ShadowChaser

Would a new psu be necessary? The 7900XT is a 300W part, less than a 6950XT. Will probably go with a 7900XT then

This is very true, however I would like to build in a little bit of headroom for the distinct possibility that a 1440p240 monitor upgrade might be the next step since he's already semipro and wanting to go further down that route. Might be too soon to say, of course, but for AAA games I was under the impression that a 5800X3D would have noticeable uplift over a 3900X even when GPU bound due to the lows being higher. Part of my reasoning for this is also thermals, since the 5800X3D runs a lower power draw and probably won't get choked by that massive GPU we're throwing in. Pretty sure the BA120 can handle the higher internal case temps since it handles a 3900X under full load with some headroom, but might not if the case temp were to rise by 5 or 10C. It's a little borderline rn on hot days since it reaches about 85-87C

Budget (including currency): $1k all inclusive Country: USA Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: AAA titles at 1440p60, esports titles at 1440p165 Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): A friend of mine is considering upgrading their rig from a content creation machine to a gaming-only machine at the end of summer and is planning to spend about $1k USD on all new parts for either a refreshed build or maxing out their current setup. Current build is as follows: CPU: Ryzen 9 3900X Cooler: Thermalright BA120 (6 heatpipe single 120mm tower) RAM: 32GB DDR4-3600CL18 Mobo: Asrock B550 PG4 GPU: Nvidia 1070Ti FE Storage: 1TB 970 Evo Plus + 2TB BX500 + 6TB WD Blue PSU: Corsair RM650x I proposed that it would make a lot of sense in the current market to get a 5800X3D ($280) and 6950XT ($600) and reuse everything else in the system as there's no way to get the same amount of performance if a platform swap were to occur. This also has the benefit of not needing a PSU upgrade and considering how expensive PSUs are currently that's a good thing, too. I suggested that they sell the 3900X and 1070Ti and that should put the total upgrade cost at around $550-$600. Since he is also looking to get into the custom watercooling scene, this build seems perfect for a custom loop given the choice of parts and the amount of budget left over. Since performance comes first this is viewed as a nice to have but keeping temps down will be important as the air temperature in his room swings drastically and can reach 90F/30C during hotter weeks. For alternative builds I'm thinking 13600K + 4070Ti, which would be about $900 after the old parts are sold. That extra cost seems like a tough pill to swallow considering that RTX is basically not something that he will use (his words, not mine. He's tried playing games with RT at a gaming cafe with 3080s). The 7900XT is about $750 and that seems like a better GPU with more vram and better raster performance so if the budget must be spent I'm thinking I'll recommend that instead. I've stopped following the high end GPU scene since they shot past $600 so I'm rather out of touch with what is good value and what's a waste of sand. I only started caring about the 6950XT once they became regularly available at $599. Any opinions or comments would be appreciated!

Helping a friend piece out a build that's going to take place in the coming month and I'm really going back and forth on what platform to put him on. Given that he has about $1.2k to spend I wanted to target ~$500ish for the primary platform (CPU/Mobo/RAM/Cooler) so that there's $500 for gpu and $200 for the case and psu. He's got decent periphs and such so no need for an upgrade there, but a 6700K and 1070 is really quite long in the tooth and I'm sure this would be leaps and bounds over what he currently has. Since the primary focus is gaming only I've decided to stick with 16GB of ram as upgrading that is quite simple down the road should it ever become necessary. The three choices that immediately came to mind were the following: 1. AM4 Holdout (5800X3D + semidecent AM4 mobo + 16gb of fast DDR4) 2. AM5 Entry level (7600 + semidecent AM5 mobo + 16gb of middling DDR5) 3. Rkt Lake Midrange (13600KF + semidecent B660 + 16GB of middling DDR5) I priced out the platforms and immediately threw out the first idea. 5800X3Ds are still well over $300 and that's just not worth it since in terms of gaming it's roughly on par with the 7600(X). A 13600KF on DDR4 reaches price parity with a 7600 on DDR5, presumably the 13600 would do better as though it's slower memory the improved latency should favor it? We're talking 3200CL16 or 3600CL18 vs 5200CL36 7600 Platform Cost PCPartPicker Part List CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($230.00) CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin King SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($22.90 @ Amazon) Motherboard: ASRock B650M PG RIPTIDE Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Newegg) Memory: *Patriot Viper Black 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-5200 CL36 Memory ($69.98 @ Amazon) Total: $492.87 13600 D4 Platform Cost PCPartPicker Part List CPU: Intel Core i5-13600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($308.67 @ Amazon) CPU Cooler: Thermalright Burst Assassin ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($22.33 @ Amazon) Motherboard: MSI PRO B660M-A DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon) Memory: *Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($40.99 @ Newegg Sellers) Total: $501.98 If we're talking short term obviously the intel platform is better since it's both better for gaming and in productivity, but looking a few years down the road I do believe that the amd system might be the better choice since an in socket upgrade will likely be more feasible compared to the intel one. Thoughts?

