electrosoft

If anyone is still in the market for a 285k, Provantage has tray 285k's in abundance. https://www.provantage.com/intel-at8076806419~7ITEP9HR.htm Earlier this week they had ~ 1252 in stock and they've only sold ~54 of them, so they still have a healthy 1198 in stock and the price dropped a smidge to under $600. With the 285k in such microcode/W11 flux at the moment, it will be interesting to see where final performance lands around summertime. Besides gaming, I do think it is a very solid CPU all around and in most instances provides better performance than the 14900k. Still waiting on the 9950X3D and CES Nvidia 5000 series unveiling. Edit: They got more in stock today. Current inventory count = 1587. 🤣

They are definitely easy to work with and usually have multiple customer service reps working on your order. I've received updates from multiples many times. This. I keep my driver installs as lean as possible. Looks like a double win, w00t!

They're a much smaller operation than a normal online e-tailer. You can always call. When I ordered from them, I found out they do zero work on the weekends and your orders are just queued up for processing on Monday so if an item is in high demand you never really know and that includes ordering on Friday. I actually placed my order on a Friday and heard absolutely nothing from them when I ordered a 9800X3D before snagging my Newegg one. It sat in limbo all through the weekend and into the next week till I contacted them and it was backordered by that point even though it showed "in stock" when I had ordered it so I cancelled my order. You might want to actually call them or email them to get clarity.

Joining me on the sidelines? 🙂 I'm rocking this 4070 Super with a 60 day return window if needed. It is doing well enough that I could limp along with it for months on end if needed. No coil whine, handles FO76 just fine, WoW can get dicey sometimes but not a deal breaker at 4k but had to drop it down from 10 to 8 and now 7 w/ RT off so I'm feeling it and its small bus and less than half the 4090 power. I've already decided if the 5090s are just beyond stupidly priced with idiotic tariff adjustments in place to top off insult to injury, I'll just ride this for an indefinite length of time or return it and then pick up a discounted Aqua 7900xtx for my loop build out or 8800xt depending on price/performance.

GPU out of memory was directly linked to 13th/14th degrading issues and/or bad/unstable OCs. I could force one on my 13900KS by running it on its edge with my substandard cooling. I never have encounter one on my SP109 14900KS.....ever. Only used Zoom on my 12900k systems (laptop and desktop) and zero issues.

Makes sense. Amazon was taking 9800X3D orders and kept pushing the delivery dates out till they reached early February and stopped taking orders. That was a few weeks ago. I'm fine waiting and seeing where everything goes. Gives me time to finish selling these last few things and hunker down till Feb/March for a potential 5090 and make space while slowly piecing out this water loop over the next month or so. Pretty sure I'm going to go with a 420 in the front and a 360 on the bottom to keep the rest of the upper portion clutter free for working within it with soft tubing.

And as expected, Newegg messaged me totday to let me know the 9800X3D isn't in stock and won't be for the foreseeable future so they're refunding me the entire balance. Thus ends my current AM5 saga. 🙂 Back to the "lowly" tuned SP109 14900KS.... I have to say I got so used to the 4090 at 4k gaming, I was used to seeing both X3D and Intel gasping for breath and the 4090 rarely hitting usage cap in both WoW and Fallout (especially Fallout, where it would drop to close to 60% many locations), but 4070 Super? 99-100% just about everywhere but very playable especially in Fallout. Like I said, in Raids and PvP I had to begrudgingly flip on the Raids/PvP graphics option so I wasn't dipping into the 50s in WoW. 4070 Super is taking a pounding. WOW FO76

So I've been using this x670e Hero to tune back in my 6000 on this 7600x. Set up some other profiles, and get it all ready for the hopefully replacement 9800X3D. I go to test out some fans on it and the bottom three fan headers are defective and keep shorting with fan(s) plugged in. Other fan headers work ok. So in summary, Amazon Resale x670e Hero: 1. Missing CPU heatsink brackets 2. Missing thermal pads 3. Previous owner used some type of thermal grease I can not get the stains off the heatsinks 4. Lower three chained 4 pin fan headers are defective Fun re-tuning the memory on it though. Back to Amazon Resale it goes.

Nice! So @Mr. Fox you are our official AM5 delidding service now? 🙂

Nice! Yet another reminder why I'll be going with soft tubing. It always looks great but I'm in and out of the systems too much 🙂 @Mr. Fox I'm leaning towards the Alphacool Core 1 Aurora as it seems to be on par with the Heatkiller and is compatible with AM5 and Socket 1700. Any insight or is the Heatkiller compatible with both too? Igor shows ithe Aurora basically equal with the Heatkiller for 13th/14th and a smidge better on AM5.

"I want to acknowledge that we got caught participating willingly and gleefully in predatory lending practices to pump up our valuation, dump old stock and please our new investors." - A more fitting statement....

