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

[Reciever]

11 hours ago, electrosoft said:

That is awesome news @Reciever! Know your worth and demand no less. Sometimes you have to be proactive and other times those around you will see and acknowledge your quality work and reward you thusly.

 

Now, just go ahead and finance that 5090..... 🤣

 

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The cable, according to TG data collected so far with the WVP2, is the primary issue regardless of MSI burning up or other makers like the PNY reported a day or two before this one. It was an Asrock PSU. In the comments:

 

He literally recommended over and over to his friend to get a WVP2 or at least a better 3.1 compliant PSU. With the WVP2 I am pretty sure he would have immediately seen a high imbalance on a pin or two but without a WVP2, or a 3.1 PSU that reports pin monitoring or an Astral. Without any of these reporting protections, you are basically piddling blindly  in the wind every time you use your 5090.

 

Before my WVP2 and MSI sending me an Ai 1600T PSU, I purposely used the included tentacle just in case for warranty claims. Switched to the MSI PSU and its included 12vhpwr cable keeping MSI completely responsible for the warranty chain and then added a WVP2 and their warranty on top of it for extra added support.

 

De8auer said they haven't had a single report of a WVP2 burning up yet from WVP2 to GPU connection.

 

At this point, anyone running a 5090 without a WVP2, a pin monitoring compatible PSU or at the least using the tentacle to keep any burning issues warranty claims valid are playing with fire.

 

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Honestly pushing for more value is harder than I realized, have to push down the imposter syndrome and take a risk. Looks like they are targeting October 16th but they will have to agree to my salary demand.

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On another note, even if the 5090 was 2,000 I still wouldnt pick one up if I didnt have a WVP2 in hand to go with it, too much risk. It doesnt make sense to not have it. 


Looks like I get to drain the loop this weekend. One of the filters cracked (the glass) likely the cold air hitting it with the hotter water on startup? I have enough tubing thanks to @Mr. Fox recommending mcmaster I bought around 25 feet of tubing for exactly things like this. 

Was able to patch it and I do have a cup under the leak but for now it looks like it stopped leaking.

 

On 9/29/2026 at 1:28 AM, Mr. Fox said:

 

Congratulations, brother. I am glad that your dedication to excellence, faithfulness and hard work is finally being recognized.

 

Thanks Bro! It is Appreciated! 

[Mr. Fox]

6 hours ago, Reciever said:

Looks like I get to drain the loop this weekend. One of the filters cracked (the glass) likely the cold air hitting it with the hotter water on startup? I have enough tubing thanks to @Mr. Fox recommending mcmaster I bought around 25 feet

That's really strange. I've never had a filter crack before. I'm wondering if maybe it had a defect. Using the chiller has never affected mine and it gets close to freezing point.

[mattalienware]

Alienware 14 R1. 3DMark 11 score of 4,568.

 

Please let me know if this is good or bad for what the laptop is, lol.

 

This was my first time using 3DMark. I decided to use 3DMark 11 since my graphics card is on DX11 and that version of 3DMark is free. Benchmark was ran at my laptops native resolution of 1366x768p. Hopefully I have done it correctly.

 

Link to 3DMark results: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/17007367

Screenshots attached.

[Mr. Fox]

5 hours ago, mattalienware said:

Alienware 14 R1. 3DMark 11 score of 4,568.

 

Please let me know if this is good or bad for what the laptop is, lol.

 

This was my first time using 3DMark. I decided to use 3DMark 11 since my graphics card is on DX11 and that version of 3DMark is free. Benchmark was ran at my laptops native resolution of 1366x768p. Hopefully I have done it correctly.

 

Link to 3DMark results: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/17007367

Screenshots attached.

3DM11 is the GOAT benchmark. Good choice.

[Vasudev]

@Mr. Fox @Papusan I'm back to desktop after a small break of 15 years. The laptops don't cut anymore. Anyway I repurposed the RTX 4070 Super eGPU for Raptor Lake Refresh 14400f and measly 2x8GB DDR4 3200MTps, MSI bomber B760M AX211 WIFI mobo and 512GB SN3000 QLC drive as costs for DDR5 16GB 6400 has driven up to 500$ for basic ones and good ones sell for 1200$ per stick.I got them for 600$ including the case.

