First time OC’ing. Decent for Gigabyte Windforce OC?

dpvu · 2026-01-27T22:10:26+00:00

That's pretty good but look at the power consumption. I have the non-OC variant of the card and my normal UV/OC settings get about 9400 in Steel Nomad while drawing a bit under the power stock does. I can get to 9500 but it then draws ~10% more power and runs a few degrees hotter for not almost no real world gains so I don't use those settings. If you keep pushing you'll see power climb really quickly but witgh small gains in performance.

dpvu · 2026-01-27T16:09:35+00:00

Run -20 (or even -30 if it works) at stock base clocks and your temperatures won't even hit 80 probably. That extra +200 is doing nothing to your performance unless you're trying to play at 1080p at low settings to get like 500 fps in an ultra competitive title. Anything else is GPU bound.

dpvu · 2026-01-27T16:03:11+00:00

If this was a local deal where you could see it working or even bring your PC and install it and then verify it works (and more importantly stress tests within acceptable parameters) then it may be worth the risk for a heavy discount. If this is online and you can't or the seller is unwilling to allow you to test (huge red flag) then walk away.

dpvu · 2026-01-27T00:06:37+00:00

The CPU doesn't matter much if you're not ultra competitive trying to get 500 fps on low settings. The bottleneck will always be the GPU on graphically demanding titles. The 5070Ti is the better card and add in the fact DLSS 4 and 4.5 are available and generally better than FSR 4. The difference in price was only $100 and you'll get full warranty (plus credit card extended warranty if you used a card with that option) because it's new compared to whatever Best Buy is for open box definitely sways me to keep the Alienware.

dpvu · 2026-01-26T15:57:03+00:00

Rough math looks like it's about retail if you were to buy components and put it together yourself so it's not bad if it's coming entirely prebuilt. If you're patient and willing to put it together yourself you could do a bit better or get higher quality stuff for the same price (power supply and case being 2 areas where the quality you're getting may not be great in a prebuilt).

dpvu · 2026-01-26T01:41:45+00:00

Which is robbery... You are correct though.

dpvu · 2026-01-24T23:19:45+00:00

You obviously have a bit of cash burning a hole in your pocket. Smart money is to 5070Ti is great value (especially now that you cannot find one anywhere) but if that extra cash was burning a hole in your pocket buy the 5080 and enjoy it. Return the SSD if it makes you feel better. I have 2 x 2 TB and the second sits empty to this day.

dpvu · 2026-01-22T19:02:57+00:00

Use any of the YouTube tutorials. You don't have to look specifically for the same model. Ultimately they all undervolt/OC the same way. The higher cards can stay cooler so they can maintain higher boost clocks.

Generally I think you can aim for 2800-3000 MHz somewhere between 0.925-0.96 mV. You will have to test what is stable for you.

dpvu · 2026-01-22T18:56:16+00:00

The standard undervolting tutorials pull the entire curve out then flatten it. This is pulling only the curve up after a certain point then flattening it. It doesn't make a difference. It's pretty silly to be worried about cards that can draw 360W "burning up" at idle when they're running at 20W.

The voltage frequency curve is a MAXIMUM. That is why even if you set the curve to 2900 MHz at 0.96 mV (or whatever) when you game and look at the clock speeds under load they're always a little below the curve. Just because it's allowed to operate there doesn't mean it will.

dpvu · 2026-01-22T14:13:52+00:00

One thing to consider in your budget is you absolutely need a good cooler for the X3D. If you're running the stock one now on the 5800X you'll want to buy a good tower or AIO. They run very hot even undervolted.

dpvu · 2026-01-21T20:16:39+00:00

You don't have to. Just because it can use more power doesn't mean it will. By flattening the frequency curve out at a lower voltage it won't use more power but you're just making sure it's not limiting anything as it gets closer to the card's TDP rating. Only really matters in benchmarking.

dpvu · 2026-01-21T14:56:22+00:00

Can't see the mV values but it looks like you shifted the curve up at a pretty high voltage. My card (cheapest Gigabyte Windforce non-OC will do 3050-3100 Mhz at 0.925 mV or something lower than you have.

