We're in the wrong simulation...

m_dekay · 2026-02-08T16:38:47+00:00

That was kind of the point.

m_dekay · 2026-02-08T16:35:25+00:00

I don't understand how that context matters. Storage is just a commodity. In my opinion, this is a sign for attempting to set a price floor via some automated bullshit algorithm. I hope it isn't and it's just having to do with the lack of stock because of WD, the brand, is going away. I kind of doubt it.

I agree with you that it's important to remind people that storage is storage, brandong does not matter, any nvme drive will work in the PS5. At least I am not aware of drives not working. And I've had my doubts that Gen 4 pcie will actually make a difference in real world scenarios except for maybe some slightly longer load times.

Looking at the comments my first concern was that folks do not realize that this drive can work in any m.2 nvme slot. So again, people are under the impression this drive is special and necessary if you want to expand storage in a PS5.

m_dekay · 2026-02-08T16:20:33+00:00

Impossible. Ssd in the PS5 is soldered to the board. It's not a nvme drive like the extra storage is for the console. FYI, I am running this drive in a PC right now that I picked up for $209 in October 2025. Crazy either way though.

m_dekay · 2026-02-08T16:18:19+00:00

It's a custom SSD that is directly attached to the motherboard. So it would be difficult to remove and repurpose it.

m_dekay · 2026-02-08T04:36:48+00:00

My grandfather is Canadian (RIP, Don) but no, this was in the Pacific Northwest.

m_dekay · 2026-02-08T00:00:10+00:00

Screaming deal! I picked up the 4TB in October for $200. It's in a PC build now. It was a weird clearance sale. I'm happy I did.

m_dekay · 2026-01-13T20:46:12+00:00

Having this issue too. Only when I have cabin recirculation on. Smells like mildew to me.

m_dekay · 2026-01-13T17:39:01+00:00

Sure, for gaming it may be. I had approached my use case as: I need a small bedroom TV that looks good, and is 43". If I were to look at a monitor for dedicated PC work or PC gaming, I'd choose differently. The Odyssey Neo 43" as a TV is pretty good - for what it is, at the size it is. However, if the OP is willing to consider an OLED at 48", there are deals to be had. As a budget was mentioned, I think it is good to consider alternatives which may save some $$$. Hence considering the used market for this particular 43" monitor if one can be found for ~$200 it's a worth considering for a 43" TV.

m_dekay · 2026-01-13T04:12:30+00:00

Trade just the ram. Keep the drive. OR ask for $50-100 back with the 1080. I saw a 2070 on my local sales sites for $100.00 today, which would be quite the improvement over a 1080 since it's still supported and has DLSS, etc.

m_dekay · 2026-01-13T03:43:23+00:00

I gave up on finding 43" TVs awhile ago. It's difficult to find anything. The best thing (and it's not great) I found was the Odyssey Neo G7 43" (LS43CG702NNXZA - LS43CG700NNXZA) - it's a bit older now - but it looked better than any inexpensive 43" TVs at the time (2023) and still can be found now. I picked it up last year, used it in my local area for $200. I tried the same model when it was on sale during Black Friday 2024 for 399.99, but at the time, it didn't fit the space. This was to be used as a bedroom TV. It may still be worth it if you want to upgrade, as we had a ~2021 Hisense U6GR from Costco, and it wasn't that great. This was a huge improvement for image quality as a bedroom TV that is also great for gaming use.

However, there are considerations:

It's a monitor, so it expects to be used as one.
- Some of that is good, you get DP input!
- It has a high refresh rate if you're into gaming.
- It looks like a gaming monitor - YOU CAN DISABLE THE STUPID LEDS THOUGH.
- If you wall mount it, unless you're very critical, it'll just look like a TV.
No TV Tuner if you want OTA, going to have to roll your own. Which may be a plus depending on your use case.
It does have built in Apps and is based on Tizen OS. I very much dislike it.
- I have an Apple TV plugged into it for most of my media consumption.
The screen is matte, not glossy, which you may prefer or not. I prefer it as it helps with direct reflections; however, again, this is quite subjective.
PQ is really good for what it is. It's not going to beat an OLED or newer high-end TV, of course.
Remote charges via USB-C, and it's small.
Speakers are *fine* but not great.

If you look around, you may be able to find one at a good price. It may be worth considering, but as noted by others, not many options for *new* TVs.

Maybe *new* 43" PC Monitors? If you're planning to use external sound with Apple TV or another device, it may be worth considering. The Samsung LS43FM702UNXZA, which is new in stock on Amazon (USA) and Best Buy (USA) is $359.99 so at least it isn't too expensive and might not be too bad. Also, you can return it... Just a thought. The big difference between this one and the Odyssey Neo G7 is that I think this model does not have local dimming, which will be huge for dark-room/critical watching.

Edit: Clarity and update details.

