I actually think that, if the dead CPUs and boards are caused by high voltages, the blame lies exclusively on the motherboard makers that did a poor job with their BIOS. AMD said very clearly that the processors couldn't be overvolted for overclocks, but the partners allowed it, and here are the results.

It's so weird to find out that we'll get AMD's lower and mid-range GPUs before the high-end part (the 7900 are enthusiast class, out of most pockets). But it's also understandable, AMD has relied on RDNA2 products like the 6950 and 6800 to fight both the 4070Ti and 4070 so the new 7800 models would have to fight not only Ada, but also the older RDNA2 products. AMD has fallen victim of its own inability to launch Navi 32 on time.

And it doesn't look good for the market when partners that work with both AMD and Nvidia refuse to have 7600 products at launch because they're not sure if they'll make enough money out of them. It's one of those things someone at AMD should take note of, for future situations.

AMD has several problems with the 7800 cards. One I explained above, but the other is that if the card performs too close to the 4070Ti, that will put the 7900XT in a bad position as hinch's comment proves. On the other hand, the 6800XT was close to the 3080 and the new card need to deliver a big enough generational jump to justify its existence, name and price.

In other words, AMD is f*cked.

Yea but if it's like one motherboard vendor, fair enough but this issue is appearing on Asrock and MSI boards. So if it's a case of every motherboard vendor experiencing the same problem, there's obviously some sort of a miss communication between AMD and the motherboard vendors. Cause we know those very same boards with Intel counterparts can really ramp up those watts and nothing happens to Intel CPUs unless you go extreme.

And yea, the problem with RDNA 3 is what is it's selling point exactly against Nvidia + RDNA 2 as you go down the stack. You go Nvidia if you want Ray Tracing/DLSS/Reflex. RDNA 3 has better Ray Tracing than RDNA 2 but Nvidia is still much better. RDNA 3 has significantly better Ai hardware vs RDNA 2 but no software to take advantage of it thus far. So FSR will be the same if you choose RDNA 2 or 3. So it will be interesting to see if they launch FSR 3 along side it and see if RDNA 3 gets any exclusive features with it.

Biggest problem AMD is having really is selling the remaining RDNA 2 quantities so they go out of stock. Then consumers would have no choice but to buy RDNA 3 or Lovelace. Despite RDNA 2 being discounted significantly over the past 6 months, especially compared to Ampere which was overproduced and largely remained MSRP outside of the super highend. HUBs findings show that Ampere is the one that is going out of stock to make way for Lovelace while RDNA 2 is still largely in stock. So hopefully for AMD, they will be able to sell the remaining RDNA 2 stock in time.

Man it feels like every new hardware I buy has some sort of a melting drama. I buy my Strix 4090, tons of reports of melting 4090s due to connectors. I buy 7800X3D, tons of reports of the CPUs getting burnt. And neither of the components were cheap. If Intel weren't such cucks with their platform support, I probably would have returned my CPU/Mobo and gone with a 13900K. Maybe next time I'll wait a month instead of getting these things at launch lol.

Yeah, I'm afraid like I've never been in my life right now... :P

On a different note; I just received e-mail confirmation that my stuff is on its way! And my display has a preliminary delivery date on friday, so that's perfect timing. To make matters even better, I work tomorrow (24,5 hour shift as usual) and then I'm free until tuesday morning, so there'll be plenty of time over the weekend.

It's Tuesday and these are the news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10
 
(click here for the top 100)

Dead Island 2 has sold one million copies in three days
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dead-island-2-has-sold-one-million-copies-in-three-days/
Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios have announced that Dead Island 2 has sold over one million copies in three days. This is great news as Dead Island 2 looked and ran well on PC, even without any day-1 patch.
Going into more stats, over 11 million total hours have been played and over 28 million player deaths have occurred. Additionally, players have sliced in half 45 million zombies, and over 756 million of zombie limbs have been hacked off. Players have also slayed over 1.1 billion zombies.

Nier: Automata has sold 7.5 million copies and there's still no sign of a sequel
https://www.pcgamer.com/nier-automata-has-sold-75-million-copies-and-theres-still-no-sign-of-a-sequel/
2017's Nier: Automata is an amazing videogame, one of those whose legend has slowly grown over the years as more players discover its labyrinthine, looping structure and the many bizarre and tragic elements that make up this singular universe. Six years on from release, the official Twitter account has shared the welcome news that the game, often described as a cult classic or similar, has sold a remarkable 7.5 million copies.
"It seems that 7.5 million copies have been sold," wrote series creator Yoko Taro (via machine translation). "It's so awesome that it makes me dizzy. I can't exceed this number for the rest of my life… I can only thank everyone who supported me...!"

