electrosoft

I'm sure I would enjoy a 5090 FE shunt modded.... 🤣 As I slowly amass parts and do research for a SFF 3.0 buildout for fall travel, I'm thinking the Gigabyte 9070xt might be all I need along with an external 23.8" portable display and wireless KB/M but we'll see. If a 5090FE drops before then I'll probably give it a whirl but I haven't even been following the stock bots or anything for weeks now if that tells you anything. This tuned 9800X3D+9070xt combo is really punching above its weight in WoW. But I'm liking everything you've done with the 5090FE so far bro! Really good results even if it is close to causing a black hole with that power draw. 🤣 I saw over on the OC forums that dude who binned 16 6000's and is looking to take it to the extreme from platform selection to either a modified or custom fab blocked. That will be fun to see unfold.

Shout out to Lian-Li! 😂

Don't even know if it matters much with AMD based on Steam's new survey showing the dominant selling card is easily the 5070 with the 5080 and 5090 far distant but still making the chart and the 9070/xt didn't even make enough of a dent to get its own entry on the chart classified as "other" atm.... /facepalm Nvidia continues to rule the roost top to bottom but they still continue to make a fantastic product so it is hard to get people to jump to AMD. I completely understand. AMD's biggest folly was not making a reference "control" card and not sticking to MSRP pricing. I said this before, but if pricing is close between a 9070xt and a 5070ti, I'm picking the 5070ti as would most unless you're sick of Nvidia and/or already a AMD supporter. But clearly AMD did enough damage to get Nvidia on track faster to release the Super variants so there's that.

We're still only 6 months in to the 5090 cycle so hopefully some tools and flashing love will make its way to the 5090s including the FE for some XOC love in. I'm not doubting your calculations. It just seems to be a staple item in just about ever OC'ers box of tools for manual/physical readout vs software sensor readings. Another tool in the arsenal and dirt cheap.

TL;DR: Test each program you use to see if it is beneficial or not for your setup (which most of us have been doing for some time now)... Nvidia reached out to Blackbird basically saying the same thing that it is a case by case situation. With that being said, JayZ2Cent lives in the moment and with his heart on his sleeve. It has its pros and cons. I enjoy his videos but he rates right there with Linus. Entertainment only..... Say what you want about GN, but he is OCD/anal to a fault and puts the 'P' in Pedantic. I take Steve's videos more serious but I skim through them a lot because he can just go on and on and on and he's got the charisma of a brick wall....

Do you have a Wireview at least then? You want to have something to verify on screen readings. I just find a wall meter really lets you know what is being reported vs what is actually happening. I've used it numerous times to sort out bad readings in software especially for outlier laptops over the years that could sometimes misreport how much they were actually pulling. @Mr. Fox I ordered one of the meters you use as I'm still rocking the original from 16yrs+ ago and I definitely like that backlit screen.

Go drop a trip to Starbucks on a proper wall meter....... 😁

I said it before and I'll say it again. It makes no difference. Prices keep dropping because no one is buying. Prices can creep up and a large margin of buyers will still not buy. Nvidia can cut supply and again no one is still buying at these prices. Those who had the deep pockets and/or early adopters have bought already. The first 2-4 months were always going to be shortage based and AIBs sure took advantage of it. Supply and demand needs the demand side to cooperate at that certain price point and clearly many are not buying at the several rounds of price cuts we've already had. Eventually prices will drop to a point where those who are interested enough at a certain price point will decide to pick one up but we're not quite there yet for many of the cards. I tend to monitor which cards sell out pretty quick versus those which languish. Top tier brands are holding somewhat strong with their top end models, but the mid and lower tier brands or top tier brands with their mid and lower tier models are dropping prices on the regular. It's like somebody offering that proverbial sports car for $500k and slashing it over and over on the regular. Eventually someone will deem the price acceptable and buy it. Kind of like a Dutch auction.

I'm kinda surprised. A wall meter is bread and butter for most overclockers and enthusiasts. I've had several since 2008? 2009? First was the classic Kill-A-Watt model. I even posted my first YT video back in 2010 using one showing the original Alienware M15x pulling 190w+ power under load when someone on the old forums said I was lying and no way does it pull more than 150w so a bigger PSU wasn't needed when I said the 150w PSU was inadequate even for a stock model. That was my original straight from Dell 920xm w/ 260m stock model pulling that much lol. Yeah, a wall meter is almost mandatory to validate screen readings sometimes.... I figured he had one laying around. And watching the prices continue to fall really reminds me of the 3090ti launch at $1999.99 and watching prices rapidly fall like crazy when the Crypto market went BOOM. Pricing is getting saner and like I told @Papusan if they hit ~$2100 (or lower) I'm most likely back in the game even an open box I'd give a whirl. People return items all the time and it isn't always because of binning. Yikes.... If it was sub $200 I could give it a pass but anything else? again, yikes....