Too many issues with eGPU on windows 11 and stopped trusting Defender to go for Kaspersky Standard AV as I started getting few indie games and apps early for review for my youtube channel. All of the desktop are in test bench as I'm sick with HFM which my sister had couple of weeks ago.

Stock RM1 Cooler can't sustain 120W and 45C ambient. Tweaked few settings in TS and uploaded few unofficial DLSS 5 mod into Miles Morales (lot of artifacts indoor lights/env), NFS MW Redux (much more cleaner graphics/UI).

[Papusan]

7 hours ago, Vasudev said:

@Mr. Fox @Papusan I'm back to desktop after a small break of 15 years.

 

Nice to see you back bro Vasu. And yep, desktop all the way. Modern Jokebooks is just a bigger tablet with KB😀

 

Today's joke. Smuggling by now will be fixed. Just handle over your ID. And will MC ban you from their store if you sell your old hardware (to friends) outside US now?🧐 Nice seeing the retail follow up the governments chips ban, and stop the smuggling of nvidia chips (sarcasm). China will get needed chips anyway. 

 

So in the end, the random US customer is the one dealing with ID checks and export declarations at the checkout. Meanwhile, the larger export operations these rules are supposed to address have already found cheaper and more efficient ways around them.

 

Micro Center now requires RTX 5090 buyers to show ID and sign no-export declaration

 

 

[Tenoroon]

2 hours ago, Papusan said:

 

Nice to see you back bro Vasu. And yep, desktop all the way. Modern Jokebooks is just a bigger tablet with KB😀

 

Today's joke. Smuggling by now will be fixed. Just handle over your ID. And will MC ban you from their store if you sell your old hardware (to friends) outside US now?🧐 Nice seeing the retail follow up the governments chips ban, and stop the smuggling of nvidia chips (sarcasm). China will get needed chips anyway. 

 

So in the end, the random US customer is the one dealing with ID checks and export declarations at the checkout. Meanwhile, the larger export operations these rules are supposed to address have already found cheaper and more efficient ways around them.

 

Micro Center now requires RTX 5090 buyers to show ID and sign no-export declaration

 

 

Making a rare appearance, good timing I guess. Not to be a nihilist about it, as nihilism is lame and pure evil, but part of the reason I've partially stepped out of the technology realm is because of how politicized it's become over the past few years. Won't get into it here, but the whole reason I got into all of this stuff was mostly as an escape from the world. Physical hardware had almost nothing to do with any societal/political issues besides maybe the pricing of hardware.

Not only have availability and innovation fallen off, I can't even discuss my joy and appreciation for technology without it spiraling into a political discussion. Maybe it's just me being at university and being surrounded by more people that have a very active political life than the average joe, but it just sucks. I can't fully describe it, but I have lost most confidence in sharing this hobby of technology and computer hardware I have with others ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

The future will be brighter, but I'm impatient and want the future to be now, just as all of you guys probably want too. Hopefully you all will still be here to celebrate when things get better 🙂
 

[Mr. Fox]

22 hours ago, Vasudev said:

@Mr. Fox @Papusan I'm back to desktop after a small break of 15 years. The laptops don't cut anymore.

Nice to see you, and happy that you've ditched the notion that turdbooks are OK. The harsh reality is they are garbage. Please keep sharing what you're doing and post some pics for us, brother.

16 hours ago, Papusan said:

So in the end, the random US customer is the one dealing with ID checks and export declarations at the checkout. Meanwhile, the larger export operations these rules are supposed to address have already found cheaper and more efficient ways around them.

If you remember from the GamersNexus investigation, China actually has people buying new and used in the US and shipping banned GPUs to China. So, I'm totally supportive of this and would like to see more retailers taking action like this. Showing ID is normal and touches every part of life and the only resistance to it is a very recent development that is politically motivated. If a person is using a credit card they will have to show ID for that anyway if the retailer is doing their job correctly. Will this fix the problem? No. But, it is a paper cut and thousands of them can lead to death. Have to start somewhere. Hopefullly, other retailers will follow.

