I have a massive swath of P2 1600w cables. I'll have to check to see if they're compatible with the T6. I know they're compatible with my EVGA P2 850. Sounds about right for EK.... I am genuinely curious to see what the 9950X3D2 can do but the fact they're not really touting it has faster than the 9850X3D is pretty telling. That was a good pick up I saw over there. Hope you had a good Easter brother @Mr. Fox! Love seeing the 12 core monster get slowly unraveled and working on real Z790 boards....hopefully you get over that cold on your YT video sooner than later bro. Probably a bit of fear of voltage issues again if left to run on consumer boards that allow it to overclock and push more voltage. The 13th/14th overvolting issues really did some damage to their name brand and consumer confidence. As @Talon showed, that industry level board he tested the Bartlett on initially was locked down like crazy. They need these P core chips to slot in and run locked in. On the other hand, Intel is boasting that Raptor Lake is alive and well and more boards both DDR4/5 are on the way.... https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-says-raptor-lake-is-not-going-anywhere-hints-at-more-ddr4-ddr5-hybrid-boards Now they need to officially support Bartlett Lake-S on current and future boards and open the floodgates. Depending on where it eventually lands, I wouldn't be adverse to picking one up. A 12 P-Core only chip is just yummy. What a cool rabbit hole you've gone down @Reciever on many fronts from the AC ducting to using a 9070xt for FG support. Which model did you swap the 3090ti for? Nice! All that's left is to block the GPU..... Industrial white with all black is always the slickest look IMHO. ------------------------------------------

Forgot to follow up on the EVGA PSU RMA... I ended up having to pay return shipping. It was a snafu in the original RMA saying a prepaid label would be provided. Ah well..... So I got my EVGA replacement PSU in today and in MSI fashion (which replaced my AI1300 platinum with a MEG AI1600T), they sent me a SuperNova 1600w Titanium T6 to replace my Platinum 1600w P2 which I've never even heard of before. It has 9x PCIe connectors. Model #220-T6-1600-B1 (but with the 10yr warranty still intact). Has anyone heard of this particular model? -------------------------- 9950X3D2 runs toasty or EK trying to pump up business? EK is recommending water cooling to extract full performance....

https://videocardz.com/newz/chinese-memory-stockpilers-start-to-panic-as-falling-prices-leave-them-stuck-with-modules "Reports from Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei market say traders and resellers that bought DDR5 in bulk during the run-up are now struggling to clear inventory, with some sellers cutting prices quickly to avoid being left with stock that keeps losing value. Yicai says some new 16GB DDR5 sticks that..." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Microcenter with 270k "coming soon" already marking down the $349 to $329 while still not putting stock out (they haven't been listed for sale yet since launch) to push as many combos and in house prebuilts as possible.....yuck. I cancelled my combo deal as it made no sense as all I want is the damn CPU and no desire for another MB or trash 2x16GB DDR5 memory. I'll just wait till they drop back to $299.99. Newegg is flush with them now as is Amazon as expected after that initial FOMO rush.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top end mobile Nova Lake HX will finally differentiate core count wise from desktop for the first time since 11th gen due to the sheer size and power draw of all those cores. We're moving into Nvidia mobile land now but what else can you do? Mobile Nova Lake HX will have half the overall P core count as top end Nova Lake Desktop (8 vs 16) and 28 cores overall vs 52 on desktop. " The new leak suggests Nova Lake-HX will not mirror the desktop configuration. As previously reported, Nova Lake-S for desktops is rumored to scale up to 52 cores, combining 16 P-cores and 32 E-cores. The mobile variant is said to be more conservative, topping out at 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores. " --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looks like iBOT does tinker with the binary code of applications.... https://videocardz.com/newz/geekbench-says-intel-bot-rewrites-benchmark-code-geekbench-6-7-will-detect-optimized-runs I'm ok with this for non benchmark applications and Intel finding ways to optimize games and applications over time, but "optimizing" benchmarks is a grey area I'm not too comfortable with if this is true....