Oh and the XM5s immediately went on sale for $279 as soon as I posted this, lol. Still gonna hold out as long as I can though

I got WH-1000XM5s for myself as a Christmas present and I have to say that I'm extremely disappointed in them - to the point where just handling them for a few minutes made me no longer want to use them at all. Period. Context: The wireless headphones I've been using for the last few years have been the Plantronics BackBeat Pros. I have been using them since March of 2018, and they are pretty worn out. Both earpads have been replaced once already and they were starting to die a few months back, so I decided that they've served me long enough and I deserve an upgrade. My needs were simple: similar sound profile (slight emphasis on bass with neutral mids and highs) comfortable fit (the BBT Pros are heavy but they are very comfortable to wear) ANC (doesn't have to be very strong, but does have to be natural) tanky (BBT pros are built like tanks - I've never bothered with the carrying case and it's still in great shape apart from the peeling leather I was pretty much set on a pair of Sonys since it seems to be the general consensus that they had the best ANC in town. I've used QC25s in the past and didn't like how much pressure and underwater feeling I was getting so I had high hopes for Sony's ANC. I waffled between the XM4 and XM5 before settling on the XM5 reasoning that I didn't need the extra folding capabilities of the XM4 and it had the faster quick charging curve for when I inevitably forget to charge these before a trip. I received the XM5s today. I had written an extra1k+ word rant on them, but I think I can drop that and condense my main gripes into two points. Terrible feeling plastics despite excellent build quality Inconsistent controls that can't be changed. I have third complaint, but that's because I have a very minor case of tinnitus - I will address this third point later since it really only applies to me and is not a fault of the headphones. Cheap Feeling Plastic I know this is subjective but I'm sure we've all been there. That BestBuy chromebook or lenovo ideapad or hp stream. You know the one. Soft touch finish on the plastic that doesn't last a week before wearing away. Yeah, these $350 headphones feel the same. Now I know (or hope, rather) that this finish is far more durable but I'm not feeling very confident. Dell's gaming laptops from a few years back had a higher quality soft touch finish on the palmrest and mine still wore off after about 3 months of regular use. Even thinkpads wore down after a year or two. The matte plastic on my BBT Pros have some scratches from zippers but that's about it. The XM5s I am worried about my fingernails. This plastic is an oil trap and fingerprint magnet. Never mind greasy hair, they picked up skin oils from my ears and jaw. The touch region on the right earcup looked like a warzone after skipping a few tracks and adjusting the volume. I cannot overstate this. This plastic is worse than glossy piano black at picking up oils. I should know. I own a piano. In my opinion, the carry case should be a nice to have that stows extra cables and keeps the headphones safe when travelling in a packed backpack, not a need to have that keeps them from getting scuffed from anything and everything. Oh, and the earcups facing away when around the neck only makes this worse, by the way, as it exposes the headphones to being scratched by anything