*Official Benchmark Thread* - Post it here or it didn't happen :D

[Talon]

Intel now offering DLC FPS upgrades for their CPUs in the form of Intel APO -- Intel Application Optimizer. Only works on 14th gen i7 and i9 K KF CPUs, ain't that nice? Reminds me of the days when you could buy Intel performance cards in stores to get HT on non HT CPUs lol. 

 

I've tested it in the 2 games they support so far, more 'profiles' to come. Rainbow Six gained 200~ fps for me at 1080p low settings. Went from 667 to 857. 

 

Metro Exodus went from 273 to 339 fps. Like what the heck. 

 

 

 

 

 

Downloadable FPS, Now I've seen it all. 🤨

 

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/intel®-application-optimization/9NZ98VNK5X1S?hl=en-us&gl=US

 

 

 

 

[saturnotaku]

Wasn't sure if I should make a new thread on this, but I'm hoping some folks here can help me potentially corroborate or disprove a conspiracy theory. I've been installing NVIDIA drivers with NVCleanstall, removing telemetry and only putting on the basics (control panel, USB-C, HDMI audio). I did this with the most recent set (545.84) on my 4080-equipped Legion Pro 7i. I reinstalled Quake 2 RTX and fired it up. At 1080p and the default in-game settings (medium RT), I was seeing around 100-110 fps. That was OK but seemed kind of low so I went to the YouTubes and found a video of someone testing the game on the same GPU with the same power limit, albeit on a different laptop. In his video, at the same settings, he was getting around 150 fps. After trying various settings, I then DDU wiped the drivers and then reinstalled them from the .exe without NVCleanstall, and lo and behold, my laptop was seeing the same performance as in the video. I don't have the time right now to try again with different games, but if any of the enterprising users here can double check that I'm not going completely insane, this might be worth looking into.

[Reciever]

12 minutes ago, saturnotaku said:

Wasn't sure if I should make a new thread on this, but I'm hoping some folks here can help me potentially corroborate or disprove a conspiracy theory. I've been installing NVIDIA drivers with NVCleanstall, removing telemetry and only putting on the basics (control panel, USB-C, HDMI audio). I did this with the most recent set (545.84) on my 4080-equipped Legion Pro 7i. I reinstalled Quake 2 RTX and fired it up. At 1080p and the default in-game settings (medium RT), I was seeing around 100-110 fps. That was OK but seemed kind of low so I went to the YouTubes and found a video of someone testing the game on the same GPU with the same power limit, albeit on a different laptop. In his video, at the same settings, he was getting around 150 fps. After trying various settings, I then DDU wiped the drivers and then reinstalled them from the .exe without NVCleanstall, and lo and behold, my laptop was seeing the same performance as in the video. I don't have the time right now to try again with different games, but if any of the enterprising users here can double check that I'm not going completely insane, this might be worth looking into.

 

You are likely insane, but that doesnt mean you're wrong :D 

 

If NVCleaninstall is open source it wouldnt surprise me if Nvidia "twisted the knife", are you able to recreate the performance "degradation" with reinstalling via NVCleaninstall? I know you are short on time, just thinking out loud.

[Mr. Fox]

4 hours ago, saturnotaku said:

Wasn't sure if I should make a new thread on this, but I'm hoping some folks here can help me potentially corroborate or disprove a conspiracy theory. I've been installing NVIDIA drivers with NVCleanstall, removing telemetry and only putting on the basics (control panel, USB-C, HDMI audio). I did this with the most recent set (545.84) on my 4080-equipped Legion Pro 7i. I reinstalled Quake 2 RTX and fired it up. At 1080p and the default in-game settings (medium RT), I was seeing around 100-110 fps. That was OK but seemed kind of low so I went to the YouTubes and found a video of someone testing the game on the same GPU with the same power limit, albeit on a different laptop. In his video, at the same settings, he was getting around 150 fps. After trying various settings, I then DDU wiped the drivers and then reinstalled them from the .exe without NVCleanstall, and lo and behold, my laptop was seeing the same performance as in the video. I don't have the time right now to try again with different games, but if any of the enterprising users here can double check that I'm not going completely insane, this might be worth looking into.

