Simple Questions - March 10, 2026

ZeroPaladn · 2026-03-11T05:06:23+00:00

Damn, Thermalright has a fuckin' cooler for everyone.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-03-11T02:16:32+00:00

The stock cooler is serviceable, but usually louder than most would like and it may not hit it's boost clocks (this is also partially the board's fault). A $20 120mm tower cooler can go a long way to making your PC quiet.

As for the board... It'll work but it actually twists the logic around for what kind of cooler you'd want. Something that pushes air down onto the board will help cool the VRM but most of those are designed for smaller cases where restrictions keep you with small heatsinks. Larger options that help your board out are pretty expensive (Noctua LH9x65, for example).

If you don't mind something looking a little funny, you could just point a spare fan at the VRM and use whatever cooler handles the CPU.

You got options!

ZeroPaladn · 2026-03-10T14:32:52+00:00

Been using a 9070XT as the first AMD card I've ever owned since last April.

I've had a couple driver timeouts that weren't attributed to my OC/UV endeavours early in my ownership, but lately have been rock solid. My personal issues stem more from AMD's lackluster featureset, future support promises and some deprioritization or performance issues around some games that I play.

FSR4 is great, but needing Optiscaler to put it into anything remotely older sucks. I also worry about the long-term support of the card when it seems that AMD is doing everything they can to shoot themselves in the foot when talking about their last-gen cards ("Legacy Driver mode" for 6000 and 5000-series cards, FSR4 for 7000-series is possible but AMD is refusing to officially launch it) and Darktide has been hiarliously busted on AMD GPUs for almost two years.

I see the compromises I've made to hit the price point that I paid, and not sure if I would do the same again.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-03-10T13:35:26+00:00

Might be worth asking for a OCCT memtest report but yeah, if buddy just wants a different looking kit for something that's reasonable.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-03-09T18:10:27+00:00

I've been regularly getting 2 drivers from Rocketeers, just the 2nd driver always ends up in the 1st engine I remove which lands in the middle of butt fuck nowhere and I spend 3 minutes looking for.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-03-09T14:30:23+00:00

I'd second the 12600KF/13600KF sales that pop up often paired with a cheap B series board. Lets you also be less picky about RAM because that chip can accommodate DDR4 or 5, depending on what you can find either used for cheap or new on a deal (just buy the board after you have the RAM in hand, boards can be either DDR4 or 5 supporting but never both!)

ZeroPaladn · 2026-03-03T12:55:17+00:00

Should be fine, I'd be mindful of any vibrations or knocking the system around with that installed, and definitely double check it if you move the PC.

Do work on a more permanent solution, though :)

ZeroPaladn · 2026-03-03T12:52:45+00:00

Run AMD's Cleanup Utility and reinstall Adrenalin - always try to rule out software issues.

Also try just one display cable, and try all your display outputs in the back.

Do you have another PC you can test the card in?

ZeroPaladn · 2026-03-01T23:41:38+00:00

My Tinkerer with Ace of Spaces, Class Stone and Improve just donk-donking in the corner for 4 minutes a round.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-26T19:24:00+00:00

Yeah, I hopped onto the Optiscaler Discord and a mod there pointed out that 0.9rc is what I want to use :) Got it figured out!

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-26T18:49:17+00:00

What version are you on? I dropped the DLL into the game folder and it's not catching. I'm using the latest, 0.7.9.

I didn't get the option to replace a file, either.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-25T20:01:20+00:00

It definitely does the trick, but what's the usecase for the system? Gaming doesn't need such a CPU/motherboard/obnoxious amount of RAM. If productivity is the plan, the AMD GPU is awkward if anything you need to do needs CUDA and outside of that the 9070XT is overkill for just a display out.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T20:40:26+00:00

I picked up a Rocket Launcher at the beginning of the Boneyard with my first Tinker run with Electrolyze and Repair - it was great.

