electrosoft

What is the alternative for competitive play to make sure you can watch every level of the hardware? Each time game companies up their watchdog/guardian programs, hackers and mod makers figure out a way around it. It has been escalating till the final solution is to monitor every nuance of the hardware as the final solution and now mod makers and cheaters have met their match. The only way around this, and it has been attempted, is post level compromised systems that can get in there to subvert the tpm / secure boot mechanism. On the other hand, making two distinct forks could and should be the way to go with one targeting single player mode but even then that has to be worth the effort for the game makers as again the real money is made from multiplayer and long term sustainability and monetization. If there was a financially large enough compelling reason to offer a single player version of the game devoid of big brother being knee deep, they would do it but I suspect that single player only audience is very small. Surfing various gaming forums and reddits, there is low to no outrage to this because it restores the integrity of the game not because they're sheeple lol. As a player, I would definitely set up two individual installs of Windows which I've done in the past for other reasons with one targeting game play only and the other for personal use. I'm with you. I don't want a game company having access to every level of my hardware. Good unboxing and nice overview.... Couldn't use OLED due to heat, but I don't like the USB display interface but that's just me. Thing runs so cool including the memory, wicked.... You can sign into your MSI account RIGHT NOW!!111 and enter the raffle for the right to spend ~$5500 after taxes to get 3-10% more performance over your existing 5090 while sucking down insane power.....

Ok, that is slick.....real slick.

Cheapest 9070 = $629 Cheapest 5070ti = $899 ----------------------------------------------- Top ten list was valid and a good trip down memory lane.... And this is the future of competitive games. Blame the cheaters and mod makers. Do I wish single mode was left alone? Of course, but single mode is a drop in the bucket (if that) vs the massive and sustained income multiplayer brings in and confidence is wiping out cheaters keeps the user base sated and large. I will not purchase or play (even if free of charge) any game that requires me to enable TPM or Secure Poot in the BIOS. I have been buying and playing Battlefield and Call of Duty since the first release in each franchise, but I am done with them now. I only play single-player campaign. Yet, they insist on dictating this unacceptable filth even in circumstances where cheating is a non-issue, so to hell with them and their cancer game crap. They will not receive another cent from me if this is how they roll now. And, I am not the only former player they have lost. If they were paying attention they would recognize that this dictatorship mentality is one of the reasons that Micro$lop is losing OS market share at an unprecedented rate. PC gamers and enthusiasts are not Kool-Aid drinking zombie sheeple like crApple users are. Unfortunately this is the future. Blame the cheaters, but true multiplayer is where the bulk of the $$$ is made not single player campaigns. As a former competitive fps player and still seeing rampant cheating going on in the games I play, I'm ok with this. Again, I don't like the "throwing out the baby with the bathwater" approach and single player campaigns being hit, but I get exactly where they're coming from. I'm sure they've run the numbers and know which side butters their bread. $5090 for a 5090.....I mean, I love everything the Lightning is bringing to the table and no I'm not going to nitpick thermal pads 'cause that's low hanging fruit my friend. But that price? 2.5x more than I paid for my Vanguard 5090 and even that was excessive IMHO.... Insane pricing.... PASS. --------------------------------- eBay store has been in full swing since the beginning of the month. I've sold about $3.6k worth of stuff so far including 4 of my lower and older tier laptops and have one more to list and then I'm down to my main driver Alienware 18 with the 275hx and 5070ti and the wife's Nitro 275hx and 5060 (both eval units so zero cost). When all is said and done, I expect to top off the till with ~$5k and more importantly clear out a lot of stuff. That's the primary goal instead of sitting on top of so much gear both personally purchased and sent by companies for eval. A massive decluttering. Trends I've noticed on eBay.... Forwarding International purchases are up drastically because the US dollar is much weaker right now worldwide. I'm used to forwarding purchases being ~10-20% of my sales YoY, but they are easily 40-50% now. While the market is telling us memory prices are out of bounds, kits on eBay at a much lower cost than MSRP are languishing and just not selling. You also have Microcenter and now Newegg offering some pretty sweet bundles basically selling kits at the cost they were (or close to it pre Ramageddon or a touch below. Plenty of stock too of overpriced memory. Something isn't adding up. People fail to look at trends and prices on eBay and thus their listings languish weeks if not months instead of getting realistic.