On your recommendation, I went ahead and picked up the XSPC Photon D5 aRGB model since it was on clearance and had an additional 20% off making it a total of $137.69 after discounts and cashback. I think it is a mix of both. My son in law (bless his heart) wanted a gaming PC so badly he rented one from Rent A Center which at least was "rent to buy" but by the time he finished all the payments it was going to cost him $3k for a $1.5k PC. I told him to take that POS right back and built him the equivalent for $1.2k with a better GPU, CPU and more memory. He's not alone in that mentality and not thinking things through. Many focus on "can I afford the payment to have this item now?" versus doing the math and exploring better financial methods to obtain those items because they can't or won't think long term. I've even dealt with that mentality with family and friends trying to explain to them how much money they will end up losing and many times their response is, "I just want it now." Then you throw in companies like NZXT who take gross advantage of that mentality to absolutely abuse the financials of buyers to such gross extremes it HAS to be called out and luckily we have "tech influencers" (gag) with enough clout and standards to make companies change their ways because the tech sector is a finicky beast and sales can turn on a dime. --- GN has its issues. Steve is not the best presenter, long winded and prone to sensationalism but he does get the job done and is thorough in his fact finding and bringing companies and organizations to task. He has a few times stepped over the line a bit and was reeled back in though. Good example is GN vs LTT. He had the momentum but then went a little too far and could feel his crowd turn on him a hair so he dialed it back.

Thanks! I'm leaning towards the XSPC but AC would work too. The magic of binning! 🙂

Everything has shrunk! Asrock Z790i Lightning + SP109 14900KS + TG 8200@8400 sticks + 990 Pro 2TB + MSI 3x Ventus 4070 Super CPU went from gasping for breath to waiting for the 4070 Super to catch up. 🤣 @Mr. Fox and @tps3443 on a serious note, I'm looking for the best bang/bunk (aka cheap but performs relatively well) AM4/5 / Socket 1700 CPU block and D5 pump/reservoir combo. Thinking of pulling the AC LF 420 and putting a 420 + 360 Rad on the bottom loop in the case.

The king is dead! Long live the king! Boxed up my Liquid 4090 to ship off to the new owner tomorrow so I snagged a Ventus 3x 4070 Super locally from best buy to hold me over for the ~58 days. The Liquid X gave me almost two years of rock solid service and I can honestly say it has been my most favorite graphics card to own even more than the Kingpin 3090. Just a beauty of a card. I'm still holding on at 4k Ultra in WoW but barely. I had to begrudgingly turn off RT and there are some wicked dips into the 50s even with RT off so I suspect I'll be inching that Ultra 10 down to a consolation 8 sooner than later. 🙂 **Bring on the 5090!!** So adorable..... 🤣 No coil whine. It might be the quietest gpu I've own ever. Closest would be the KPE 3090ti. That was ridiculously quiet. WoW went from being rarely being pegged at 99% GPU to almost all the time 99%.

Agreed. There is a widely held misnomer that tuning isn't really required with X3D and that is a fallacy especially when the cache is exhausted/saturated. World of Warcraft has been shown to really benefit from tight timings vs bandwidth over and over when things are said and done. Of course if you can have both then why not? 🙂 *Sigh* hopefully the chips act and the fact Intel can't sell their foundries along with the removal of Pat along with 18a in the wind will get them back on track. @Talon How has the 4090 testing been going with the 9800X3D vs 14900KS vs 285k?

You hear me talk about X3D and stuttering/chunk when playing that I do not experience on Intel. This is an example here in Ardenweald and this is on the 9800X3D from Jansn Benchmarks. Watch closely for it. This is a mild version out in open areas with minimal player data and higher GPU utilization. It happens more with RT on and especially at 4k. Side note: on a 7900XTX with RT on, the stuttering is just brutal yet it plays so much smoother with it off. PvP/Raids with X3D is just brutal...BRUTAL when that cache gives up the ghost but I have to say it doesn't look as bad as the 7800X3D/7950X3D but it is still there. It comes down to when does the massive amount of player data micro stutters end and the X3D chunk begins.... Remember, this is at 1440p not even 4k on the 9800X3D. Still want to try it myself as I don't know about his memory settings. 9800X3D is on its way back to newegg for an exchange (hopefully).

Agreed. I think I commented on the BIOS level basic RGB lighting controls with the mATX RS B650 variants and how nice it was. You can always install their software for more advanced functionality, but for me the basic functionality is perfect and keeps the RGB bloatware off the system (I'm looking at you Asus and Razer). So are you going to stick with the Carbon and hope for a firmware fix or give Asus a whirl?

That's a shame considering how great their 1DPC boards have been of late across both AMD and Intel in ITX and mATX form factors. I know my z390 Taichi was a hot mess but that was so long ago and they had really seemed to turn the corner with their recent offerings. You could try another or stick with the Carbon. Like I said before, I had nothing but fantastic results with my x670e Carbon and MSI is my first choice by default now in general. I may end up returning to the fold, who knows? 🙂 I'm hoping MSI launches some really nice 5090s again this time as I will most likely target a Founders and MSI again but let's see the lineup first. I watched it around 4am and wow.....I am a huge proponent of caveat emptor and doing your due diligence, but that is shady at its best and the large investment from a known anti-consumer bent on profits and propping up valuation to resell their stake is telling (IE Corsair).