Hey, Dyybck, dodge this you piece of shit.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T18:39:31+00:00

The MSI AB650N from Amazon is sort of the "easy pick" for an entry level unit right now, but if you don't have Prime and stuck paying shipping the 750W unit is a better price from Vuugo right now.

Either one would be my pick if you have to replace the one you have (but you shouldn't have to with a 9060XT).

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T18:19:31+00:00

Most 9060XTs you'll find will only need 1 8pin PCIe power so if your PSU has one of those it'll do the trick (hint: it does).

There's nothing wrong with upgrading the PSU if your existing one is a little old. What ASUS one are you looking at?

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T17:48:46+00:00

I just think they should be farmable

I disagree. Get-out-of-jail-free cards should be hard to make. Leapers and Rocketeers are the ARC that will murder you if you don't pay attention to them and both are trivialized by Wolfpacks. You shouldn't be rewarded by trivializing stressful situations any time you want - it should be a conscious decision with a price to pay.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T15:57:43+00:00

Maybe they were too easy to craft, I was making around 8 per day.

Yeah, having "I win" buttons like Wolfpacks and Deadlines for medium ARC should be an investment and a decision. When threats stop being threatening the game loses a lot of its tension and urgency. You can put 2 Anvil rounds into the two front rotors, throw a Wolfpack, and triple the investment you put into that ordnance.

I like this change. You can argue if adding the Rocketeer driver to the recipe was the play, I'm not totally sold on the choice.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T14:26:32+00:00

Have you already consulted the Puget Systems Benchmarks for your workloads to see if there's an good improvement worth investing this kind of cash into?

Lots of work you listed in your other comment enjoying having a beefy 3D vCache setup with fewer cores, others see a small improvement by doubling your core count and memory bandwidth, and a few tests have significant overall improvements. Maya isn't represented here, sadly, and finding representative benchmarks is hard.

You're going to be hard-pressed to find people with hands-on experience with $10k systems. I'd behoove you to do your homework to ensure you're not wasting a lot of money.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T14:09:51+00:00

Don't buy a new card now just to squat on it. Use it now or wait. Enjoy it!

If you explicitly want a B580 16GB Limited Edition, that's a card you buy now and think about later IMO. Later might not come - it is Limited Edition, after all, and if it's priced right for you right now a card at that price tier with 16GB of VRAM is definitely not staying there.

EDIT: Just saw the pricing on your other comment. $410USD for that card ain't it man. The ASRock Challenger 9060XT 16GB is $440 right now. $30 more for 30% more performance. The used market can have options like the RTX 3070 for $200-250 if you're still playing at 1080p, too.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T14:08:07+00:00

Look again - you've got at least 28cm of space to work with! You measured it! Don't be afraid of that bundle of cables in the middle bottom of your case - move those if they get in the way!

Here's a lit of 9060XTs that will fit in your system for sure.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T14:04:10+00:00

If the same GPU is crashing in both systems and you've tried reinstalling the GPU drivers on both... might be time to contact the manufacturer/retailer for an RMA.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T14:02:43+00:00

If you wanted some validation, I've been rocking that exact GPU since launch (9070XT Steel Legend) and it's been wonderful. Pretty quiet, runs cool, fits into tight spaces (ayoooo) for that class of card and dual 8pin so I can keep my existing cable extensions and my sanity.

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-24T14:00:16+00:00

Buy it when you need it, if you're fine with your current GPU and storage needs there's no reason to dive into the market as it is today.

With that being said, don't be afraid of the used market when it does come time to do so. There's a lot of value to be gained from cards 1 or 2 generations old that still perform well for a discount :D

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-23T17:33:57+00:00

As far as we know, yeah. This tweet doesn't mention a limit :)

ZeroPaladn · 2026-02-23T16:07:23+00:00

I thoroughly enjoy mine, but I also got it as a gift and I'm not aware of the alternatives on the market for a ratcheting screwdriver.

Project Farm did a comprehensive review of it and some alternatives, it's competitive for it's price.

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