We've seen a lot of dead GPUs around here, some of which have been brought back to life in the most fascinating ways possible — this one we found on the r/SerbiaGaming subreddit is no different. An unlucky gamer found himself a savior when their RTX 3070 died, and a repair shop demanded 12,000 Serbian Dinars, or roughly $120, to repair it. That savior was none other than the OP's own father, who fixed his dead GPU with a salvaged capacitor from an old radio, as you can see in the embedded post below. We reached out to the poster for additional details.

Stara škola električara - najbolja from r/SerbiaGaming

u/External_Length_8877 explained how their GPU died in the first place. It was a pretty easy deduction since they found a capacitor knocked out of place, between the card and the radiator. Fallen capacitors can't just be put back; you need a proper replacement, which in this case would be a 16V, 270 μF hard polymer capacitor, no longer than 3mm.

Since the actual capacitor is not that easy to find in the region, the OP's father came up with a temporary solution instead. His son tells us that, aged 55, Alexander has been working as an electrician and a welder for the past 35 years, so he carries a lifetime of experience with him. Today, he works as a brigadier maintaining power lines in Serbia. His son describes him as a "real family man" who knows how to work on pretty much anything. Apparently, that list includes highly delicate graphics cards as well.

Alexander used a different, cheaper, and larger capacitor to replace its fallen comrade. It sticks out from the card, yet it works. Some people in the comments even said it fits the Gigabyte's variant's futuristic aesthetic, but the capacitor itself isn't suited for long-term usage because of its higher resistance, which would let the clocks run unchecked.

Moreover, the Redditor's father also replaced the old thermal paste with a "special" one that is designed for the high-voltage lines he works on at his job. They replied to a few comments saying the GPU's peak temp during gaming doesn't exceed 80°C. That may sound high, but keep in mind that everyone has different ambient temps. As we mentioned, the new capacitor also has significantly higher resistance than the original one, so perhaps that contributes, too.

Oftentimes, we just have to look inward to find inspiration, and this story is surely serving as bonding material for the father-son duo. OP is still trying to find the right component, so this serves as only a temporary solution to what is a $120 problem otherwise.

A tech enthusiast has combined an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 (8GB) with defective memory and an AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (16GB) with a damaged GPU. The result was a working RTX 3070 with 16GB of VRAM. While the mod by ComputerBase reader AssassinWarlord seems like a great success, especially in VRAM-hungry modern AAA gaming, there are a couple of small wrinkles to be aware of.

A memory boost for the RTX 3070 is an upgrade that would make many people happy. While the RTX 3070 GPU is significantly more potent than its little brother, the RTX 3060 12GB, modern titles have started to hit the boundaries of the VRAM more often. This may be one of the reasons that rumors are swirling about a reanimated RTX 3060 arriving in the coming months, rather than the RTX 3070.

Back to the mod details, and AssassinWarlord started by taking the eight BGA memory chips off both donor cards, then reballed the ICs. Desoldering and reballing chips like these isn't for the casual hobbyist, so we'd characterize AssassinWarlord as a high-level tech tweaker. They also 3D printed a bracket for a GDDR6 reballing stencil... Commenting on the hardware aspect of the process, the intrepid modder summed up that it was "actually not that difficult, the whole thing." (machine translation from German). However, a little bit more effort was needed, such as a resistor change to get the system to see 16GB of VRAM, and a VRAM config switch would be added later.

AssassinWarlord commented that, as well as jumpers for different VRAM chip brands, the original RTX 3070 design was fine with 16Gb Samsung memory ICs (so, 8x 2 GB chips), which are needed to configure the graphics card with 16GB of VRAM total.

No extra software or hardware mods were needed to successfully test the RTX 3070 16GB in modern Windows tools and games, but a wrinkle remained in this otherwise perfect mod, which works with standard GeForce drivers. In short, the system would black screen after closing a tool that stressed the GPU subsystem.

Some investigative work indicated that memory timings set in BIOS were the underlying problem in the 16GB configuration. A RegEdit 'DisableDynamicPstate' solution to this issue was produced, meaning the GPU wasn't downclocked (or black screens) after being taxed, but this results in an idling power consumption of approximately 70W.

The forum source thread contains a few before and after synthetic benchmarks with various GPU and memory clocks tested. But it is only really in some modern games that we get to see the true advantage of the RTX 3070 16GB. Specifically, AssassinWarlord tested Marvel's Spider-Man 2 like-for-like (4K Very High) with the 8GB and 16GB switch modes. The frame rate doubles from the ~20 fps region to 40 fps+ with the 16GB enabled - see below.

We've seen a couple of RTX 3070 modded to 16GB VRAM projects before. However, AssassinWarlord's effort is admirable for making use of two non-working cards to make one very usable model. Moreover, the hardware switch, 16GB script, and the avoidance of any need for modded drivers are appreciated.

Nvidia’s RTX 30-series graphics cards made a big splash when they began arriving all the way back in 2020. Those products delivered a huge performance leap in their day, but time marches on for us all. The oldest Ampere cards are just a few months away from their sixth birthdays, and even though Nvidia has continued to support 30-series cards with its latest Game Ready driver optimizations and DLSS model upgrades, other signature GeForce features like DLSS Frame Generation are never coming to Ampere.

Even where new software features are technically supported, Ampere comes with big asterisks. DLSS 4.5 is the first upscaling model to take advantage of FP8 acceleration that’s exclusive to RTX 40- and 50-series Tensor Cores. RTX 30-series cards can still technically run DLSS 4.5 upscaling models, but the improved image quality they offer now demands a significant performance penalty from Ampere compared to past DLSS versions. And if you want to experiment with frame generation, you have to deal with the lower image quality of AMD’s cross-platform FSR 3.1 framegen tech, assuming it’s available at all in a given title.

Those software limitations aren’t insurmountable obstacles to a good gaming experience, but VRAM is a different story. Ampere cards arrived when games were less hungry for VRAM than they are today, and even the RTX 3080 has just 10GB to play with. Unless you bought into the highest end of the Ampere range, you’re likely feeling constrained by your card’s 8GB of VRAM with max settings in the latest games at resolutions higher than 1080p.

If any or all of those limitations have you itching for a more powerful, more flexible modern GPU, and you’d rather not navigate our GPU Hierarchy to figure out what constitutes a true upgrade, worry not. We’ve done the hard number-crunching work and thought through the most common gaming scenarios to arrive at the best upgrade path for each common Ampere card.

So what defines an upgrade for the purposes of this guide? First and foremost, we want to see at least a 1.5x improvement in overall raster performance from GPU to GPU as a baseline, and larger leaps are even better. The architectural advances of Nvidia’s latest Blackwell GPUs naturally mean you’ll enjoy improved RT gaming performance from our picks, as well.

Whatever your individual feelings for upscaling and framegen might be, you’ll enjoy greater freedom to play with DLSS 4.5 and MFG on the latest GeForces. Our path-traced performance results with Pragmata illustrate why you should use those features to the fullest, but it’s ultimately your choice. All told, raster gaming performance boosts still matter most, so that’s our hard line.

If you’re already in the Nvidia fold, we expect that you want to stay there, so we’ve made our picks assuming as much. But where a given Radeon card might make sense, we’ve included it as a suggestion if you’re open to switching.

Monitoring the situation

Before we talk about specific upgrade paths for your GPU, we need to take a moment and consider the monitor you’re using with it. If you only have a 1080p or 60Hz monitor, a fixed-refresh-rate panel, or all of the above, your graphics card likely shouldn’t be your first or only upgrade. It’s overwhelmingly likely that you won’t enjoy a perceptibly smoother or lower-latency gaming experience on a 60Hz monitor than you currently do with the graphics card you already own.

The continuing development of high-quality upscaling tech means that monitor resolution is no longer a hard wall for gaming smoothness and responsiveness. Instead, it’s a hard cap on the image quality you can achieve. To get the most out of DLSS (or FSR), you really want to give those upscalers the highest output resolution and highest refresh rate to work with that you can. Upscaling from lower resolution to 1080p just isn’t worth it anymore unless you absolutely must, while upscaling to 4K using DLSS 4.5 Performance requires only a small frame-rate penalty relative to native 1080p output.

Along with more and more affordable OLED options, we’re seeing plenty of dual-mode monitors that can offer high-refresh-rate 4K output alongside even faster 1080p modes for downright affordable prices. And broadly compatible variable-refresh-rate tech is now in virtually every gaming monitor, so you can likely enable G-Sync or G-Sync Compatible modes with the GPU you already have.

Best of all, displays are one of the few PC gaming products that don’t rely heavily on advanced logic chips or DRAM to work, so prices for gaming monitors have remained reasonable even as everything else has gotten eye-wateringly expensive. If your monitor is older than your Ampere GPU, it’s likely high time for an upgrade. Start there first.

RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090, and RTX 3090 Ti: Wait for a compelling upgrade

If you’re one of the lucky gamers with an RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090, or RTX 3090 Ti, you can rest easy knowing that your graphics card has plenty of life left in it. Any upgrade right now is elective rather than essential, especially if you’re already using DLSS upscaling. The RTX 3080 Ti’s 12GB of VRAM is the only conceivable pain point we can see in this upper tier of Ampere.

The only cards that are likely to feel like major upgrades for you are the RTX 4090 or RTX 5090, and unless you’re willing to compete with local LLM trailblazers for a used 4090 or put down nearly 2X MSRP for a new 5090, your best bet is to hold onto your current card unless you’re really feeling limited by its ray-tracing or path-tracing horsepower, the lack of FP8 Tensor Core acceleration for DLSS 4.5, or the lack of high-quality framegen support.

If you’re only gaming, 24GB of VRAM isn’t doing much for you, and you might ponder selling your RTX 3090 or 3090 Ti to one of those same LLM enthusiasts while the market is hot and putting the proceeds toward a new RTX 5080, which is substantially faster and more power-efficient than those cards and gives you full-speed access to DLSS 4.5 and MFG. But both of those things are nice to have rather than essentials.

RTX 3080: Upgrade if you’re feeling the VRAM pinch

The RTX 3080 isn’t constrained so much by its compute horsepower, which remains strong in pure raster gaming, as it is by its 10GB of VRAM. Especially if you’re trying to game at 1440p or 4K with max settings and minimal upscaling, you are likely finding that your 3080’s VRAM is the biggest obstacle to achieving the best combo of performance and image quality nowadays.

Unfortunately, the most tangible upgrades for the 3080 are the currently pricey RTX 5070 Ti or the chronically overpriced RTX 5080. Both of those cards will feel much faster for both raster and ray-traced games, they enable full-speed DLSS 4.5 upscaling for practically free performance boosts, and they give you access to framegen and MFG juice that the 3080 doesn’t support at all.

But you’d have to be really hurting for an upgrade to shell out for either of those cards, given their stiff premiums over MSRP right now. A faster, higher-resolution monitor paired with DLSS 4 upscaling (Preset K in Nvidia App override language) is a cheaper, easier path if you haven’t already tried it.

But if you’re a 3080 gamer looking for that “wow” moment from a new GPU, the RTX 5070 Ti and 5080 are the way, and their prices are what they are.

RTX 3070 and RTX 3070 Ti: Upgrade now

As with the RTX 3080, the biggest performance constraint for the RTX 3070 and 3070 Ti these days isn’t necessarily raw compute, but VRAM. Nvidia only ever offered these cards in 8GB flavors, and they still offer solid 1080p gaming performance with the latest titles. But if you’ve tried to max out settings at 1440p or above, you’ve likely felt the squeeze of that limited VRAM pool.

And VRAM-hungry RT gaming is inadvisable on the 3070 and 3070 Ti, as you’re going to be leaning hard on DLSS to even get to a fuzzy 1080p output. It’s just not worth it.

The RTX 5070 neatly solves all of the problems. It delivers the large baseline performance boost we want to see for a true upgrade, it has 12GB of VRAM for more demanding games at higher resolutions, and its support for DLSS 4.5 and MFG unlocks the latest tools for achieving high output image quality and smoothness. And it does all of this at a relatively reasonable price, even in today’s graphics card market.

If you don’t bleed green, you can get even more VRAM and a bit higher performance with the impressively fast and efficient Radeon RX 9070, whose prices also haven’t risen too terribly amid the current RAMpocalypse.

But that move is a bit of a leap of faith given the spotty support for FSR 4 AI upscaling and frame gen in the latest titles, and it also comes with the risk that you’ll be entirely locked out of next-gen features like path tracing, as we’ve seen in the latest Capcom games. If none of that sounds bothersome to you, though, the RX 9070 is worth a look as a possible option.

RTX 3060 Ti: Upgrade now

Like the RTX 3070 and 3070 Ti, Nvidia only ever offered the RTX 3060 Ti in an 8GB flavor, and that’s a tough enough limitation these days. But the 3060 Ti’s somewhat lower compute horsepower is a correspondingly greater liability as games march ever forward.

As with the RTX 3070 and 3070 Ti, your best upgrade bet is the RTX 5070. You’ll feel an even bigger boost in performance than you will with the 3070 duo, and you get more VRAM and better DLSS support than your existing card to go with it. Easy.

RTX 3060 12GB: Upgrade if you can make the 5070 leap

The RTX 3060 12GB keeps going and going thanks to its unusually large VRAM pool for a budget-friendly GPU. But that VRAM is paired with just so-so compute horsepower that’s really showing its age in the latest games.

The most natural upgrade for the 3060 in normal times would be the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, which delivers the performance leap we want at a reasonable MSRP. But the ongoing RAMpocalypse has made those cards too scarce and too pricey to recommend. And the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB’s performance is all too likely to fall off a cliff due to its small VRAM pool, so we’d never suggest it as an upgrade.

Sorry to repeat ourselves, but the best step up from the 3060 12GB in today’s chaotic market is the RTX 5070, assuming you can afford it. It more than doubles the 3060 12GB’s gaming performance even at 1080p, and that gap becomes even more pronounced at 1440p and beyond.

Critically, the 5070 doesn’t leave you with less VRAM than you already have. Add in vastly better RT performance and support for DLSS Multi Frame Generation, and an RTX 5070 is a truly transformative gaming upgrade.

If you need a more budget-friendly upgrade than the RTX 5070 amid the RAMpocalypse, your only reasonable choice is the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB. That card delivers the 1.5x basic performance improvement that we want to see for the money, it runs FSR 4 AI upscaling and framegen where it’s available, and it slots into roughly the same power envelope as the RTX 3060 12GB. But you’ll need to be comfortable with leaving the Nvidia fold, and that might be too big a leap for some.

