Yea I think it's mainly because XTX matches up against the 4080 quite well while being cheaper where as the 4070 Ti is cheaper than XT. And while XT is a bit faster and has a lot more vram, most people won't pay more for Radeon due to the lack of competing features. So I think that's the main reason why XT is going down so much.

You could also get B650E instead of X670E as well. It comes with 90% of the features of X670E including Gen 5 PCI-E for both GPU and primary Storage for half the price. The only reason I didn't is cause I didn't like the visual looks of those motherboards compared to my Dark Hero. Plus ProArt had some real next gen upgrades like 10G Nic and USB4 40Gbps.

Indeed, the competence between the 4070Ti and the 7900XT is a major factor in the price fall of the later, whereas the XTX doesn't have to worry about the 4080.

Sadly, the price difference between the 650E and X670E boards isn't that big here. Only the ASRock B650E Steel Legend is far more cheaper than other X670E parts, but it only has two SATA ports. For the rest, there' a 10-20€ difference between both models and, in some cases, some B650E parts are actually more expensive.

So no, for the difference, I may as well go with a X670E motherboard. I'm thinking about going with the Asus TUF Gaming X670E-Plus. After all, it comes with stickers .

Ah yea that makes sense then. Mine only came with 4 sata ports.

"After all, it comes with stickers ."

At 1440p, there are 10 games in favor of DLSS quality and only 8 games in favor of native 1440p... so the split is even better than in 4K.

And if we count "+" as 1, "++" as 2 and "+++" as 3, the 1440p-ratio is 17:11 (DLSS-Q vs. native).
The 4K-ratio would be 16:13 (DLSS-Q vs. native) instead of 9:9 with this weighted comparison.

Of course which setting looks better is highly subjective. Your mileage may vary.

So, I did it. I had to. I ordered the stuff last night, my Windows is nagging, my fans are whining, and my games are stuttering. It has served me for nearly 8 years, but is now headed for retirement. Here's my new best friend;

ASUS PRIME X670E-PRO
7800X3D and its buddy, a Phanteks Glacier One 360MP
ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4090 OC
Kingston Fury Beast DDR-5 6000MHz 64GB
Corsair RMe 1000e PSU (some margins here, for possible future upgrades)
Kingston FURY Renegade M.2 2TB (7300/7000)
Kingston KC3000 M.2 2TB (7000/7000)
Phanteks Eclipse G500A tower (just rolling with the standard fans, 3x140mm should be plenty along with the Glacier One)

The 7800X3D is the only component not currently in stock, might take 2 weeks or so, so I'll have to wait a bit longer. Got a decent deal on it all as well, about 10% off through an old aquintance of mine.

Now my biggest concern is this; what the hell should I get as a new display?! I want something larger than what I have (been on 32" since 2015), and 4K of course. No Superwide or Ultrawide, I really don't like those. I'm making a shortlist, the display will be 95% for gaming. The market doesn't seem to be swimming with options, to be honest. And I won'd be shelling out 2000$ on the monitor alone, not with what I already spent.

Probably not, as their mobile versions (7600/7700M/S) come with PCiE 4.0 x16. Possibly a reaction to the bad press they got for the 6600 series.

Good question. I also ordered an ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4090 (non-OC) a few days ago and I'm thinking about getting a 4K display for it.

My good old 4K-OLED-TV (LG C9) is already connected to my PC as secondary display, so I can switch to couch-mode with 4K@120Hz HDR... but the desktop monitor is still 27'' WQHD@165Hz without HDR.

Perhaps I'll get a 42'' LG-OLED-TV as a desktop display. Also 4K@120Hz HDR G-Sync-compatible for around €800 - €900.

By adding a custom resolution (f.e. 24:10 aspect ratio 3840x1600) there would also be the option to play in ultra widescreen similar to a 40'' screen size:

I use this option occasionally for TV-output, works fine:

I spoke to some of my much, much smarter friends about a display with the right compromises. Combining pricing, features, quality, frame rate and overall fit with my build, they recommended the AORUS FV43U. It's not OLED, but that saves me from burn-in. It's the perfect size, has 144hz support, G-sync works with newer cards without a hitch (30 and 40-series), and it has impressive brightness and color to boot. I found one for around 900$, and ordered it a few hours ago. I think it will do nicely! The perfect monitor seems absent at the moment, I wasn't about to spend 1700-1800$ on an OLED anyway.

There's some wait since it has to be shipped from a central storage in Denmark, but the parts won't arrive until early May at any rate. Looks like everything will be set sometime during the first week of May! Now, a new keyboard, and I'm all set.

The Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has two new Deals of the Day and a new Weekly Sale:

• The first DotD is Freespace 2, 30% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_2
• The other DotD is Seed of the Dead, with a 60% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/seed_of_the_dead
• And the Weekly Sale comes with up to 80% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20230417_weekly_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• The first one is Port Royale 4, 75% off until Sunday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1024650/Port_Royale_4/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1024650/Port_Royale_4/
• The second one is Broken Age, with a 85% discount until April 23: https://store.steampowered.com/app/232790/Broken_Age/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/232790/Broken_Age/

The Humble Store has a new sale: the Farmer & Fighters Sale, with up to 90% discounts during 4 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG, UPlay and 1 for EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/farmers-fighters-sale/

And at Fanatical we find a new Star Deal and two sales:

• The new Star Deal is Shenmue III, 88% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/shenmue-iii
• Annapurna Interactive puts its games on sale with up to 75% discounts during 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/annapurna-interactive
• And Frontier Developments offers its games with up to 83% discounts during 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/frontier-developments

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Over 2,400 Steam users had their accounts restricted for marking a negative review as helpful
https://www.pcgamer.com/over-2400-steam-users-had-their-accounts-restricted-for-marking-a-negative-review-as-helpful/
Beneath every user review on Steam is a prompt that asks "Was this review helpful?" and lets you respond with a Yes, No, Funny, or Award option. While it makes sense that user reviews can be flagged as inappropriate and those who write them have their ability to post more restricted, it turns out that even clicking on that thumbs-up "Yes" can get you in trouble, as 2,439 people who labeled a negative review of Warlander helpful found out.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag gets a 4K Texture Pack for its main/story characters
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/assassins-creed-black-flag-gets-a-4k-texture-pack-for-its-main-story-characters/
Earlier this week, we shared a 4K Texture Pack for Assassin’s Creed: Unity. Created by modder ‘Instanity’, that pack improved the game’s main/story characters. And, as the title implies, the modder has released a similar mod/texture pack for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag.
But what does the modder consider main/story characters? Simply put, all the characters that appear in the game’s cut-scenes are considered story characters. These are the characters that will be overhauled with this pack. Thus, you should not expect your average NPCs to suddenly look better.
>> There are some screenshots to showcase the improvements.

Here are STALKER Alpha & Manhunt with RTX Remix Path Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-stalker-alpha-manhunt-with-rtx-remix-path-tracing/
YouTube’s ‘EiermannTelevision’ has shared two videos, showcasing early examples of STALKER Alpha and Manhunt with RTX Remix Path Tracing. In order to add the Path Tracing effects, the YouTuber used the RTX Remix Runtime that NVIDIA recently released.
Going into more details, only the Alpha build of STALKER currently works with RTX Remix. Unfortunately, its full/retail version is not yet compatible with it. Furthermore, there are numerous graphical glitches. So yeah, consider this an early example of what RTX Remix can bring to the table.
Similarly, Manhunt has various graphical glitches and flickering shadows. Not only that, but the main light is moving with the camera in Manhunt by default. Thankfully, EiermannTelevision set a fallback fixed light which can now give us an idea about how the game may look with Path Tracing.
>> We'll see if they become mods or end up being only examples of what could be done. The article has two videos, one for each game.

New STALKER in Unreal Engine 5 version available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-stalker-in-unreal-engine-5-version-available-for-download/
Back in January, we informed you about an unofficial port of the first STALKER game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, in Unreal Engine 5. And last week, Red Panda released a new beta version of it.
Now in case you didn’t know, Red Panda has successfully ported a part of STALKER in Unreal Engine 5. This project uses the original assets, and does not feature all of the game’s maps. However, it does have some dialogue, an AI system, an inventory and a map. The project also has gunplay mechanics, meaning that you can shoot enemies.
What’s also cool here is that this project now comes with a UE5 Editor. By using this Editor, PC players can now modify the game to their liking. In theory, this may provide new custom free content to the project.
>> There's a 16 minutes video of the mod.

Aggressive Nintendo copyright strikes on YouTube push Breath of the Wild multiplayer modders into taking down mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/aggressive-nintendo-copyright-claims-on-youtube-push-breath-of-the-wild-multiplayer-modders-into-taking-down-mod/
Last week was a thrilling one for the Zelda: Breath of the Wild mod scene: a year and a half after proposing the idea of a multiplayer mod (and with a $10,000 bounty to sweeten the pot), YouTuber PointCrow released the first public version of the mod. Shortly after, Nintendo filed YouTube copyright claims against several of PointCrow's videos. This Tuesday, he announced on Discord that he was removing the mod's download links while "in talks with Nintendo."
"I have taken down the mods in this Discord as I am currently in talks with Nintendo. All I can share right now, please no speculation and understand that I will update you all as much as I can. [Thank you so much]," reads PointCrow's full statement.
>> Typical Nintendo.

Cyberpunk 2077 gets 1.5GB of 4K Texture Packs for NPCs
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/cyberpunk-2077-gets-1-5gb-of-4k-texture-packs-for-npcs/
Modder ‘XilaMonstrr’ has released a lot of 4K Texture Packs, weighing around 1.5GB in size, for Cyberpunk 2077 that overhaul numerous NPCs.
These packs overhaul minor NPCs, as well as some story characters. For instance, you can find better textures for Misty, Royce, and Dum Dum.
>> The article has 6 screenshots to show the improvements.

GAMING NEWS

The Last of Us Part I Update 1.0.3.0 released, fixes numerous bugs, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-last-of-us-part-i-update-1-0-3-0-released-fixes-numerous-bugs-full-patch-notes/
Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy have released Update 1.0.3.0 for the PC version of The Last of Us Part I. According to its changelog, this latest update fixes numerous bugs that plagued the game. However, it does not reduce the game’s high CPU usage, or optimize the shader compilation procedure.

Resident Evil 2 Remake, RE3Remake & Resident Evil 7 no longer have Ray Tracing on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/resident-evil-2-remake-re3remake-resident-evil-7-no-longer-have-ray-tracing-on-pc/
Yesterday, Capcom update the PC versions of Resident Evil 2 Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake and Resident Evil 7. However, it appears that the Japanese team has messed things up, as these three games no longer support Ray Tracing on PC.