you might be wearing. Please just keep the earcups facing in, guys. I don't understand the whole facing out thing that manufacturers are adopting. The XM4 earcups faced in! Why did you have to go and change this, Sony? Inconsistent, Non-adjustable Controls Why can't I choose to use triple tap to skip? Oh, it's because there's only a single touch zone on the right earcup. Right. Why is the AMB/ANC function tied to a button? Why can't I tap or swipe to access the different modes? Give me options, please, Sony. Dunno if this is anti-lefty or anti-righty by placing all track functions on the right ear and all power/noise functions on the left. I am of the opinion that touch controls should be on both ears, but buttons can be on either side. Oh, but wait! You do let me adjust what a double and triple click of the AMB/ANC button do! Except that there's only one option out of the box and it's Spotify. Thanks for nothing, Sony. Oh, all of this makes me just wish physical buttons were a thing. The rings that controlled volume and skip/back on the BBT Pros were so tactile and satisfying to use, and I'd take a single play/pause press over a double tap any day of the week. Seriously. It's faster and less likely to go wrong. I harbor the same feelings towards increased reliance on touch inputs for vehicles, so I don't think I'm alone on this seeing how much backlash touch input gets on cars. Now on smaller earbuds I totally get it, but these earcups are plenty large, y'know? ANC Strength Woes (Tinnitus louder than noise floor) Speaking of options, the ANC is a touch too strong for me. I don't want the entire outside world to be gone, just only to drop the noise floor, please. Unfortunately the ANC strength is not adjustable so that means that anything that makes it past the ANC is jarring and when there's a lull in what I'm listening to (or when I'm not listening to anything) I hear just the very minor tinnitus I occasionally experience. It's incredibly frustrating to the point that I might just switch back to the BBT Pros since they hiss every so slightly when ANC is on and it's just enough to overshadow my poor ears. I dislike how active the ANC is on these. For closed backs they're actually not that great at passively isolating noise - with my BBT Pros I only turn on ANC during takeoff, for example, before turning them off in flight once the engines spool down as the passive NC is enough to have them melt into white noise. With the XM5s it's all or nothing. I like my white noise since it fills the gaps in the lulls of whatever I'm listening to or watching. Again, this is a personal thing due to tinnitus. So what's next? I think I'll just have to return these. I will keep using my BBT Pros until the XM4s drop to a more appealing price, then I'll probably jump ship to those. I personally like the look of those more anyway. The XM4s have previously been as low as $230, I believe as recently as BF/CM, and for that price I'd accept these shortcomings. They even swivel the earcups correctly when worn around the neck, woohoo! If I sound really disgruntled, it's because I just dropped $350 on a pair of headphones that are barely an improvement over a pair of $125 headphone from 2018 (or, to be more fair, a pair of $250 headphone from 2015) for my specific usecase. All the improvements in sound quality I barely feel with my shitty mp3 rips while I do feel the lack of passive isolation and overpowering ANC. Guess I just got unlucky.