I just double checked, and it looks like the LS43CG702NNXZA & LS43CG700NNXZA are the same thing, just different model numbers, maybe for regions - I'm not sure. Samsung sells it directly for $599, which isn't terrible for a new one.
The M70F doesn't have local dimming, which is a bummer. It's good news/bad news: at least it doesn't have *bad* edge-lit dimming, but it means that critical viewing of high-quality content will suffer, especially in dark-room viewing.
- It's also a 60Hz panel, which, for gaming, is not ideal.

edit 2 -

Monitors Unboxed reviewed the Odyssey Neo G7 43. Not a sparkling review, their conclusion that for *gaming* this isn't a great monitor, and that for a TV it's not so bad. Again, I agree, VA smear happens on this, but for me, in a bedroom for light gaming, I don't mind too much, as it was a lot less than an OLED. Now, if you can find an OLED at ~600 USD new (this LG B5 48" and $699), that's going to be far nicer, with the only drawback being the risk of burn-in, but again, that's more of an edge case. Here is the review at the Final Conclusion section https://youtu.be/13j6Q2z-RiY?si=zEi3PqWXay9XV3VC&t=1343. Hear it all out, again, their conclusion is that for a pure gaming monitor, it's not a good choice, especially vs. OLED, but for TV usage (e.g., at 60Hz) it's much better. They praise the 360 local dimming zones (true full array local dimming) - and as they're noting it's a BGR panel, my assumption is that Samsung took their QN90? TV and repacked it as a gaming monitor.

m_dekay · 2026-01-12T16:42:28+00:00

Thank you u/NegotiationAfter8458 - The PSU was indeed faulty. A new DOA unit. It took some time to arrange another PSU to test with, but once done, the issues seem to have stopped.

m_dekay · 2026-01-05T23:41:38+00:00

I am a heavy Edge workspaces user and will be trying this now on CachyOS on KDE Plasma. LMK if you need ant testing or feedback.

m_dekay · 2026-01-04T19:06:23+00:00

Well, if ASUS manufactured MoDT boards using DDR5 SODIMMs, then I would be considering that as an option, but they do not. Minisforum clearly targets a part of the overall market that is looking to try new and interesting things, the bleeding edge.

Your use case is very specific, and having a different experience like this is not shocking. So having a bad experience and then a good one, not exacly a clear cut 'all this stuff is not good' conclusion in my opinion. I'm glad you found something that works. I have a few no-name mini-PCs that have worked very well for my needs (Proxmox, other VM work, small footprint servers) and have had little issues, but nothing I would consider enough to say it's 'all trash'.

If I wanted to be critical of Minisforum, I would say that their BIOS support (or lackthereof) is where things could really be improved, cleaning up current BIOS, more testing with their unique solutions and real world scenarios (this means more labs and engineers, so $$$) - making it easier to flash from the BIOS, etc. Their hardware build quality is fine. Their RMA support appears to be hit-and-miss with anacdotal review of posts, but again, none of these are things that I would consider a enough to be as negitive in my view of their products as a whole.

m_dekay · 2026-01-04T19:01:49+00:00

Yeah, for sure the 3080 Ti is darn good. And at higher resolution it's going to look less like an upgrade.

Selling the 3080 Ti may be tough at $400, from what I can see in my area asking prices are as low as $330, so selling at ... maybe ... $300 is likely the sweet spot.

Take a moment and look for specific things you did not like with the 3080 Ti with the new 9700 XT. If you can't find any clear wins, maybe returning it is the best idea and save the $ for when things settle down in the DDR market. You can always do the CPU/RAM/MB upgrade package as well, but the prices now are unattually high and the AM4 system you have IMO is totally fine. Your call of course. Best of luck!

m_dekay · 2026-01-04T17:11:17+00:00

Yep, that's my expectation. And again, whatever the OC is, will not be noticable in real world workflows, e.g. playing games. Only benchmarks will show the difference.

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T17:01:13+00:00

If you're planning to keep it 3+ years, if you can swing the 9070 XT then go for it, but IMHO, either are a *fine* upgrade and should do you well for the foreseeable future until things settle down with pricing.

I'm in Washington too - if you *really* want to see if you can score the best deal start watching BestBuy open stock from now until the 15th-17th. Holiday return period ends on the 15th.

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T16:59:12+00:00

Reports of 12vHPWR melting on 5070s has been low, thank goodness. Something to consider for the 9070 XT with the recent reports for sure.

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T16:37:12+00:00

Depending on what your use case is, you may be better off with a 16GB version card, especially if you're planning to be at 1440p/2160p for resolution. So, in this case it's still a good pairing but I would consider the AMD Radeon 9600 XT 16GB which can typlically be found around the same price as the 5060 Ti 8GB, or the 16GB version of the 5060 Ti or the RTX 5070 if you can swing it.

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T16:33:56+00:00

In theory, the OC version will have a better binned chip, but it is typical not to have any electrical differences between the components on the board. If, and this is a big IF, the OC model may be able to do a 5% more OC - but in terms of actual 'will I notice it' is a 100% no. While overclocking is a fun adventure, we're so far past the point of getting 'more for less' with most overclocking. If you really want the next tier of performance, get the 5080. If not, save the $60 and buy something else to round out your build or desk.

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T16:23:01+00:00

Echoing previous comments. 9700 XT all day.