RTX 3050: Upgrade now

As the entry-level Ampere card, the RTX 3050 was already wimpy when it hit the market, and time hasn’t treated it well. It lands well below the 60 FPS mark in our overall standings, even at 1080p, and we’ve found that its baseline performance is so low that DLSS doesn’t improve things much.

If you’re still gaming on an RTX 3050 and have the freedom not to, it’s dead simple to find a compelling upgrade. Even the humble RTX 5060 handily doubles the 3050’s average frame rate across our tests at 1080p, and assuming you don’t run into VRAM limitations, the 5060 can even deliver a smooth 1440p gaming experience if 60 FPS is an acceptable baseline on average. That major performance boost barely comes with increased power requirements, so you won’t have to budget for a PSU upgrade, either.

But the 5060’s 8GB of VRAM means that you might still run into performance pitfalls in modern games, especially if you want to try out RT and DLSS framegen. If you’re only playing Counter-Strike 2, Fortnite, or Apex Legends, that’s less of a problem than it might be if you’re keen for the latest AAA experiences or PlayStation ports. But you’ll always be thinking about

If you’re looking for a card with greater longevity than the 8GB 5060 and aren’t married to the Nvidia ecosystem, we’d also check out the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB. It’s even faster than the 5060 in our tests and will allow you to start properly exploring ray tracing in titles that support it. It offers high-quality FSR 4 upscaling and framegen, and it won’t crush a small or aging PSU.

Bottom line

Nvidia graphics cards are lasting longer than ever, thanks to common architecture capabilities like RT and Tensor Cores, in addition to a continuously improving DLSS software suite that boosts both performance and image quality. But even with those benefits, games are continuously advancing, too, and today’s titles are starting to put pressure on even the top-end RTX 30-series GPUs of yore.

The AI boom and the accompanying RAMpocalypse both make this a tough time to upgrade for gamers’ wallets, but if you’re still using an RTX 30-series GPU and are starting to feel the upgrade itch, the relative stability of gaming GPU roadmaps also means that you can make the leap to a Blackwell card (or competing Radeon) with some confidence that you won’t be taken by a surprise next-generation GPU launch any time soon.

That said, if you’re still happy with your current graphics card and gaming monitor setup, don’t mind missing out on DLSS Multi-Frame Generation, and don’t feel the need to explore maxed-out ray-traced or path-traced effects in the latest titles, we wouldn’t blame you for squeezing every last bit of life out of your Ampere GPU. No matter which path you take, it’s hard to lose.

A mysterious RTX 3070 was spotted by TecLab at Computex featuring an unusual VRAM capacity of 16GB. We have witnessed modified RTX 3070s with 16GB of VRAM in the past, but what's interesting is that a reputable company built this card, instead of a DIY modder. Unlike other RTX 3070s, this card is specifically designed to power video walls, supporting 8 mini-DP connections all at once.

This unique RTX 3070 was created by a company known as GXore, which specializes in modified graphics solutions designed to power video walls — a multi-monitor tiled setup designed to form one gigantic screen. Some of its products include specialized RX 5600 XTs, GTX 1660 Supers, and RX 580s that can support six to nine displays at once.

The RTX 3070 16GB GXore displayed at Computex is really unique, in that it not only supports eight displays with 8 mini DP connectors, but it also has double the VRAM capacity, which is a modification not present on other GXore products. Despite the fact this is not a gaming card; 16GB of memory can still be useful for driving highly demanding video walls that consist of several high-resolution monitors. If you've ever checked your GPU VRAM utilization while running a 4K 60FPS YouTube video, utilization can jump by as much as 1GB by just running the video (not to mention multiple videos on multiple monitors).

However, Nvidia would never sanction this modification among its AIB partners, so it'll be interesting to see if GXore actually launches this product anyway, or if it sees repercussions from Nvidia. Technically, GXore is not an add-in board (AIB) partner with Nvidia, so it might have some unofficial leeway on its unsanctioned modifications, but only time will tell how long that might last.

Nonetheless, GXore has created something interesting with its 16GB RTX 3070 and shows the untapped potential of Nvidia's Ampere GPUs if the company loosened restrictions on its AIB partners and allowed them to make more aggressive customization on its various GPU designs.

Right now at Dell, users can find the Alienware M15 R7 gaming laptop for one of its best prices yet. This RTX 3070 Ti-powered gaming laptop usually goes for around $2,149 but right now it’s marked down to $1,399. Using promo code GAMING15 at checkout will take the final price down to $1,189.

This is a high-powered gaming laptop with plenty of good specs for most modern titles. When we reviewed the Alienware M15 R7 in 2022, we greatly appreciated its performance. Although it’s not top-of-the-line, there’s still plenty to get excited about. Under the hood, you’ll find an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor alongside an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics card.

The AMD Ryzen 7 6800H has a base clock speed of 3.2GHz. With max boost enabled, it can reach up to 4.7GHz. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti mobile GPU features 8GB of GDDR6 and outputs to a 15.6-inch display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440. This screen can reach a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz. Memory-wise, it comes with a 1TB internal M.2 2280 SSD for storage and 16GB of DDR5-4800.

There are a few ports available including three USB Type-A ports, one USB Type-C port, a Thunderbolt 4 port and an Ethernet jack. For video output, users have both a DisplayPort and HDMI output to take advantage of. As far as audio support goes, it comes with two integrated 2.5W speakers and a 3.5mm headset jack for external audio peripherals.

Visit the Alienware M15 R7 gaming laptop product page at Dell for more details and purchase options. Be sure to use promo code GAMING15 at checkout to get the full discount.

There are new 4000-series GPUs arriving on the market soon, and whether it's to make them seem more attractive or shift some old stock the price of this Nvidia RTX 3070 has dropped to a more wallet-friendly level, although I would love to see them cheaper still. 

Amazon has the Asus Dual Nvidia RTX 3070 V2 OC 8GB on sale for $399 — that's the cheapest we've seen this particular graphics card. The RTX 3070 is a great mid-range card with solid performance (see our review of the RTX 3070) but it is limited by its 8GBs of VRAM, which does seem to be becoming more and more of an issue with some of the latest games not being optimized enough to not max-out the VRAM capacity of some GPUs.

Increase your pixel density with this 4K gaming monitor from Acer. The Acer Predator XB283K is a 28-inch UHD monitor that's now down to $499 on Amazon, making it a far more financially accessible 4K monitor for gamers looking to adopt a higher resolution screen. Just make sure you have a powerful enough graphics card to be able to make the most of it. The Acer Predator XB283K features an IPS panel that has a 1ms response time and a fast refresh rate of 144Hz.

If you've been looking at getting a new gaming laptop that features the latest and greatest CPUs and GPUs then this might be a deal for you. Lenovo's Legion 5i Gen 8 is available for $1,515 thanks to a sales discount and extra eCoupon code (EXTRA5) that nets a further $79 off of the original price. This model of the Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 8 features an Intel Core i7-13700HX and Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU. We also reviewed the Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 8 so take a look at our benchmarks and thoughts about this gaming laptop.

See below for more of today's great Real Deals. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Asus Dual Nvidia RTX 3070 V2 OC 8GB GPU: now $399 at Amazon (was $579)
• Acer Predator XB283K 4K Gaming Monitor: now $499 at Amazon (was $599)
• Lenovo Legion 5i Gen 8 Gaming Laptop: now $1,515 at Lenovo (was $1,879)
• Logitech G560 PC Gaming Speakers: now $189 at Newegg (was $199)
• Lian Li Lancool 216 X Black Steel PC Case: now $89 at Newegg (was $102)

Today’s best deals in detail

Looking for more deals?

Although the Radeon RX 7900 series has already launched, AMD's Radeon RX 6800 continues to be one of the best graphics cards in the retail market. Sasa Marinkovic, senior director of gaming marketing at AMD, wants to make sure that consumers don't forget that, sharing a chart showing the Radeon RX 6800's dominance over the GeForce RTX 3070.

Both the Radeon RX 6800 and GeForce RTX 3070 are last-generation products dating back to late 2020. Back then, it didn't make much sense to compare the two cards because they belonged to different tiers due to their MSRPs. The Radeon RX 6800 hit the market with a $579 MSRP, whereas the GeForce RTX 3070 launched with a $499 MSRP. Of course, neither graphics card retailed at their respective MSRP during 2020–2022.

Things have thankfully settled down since the end of Ethereum mining. The cheapest Radeon RX 6800 has dropped to $479, while the GeForce RTX 3070 now starts at $456, making them direct rivals.

While Nvidia has now launched the GeForce RTX 4070 to replace the GeForce RTX 3070, AMD hasn't released a successor to the Radeon RX 6800. The GeForce RTX 4070 also enters the market at $599, 20% higher than its predecessor's MSRP while offering GeForce RTX 3080-level performance at lower power requirements. That means pitting the GeForce RTX 4070 against the Radeon RX 6800 sort of misses the point, especially when we expect RTX 4060 Ti to arrive before the end of the month.

A better comparison will be between the upcoming Radeon RX 7700 (XT) and GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, or between RTX 4070 and whatever equivalently priced GPU AMD wants to ship. But let's go ahead with AMD's comparisons for now.

Although the chart claims that the Radeon RX 6800 delivers faster ray tracing (RT) and rasterization performance, Marinkovic later clarified that it was an error. The above performance figures only apply to rasterization performance. Oops.

In Marinkovic's comparison across 32 games, the Radeon RX 6800 was, on average, 13.4% faster than the GeForce RTX 3070. The performance delta varies between -2% and +31%. The GeForce RTX 3070 only outperformed the Radeon RX 6800 in Metro Exodus, Grand Theft Auto V, and Dota 2, though the performance difference was basically a tie. The tweeted image also highlights how the Radeon RX 6800 offers twice as much onboard memory as the GeForce RTX 3070, a selling point that AMD has been very vocal about.

AMD tested the two graphics cards at a native 1440p (2560x1440) resolution. However, the chipmaker didn't clarify which graphics settings it had used for the tests, which is an important piece of data. Nevertheless, AMD's claims generally align with our own results so there doesn't seem to be any funny business going on.

In our test suite across nine games (data from our updated GPU benchmarks hierarchy, using a 13900K), the Radeon RX 6800 delivered 14.3% higher rasterization performance than the GeForce RTX 3070 at 1440p with Ultra settings. However, the scale tips in the GeForce RTX 3070's favor when it comes to ray tracing performance. That's probably the reason why AMD omitted that comparison. The GeForce RTX 3070 offered 17.2% and 14.9% higher ray tracing performance in our 1080p and 1440p tests, respectively, across six demanding ray tracing games.

Neither AMD's numbers nor our own testing results include upscaling technologies like DLSS and FSR 2, which could further muddy the waters. Perhaps more importantly, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su confirmed a week ago that AMD's mainstream Radeon RX 7000-series graphics cards will launch before July. She didn't explicitly state which lineup, so there's no guarantee that we'll se an RX 7800 or 7700 by then, but the Radeon RX 7600 is expected to arrive within the next month.

If you're mostly concerned with rasterization performance, yes, the Radeon RX 6800 can beat the RTX 3070. The RTX 4070 can also beat the 3070 in rasterization performance, by around 30%, which means it's also beats the RX 6800 by around 13%. Factor in ray tracing and DLSS and the gap would only grow. But really, no one should be purchasing a last-generation graphics card for $480 right now when potential replacements are right around the corner.

YouTuber Paulo Gomes recently published a video showing how he modified a customer's RTX 3070, which used to be one of Nvidia's best graphics cards, with 16GB of GDDR6 memory. The modification resulted in serious performance improvements in the highly memory-intensive Resident Evil 4, where the 16GB mod was performing 9x better than the 8GB version in the 1% lows. (Resulting in significantly smoother gaming performance.)

Unlike previous memory mods we've seen on cards like the RTX 2070, Gomes' RTX 3070 mod required some additional PCB work to get the 16GB memory configuration working properly. The modder had to ground some of the resistors on the PCB to trick the graphics card into supporting the higher-capacity memory ICs that are required to double the VRAM capacity on the RTX 3070.

Besides this mod, the memory swap proceeded as usual. The modder removed the initial memory chips that came on the graphics card, cleaned the PCB, and installed new Samsung 2GB memory ICs that would make up the new 16GB configuration. Besides some initial flickering that was fixed by running the GPU in high-performance mode from the Nvidia Control Panel, the card performed perfectly with the new modifications.

The additional 8GB of VRAM proved to be extremely useful in boosting the RTX 3070's performance in Resident Evil 4. The modder tested the game with both the original 8GB configuration and the modified 16GB configuration and found massive improvements in the card's 0.1% and 1% lows. The original card was operating at just one (yes one) FPS 1% low and 0.1% FPS lows, while the 16GB card operated with 60 and 40 FPS respectively. Average frame rates also went up, from 54 to 71 FPS.

This resulted in a massive upgrade to the overall gaming experience on the 16GB RTX 3070. The substantially higher .1% and 1% lows meant that the game was barely hitching at all, and performance was buttery smooth. The 8GB conversely had massive micro stuttering issues that would last for a significant amount of time in several areas of the game. 

It's interesting to see what this mod has done for the RTX 3070, and it shows the potential of what such a GPU could do with 2023's latest AAA titles when it's not bottlenecked by video memory. This is an issue that has plagued Nvidia's 8GB RTX 30 series GPUs for some time now, especially the more-powerful RTX 3070 Ti, where the 8GB frame buffer is not big enough to run 2023's latest AAA titles smoothly at high or ultra-quality settings.

Nvidia has started sales of its tiny RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation graphics card that promises GeForce RTX 3070-like performance at 70W of power and will fit into virtually all desktop PCs. The low-profile, dual-wide board is not cheap — it costs more than the RTX 4080, for example, as it's aimed at professional users — but nothing is stopping you from installing it on a regular gaming computer.

PNY's Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation graphics card is available now for $1,444 from ShopBLT, a retailer known for landing hardware ahead of its rivals. This is why the board is being sold at a price that is higher compared to its official MSRP of $1,250. Keep in mind that the board is equipped with four Mini-DisplayPort connectors, so you'll also need to add the price of an mDP-DP or mDP-HDMI adapter to the cost of this miniature solution.

The Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation board features the company's AD104 GPU with 6,144 active CUDA cores out of a total of 7,680, as well as 20GB of GDDR6 ECC memory connected to the GPU through a 160-bit interface. The GPU has a a capped boost frequency of approximately 1560 MHz to reduce overall board power consumption and is rated for just 70W of power, which means it can be installed into almost any desktop computer, even those without an auxiliary PCIe power connector.