After a few days of using this thing as my daily driver, here's what I have to say. Overall, it's not a terrible little machine, and performs about as well as any APU build does in most tasks. I'm being rather mean to it and forcing it to drive two high refresh QHD panels, one at 75hz and one at 144hz, and so the vega graphics are often starved for memory even doing such simple tasks as watching youtube while having two additional windows open. Here's the numbers you're probably looking for, all temp values are Tdie taken in a room with an ambient air temp of 20C, all power values are CPU Package as reported by hwinfo64. Cinebench R23 - 1311 SC | 10332 MC at 4.2Ghz locked 3D Mark Fire Strike - 3763 3D Mark Time Spy - 1461 Idle (8W): 40C, one fan off, one fan at minimum duty cycle Browsing (12W): 46C, ~1300rpm on both fans, which is noticeable but gets drowned out by the HVAC system. Light load (Cinebench SC, 18W): 59C, ~1500rpm on both fans, not noticeably louder than before. Moderate load (35W, most games are around here): 71C, ~2100rpm on both fans. It's getting somewhat loud in a vacuum but any set of speakers or headphones will immediately eliminate it Full load (Cinebench MC, 57W): 97C, ~2900rpm on both fans, about as loud as a well cooled gaming laptop but at a much more pleasant pitch. All that to say, in a quiet room where this is the only thing making a sound, it's noticeable, but if there is literally anything else, like music, or a fan, or even family walking around, those will all be perceived as louder since the tone of the noise these fans make is very easy to cover up. I'm definitely pushing up against a thermal boundary here, but maybe with a better air duct I can get more cooling capability. Either way I'm happy with having a little LAN capable machine that plays all the esporty games I want at well over 120 fps and still managed playable frame rates in heavier titles, such as a "cinematic" 30fps at QHD or 50-60 at 1080p. It underperforms ever so slightly, but that was wholly expected given the power budget I was working with. That's pretty much it! I'm happy with it and it'll have a place of honor in my living room and probably be my choice of LAN party pc if I'm feeling lazy.

Part 3: Final Fitment + Case Mods + Troubleshooting Pics in spoilers Well, I moved again, this time into an apartment with a little more room to play around with. Unfortunately all that extra room went immediately to my 3D printer and associated accessories. Oops. We'll get em next time. If you followed the original build you will have noticed that the metal cage is gone. That makes fitting the rear io shield a little more difficult but after some trial and error (and an oscillating tool rather than a rotary tool) it was done! And it doesn't look completely stupid, either, so that's a win in my book Next was to tackle the front panel. The Xbox 360 E uses a small daughterboard that handles power, disk eject, and controller pairing. It is connected to the main board with a ribbon. I wanted to use the ribbon once I figured out the pinout but soldering to it proved to be nearly impossible. Wish I had solid instead of stranded wire but the daughterboard itself has a few points that can be soldered to, so I'll use that instead. I used the original power switch for power and the disk eject button for reset. Not sure what I can do with the pairing button yet. Unfortunately I've not found a good way to power the LEDs so that may just have to be for a later date. I then did one final power on to check that everything still worked and... hmm. The CPU LED is on. Now, this was the first time I've powered it on since moving into the apartment, so maybe the cooler shifted and the cpu needs a reseat. It happens, okay? So I do that. Doesn't fix the issue. I start to troubleshoot by taking away one piece at a time and putting it all back in. Pretty easy considering that it's just two fans, two headers, and one power cable. Turns out the problem is that I flipped the reset pin so I was connecting the signal to ground any time it was connected. Derp. Flipped it 180 degrees and it worked right as rain and booted straight into Windows! Now I just gotta reassemble the thing again. Hey, at least the CPU got new paste. Not that it needed it. And here's a final look at the little thing! Isn't it adorable? No spoilers because I deserve it. I won't include any performance or thermal data in this post (I have a flight in a few hours home) but initial results are... mixed. Hopefully I'll have a new post after a week of daily driving this thing to tell you all about my work and gaming experience on it!