It is definitely worth looking into. It would not be the first time we have seen driver witchcraft from the Green Goblin. And, it seems like the new world order way of doing things. "What, you're not letting us steal your data? Well, take a hit on your gaming performance as a token of our appreciation for the unjust and self-centered denial of our right to collect your data, you icky person, you!"

 

I will look into it when I have time to fiddle with some games. Since I love Quake 2 RTX I will start there since that is where you noticed it.

 

I finally got around to delidding the SP112 13900KS I bought from the guy in Germany. Now I have to put my first 13900KS in the other system running the 13900K.

 

Today I gave in and ordered Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL EVO. It has enough changes to it that I felt it was worth buying. It is larger and I felt the original XL was too small. The way the mobo tray is adjustable, up and down, and removable, along with the plates I can use to mount passthrough fittings for my external cooling setup was enough to get me to bite. You can actually take out the mobo and rear I/O panel as a complete unit and use it as an open bench, or install it inverted like the Dark Base Pro 901 (which I also love). I like all of the fancy and unique mechanical features that GamersNexus has ribbed them about. (Even Steve likes them, LOL.)

 

I am going to put the Apex in that. I ordered black since that is my favorite. I thought about how nice the Apex would look in a white case, and put one in and out of my cart probably three times trying to make up my mind. The Apex is the first, and possibly the last, white PC component I will ever own and I think I would end up regretting a short-sighted decision based on how one motherboard might look inside of a case I plan to use for many years. I have no plans to deliberately purchase a white PC component and given a choice I will always choose black. The Galax HOF 4090 is the only part I would want in spite of its white color, but I would be putting a Bykski block on it anyhow.

 

 

[Papusan]

Is this greed or just fake rumors? One thing for sure... Nvidia will do everything they can to keep up ugly high prices as long as possible.

 

 

 

[tps3443]

8 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

It is definitely worth looking into. It would not be the first time we have seen driver witchcraft from the Green Goblin. And, it seems like the new world order way of doing things. "What, you're not letting us steal your data? Well, take a hit on your gaming performance as a token of our appreciation for the unjust and self-centered denial of our right to collect your data, you icky person, you!"

 

I will look into it when I have time to fiddle with some games. Since I love Quake 2 RTX I will start there since that is where you noticed it.

 

I finally got around to delidding the SP112 13900KS I bought from the guy in Germany. Now I have to put my first 13900KS in the other system running the 13900K.

 

Today I gave in and ordered Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL EVO. It has enough changes to it that I felt it was worth buying. It is larger and I felt the original XL was too small. The way the mobo tray is adjustable, up and down, and removable, along with the plates I can use to mount passthrough fittings for my external cooling setup was enough to get me to bite. You can actually take out the mobo and rear I/O panel as a complete unit and use it as an open bench, or install it inverted like the Dark Base Pro 901 (which I also love). I like all of the fancy and unique mechanical features that GamersNexus has ribbed them about. (Even Steve likes them, LOL.)

 

I am going to put the Apex in that. I ordered black since that is my favorite. I thought about how nice the Apex would look in a white case, and put one in and out of my cart probably three times trying to make up my mind. The Apex is the first, and possibly the last, white PC component I will ever own and I think I would end up regretting a short-sighted decision based on how one motherboard might look inside of a case I plan to use for many years. I have no plans to deliberately purchase a white PC component and given a choice I will always choose black. The Galax HOF 4090 is the only part I would want in spite of its white color, but I would be putting a Bykski block on it anyhow.

 

 

 

Can you really mount a GPU like that in that case? That looks awesome. 

[saturnotaku]

9 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

It is definitely worth looking into. It would not be the first time we have seen driver witchcraft from the Green Goblin. And, it seems like the new world order way of doing things. "What, you're not letting us steal your data? Well, take a hit on your gaming performance as a token of our appreciation for the unjust and self-centered denial of our right to collect your data, you icky person, you!"

 

I will look into it when I have time to fiddle with some games. Since I love Quake 2 RTX I will start there since that is where you noticed it.

 

 

 

Much obliged.