Steam has several deals, sales and also new weeklong deals:

• Godlike Burger will be 70% off until April 29: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432910/Godlike_Burger/
• The Peg Popping Roguelikes Sale, that only features 2 games, one 25% and the other 75% off, will last until the 1st of May: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/pegpoppingroguelikes
• The Steam Puzzle Fest comes with up to 90% discounts and will last until May, the 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/category/puzzle_matching
• The Dishonored Franchise Sale puts the games up to 85% off until the 2ns of May: https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/bethesda/sale/dishonoredfranchise
• HUMANKIND will be 80% off until the 5th, and the DLCs go from 33% to 80% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1124300/HUMANKIND/
• Capcom's Golden Week Sale launches with up to 87% discounts until Sunday, May 7th: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/capcom/sale/goldenweek
• And here's a very small sample of the weeklong deals:
  • Re-Volt gets a 15% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/287310/ReVolt/
  • The VR Only title The Room VR: A Dark Matter features a 33% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1104380/The_Room_VR_A_Dark_Matter/
  • Rusty Lake Hotel is half its usual price: https://store.steampowered.com/app/435120/Rusty_Lake_Hotel/
  • Old Man's Journey gets a 66% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/581270/Old_Mans_Journey/
  • And the last one is Creaks, 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/956030/Creaks/

The Humble Store has two new sales:

• The Alien Day Sale features up to 95% discounts during 6 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG and 1 for EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/alien-day-sale/
• The April Indie Sellathon comes with up to 90% discounts during the next 8 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG and EGS (3): https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/april-indie-sellathon/

Fanatical has two new bundles:

• The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete Bundle features the three games with a 81% discount during 4 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/stalker-complete-bundle
• And the New Realms Bundle has 7 games and it's 90% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/new-realms-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New Yuzu EA version improves performance by 50% in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey and more
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-yuzu-ea-version-improves-performance-by-50-in-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-super-mario-odyssey-and-more/
The team behind the amazing Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu, has released a new Early Access version of it. According to the release notes, build 3527 can improve performance by 50% in games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade 3.
Additionally, this latest version of the Nintendo Switch emulator reduces RDTC overhead by 50%. This can result in up to 5% better performance in CPU-bottlenecked games.
>> The article has some videos showing the improvements.

This Halo 1 Mario Kart mod is as ludicrous as it is impressive
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-halo-1-mario-kart-mod-is-as-ludicrous-as-it-is-impressive/
Ever since Bungie added Forge to Halo 3, Halo Karts has been a thing. The inspiration of Nintendo's all-conquering Mario Kart was obvious, but the various Halo Karts were built from Halo elements and played on Halo maps. Now the prophecy is upon us. A Halo Mario Kart mod as ludicrous as it is amazing.
Cursed Halo Kart, to give it the proper title, is a part of a much larger mod called Cursed Halo Again, which is a campaign sequel to the multiplayer map pack Cursed Halo. The Mario Kart 'campaign' here is based on that prior mod,Halo Karts, and tasks players with winning Mario Kart races in Warthogs against various comedy Halo duos to progress (this is, after all, a 'cursed' campaign). Everything mentioned here was created by modder InfernoPlus and the whole overarching project is equal parts bizarre and impressive.
>> There's a five and a half minutes video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Here are the final PC system requirements for Diablo 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/here-are-the-final-pc-system-requirements-for-diablo-4/
Blizzard has revealed the final PC system requirements for the full-release version of Diablo 4. According to the specs, the game will be using the DX12 API, and will require 90GB of free hard-disk space.

Battlefield 2042 Update 4.2.0 released and detailed, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/battlefield-2042-update-4-2-0-released-and-detailed-full-patch-notes/
Electronic Arts and DICE have released Update 4.2.0 for Battlefield 2042. According to the release notes, this new update brings a reworked version of the Discarded Map. Moreover, it packs numerous collection and customization changes and adds some End of Round improvements.

Ray Tracing Trailer released for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/ray-tracing-trailer-released-for-the-lord-of-the-rings-gollum/
NVIDIA and Daedalic Entertainment have released a Ray Tracing trailer for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. According to the devs, the game will feature ray-traced reflections and shadows.

Returnal gets support for NVIDIA DLSS 3 Frame Generation
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/returnal-gets-support-for-nvidia-dlss-3-frame-generation/
NVIDIA has just revealed that a new update for Returnal will release later today, adding support for DLSS 3 Frame Generation. This is great news for owners of the RTX40 series GPUs as this can significantly improve their framerates when using Ray Tracing.

