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

[tps3443]

Playing the newer Avatar expansion. Native 4K with Frame Gen on, graphics on Unobtanium. Card reaches almost 1,000 watts! and averages around 800-900 watts from my 5090FE. Been running a few hours now. 

Cable melters DREAM right here. My 5090 spends its life pumping pixels, and I’ll say this is on the higher end of what I see in games, even more than Starwars Outlaws, and a cyberpunk 2077. It also uses 20GB VRAM. 

[Mr. Fox]

On 12/29/2025 at 7:34 PM, electrosoft said:

I'll be waiting for a bit it seems.....*sigh*

I got a notification that mine has shipped. 

 

Oh, by the way. ASUS has released a USB firmware update since the one we discussed recently. Same two device updates, (ASUS_4242_and_PD-GX_Firmware_Windows_Update_Tool) but a newer version.

[electrosoft]

So I bit the bullet (the itch wouldn't stop itching) and picked up an open box new Z890 Apex from the zon for $371. This gives me the Z890-A Strix and Apex for motherboards along with 3x of memory on hand atm (TG 8200, KB 8400, Corsair 9200) along with this open box 265k which I am 99% sure is capped out at 8400 at G2 but we'll see. I'll also be able to verify the Z890-A Strix capping out at 8667 in G4. Z890-A Strix is rated to 9066 but two review I've seen now show it capping out sub 8800 under stress test so this isn't a surprise as mine will boot 9200 G4 just fine but falls apart about 5 minutes into the stress test (TM5 1USMS 90 min).

 

Return window is Jan 26th for the Z890-A Strix or I'll hold onto it and the 265k for the Hyte White Y40 I have.

 

------------

 

5 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

I got a notification that mine has shipped. 

 

Oh, by the way. ASUS has released a USB firmware update since the one we discussed recently. Same two device updates, (ASUS_4242_and_PD-GX_Firmware_Windows_Update_Tool) but a newer version.

 

w00t! That bodes well for my ship window thank goodness and it will be in your hands sooner than later to start getting some data.

 

Thanks! I just grabbed it. I'll patch it in a few...

 

 

[Mr. Fox]

40 minutes ago, electrosoft said:

picked up an open box new Z890 Apex from the zon for $371.

Wow, that is a really good deal.

[electrosoft]

1 minute ago, Mr. Fox said:

Wow, that is a really good deal.

 

Yeah I just couldn't do the MSI Unify Z890 even at $399.99 knowing I've been sitting here working with Asus BIOS for the last several weeks with the Strix. Asus is such a greedy dog water company, but their BIOS is the best for my use cases atm across several in the house and gets the most love and engagement in the forums too while I finish sorting out the memory side of this equation first (as I always do since 12th gen / AM5).

 

--------------------------

 

Updated and same as before. DOS status update progression bar on PD_Update and auto exit then delayed silence on ASMx4242 till it popped up with the "Update or erase successfully. Reboot now?" Window. I don't recall getting that window last time and checked processes to make sure it had completed.

[Talon]

1 hour ago, electrosoft said:

So I bit the bullet (the itch wouldn't stop itching) and picked up an open box new Z890 Apex from the zon for $371. This gives me the Z890-A Strix and Apex for motherboards along with 3x of memory on hand atm (TG 8200, KB 8400, Corsair 9200) along with this open box 265k which I am 99% sure is capped out at 8400 at G2 but we'll see. I'll also be able to verify the Z890-A Strix capping out at 8667 in G4. Z890-A Strix is rated to 9066 but two review I've seen now show it capping out sub 8800 under stress test so this isn't a surprise as mine will boot 9200 G4 just fine but falls apart about 5 minutes into the stress test (TM5 1USMS 90 min).

 

Return window is Jan 26th for the Z890-A Strix or I'll hold onto it and the 265k for the Hyte White Y40 I have.

 

------------

 

 

w00t! That bodes well for my ship window thank goodness and it will be in your hands sooner than later to start getting some data.

 

Thanks! I just grabbed it. I'll patch it in a few...