[Papusan]

12 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

Today I gave in and ordered Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL EVO. It has enough changes to it that I felt it was worth buying. It is larger and I felt the original XL was too small. The way the mobo tray is adjustable, up and down, and removable, along with the plates I can use to mount passthrough fittings for my external cooling setup was enough to get me to bite. You can actually take out the mobo and rear I/O panel as a complete unit and use it as an open bench, or install it inverted like the Dark Base Pro 901 (which I also love). I like all of the fancy and unique mechanical features that GamersNexus has ribbed them about. (Even Steve likes them, LOL.)

 

be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 Full-Tower Case Review tweaktown.com | Published Oct 24, 2023

be quiet!'s new Dark Base Pro 901 full-tower computer case managed to score very highly. Should it be your next chassis? Join us as we look closely.

Edit. Have you been in Oslo? Or one from your family?😀 https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/3EGMae/rev-i-oslo-sentrum-veldig-goeyal-opplevelse

[Mr. Fox]

24 minutes ago, Papusan said:

 

be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 Full-Tower Case Review tweaktown.com | Published Oct 24, 2023

be quiet!'s new Dark Base Pro 901 full-tower computer case managed to score very highly. Should it be your next chassis? Join us as we look closely.

 

I absolutely love mine. It is an excellent product. In case anyone missed it... 

 

Also, this is hot off the presses...

[electrosoft]

12 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

It is definitely worth looking into. It would not be the first time we have seen driver witchcraft from the Green Goblin. And, it seems like the new world order way of doing things. "What, you're not letting us steal your data? Well, take a hit on your gaming performance as a token of our appreciation for the unjust and self-centered denial of our right to collect your data, you icky person, you!"

 

 

Laptops are an odd duck when it comes with Vendor control and Nvidia control. Like I saw on my G18, not running Asus software resulted in a massive CPU and a lesser (but still annoying) GPU penalty. I would be curious to see the price paid for neutering some of the collection/control mechanisms from Nvidia (and potentially Lenovo) software. I know I will never buy another Asus laptop as long as AC cancerware has to be run to have it run properly. I would extend that denial to every other laptop maker too on the market.

 

Imagine buying a motherboard that couldn't run full tilt unless you installed their bloatware and just didn't run naturally at full gait out of the box regardless of BIOS settings?

 

12 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

I finally got around to delidding the SP112 13900KS I bought from the guy in Germany. Now I have to put my first 13900KS in the other system running the 13900K.

 

I'll be curious to see the final comparison between your 13900k and 13900ks in its final delidded state.

 

 

[electrosoft]

4 hours ago, Papusan said:

Is this greed or just fake rumors? One thing for sure... Nvidia will do everything they can to keep up ugly high prices as long as possible.

 

 

 

 

I would not be surprised if they use the traditional holiday buying season coupled with "external reasons" to continue to raise prices on the 4090. They have gone up everywhere on average and plenty of models continue to remain out of stock.

 

As for the lesser models, in an ideal world to compete effectively, Nvidia would let the normal 4070, 4070ti and 4080 dry up over the holidays and replace them with the Super variants in January at the same or close enough price to increase their value to consumers especially with the 4080 which is the poorest seller out of the new line up and rightfully so. Swap in a Super at the same price with 20gb of memory would immediately create much better value especially against the 7900xtx which is routinely marked down.

 

Knowing Nvidia though, they will simply offer both and the Super variants will be more......

 

"4080 Super at $1399....you're welcome! Happy $%*%)(* Holidays %(&%($_)_)$!!"

 

"Greed.....is good"

 

 

[tps3443]

This ram is so cool! And it actually uses real thermal pads with a legitimate forged aluminum heatsink. (Not a stamped piece of tin 🤣)
 

This ram is a great buy for anyone in the market for premium top of the line though. 
 

Corsair Titanium DDR5 8000 C38 and it’s (2x24GB) for $275 dollars.

 

I feel ripped off by G.Skill for sure! If I hadn’t already gone water cooled and stabilized DDR5 8600. Then, I would own those new Corsair Titanium’s 🙂too bad they don’t work with custom ram watercooling due to their custom PCB. What a cool ram kit, for a very reasonable price. 
 

