J7SC_Orion

I take it you have some video output - in that case, flash either one of the classies vbios or back to your original one. Before flashing another 'foreign' vbios though, compare I/O arrangement of the 980 Strix with that of your Zotac Amp.

...interesting what's in the pipeline... in addition to 96 C Epyc/TRs

...

...yeah...and wondering whether it is power consumption / heat related ?

...it will be a while before those reach consumers, but still...that would also mean PCIe 6 GPU interface, not that it matters for now.

...for your consideration 4960X ES -- multi core 3724.1 -- single core 504.8 --- 4.84 Ghz An oldie engineering sample that survived sub-zero and is still in use, no degradation whatsoever 8+ years later (do they still make them like they used to ?). I also love the Asus X79-E WS board...it was recently upgraded to 64GB / DDR3 / 2400 / CL9, and WD Blue 1TB SSDs - everything feels very 'crisp' and it's not a bad retro-gamer at all at 1080p

...that Intel 11th gen kind of stands out, and not in a good way

...every time you load a different bios, Win and also MSI AB will treat it as a new GPU. You might even want to uninstall MSI AB completely, the re-install after bios flash

Actually, that's all so long ago I probably forgot more now than what I retained

@Cerberus ...in addition to the actual bios files attachments in my previous post re. your and Avacado's posts, I checked and seem to have used 'nvflash_5.190.0.1' to allow for cross-flashing of the Asus Strix XOC onto my EVGA Classified...that version might also work with your Zotac Amp card (if it has 2x 8 pin connectors at least)

Ok folks - I'm still at work, and absolutely positively no guarantee on any of these custom bios. First back up your current bios and save it, you know the drill... Some of these are hardcore XOC bios for 980s and might not even boot properly...the ones with 980_8x to 980_9x are the Asus Strix XOC afair, but it is close to 8 years ago than I flashed these. I believe that the 980_8x has a lower starting voltage requirement but could be wrong. Attached as .txt files, just rename .txt to .rom AGAIN - at your own risk - Cheers 980_normal.txt 980_80.txt 980_cl.txt 980_90.txt classXX.txt ClassyX.txt

I disagree entirely ... I just ran this on one of my four 980 Classies (this one is now air-cooled again), NOT an ancient driver but one from last fall and nope, no 1.2v hard-lock. This is on the modded stock EVGA bios (rather than the crazier aforementioned Asus Strix XOC bios below). 1500 MHz on air is child's play. Max watt = around 330W 2nd pic is an oldie of mine for the same card but with Asus Strix XOC bios and on cold water...when cooled properly and with EVBot, it could (and still can) get deep into the 1700 MHz range.

It depends to some extent on your particular card, once MSI AB is sorted re. oc and voltage limits, you can also look for the highest-version number of s.th. called "Maxwell Bios Tweaker". I had (& still have) several EVGA 980 Classified which in those years were basically identical to the KPEs, including EVBot ports. With the right cooling, one could get away with 1.25v - 1.3v +. There were also KPE and Asus Stix XOC bios floating around - probably still are accessible at the corresponding HWBot forums. It's been many years so I don't recall all of it, but the Asus Strix XOC bios not only worked on my EVGA 980 Classies, but various other cards as well. That said, it needed a lot of voltage and cooling right from boot-up, and w/o using EVBot to add voltskies, it could sometimes hang at windows start...

... just remember it's a slippery slope, and serious sub-zero like LN2 can eat up a lot of your time and budget - but it can also be a ton of fun. BTW, keep PS2 mice and keyboards around, even if they aren't pretty. Typically, when going below a certain subzero threshold, your USB will get wonky, or stop altogether. Also, get yourself a bootable SSD with a stripped'n slimmed bench OS if you haven't already done so. Have fun !

@Storm-Chaser ...part deux ...just snapped a few quick pics of an old Rampage Extreme Black Series / X79 I used for sub-zero. Remember, it has been collecting dust for years, so it ain't pretty... On the front, you still see some of the Vaseline in the socket even after several rounds of cleaning. The grey stuff is the eraser putty (not thermal paste). I used that around sturdier 'elevated' components such as around the CPU bracket assembly, also as there was additional insulation above with a final layer of LET on top of that (not shown as the CPU was removed). Especially with DiCE where you use acetone to draw down the cold to the bottom of the pot, there will be a lot of droplets flying out and acetone likes to eat some types of plastic, also best to wear goggles with DICE / acetone as opposed to LN2. On the right, you see the back of the mobo with the LET applied everywhere. And around the metal retaining bracket (elevated) for the CPU, I also used eraser putty again on top of the LET - and on top of that was another layer of LET (now 'off' as I took the back retention mechanism off). Insulating the back of the RAM is important, unless you can ensure 'no air' and have it all sitting on a thicker, softer piece of neoprene. BTW, if there's a diving equipment shop near you, they typically sell neoprene in big sheets or a roll as well.