From a performance point of view, Nvidia's GA104 graphics processor in this configuration chip delivers a peak FP32performance of 19.2 TFLOPS, making it theoretically similar to the GeForce RTX 3070. Yet, with 20GB of memory onboard, this card is a little more future-proofed than the RTX 3070, and also potentially more useful for professional and AI researchers. The memory configuration likely utilizes 2GB GDDR6 chips on both sides of the PCB, as otherwise the 160-bit interface would limit maximum memory to just 10GB.

The nearly 20 FP32 TFLOPS are overshadowed by the superior performance of the recently launched GeForce RTX 4070 (29 FP32 TFLOPS). The board also boasts a peak RT performance of 44.3 TFLOPS and a peak FP8/INT8 tensor performance of 153/306.8 TFLOPS/TOPS (without and with sparsity). FP8/INT8 performance of course has nothing to do with games, but it's an added bonus for the professional market. In fact, 153/306.8 TFLOPS/TOPS is comparable to the more expensive and power-hungry Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti (that's if you don't care about precision, as the 3090 Ti only has native FP16 support).

Other advantages of the RTX 4000 SFF Ada include Nvidia's professional drivers and support for professional software ISVs. Furthermore, it comes with a 3-pin mini-DIN connector for stereoscopic 3D output (e.g. Nvidia 3D Vision), and supports Frame Lock capability for multi-display applications.

We should see pricing and availability improve in the coming weeks as the card becomes more widely available. For now, this is a workstation part designed for compact systems, targeting low power rather than maximum performance.

Nvidia’s highly anticipated GeForce RTX 4070 desktop graphics card will launch at $599, according to VideoCardz, aiming to join the ranks of the best graphics cards. It asserts that three separate sources have confirmed this price, which was apparently revealed during a briefing. Nevertheless, we are warned that pricing could be subject to changes right up to the last minute.

Let's put this price into perspective, assuming it is correct. In October 2020, Nvidia launched the GeForce RTX 3070 at $499, so the Lovelace-based card is 'just' $100 more, which isn’t so bad given current inflationary pressures. If you must have a direct $599 comparison, the RTX 3070 Ti officially launched at that price in mid-2021, but it only became available for close to the MSRP in late 2022. The 4070 should deliver a big boost in performance over similarly priced last-gen options, based on the rumored specs.

Perhaps the most pertinent GeForce RTX 4070 comparison is against its Ti suffixed stable mate. There will be a considerable $200 gap between the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti (which launched at $799). Anyone worried that Nvidia was only going to knock $50 or even $100 off the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti price while cutting the GPU shader count by 20% should find a little relief here.

On paper at least, cutting a fifth of the shaders while reducing the price by 25% looks like an enticing prospect for PC gamers and enthusiasts. The latest information we have suggests that the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4070 will share the same memory specs, with 12GB 192-bit 21 GT/s GDDR6X. So at least that aspect of the RTX 4070 isn’t going to drag it down. The only other reduction we could probably see are reduced GPU clocks — but enthusiasts (and board partners) will tweak these to at least get closer to the stepped-up Ti alternative.

* : Rumored specifications, not confirmed by Nvidia

Nvidia and its graphics card partners are expected to start selling GeForce RTX 4070 graphics cards on April 13, 2023. With the lower TDP of approx 200W, down from 285W for the Ti model, one of the advantages of the RTX 4070 should be smaller cards that are easier to fit in compact cases. We might see some of the first twin-fan Ada Lovelace graphics cards with this new crop, which could help the RTX 4070 garner some sales. But of course we'll have to test a few to find out.

Besides the the RTX 4070 pricing, if the $599 MSRP proves correct, that also makes us feel better about the pricing prospects of the inevitable RTX 4060 / Ti and RTX 4050 / Ti models. Past history suggests Nvidia will knock $50–$100 off each succeeding tier, so $400 or less for an RTX 4060 is possible. Needless to say, affordable new graphics cards can't come soon enough.

The Amazon Spring Sale ends at midnight tonight in the UK, but there are still some great last-minute deals to pick up before discounts end. Today we've spotted a huge discount on an RTX 3070 Ti-powered gaming laptop that has had £500 slashed off of its asking price.

Originally retailing for £1,899 the Acer Predator Helios 300 is now only £1,399. Whilst you are able to get some of the best gaming laptops with RTX 3070 graphics cards for less, they usually don't come with a QHD screen but rather an FHD screen with a lower 1080p resolution. This model of the Predator Helios 300 also comes with the latest DDR5 memory standard which helps to improve its performance. 

We had a chance to review the Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH315-55) and put the gaming laptop through its paces in our suite of benchmark tests. We found the QHD display particularly impressive, with a great colour gamut that covered 112.1% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and 158% of the sRGB colour gamut. This was on top of the superb build quality of the laptop.

There were a few negatives however and these primarily revolved around the quality of the 1080p webcam and the overall volume level that the speakers could achieve. But the combination of price and performance made this laptop a pick to consider when compared to similar products from other manufacturers.

The Acer Predator Helios 300 has a good pick of quality hardware components inside ranging from the choice of CPU and GPU to the amount and speed of the laptop memory and available storage. Packaged with a vibrant screen this laptop definitely caters to gamers looking for a high-quality graphics experience. 

There are loads of compact modern workstations that pack quite capable CPUs, but at the same time they lack the space to accommodate a standard high-performance workstation-grade graphics card. That typically limits them to entry-level GPUs with mediocre performance. For those that want a compact SFF workstation with more graphics oomph, Nvidia has introduced a new ProViz-oriented RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation graphics card. It's one of the more interesting offerings in the recent years, packing a high-end GPU into a low-profile form-factor, with a power consumption of just 70W.

The Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada board uses the company's AD104 graphics processing unit with 6144 CUDA cores enabled (out of 7680 in total). That's the same GPU as the RTX 4070 Ti but with fewer active cores, and the boost frequency gets capped at around 1560 MHz to lower total board power. On the other hand, the graphics card comes with 20GB of GDDR6 memory with ECC that connects to the GPU using a 160-bit interface, so lots of memory for workstation use.

The GPU comes with two NVENC encoders and two NVDEC decoders activated, though Nvidia has not touched upon exact capabilities of these units. They should be similar to the NVENC and NVDEC used in other Ada cards, and you can see the video encoding performance and quality in our recent roundup of GPUs.

The GA104 chip in this configuration delivers peak single precision performance of 19.2 TFLOPS, making it theoretically comparable to a GeForce RTX 3070. It has peak RT performance of 44.3 TFLOPS, and peak FP8/INT8 tensor performance of 306.8 TFLOPS/TOPS.

Almost 20 FP32 TFLOPS may be dwarfed by the overwhelming performance of Nvidia’s RTX 6000 Ada Generation or GeForce RTX 4090, but the RTX 4000 SFF is a low-profile dual-slot graphics card that can fit into almost any desktop computer, even one that does not have a spare auxiliary PCIe power connector. Interestingly, RTX 4000 Ada’s 153/306.8 INT8 TFLOPS (without and with sparsity, respectively) performance is very close to that of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3090 Ti that is both more expensive and far more power hungry.

Since this is a workstation-grade add-in-board, it comes with four DisplayPort 1.4a connectors, has a 3-pin mini-DIN connector for stereoscopic 3D output (e.g. Nvidia 3D Vision), and supports Frame Lock capability for multi-display applications.

Speaking of multi display applications, one of the benefits of the compact dimensions, low power consumption, and broad compatibility of Nvidia’s RTX 4000 Ada Generation graphics card is the ability to install a number of such boards into a relatively compact system. It wouldn't need a high-wattage PSU and could still drive multi-display and video wall applications. Such systems are widely used by various industries, including aerospace, healthcare, military, pro A/V, digital signage, and security, just to name a few.

Starting in April, the newly released Nvidia's RTX 4000 SFF graphics cards for professional visualization applications will be available from the company's distribution partners like Leadtek, PNY, and Ryoyo Electro, with a recommended price of $1,250. Additionally, workstation manufacturers will offer this product later in the year.

No one loves the fact that motherboard prices keep going up (except probably the motherboard makers themselves). But there’s no denying that flagship boards still pack in the most complete and most interesting collection of features, along with high-end specs in an attempt to draw in those looking for the best of the best to build their new system around. And with AMD’s new Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs arriving with impressive performance, it’s likely that more people will be looking to build rigs based around AMD’s X670E chipset.

So here we’ll be looking at a few flagship AMD boards from Asus, Gigabyte and MSI. Similar to our Z790 flagship roundup on the Intel side, we’ll detail three (of four) flagship motherboards from the B670E platform. We’ll test and discuss the MSI X670E Godlike ($1,299), Asus Crosshair X670E Extreme ($999), and the Gigabyte X670E Aorus Xtreme in detail, and also cover the notably less expensive (but flagship nonetheless) ASRock X670E Taichi ($479.99). All boards offer a premium appearance, overkill power delivery, PCIe 5.0 slots, and M.2 sockets. Are any of these worth the price? Of these, which should you choose?

The biggest difference between these boards is the price. From the sub-$500 Taichi to the nearly $1300 Godlike, there’s a huge gap from least to most expensive. The problem (for the consumer) is that aside from just price, there isn’t a $700 difference between them on any front, including performance. While some VRMs are better, even the worst (and I use that term loosely) easily handles the Ryzen 9 7950X without issue. It comes down to how many and what speed M.2 sockets you desire, if you’re OK with last-gen flagship class audio or your want the latest and greatest, and finally, 40 Gbps USB ports. 

We’ll dig into all of this and more shortly to see if any of these high-end options can earn a slot on our Best Motherboards list. But it’s undeniable that the ASRock board has a fighting edge with its (comparatively) low price and impressive specifications. But first, here are the specifications for our first subject, MSI’s X670E  

Specifications: MSI X670E Godlike

Inside the Box of the MSI MEG X670E Godlike

The X670E Godlike, like it’s Z790 Godlike twin, includes a slew of accessories as value adds (like the M.2 Expander card, and M-Vision Dashboard display) and things to get you started like a USB driver stick and SATA cables. Below is a complete list of the included accessories.

• M-Vision dashboard
• Wi-Fi antenna
• USB drive (drivers)
• M-Vision cable
• (3) SATA cables
• 1 to 2 RGB LED extension Y cable
• ARGB extension cable
• 1 to 3 ARGB Gen 2 extension cables
• (2) DP to Mini DP cables
• EZ Front panel cable
• Metal Dragon badge
• (4) M.2 screw/standoffs EZ M.2 clips
• Cable Stickers
• Quick Installation Guide

Design of the X670E Godlike

After removing the board from the retail packing, one of the first things I noticed outside of the stealthy black appearance is the sheer size and weight. It’s an E-ATX board nearly 12 inches wide, so you must ensure your case supports it. A backplate protects the back, doubling as a passive heatsink for the power delivery. The all-black appearance has a brushed aluminum finish on the heatsinks and shrouds, along with tastefully implemented branding on the IO area, chipset, VRM and M.2 heatsinks. The connections on the right side of the board are oriented horizontally, which helps with cable management.

Regarding RGB lighting, here again, only the IO area is illuminated. The colors are nice and saturated, but they won’t take over the inside of your chassis. If you need more, there are four headers to add lighting. Control over the RGBs is managed through the MSI Center Software and Mystic Light. Like its Z790 twin, I like the black-with-gold accents look. It matches most build themes and gives off that high-end vibe you want with a flagship-class motherboard.

Focusing on the top half of the board, starting with the left side above the IO area, is an Illusion Lighting effect that allows the board to display two distinct patterns (MSI Gaming Dragon and symbol) in the same space. I like this better than the dot-matrix look on the ROG Extreme. The VRMs connect via heatpipe with the top heatsink using a wavy fin design to increase surface area and dissipation properties.

To the right of the socket area and just above the DRAM slots are two 8-pin EPS connectors (one required) to power your AMD CPU. The four DRAM slots below support up to 128 GB of RAM, with speeds listed to DDR5-6666+(OC) (though that’s using one DIMM). During testing, we had no issues with our ‘base’ kits (DDR5-5600 and 6000). AMD tends to top out around 6200-6400 MHz, depending on the board and memory used.

Continuing to move right and in a unique location, we hit the first (of four) M.2 sockets. Hidden under a large flat heatsink, this CPU-connected socket runs at PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) and supports up to 80mm modules.

In the upper-right corner is the first two (of nine) 4-pin fan headers. Each header supports DC and PWM modes with varying output. The CPU fan (auto mode by default) outputs up to 2A/24W, Pump fans up to 3A/36W, and the system fan headers at 2A/12W each (though the manual says 2A/12W). In short, there’s plenty of power to support your fans or a water-cooling pump for a custom loop.

Moving down the edge, we run into the first two RGB headers (in this case, two 3-pin ARGB), a 6-pin PCIe connector for the quick charging capability, 24-pin ATX to power the board, and finally, two front panel USB 3.2 ports with one 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) and the other 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps). Oddly, there isn’t a 40 Gbps port on this board. Although many will not utilize that much speed, the lack of one of this platform’s new features on a flagship board just feels like an odd omission.

For power delivery, this Godlike, like its Intel-based twin, also has Godlike VRMs. Power travels down from the EPS connector(s) onto a Renesas RAA229628 controller to the 24x 105A Renesas RAA22010540 SPS MOSFETs in a teamed configuration. The 2,520A available for the CPU is the most I can recall seeing on an AMD motherboard and won’t get in the way of any type of overclocking, including using liquid nitrogen. You’re limited by the cooling method, just as you are with most mid-range boards. As awesome as this is for marketing, it raises the cost of the BOM, just for bragging rights.

On the bottom half of the board, we find the rest of the M.2 sockets, several headers, connectors, and even a few switches. The audio section on the left houses a Realtek ALC4082 codec and ESS ES9280AQ combo DAC/HPA. This is the flagship codec, with a DAC and Amp combo, and one of the better audio implementations for the AM5 platform.

Moving back to the M.2 sockets, three others are hidden below the heatsinks in this area. These M.2 sockets (M.2_2-4) connect through the chipset. Each socket supports up to 80mm modules with speeds reaching PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps). If you want/need more than the four onboard M.2 sockets, you’re in luck, as MSI includes the M.2 Expander-Z Gen 5 Dual AIC. The AIC supports up to two PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) drives when connected to a PCIe 5.0 -capable slot (PCI_E2 on this board). The Xpander card has active cooling to keep hot-running drives within spec, and it even has an activity light so you can see when the device is in action.

Shifting focus past the chipset to the right edge, we see two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) connectors and eight SATA ports. SATA ports 3/4 connect through the chipset, while SATA A1/A2 connect through the ASM1061 chip, and SATA B1-B4 connect through an ASM1064 controller. The X670E Godlike supports RAID0/1 modes for SATA devices on SATA P3/4, while the NVMe drives support RAID0/1/10 modes. 