 

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/p/memory/CMP48GX5M2X8000C38/dominator-titanium-rgb-2x24gb-ddr5-dram-8000mt-s-cl38-intel-xmp-memory-kit-cmp48gx5m2x8000c38?gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIip_OsoCQggMVfzfUAR3fDA6mEAQYAiABEgILrfD_BwE

[electrosoft]

Monster "In the wild" 14900k over on OCN from Amazon:

 

 

 

 

[Mr. Fox]

I think this deadbeat is going to leave me high and dry. I was hoping he would come through like he said he would, but three weeks have passed and I have not received the missing parts. I hate to do it, but I am probably going to have to change my position and get a refund. I have no tolerance for losers that do not keep their word.

@tps3443try these settings. 8200 with tighter timings is almost the same speeds at 8600 but latency is much lower.

[electrosoft]

1 hour ago, Mr. Fox said:

I think this deadbeat is going to leave me high and dry. I was hoping he would come through like he said he would, but three weeks have passed and I have not received the missing parts. I hate to do it, but I am probably going to have to change my position and get a refund. I have no tolerance for losers that do not keep their word.

 

 

I have zero problems not only initiating refunds/charge backs but also putting people and companies on blast when they don't do the right thing.

 

When it drags on, I set a hard "I will initiate a charge back / refund if I don't receive my item(s) by X date," and when I don't I just go ahead and back up my threat.

 

With that being said, we all run into hiccups as a buyer and seller. It happens. It's how you handle it that makes all the difference in the world.

 

Hopefully he comes through.

 

 

[Mr. Fox]

45 minutes ago, electrosoft said:

 

I have zero problems not only initiating refunds/charge backs but also putting people and companies on blast when they don't do the right thing.

 

When it drags on, I set a hard "I will initiate a charge back / refund if I don't receive my item(s) by X date," and when I don't I just go ahead and back up my threat.

 

With that being said, we all run into hiccups as a buyer and seller. It happens. It's how you handle it that makes all the difference in the world.

 

Hopefully he comes through.

Yeah, somebody replied on his YouTube video that seems to be a friend that understands English. Said they would report to him. I try to follow the Golden Rule and it usually works. I will give it a little more time. I actually already opened a case with PayPal, but told them my preference would be to receive the missing parts if the seller will send them. I guess we will see. If I do not get an affirmative response and a firm commitment with a tracking number I will contact PayPal on Monday and ask for a chargeback. Then I will spend half as much on the Bykski RAM cooling parts like I wish I had in the first place. They're not as fancy and effective as these, but they do a more than adequate job of cooling the memory for half the price.

 

[jaybee83]

On 10/24/2023 at 3:48 AM, Talon said:

Intel now offering DLC FPS upgrades for their CPUs in the form of Intel APO -- Intel Application Optimizer. Only works on 14th gen i7 and i9 K KF CPUs, ain't that nice? Reminds me of the days when you could buy Intel performance cards in stores to get HT on non HT CPUs lol. 

 

I've tested it in the 2 games they support so far, more 'profiles' to come. Rainbow Six gained 200~ fps for me at 1080p low settings. Went from 667 to 857. 

 

Metro Exodus went from 273 to 339 fps. Like what the heck. 

 

 

 

 

 

Downloadable FPS, Now I've seen it all. 🤨

 

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/intel®-application-optimization/9NZ98VNK5X1S?hl=en-us&gl=US

 

 

 

 

 

that just seems wrong. this kinda software optimization shouldnt make such a huge difference, there must be something fishy going on. either the stock windows thread handler is SO BAD for 12-14th gen intel cpus that it leaves 40%+ on the table in terms of performance or there is something else going on in the background (intel not disclosing any details on how this actually works is not helping in this context).

 

i mean, why would anyone leave so much performance on the table that such an optimization is even necessary? 

 

11 hours ago, electrosoft said:

 

I would not be surprised if they use the traditional holiday buying season coupled with "external reasons" to continue to raise prices on the 4090. They have gone up everywhere on average and plenty of models continue to remain out of stock.