I've used both eraser putty and LET - eraser putty works but I prefer LET because it is better at getting into all the little small spaces, especially w/o applying force (think tiny SMT caps)...it is also surprisingly easy to remove. Then again, for certain areas where things are flanged to the board such as the socket retention area, I used both. I take it your system itself is not in a 0F environment, but in a warmer spot (relatively speaking). The higher the differential between cooling medium and system ambient, the more you have to insulate, with humidity / dew point also added in.

Underside of the CPU ? You mean the CPU itself, or the back of the socket ? When I did sub-zero HWBot, I filled the CPU socket itself with Vaseline, followed by a blast with a heat-gun (w/ enough distance) to have the Vaseline flow evenly throughout the socket, ie. LG2011. Typically that was for either DICE or LN2 though. The back of the mobo - including the back of the CPU socket - would get a full layer of LET / liquid electrical tape, ditto for the back of the RAM slots and VRMs. Now, if you don't plan to go much lower than say - 30 C or so and only do shorter runs, you can probably get away with less. I also used a phase cooler (-50C or so) for lighter runs, and for that did not do the LET on the back. Do you have a sheet of Neoprene you can put / snug underneath the mobo ? There shouldn't be any airflow (and thus humidity) getting underneath. Keep in mind that some mobos have a through-hole of the pcb to allow for temp probe sensors to be stuck through; if you're not using a temp probe, than cover it from the back.

FYI regarding updates - of a different kind... While the newer AMD chipset drivers added a bit of performance, especially noticeable around single core, Microsoft took much of it away today (around 4 -11 single core depending on CPU). There was a wide-ranging patch update that hit not only Win 10 and AMD but also various of my Intel machines, including a few still on Win 7, as well as Win Server etc.

I think it is about steps for the 'slow score', not speed up, as far as I understood @Storm-Chaser 's post. In other news, re. the earlier posts in this thread on a stuck-open Koolance QD, I got the little o-ring out w/o damaging it and the QD is unstuck now and works great again...

Final touches on Raven_A / _B included new USB sticks (including Type-C) and a USB-Type C dongle that allow for various other connectivity, apart from USB, such as 1Gbps networking, HDMI 4K/60, SD and Micro SD etc. Such peripherals can make life a lot easier as they're usually the slowest file storage. Here's an expanded table of the earlier PCIe 4.0 drives, this time with all the types of drives present in both Ravens' Nest builds / 4 mobos. FYI, the Verbatim Store'n'Go USB below is many years old and nearly full...but I still use it for smaller files. I'll add some 256 GB VR30 micro-SD speeds later, not least as it carries 5K photo and video files from the GoPro Hero10.

...slowing down is not the same as speeding up, but running Cinebench + Geekbench in a loop will put the foot on the brake a bit for CPU-Z

I re-ran the 3950X after I installed the chipset driver update. May be that was already mentioned here, but it turns out that Techpowerup has an even newer version > here than AMD offers ...works like a charm on the 3950X and will try later on the other Ryzens. @Storm-Chaser ...sorry for the extra work...the earlier one for the 3950X was from last April so I checked into the chipset driver updates. 3950X at 4.6 Giggles, 1.376 v-core --- single-core 573.8, multi-core 12410.4 --- Edit - 4.6 average, differential CCX speeds

I came across this one from April '21 for the 3950X (yes, I'm very fond of 16c/32t procs as they're good work horses as well as playmates). It is now 1/2 of Raven_A (left half in spoiler below). CPU-Z single core 555.6 , multi-core 12222.1 --- AMD 3950X 16c/32t at 4.5 Ghz all-core / 1.312v

After recently finishing new builds & updating existing ones (Raven_A with dual mobos, Raven_B with dual mobos), I tested out the read and write speeds of all the types of drives used in those builds via CrystalDiskMark. This is not meant as a benchmark thread, and no special drivers or optimizations were used, just the ones that come with Windows 10 Pro - just plug each one into an Asus X570 Dark hero mobo and see what happens. FYI, the last entry (ancient Verbatim USB drive) has been i use for about five years or so, and the new Kingston 64GB USB was connected via USB Type-C dongle with USB 3.0 interface that also has a 1Gbps network connection and HDMI 4K / 60. While not as 'sexy' as hi-po CPUs and GPUs, fixed drives and mobile USBs really can make a big difference when transferring files between physically different locations...with a new camera that has a 256 GB / VR30 Micro SD card, having the ability to read from and write to everything relatively fast puts the finishing touches on the Raven builds. Comments welcome !

...additional sub for the 'regular' (non-slo-mo) bench ...a run from the fall '19 of my trusty 2950X Threadripper...still gets down the highway at a decent clip now, does great in NVLink 3D and even stepped in to heat our bedroom recently when the heat went off w/ -12 C outside...coz it is a bit of a 'pig on gas watts' CPUz ..single core 502.9, multi-core 10869.5 --- 2950x at 4325 Mhz all-c (16c/32t)and load core-v at 1.3625v