Yeah, I continue to look and it will take something major to pry this free Alienware 18 out of my hands because it runs so quiet and only comes to life under gaming/heavy loads and even then it is quieter than the previous MSI. I was wondering how the newer Raider did under load conditions and when pressed. How were the CPU/GPU temps? Memory temps look absolutely dismal. I'm sure under those conditions it was extremely loud. On paper, it looks ideal with a 285hx, 5090, 1600p but if it uses anything close to the same fans as the previous iteration.....yikes. You know they always say couples who WoW together......Does the media center have it on display to see or is it hidden away behind a panel? I contemplated picking up the Midnight darker edition for a build out they look so cool for the wife who immediately loved the darker version for her case. She passed her 5 year anniversary back in September (she started playing during the pandemic out of sheer boredom) playing WoW and is officially more hardcore than I am. She routinely clears ALL the content weekly and that is with working a full time job too. Weekends she is locked into Azzeroth with laser focus lol...she gets up before I do, so I make her cafe con leche the night before and place it on her timer warming pad so she's able to get up and rock and roll the Saturday and Sunday mornings...

Intel and even AMD have before and now are offering CPU optimization tools to compensate primarily for scheduler issues with these hybrid chips and then the next level is re-ordering (aka optimizing) execution for optimal performance dynamically. We are basically talking drivers here. I don't see a problem with these drivers / tools Instead I see a problem with Windows and to a lesser degree developers making trash, bloated, unoptimized software. It's like when you run Timespy or Steel Nomad and you can see a certain performance delta between AMD and Nvidia so that sets a performance bar. We know the 5090 is heads and tails more powerful than the 9070xt / 7900xtx, yet you will suddenly see titles where the performance narrows to an insane level not reflective of benchmarks. You then go into games and literally the performance varies anywhere between 20 to 90% depending on the game being tested not only AMD vs Nvidia but even Nvidia vs Nvidia and AMD vs AMD. The variance and bloat is insane. This can extend even to CPU performance. Some games have horrific CPU optimizations. It was no shock that WoW was on the Intel APO short order list of games. WoW is guilty of this and needs a major overhaul. Player physics absolutely tanks performance regardless of the CPU and leaves the GPU twiddling its thumbs. Fallout 76 is guilty too and needs a major overhaul. The differential in X3D vs Intel for performance is insane. So many console ports relying on the grunt of the CPU/GPU and not optimizing properly need it too. Watching Vex's take on Crimson Desert and some truly great scaling and optimization vs so many bloated corpses masquerading as competent game engines. Basically this........... I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and NOT accept CPU or GPU makers doing what they can to optimize and present their products in the best light to my benefit no matter the scale or exclusivity. I do get rankled a bit when they have the ability to backport the technologies to previous CPUs/GPUs but don't trying to push current iterations as hard as possible though....but that's for another day. 🙂

Looks like I might have to RMA sometime soon. x870e Hero LCD display is starting to go on the fritz and flash random colors in patches. Google search shows this is a known problem and eventually it will die flat out, bummer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Yeah, I remember when they did that on my 11th gen XPS laptop from them after I altered the cfg values to enable TS support a subsequent BIOS update locked it down even further. It's problematic so that's why I was asking about your experience with Smokeless. A 5070 is just a bit too under powered on the laptop scene for me at this point. 5070ti is the bare level entry level 😞 All I want is an 18" laptop with full BIOS control and at least a 5070ti+ with a super beefy cooling system and space to mod.....am I asking too much? 🤣 Yeah seems to be the new thing with adding new features to the newest products at the time. Intel potentially pulling an AMD and Nvidia move. This isn't new as APO really didn't go anywhere. Luckily it had WoW support and I still enable it on the wife's system for her SP109 14900KS. I wouldn't expect IBOT to have long, far reaching support that builds upon Arrow Lake and continues to extended to it and Nova in the future but you never know. Either way, if Intel is able to dynamically reorder execution instructions to extract better performance, I'm here for it. Nice! Still crazy how Apple silicon ST scores are pretty bonkers now but I'm so glad to see Intel making the right moves lately from Battlemage to returning to mobile dominance to enhancing and lowering the prices of Arrow Lake and not doing a cash grab of a 290k. All reports show Nova is going to be a monster. I haven't picked up a 270k individually yet as prices shot up but I did snag a combo deal on hold from Microcenter for $617.50 to contemplate with a 270k, MSI Z890 Tomahawk and 2x16GB Crucial DDR5 6400 that I would just use in my Z20 Jonsbo mATX case. Still mulling it over if I want to pick that up, suck it up and pay the current $349.99 price tag or just wait till the first wave hype dies down and prices return a bit. Kinda want to play around with an MSI z890 board though too for comparison.... ----------------------------------------------------------- In before the "Well, max tuned chip vs chip I think the 14600k would be better blah blah blah" crowd pipes up...not realizing 99% of users aren't going to touch their settings at all and even just enabling XMP is scary to them....🤣