 

As for the lesser models, in an ideal world to compete effectively, Nvidia would let the normal 4070, 4070ti and 4080 dry up over the holidays and replace them with the Super variants in January at the same or close enough price to increase their value to consumers especially with the 4080 which is the poorest seller out of the new line up and rightfully so. Swap in a Super at the same price with 20gb of memory would immediately create much better value especially against the 7900xtx which is routinely marked down.

 

Knowing Nvidia though, they will simply offer both and the Super variants will be more......

 

"4080 Super at $1399....you're welcome! Happy $%*%)(* Holidays %(&%($_)_)$!!"

 

"Greed.....is good"

 

 

 

what a shit show... prices are almost back to day 1 levels. boy am i glad i got my 4090 right on the spot 😄 

 

 

welp, looks like i lucked out on the ram front, i can only go up to 7600, which i am currently tightening up and finetuning for minimum voltages. both 7800 and 8000 error out, even with extra loose timings and high voltages. thats aight though, my finalized 6200 profile is roughly 70+% faster than the stock SPD at 4800 (will be sure to post more details on this soon). lets see what the fully tuned 7600 will bring to the table 🙂 im hoping for same latency and a nice bump to bandwidth!

[tps3443]

13 hours ago, electrosoft said:

Monster "In the wild" 14900k over on OCN from Amazon:

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not jealous one bit. Waiting on KS. Waiting on KS. 🙂

[Mr. Fox]

16 minutes ago, tps3443 said:

I’m not jealous one bit. Waiting on KS. Waiting on KS. 🙂

Same. But, it is hard to know how to interpret that SP rating in terms of how it ranks against other 14900K in the wild. Looks like +200 MHz bump compared to my better 13900KS. 5.8GHz on V/F curve on my better CPU is the same voltage as 6.0GHz on that sample.

 

Speaking of SP ratings, BIOS 1402 started doing extra-stupid stuff on me, so I dropped back to v0904. My SP rating fell to under 100 with the E-core rating in the low 60s and the only way I could fix it was by flashing a different BIOS version. That 0904 firmware is the only BIOS that is truly good for me overall. I start hating the Apex on 1203, 1401 and 1402 because it is less stable and has idiotic random misbehavior.

[Talon]

8 hours ago, jaybee83 said:

that just seems wrong. this kinda software optimization shouldnt make such a huge difference, there must be something fishy going on. either the stock windows thread handler is SO BAD for 12-14th gen intel cpus that it leaves 40%+ on the table in terms of performance or there is something else going on in the background (intel not disclosing any details on how this actually works is not helping in this context).

 

i mean, why would anyone leave so much performance on the table that such an optimization is even necessary? 

 

I know, my jaw hit the floor when I first got it working. I was like the first person outside of Intel to test this feature? Like WTF. Not a single reviewer looked at it, some specifically mentioned they weren't looking at it on launch day. That is somewhat BS but somewhat on Intel for not explaining that this feature really does work, albeit limited in scope right now with a somewhat annoying installation process. I almost gave up on getting it working myself, but through some persistence I figured it out and got it working. 

 

The Verge did some testing about an hour ago and also saw large gains, but not as large as mine. The reasoning for that is they used the Very High preset which isn't as CPU limited, I specifically used the low presets to look for the CPU difference. Additionally I am using stupid fast memory/ram setup which helps extend that lead. Once you remove the governor that has been in place, the high speed ram can now scream it seems. Either way they got pretty decent gains. 

 

The hardware scheduler that Microsoft is using is really that bad which is why Intel is fixing it. Then there are some games that don't like the loading of E cores or are inappropriately assigning tasks to them. This driver fixes that issue. It seems Intel is sick of their CPUs under performing and are likely going to go through and test/fix each game, similar to ARC division and their driver improvements. AMD already does this with their 7950x3D driver requirements. 

 

This serves 2 fold. First, it fixes the game performance for consumers, and it also shows the Intel CPUs performance properly. Some had made the argument you can simply disable the E cores and see the same uplift. Wrong. I've tested this and in Siege it does help quite a bit, about half actually, but it still does not reach APO performance. In Exodus, performance suffered terribly by disabling E cores. In both cases, APO was the clear winner. So there is more going on under the hood. Moreover, hardware reviewers are not going to go through games and turn On/Off E Cores, they're not going to mess with thread affinity or priorities. So even if gains be had by doing this, they won't do it, they won't report on it, and this can show an Intel CPU in a worse light than what is possible. Again, this APO fixes that issue and some or all of those gains AMD CPUs have enjoyed might now get clawed back. 