We are a very small, tight knit community that started as a cast off from the original NBR forums which were already dying to the point they shut them down in totality. Those forums at one point were so large and influential that representatives from the major laptop makers would frequent them on the regular for interaction and feedback but with changing market conditions, social media and other means of delivery coupled with niche and specialized laptops dying out and being replaced with thin fast and cheap laptops the writing was on the wall. You can't blame laptop makers for this as they simply go where the $$$ is and the vast majority of consumers have zero desire to tinker with their laptops and just want them to work, with good battery life and be light and portable. Every year, we saw true DTRs dying off and those original representatives basically abandoning NBR till all that was left was Clevo and their last somewhat true DTR based on desktop chips was their 12th gen hybrid 15.6" model (Clevo NH55) which did poor enough to signal the end of DTR anything as we knew it with interchangeable CPUs and GPUs. The first real death stroke was Nvidia basically abandoning MXM and upgradeability standards. ----- A community such as this is only as good as the enthusiasts who still have a passion for some older hardware and many of those, myself included, have moved onto more modern laptops because all the modding in the world will not approach the power modern models provide. The best you can do with modern laptops is look for models that at least have or offer the possibility of flexible BIOS so you can at least tune your hardware. Prema still offers his BIOS services on some models commercially followed by MSI which still has their excellent unlockable BIOS options. Dell/Alienware does offer some limited options as does Asus. You can also look to make mods to the actual cooling system itself from something as basic as upgrading the thermal interface material to modding the actual heatsink and fans themselves along with the chassis to improve air flow. Good luck!

I called this early on, but at least 8000 has drawn parity with 6000/6400 worse case and best case it usually is a little bit better overall but nothing to write home over. 6000/6400 shines in extremely latency sensitive games though but they are few and far in between these days.... For X3D, we've collected enough data and seen enough game bench marking to know it truly is a case by case benefit with a massive differential ranging from only running a few points better at best than non X3D to running up to 86% faster vs a 9700x showing how brutal it can get if a game really loves that X3D cache and can comfortably sit in it the majority of the time. Seriously, I'm looking forward to Intel's foray into 3Dcache with BLLC..... Tight 6000 and Tight 8000 are the sweet spots for AMD. Buildzoid, while taking his first venture into Arrowlake, talks about some bandwidth and platform memory limitations on AM5. Intel is really where you want to be to push memory and see tangible gains with scaling even up to 9000 you will see some gains G2.

Obvi Zen 6..... 🤣 One thing we can always give AMD is socket longevity. Intel could learn a thing or two. Remember Skylake? Trying to lock out processors on the same socket with bumps to chipsets.....how the mighty have fallen (but clawing their way back with a vengeance) Hey, as long as you don't murder this chip this time around, it's a win win! 🤣

I managed to lay in a nice array of 500gb, 1tb and a few 2tb nvme drives, but I'm kicking myself for not jumping on a few 4tb drives last year. That was a good snag! You also managed to snag your 9070xt and 5070ti for damn good prices before the market went to poo too...... This is how I view it. I've locked down all the hardware I'm going to need to ride out this hardware Armageddon. If the 5090 wants to remain the top dog to 2028? I'm you're huckleberry. 🙂 Snagging a 1.125v Vanguard 5090 for $1971USD that turned out to be superior to both my Astral and Ventus and no coil whine is still the pinnacle of my hardware wins in a plethora of wins hunting down open box / refurb deals over the years. Getting to ride it into 2028? Priceless..... As for other hardware..... 9850X3D is a snoozefest. I'm not seeing the 9950X3D2 being anything magical unless they have somehow fixed that CCD0 to CCD1 latency issues for gaming. AM6 isn't launching till later this year or even early 2027 Novalake isn't launching till late 2026 or even early 2027 too Nvidia 6000 till 2028... AMD RDNA5 not till mid 2027 but I suspect late 2027 Intel basically cancelled their B770 so we don't know what they have planned for future desktop GPUs Basically team, settle in with your hardware and enjoy! There is nothing on my want list till Nova and potentially AM6 (I'm more excited for Nova than AM6 atm) and that's it..... 7600 is the threshold for >=6000 tier performance so you're good in that aspect especially being able to get those tight timings. Maybe dial in 6000 and 7600 and see which one gives you the better performance. While it isn't mind blowing on my end, 8000 dialed in > 6000 and 6400 dialed in across the board even if miniscule so I'm sticking with that. Just like there are Asus and Apple fan boys, there are Razer fan boys and you know some are going to buy this...... I'm a firm believer that someone's disposable income is theirs to buy whatever tickles their fancy, but I'm also silently judging hardcore based on my own biases and purchasing criteria 🤣 As with all things like this, I will seek out a Youtube video on it and live vicariously though that and I'm good....

Considering a corporation's primary mission is responsibility to stock holders and maximum profitability, I'm not shocked. China is a massive market with a gargantuan trade surplus with a voracious need for CPUs and GPUs as they continue to advance technologically. Match made in heaven. ------------------ As for Intel cancelling the 290k... Makes sense considering the 270k is basically a 285k and the 290k would just be a slightly binned 285k. 250k gets 4 more e-cores over the 245k New memory support for the 270k and 250k from 6400 to 7200..... I expect the 270k to come in priced right in between the 285k and 265k. Performance per value gets a nice bump. There is also the possibility Intel had yield issues with the 290k but that's pure speculation...