Offloading frame gen to a secondary card via which method? In regards to just generically picking amongst that group, it would be the 9070xt but depending on how you're offloading and executing FG, it would come down to potentially best bang for the buck too. Did you ever give Smokeless a try on your Alienware 18 or Dell Max 18 before sending them back? How much flexibility do you have on your Lenovo? I really wish they had an 18" version of the Hydro. 😞 I'm content with my Alienware 18 275hx/5070ti primarily because it was free so bang for buck is undetermined since buck == 0; 🤣 I haven't had much time to play around with it lately though. I've been plowing through Midnight at 4k Ultra settings and I think I can safely say we've reached end game with the 5090. Numerous spots can get into the mid to high 80s utilization but nothing so far can cap it out. This shows a 5080 or 4090 would still hit walls in some spots due to the high utilization spots on the 5090 As I'm sure you've experienced, Silvermoon, like Dorongal is an instant player physics frame killer.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AMD officially dropping the 9950X3D2 April 22nd...... I don't think this is going to do much of anything for gaming overall with the same fabric limitations which will be greatly enhanced in Zen 6 but you never know..... I'll be keeping an eye out on this one as I skipped the 9850X3D as it seemed a silly bin bump that can't even sustained its rated speeds in many scenarios vs the 9800X3D which is rock solid. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Official confirmation of the 290k being scrapped (which we knew already) 270k officially available but showing up for $349.99 not $299.99 shipped and sold by Newegg and Amazon. Microcenter also has it listed for $357..... Shenanigans! Of course it is popping up in combo deals already as Newegg (and soon Micro$enter) tries to bundle and move stagnant hardware.... I'm going to hold off and let the air clear a bit as this SP83 265k is doing well enough atm.... --- Cheapest GPU prices: 5060 8GB........$349.99 5060 16GB......$699.99 (?) 5060ti 8GB.....$379.99 5060ti 16GB....$539.99 5070...............$629.99 5070ti.............$913.99 5080...............$1289.99 5090...............$3799.99 (You have TWO kidneys....you'll be ok!) 9060xt 8GB...$329.99 9060xt 16GB.$439.99 9070..............$599.99 9070xt...........$699.99

They opted to skip the slated 290k Plus and just stick with the 250k and 270k. Seeing as the 270k is basically a 285k but depending on bins will be better and the 290k was literally the 285k just pushed a bin up, Intel actually did the right thing this time coming in at killer price points on both the 250k and 270k. Technically, 285k has TVB but it is a non starter really for us. And just like that, the 9600x drops to ~$182 a few days before the 250k launches..... Mobile wise, I'm curious to see what 290hx plus brings to the table as it is rumored to have 10-15% more performance than the 275/285hx variants but that will come down to the supporting rig around the engine as always. Difference between the 275hx in my Acer Neo 16s and the 275hx in my Alienware 18 is night and day. --- Zen 6 is rumored to have a 24 core variant though and if we get that, double X3D AND what is rumored to be significant fabric interconnect latency improvements, it could be a killer chip too. But Nova is going to be a brand new architecture with its own 3d caching system and I am expecting absolutely killer performance out of it too. Unlocked with absolutely no boundaries and a ton of cores, it has pulled ~600-700w in testing. Sounds right up your alley @Mr. Fox! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Apple's new M5 Max chip is a decent little bump CPU wise but GPU wise it is a pretty substantial upgrade.... M1->M5 performance progression in just the Macbook 16" Max models. I imagine the slated M5 Ultra is going to be a beast especially now with M5 the CPU and GPU are own their own, individual modules with Apple having solved the high speed interconnect issues and allowing the same shared memory. This bodes well for future configs too for really building out Macs with multiple GPUs. AI performance is absolutely through the roof. I suspect a lot of M5 Ultra boxes are going to be snapped up for AI work. CPU: GPU Raster: GPU RT:

Intel Ultra 5 250k review. Out of box is clearly a step up over the 245k in a meaningful way not just productivity but gaming even beating the 265k in many games and some productivity. We'll need a deep dive and I'm sure some will pick up the 250k to bin. I'm really curious about the 270k now more than ever.... Some rudimentary memory scaling results (XMP modes across the board): ------------------------------------------------------- Micro$slop MAY be listening finally about draconian account requirements for installs and setups. As a reminder, Apple, to this day, does NOT require an account to set up MacOS. ------------------------------------------------------- Deba8auer and the 270k price performance. Cheaper and faster than a 285k..... $299.99 is a killer price... Definitely picking up a few to bin.