 

Best of all, APO is a driver. It's listed under the chipset section as Intel DTT. You install that driver and it's automatic. Nothing else needs to be downloaded or done by the end user. The Windows APO OSD app is not necessary and APO is on by default with driver install. The App only serves a purpose to disable APO or ensure it's on, but not installing it would not prevent it from working. This driver setup makes it apart of Intel's motherboard/setup. Meaning reviewers can't simply say they aren't going to use APO, or not install a required diver for the motherboard. That would be like saying they're not going to test a new Nvidia card with the proper driver, or they're going to test a CPU without installing chipset drivers, etc. APO is a default setup for the system after required driver install. It's actually genius. 

 

The part that pisses me off is the gate keeping here. This should be for ALL LGA 1700 CPUs. Keeping this for only 4 SKUs is complete and total BS. 

[Mr. Fox]

6 minutes ago, Talon said:

The hardware scheduler that Microsoft is using is really that bad which is why Intel is fixing it. Then there are some games that don't like the loading of E cores or are inappropriately assigning tasks to them. This driver fixes that issue.

Yeah, it's totally garbage no matter what platform you are running.  Windows 10 is rubbish and Windows 11 is feces. But, that's what you get from stupid people that have their priorities all jacked up.

[electrosoft]

10 hours ago, jaybee83 said:

what a shit show... prices are almost back to day 1 levels. boy am i glad i got my 4090 right on the spot 😄 

 

welp, looks like i lucked out on the ram front, i can only go up to 7600, which i am currently tightening up and finetuning for minimum voltages. both 7800 and 8000 error out, even with extra loose timings and high voltages. thats aight though, my finalized 6200 profile is roughly 70+% faster than the stock SPD at 4800 (will be sure to post more details on this soon). lets see what the fully tuned 7600 will bring to the table 🙂 im hoping for same latency and a nice bump to bandwidth!

 

Nvidia being Nvidia along with having the dominant hardware overall. The 4090 is just in a class of its own. Ditto,  I'm glad I picked up my 4090 back in January at stock pricing.

 

I'm also glad my first CM cable was a dud due to the loose sense pin to avoid that whole fiasco. 🤣

 

I'll definitely be putting those incoming 8000 sticks through the wringer on both Z790 and X670e!

 

With numerous BIOS updates since my initial testing I'll definitely retest 6000->6600 1:2 before diving into 1:3+ on AM5 with the new sticks.

 

2 hours ago, tps3443 said:

 

I’m not jealous one bit. Waiting on KS. Waiting on KS. 🙂

 

1 hour ago, Mr. Fox said:

Same. But, it is hard to know how to interpret that SP rating in terms of how it ranks against other 14900K in the wild. Looks like +200 MHz bump compared to my better 13900KS. 5.8GHz on V/F curve on my better CPU is the same voltage as 6.0GHz on that sample.

 

Speaking of SP ratings, BIOS 1402 started doing extra-stupid stuff on me, so I dropped back to v0904. My SP rating fell to under 100 with the E-core rating in the low 60s and the only way I could fix it was by flashing a different BIOS version. That 0904 firmware is the only BIOS that is truly good for me overall. I start hating the Apex on 1203, 1401 and 1402 because it is less stable and has idiotic random misbehavior.

 

With so many bad 14900k samples out there I'm not even sure we will see a 14900KS. I still feel this smells of the 10900k where they had extracted everything they could from the architecture and there simply was no room for a KS variant.

 

Over on OCN, you see some just returning their 14900k's because their 13900k or 13900ks are just as good and/or the 14900k they picked up is just a horrific sample that can't even hit stock properly on an AIO.

 

You then even have average 14900k's that are worse than good binned 13900ks. Like I said before, lots of cross over with some 14900k's just being low binned duds that have problems even running at stock.