If you plan on plugging in lots of drives, it’s worth mentioning here how things break down in terms of bandwidth. When the M2_4 (the PCIe 5.0 x4 socket) is populated, PCI_E2 (the second PCIe slot) is unavailable. If you’re using a SATA- or PCIe-based drive in M2_5, SATA ports 5-8 are unavailable, leaving you with just two functioning SATA ports available. 

The PCIe slots mixed in among the M.2 sockets are simple. Both are reinforced and PCIe 5.0. The top slot supports up to x16 speeds, but both run at PCIe 5.0 x8 speeds when the second slot gets populated. Last, along the right edge, are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (10 Gbps) headers and the six SATA ports.

Across the bottom of the board are several exposed headers, all vertical. You’ll find the usual, and quite a bit more: additional USB ports, RGB headers, fan headers, custom water cooling headers (for flow and temperatures), power/reset buttons, and more. Below is a complete list from left to right.

• Front panel audio
• 4-pin RGB
• JDASH1 (M-Vison)
• 6-pin PCIe power
• LED and BIOS switches
• (4) 4-pin fan/pump headers
• 2-pin waterflow header
• (2) USB 2.0 headers
• (2) 2-pin temperature sensor headers
• Power/Reset buttons
• Front panel
• 4-pin RGB

The rear IO plate on the X670E Godlike comes preinstalled to the motherboard. It has a black background with light-grey labels on the ports, making them relatively easy to read. There are a total of nine USB ports:  two Type-C (20 Gbps) and seven 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports. On the left are three buttons: Clear CMOS, BIOS Flash, and the Smart button. The latter is programmable, letting you do things like reset the PC, boot into Safe Mode, control fans and lighting, etc. Around the USB ports are the Marvell 10 GbE and Intel 2.5 GbE ports. Last but not least are the Wi-Fi antenna connections and the five-plug plus SPDIF audio stack.

Firmware

MSI’s BIOS for the Godlike is not much different than the Z790 Godlike we reviewed previously. The menus reside on the sides, and information up top, with a black and red background. It’s a unique look compared to the competition. For X670E, the only updates were functionality for the new processors and chipset. The color scheme is still easy to read, and the informative Easy Mode displays various information about the system and allows for some changes (boot order and XMP enabled). Though different than other UEFIs, it is easy to get around; everything has a place, and most frequently used options are readily available, not buried within sub-menus.

Software

MSI has a single utility, MSI Center, that covers quite a bit of functionality. From hardware monitoring to RGB control with Mystic Light, there are many applets to choose from within the software and a one-stop shop to download all of the company’s utilities. I wish there were some overclocking options here, but for those looking to use the Gamebar feature, Super Charger, or any other utilities MSI offers, they will all be at your fingertips in MSI Center.

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Specifications: Gigabyte X670E Aorus Xtreme

Inside the Box of the Gigabyte X670E Aorus Xtreme 

Gigabyte’s X670E Aorus Xtreme, like it’s Z790 namesake, comes with plenty of accessories, including SATA cables, temperature sensors, Wi-Fi antennas, drivers, and even an external USB (Type-C) DAC for audio. Below is a complete list of the included accessories.

• (4) SATA cables
• Wi-Fi antenna
• PC speaker
• 4-pin RGB extension cable
• (2) temperature sensors
• User Guide
• Gigabyte Stickers
• Q-Connector
• ESSential USB DAC
• USB and Front Panel extensions
• USB drive (drivers)

Design of the X670E Aorus Xtreme

The X670E Aorus Master sits on a black 8-layer PCB covered in heatsinks and shrouds. Above the IO area is a large cover that displays the Aorus logo. Around the chipset area and PCIe/M.2 in the middle of the board is more Aorus branding. If you’re looking for RGB bling, there isn’t much here, just what you see above the IO area. However, you can connect your own to the integrated headers scattered around the board. Overall, the Aorus Xtreme has the premium look of a flagship board. The mostly black appearance gives way to grey and gold accents and fits well with most build themes.

Zooming in on the top half of the board, we get a better look at the Aorus Eagle RGB animation. Unlike Z790 with its OLED screen (why not on this board?), this is the only RGB lighting. The colors are saturated, but not too bright. Next, we get a better look at the oversized VRM heatsinks that are finned (Gigabyte calls it Fins Array 3) with a nano-carbon coating. Above this area are two reinforced 8-pin EPS connectors that power the CPU.

To the right of the socket area, we run into four reinforced DRAM slots with locking mechanisms on both sides. The Aorus Xtreme supports up to DDR5-6666+(OC) for the AM5 platform. We can’t tell you if the memory works at that speed (AMD typically tops out around 6400 MHz), but our test kits (DDR5-5600 and 6000) worked without issue.

Just above the DRAM slots are the first three (of 10) 4-pin fan/pump headers. Each header supports up to 2A/24W, which should be plenty for most fans and water pumps. You can control the attached devices through the Gigabyte Control Center software. Continuing right, we then find three of the four RGB headers, two 4-pin RGB and one 3-pin ARGB. 

Moving down the right edge, we see the two-character debug port, 24-pin ATX connector, fan headers, and  2-pin temperature headers. We also run into an area to read voltages and the 4-LED debug. Unlike the Z790 Aorus Xtreme, all these headers are visible down the right edge. I would like to see the shrouds/covers seen on the Intel version make their way to this one.

Regarding the power delivery, the 18-phases dedicated to Vcore aren’t the most we’ve seen, but it’s up there and can easily support the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X. Power comes down from the EPS connector(s) onto the Renesas RAA229628 controller. From there, the signal is sent to 18x 105A Renesas RAA22010540 SPS MOSFETs. The 1,890 Amps available can handle any compatible CPU, even with sub-ambient cooling.

On the bottom half of the board, we’ll start on the left with the audio. Hidden under the heatsinks is a Realtek ALC1200-VB codec and an ESS ES91180AC DAC. While this isn’t the latest and greatest, it is the last generation’s flagship codec. While I’d like to see the ALC4082 on this board, most people will be satisfied with last-gen flagship audio. If not, you can always get powered speakers with their own DAC, like the AudioEngine A2+.

Next up are the PCIe slots. The Aorus Xtreme has three total full-length PCIe slots. The top slot is reinforced and runs at PCIe 5.0 x16 speeds (but breaks down to x8 when a device populates an M.2 socket, specifically M2B and M2C_CPU slots). The other two full-length slots connect through the chipset and support PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 3.0 x2, respectively.

Located around the PCIe slots are four M.2 sockets (sorry folks, no add-in cards for more). The top socket, M2C_CPU, is PCIe 5.0-capable and runs at x4 (128 Gbps), supporting up to 110mm PCIe drives. The PCIe 5.0 slot breaks down to x8 when this socket is used. The three other M.2 sockets also run at PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) and support up to 110mm devices.

Looking past the chipset heatsink and onto the right edge, we see the four SATA ports, two 4-pin fan headers, a reset button, and a jumper. Again, I’d like to see more shrouds covering things up.

The rear IO plate on the X670E Aorus Xtreme is also preinstalled on the motherboard. It sports a black background with white labels on the ports, making them easy to read. There are a total of 12 USB ports: two USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C ports, four USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports, and four USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) ports.  On the left are two buttons: Q-Flash and Ignition (the latter to pre-test liquid cooling systems, also allowing for a firmware update in this state). Video output comes from the HDMI and DisplayPort ports. Last are the two Wi-Fi antenna connections and the 2-plug plus SPDIF audio stack.

Firmware

Gigabyte’s BIOS for the X670E Aorus Xtreme retains the same formatting sporting the black-and-orange theme Aorus is known for. The most significant differences are just with the options available for the new AMD processors. Outside of that, the black-on-white/orange/yellow provides a good contrast and is easy to read. Like most BIOSes, the Aorus Master has an informational Easy Mode and an Advanced mode with headers across the top. 

Navigating the BIOS is easy, as many frequently used options (including overclocking) are generally on the same page or one level down. My biggest complaint with the BIOS is that page-down doesn’t work in all sections, and you have to type in some values manually or bang on the down arrow to scroll and select a value. Aside from that minor annoyance, it’s a solid BIOS.

Software

On the software side, Gigabyte’s primary tool for X670E (and Z790/B760) is the Gigabyte Control Center (GCC). GCC is a one-stop shop for many board-centric functions, including RGB lighting control (RGB Fusion), Fan Control, and performance/overclocking. You can also update and install drivers from within the application, too. It’s not as comprehensive as the App Center and some of its applications, but I doubt many will miss the old version, as GCC is quite capable.

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Specifications: Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme

Inside the Box of the X670E Crosshair Extreme

Opening up the Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme box, we’re greeted by the motherboard on top with a comprehensive accessory organized neatly below. Asus provides the ROG GEN-Z.2 (a PCIe 5.0 M.2 card), True Voltician (an Asus fan controller) along with a slew of cables, thermistors, screw packages, and more (don’t worry, we took the kitchen sink out for the review). Below is the full (and very long) list from the Asus website.

• 1-to-3 ARGB splitter cable
• 1-to-2 ARGB splitter cable
• (2) 1-to-4 fan splitter cable
• (3) ROG weave SATA 6G cables pack
• 3-in-1 Thermistor cables pack
• ROG Fan Controller
• Fan EXT PWR cable
• ARGB input cable 
• USB input cable 
• ROG Fan Controller 3M Mounting tape package
• Fan Controller manual
• ROG GEN-Z.2 with heatsink
• M.2 pad package for ROG GEN-Z.2
• (2) M.2 screw package for ROG GEN-Z.2
• PCIe 5.0 M.2 Card with heatsink
• M.2 screw package for ROG PCIe 5.0 M.2 Card 
• ROG True Voltician
• (4) cables for ROG True Voltician
• Thermal pad for M.2
• ASUS Wi-Fi moving antennas 
• Rubber Package for M.2 backplate
• Q-connector
• (2) M.2 Q-Latch packages for M.2 backplate
• ROG Graphics card holder
• ROG key chain
• ROG logo plate sticker
• ROG screwdriver
• ROG stickers
• ROG thank you card
• USB drive with utilities and drivers 
• User guide

Design of the X670E Crosshair Extreme

When taking the Asus flagship board out of the box, it’s instantly clear it’s a premium motherboard. From the sheer weight to the all-black motherboard that’s mostly covered in shrouds, it gives off a high-end vibe. The black VRM heatsinks are large and heavy, with mitered cutouts to increase surface area. Above the IO area, Asus uses the unique dot-matrix-like RGB display that rotates through a few default branding images. The right edge sports a shroud that covers all of the ugly headers and connectors along that edge. The bottom half of the board is also covered with heatsinks and shrouds. And above the chipset, another dot-matrix RGB area sports the ROG branding.

Starting with the top half of the board, we get a closer look at the RGB display and the massive heatpipe-connected heatsinks. Compared to the OLED screens we’ve seen on some flagship boards in the past, I’m not a fan of the dot-matrix look. However, the light it gives off is bright, and the colors are saturated, so it will still look good inside your chassis. Just above the VRM heatsink on the left are two 8-pin EPS (one required) connectors to power the processor. 

Also, on the board's top edge, we run into our first three (of eight) 4-pin fan headers. All headers support PWM and DC-controlled fans/pumps. All CPU, Chassis, and Radiator headers are Q-fan controlled by default and support up to 1A/12W output. The two water pump headers (W_PUMP+1/2) handle up to 3A/36W and run out of the box at full speed.

Just below the fan headers are four reinforced DRAM slots, with a single locking mechanism on top. On top of the 128GB capacity, Asus lists support of up to DDR4-6400+(OC), the lowest of the flagship-class boards we’ve looked at. That is, seemingly, the maximum on most AMD boards anyway, so I wouldn’t worry about anything faster in the first place. The Crosshair Extreme handled our DDR5-5600 and DDR5-6000 kits without issue during our testing.

Normally, these high-end Asus boards have the DIMM.2 slot for additional M.2 support. However, with this generation, Asus uses a proprietary slot called GEN-Z.2 that adds Gen 5 and Gen 4 M.2 slots inside a heatsink shell. The Crosshair Extreme supports five M.2 modules using the onboard sockets and the two add-in cards (the other is a more standard AIC that connects through the PCIe slot).

The two-character debug LED and four-LED EZ debug features are on the right edge and help troubleshoot the POST process/non-boot situations. Moving down, we hit the start (power) and Flex buttons, a 3-pin ARGB header, two 4-pin fan headers, the 24-pin ATX power connector, the 6-pin PCIe PD connector for fast charging devices through the front panel Type-C port, and finally, a front panel USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) header that sits vertically.

Power delivery on the Crosshair Extreme is, fittingly, one of the more robust we’ve run across for the AM5 platform. Power comes from the EPS connector(s) onto the Digi VRM controller (ASP). From there, it moves on to the 20x SiC850A 110A SPS MOSFETs. The 2,200A available for Vcore is the second highest we’ve seen. You’ll only be limited by your cooling method on this board. It will handle ambient and sub-ambient overclocking without the VRMs holding things back.

On the bottom half of the board, we’ll start with the audio on the left side. Hidden under the heatsinks is a flagship-class Realtek ALC4082 codec. In addition to the audio separation line and dedicated audio caps, it also comes with an ESS SABRE9218C DAC and a USB Type-C to 1/8th inch DAC for non-USB headphones. If this audio solution isn’t good enough, you’re likely an audiophile with some seriously expensive equipment.  For most users, this is more than good enough and about the best you can get on a modern motherboard.

In the middle of the board are two full-length PCIe slots, an x4 size slot, and two M.2 sockets. Both full-length slots are reinforced and connect via the CPU to offer PCIe 5.0 bandwidth. The top slot runs at x16 speeds, and the second full-length slot has a maximum of x8. With both active, it splits to x8/x8. The bottom x4 slot connects through the chipset and runs at PCIe 4.0 x4 speeds.

Mixed in among the shrouds are two PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) M.2 sockets that support up to 80mm modules. There is some lane sharing among the PCIe slots and M.2 sockets. If M.2_2 is enabled, PCIEX16_1 (top slot) runs at x8, and the bottom slot runs at x4 speeds. You’ll be able to run all six SATA ports and all five M.2 sockets concurrently; you’ll just lose some bandwidth on the PCIe slots.