 

 

 

There are some new ones for just $431 on Amazon right now. I hope you get a good one! I actually had to return an Apex to Amazon for absolutely shit tier memory OC. I learned it's definitely possible to get a bad binned board, something I had not experienced before. 

 

I really want Intel to drop the ARL Refresh in January since I have vacation and will have time to tinker and bin. But I saw a rumor of a March release which to me is just wild. Why would they drop a new CPU refresh, about 6-9 months before Nova Lake. But maybe the rumor I saw of a fixed IO is the reason. If Intel actually fixed the IO, then we might actually see the latency fixed and there could be significant gains. The rumors of 10-30% gaming gains could be true then. If they fixed gaming that much without huge cache, then Nova Lake with this fix and huge cache could be an absolute monster. 

[tps3443]

23 minutes ago, electrosoft said:

 

Yeah I just couldn't do the MSI Unify Z890 even at $399.99 knowing I've been sitting here working with Asus BIOS for the last several weeks with the Strix. Asus is such a greedy dog water company, but their BIOS is the best for my use cases atm across several in the house and gets the most love and engagement in the forums too while I finish sorting out the memory side of this equation first (as I always do since 12th gen / AM5).

 

--------------------------

 

Updated and same as before. DOS status update progression bar on PD_Update and auto exit then delayed silence on ASMx4242 till it popped up with the "Update or erase successfully. Reboot now?" Window. I don't recall getting that window last time and checked processes to make sure it had completed.

Yeah, its great working with Asus bios. One bios that's pretty annoying is ASRock lol. My sons Z790 DDR5 bios is a pain and very confusing. Theres like 4 different settings for CPU load line. The ASRock bios reminds me of Aorus/Giga bios. 

[electrosoft]

7 hours ago, Talon said:

 

There are some new ones for just $431 on Amazon right now. I hope you get a good one! I actually had to return an Apex to Amazon for absolutely shit tier memory OC. I learned it's definitely possible to get a bad binned board, something I had not experienced before. 

 

I really want Intel to drop the ARL Refresh in January since I have vacation and will have time to tinker and bin. But I saw a rumor of a March release which to me is just wild. Why would they drop a new CPU refresh, about 6-9 months before Nova Lake. But maybe the rumor I saw of a fixed IO is the reason. If Intel actually fixed the IO, then we might actually see the latency fixed and there could be significant gains. The rumors of 10-30% gaming gains could be true then. If they fixed gaming that much without huge cache, then Nova Lake with this fix and huge cache could be an absolute monster. 

 

The $431.99 one is sold by Kova Trade and shipped by Amazon. Shipped and sold by Amazon is $441.99. With these types of products via Amazon, I tend to lean towards both shipped and sold by Amazon just to be safe unless the price difference is meaningful.

 

That is $70+ in my pocket 🤑 for picking up an open box new and worse case scenario is I return it and pick up the $441.99 variant. Most  times open box new is box damage with Amazon so we will see. First thing I'm going to do is check G4 9200 on down to see where it gives up the ghost .  Hopefully this one is a good one though!

 

If it isn't, welp, back it goes....

 

 

 

-----

 

I was waiting for the refresh after reading about the node refinements, IO improvements and better IMC incoming. I'll just continue to double down around this 265k atm while sorting out the memory end of the DDR5/MB combo and then go from there.

 

Worse case I tune it around 8400 unless it is an OC dud on top of that then off to eBay it goes...

 

Nova with latency refinements and bllc could clock in as a legit AMD gaming killer. I would be ready for a return to Intel's glory days but remember....this IS modern day Intel we're talking about. We might want to lower our expectations......

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Papusan]

Corsair reverses course and honors gaming PC order after $700 price hike uproar — order was erroneously flagged, but the company sends a coupon to the buyer to snag the PC at the original price

 

 

Yup,had  they many other choices? Greed come at a price. . And yeah, the Corsair mod team worked damn hard to delete threads all over on their reddit forum. Firefighting everywhere. Their genuine staff couldn't have done a better job😀

 

 

Many years since Jensen talked about 8K gaming. Maybe we will see 60FPS as the latest and greatest. Both for castrated low end and overpriced high end. The only difference will be if you prefer 1080P or 8K.