14 hours ago, Tenoroon said:

Not only have availability and innovation fallen off, I can't even discuss my joy and appreciation for technology without it spiraling into a political discussion. Maybe it's just me being at university and being surrounded by more people that have a very active political life than the average joe, but it just sucks. I can't fully describe it, but I have lost most confidence in sharing this hobby of technology and computer hardware I have with others ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

The future will be brighter, but I'm impatient and want the future to be now, just as all of you guys probably want too. Hopefully you all will still be here to celebrate when things get better 🙂

Nice to see you again. I hope you have fully recovered from your accident. You're right about the political crap. Even the comments above (sorry). The university scene is probably one of the worst examples of sheeple that are brainwashed by a huge agenda. It's horrible and we have seen some of the worst examples now that the balance of power has shifted away from the left. I don't like it either. (I do like the conservative shift, but not the irrational reaction from the insane folks on the left.) People insert things in subtle ways and for many people it is difficult to ignore nonsense when it is obvious what they are doing. It is trolling. We no longer have a live-and-let-live culture like most of us have known for our entire lifetime. If people were as passionate about living decent and Godly lives and doing good to others, America and the world would be a better place. Politics and destroying those that hold a different view is their new religion. Very sad. Eternity won't be kind to them.

[Vasudev]

19 hours ago, Papusan said:

 

Nice to see you back bro Vasu. And yep, desktop all the way. Modern Jokebooks is just a bigger tablet with KB😀

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

Nice to see you, and happy that you've ditched the notion that turdbooks are OK.

 

Indeed I gave it many chances to get it working but Windows 11 being sloppy simply ruined the experience for me. One more thing is I switched to Mac for video edits and developer workflow from linux and windows (almost spent 15 years in making a perfect setup) and an iPhone after Pixel shipped an update last year that broke Cellular and Wifi calling doesn't work and there's open issues in google issue tracker without a fix for older Pixel 6 and 7s.

[Papusan]

On 10/3/2026 at 7:09 PM, Mr. Fox said:

If you remember from the GamersNexus investigation, China actually has people buying new and used in the US and shipping banned GPUs to China. So, I'm totally supportive of this and would like to see more retailers taking action like this. Showing ID is normal and touches every part of life and the only resistance to it is a very recent development that is politically motivated. If a person is using a credit card they will have to show ID for that anyway if the retailer is doing their job correctly. Will this fix the problem? No. But, it is a paper cut and thousands of them can lead to death. Have to start somewhere. Hopefullly, other retailers will follow.

 

This is like using a cannon to shoot birds. It isn't going to work. The corruption and greed will find it's own way to make profits. And we both know it. You should go after the big birds instead; that way, the problem becomes maybe smaller. Whether or not one shows ID shouldn't be the deciding factor in solving the problem. In my case, it backfire. It’s a matter of principle. I will never accept this as a solution—regardless of whether I show/use ID for payment or not. Nope, I won't accept this as a sloooopy fix. This is moreb a practice/more common you see from China... Not from the free world. 

 

People shoud start stop buy expencive PSUs with 3.1  5gen PCIe connectors. And they often come with only 3-5 8 pin-connectors. You can't use that if you want to be safe with modern tech.... Not enough connectors. You are probably safer with your old PSUs with enough 8-pin connectors😀 New is newer... Not always better. The modern 5 gen tiny trash connector can be worthless. Pay several hundred dollars in premium and it will only be a drawback

 

$5,245 prebuilt RTX 5090 PC's connectors melt after sitting boxed for a year Everyone points at someone else.

 

 

Exactly as predicted. xx60 series are replaced by the more expensive xx70 series. Will they dare to push for xx80 series next time? Or do they need more time?

The RTX 5070 becomes the most popular GPU in Steam's September 2026 hardware survey

 

[Reciever]

Dont know if its everyone, but forum is running slow for me. 

I pinged Hiew to take a look when he gets up so apologies until then.

[Mr. Fox]

The Apex Twins have a new sibling. I just got the hardware set up and in the process of installing Linux and Windoze. No tuning yet.

[electrosoft]

On 10/3/2026 at 4:07 PM, Vasudev said:

 

 

Indeed I gave it many chances to get it working but Windows 11 being sloppy simply ruined the experience for me. One more thing is I switched to Mac for video edits and developer workflow from linux and windows (almost spent 15 years in making a perfect setup) and an iPhone after Pixel shipped an update last year that broke Cellular and Wifi calling doesn't work and there's open issues in google issue tracker without a fix for older Pixel 6 and 7s.