The rear IO plate on the Crosshair Extreme is busy. It comes attached to the board out of the box, which is what we expect from most higher-end boards these days. There are 10 total USB ports out back, with two USB 4 ports Type-C ports (JHL8540 USB4 controller), a 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C port, and a 10 Gbps Type-C port. In addition to the Type-C ports are eight other USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports. On the far left are the BIOS Flashback and reset CMOS buttons, while on the right are the Wi-Fi antenna connectors and the five-plug plus SPDIF audio stack (each analog port is backlit with matching color RGB). Last but not least, mixed in among the USB ports, are the 2.5 and 10 GbE ports.

Firmware

Asus’ BIOS on the X670E Crosshair Extreme as we’re used to with other X670E. The BIOS sports the familiar black, red, and yellow ROG theme that’s easy to read. Asus starts in an Easy Mode that displays high-level information, including CPU and memory clock speeds, temperatures, fan speeds, storage information, etc. Advanced Mode has several headers across the top that drop down additional options. The BIOS is one of my favorites, as almost everything you need isn’t buried deep within menus.

Software

Asus’ software suite is still the same as the Armoury Crate and AI Suite, but like the firmware, it gets updated to support the AMD processors. There are several applications for various functions, ranging from RGB lighting control, audio, system monitoring, overclocking, etc. We’ve captured several screenshots of the applications below. Here’s a look at Ai Suite 3, Armoury Crate, Sonic Studio, and the Realtek Audio application.

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Test System / Comparison Products

We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 64-bit OS with all updates applied. We kept the same Asus TUF RTX 3070 video card from our previous testing platforms but updated the driver. We also updated to F1 22 for our games and kept Far Cry 6. Unless otherwise noted, we use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public. The hardware we used is as follows: 

Test System Components

 EVGA supplied our Supernova 850W P6 power supply (appropriately sized and more efficient than the 1.2KW monster we used previously) for our test systems, and G.Skill sent us a DDR5-5600 (F5-5600U3636C16GX2-TZ5RK) memory kit for testing. 

Benchmark Settings

Benchmark Results and Final Analysis 

Our standard benchmarks and power tests are performed using the CPU’s stock frequencies (including any default boost/turbo), with all power-saving features enabled. We set optimized defaults in the BIOS and the memory by enabling the XMP profile. For this baseline testing, the Windows power scheme is set to Balanced (default), so the PC idles appropriately.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Synthetics provide a great way to determine how a board runs, as identical settings should produce similar performance results. Turbo boost wattage and advanced memory timings are places where motherboard makers can still optimize for either stability or performance, though, and those settings can impact some testing.

Across our synthetic benchmarks, all these boards performed well, ending up around the average when it’s all said and done. In several instances, the Gigabyte X670E Xtreme was the faster of our group, though again, not by much.

Timed Applications

In our timed applications, both of the ‘Extreme’ boards led the MSI Godlike. Although the difference wasn’t big, it was still a trend in these timed applications (and several others below). That said, none of the results, slower or faster, are significantly out of line, and all of the boards were performant in these tests.

3D Games and 3DMark

Starting with the launch of Zen 4, we’ve updated one of our test games, F1 21 to F1 22, while keeping Far Cry 6 in our testing suite. We run the games at 1920x1080 resolution using the Ultra preset (details listed above). As the resolution goes up, the CPU tends to have less impact. The goal with these settings is to determine if there are differences in performance at the most commonly used (and CPU/system bound) resolution with settings most people use or strive for (Ultra). We expect the difference between boards in these tests to be minor, with most falling within the margin of error differences. We’ve also added a minimum FPS value, which can affect your gameplay and immersion experience.

Looking at the results from our gaming tests, our flagships did well here again, posting average or above-average results in the 3DMark tests and F1 2022, but merely average among all results in Far Cry 6. Like the Z790 flagships, these are competent gaming boards too.

Overclocking

When overclocking, we aim to increase the power and add stress to the VRMs. We do so by increasing the clock speed and voltage until we’re at the thermal threshold for the processor during stress testing. However, where these CPUs are allowed to run with ‘boost’ speeds, those speeds are closer to the limit than ever before.

Overclocking with all three boards was simple and easy. We plug in our values, set the voltage to manual, adjusted LLC if needed, and off we went. Once in Windows, we applied the stress test load and successfully finished our short test on all these boards. No fiddling was needed outside of the usual suspects (voltage, multiplier, and LLC adjustments).

On the memory side, we dropped our Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 kit in the systems, enabled XMP, and tested it without issue, as expected. The boards list speeds above this, but your mileage may vary, as reaching speeds past this depends on the memory kit, the quality of the IMC, and the motherboard/BIOS. Quite frankly, most boards top out around DDR5-6400 anyway. 

Power Consumption / VRM Temperatures

We used AIDA64’s System Stability Test with Stress CPU, FPU, Cache and Memory enabled for power testing, using the peak power consumption value. The wattage reading is from the wall via a Kill-A-Watt meter to capture the entire PC (minus the monitor). The only variable that changes is the motherboard; all other parts remain the same. Please note we moved to use only the stock power use/VRM temperature charts, as this section aims to ensure the power delivery can handle the chip even when overclocked. Since we’re using less power to get more clocks, those datasets are more novel than useful. We’re also temperature limited on the processor, so adding more power isn’t possible without increased throttling. 

The power consumption difference between our three review boards was around 10%, with the Godlike becoming our first AM5 board to average over 200W between idle and a stress test load. The Godlike idled higher (103W compared to 84W and 82W) and used slightly more power under load (300W compared to 284W and 283 for the Crosshair Extreme and Aorus Xtreme, respectively) to reach this distinction.

VRM temperatures on the boards were more than acceptable, keeping the overkill power bits underneath running well within specification. In fact, none of the boards broke 50 degrees Celsius in our stress testing, which is quite impressive. These boards won’t have any issue driving AMD’s processors with any cooling option.

Bottom Line

Right out of the gate, all of these flagship boards offer the best of the best for the current AMD platform. Each board includes overkill power delivery, 10 GbE ports and Wi-Fi 6E, PCIe 5.0 slots and M.2 sockets, and a high-end appearance. From there, we find a few differences, with most (but not all) boards implementing flagship-class audio and some using 40 Gbps USB ports. Still, which is better for you is generally going to come down to price and appearance, unless you absolutely need those features.

That out of the way, let’s address the elephant in the room: pricing. At the time of this writing, The MSI X670E Godlike at $1299.99 is, by far, the most expensive AM5 board. Asus’ ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme checks in at $999.99, while the Gigabyte sits at $699.99. A dark horse in the race is ASRock’s flagship, the X670E Taichi, at $479.99. Frankly, the Taichi is arguably the most well-rounded and is, by far, the least expensive option. It has everything the more expensive boards do, including 40 Gbps USB ports, the latest generation audio codec, overkill power delivery, and even the look.

So which flagship board should you choose? That’s a tough one, as each has redeeming qualities. The MSI X670E Godlike and its six total M.2 sockets are on the table if budget isn't a concern, but that price needs to come closer to $1000 as there’s nothing it offers more than the other boards outside of additional M.2 sockets. The Asus is a great option for those looking for all the bells and whistles but unwilling to pay for the MSI. Gigabyte’s Xtreme is a great option as it’s reasonably priced (for a flagship) but does not have 40 Gbps ports or current-gen flagship audio. Chances are that’s not a deal breaker for most users, however. If you’re looking to get the most bang for your buck out of these flagships and don’t require more than four M.2 sockets, ASRock’s X670E would be my weapon of choice in the battle of these behemoths. That’s one of the reasons we’ve already given it a full review and placed it in the number two spot on our best motherboards list.

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Rather than tackling each Z790 flagship board in their own separate reviews, today we’ll compare two motherboards head-to-head (as well as discussing Asus' competing option) to see which comes out on top. 

Fresh off our test bench is the Gigabyte Z790 Xtreme ($899) and the MSI Z790 Godlike ($1,199). Both boards are current flagship options, and offer a plethora of features, from high-end appearance, premium audio solutions, overbuilt VRMs, and generally the fastest other bits, including Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports and native 10 GbE. In all, boards like this (including the Asus ROG Maximus Extreme, which didn’t arrive in time for this article) set the high bar for the platform and show off all it has to offer. 

Both boards (all three if you include the ROG Maximus Extreme) accomplish this at a significant price increase over the rest of their product stack. The Aorus Extreme is the least expensive option at $799.99, with the ROG Maximus Extreme sitting at $999.99 and the MSI Godlike the most expensive at $1,199.99. That’s quite a price difference, but MSI tries to make up for it by including its M-Vision Dashboard (a magnetic USB-C-powered LCD touchscreen) and offering seven M.2 sockets. Still, most users will probably find anything above $1,000 offputting, even for a flagship-class SKU.

When comparing the general specifications of these two contestants (as well as the Asus), there mostly isn’t a significant difference. While VRM count may vary (26+2 with 105A SPS MOSFETs on the Godlike, 20+1 with 105A SPS MOSFETs on the Xtreme), these configurations are overkill, even if you decide to use sub-ambient cooling methods. M.2 socket count is different (with MSI offering two more), but most users won’t use more than four M.2 drives. The audio codec is also critical, with all flagships offering some form of the Realtek ALC 4082 codec, along with ESS DAC/Amps, so most users will be satisfied on that front. 

All three boards offer at least one PCIe 5.0 M.2 socket and PCIe 5.0 AIB slots, so you’re set on that front. Regarding performance between them, on average, the MSI Godlike performs better across our testing suite, though the difference between it and the Aorus board in most tests is negligible.

To be blunt here early in the article, the MSI Z790 Godlike is just too expensive to make our Best Motherboards list (though it has the features and hardware), without a much more compelling reason to make up the $400 price difference. Still, the Aorus Extreme and its lower price (but flagship-class everything else) is compelling and has a chance to earn a spot on our list. Read on for more details on the boards, including how they performed in our benchmark testing. But first, here are the specifications and features from the MSI and Gigabyte. 

Specifications: MSI Z790 Godlike

Inside the Box of the MSI MEG Z790 Godlike 

The Z790 Godlike includes a slew of accessories, including several cables and bits designed to help get you started. Unique to the accessory stack are the removable M-Vision Dashboard display, thermistor cables and DP to Mini-DP cables for those who plan to use Thunderbolt capabilities for video. Below is a complete list of the included accessories.

• M-Vision dashboard
• Wi-Fi antenna
• USB drive (drivers)
• M-Vision cable
• (3) SATA cables
• 1 to 2 RGB LED extension Y cable
• ARGB extension cable
• 1 to 3 ARGB Gen 2 extension cables
• (2) DP to Mini DP cables
• EZ Front panel cable
• Metal Dragon badge
• M.2 screw/standoffs EZ M.2 clips
• Cable Stickers
• Quick Installation Guide

Design of the Z790 Godlike

Taking the Godlike out of the box, one of the first things we noticed, along with its mass, is the size. It’s listed as E-ATX and is 12.2 inches (310 mm) wide, so be sure the chassis you choose can handle the board. The rear of the board is protected by a backplate that also doubles as a passive heatsink on the rear of the VRMs. The Godlike presents an all-black appearance, with a brushed aluminum finish on the heatsinks and shrouds, along with tasteful branding implemented in your typical locations (I/O area, chipset, VRM and M.2 heatsinks). All of the connections on the right side of the board stick out horizontally, which helps with cable management, while the bottom headers/connectors are all vertical. 

If you’re looking for integrated RGBs, only the IO area has what you’re looking for. If you need more, you can add them through the four headers. Control over the RGB is managed through the MSI Center software and Mystic Light. Overall I like the black-with-gold-accents appearance. It will match most all builds themes and gives off that premium high-end vibe you want with a flagship-class device.

Focusing on the top half of the board, starting with the left side above the IO area, is an Illusion Lighting effect that allows the board to display two distinct patterns (MSI Gaming Dragon and symbol) in the same space. It’s better than the dot-matrix look on the ROG Extreme, but falls short of the LCD on the Aorus Extreme. The VRMs connect via heatpipe with the top heatsink using a wavy fin design to increase surface area.

To the right of the socket area and just above the DRAM slots are two 8-pin EPS connectors (one required) to power your Intel CPU. The four DRAM slots below support up to 128 GB of RAM, with speeds listed to DDR5-7800+(OC) (though that’s using one DIMM). We didn’t have any issues with our ‘base’ kits (DDR5-5600 and 6000), and it was plug-and-play with the Teamgroup DDR5-7200 kit, the fastest in our arsenal at the moment.

Continuing to move right, next we hit the first two (of seven) M.2 sockets, hidden under a heatsink. These are PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) sockets that support up to 80mm PCIe modules. The extra wide form factor allows a unique implementation for additional M.2 storage. Above that, we spy the first two (of 10) 4-pin fan headers. The CPU_Fan and System fan headers default to auto (will run with PWM or DC) and output up to 2A/24W, while the pump fan headers default to PWM mode and output a whopping 3A/36W each. You shouldn’t have any issues running your cooling system, even custom liquid cooling, from the motherboard. Finally, in the corner is the Debug LED, four voltage read points and the EZ Debug LEDs.

Shifting focus down the right edge, all connections in this area are horizontal to help with cable management – or at least to help things look cleaner. Starting at the top is the first 3-pin ARGB connector, followed by the first three System Fan headers. Below these is the 24-pin ATX Power connector and a 6-pin PCIe connector (required to support 60W PD charging on the front port). After that are two USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C front panel ports.

For power delivery, the Godlike has, well, Godlike VRMs. Power travels down from the EPS connector(s), onto a Renesas RAA229131 controller to the 26x 105A Renesas RAA22010540 SPS MOSFETs in a teamed configuration. The 2,730A available for the CPU is the most I can recall seeing on a motherboard and won’t get in the way of any type of overclocking, including using LN2 (liquid nitrogen). You’re limited by the cooling method, just as you are with most mid-range boards.

The bottom half of the board is where a majority of the M.2 sockets reside, along with tons of headers, connectors, and even a couple of switches. The audio section on the left houses a Realtek ALC4082 codec, along with ESS ES9280AQ combo DAC/HPA. This is the flagship codec with a DAC and Amp combo and one of the better audio implementations for the platform.

Moving on to the M.2 sockets, five are hidden below the heatsinks in this area. For details on their bandwidth, see the specifications above. What’s worth mentioning here is how these break down. When the M2_4 (the PCIe 5.0 x4 socket) is populated, PCI_E2 (the second PCIe slot) is unavailable. If you’re using a SATA- or PCIe-based drive in M2_5, SATA ports 5-8 are unavailable, leaving you with just two functioning SATA ports left. The PCIe slots mixed in among the M.2 sockets are simple. Both are reinforced and PCIe 5.0. The top slot supports up to x16 speeds, but both run at PCIe 5.0 x8 speeds when the second slot gets populated. Last, along the right edge, are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (10 Gbps) headers and six SATA ports.