New 5090 brand new low price.... PNY and Zotac coming back to reality.... PNY ARGB which at one point was $3499.99 is now down to $2599.99 PNY OC Edition which at one point was $3299.99 is now down to $2499.99 MSI and Zotac are heading down too.... These are NEW and SEALED prices....

You don't have a kil-O-watt or comparable wall meter device?

And if it pops up in fair condition for $1847.30 I'd definitely cave and pick it up. After points that's $1754.94! 🤣

I looked into MSI too for a down the road potential and I don't understand why they're not offering a QHD+ variant of their flagship 9955HX3D. Toss in making mLED the only option and insane asking price ($5099?!) and they just basically removed this year's version from my list even down the road. 5090 Mobile is decent relatively speaking but not much of an upgrade over 4090 mobile. Timespy GPU, It is basically a desktop 5070 in normal operating conditions (~23k) and I'm not looking to push that on a 4k display. I think the screen is capped to 120hz anyhow? Just a bunch of swinging and missing. On the other hand, the 285hx variant with QHD+ is down to $3299.99 at Microcenter so you're saving ~35% and getting a QHD option and yes in certain games the 9950HX3D is going to light it up, but overall? You still get the MSI open bios options too so I would snatch up the MSI 285HX over the 9955HX3D all day everyday even with Intel somewhat Ultra woes. I just wish Eluktronics offered an 18" version but I've been contemplating picking up a portable 24" 1080p 100hz+ panel for travel/gaming along with a wireless KB/M and if that is the case, a 16" would be just fine and probably make the travel case easier to manage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ On the 5090 front, saw more open box 5090 Astrals for $2687.99 AND Masters for $2399.99 on BB last night..... If an Open box Windforce pops up for $21111.20 I might have to cave 🤣 What we will never see (but can dream) is a few open box 5090FE's for $1799.99. 😁 I'm noticing prices are coming down a lot on hardware across the board or going on sale more frequently....

This always seems to be the AMD process. The drivers always mature better and they tend to end up with more performance as time goes on......usually. I lost a smidge of performance from 25.4 to 25.5 but got it back with 25.6.1 so it will be nice to see if this improves it even more. I'm very happy with the 9070xt especially in WoW. Something I thought I would NEVER say about AMD lately. Back in the day though the 5700xt was an absolute 2560x1600p banger of a card though. I'm personally glad to see them back to a monolithic design.

Yeah, with so many other projects and work I didn't even really get a chance to deep dive in on my MSI. I bought it then within a few days a BIOS update, swapped in a 2TB, clean install and was out the door. Got home, we caught COVID. Both down for the count for almost a month then a wedding trip with it for a few days then on the shelf basically. So it needs that deep dive I usually give my systems. My NH55 has been crazy neglected too. I realized this after I had it sold and started to dust it off to get it set up and realized the last time I had used it was last September when I was at the hospital surgical center for my wife's 3hr surgery and took it with me to play Fallout76.... I was actually enjoying to clean up. I was planning a repaste and retune and everything with the new BIOS options but the buyer backed out so I refunded him but I'm going to keep going with the fine tune and then the MSI. Desktop is pretty set atm.....

@win32asmguy Look at Dream Machine's X3D 5090: Raider 9950X3D 5090:

Assuming they don't reject it because they can detect any PCB damage/changes....but yeah @Mr. Fox block temps look promising for 9070xt! Hotspot and Hynix down to 50c and 60c respectively!

*** SOLD **** to @LiLCruz! Unfortunately @LiLCruz had to back out of the sale so I'll leave it listed casually here still for sale.

Sheesh, that is a sick price. $210 + $371 for an open box Apex (when they pop on da egg) looks pretty righteous atm.

I replied to your PM, thanks!

I know we crap all over the 060 series because of VRAM, but in pure performance uplift, 5060 is providing equal or better performance uplift over the 4060 than the 4060 over the 3060...... @win32asmguy That Schenker Neo 16 is an absolute beast with the 9955HX3D (time stamped) Note: Lacking 7945HX3D results again even on NotebookCheckReviews..... that can't be a coincidence. They also conveniently omitted 4090 results too but had 4080 and even 14900HX results. It's subtle BS like this that irks me.