 

 

I'm sure bro @Mr. Fox drooooling by the great news😀 XPS for the winners🤮

Dell could bring back XPS laptops powered by Intel Panther Lake at CES 2026

Will Inspiron, Latitude, Precision, and OptiPlex also make a comeback?

 

[Mr. Fox]

On 1/3/2026 at 12:58 PM, Papusan said:

Corsair reverses course and honors gaming PC order after $700 price hike uproar — order was erroneously flagged, but the company sends a coupon to the buyer to snag the PC at the original price

 

 

Yup,had  they many other choices? Greed come at a price. . And yeah, the Corsair mod team worked damn hard to delete threads all over on their reddit forum. Firefighting everywhere. Their genuine staff couldn't have done a better job😀

 

 

Many years since Jensen talked about 8K gaming. Maybe we will see 60FPS as the latest and greatest. Both for castrated low end and overpriced high end. The only difference will be if you prefer 1080P or 8K.

 

 

I'm sure bro @Mr. Fox drooooling by the great news😀 XPS for the winners🤮

Dell could bring back XPS laptops powered by Intel Panther Lake at CES 2026

Will Inspiron, Latitude, Precision, and OptiPlex also make a comeback?

 

A turdbook is a turdbook, is a turdbook. It doesn't matter what name is on the outside, it's all just dung on the inside.

[electrosoft]

Nice way to kick off the GPU new year! 🤣

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5090s are drying up fast in the US

Lower tier/priced 5080s are gone

 

Best buy is completely sold out of 5090s including 3rd party sellers....that's a first

Cheapest 5080 in stock is $1300

 

Newegg only has two 5090 models in stock $3299 MSI Liquid 5090 and $3539.99 PNY 5090

Cheapest 5080 is the $1200 MSI Shadow

 

Amazon has no shipped/sold from Amazon 5090s in stock

Cheapest 5080 is the $1399 Gigabyte 5080 Gaming OC shipped/sold by Amazon

 

My closest 7 Microcenters only has one card in stock (MSI Liquid 5090). One had a lone Asus 5090 LC for $3719.99.

Cheapest 5080 from them is $1299.99

 

MSRP 5070ti's are starting to dry up everywhere but MC still has some in stock

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The upper end 9070xt's have started to trend back up in price, but some of the bottom tier 9070xt's can be found for great pricing at Microcenter. Brand new Asrock 9070xt Challenger (which has the same PCB as the Steel Legend, but a weaker cooler) can be had for $579.99 brand new. It is a 2x PCIE model and doesn't clock great, but it is still a 9070xt and will get the job done.

 

 

 

[Mr. Fox]

WireView Pro II was just delivered.

[Reciever]

Just got my 7900 XTX blocked, liquid metal and minus 8 pads for memory and vrm, used the ek thermal pads for everything else. 

 

Depending how I feel I may get it installed into the loop tonight. Also set up 3x 800w psu's from the crypto days, one for each 8pin. This is mostly just to keep their fans at a lower rpm. Last time I used just one psu and it started to sound like a jet engine. 

 

Also rebuilt the other open air bench finally, what a pain to rebuild. 10850k will run with the 1300w. Everything is beginning to take shape and thank goodness because my room is a disaster lol

[electrosoft]

Sheesh, normal OC mode = 800w, Extreme OC mode = 1000w and that is normal.

40 phase design

dual 12v2x6 connectors

and I LOVE the AIO design...but if it is anything like the MSI 5090 liquid, that means it may have issues flashing other vbios

 

1300 units limited run.

 

I am sure the price is going to be insane...

 

I would take this over the Matrix anyday of the week though.

 

https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-launches-geforce-rtx-5090-lightning-z-worlds-first-gpu-beyond-1000w

 

 

---------------------

 

41 minutes ago, Mr. Fox said:

WireView Pro II was just delivered.

 

Let the fun times begin!!

 

 

[tps3443]

We’re getting 6x Frame Gen in Spring of 2026 for RTX 50 series guys!! lol. I personally love frame Gen. I don’t care what the haters say. I use it especially in older poorly optimized titles that are CPU limited, it will turn 30% GPU usage in to 70% GPU usage on an older game. It has the same effect on newer games as well. 
 

 

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-dlss-4-5-to-feature-2nd-gen-transformer-model-and-dynamic-6x-frame-generation

[Mr. Fox]

2 hours ago, electrosoft said:

Let the fun times begin!!

I just hooked it up. I have not done any testing or playing with the settings yet. Here is a down and dirty no-audio video showing the different screens/menus. I've connected the shut-down wire to the mobo power header. Those two wires are very thin and separate. It would have been nice if they were bonded together for the sake of cable management, but otherwise it seems like a very well-made product. It was nice to see all of my 12V lines were well balanced right off the bat. The thermal sensor connected to the motherboard T-sensor that I have inserted between the wires next to the connector shows the same temperature reading as the WireView Pro II, so that is also good.

 

I had to add a 25mm G1/4 extension on the GPU water out fitting to raise it up enough to clear the top of the WireView Pro II.

 

I am not sure what an acceptable variance is between pins, but my impression is this is close enough to not be an issue. If there was over 1-2A difference between pins that might be a concern. This was running a 4K MSI Kombustor benchmark with the GPU at all default clocks and voltage. Idle power is around 48-50W.

[Clamibot]

1 hour ago, tps3443 said:

We’re getting 6x Frame Gen in Spring of 2026 for RTX 50 series guys!! lol. I personally love frame Gen. I don’t care what the haters say. I use it especially in older poorly optimized titles that are CPU limited, it will turn 30% GPU usage in to 70% GPU usage on an older game. It has the same effect on newer games as well. 
 

 

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-dlss-4-5-to-feature-2nd-gen-transformer-model-and-dynamic-6x-frame-generation

 

Lossless Scaling allows for up to 20x frame gen. It offers very interesting results.

[tps3443]

1 hour ago, Clamibot said:

 

Lossless Scaling allows for up to 20x frame gen. It offers very interesting results.

I wonder what that would be like with a 5090! I hear it’s great for older GPU’s giving more power when needed, but I always hear DLSS4 is far superior. But I have never tried lossless scaling. 
 

I remember when I first upgraded from a 3090 to a 4080S, and was just blown away by how great FG was. 
 

I typically just run 2x FG my self. 

[Papusan]

9 hours ago, electrosoft said:

Nice way to kick off the GPU new year! 🤣

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5090s are drying up fast in the US

 

I can see the same here now. You can still get 5090's but you have to buy what they offer. You may not get the brand or the SKU you want/prefer. But it seems more cards is on the way within 1-2 weeks/Unknown delivery date. How they will price  they... I don't know yet. We are flooded with loads of 9070XT for those that dare.

 

Me... I have the 5090 so no need to buy one. I rather spent $3875 USD (incl tax) on a new snow blower. Much more needed than any new tech parts right now🙂 A machine also my wife can handle. Honda is so damn expensive here home. But if you take care of it it will last you 30 years +. Even 15 year used they cost over $2000 in the used market. Honda doesn't change much. They prefer keep the old design/engine that just works... 12V-2*6 I look at you, you stupid🤢

 

 

8 hours ago, electrosoft said:

Sheesh, normal OC mode = 800w, Extreme OC mode = 1000w and that is normal.

 

Sad. They could offer 1200W and be within specs. I expect the 2500W XOC vbios is for the elite/chosen ones (and their friends) as usual from MSI.

 

I expect Asus will make an XOC vbios for the Matrix for the elite. If they not already have it by now. But not for the vanilla pc enthusiasts.

 

5 hours ago, Clamibot said:

 

Lossless Scaling allows for up to 20x frame gen. It offers very interesting results.

 

Dynamic 20X frame gen will be for 6000 series from Nvidia. Or 12x then 20x for the update a year after. For 7000 gen, I don't know. Maybe there is no more geforce cards by then. Only the cloud + overpriced AI cards for those that can afford  it.

[Papusan]

What stands CES for? Electronic for corporate?🤐 Why did nvidia bother with CES? To promote new AI chips/servers for business. 

 

NVIDIA Confirms No New GPU Announcements Planned for CES 2026

Published 11 hours ago by Hilbert Hagedoorn

[tps3443]

8 hours ago, Papusan said:

What stands CES for? Electronic for corporate?🤐 Why did nvidia bother with CES? To promote new AI chips/servers for business. 

 

NVIDIA Confirms No New GPU Announcements Planned for CES 2026

Published 11 hours ago by Hilbert Hagedoorn

They are probably burned out with all the Chinese compliant models released. We already had (3) RTX PRO 6000’s in the USA. I’m probably missing one. 
 

 

RTX PRO 6000D

RTX Pro 5000 72GB 

RTX 5090D

RTX 5090D V2 

I tell you something very interesting and cool, and I wish AMD would properly optimize it. I think if game developers were on board too, it could be great!

[Mr. Fox]

9 hours ago, Papusan said:

What stands CES for? Electronic for corporate?🤐 Why did nvidia bother with CES? To promote new AI chips/servers for business. 

 

NVIDIA Confirms No New GPU Announcements Planned for CES 2026

Published 11 hours ago by Hilbert Hagedoorn

NVIDIA won't "need" consumers until the AI bubble breaks. I hope they suffer record-breaking financial losses, all of their wealth ends up being erased and they end up filing bankruptcy.

10 minutes ago, tps3443 said:

They are probably burned out with all the Chinese compliant models released. We already had (3) RTX PRO 6000’s in the USA. I’m probably missing one. 
 

 

RTX PRO 6000D

RTX Pro 5000 72GB 

RTX 5090D

RTX 5090D V2 

I tell you something very interesting and cool, and I wish AMD would properly optimize it. I think if game developers were on board too, it could be great!

I wonder if you could designate the second core for Lossless Scaling and essentially function the same as two GPUs? @Clamibot?

[Mr. Fox]

22 hours ago, electrosoft said:

Let the fun times begin!!

The WireView Pro II is pretty impressive, but I've come to expect only the best from Brother @der8auer at this point. So, I am pleased but not surprised.

 

It is interesting seeing how unreliable and sketchy the 12V-2x6 connector actually is. What you could never see without the WireView Pro II becomes abundantly clear. My PSU is a Lian Li Edge 1300W that has a light blue connector and none of the plastic fingers showed any evidence of overheating when I installed the WireView Pro II. The connector still looks like brand new.

 

I have been messing with it today and you can gently bump the wiring/connector and cause pin current imbalance. This triggers an alarm to you can remedy the situation before damage occurs. I have been able to both induce and remedy the current imbalance problem by simply tapping on the wiring or WireView Pro II with my finger. Seeing this makes it easy to understand how user error is very likely not a common factor with the melted connectors. I am running the stock Zotac 600W vBIOS for normal daily use and with the shunt mod if I reduce the power limit to 65-70% with Afterburner it shows my peak power between 600-620W.

 

I am going to order another one for my 4090 pretty soon. I'm sure it is equally sketchy. The 12VHPWR connector is truly a joke and NVIDIA deserves to be crucified for pushing this abortion as a new standard.

[Reciever]

4 hours ago, tps3443 said:

They are probably burned out with all the Chinese compliant models released. We already had (3) RTX PRO 6000’s in the USA. I’m probably missing one. 
 

 

RTX PRO 6000D

RTX Pro 5000 72GB 

RTX 5090D

RTX 5090D V2 

I tell you something very interesting and cool, and I wish AMD would properly optimize it. I think if game developers were on board too, it could be great!

It would be interesting to see this in conjunction with lossless scaling. 

[tps3443]

44 minutes ago, Reciever said:

It would be interesting to see this in conjunction with lossless scaling. 

We just get two 5090’s for that. Double the GPU! Double the melting fun! 😂