I don't blame Intel for cancelling B770 at this point of the current GPU cycle with skyrocketing memory prices for consumers and inflated costs for VRAM. I just don't think it is viable right now. I would also redirect short term efforts to suck up all the AI $$ they can while they continue to refine and make substantial gains in the mobile market both CPU and GPU wise and introduce a serious architecture advancement with Nova in the fall. I'm in total agreement with every decision Intel has recently made recently (which is rare) and I think they could be the dominant hand held and mobile laptop force this and next year. Tack on Nova and their own X3D along with serious gains in MT performance? Yeah, things are looking good for Intel IMHO. They're hungry again and clawing their way back with a vengeance. Ironically, it is AMD who is stagnating at the moment as @Mr. Fox video from Jay lets us know..... No surprise here..... Nvidia, AMD and Intel are going where the massive profits are and that is all things AI and all things data centers atm....they are behaving *exactly* as I would expect them to. Like I've said since the old forums, corporations are NOT your friend. It is a transactional scenario each and every time. They offer a product you want at a price you will pay. You buy it. End of story. Now it looks like the 6000 series could slip into 2028 Memory prices are rumored to have a significant bump sooner than later SSDs continue to rise.... https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-50-super-pushed-back-rtx-60-mass-production-could-move-to-2028 Right now, if you're in the market for GPUs, RAM or SSDs, (in that order), it is not a good time to buy. Better to stalk the used market or as noted before, get a Microcenter bundle if you need new hardware.

Cracks in Nvidia's armor starting to emerge.... "Exclusive: OpenAI is unsatisfied with some Nvidia chips and looking for alternatives, sources say" OpenAI wants to move to SRAM based inference (Like Apple uses FYI for their M architecture) and exploring alternatives... Google is already turning inward using their own custom designed chips.... AMD is starting to chip away at Nvidia's AI marketshare.... Microsoft questioning the profitability of AI..... I can smell that change in the air ever so slowly....

So I must have forgotten just HOW BAD AMD GPUs and to a slightly lesser extent Intel CPUs are for Fallout 76..... Also Intel is always behind that X3D cache...for now I was doing some of my standard static bench runs on the 265k + 9070xt and just going, "why is it so bad?" Problem is I've been playing Fallout76 the last 5 months on a 9800X3D + 5090..... I dug out all my old data from benching in the exact same spot reaching back to the 7900XTX and 13900KS/7800X3D and yeah, now I remember.... 7900xtx vs 4090: 9070xt vs 5090 (9800X3D unable to let 5090 hit anywhere near 100% Utilization or it would have been even more of a blood bath of ~155-160fps+): 7800X3D vs 13900KS w/ 4090: Ultra 7 is even worse as expected than that 13900KS. I wish I had a 5090 when I had my 14900KS as my main driver before switching to a 9800X3D. At least the blood bath wouldn't have been so bad. I might have to re-appropriate the wife's rig for some testing. Unlike her old EVGA DG-77 case, the Vanguard 5090 will fit quite nicely in her Antec Flux Pro. Just swap GPUs and swap in a test NVMe for a night of testing.....She has a 1000w Seasonic in there. Ultra 7 265k + 9070xt is literally the worst of both worlds. Weakest CPU and weakest GPU for FO76. Plays WoW rather nicely and smooth, but this initial Fallout 76 data is about in line as expected with this combo for FO76: Again, for the umpteenth time, if you are a serious Fallout 76 player, GPU has to be Nvidia and CPU has to me AMD X3D. I can't wait to test a Nova Lake chip with bllc (aka Intel X3D) onboard with Fallout 76....