Yeah that second newer F revision was more robust and was boost locking to 3510 and 1.125v but the memory "only" overclocked to +3000 while the other could do +4000. Wonder if he knows some truly beast samples can do the full +5000 on the XOC vBIOS yet? My Astral boost locked to 1.110 and 3465 and obviously did +3000 but without the XOC vBIOS we'll never know what it could have truly done. This is the problem with shunting. It does unlock power limits basically but that's it. You miss out on all the other granular refinements a proper XOC vBIOS gives you including memory OC to +5000. It seems to be the smart move these days is to wait at least 6 months after launch till the air (and pricing) clears up a bit. Demand wains. Refinements are implemented. Bugs are worked out. Drivers refine..... I've said it before, but OEMs/AIBs only promise what's on the box. There are no overclock guarantees. On the other hand, there are no guarantees I won't return it either..... Yeah I saw where he reran it with the fixed power limits and it didn't make all that much of a difference overall but any bit is better than none. I don't understand the blunted power limits knowing at least letting laptop makers push it to 200w+ would make even more of a difference. The laptops are suffering from the 5000 series overall marginal upgrade except the 5090. I suspect the 9955HX3D is going to extend the lead the 7945HX3D already had even moreso coupled with the 5090. I hope Eluktronic's pricing is better than MSIs which is still holding at $5100 for the 9955HX3D Raider which is absolutely insane. I was tempted to pick up an open box Apex for $371 from Newegg. They come into stock from time to time. If not the Apex then the Taichi OCF was my second choice. Once I returned the 5090, the rhyme and reason lost its luster. If I happen to score a 5090FE or prices continue to track down, I might be back in the game.

Yeah what's even funnier is initially JarrodTech would list the 7945HX3D results from his Scar when comparing the initial 5090 models for gaming but when he started reviewing 18" later 5090 models with Intel's new chips, he stopped listing benchmarks for games with the 7945HX3D. He lists the 7945HX3D for CPU performance in CB2024 and such but games results he doesn't. I think it was because the Scar was dominating the benchmark charts with the 4090 even against the newer Intel CPUs and 5090. I called him out on the last two 5090 laptop review videos he posted and he never responded. Most likely a condition from the OEMs and/or Nvidia. No logical reason to not include X3D results but it makes the new laptops look even poorer in his gaming testing suite. "MOAR CORZZZZ!" run amok!!! It's getting silly now..... 🤣 10% uplift in IPC is about what we got from 10th to 11th. Nothing to sneeze at, but sheesh. If you can pack this much in, just give us a 20-32 P-Core only chip and be done with it....

Watching 5090 devices continue to fall in price... On top of the previous price drops / "gift certificates" and a ton of open box 5090's on Newegg, we now have Microcenter dropping prices like CRAZY PNY has reduced all their 5090 pricing AND they are now further reduced. The aRGB that was $3499.99 at one point dropped to $3199 them $3099 then $2999 and now it's down to $2849. Laptops? When the MSI Raider 285hx/5090 dropped it was $4899.99. It then dropped to $4099.99 and it is now $3499.99 which is $1400 less. MSI Titan 285hx/5090 dropped at $5399.99 then $4999.99 and it is now $4499.99 so $900 less. Asus Strix Scar dropped at $5499.99 and it is now $3999.99 so $1500 less (crazy greed) Even the Dell Alienware 18 dropped at $4k which was the most reasonable of the lot and it is now down to $3300 so $700 less. All in the face of tariffs and market uncertainties.... Absolute greed. The biggest shocking offender to me is MSI which always felt like Asus but at more reasonable pricing especially with their Raider line up. They just went for the ultimate money grab with their Raider series this time but market realities have forced them to come back to reality and adjust pricing drastically down to back along the lines of last gen offerings. Clearly Newegg didn't get the memo (yet) and has their prices still jacked to high heaven and are stuck on phase one pricing mark downs.

9070xt is basically 5070ti levels of power. At MSRP, it is a ripper. These inflated prices on some models? Meh, but the 5070ti is inflated still atm too. With the newest drivers (25.6.1) I'm not seeing the massive power increases he is seeing and with a modest UV and fast timings I'm pretty much dialed into 330w. If I overclock it more and push PL to max I'll see ~363w on average. Either way, performance gains were marginal at best. Testing Nvidia, he did see some tangible uplift comparing 572.83 vs 576.15 in SN with no significant power increase. My take is AMD upped the pull and clocks but if you're already running a model that is overclocked or pushing clocks already, you won't see much of a gain but for some units you will. Kinda the stock FE vs stock AIB argument. @tps3443 I forgot you had asked about that MSI MAG 275QPF monitor they sent me. I set it up for testing: It's not bad at all! Solid picture, killer response time. Very solid 1440p display. Picture quality can't touch the normal 4k BenQ 10-bit 32" I normally use for "serious work" but it is only 60hz while this one is 300hz. Benchmark wise, M4 Max 40 core GPU on paper is clocking in at about 3500 on SN. M4 Max 40 core GPU has its strengths but native 3Dmark is not it....