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

[Mr. Fox]

Maybe (hopefully) things will collapse sooner than expected. May they all burn brightly as they turn to ashes while we lock arms and sing Hallelujah to celebrate their calamity. Huang, Nadella and Altman need to go to jail and lose everything. Crucify them.

 

[Talon]

13 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

With a proper BIOS this is a really nice motherboard. Svet has provided updates with every official MSI release and added feature modules that were not even present for unlocking in the stock BIOS. I had him add a custom boot logo I created to replace the ugly MSI dragon boot logo.

 

 

 

"Empowered" LMAO. 

[electrosoft]

On 3/28/2026 at 5:13 PM, win32asmguy said:

 

To be completely honest that is a tough one. I also tested out the Micro Center Raider 18 with 285HX, 5090m and 1600p 240hz. While it does have the advanced bios available I ran into issues with its audio getting distorted under combined loads, very high temperatures (over 110C on the stock system memory) and eventual crashes under load that needed an EC reset to recover. Maybe just a bad sample? Maybe single rank memory would run cooler or just something about the Micron 32GB modules? Although I found many others had similar issues on MSI's Global Forums with 2025 Intel Vector/Raider/Titan models...

 

Today's project has been turning the media center back into a gaming machine for use on our 4k living room TV for my wife. We picked up one of those Midnight edition 5070 GPU's at Micro Center which seems to perform fine. With the 285K in 200S boost mode with the 48GB memory at 8000 CL40 WoW we are seeing 100fps running around Silvermoon without RT enabled. I need to find a nicer looking ATX case that has space for 3x3.5 inch HDDs and preferably a single 5.25 inch Bluray drive. The Fractal Design Define R7 XL is far too big for the space we have available under the TV.

 

Yeah, I continue to look and it will take something major to pry this free Alienware 18 out of my hands because it runs so quiet and only comes to life under gaming/heavy loads and even then it is quieter than the previous MSI.

 

I was wondering how the newer Raider did under load conditions and when pressed. How were the CPU/GPU temps? Memory temps look absolutely dismal. I'm sure under those conditions it was extremely loud. On paper, it looks ideal with a 285hx, 5090, 1600p but if it uses anything close to the same fans as the previous iteration.....yikes.

 

You know they always say couples who WoW together......Does the media center have it on display to see or is it hidden away behind a panel?

 

I contemplated picking up the Midnight darker edition for a build out they look so cool for the wife who immediately loved the darker version for her case. She passed her 5 year anniversary back in September (she started playing during the pandemic out of sheer boredom) playing WoW and is officially more hardcore than I am. She routinely clears ALL the content weekly and that is with working a full time job too. Weekends she is locked into Azzeroth with laser focus lol...she gets up before I do, so I make her cafe con leche the night before and place it on her timer warming pad so she's able to get up and rock and roll the Saturday and Sunday mornings...

 

 

[electrosoft]

https://videocardz.com/newz/chinese-memory-stockpilers-start-to-panic-as-falling-prices-leave-them-stuck-with-modules

 

"Reports from Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei market say traders and resellers that bought DDR5 in bulk during the run-up are now struggling to clear inventory, with some sellers cutting prices quickly to avoid being left with stock that keeps losing value. Yicai says some new 16GB DDR5 sticks that..."

 

 

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Microcenter with 270k "coming soon" already marking down the $349 to $329 while still not putting stock out (they haven't been listed for sale yet since launch) to push as many combos and in house prebuilts as possible.....yuck.

 

I cancelled my combo deal as it made no sense as all I want is the damn CPU and no desire for another MB or trash 2x16GB DDR5 memory. I'll just wait till they drop back to $299.99.

 

Newegg is flush with them now as is Amazon as expected after that initial FOMO rush....

 

 

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Top end mobile Nova Lake HX will finally differentiate core count wise from desktop for the first time since 11th gen due to the sheer size and power draw of all those cores. We're moving into Nvidia mobile land now but what else can you do?

 

Mobile Nova Lake HX will have half the overall P core count as top end Nova Lake Desktop (8 vs 16) and 28 cores overall vs 52 on desktop.

 

"

The new leak suggests Nova Lake-HX will not mirror the desktop configuration. As previously reported, Nova Lake-S for desktops is rumored to scale up to 52 cores, combining 16 P-cores and 32 E-cores. The mobile variant is said to be more conservative, topping out at 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores. "

 

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Looks like iBOT does tinker with the binary code of applications....

 

https://videocardz.com/newz/geekbench-says-intel-bot-rewrites-benchmark-code-geekbench-6-7-will-detect-optimized-runs

 

I'm ok with this for non benchmark applications and Intel finding ways to optimize games and applications over time, but "optimizing" benchmarks is a grey area I'm not too comfortable with if this is true....

 

 

 

[win32asmguy]

On 4/1/2026 at 2:50 PM, electrosoft said:

 

Yeah, I continue to look and it will take something major to pry this free Alienware 18 out of my hands because it runs so quiet and only comes to life under gaming/heavy loads and even then it is quieter than the previous MSI.

 

I was wondering how the newer Raider did under load conditions and when pressed. How were the CPU/GPU temps? Memory temps look absolutely dismal. I'm sure under those conditions it was extremely loud. On paper, it looks ideal with a 285hx, 5090, 1600p but if it uses anything close to the same fans as the previous iteration.....yikes.

 

You know they always say couples who WoW together......Does the media center have it on display to see or is it hidden away behind a panel?

 

I contemplated picking up the Midnight darker edition for a build out they look so cool for the wife who immediately loved the darker version for her case. She passed her 5 year anniversary back in September (she started playing during the pandemic out of sheer boredom) playing WoW and is officially more hardcore than I am. She routinely clears ALL the content weekly and that is with working a full time job too. Weekends she is locked into Azzeroth with laser focus lol...she gets up before I do, so I make her cafe con leche the night before and place it on her timer warming pad so she's able to get up and rock and roll the Saturday and Sunday mornings...

 

Actually, after I took the MSI back to micro center they asked if I wanted to exchange for anything so I got one of their open box a51-18 with the 5090.

 

After I got that one home and a few tools installed I found that it came with dual rank hynix a-die csodimms. I want to see what those sticks can do, maybe even testing them out in the hydroc g2 which is easier to tune memory with. I also can confirm that UMAF still works with the latest 2.xx bios and have had D2D and NGU running at a more proper 30x. The memory modules also peaked at 90C when running OCCT. Much cooler than the MSI raider 18 and closer to what I see with the hydroc using single rank modules.

 

The midnight dark edition card is definitely a looker. I'd need to get a riser to show it off in the case as well but it may look a bit goofy contrasted with the white pcb z890 apex. Next id probably end up looking for a deal on a z890 unify or something...

 

I don't know how she can keep up with all of the weekly activities. I barely have time to get my daily knowledge points and try to get enough stuff completed to get some hero track gear.