Across the bottom of the board are several exposed headers, all vertical. You’ll find the usual and quite a bit more: additional USB ports, RGB headers, fan headers, custom water cooling headers (for flow and temperatures), power/reset buttons, and more. Below is a complete list from left to right.

• Front panel audio
• 4-pin RGB
• 3-pin ARGB
• (6) 4-pin fan/pump headers
• (2) 2-pin temperature headers
• (2) USB 2.0 headers
• Power/Reset buttons
• BIOS/LED/M switches
• M-Vision connector
• Front panel

The rear IO plate on the Z790 Godlike comes preinstalled to the motherboard. It has a black background with light-grey labels on the ports, making them relatively easy to read. There are a total of 10 USB ports:  two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C (40 Gbps, passes video as well), seven 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps, one Type-C) ports, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C port. On the left are three buttons: Clear CMOS, BIOS Flash, and the Smart button. The latter is programmable, letting you use to do things like reset the PC, boot into Safe Mode, control fans and lighting, etc. Around the USB ports are the Marvell 10 GbE and Intel 2.5 GbE ports. Off to the right are the two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports and the Mini-DisplayPort inputs for video. Last but not least are the Wi-Fi antenna connections and the five-plug plus SPDIF audio stack.

Firmware

MSI’s BIOS for the Godlike is not much different than the Z790 Tomahawk we reviewed previously. The menus reside on the sides, and information up top, with a black and red background. It’s a unique look compared to the competition. For Z790, the only updates were functionality for the new processors and chipset. The color scheme is still easy to read, and there’s the usual informative Easy Mode that displays various information about the system and allows for some changes (boot order and XMP enabled). Though different than other UEFIs, it is easy to get around; everything has a place, and most frequently used options are readily available, not buried within sub-menus.

Software

MSI has a single utility, MSI Center, that covers quite a bit of functionality. From hardware monitoring to RGB control with Mystic Light, there are many applets to choose from within the software and a one-stop shop to download all of the company’s utilities. I wish there were some overclocking options here, but for those looking to use the Gamebar feature, Super Charger, or any other utilities MSI offers, they will all be at your fingertips in MSI Center.

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Specifications: Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Extreme 

Inside the Box of the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Xtreme 

Gigabyte’s Z790 Aorus Extreme comes with plenty of accessories, including SATA cables, temperature sensors, Wi-Fi antennas, drivers, and even an external USB (Type-C) DAC for audio. Below is a complete list of the included accessories.

• (2) SATA cables
• Wi-Fi antenna
• PC speaker
• 4-pin RGB extension cable
• (2) temperature sensors
• User Guide
• Gigabyte Stickers
• Q-Connector
• ESSential USB DAC
• USB and Front Panel extensions
• USB drive (drivers)

Design of the Z790 Aorus Xtreme

The Z790 Aorus Master sits on a black 8-layer PCB that’s covered in heatsinks and shrouds. Above the IO area is a large cover with a 2.8-inch LCD that displays real-time system information and the Aorus logo. The only visible part of the board itself is around the socket area. Around the chipset area is more Aorus branding in a lighter/contrasting grey than the heatsinks in this area. If you’re looking for RGB bling, there isn’t much here (just the LCD display, really). However, you can connect your own to the integrated headers.

Overall, the Aorus Extreme has the premium look of a flagship board. Although it has some color, the overarching theme is black, so it will fit in well with most build themes.

Zooming in on the top half of the board, we get a better look at the full-color LCD. The screen shows off system information, including CPU and VRM temperature and CPU and Memory speed. I would like to see something similar on the other flagship boards. Next, we get a better look at the beefy VRM heatsinks that use finned heatsinks (Fins Array 3) with a nano-carbon coating. Just above this area are two reinforced 8-pin EPS connectors that power the CPU.

To the right of the socket area, we run into four reinforced DRAM slots with a locking mechanism on the bottom. The Aorus Extreme lists support of up to DDR5-8000. I can’t tell you that the memory multiplier works at that speed, but our test kits (DDR5-5600 and 6000) worked, as did the fastest kit we have for the test bench, DDR5-7200.

Just above the DRAM slots are the first two (of 10) 4-pin fan/pump headers. Each header supports up to 2A/24W, which should be plenty for most fans and watercooling pumps. You can control the attached devices through the Gigabyte Control Center software. Continuing right, you run into two 2-pin temperature headers and the debug port.

Shifting attention to the right edge, there are five more 4-pin fan headers here, the front panel header, and two LED headers. All these are hidden under heatsinks and shrouds, just one more part of the premium appearance.

Compared to the MSI Z790 Godlike, the VRMs on the Aorus Extreme almost look paltry. However, that’s not the case. Power comes down from the EPS connector(s) and onto the Renesas RAA229131 controller. From there, the signal is split (a teamed configuration) and sent to 20x 105A Renesas RAA22010540 SPS MOSFETs. The 2,100 Amps available is nearly the most we’ve seen and capable of handling any compatible CPU, even sub-ambient cooling.

On the bottom half of the board, we’ll start on the left with the audio. Hidden under the heatsinks is a Realtek ALC4082 codec, an ESS ES9280AC DAC chip and two ESS ES9080 chips. This is the flagship codec, along with DACs. You won’t find a significantly better integrated audio solution on any current board.

Next up are the PCIe slots. The Aorus Xtreme has three total full-length PCIe slots. The top slot is reinforced and runs at PCIe 5.0 x16 speeds (but breaks down to x8 when a device populates an M.2 socket). The other two full-length slots connect through the chipset and support PCIe 3.0 x4 and PCIe 3.0 x1, respectively.

Located around the PCIe slots are five total M.2 sockets.  The top socket, M2C_CPU, is the sole PCIe 5.0 socket and runs at x4 (128 Gbps), supporting up to 110mm PCIe drives. The PCIe 5.0 slot breaks down to x8 speeds when this socket is used. Below that, three other M.2 sockets run at PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) and hold up to 110mm devices. Last, the fifth socket supports 80mm modules and supports PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA-based storage. Gigabyte also includes a large heatsink designed to fit the board's PCIe 5.0 M.2 socket. Its fin array and heat pipes should keep the presumably hot-running PCIe 5.0 storage modules running in spec.

Looking past the chipset heatsink and onto the right edge, we see two front panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) connectors, the four SATA ports, a noise sensor header, two more 4-pin fan headers and a front panel USB 2.0 header. What’s unique is there are no headers on the bottom of the board. Everything is located along the right edge, which should help with hiding cables – provided your case’s motherboard tray has a cutout that runs the length of the board.

The rear IO plate on the Z790 Aorus Extreme is also preinstalled on the motherboard. It sports a black background with white labels on the ports, making them easy to read. There are a total of 12 USB ports: two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C (40 Gbps, passes video as well), and 10x 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports. On the left are two buttons, Q-Flash and Ignition (the latter to pre-test liquid cooling systems, also allowing for a firmware update in this state). Last are the two Wi-Fi connections and the 2-plug plus SPDIF audio stack.

Firmware

Gigabyte’s BIOS for the Z790 Aorus Extreme retains the same formatting, with the black-and-orange theme Aorus is known for. The most significant differences are just with the options available for the new Intel processors. Outside of that, the black-on-white/orange/yellow provides a good contrast and is easy to read. Like most BIOSes, the Aorus Master has an informational Easy Mode and an Advanced mode with headers across the top. 

Navigating the BIOS is easy, as many frequently used options (including overclocking) are generally on the same page or one level down. My biggest complaint with the BIOS is that page-down doesn’t work in all sections, and you have to type in some values manually or bang on the down arrow to scroll and select a value. Aside from that minor annoyance, it’s a solid BIOS.

Software

On the software side, Gigabyte’s primary tool for Z790 (and B650/X670) is the Gigabyte Control Center (GCC). GCC is a one-stop shop for many board-centric functions, including RGB lighting control (RGB Fusion), Fan Control, and performance/overclocking. You can also update and install drivers from within the application, too. It’s not as comprehensive as the App Center and some of its applications, but I doubt many will miss the old version, as GCC is quite capable.

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Test System / Comparison Products

We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 64-bit OS with all updates applied. We kept the same Asus TUF RTX 3070 video card from our previous testing platforms but updated the driver. We also updated to F1 22 for our games and kept Far Cry 6. We use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public unless otherwise noted. The hardware we used is as follows: 

Test System Components

EVGA supplied our Supernova 850W P6 power supply (appropriately sized and more efficient than the outgoing 1.2KW monster we used) for our test systems, and GSkill sent us a fast and good-looking DDR5-5600 (F5-5600U3636C16GX2-TZ5RK) memory kit for launch day testing. MSI and Asus also sent launch day kits.

Benchmark Results and Final Analysis

Our standard benchmarks and power tests are performed using the CPU’s stock frequencies (including any default boost/turbo), with all power-saving features enabled. We set optimized defaults in the BIOS and the memory by enabling the XMP profile. For this baseline testing, the Windows power scheme is set to Balanced (default), so the PC idles appropriately.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Synthetics provide a great way to determine how a board runs, as identical settings should produce similar performance results. Turbo boost wattage and advanced memory timings are places where motherboard makers can still optimize for either stability or performance, though, and those settings can impact some testing.

Across our synthetic benchmarks, both boards did well throughout. In many cases (but not all), the MSI Z790 Godlike was the faster of our two flagships, though not by much.

Timed Applications

In our timed applications, both benchmarked boards did well. In Corona and Lame, both boards put up average results among other Z790 boards, while in the Handbrake tests, the MSI ran away with it, posting the fastest times we’ve seen so far. The Xtreme was notably slower in this test, just below average when looking at the Z790 datasets.

3D Games and 3DMark

Starting with the launch of Zen 4, we’ve updated one of our test games, F1 21 to F1 22, while keeping Far Cry 6 in our testing suite. We run the games at 1920x1080 resolution using the Ultra preset (details listed above). As the resolution goes up, the CPU tends to have less impact. The goal with these settings is to determine if there are differences in performance at the most commonly used (and CPU/system bound) resolution with settings most people use or strive for (Ultra). We expect the difference between boards in these tests to be minor, with most falling within the margin of error differences. We’ve also added a minimum FPS value, which can affect your gameplay and immersion experience.

Looking at the results from our gaming tests, our flagships did well here, posting average or above-average results across the board. These are competent gaming boards, as you should expect.

Overclocking

When overclocking, we aim to increase the power and add stress to the VRMs. We do so by increasing the clock speed and voltage until we’re at the thermal threshold for the processor during stress testing. However, where these CPUs are allowed to run with ‘boost’ speeds, those speeds are closer to the limit than ever before. 

With our i9-13900K, the approach was a bit different. To overclock our chip, we had to lower the voltage from what was recorded during stress tests. We increased the clock speeds of the “P” and “E” cores by 100 MHz and 200 MHz, respectively, over the turbo boost and limited by our cooling. We ended up with  5.6 GHz P core and 4.5 GHz E core clocks using about 1.34V (from DMM). Temperatures peak just under the throttling point with this configuration. And as we’ve noted elsewhere, this is actually the intended performance for Intel’s flagship CPU.

Overclocking with both boards was simple and easy. We plug in our values, set the voltage to manual, adjusted LLC if needed (which we did on the MSI, surprisingly), and off we went. Once in Windows, we applied the stress test load and finished our short test successfully on both boards.

On the memory side, we dropped our Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 kit in the systems, enabled XMP, and tested it without issue, as expected. We also plugged in the T-Force Delta RGB 2x16 DDR5 7200 ($289.99) CL34 sticks, and they worked by simply enabling XMP. The boards list speeds well above this, but your mileage may vary, as reaching speeds past this depends on the memory kit, the quality of the IMC, and the motherboard/BIOS.

Power Consumption / VRM Temperatures

We used AIDA64’s System Stability Test with Stress CPU, FPU, Cache and Memory enabled for power testing, using the peak power consumption value. The wattage reading is from the wall via a Kill-A-Watt meter to capture the entire PC (minus the monitor). The only variable that changes is the motherboard; all other parts remain the same. Please note we moved to use only the stock power use/VRM temperature charts, as the goal of this section is to ensure the power delivery can handle the chip even when overclocked. Since we’re using less power to get more clocks, those datasets are more novel than useful. We’re also temperature limited on the processor, so adding more power isn’t possible without increased throttling. 

Idle power use on the Z790 Godlike was 77W compared to 78W on the Xtreme. Load wattage on the MSI was notably higher, breaking 400W at the wall, while the Xtreme was one of the most efficient we tested under load peaking at 354W at the wall.

VRM temperatures on the Godlike Peaked around 50 degrees Celsius during stock operation, while the Xtreme barely flinched from idle temps, peaking around 43 degrees Celsius. These results are very good, and neither board will run into trouble keeping their powerful VRM bits in line and within spec.

Bottom Line

In the end, these two tested boards (and the untested ROG Maximus Extreme) are top-notch offerings for Z790, and all boards come with the best the platform has to offer. This includes 10 GbE, Thunderbolt 4 ports (most 40 Gbps), flagship-class audio solutions, at least one PCIe 5.0 slot/M.2 socket, overkill power delivery, and that high-end appearance you expect for high-end boards. 

That said, there are some differences besides the price between these boards and what they offer. The MSI Godlike’s standout specification is the seven M.2 sockets and 40 Gbps ports, while the Asus has arguably better looks and five M.2 sockets, just like the Aorus Extreme. That said, the Gigabyte is the least expensive of the bunch ($200 less than the Asus or $400 to the MSI) and still has 40 Gbps ports and several M.2 sockets. Performance across the two boards we tested was average to above average, with the MSI generally performing better than the Gigabyte. In most cases, you wouldn’t see the difference (we assume the Asus performs like most other Z790 SKUs we’ve tested) among them. 

If money is no object, the MSI Z790 Godlike is the best option here, especially for users who plan to utilize the seven (or at least more than five) M.2 sockets. The MSI board is also slightly larger than the Asus and Gigabyte, so be sure your chassis has room, because even the smaller of these boards is big. If money is an object, the Gigabyte is hands down the best option available. It’s $200 less expensive than the Asus and offers everything it does, but at a more reasonable $799.99 price point. If you’re in the market for a flagship-class motherboard but don’t need seven M.2 sockets and don’t care to pay for the higher-priced Asus, the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Extreme is easy to recommend.

MORE: Best Motherboards

MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard

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To date, all of Nvidia's of GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards based on the Ada Lovelace architecture target enthusiasts with rather deep pockets. But the lineup is expanding to the midrange with products that should carry lower price tags. According to MyDrivers, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060 Ti will be one of those midrange boards that will retail for sub-$500. Meanwhile, it will offer performance akin to that of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3070, says well-known hardware leaker @kopite7kimi. 