 

I love my PC hobby, but I've been Mac and iphone as my core setup for years now for work along with an iPad. With all the cross platform tools, there's a reason many of the big houses now deploy Macbooks for dev work.

 

On 10/3/2026 at 7:36 PM, Papusan said:

 

This is like using a cannon to shoot birds. It isn't going to work. And we both know it. You should go after the big birds instead; that way, the problem becomes smaller. Whether or not one shows ID shouldn't be the deciding factor in solving the problem. In my case, it backfire. It’s a matter of principle. I will never accept this as a solution—regardless of whether I show/use ID for payment or not. Nope, I won't accept this as a sloooopy fix. This is moreb a practice/more common you see from China... Not from the free world. 

 

I agree with @Mr. Fox on this one @Papusan. You have to attack the problem on all levels and the reason Microcenter implements a one per household / ID checked policy on many products IS to prevent scalpers and also in this case straw buyers and agents from buying up 5090 products and just either finding a way to sell/ship them as is or ripping the cores and memory off the board and shipping them that way.

 

This isn't much tighter than their valid ID on file / One GPU per month quota they had during the Pandemicryptoboom.

 

It is also why Microcenter routinely has items in stock while you can't find them any place else online because bots don't work when you can only reserve items online for pickup and then have to eventually enter the store front to purchase and pick up in person.

 

In short, on any level, any potential scalper/straw buyer/agent that is turned away by this new requirement opening up even one unit for a legit customer is a win. 

 

I agree the main culprits are the corporations and big AIBs/resellers, but would you rather scalpers and straw buyers be able to walk in and just buy out everything they want? Toss out the baby with the bathwater? Trust me, if Microcenter decided to go all Newegg/Amazon and just volume sell online, their stores would be even barer than they are now for many products.

 

$7k desktops anyone? It is the one thing still hanging on atm for 5090s.....

 

As for the 5070, at MSRP to me it was one of the sweet spot cards I called around launch.

 

 

On 10/4/2026 at 3:15 AM, Reciever said:

Dont know if its everyone, but forum is running slow for me. 

I pinged Hiew to take a look when he gets up so apologies until then.

 

Yeah for a bit there it was running like dogwater.... I just load it up and go get something to drink... 🤣

 

I usually don't complain. I know you guys are all over it when you get time.

 

On 10/4/2026 at 4:47 AM, Mr. Fox said:

The Apex Twins have a new sibling. I just got the hardware set up and in the process of installing Linux and Windoze. No tuning yet.

 

Ruh Roh! You tend to keep things in threes....

 

This means either one of the Apex's is on its way out or you're heading towards being done with AM5 before Nova drops 🤣

 

Looks nice! Again, I was tempted to snap it up but I've yet shockingly found myself with a pile of hardware again that I will have to wait till January to downsize. I'm on the cusp of kicking myself up into another tax bracket because of this year and I definitely don't need that....

 

Or I am going to have to go the local/FB/CL route which I haven't done in a bit to offload some gear.

 

 

[Clamibot]

Oh hohoho look what I found!

 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19351/intel-wireless-wi-fi-drivers-for-windows-10-and-windows-11.html

 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18649/intel-wireless-bluetooth-drivers-for-windows-10-and-windows-11.html?countrylabel=Asia%20Pacific&product=86451

Windows 10 drivers for a wi-fi 7 module you say? I thought wi-fi 7 required windows 11 (wink wink).

I finally got the built in wi-fi module working in windows 10 on my Asus Maximus Apex encore motherboard this way. I'd been using a USB wi-fi adapter with wireless AX since I built this machine. I'm glad I get to free up that USB port now and get faster speeds as well. Note that these wi-fi and bluetooth drivers are for intel wireless modules. If your mortherboard has an intel wi-fi 7 module, these drivers should make it work in windows 10.

I also found a windows 10 driver for qualcomm since I have an alienware m18 r1 AMD advantage edition (yeah, I know, BGA turdbook, but I can't get away from laptops as I still need them), and got that wi-fi module working in windows 10 as well. If your laptop also has a qualcomm wi-fi 6e module, these drivers should get it working in windows 10: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=7vt5x

I've had some adventures on the m18 and will report on those later. While it is a BGA laptop, it's good for what it is and what I use it for. I also got it for a good price and really needed a second laptop when I got it. It's an excellent linux laptop (since it has an AMD GPU), and it's excellent for my software suite (which has a performance advantage on AMD GPUs, the main reason I bought this laptop). The fact it has an AMD GPU also makes it perfect for use as a Lossless Scaling frame gen machine (hmm, this opens up possibilities like using it as a terminal for a backpackable sff desktop, hmmmm).

