electrosoft

They have made some inroads with WoW multithreading though. Remember back during the first half of WoW's life everything was single threaded. Now it is dual threaded-ish+.... But yeah WoW loves frequency, IPC and tight timings. I liked the Scar 18, but the 13th gen had ridiculous amounts of screen bleed and that was its biggest complaint. They fixed it a bit in 14th gen. BIOS options are a little limited in that you could UV the CPU by -0.080 but that was it. Every bit helped though. Zero CPU or memory tuning beyond that unlike MSI. I thought out of all the gaming laptops I've used recently it was one of the quietest and/or had better fan harmonics. Loved the keyboard. Hated Armory Crate and unfortunately that is a requirement. 14th i9 just runs hot and taming it to not bounce off throttling temps was a constant battle. Compared to this MSI Raider 18 I've had with me the last 3 days on the road, I like the spacing of its keyboard better. CPU runs much cooler. Much more BIOS control over memory and CPU than Asus. No need to run Mystic Light just Steel GG to control the lighting and everything else in BIOS. I actually use a Steel Series desktop keyboard and while the keyboard is good, it isn't even close to their desktop counterpart. Fans are louder and more aggressive than the Scar which isn't making much sense since the 7945HX3D runs really cool. 4090 runs stupidly cool especially compared to the 4080 in the Scar but that could be an issue of the 14900HX and 13980HX sucking up all the cooling it can get from the shared heatsink vs the 7950HX3D. 4090 Mobile + QHD really brings good fps for Fallout 76 and WoW. 18" display really is a major factor for laptops for me. I can get by with a smaller screen, but on the go? Definitely bigger is better. I'd like a 19" MALX or 21" Predator sequel anyday. It will have to flat out seriously outpace a 5070ti to be viable at that price and the RT uplift has to be as meaningful or it is DOA at $849. The 9070XT will be as impressive as its price allows, period. If it comes in below a 5070ti, it will be impressive. If it comes in above it, it will not be impressive unless it can perform like a 4080 SUPER at that price.

After my first foray into using the Cablemod 1.0 adapter that failed with black screens on my 4090 Liquid, I am more than content to use the proper supplied tentacles that puts the entire chain of ownership on the AIB if anything goes wrong. I have zero desire to take a chance purely for the sake of aesthetics. I rocked the tentacle on my 4090 for almost two years and I'm rocking the tentacle now on my 5080 FE. I saw the bot watch results of BB drop earlier, and apparently it was the 5090 FE, 5080 FE and the rest were five variations of the Gigabyte 5080 (Windforce OC, Aorus Master Ice, Gaming OC, Aorus Master, Aero SFF OC) Even with a bot, there are better, faster and quicker bots out there all ready to pounce on those 5090's along with individuals just refreshing and queuing and hoping.

I'll be curious to see how the bot works out. Imagine all the other bots out there competing along with Best Buy releasing in waves and regional only which is a blessing and a curse. Hopefully you're using a remote service or set up a proper proxy so your IP doesn't get flagged from BB. That is how BB always does drops. They release in waves over the course of a few hours. Then come the dreaded regional ghost drops which stand zero chance of going through. My 5080 FE was a weird fluke. I hit the buy button then it timed out. I thought it didn't go through but then ~90 min later I got an update that my card had been charged and an order confirmation. I'm in that frame of mind if a 5090 happens across my way and it is the model I want, I'll snag it because why not? But on the other hand, I'm not just going to grab whatever presents itself especially since my tech budget took a couple of big hits in the last month (9800X3D combo, MSI 18 raider). You have to understand too the FE models have always been the most desired of all the cards the last 3 generations (5090, 4090, 3090). Why? I dunno, but I was able to snag the 4090 and 3090 FEs in due time. My order is officially based on price first now: #1. 5090 FE because of price ($1999.99) #2.MSI Ventus because of price ($1999.99) #3. Suprim because if I'm paying a premium, it will be the card of my choice. I don't care for any other MSI model in the premium space It still boggles my mind that the Suprim 5090 is $1k+ more than the Suprim 4090..... I still have major reservations about the 5090 FE due to repeated insane reports of coil whine and auxiliary electronics noise. It is crazy how many people with them are complaining versus other brands. Other concerns are the temps and constant fan noise even at idle most times.

Which models did you queue up? I slept right through the drop knowing it was coming lol. I have some serious road travel ahead of me while a couple of buddies house sit for me, so I mapped out every MC on the way (about 7 of them. 10 if I really want to go off course) I'm going to stop at every one just to ask if they have any 5090s and maybe take a pic of myself in front of each one. Add a bit of fun to break up the monotony of driving. Plus the randomness of their trucks pulling in at all times of the morning to afternoon. Total dynamic chaos at its best. Just my luck the only one available will be a stray 5090 Astral LC..... The writing was on the wall with Asus early release prices for their 5090 scar laptops coming in at $4200. Everything is going to be crazy priced with inflation, tariffs and demand all in play.

Definitely in my thoughts and prayers @Mr. Fox. Here's to a speedy and most proper road to recovery!

My ideal scenario was to snag a 5080 FE and a 5090 Suprim or FE (hence my screen shot on launch day with both queued up). Play with the 5080 FE especially that form factor and engineering beauty (assuming I got a Suprim instead of an FE.....SUPRISE! Neither for me! (NO SOUP FOR YOU!) 🤣) and then either sell it or pass it down to replace the wife's 3080. Market factors = me using the 5080 FE, but I gotta admit, it's a compact, beautiful banger of a card that is fun to OC and has a lot less chance of blowing out your power connector. I'm running into CPU bottlenecking almost on the same level as my 4090 in WoW and FO76 at just stock. In what world do you buy a $1600+ (w/ tax) 5080 when you already have a 4090? That was the right call. If you even contemplated that, you go get a block for your 4090 and call it a day.

Me: "Whatever do you mean?!" Also Me: 🤣

Yep, I still love laptops to this day. I lament the loss of big, hungry, powerful laptops with pounds of heatsinks, but that doesn't mean I'm going to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I adapt and keep it pushin' As for the pre-builts, those will get snatched up almost as fast as the GPUs. During the height of Ampere days and the boom, pre-builts couldn't stay in stock either depending on the GPU included. Anything with a 3090 and 3080 just blew right out the door. Looking at the configs with like for like specs, charging $3k more for the 5090 over the 5080 is savage. ----- I mean this combo does save you $20, everything is MSRP but man you have GOT to love Asus to get it. You can go full on Asus in your build, display, wifi router everything! Just grab this: And your journey to the dark side will be complete....(don't forget your memory and storage!)

I'll go back and listen again. I don't know if he mentioned liquid metal in the context of his shut mod non showing or I misheard it but visuals trump all. And yeah, he is all about the monetization while railing against the bigger tech tubers. Always patronizingly asking his viewers to thank others who give to him in any fashion. All about how he and his discord are the only source of true information and other such nonsense. I noticed he took those Asus goodies right quick and toned down his normal rhetoric when reviewing them. He actually likes the 5080 FE. It, too, was supplied for free. I mean I like it too but I paid for mine..... That's exactly it @Mr. Fox you nailed it on the head: " He doesn't share most things for the good of the community like most of us do." With all that said, I still enjoy the bulk of his videos. 🙂

lol, I almost spit out my matcha latte on this one @Papusan!! 🤣

We'll never know how he applied it since he doesn't want to show anyone just in case they damage their card. One of his shortcomings is a weird fascination with information hording and bragging. It goes against the spirit of enthusiasts and sharing. If someone asks me a question about a setting or a hardware mod or whatever, I always freely share. I always have and always will. I was and am the same way with coding styles and algorithms. Whenever anyone asked me about how I wrote a specific part of code in assembly (WAY back in the day) or C or Pascal (I guess today would be Swift), I would just explain to them what I did and usually provide sample code because, why not? So when I bump up against other tech heads that get weirdly possessive about their methodology or information (outside of truly competitive arenas and/or financial stakes of course), they just seem strange and sad.

Yeah, MSI makes an 18" variant and Asus makes a 17.3" version. The one I'm picking up is the MSI variant. He uses liquid metal for the shunt but he doesn't want to show exactly what he did so others won't try it and damage their cards or some such nonsense..... I know I used an X-acto knife to etch for liquid metal for well over ten years now. I know I saw others who did it too and / or used electrical tape once and after that, the staining from that initial application of LM left a guideline so you didn't need to use tape or etching ever again and always have a guide. I actually used to clean everything up, reapply the thickest (prevent pump out or bleeding) thermal paste exactly as possible and remount to get as clean as possible an image of the working area before etching or masking.

In my arsenal atm: -------------------------------------------------------------- (These are all 15.6" laptops) Dell G15 13650HX w/ 4050 Asus Vivobook OLED Core Ultra 7 w/ 3050 Asus Vivobook OLED Core Ultra 9 w/ 3050 Acer Nitro AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS w/ 4050 NH55 golden 12900k w/ 3070ti Incoming: MSI Raider 18" 7950HX3D w/ 4090 --------------------------------------------------------------- I'm going to need to downsize the top list sooner than later. Even after my great laptop selloff in late 2023 (Sold 4 of them), I have the above.

It is worth the $50 to get a membership if you buy frequently. The return period goes from 14 days to 60 days which is a game changer. I do usually end up picking up enough items over the course of the year to make back the membership fees. For example, I needed a new GPS and the member price was $65 cheaper than non members and everywhere else so boom, cost covered. Obviously I was able to return my 4070 Super on the 60th day of use. And yeah, I tried and returned two G18 laptops. Loved the 18" display, but that absolutely locked down BIOS and more importantly needing to run Armory Crate to get access to the boost voltage for the CPU and GPU was a deal breaker. No advantages getting GPUs though. 😞 Best Buy did it a few times with Ampere and the user base went bonkers ape$(%& over it so they stopped that quickly.

What could have been with the 5080 FE lol.... Good seeing Jufus break it down and redo the pads, add liquid metal and power mod it....for science! 🤣

@Mr. Fox and @Papusan sitting on their porch, shaking their canes in anger and telling modern laptops to GET OFF THEIR LAWN!! 🤣

Are they doing an 18" version? 16 inch makes it DOA for myself. I love that NH55 (especially now with the BIOS unlocking), but the screen size is the only negative on it. ----- This is my favorite spot to benchmark WoW in the new Xpac since it will max out the GPU even a 4090 overclocked. I've used it across numerous systems in Hallowfall. It will max out even a 4090 and I can't hit my own personal frame cap there. Comparing my overclocked 4090 (GPU only, not memory) at 3135mhz fans at max vs my stock 5080 out of the box, it is 135fps (4090) vs 122fps (5080) on absolutely identical system specs so the 4090 overclocked to 3135mhz has ~10% lead over the 5080 stock. 4k 100% render scale, Ultra 10 RT enabled. Everything set to max. 4090: 5080:

Especially if you're not wanting the Ultra series in your gaming laptops that is as good as it gets for 14th gen laptops. Every bell and whistle you can think of and then some. Plus we know 5090 mobile is going to barely be better than 4090 mobile just like 2080 Super mobile to 3080ti mobile was a nothing burger. Actually, 3050 mobile all the way through 3070ti mobile to their 4000 series variants was a let down too. The only major uplift was 4080 and 4090 mobile. Plus, outside of custom variants, MSI has the best mainstream mobile BIOS on the market hands down. For me, it's all about 18" displays. I want the biggest displays possible on my laptops when able.

I mean, I guess that isn't terrible comparatively.... Better than the Asus combo which I can't say I'm shocked sold out within 5 min even at 6200 (~$6610 after tax)....sheesh.

There was an Astral 5090 combo on Newegg a few hours ago. It was ~$6200 and included the Astral, Asus PG32UDM, Asus Z890 Hero OR Asus x870E Hero, 1200 watt PSU, Asus Keyboard, Asus Mouse and their $600 Router. It was a legit bundle from Newegg. They lasted about 5 minutes actually but someone bought them! All 5080 Bundles are gone now too.

Looks like Gigabyte has raised their prices now too across the board based on NE prices. @tps3443 water blocked 5090 from them is now $2809.99 (or $2996.15 after tax for moi). Which models are you gunning for specifically? Or do you plan on grabbing whatever is available?

True, the 3090ti had it. I remember seeing it with my KPE 3090ti but I can't recall seeing it on my KPE 3090. We'll have to track down an elusive 5090 owner to see if it is there.

Nope, nothing for the 5080 I can see. Was there an option for the 4080? I thought it was only the 4090.

Yep, and it starts....and of course the poorest are going to feel it the worse confirmed by numerous sources. I can grumble grumble because some luxury toys are now even more pricier but I can weather the storm pretty easily. Others not so much. ----- In related news, looks like Newegg might have had a few 5090s drop tonight. Specifically Gigabyte Aorus 5090 and Gaming RTX along with the Zotac gaming Solid. Tomorrow is MSI's "official" launch day so if you're wanting one get ready at 9am EST for Newegg and especially Best Buy. Best Buy and New Egg haven't changed their prices yet but I'm sure they will before launch.

Yup, prices are officially rising from the AIBs: https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-and-asus-hike-geforce-rtx-50-series-prices-in-official-stores-now-up-to-3409-for-rtx-5090 Plus with the tariffs in play prices are rising on a lot of items here in the US for other computer items. I noticed even Asus peripherals have gone up in price in the last few days. I'll pocket my $1000, rock my 5080 FE which like my 4090 is being held back in WoW and Fallout 76 (9800X3D results not in yet) and keep it moving unless on a rare snag I get a $2k MSRP card. Anything else is just not worth it paying a almost 200%+ markup for 50% more performance on a card that is being bottlenecked for my two main games anyhow atm. I have several SFF builds in mind I can't wait to slap this into. 100% markup for 50% more performance? Ok, I can maybe swallow that....kinda but that requires an alignment of the stars and that doesn't rule out Nvidia raising the prices on their FE editions to $1100/$2200 or more. I'm not paying $2868 for a 5090 Suprim or $2975 for a Liquid 5090 after tax. That's insane. Absolutely insane. That is literally almost $2k more than I paid for my 5080 FE. Astral 5090 is $3284 after tax. No. Astral 5090 Liquid? $3635 after tax. **** no Just......no. --------------------------- For those of us who also enjoy laptops, I'm loathe to think of the new prices that we'll get. If Asus has already raised the price of the incoming 5090 laptop to $4199.99 BEFORE the tariffs, that is going to be $4500.00 for a 5090 laptop. No idea what MSI will be charging but they're routinely not that far behind. I'm sure the Titan will cost at least one kidney and a weekly quart of blood for a down payment. ----------------------------- It might be time to use common sense and just sit back and enjoy what we have or if you're really hell bent on getting a 5090, just suck it up and pay out the wazoo as soon as possible and hope to recoup a lot of that cost reselling your 4090....if you can score a 5090.