The cheapest GeForce RTX 40-series graphics card introduced to date is the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti that features a manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) of $799, with performance that's about equal to the previous generation RTX 3090 (non-Ti). Nvidia yet has to disclose prices for its GeForce RTX 4070 (non-Ti) and GeForce RTX 4060 Ti parts, but since these parts will sit below the RTX 4070 Ti, the model RTX 4060 Ti will naturally retail at a lower price. Nvidia will make final decisions about the MSRPs of its products closer to launch, but general feedback on the 4070 Ti and 4080 pricing has been quite harsh.

As far as performance goes, Kopite7kimi suggests the 4060 Ti will only match the 3070, which would be pretty poor, frankly. With the 4070 Ti matching the 3090, the vanilla 4070 ought to at least match the 3080, if not the 3080 12GB / 3080 Ti. That would put the 4060 Ti at either 3070 Ti levels or even on par with the 3080 10GB.

Nvidia's RTX 3060 Ti currently ranks as one of the best graphics cards for its price bracket, but it's due for replacement. The 4060 Ti will use a newer microarchitecture, and performance is likely to improve as well. But Nvidia has pushed prices up on every GPU class for the 40-series so far, and it wouldn't be surprising — though it would be disappointing — to see the future 4060 Ti priced $100 higher than the previous generation card.

Specification-wise, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is a rather curious product. Based on unofficial information, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti will rely on the AD106 GPU with 4352 CUDA cores mated with 8GB of 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory using a 128-bit interface. The new part would feature considerably fewer stream processors than the alleged GeForce RTX 4070 with 5888 CUDA cores, plus 33% less memory, which suggests a substantial performance gap between the two. About the only bright spot is that the RTX 4060 Ti is projected to consume 160W, which would be very low by today's standards. 

Furthermore, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is expected to feature a 43% lower memory bandwidth compared to that of the GeForce RTX 4070, as well as a 36% lower DRAM bandwidth than its direct predecessor, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti with GDDR6 memory. The larger L2 cache should help, relative to the 30-series, but it would still be a wide gulf between the 4060 Ti and the 4070. Coming with just 8GB, the same as the 3060 Ti, 3070, and 3070 Ti (but less than the 3060) is also problematic. How this will affect its performance in cases of high resolutions and/or with antialiasing enabled is something that remains to be seen.

Nvidia will of course tout the benefits of DLSS 3 and Frame Generation yet again, but the further down the stack we go, the less beneficial FG becomes. Our testing to date indicates the best experience comes when the base FPS is already in the 60+ fps range. That's easy enough for cards like the RTX 4090 and 4080 to hit at 4K, but an 8GB GPU may struggle to reach that level of performance even at 1440p without dropping some of the other settings.

In any case, since we are talking about leaked details from unofficial sources, take the information with discretion since it may not be completely accurate. We're still looking forward to testing the future 4070 and 4060 Ti to see how they stack up, and hopefully prices will start to approach the true midrange sector.

Desktop gaming computers are fantastic, but sometimes it's nice to carry your gaming computer into another room, or pop around to a friend's house for some gaming fun. In this case, laptops are the perfect solution, but they often aren't that cheap, and you certainly want to buy one that is capable of fulfilling your gaming requirements. Look at our best gaming laptops for an idea of what kinds of laptops are available.

With a fairly powerful Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU inside, this Gigabyte Aorus 5 on offer for $1,149 is a nice deal if you're looking to save some money on a competent gaming laptop. This model (SE4-73US213SH) also packs an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU and 16GB of RAM. 

For a nice little mid-tower case for an aesthetic white or RGB-focused build, take a look at this Antec NX410 mid-tower case for $84. With a tempered glass side panel and included ARGB fans, this case is not only practical but also pretty. 

Razer's Viper Ultimate Ultralight wireless mouse is on offer for $59 at the moment. With an ambidextrous design and great battery life, this mouse is great for gaming, but maybe not be suitable for those with larger hands. See our review of the Viper Ultimate for more details. 

See more Real Deals below. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Gigabyte Aorus 5: now $1,149 at Best Buy (was $1,499)
• Antec NX410 ATX Mid-Tower Case: now $84 at Amazon with coupon (was $89)
• Razer Viper Ultimate Ultralight: now $59 at Best Buy (was $149)
• Razer Basilisk Ultimate: now $69 at Best Buy (was $169)
• Asus Prime H670-Plus D4: now $121 at Amazon (was $129)

Today’s best deals in detail

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The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, formerly one of the best graphics cards, has a long-lost sibling that never debuted on the market. However, the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB, which we've seen in multiple EEC listings, seems real or at least has existed for some time.

Hardware leaker MEGAsizeGPU has shared some photographs and a GPU-Z screenshot of what appears to be the unreleased GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB. It's a little confusing, though. The pictures show a GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition. The design and the model name on the backplate confirm it. 

However, the GPU-Z screenshot reveals the specifications for the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti but with 16GB of GDDR6 memory instead of 8GB. From the looks of it, we suspect that a manufacturer had recycled the GeForce RTX 3070 cooler for this specific GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB. However, we've already seen user mods that increase the GeForce RTX 3070's memory capacity twice fold, so we wouldn't be surprised if this GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB is a laboratory experiment from someone's garage.

The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB is still on the GA104 (Ampere) silicon, the same one used in the vanilla GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. It still wields 6,144 CUDA cores in conjunction with 192 Tensor cores and 48 RT cores. However, the clock speeds are seemingly different. While the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has a 1,575 MHz base clock and 1,770 MHz boost clock, the never-before-seen 16GB variant sports a 1,590 MHz base clock and 1,800 MHz boost clock.

As the name implies, the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB has double the memory of the original GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. However, the memory modules are different, according to the leaked GPU-Z screenshot. All this time, we thought that the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB would use the same GDDR6X memory modules as the regular variant. However, the GPU-Z screenshot says otherwise. Instead, the 16GB model allegedly uses much slower GDDR6 memory modules.

The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has 19 Gbps GDDR6X memory modules that communicate across a 256-bit interface to supply a memory bandwidth of up to 608 GBps. On the other hand, the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB reportedly has 16 Gbps GDDR6 memory modules. However, since it retains the 256-bit memory bus, the graphics card only delivers 512 GBps of memory bandwidth.

While the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB has slightly faster clock speeds and double the memory capacity, the Ampere graphics card offers lower memory bandwidth than the 8GB model. Sadly, we've never seen any leaked benchmarks for the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB, so its performance remains a mystery.

A small maker of graphics cards is selling its so-called "GeForce RTX 3070 TiM" graphics card that barely offers the performance of a desktop GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. The board is indeed based on Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics processor for laptops configured accordingly and has nothing to do with GeForce RTX 3070 Ti for desktops. Unfortunately, while the manufacturer discloses the product's specs, it still carries quite a misleading model number so you won't see it on any lists of the best graphics cards.

The 51Risc GeForce RTX 3070 TiM graphics card with 8GB of GDDR6 memory sold at Aliexpress (and noticed by VideoCardz) disguises itself as a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti since few people will ever see the M moniker after the Ti. Meanwhile, this board carries Nvidia's GA104 (GN20-E) silicon used for laptop-bound GeForce RTX 3070 Ti which is considerably slower than its desktop-bound brother.

Nvidia's desktop GeForce RTX 3070 Ti uses the company's full-blown GA104-400 GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores and a 1,770 MHz boost clock paired with 8GB of 19 GTps GDDR6X memory. By contrast, the laptop version of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti features a GPU with 5,888 CUDA cores and an up to 1,485 MHz boost clock mated with 8GB of 14 GTps GDDR6 memory. Meanwhile, the 51Risc GeForce RTX 3070 TiM features a GPU with 5888 CUDA cores operating at up to 1410MHz and accompanied by 8GB of 17.5 GTps GDDR6 memory.

Given the clocks of the GeForce RTX 3070 TiM, it should offer performance similar to that of the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in most cases and will never reach the framerates provided by the GeForce RTX 3070. Yet, due to its 17.5 GTps memory, it can beat both in applications that require high memory bandwidth.

Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 TiM is also relatively reasonably priced: it costs $337 with free shipping from China to the U.S., which is significantly lower than the cheapest GeForce RTX 3070 ($530) but is more or less in line with the price of the most affordable GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ($389) board at Amazon.

The 51Risc GeForce RTX 3070 TiM looks like all inexpensive gaming graphics cards these days: it is a reasonably compact dual-wide product with a dual-fan cooling system, one eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector, and four display outputs. The only sticker on its backplate says this is an 'RTX3070TI 8G DDR6' device. The board rocks a220W TDP, which aligns with the desktop GeForce RTX 3070. Meanwhile, the GeForce RTX 3070 TiM requires drivers for laptop GPUs, which 51Risc does not conceal but does not state explicitly.

Nowadays, at least in well-developed countries, forged processors and graphics cards are not as common as they used to be some 20 years ago. But the proliferation of global trade opened doors for forged hardware from Asian stores to the U.S. and Europe. 51Risc, by any means, does not produce fake hardware as it adequately discloses specifications and even mentions with what silicon they are dealing. But the rather bogus naming looks quite misinforming and may mislead a consumer unaware of various GPU peculiarities.

Galax has quietly introduced its first GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus graphics cards equipped with 8GB of GDDR6X memory. The boards feature higher memory bandwidth than regular GeForce RTX 3060 Ti boards and, therefore, offer somewhat higher performance than regular models in cases where memory bandwidth matters. In some situations, the Galax RTX 3060 Ti Plus could rival Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3070. 

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus is based on a GA103 or GA104 graphics processor with 4864 CUDA cores (just like the regular GeForce RTX 3060 Ti) that are mated with 8GB of 19 GT/s GDDR6X memory using a 256-bit interface (vs. 14 GT/s GDDR6 on regular models). As a result, the new graphics board can offer a peak memory bandwidth of 608 GB/s, which is 36% higher than standard GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070 cards. 

Performance numbers demonstrated by Galax and republished by VideoCardz show that the RTX 3060 Ti Plus can indeed be faster than the model RTX 3070 in certain cases, though these numbers need independent verification. 

Meanwhile, since GDDR6X uses PAM4 encoding, this memory increases power consumption for both the GPU and memory. Furthermore, GDDR6X, which is exclusively available from Micron, tends to be more expensive than the regular GDDR6 that is sold by three major memory makers. 

Speaking of Galax's GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus graphics cards, the company has two models: the Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus SG with a 1695 MHz boost clock and a triple-slot triple-fan cooler, as well as the Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus with 1680 MHz boost clock and a dual-slot dual-fan cooler. In addition, both cards have one eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector and four display outputs (three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1 connector). 

Given the somewhat odd configuration of the Galax RTX 3060 Ti Plus, it remains to be seen how much the graphics cards will eventually cost. In theory, the model RTX 3060 Ti Plus should sit between the regular RTX 3060 Ti ($399) and RTX 3070 ($499), but since the product will rival the latter, at least in some cases, its pricing will probably fall closer to Nvidia's reference GeForce RTX 3070.

Gigabyte appears to have listed several new products on the official EEC registry website. These products may or may not hit the market. There are five new, unreleased graphics cards from Gigabyte in total, but one caught our eye as it seems to be an RTX 30 series model with a brand-new memory configuration; a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti with 16GB of VRAM. The database entry, unearthed by Twitter’s Harukaze5719, carries the unmistakable Gigabyte-style codename of ‘GV-N307TGAMING OC ST-16GD’.

It isn’t the first time we’ve seen mentions of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti with 16GB. We reported about this card being lined up by both Gigabyte and Asus in January this year. It never turned up, of course, but the recent rumors of an RTX 3080 with 12GB did prove true.

We must also put the newly surfaced Gigabyte GV-N307TGAMING OC ST-16GD into the perspective of the Nvidia RTX 30 series predicament. It looks like Nvidia and partners will be trying all avenues to sell off old Ampere GPUs in the coming weeks/months, and offering a wider variety of memory configurations across the series looks like a favored idea. A week ago, another Twitter leaker pointed out that a GeForce RTX 3060 8GB, an RTX 3060 Ti with GDDR6X, and an RTX 3070 Ti based on the GA102 GPU were all allegedly coming to market.

At this stage, we don’t know if the 16GB version of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti will rely on the GA102 GPU, as per the recent rumor, or if it will stick with a version of GA104, like models currently for sale.

• GV-N307TGAMING OC ST-16GD (Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC Stealth 16 GB)
• GV-N307TGAMING OC ST-8GD (Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC Stealth 8 GB)
• GV-N3070GAMING OC ST-8GD (Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC Stealth 8 GB)
• GV-N306TGAMING OC ST-8GD (Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Gaming OC Stealth 8 GB)
• GV-N3060GAMING OC ST-12GD (Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming OC Stealth 12 GB)

Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted something else relatively new in the naming scheme; all five new cards have ‘ST’ in their codename, which indicates they will be new Project Stealth models. This stealthy family of devices is very quiet and minimizes airflow obstacles. They use Gigabyte’s decent but long-in-the-tooth WindForce technology, a ‘silent’ BIOS option, and power connector positioning to reduce cable clutter. However, they aren’t visually stealthy with their RGB Fusion 2.0 LEDs fired up.

Nvidia is due to launch its first GeForce RTX 40 series graphics card at the GeForce Beyond event on Tuesday. However, we don’t foresee an RTX 3070 Ti successor arriving until early next year. Moreover, many predict an avalanche of ‘lightly used’ and ‘nearly new’ GeForce and Radeon graphics cards on the used market due to the recent Ethereum merge.

Last but not least, remember to add a pinch of salt to the probable release of a graphics card model based on an EEC listing. Sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t, and sometimes there will be a significant delay between a listing and a launch.

According to a tweet by resident GPU leaker, Kopite7kimi, the GeForce RTX 4060 (AD106) reportedly delivers a TimeSpy Extreme score of 7,000 points. If accurate, it would put the GeForce RTX 4060’s performance in between the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070. Also, Kopite7kimi noted that Nvidia’s AD106 and the more budget-friendly AD107 die would only have eight PCIe lanes at their disposal instead of 16.

It is the first time we’ve gotten a TimeSpy Extreme performance figure from the hardware leaker regarding Nvidia’s RTX 40-series (Ada Lovelace) GPUs. AD106 will potentially power the next-generation RTX 4060 and possibly the RTX 4050 Ti (if Nvidia makes one this time).