Part 2: Janky Cooling and a PSU Brainwave Pics in spoilers Hey look! The fans and cooler arrived! In my last endeavor in this 'case' I discovered that 60mm fans were just about the largest size you could reasonably fit inside, and even then you had to sand off about 2mm of width from the frame to get them to fit without bulging the panels out. Sorry Noctua, but your pretty little fans are going to meet my 3M wet'n'dry sandpaper. And to help these poor little fans dissipate as much heat as humanly (fanly? fanatically?) possible, I elected to get a full copper heatsink from Thermalright. That's right. This "150W" rated cooler will be attempting to cool a 50W CPU. Joy. The reason why I have doubt is that the cooler won't have any fans mounted to it. Instead it will rely on airflow from the Noctuas flowing through and over it via an air duct to cool off the CPU. Tall order if you ask me. Here's what the testing looked like and what the whole motherboard looks like with the duct in the xbox. While looking at how much empty space I had now that a dGPU was out of the question, I wondered how hard it could possibly be to put the laptop brick I was using inside the chassis so that it would be less of an eyesore. As it turns out, it was really, really hard! But that was because I used the measurements from an ancient HP 220W brick. As luck would have it, I had a spare 180W 3rd party brick for my Gigabyte Aero 15X (R.I.P.) that went up in flames, and while it didn't have the right tip, that was an easy fix. And this one was perfect for the task! I removed the plastic housing and sorta jammed it into place where I envisioned an internal PSU would go, and voila! I cannot overstate this enough. DO NOT DISASSEMBLE A PSU UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Please. Please. Please. At this point I could see that everything was going to fit. Great! All that was left was some slight case modding to accommodate the new locations of the components and to fire it up for realsies!

Part 1: Acquiring Parts + CPU Tuning Pics in spoilers This was pretty easy. I shipped the old motherboard to my new place of residence and after it got drop kicked halfway across the country, it arrived mostly in one piece and functional! Next came the CPU. I was close enough to a Micro Center and just happened to be perusing their open box selection when I saw a 5600G. It was almost $35 off the list price of $160! Now that's a steal right there. Too bad it came with bent pins. Oh well. Nothing a razor blade can't solve. Then I set out to figure out the best way to get as much performance per watt out of this chip I could. PBO probably would've been the best way - set a TDP and just let the cpu dynamically adjust itself, but I still wanted to tinker around a little bit. This was the jerry-rigged (3D printed) mITX test bench I whipped up. Not bad! Anyway. Both PBO undervolting and manual tuning results were underwhelming. I got the CPU to run at 4.2Ghz all core at 1.2v CPU SET and a max power under load measured through the onboard sensors at 51W. I figured I would have a 45-50W power envelope so this seemed reasonable. The best PBO could do was -25 and gave nearly identical performance. If this runs too hot (very likely) or if there's thermal headroom (unlikely) I will reassess and try something else. Next we shall actually trial the CPU under more realistic conditions! But for that to happen, the cooler needs to arrive. Unfortunately the Bezos Barn got more of my hard earned money but their 1-day shipping program just extended to my place and I was pretty eager to try that. Onwards!

This project stalled for a couple of months between lack of motivation and lack of good parts for the build, but I'm back, and this time I promise it won't be jank! Or rather, not as jank. Hopefully. Realistically it'll be just as jank. What do you mean it's been over two years since my last update? Oh. It's been over two years since my last update. What a shame. Anyway, here's what's happened in the meantime: I went to college! That's about it. Now that you're up to date, it's time to tell you what my plans are (or were, rather, as I'm writing this with the computer "done" and running). I really really wanted a budget dGPU build because that would've been awesome and rad and cool but space constraints dictated that, even with the PSU external, there just was not enough room for reasonable cooling while preserving the look of the console. And I really tried, I mean, I went on an undervolting journey with a Ryzen 5 3600 and a GT 1030 but it just wasn't working out. I briefly considered getting an RX 6400 to play with but let's be honest here, entry level GPUs just are not worth your money. So the plan shifted. I decided that I was going to go for an APU build, especially with the performance given by the likes of the 5600G and 5700G. They would be perfect for this build. Easy to cool. Zen 3 CPU cores paired with half decent integrated graphics would probably emulate older games without breaking a sweat. Probably. There's not a lot of room for cooling in this chassis. And thus, the new parts list is as follows: PCPartPicker Part List CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP90-X47 42.58 CFM CPU Cooler Motherboard: MSI B450I GAMING PLUS AC Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive Fans: Noctua NF-A6x25 PWM 4-pin Fan x2 I've purposefully left the individual prices out as they have dropped massively (especially the CPU) since I've purchased them, but this was not as cheap as I'd hoped, especially with the Noctua fans. Oh well. In the next post I will be posting various photos from different stages in the building process. I'm still using the same chassis as before, but I got my self a new toy in the form of an oscillating tool! That should make cutting way easier. I know it makes cutting way easier because, again, I'm posting now with the darn thing actually finished and running games.