 

 

I would sit back and wait and snag a good binned (or at least average) chip for the 14900k or prepare to play the lottery.

 

If I had a good 13900k/ks I wouldn't even bother at all unless a super bin falls in your lap.

 

 

1 hour ago, Talon said:

 

I know, my jaw hit the floor when I first got it working. I was like the first person outside of Intel to test this feature? Like WTF. Not a single reviewer looked at it, some specifically mentioned they weren't looking at it on launch day. That is somewhat BS but somewhat on Intel for not explaining that this feature really does work, albeit limited in scope right now with a somewhat annoying installation process. I almost gave up on getting it working myself, but through some persistence I figured it out and got it working. 

 

The Verge did some testing about an hour ago and also saw large gains, but not as large as mine. The reasoning for that is they used the Very High preset which isn't as CPU limited, I specifically used the low presets to look for the CPU difference. Additionally I am using stupid fast memory/ram setup which helps extend that lead. Once you remove the governor that has been in place, the high speed ram can now scream it seems. Either way they got pretty decent gains. 

 

The hardware scheduler that Microsoft is using is really that bad which is why Intel is fixing it. Then there are some games that don't like the loading of E cores or are inappropriately assigning tasks to them. This driver fixes that issue. It seems Intel is sick of their CPUs under performing and are likely going to go through and test/fix each game, similar to ARC division and their driver improvements. AMD already does this with their 7950x3D driver requirements. 

 

This serves 2 fold. First, it fixes the game performance for consumers, and it also shows the Intel CPUs performance properly. Some had made the argument you can simply disable the E cores and see the same uplift. Wrong. I've tested this and in Siege it does help quite a bit, about half actually, but it still does not reach APO performance. In Exodus, performance suffered terribly by disabling E cores. In both cases, APO was the clear winner. So there is more going on under the hood. Moreover, hardware reviewers are not going to go through games and turn On/Off E Cores, they're not going to mess with thread affinity or priorities. So even if gains be had by doing this, they won't do it, they won't report on it, and this can show an Intel CPU in a worse light than what is possible. Again, this APO fixes that issue and some or all of those gains AMD CPUs have enjoyed might now get clawed back. 

 

Best of all, APO is a driver. It's listed under the chipset section as Intel DTT. You install that driver and it's automatic. Nothing else needs to be downloaded or done by the end user. The Windows APO OSD app is not necessary and APO is on by default with driver install. The App only serves a purpose to disable APO or ensure it's on, but not installing it would not prevent it from working. This driver setup makes it apart of Intel's motherboard/setup. Meaning reviewers can't simply say they aren't going to use APO, or not install a required diver for the motherboard. That would be like saying they're not going to test a new Nvidia card with the proper driver, or they're going to test a CPU without installing chipset drivers, etc. APO is a default setup for the system after required driver install. It's actually genius. 

 

The part that pisses me off is the gate keeping here. This should be for ALL LGA 1700 CPUs. Keeping this for only 4 SKUs is complete and total BS. 

 

 

I watched your video yesterday @Talon. That was some fantastic work bro and I agree with your write up. Hopefully Intel isn't pulling an Nvidia and is just starting from the top and it will eventually work on all 12th->14th gen CPUs.

[Mr. Fox]

33 minutes ago, electrosoft said:

I watched your video yesterday @Talon. That was some fantastic work bro and I agree with your write up. Hopefully Intel isn't pulling an Nvidia and is just starting from the top and it will eventually work on all 12th->14th gen CPUs.

You took the words right out of my mouth. NVIDIA has been getting away with nonsense for so long it comes as no surprise for us to see similar questionable behaviors surfaced from AMD and Intel. There is a fine line between being in business to make a profit (applies to all businesses) and thriving and raking in massive profits because you function based on misrepresentation, manipulation, sleight of hand or otherwise shaft everyone that buys your products. It becomes sinister when they do it because they know they can get away with it only because the alternatives are more undesirable and the cure is worse than the disease.

[tps3443]

 

[electrosoft]

2 hours ago, tps3443 said:

 

 

Looking forward to your head to head comparison between the Apex and Apex 2.0. 🙂