Replacement PSU as finally arrived. This box is a chonker.....thank you MSI for the upgrade especially considering the original AI1300P was an open box Amazon Warehouse pickup for $144.55 to my door. Every (and I do mean EVERY) RMA I've ever had to deal with MSI has gone perfect. Only knock would be the turn around time which I could see being a problem if it is a critical component. If they had a cross shipping service for RMA parts (not sure if they do?), they would be near flawless. Time RMA generated to replacement/repair received is on par with others before. RMA Generated 1/8 Original PSU shipped 1/9 Marked Received by MSI 1/22 Out of stock and replacement agreement outreach 1/23 (Friday) Replacement shipped 1/26 (Monday) New unit received 2/2 I will continue to recommend MSI for many reasons one being their service and support. ------------------------------------------------------------ Testing out the lower 265k + Z890 AYW tuned up at 8000 rock solid with the Red Devil 9070xt and putting an open box Corsair SL1000 SFX PSU through its paces. I can see why the Corsair SL line of SFX PSUs are the goats. Very cool, quiet and the very thin, soft, properly measured modular cables makes this thing a class above the Lian Li and Coolmaster SFX models I've tested so far. I'll be using the Corsair in my own, personal SFX build outs moving forward.... What makes the Red Devil stand out is how quiet the fans are even under load. That along with very low coil whine makes this thing crazy quiet even running Timespy or testing WoW/FO76. Clocks were boosting max out of the box up to 3275mhz ~100-150mhz higher than the gaming 9070xt out of the box. It is also much quieter both coil whine and fans under load than the Gaming 9070xt but this is to be expected since the Red Devil has a much better heatsink. ~30k stock is about right for the three 9070xt's I've tested so far that were all 3x 8pin designs. -------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm no fan of AIBs overall, but they can only sell what Nvidia gives them and without the OPP program in place from Nvidia, you have the perfect storm of quantity + higher prices overall right from Nvidia. It is disingenuous to keep comparing AIB pricing to Nvidia MSRP pricing. The correct comparison will always been initial MSRP pricing of individual AIB model pricing versus their pricing now. With the lack of supply, I wouldn't be surprised if many of these limited edition cards are nearly impossible to get especially with small runs. 1000 Matrix cards? 1300 Lightning cards? That's nothing and they get snapped up pretty quick especially the Lightning cards. I had zero desire for a Matrix, but that Lightning is much more tempting but I still wouldn't drop $3k+ on a 5090. If you're in the market for a GPU right now? Whew, I don't know what to tell buyers. AMD is still the best value atm even with inflated prices. I'm not a huge fan of the Challenger 9070xt having owned one briefly. Compared to the Gaming 9070xt and Red Devil 9070xt, it felt light, cheap and only had 2x 8 pin leads and clocked much lower out of the box than the other two but bang:buck it is at this moment the best buy for $699.99 at MC and everywhere else it is now $719.99. When it was $569.99 at MC, that was just a killer deal......

5090's back in stock shipped and sold by Newegg reflecting the beginning of new pricing insanity incoming when they are stocked..... In their defense, Walmart is selling shipped and sold by Walmart the PNY EPIC 5090 for 4299.99 so this is the way things are going for 5090s..... MSI Liquid 5090 is also listed on MSI's site at $3699.99 too....

The most logical path considering they want that memory for AI which is much more lucrative but they can't just flat out put a full on "pause" on their consumer section but they sure can clamp it to a trickle... If there was ever a time for the 5070ti on down crowd to switch to AMD, it is now..... It is brutally cold (relatively speaking) for us right now coming off of that snow storm which just left everything frozen over. Right now it is a balmy 4f (~ -16c) here.... When I was younger, I loved the cold and looked forward to it. Now? I can see why people move to warmer, more even tempered states. Stock has either dried up and/or baseline prices are getting a bit slap happy. Lowest prices on part picker: PNY 5070ti = 969.35 Asus Prime 5080 = $1364.99 Gigabyte Aorus Stealth Ice 5090 = $3579.98 Gigabyte Gaming 9070xt = $719.99 So glad I snagged that Red Devil earlier this month for $683 ($879.98 on PPC) and Vanguard 5090 $1971 (Basically Unobtanium status) back in August from Microcenter. That Vengeance 2x24GB 9200 kit I managed to snag in December for $389 is now $969.99 I picked up a couple of Samsung 9100 Pro 1TB drives w/ heatsinks when I saw the writing on the wall for ~$149.99. They are now $229.99 Luckily, CPUs, Motherboards, cases, PSUs are suffering the most in the pricing downturn and their prices have stayed the same or fallen a tad. Anyone looking to build out in the US, Microcenter bundle deals are just crazy good value atm. CPU, Motherboard and DDR5 memory in many configs and priced fairly even before the Ramapocalypse.... I'm set for hardware now till Nova and even then I will just need a MB and CPU..... Good call not waffling..... Unfortunately the big players will take the hit on the books and pass it along to us in the long run. The Googles and Microsofts will just keep it moving. AMD will take a minor chip on the chin. Hardest hit will be AI focused entities and Nvidia. I look to the day Nvidia has to come to us on bent knee, hat in hand, tail firmly tucked between their legs asking for our forgiveness.... I will never use any Micron consumer products again even if they fire back up the Crucial brand post AIB (AI Bust).

There is no "one answer" here and what also applies is substandard wages and gross profiteering. The erosion of the middle class is alive and well. This is a byproduct thereof. I've had countless conversations with financial planners and debt lawyers and those in the trenches lean towards other factors than "personal planning or accountability." The world we live in today @Mr. Fox is financially a far cry than even 20 years ago let alone 40. "Picking one's self up by the bootstraps" and "self made" no longer generally apply like it did when we were young. With that being said, are there those who lack common and financial sense? Absolutely. I know quite a few including a few family and friends even but it is not the core of the problem. Remember, we do have plenty of these walking around: