The computer and electronics super geek thread

[davidwhangchoi]

21 hours ago, azrael said:

I think Hardware Unboxed recently released a video on how much RAM one needs and 16GB was still about to tough it through most modern games. Unfortunately, that 8GB of VRAM for that 5070 is where it's gonna hurt. 

watching this video on 8gb vram vs. 16 made me sad:

 

[azrael]

Panther Lake-based (Core Ultra 300-series) laptops reviews are trickling out. Definite performance gains with much better battery-usage. Definitely sounds like a W for Intel. The downside are laptop pricing (Thanks AI, RAM and SSD supply) and Intel missing the AI boat (i.e. with everyone aiming at datacenter $, Intel doesn't really have a true product in that space. Their enterprise/DC products lean more toward general purpose compute. Consumer $ is pennies compared to datacenter $).

On the flip side, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D review are out. Yeah....$40 for ~4% performance uplift coupled with more heat and more power usage. Yep, AMD recreated Intel's KS SKU of CPUs.

[davidwhangchoi]

i saw some reviews of the new intel chips for laptops, pretty good upgrade, igpu and battery life. 

just saw this and thought there's RAM in the deal:

 

[TangledThorns]

The latency on that RAM is 36, yikes. I would try to look elsewhere if that is at all possible. 

The 32Gb of RAM I bought last year was 28 latency. The lower latency the better, which is typically 30 or less for gaming.  

 

Edited January 29 by TangledThorns

[azrael]

29 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

The latency on that RAM is 36, yikes. I would try to look elsewhere if that is at all possible. 

You say that like there's better price/performance choice out there...😒 That kit is nearly 1/2 the cost of that bundle on its own. 

41 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

The 32Gb of RAM I bought last year was 28 latency. The lower latency the better, which is typically 30 or less for gaming.  

*Looks at current price of CL28 32GB DDR5 kit* 😱😭

[TangledThorns]

7 minutes ago, azrael said:

You say that like there's better price/performance choice out there...😒 That kit is nearly 1/2 the cost of that bundle on its own. 

*Looks at current price of CL28 32GB DDR5 kit* 😱😭

 

I'd say look for lower latency or even pay more if performance matters. But choices suck now anyways. I would probably holding off on building a new PC till this bullshit sorts itself out, hopefully. 

 

[davidwhangchoi]

if you want the deal but don't have microcenter near you:

Combo is no longer available.

[azrael]

More good-bad news.

Exclusive: Intel, AMD notify customers in China of lengthy waits for CPUs

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Summary:

• Intel warns of delivery lead times of up to six months for some CPUs, sources say
• Intel server products in China now cost '10% more generally', source says
• Delivery lead times for some AMD products now up to 10 weeks, source says

This mainly affect server/data center CPUs so the ripple effect may not affect the consumer and EU/US enterprise markets till we get farther down the road. I'm gonna say that the saving grace for the latter mentioned markets is likely that it's pointless to buy a CPU if you have no decently priced RAM nor GPUs to go with that CPU upgrade.  

[davidwhangchoi]

With Nvidia skipping the 5000 supers this year, with the 6000 series will not even launch in 2027 and Ram prices insane with other pc parts are on the rise, here's another decent deal for anyone needing PC parts and ram for a budget build:

it's for those local to a Microcenter

Micro Center Bundle Hack: 7600X3D + MSI B850 Gaming Pro + 32GB DDR5 = $469.99

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This bundle recently dropped to $399.99, and now allows the 16GB single channel to be upgraded to 32GB dual channel for $70 more, making it the best value on the market right now.

This open box best buy Scar 18 with a 5090 laptop was $2,500 weeks leading to black friday and the one of the best deals for a high end lappy. since there's no new nvidia refresh laptop gpu's this year, it may be worth to grab if you're into 5090 laptop it's 2700 open box but ymmv as it's been selling out regionally and might be sold out in your region.