Tuesday news, part two:

This wonderfully '90s RTS looks like a lost Command & Conquer game
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-wonderfully-90s-rts-looks-like-a-lost-command-and-conquer-game/
I'm kind of amazed by how accurate DORF Real-Time Strategic Conflict feels to a specific era of classic RTS games. From the chunky animations, to the synth-heavy music, to the early 3D look of its scurrying little units, it's about as evocative of Command & Conquer and its ilk as you could possibly get in 2023. Just look at it in motion.

Apex Legends' next hero gets a new story trailer ahead of gameplay reveal
https://www.pcgamer.com/apex-legends-next-hero-gets-a-new-story-trailer-ahead-of-gameplay-reveal/
Respawn has revealed a story trailer for its next Apex Legends hero via its "Stories from the Outlands" series. Ballistic is a washed up veteran of an Apex Games predecessor who, wouldn't you know it, gets pulled out of retirement for one last job.

Epic Games boss defends Twitter, calls #BlocktheBlue supporters 'losers and goons'
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-games-boss-defends-twitter-calls-blocktheblue-supporters-losers-and-goons/
Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has weighed in on the discourse about blue checkmarks on Twitter, saying that people supporting the "Block the Blue" campaign are "losers and goons" who are trying to exclude people from "cool kid events."
>> Sweeney sure knows how to make friends.

EA asks leakers to please knock it off with the Jedi: Survivor spoilers
https://www.pcgamer.com/ea-asks-leakers-to-please-knock-it-off-with-the-jedi-survivor-spoilers/
It looks like someone has gotten their hands on an early-release version of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and, in the age-old tradition of the internet, immediately started posting a bunch of spoilers everywhere. Screenshots and plot details about the game have started to crop up online in the past few days, ahead of its release date this Friday, April 28, and now EA has taken to Twitter to politely ask that people please keep leaked materials to themselves.

Epic's antitrust case against Apple looks dead in the water
https://www.pcgamer.com/epics-antitrust-case-against-apple-looks-dead-in-the-water/
Apple has emerged largely victorious in the latest round of a legal battle with Epic Games, which focuses on antitrust laws and the way the App Store is run. Epic's suit, sparked by various shenanigans around the hugely popular Fortnite, says that Apple's marketplace violates federal law by banning third parties from using their own payment platforms on the operating system: That is, it's a monopoly.
>> Maybe that's why Sweeney is so salty.

Excellent news! (well, except the 24.5 hours shift part, but you seem used to that hell).

Looks like you'll have a lot of time to build, test and enjoy your new build.

ASUS to announce ROG Ally pricing and release date on May 11th

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-to-announce-rog-ally-pricing-and-release-date-on-may-11th

Intel 14th Gen Core series to feature Meteor Lake-S is up to Core i5 and 65W TDP and Arrow Lake-S up to Core i9 125W

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-14th-gen-core-series-to-feature-meteor-lake-s-is-up-to-core-i5-and-65w-tdp-and-arrow-lake-s-up-to-core-i9-and-125w

ASUS Says Latest AM5 BIOS Includes Dedicated Thermal Monitoring Mechanism To Avoid AMD Ryzen 7000 CPU Damage, New Updates For EXPO & SOC Voltage Also Coming

https://wccftech.com/asus-says-latest-am5-bios-includes-dedicated-mechanism-to-avoid-amd-ryzen-7000-cpu-damage/

Gonna need to update that BIOS asap

Damn, does this mean that performance will be somewhat limited for a period until they properly fix the voltage issue? I'm thinking I should prepare a USB with the proper BIOS update. Does anyone know whether the X670E-PRO supports BIOS Flashback? Or do I need to install it via the BIOS menus and manually apply the files from the drive? I think my very first order of the day after building will be updating the BIOS, I'm not willing to take any risks.

Also, that's a bitch move from AMD, if they knew about the issue and even ordered early testers not to report it via NDAs. This is going to cost them quite a bit from a PR point of view.

Yea I am disliking the situation even more everyday it passes. I am very much considering moving to Intel despite them being more expensive and power hungry cause if all this BIOS is, is just a bandaid to a potential ticking bomb, then I have no interest in giving AMD the said money. Like if they knew about it, why wouldn't they just delay their products until they fixed it? It's real scummy of them if they knew about the issue and did nothing about it other than silence people assuming it's legit.

I hope GN posts their video soon about this so we can find out the real story.