[Vasudev]

On 10/4/2026 at 12:45 PM, Reciever said:

Dont know if its everyone, but forum is running slow for me. 

I pinged Hiew to take a look when he gets up so apologies until then.

Its slow for me as well. I'm from India. Made me recall GPRS.

 

It seems Qcomm is licensing Logic Folding, 5G and other tech from Huawei. This is pure speculation from me, Qcomm might make few new gen SoCs using China's Foundries to launch in China to get better pricing with Sammy, TSMC, intel, and Rapidus.

https://www.techpowerup.com/353397/qualcomm-licenses-huaweis-logicfolding-5g-and-other-technologies

[Mr. Fox]

4 hours ago, Clamibot said:

Windows 10 drivers for a wi-fi 7 module you say? I thought wi-fi 7 required windows 11 (wink wink).

It "requires" W11 only because the driver developers are lame Micro$lop butt-kissers and you're required to use the new cancer OS because they've not done right by consumers in terms of releasing drivers for Windows 10 or Windows 7. The Redmond Retards told them not to and they obeyed. There are no true operating system incompatibilities, only a lack of quality product support.

On 10/4/2026 at 12:15 AM, Reciever said:

Dont know if its everyone, but forum is running slow for me. 

I pinged Hiew to take a look when he gets up so apologies until then.

It is particularly bad today for me. Accessing anything is met with lengthy delays and unresponsive web pages. 

5 hours ago, electrosoft said:

Ruh Roh! You tend to keep things in threes....

 

This means either one of the Apex's is on its way out or you're heading towards being done with AM5 before Nova drops 🤣

 

Looks nice! Again, I was tempted to snap it up but I've yet shockingly found myself with a pile of hardware again that I will have to wait till January to downsize. I'm on the cusp of kicking myself up into another tax bracket because of this year and I definitely don't need that....

 

Or I am going to have to go the local/FB/CL route which I haven't done in a bit to offload some gear.

I had a good run in the sun with Ryzen and their latest generation is the only product stack that has been any good for me. No regrets, only minor disappointment with the limitations. However, I've always preferred Intel and I still think they make a better CPU all things considered. At least that is true if overclocking is your primary consideration on making a purchase, and it's no secret to anyone here that this is my primary consideration. Ryzen overclocking is very limited in comparison . The SFF build with the B850MPOWER and 4585PX is still in the family. It is my wife's desktop now and connected to the living room TV where she can use it as often (or as little) as she wants. It's a potent and respectable build and I still like it.

 

I like the Unify X a lot, but the 270K Plus that came with it is a pretty crappy sample compared to the other two I have. I'm probably going to buy a better one and sell it to offset the cost. It is a voltage pig with a weak memory controller. Totally usable and a good candidate for a gaming or content creation focused build. I am going to move it to one of the Apex systems for testing to confirm my impressions about the silicon quality. I think it's probably very average and the two that I had already are better than average.

 

I wish I had purchased another 270K Plus when Microcenter had them on sale for $199 about 10 days ago. I'm going to keep watching and snag one when they drop the price again. I'm not going to delid this since it is going to be replaced and will be easier to sell to a normie or gamer boy. That tends to freak them out due to general ignorance and the misguided belief that delidding is bad, or the preference to give priority to warranty over performance enhancement.

 

The motherboard is very nice. Nicer than the Apex even. But the firmware is your typical MSI/Gigabyte "gamer-focused" trash BIOS that is lacking in features needed for world-class overclocking. There is a reason they dominate overclocking leaders... A$$zeus is the only manufacturer that actually knows what they're doing when it comes to firmware now that EVGA has left the building. I'll probably reach out to Svet about the missing features and VNNANON 1.00V cap that is an impediment to D2D overclocking. It needs to be raised to at least 1.100V.

 

I am very tempted to do something bold and crazy, like taking a dump of the Apex BIOS and forcing a cross-flash on the Unify X using an SPI programmer just to see what happens and see if it would actually work. I think it would actually be safe to try since it has a dual BIOS.