Newest drivers 4090 vs 5090 4k: Comes down to games and CPU bottlenecking because the variance is pretty pronounced. On average, 5090 is 36% faster with The Last of Us being 50% faster and the lowest being Red Dead Redemption II at 27%. A few of the other games also pushed near 50% faster too. 5090 is definitely a beast when fed properly.... ------------------------------------------------------- Sorry @Papusan the retreat is turning out to be a weather fiasco. Nothing worse than plunking down hard earned money on a trip and mother nature decides to slap you around while giggling.... I always forget to subscribe to TGs YT when I click through. Finally remembered. You would think they would have more subscribers than 1.85k. As I get older, I can definitely see the benefits of predictable weather states or at least those that lean more towards the warmer side. I prefer warm weather or at least shorts wearing weather. I despise long pants. Always have and loathe when I have to wear them. I've been known to wear shorts in 50 degree weather because that still works for me.

Had a problem registering two PSUs with EVGA and contacted support and response time was just as quick (if not quicker) than it was in the past use the exact same system. Rep went in and quickly sorted out the issue and got everything on the same page. Generated an RMA.... One big improvement with EVGA and their RMA process now is they generate and send you a free shipping label for defective/failing items for returns. Before, you had to pay S&H to get the item to them. Score another big plus for them. Man, I wish they still made MBs and GPUs.... 😞 ------------------------------------- The passion is there, but the mitigating circumstances can definitely take the wind out of the sails definitely. When you lose confidence in the AIB/OEM to properly support their product and supply a proper repair or replacement can make you start to go into ultra protective / conservative user mode. Watching consumers get absolutely screwed on proper RMA memory returns both directly (Silicon Power) and indirectly (Umart in Australia) really makes pushing your memory a precarious situation these days because you won't get a proper replacement. TechYesCity even noted talking to contacts earlier this year that companies are purposely EOL'ing older, existing SKUs and replacing them with basically the same item with a new SKU just so they can say that product is no longer carried and they don't have to replace your DDR5 with like or similar at their discretion. Worst case scenario is you get a refund or credit for your original purchase price paid but when you only paid $100 and now that same memory is $400+? Watching GPU makers basically put the cards under a jewelers microscope to deny RMAs is also shady and dirty.... Intel not blanket taking back degraded 13th and 14th gen chips and instead making you jump through invoice / chain of ownership BS is also lame.... What a cop out.....

Good on Jay getting that off his chest. The trolls are insufferable in the comments these days and I can see how it could have him second thinking himself and losing focus on the fact he loves tinkering with computers and cars and making videos about it. He really shouldn't have to justify himself or feel bad because the market is so bad. I watch plenty of videos of things I would never buy for many reasons and I still enjoy them greatly. I would say 90% of the videos I watch are of things I will never buy. GN has gone full scorched earth on the industry in the best way and I'm here for that too. I feel like Steve from GN is what @Papusan would be like if he hosted a channel sometimes 🤣 Yeah, I touched on this earlier from a videocardz posting. With contracted supply, they are going to prioritize higher margin items and push prices. Corporations doing as expected even if MSI is one of my favorites.... NO corporation is your "friend" They are there to sell their products and wares and make as much money as possible. It is your job to be a smart consumer and maximize your $$$ while obtaining what you want from said corporations. Nice! I was wondering if you used it at all or even had it set up to get back in action quickly. So close to breaking 50k on CB! Maybe see if you can push for the 18k club on the 5090?

It's crazy how instead of quietly opting not to pay the entitlement and indignation that someone would exercise their right to charge for their work. I surf more than post on most forums these days. I do keep plenty of popcorn on hand though for the routine flame wars that break out..... I'm on the fence with AI supporting technologies. If we can get FG latency down to non FG levels (IE, allow acknowledged user interrupts on generated frames), I'm ok with it but till then for many games it is a non starter. If DLSS advances sufficiently enough to be indistinguishable from traditional hardware rendered frames and the end user experience is identical, that's a win for performance because we've shifted a large portion of the rendering burden onto another another technology that provides an overall better gaming experience. My problem with DLSS5 is going to be it isn't trying to match the original rendered images. Instead, it is going all Instagram / Snapchat filters on everything and actually changes drastically what the original source looked like and that doesn't work for me. On the other hand, devs may embrace DLSS5 and design their original textures with DLSS5 in their workflow to determine their desired final product. I'm ok with this and I think this is what the future holds. Using AI to assist in your image/texture generation both source/static and realtime / ingame. I think many are up in arms right now because of the drastic "glow up" it is giving pre-existing games to the point it drastically changes the original.....like many do online applying insane filters to their pictures that are painfully obvious to everyone with a modicum of a critical eye. I know I've grown tired of family and friends routinely slapping filters on their social media pictures. I never use them. It's not real life and when you happen to run into those same family and friends out and about they look NOTHING like their online pictures. Until then? I'll stick with traditional rendering unless the performance is so low that it is counter enjoyable and then I would entertain it. Remember first gen RT was laughed at....it is now standard and AMD and Intel followed suit First gen DLSS was laughed at....it is now standard and AMD and Intel followed suit First gen FG was laughed at.....it is rapidly becoming a standard option and AMD and Intel following suit Nvidia owns 94% of the discrete GPU market.... they're clearly onto something or at least something consumers prefer. Not now, but I expect DLSS5 to be a major workflow tool for future dev work.... Is that a good or bad thing? Time will tell....