Trying to figure out what's going on here but I'm leaning towards this 9800X3D being problematic: A-die = G.skill 2x32GB kit F5-6000J3040G32GX2-TZ5RK - I used these for over a year in my MSI x670e Carbon with the 7600x, 7800x3d and 7950x3d with numerous BIOS revisions and no problems along with testing in several motherboards. M-die = Hynix Green generic Gen 1 2x16GB greenies good for up to ~6600 Scenarios: -------------------------------------------------------------- Asus B650 Prime w/ 7600x and M-die no problem. Ran for months tuned 6000 and tested up to 6400 Updated BIOS to support 9800X3D 9800X3D only ran up to 5400 same M-die setup. Anything higher and it sometimes wouldn't post and when it did post it was sporadic in nature. Anything past ~5200 failed TM5 even with lose timings at 1.35v->1.45v Swapped back in 7600x no problems running like before after some adjustments with m-die 6000 Swapped back in 9800x used new adjustments same problems 7600x on older bios could do 2200 w/ GPU installed 9800X3D couldn't go past 2000 A-die flat out wouldn't post but the B650 has no error codes. Swap back in 7600x one more time and test with M and A, no problem. --- Ordered this x670e Hero Setup with 7600x for flashing with A-die at just jedec for 9800X3D support 7600x SP=115 Bios flashed fine and 7600x and A-die worked fine at jedec Swap in 9800X3D = Code 15. Each boot is red light or yellow light or sometimes both Swap in M-die sticks now it boots Swapped back in A-die no post Reflash BIOS now get right SP for 9800X3D = SP113...meh Same problems Swap back in 7600x and it works with both M-die and A-die Set old timings on the M-die to test and it works fine. Did some testing at 2133/6400 for fun Swap the 9800X3D back in and fclk again stuck at 2000 no matter what I do and same problems at 5400+ on M-die and yet again A-die won't post with error code 15. --- So that's two Asus boards with the newest BIOS and this 9800X3D that are proving to be problematic with the A-die while the 7600x just shrugs its shoulders and keeps it moving with either set. Think I'm going to return the 9800X3D as a defective chip and get a swap from Newegg or they will refund me because they will have no stock. I can't think of anything else since the 7600x works fine, both sets of memory work fine with it across what I realize now is 5-6 boards. A-die worked fine with 7600x, 7800X3D, 7950X3D tested across a couple of Asrocks 1DPC, X670e carbon x 2 and two Asus boards. The common "fail" point in the end is this 9800X3D chip. It is a no go at all with the A-die and is severely limited even with the M-die. I just generated a return label for Newegg to send it back on Monday. I sense they're going to be out of stock of 9800X3D chips unfortunately. Hopefully they're not and can send me another one.

Crosshair setup for flashing and 7600x testing / recert before slapping in the 9800X3D..... 7600x = SP115. Not a bad Vid at all.... this is the one that could hit 2200. I'll be selling it once I'm secure in the 9800X3D (or keep it has a backup for any/all future baseline testing/flashing).

From your use case, I can see how that would involve extra work. For my use case, I am meticulous as I am resealing for personal use so I take everything to the next level and the CPU is naturally tested over a protracted period of time so when I resell, it is just a lift out, wipe down, package and on its way. I've pried apart some truly nasty liquid metal jobs on CPUs, GPUs and laptops and it's pretty horrendous. I am sure blocking GPUs then having to revert back to their original state can be time consuming, but the absence of liquid metal in the equation has to help. Work is just part of being a competent reseller of your equipment because you wouldn't want that karma/ bad joojoo hit for not properly taking care of your gear and/or making sure to present it in the best light to the next buyer. I break down everything in exacting order and clean everything as much to factory spec as possible and box it up to look as much as new as possible so the buyer will be happy and I'm happy because I couldn't let it go out the door looking like PigPen from Charlie Brown was the last to use it. 🙂

What doesn't rip harder on DD especially with a little chiller action? 🤣 But I agree with you about delidding CPUs unless needed and it is rarely needed for myself since laptop DTRs have pretty much went bye bye. I always found selling properly delidded and properly sealed relidded CPUs easier to sell and at a slightly higher value than stock off the shelf ones.

Sold off some more memory and storage I had along with my 4090 so the "fall sales event" is definitely in its last gasps. 🙂 Asus X670E Crosshair Hero was delivered a day early so I'll dig into that later. All I know is that box is CRAZY heavy. If the 9800X3D works out like I want I will end up shifting the SP109 14900KS to the wife's system either as is intact with the Z790i Lightning and TG 8200 sticks and sell off her Z690 D4 + 4000 CL15 Bdie sticks + 12900k or I will just install the 14900KS into her system and sell off the Lightning and her existing 12900K chip and keep the TG sticks to dabble with on the x670e. If I find my Intel setup is still better overall for WoW (definitely not Fallout 76 as even the 7800X3D smoked my 13900KS badly), I'll just return the x670e and sell off the 9800X3D which won't be a problem. After that? Shut down my eBay store from January to October again. 🙂 Either way, I'll need to pick up an Xmas holdover card till the 5090. Maybe see if I can find a used 4070 Super or something.