Thanks for not answering my question lol I'm not getting these sticks to OC. I just need 128GB on an AM4 platform and this is pretty much the cheapest performant kit on the market. I know Ryzen can be picky with earlier revisions of ddr4 which is why the die matters.

I'd like to ID the die bin on this kit I saw for sale The kit of G.Skill Ripjaws memory I saw is their 2x32GB 3600CL18 kit with a label of 04266XS833A S3A indicates 16Gb Micron A die according to The Internet but I could be wrong. I've never seen or heard of Micron A die being used in a high density high(ish) speed bin and there is all of one reddit thread on overclocking this stuff so I'd like to get a second opinion. Any other kits of this I could find appear to be Hynix MJR or AJR and I've not seen any Micron ICs in this kit from my research. Realistically I wouldn't touch the timings - 3600CL18 is plenty fast for my needs especially considering that it's a 64GB kit.

I don't think the cpu cooler is on 'the wrong way' since the AMD logo can be either on the left or the right. In fact it aligns with the Aorus branding on the motherboard heatsink so I think it works

This service manual only shows what the service providers have officially. The interface is SATA and therefore any SATA SSD will work.

in terms of what? power delivery? onboard I/O? there's a vrm tierlist here on the forums but it's currently AMD only but there's a spreadsheet linked that does have a lot more motherboards. HW Unboxed does a great job with mobo comparisons too. for onboard I/O it might be easier to just find images, read reviews, or visit the manufacturer website.

$400 should be more than enough to get you a 12700K or a 5800X3D, either would be great choices. The 12700K is a great all rounder CPU, but you'll need a pretty beefy cooler - your hyper 212 won't cut it here. The 5800X3D is the best gaming CPU right now and still has 8 Zen 3 cores, you will also need a decent cooler for this.

After some testing I have found that you can only charge at more than 1A on regular 5V chargers with a USB 3 cable. Funny how ages of googling did not reveal this. Maybe I wasn't looking for the right terms.

Even so, do you have any cable suggestions to get the full 1.5? Most 6-ft ones only do 1 or less. I'm just surprised that these don't support 5V 2.4A or 3A given how common those chargers are.

Good thing is I don't want warp charge. I just want the ability to fast charge at 5v. My Anker cables don't even supply a full amp so I'm looking for alternatives.

To preface what I am looking for, here's what I already have: An official WarpCharge 65 Brick + OEM Type C to C cable that I use for a quick 10 minute top up when necessary with 10V ~5A An Anker PowerPort 10 + Anker Type A to C cable for slow charging that delivers 5V ~0.9A A Nekteck 60W charging station + noot Type A to C cable for gaming that delivers 5V 1.5A A 100W USB PD charger that delivers up to 9V 3A when the battery is low before reverting to 5V 1.5A once above a certain % I was pretty surprised (as were most OP8T owners, apparently, from what the various forums have told me) that this phone charges very slowly over 5V unless you have a very specific set up. I am looking for cables (and chargers) that can reliably deliver 1.5A or more over a Type A to Type C cable as it is economically unfeasible to get an all type-C charging station presently. The only option I could even find was a UGreen 6-port station for $200. The only cable I've owned that reliably delivered 1.5A to either of my OnePlus phones is a noot products cable meant for OnePlus phones. This cable has since been discontinued and I do not know of any alternatives. I've ordered their standard A to C cables and will be testing them once they arrive but I will also be taking suggestions. Looking for braided cables of 6-ish feet length that can supply more than 1A to an OP8T Allegedly the OP8T can negotiate 9V over USB-PD (I believe using the PPS spec), but none of my PD chargers appear to support this. Looking for charger recommendations that are not wall warts can charge more than one device at a time. Similarly also looking for car chargers in the same vein. I don't want to use WarpCharge 65 unless I absolutely have to - so leaving the phone plugged into a warp charger while driving is definitely a no-go for me. A little bit of preliminary testing and research has revealed something interesting. OnePlus uses the middle pin on the USB 3 Type A side in their dash/warp charge cables and people have been able to extend their dash/warp cables with USB 3 extensions. I tried to charge with a USB 3.0 A to C cable and got 1.5A. Seems like I've found my answer but I will try more cables to verify. Current Try List: noot Type C cable for OnePlus Phones, 6-ft Any(?) USB 3.0 Type A to C Current Avoid List: Anker 6-ft Braided Type C cable noot Type C cable 6-ft Any nonbraided cable Any USB 2.0 cable (?)