Speaking of EVGA, I just started the RMA process on my P2 1600w. I noticed EVGA no longer carries Platinum or higher rated 1600w PSUs so we'll see how that goes..... -- For the prices being charged for specialty 5090s, they need to be binned, unlocked and offer the owner unfettered access to all the top end BIOS variants and be able to cross flash everything under the sun. 5090 market is in shambles atm and prices returning to $3k+ for even budget priced models. Zotac Solid is the cheapest 5090 available on pcpartpicker and it is ~$3800.....insane. I think you and I took the right approach and waited for prices to get somewhat sane before picking up our 5090s. I came to my senses with that Astral 5090 and returned it on day 59 of a 60 day return window and just rode that 9070xt till a good 5090 deal came along. Best decision I ever made. I'll never gravitate towards the top end of the 090 series ever again. I'm loathe to think of the pricing of the 6090 whenever that drops.... -- I finally got a chance to watch the GN report on AMD and no surprise there just massive disappointment as always. Jensen laid the groundwork and AMD hopped right in schmoozing the administration full tilt. AMD really committed to schmoozing with the Biden administration and went full tilt with the trump administration. The current administration is, ah, much more open to increased "collabs" with big corporations and, um, "maximizing" their interfacing via Super PACs and other donations (Ballroom aisle one)......when we saw all the tech CEOs and high rollers sitting front and center at the inauguration, we knew what was coming. Unadulterated greed and an administration that is extra sensitive to pocket lining has relegated the common citizen even further down the food chain. I still want AMD to succeed because they are the GPU underdog and if only to counter Nvidia just as they did to Intel to keep both in check. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9070xt vs 7900xtx with the newest drivers.... 7900xtx is still a beast and unless you want better RT and access to the newest technologies, zero reason to upgrade and you get an extra 8GB on top of it to boot with the 7900xtx: The only meaningful overall upgrade from a 7900xtx is a 5080 or 5090 IMHO: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The entitlement is insane. "Why can't I have it for free?" "It's stupid to charge for some stupid mod" @Prema did the right thing and only works with those he trusts along with an OEM. I know you're like me and every time I was given access to custom work, mods or files with a clear directive from the creator to not share them, I never shared them period. Most times, I never even mentioned it in forums and still don't because you're always going to have someone message you asking for it, pleading for it and getting mad when you say no. I just opt to keep that to myself and quietly work with it on my own. One reason why in the 5090 forums last year watching people begging then getting mad wanting those who had the XOC to break their NDAs or promises and share them was nails on a chalkboard to me. Yes, I wanted the BIOS but I also understood why I did not have access to them and they were basically going after and blaming the wrong people. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MSI x870E Unify Max is looking very tasty....... Also MSI......raising prices and cutting back on lower end SKUs to compensate for supply shortages AKA the double Whammy.... https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-says-nvidia-is-supplying-about-20-fewer-gpus-than-the-market-needs "To protect margins, MSI plans to cut back on lower-end models and move more resources toward higher-end products. Money UDN says low-end models previously made up about 30% of the mix, and MSI now wants to focus more on mid-range and higher-tier products, with RTX 5060 and RTX 5070 class systems..."

Have the best, easily unlock enabled laptop bios this side of Prema, but purposely lock down the bios on the MSI B850M POWER?? Look how long it took Asus to let the XOC run free (ish) and then we have the Lightning situation. I get the position of both that in the wrong hands both can drastically increase the chances of wrecking cards but still.... I still prefer Asus BIOS over MSI. EVGA > ASUS > MSI. Still prefer MSI over Asus as a company.... Big ups to @svet!