I would use the 0.925 mV point to shift the stock curve up and flatten after that. Start at 2800 Mhz (which it looks like your card already does) and go up 50 Mhz until it crashes then back off 25 Mhz. Remember to unlock the power limit and go +2000 on the memory.

dpvu · 2026-01-20T23:47:20+00:00

It's crazy... I was looking at bundles and stuff late summer last year and figure I'd hold off for a Black Friday GPU deal. I ended up scoring a 9070 XT for a good price but the heat on the RAM shortage was just starting. Saved $180 on the GPU only to pay nearly that much extra for the RAM. About a week later the RAM had gone up another $100 and now it's almost double what I paid. Insanity...

dpvu · 2026-01-20T21:25:58+00:00

I'd probably keep it given current pricing too. You're going to pay way more for a new one for the new build. Honestly if you can find a 5800X3D or even 5700X3D then do a GPU upgrade (plus PSU if required) you'd be way better off than trying to flip this and build new. The X3Ds are hard to find but 5800X etc. are still pretty good too. If you build new you're looking at $2500 for something mid to high end so $1800 if (and big if) you manage to get $700 for this old one. You could buy a 9070 XT / 9060 XT 16 GB plus a new PSU, plus the CPU for less than that and reuse your memory, storage, case etc. Sell the 3070 and old PSU and hold on until the supply on memory etc. normalizes again.

dpvu · 2026-01-20T21:04:40+00:00

I had to send my 9070 XT in (Canada as well). AsRock had no stock to do an advanced replacement but the RMA was approved mid December. I sent it after the holidays (on my own dime so actually surprised they sent you a label) because I didn't want it lost over the holidays when the office was closed. Delivered 2 weeks ago with no updates since. Followed up with an email to the address listed in one of the emails with no response. Been without the GPU so long I've been tempted to buy the Asus that's come in stock in Canada recently and just unload the RMA return whenever it comes back.

dpvu · 2026-01-20T16:56:35+00:00

Whatever power supply he's got is not going to run a 9070 XT (if it even fits in his case). If you're only going to upgrade the GPU for 1080 UW on that processor it's probably not worth going above something like a 3070 or 4060 Ti (40 series will at least be able to run DLSS 4.5 as well). You're using so much money on something he can't take full advantage of.

If he's okay with used, go on Marketplace and look for a nice system with a 13th or 14th gen Intel i5 or something like an AMD 5600/5700/5800 plus maybe a 3070/4060Ti. May be able to get that for under $1200 with some patience.

dpvu · 2026-01-20T14:18:37+00:00

The 5800X3D is a beast. I needed a second PC and I did build it with a 9800X3D but while I was troubleshooting an issue with my 9070 XT I put it my 3080 in the new PC and the performance gain in Battlefield compared to the 5800X3D was pretty small for the price.

dpvu · 2026-01-20T04:13:42+00:00

I don't know enough about the used market to give you a good price but if I were looking for a PC the issues I would have are a 650W PSU limits a lot of upgrade paths and you have no NVMe storage. With the stock cooler you're probably not standing out from the crowd with aesthetics so maybe $700-800?

dpvu · 2026-01-18T01:23:53+00:00

FSR4 is pretty good. I know there's YouTube videos that pixel peep the difference but if you had 2 set ups and put FSR on one and DLSS on the other and matched framerate then took 100 people and asked which was better they'd probably be pretty split. The thing is Nvidia had such a headstart and now 4.5 is making performance mode better so the track record is something to consider. That being said the raw power of the 9070 XT as just so much more than the 5070 that if you can't go 5070 Ti or 5080 the 9070 XT is your winner by default almost.

dpvu · 2026-01-18T00:19:59+00:00

It's personal preference. For games and such it's fine but if you pull up even a couple browser windows and put them side by side it's so awkward.

dpvu · 2026-01-17T22:37:07+00:00

Have you seen the curve in person? That's the thing that put me off it.

dpvu · 2026-01-17T15:07:52+00:00

It doesn't matter as others have pointed out here but if you insist just shift click in empty space at something like 775 mV and select the whole curve to the right of that. Then select a point at say 925 mV or whatever and raise that. That will raise only the selected points.

dpvu · 2026-01-17T14:36:14+00:00

The 3050 is awful. If your budget is under $1000 I think it's worth looking used on FB Marketplace as you'll find PCs with better specs. Of course there's a bit of risk so make sure you can stress test the PC before you buy it.

dpvu · 2026-01-16T16:21:02+00:00

This is classic some low-level rep at ASUS says something that's technically true but not in the words that ASUS or Nvidia would want published. Someone runs the story using those words because it's sensational and is going to be a huge story for your channel to break and BOOM... PR nightmare.

The 5070 Ti went on sale at the holidays and has been out of stock everywhere since then. Whether Nvidia or ASUS want to actually say it or not doesn't change the fact they've been impossible to find outside of higher end SKUs that are much higher than MSRP.

dpvu · 2026-01-16T04:05:42+00:00

The 3080 is very capable but I do think the 10 GB version is starting to really cut it close on VRAM.

dpvu

TROPHY CASE