CMOS battery is alive and board does beep without memory so I'm not sure what to make of it. Will probably just return it at this rate.

The VGA jumper is set to enabled. Trying to figure out if the board is bad with very limited resources here. CPU: E3-1230 RAM: 2x4GB DDR3 Crucial UDIMMs PSU: EVGA 550W G3 Nothing else is connected except a cpu fan, a case fan and the power switch unless otherwise stated below. On booting the board powers up, power led and ipmi led are as expected, but there is no vga output. There is also no beep code or error code. I've checked that the beeper is working by booting with no memory and I get a memory beep code as expected. This also tells me that the motherboard itself seems to be okay? IPMI does work, can log in and access the various management functions but shows no temp or fan sensors. I've waited for about 5 minutes after each power on to make sure that the board isn't just taking its sweet time to boot. I've tried connecting a PS/2 keyboard, no numlock light. Tried a backlit USB keyboard, no backlight or numlock light. Tried connecting it to one of the front usb headers. No dice. Plugged in ethernet. Activity light blinks slowly, no link speed light despite it being gigabit (IPMI port shows full link speed and rapid activity indicative of network connectivity) I don't have another compatible CPU nor more compatible memory. Any advice would be appreciated.

I'd just think that a few generations later an 8 core can idle at the same power as a quad core. I had limited the cpu % in the battery plan, yes. With either of these programs it seems the lowest I can set the cpu tdp is 8W. That's still not amazing since it runs constantly at 8W doing anything so overall power draw is still 10-12W when I'm working. System power sits at 7W and change when on the desktop doing absolutely nothing. Surely a mobile cpu should not be idling at such a high power draw?

Been really struggling in the battery life department on my latest laptop. My previous daily driver was an XPS 13 9350 and it would consistently last through an 8 hour school/work day with 30% of battery left, and when needed could be stretched to about 12 hours of light use (google docs). My current daily driver can barely get 5 hours of use in a similar use case - note taking (both typing and writing) and video playback (YT or twitch). Granted, I am only charging it to 80% via the MyAsus app, which is the equivalent of a 50Whr battery instead of 56Whr in the older XPS, but the newer laptop is pulling 10-13W when the older drew 5-7W under the same circumstances. Brightness was roughly matched to my eye, all running the same background apps. Relevant details below. The power settings I've tweaked with (Win 10) are: Silent profile in Armory Crate Battery Saver profile in Windows CPU utilization limited to 30% on battery dGPU disabled Screen refresh set to 60 instead of 120 It's worth noting that all I needed to do on the XPS was a mild undervolt and activate battery saver mode, but that was also a much simpler laptop. I was able to undervolt the 8250U to get the extra juice to get from 10 hours to 12 hours on the XPS via ThrottleStop, but I can't seem to find anything for mobile ryzen cpus that is comparable. As a student having to plug in between classes or carry an extra battery bank around is mildly infuriating. I haven't had to ration my battery like this in forever... My X13 is the 5900HS/3050Ti MQ spec with 16G/1TB if that matters. Any suggestions would be welcome!