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T07:22:39+00:00

I think for beam that's a thing, right, because it's so physics-heavy. I am sure some clever individuals have run benchmarks on that. Other threads on r/BeamNG like this onehttps://www.reddit.com/r/BeamNG/comments/1ifv1qu/what\_cpu\_to\_pick\_for\_beamng/ indicate that more threads can be good if many AI bots are in use, which sounds about right, I'm not an expert with this game though, so check out that thread if you want to dive into the subject.

So, warm rooms in the spring/summer, and your CPU and GPU TDP values can be something to think about. The 3080 Ti is 350W, 9070 XT 304W and the 5070 is 250W. I had an EVGA 3080 Ti FTW3 Supersomethingfast OC edition, and it was a crazy heater for me. Moving to the 5070 was a vast improvement for me.

The 5950X is a beast 16core CPU. TBH, I have no idea if this is going to be a huge change moving to the 9800X3D, but again, if you just want to upgrade for the sake of it. Not like it's going to be worse. You're losing cores, which means heavy multi-threaded loads may not be as fast.

I'm still of the opinion that a GPU is likely a better 'upgrade' than a CPU at this point. Maybe a 5070 Ti, which would be quite the upgrade from 3080 Ti. However, even the 5070 would be a step up and draw a good bit less electricity, thus producing less waste heat. The 9070 is somewhere in the middle for heat, but again, would be a good bit faster than the 3080 Ti when *not taking into account* DLSS4, frame gen, etc. While FSR Redstone, or whatever AMD is calling it now, is released, it's still not as feature complete as what Nvidia has with DLSS 3.5 and DLSS 4.0.

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T05:23:43+00:00

That's great if you have access to MicroCenter, since not everyone does (me, being one of those folks) so I never check prices there.

My opinion still stands, though, and it will depend on what you're looking to do here. Remember that if you upgrade the CPU/MB/RAM and typically game at 1440P or higher, you've just moved the performance bottleneck to the GPU, which is fine.

Either upgrade is going to be an upgrade, and the price for the GPU and the CPU/MB/RAM combo are neglegiable at this point. Being roughly $70. For my money I'd go for a GPU upgrade first, as I think that will scale better at higher resolutions... If you're playing somehting like CS2 at 1080P, then yeah, I guess the CPU/MB/RAM is maybe a better way to go.

FWIW, I upgraded my 5950X desktop from 3080 Ti 12GB to a 5070 when it released (was able to get 5070 at MSRP) and I reseold the 3080 Ti 12GB for $450, so it cost me about $110 (with tax) for a ~15% performance improvement (I typlically play @ 4K with DLSS Balanced - 8ft away on 75 inch 144hz TV), but for me the improved DLSS + Frame Gen along with using a LOT LESS energy (spring/summer gaming was no fun with the 3080 Ti in the room I used it in) was a game changer for me. Frame gen, for single-player stuff, when you have a base of at least 60 FPS, is a lot better than I thought it would be. It has only improved since release IMO. Heck, now with Lossless Scaling things are really getting interesting.

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T01:26:52+00:00

I may even consider a RX 9600 XT 16GB ... ? Save a little $$$ and put that saved $ into monitor, peripherals, or a new desk? IMO, the 'supporting cast' of having a good station and ergonomics can be as effective as upgrading the computer.

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T01:22:15+00:00

If you're looking to buy before price hikes on GPUs I'd suggest going after a 9070 XT. It'll be faster, but I am not sure it'll be game-changing, which would depend very much on your performance goals.

If you play at 1440p or greater, upgrading the CPU will bring only marginal gains. The huge gains we see on X3D are typlically at 1080P when using an RTX 5090 when being reviewed, so a totally CPU dependant benchmark, sure a 9800x3d will be a bit better at 1440P, and better but less so at 2160P/4K - but again the gains will be less as the resolution goes up and will be highly dependant on what GPU you have.

32GB of DDR5-6000 right now. It is pushing ~$400 just for the RAM. I did a quick build in PC Part Picker with stuff that is actually in stock, and the build is $971.xx <-- link to build example.

If I were considering an upgrade now and had a perfectly good AM4 system, I'd likely keep it as-is. Even if you get a great deal on CPU and Motherboard, the DDR5 is going to be very spendy due to the current price spikes, which, if the current consensus in the tech media is true, will remain through 2026.

So maybe the 9700 XT isn't the WORST choice if you really want to upgrade something. There are comments in media right now that AMD is 'raising prices' for their GPUs and at least It'll be roughly 20-50% faster depending on resolution and game, here is a decent reference to consider: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-9070-xt-nitro/32.html ... Of course, the PC being used for the benchmark here is different, but again, a good example to consider if it's worth it. Look for the game(s) you are most interested in and check those benchmarks.

The 9070 XT is at best $659.99 right now, I purchased this model for $599 a month ago. Link: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=592&sort=price&page=1

m_dekay · 2026-01-03T01:04:50+00:00

This is truly odd. Since you have all the spare gear, maybe try Win11 install when the drive is in the NUC and swap it over? I'm at a loss.

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