Kopite7kimi stated that the new score is not very strong, but we would beg to differ. For reference, the current RTX 3060 has an average TimeSpy Extreme graphics score of around 4,500 points to 4,800 points. So if Kopite7kimi’s data is accurate and the RTX 4060 AD106 GPU has a TimeSpy Extreme score of approximately 7,000, the RTX 4060 is effectively 50% faster than the RTX 3060.

It would put the AD106 die, or rather RTX 4060, at performance parity with cards like the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070, which isn’t the wrong place to be. According to TimeSpy Extreme alone, the RTX 4060 appears to be a good upgrade over the RTX 3060. But that is the problem; we only have the alleged TimeSpy Extreme scores on a GPU that isn’t yet out. So as always, take this data with a grain of salt. However, we will say that the RTX 4060’s estimated performance looks very accurate if history repeats itself.

When the RTX 3060 was released, its performance generally outperformed the RTX 2060 Super and RTX 2070 by a few percentage points. The RTX 4060 would be doing the same thing here, being substantially quicker than the RTX 3060, but performing similarly to the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070.

PCIe Lane Limitations

Arguably the most exciting part about the Tweet is the claims of the AD106 and AD107 getting nerfed to eight PCIe lanes instead of the traditional 16. AMD does the same thing with its entry-level Radeon RX 5000 and mid-range RX 6000 series product stack. It would seem that Nvidia will follow suit with the GeForce RTX 40-series.

Assuming Nvidia decides to use PCIe 4.0 instead of PCIe 5.0, we don't believe it will be a problem on modern platforms. For example, for an RTX 4050 and RTX 4060, a PCIe 4.0 x8 configuration should be adequate and provide enough bandwidth for PCIe heavy applications. After all, PCIe 4.0 x8 features the same bandwidth as PCIe 3.0 x16, and the RTX 2080 Ti - the last GPU to run PCIe 3.0, ran just fine with a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.

The only potential issue with PCIe 4.0 x8 is that older systems are limited to PCIe 3.0 speeds. It, in turn, will force PCIe 4.0 x8 GPUs to alternate to PCIe 3.0 x8, which is much slower than PCIe 3.0 x16 and PCIe 4.0 x8. As a result, we could see FPS reductions due to the PCIe bottleneck, but we can't be sure until we get our hands on Nvidia's RTX 4050 and RTX 4060.

Using the latest hardware available this Lenovo Legion 5 Pro is currently $1,599 at Walmart. Stacking a 12th Gen Core i7-12700H and RTX 3070, this SKU of the Legion 5 Pro lineup has more than enough kick to play all the latest games on high settings. 

Back on sale, the Cloud Revolver 7.1 Surround Sound gaming headset from HyperX is down to $89, saving $60 off its usual price. This is a great deal for some high-quality cans. The Cloud Revolver uses a virtual 7.1 surround sound stage to replicate in-game audio queues and help you determine the direction of incoming bullets and footsteps with one of your other primary senses.

One of our favorite and best SSDs the WD Black SN850 (1TB) is on sale at $124 when you use code SSBU2926 at checkout on Newegg. This is still one of the fastest M.2 NVMe SSDs currently available.

Check out more great deals below. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16 Gaming Laptop: was $1,799, now $1,599 at Walmart
• HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset: was $149, now $89 at HP
• WD Black SN850 NVMe M.2 1TB SSD: was $148, now $124 with code SSBU2926 at Newegg
• Gigabyte G27FC 27-Inch Gaming Monitor: was $249, now $179 with code W2BBU26287 at Newegg
• AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU: was $569, now $358 at Amazon

Today’s best deals in detail

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TheMSI Rainbow 6 Special Edition Crosshair 15 is down to $1,456 on Amazon. This system has a QHD 2560x1440p screen that's able to go up to 165MHz and an Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics card. That's a nice deal on a beefy gaming laptop from MSI.

HyperX has their Cloud Revolver gaming headset reduced to $89 from its regular $149 pricing.  This is a lovely reduction if you're looking for a new set of 7.1 surround sound headphones for your gaming and comms needs. 

There's also a good deal on Logitech's fantastic G502 Hero gaming mouse (wired) which is now only $38 — that is a great price for a solidly built peripheral. 

More deals further down the page, so keep on scrolling. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• MSI Rainbow 6 Special Edition Crosshair 15 Gaming Laptop: was $1,799, now $1,456 at Amazon
• HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset: was $149, now $89 at HP
• Logitech G502 Hero Wired Gaming Mouse: was $79, now $38 at Amazon
• G.Skill Ripjaws Series 64GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM Kit: was $164, now $149 at Newegg
• Corsair K60 RGB Pro Low Profile Cherry Switches: was $109, now $44 at Amazon

Today’s best deals in detail

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• Best deals on tech & PC hardware
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• Best PC and laptop deals
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• Best 3D printer deals
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Intel's own Ryan Shrout has come out of the gates swinging, aiming at a specific rumor that has been spreading its wings since the announcement of the company's Arc Alchemist discrete GPUs. Specifically, Shrout denied rumors of an upcoming Arc A780 graphics card. Initially reported by known leaker Moore's Law is Dead (MLID), the Arc A780 allegedly was an unannounced card that would offer better performance over Intel's confirmed top-tier discrete card, the Arc A770.

Being an element of Intel's Graphics Marketing, Ryan Shrout is likely privy to details that a leaker isn't. Another Intel specialist, Intel Arc Tech Evangelist Tuan Huynh, reinforced Shrout's disclosure, even going so far as saying that he never heard any rumor of the so-called graphics card in the year and a half he's been on the team.

MLID, which has had a relatively straight record on leaked details for Intel's Arc lineup before, was quick to defend its reporting and information gathering from within Intel's Arc teams. MLID's Twitter account even went as far as saying that Intel's denial is nothing more than an attempt at damage control for the company's failure to produce a product that would be competitive against Nvidia's current RTX 3070 card.

Of course, we might never know the truth behind the Arc A780. However, Intel would indeed have little to gain in admitting failure to produce an adequate alternative against a competitor's card that's expected to be replaced shortly by Nvidia's upcoming RTX 4000 series. 

One thing is certain: Intel's top-tier Arc card in the Alchemist series will indeed be the A770. As a reminder, the Arc A770 has been confirmed by Intel to ship with 32 Xe cores and 4,096 ALUs, packed in a 406 mm^2 die with 21.7 billion transistors built on TSMC's N6 process.

Intel's performance projections place the A750 roughly 12% faster than Nvidia's RTX 3060 graphics card at 2560 x 1440 resolution. 

Considering that Nvidia's RTX 3070 offers around 42% higher performance than the RTX 3060, Intel's A780 would have to provide about 30% faster performance than the Arc A770. According to MLID, the Arc A780 was projected to have as big a die as the RTX 3070 (392^mm on Samsung's 8 nm). The issue is that Intel's A770 has been confirmed to carry a die that's already bigger than that (and on a denser process), so it seems... improbable that Intel would have unlocked that much performance without having to increase die area considerably.

It's the weekend at last, and there are still some great bargains to be had after the deals-monsoon that is Prime Day. Today we have the Alienware x15 Ryzen Edition with RTX 3070 for $1,499 at Dell. This laptop has plenty of storage with its 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD and packs a punch with the graphics details thanks to its powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070.

Speaking of RTX 3070s - if you're looking for one to pop into your PC, then the mobile version's big brother is on sale in the form of the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming OC for $549 with code FTSBUAA695 at the checkout at Newegg.

Fancy going crazy on a super large widescreen monitor? The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 Gaming DQHD Quantum Mini-LED Monitor has been reduced to $1,599. That's a lot of screen real estate for playing your games. 

Keep scrolling for more Friday bargains.

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Alienware x15 Ryzen Edition (RTX 3070): was $2,429, now $1,499 at Dell
• Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming OC: was $599, now $549 with code FTSBUAA695 at Newegg
• Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 Gaming DQHD Quantum Mini-LED Monitor: was $2,299, now $1,599 at Samsung
• Samsung 980 Pro PCIe Gen 4 1TB: was $209, now $119 at Amazon
• Logitech Brio 4K Webcam: was $199, now $141 at Amazon

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Today for Amazon Prime Day, the Predator Orion 3000 gaming PC is available at its lowest price ever. It has a recommended price of $1699 but right now is discounted to $1444, its lowest price ever.

This gaming PC comes with everything you need to get started short of a monitor and a game to play. Users get a completely assembled gaming rig along with a Predator RGB Gaming Keyboard and a Predator RGB Gaming Mouse.

For storage, there's both a 1 TB HDD and a 512 GB internal SSD. The system also comes with 16GB of DDR4-3200, which can be expanded to 64GB.

As far as network connectivity goes, there's an Ethernet port along with 802.11ax wireless support. The system also has Bluetooth 5.2 support for connecting external peripherals and 7 USB ports, including 5 USB Type-A and 2 USB Type-C ports. In addition, a DisplayPort is available for video output. This rig also comes with Windows 11 Home 64-bit pre-installed.

Visit the Acer Predator Orion 3000 product page on Amazon for purchase options and make sure to take a look at our list of Amazon promo codes.

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Because of their superior build quality, fantastic performance and attractive sci-fi looks, Alienware's m15 laptops are always among the most popular and highest rated. Normally, you have to pay close to $2,000 for a specked-out Alienware laptop, but today, as part of its Prime Day-related deals, Dell has an Alienware m15 R5 with RTX 3070 graphics, a 240 Hz screen and an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU for just $1499 while supplies last.

Normally you have to cut some corners to get an Alienware gaming laptop with that kind of GPU and CPU at this price point. However, this R5 comes with all the trimmings, including 16GB of RAM, a 1TB NVMe SSD and Killer Wi-FI 6 connectivity.

The m15 R5 weighs about 5.3 pounds and is 0.9 inches thick so it's not exactly the thinnest or lightest gaming laptop on the market. However, the relatively-thick chassis allows for solid cooling and some upgradeability.

When we reviewed an RTX 3060-powered configuration of the Alienware m15 R5, we were impressed with its strong gaming and productivity performance, along with its unique looking chassis. With the lesser card, our review config still managed a strong 79 fps on Far Cry New Dawn at 1080p Ultra settings. 

We also found the default keyboard and its 1.7mm of travel really snappy. It also has 4 different RGB zones.

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This July 4th weekend, Dell has some affordable fireworks you can throw in your bag and play with all summer long. As part of its Independence Day sales, the laptop OEM has an Alienware m15 R5 laptop, complete with RTX 3070 GPU and 360 Hz, 15.6-inch display, for just $1499. 

When we reviewed a different config of the Alienware m15 R5 last year, we complimented its sleek, sci-fi inspired design, which includes customizable RGB lighting. We also loved the deep, 1.7mm of travel on its keyboard, which itself has 4-zone RGB lighting. 

This config of the Alienware m15 R5 is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU, which has 8 Cores, 16 threads and a maximum boost clock of 4.4 GHz and a base clock of 3.2 GHz. During our review testing of an m15 R5 with this CPU but an RTX 3060 GPU, the processor managed to maintain a 3.63-GHz clock speed while running the Metro Exodus RTX benchmark 15 times in a row.

With a mobile RTX 3070 card inside, this system should provide very strong frame rates in 1080p games. No matter how fast the card spits them out, the 1080p screen will keep up as it can operate at up to 360 Hz. If you're into eSports gaming, this is the laptop for you.

The config on sale also sports 16GB of DDR-3200 RAM, which should be more than enough to play games and keep dozens of browser tabs open. It also comes with a 1TB NVMe SSD, which provides enough storage for several games. There's also a second M.2 slot, should you wish to add another drive later, but note that it's the less-common 2230 length.

The Alienware m15 R5 also comes with a Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 2x2 card which promises very speedy connections to your router. If you are using the laptop close t the router, its 2.5 Gbe Ethernet port will be even better.

Today at the Acer store you can pick up their Predator Triton 300 Gaming Laptop for just $1,179. With an RTX 3070 GPU inside - this gaming laptop should be able to play all the latest games with sliders on max settings. 

Fancy going all Maverick and getting your Top-Gun on? Well, with the help of a Logitech G Extreme 3D Pro Joystick for only $19, you might be able to do just that in your flight sim of choice. 

The massive 35-inch ultrawide Acer Predator Z35P curved gaming monitor is back down to $549 on the Acer store. If you're looking for more screen real estate then this offer may be of interest to you. We reviewed the Acer Predator Z35P and thought it expensive at the time, but this offer makes the monitor a lot more attractive.

Check further down for more offers on 3D printers from Creality and storage options from Western Digital. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Acer Predator Triton 300 Gaming Laptop: was $1,599, now $1,179 at Acer
• Logitech G Extreme 3D Pro Joystick: was $39, now $19 at Amazon
• Acer Predator Z35P 35-inch Curved Monitor: was $799, now $549 at Acer
• Creality Ender 3 V2: was $279, now $229 at Newegg
• WD Black SN850 NVMe M.2 1TB with Heatsink: was $269, now $141 at Best Buy

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There are great deals on GPUs today as the price drops for graphics cards continue. You can get your hands on a Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming OC for only $549 when you use code VGAGBET246 at Newegg. This is an amazing price for an RTX 3070 and the cheapest I've ever seen it. 

If you're looking for a GPU with a bit more power, then you can also pick up the 12GB MSI Ventus RTX 3080 for $769. This card comes with more cores and VRAM, but also a higher price. 

If Nvidia isn't your preferred brand and you want an alternative AMD solution then we have the PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon RX 6800 for $659. Check out our GPU hierarchy list for a better idea of how these cards compare to each other and how they perform.

Scroll down for more Friday deals. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming OC GPU: was $729, now $549 with code VGAGBET246 at Newegg
• MSI Ventus RTX 3080 12GB GPU: was $999, now $769 with rebate at Newegg
• PowerColor Red Dragon AMD Radeon RX 6800 GPU: was $899 now $659 at Amazon
• Patriot Viper Elite II 16GB DDR4 4000MHz RAM Kit: was $59, now $44 with code SSBT2425 at Newegg
• Dark Matter by Monoprice 27-Inch QHD Gaming Monitor (Model-42892): was $349, now $214 at Monoprice

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Some great deals are popping up today for gaming laptops, with a choice of either an RTX 3070 or RTX 3060 GPU inside. The Gigabyte A5 X1 is down to just $1,299 at Amazon. This powerful little gaming machine includes a Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU and an RTX 3070 GPU.

Acer is selling the Predator Helios 300 at a reduced price of  $1,049. With a 144Hz FHD screen, a Core-i7 11800H CPU, and an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU, this is a great price for this config. 

A luxury peripheral at a bargain price — the Razer Kraken Ultimate gaming headset is on sale for only $64. It features THX-certified virtual 7.1 surround sound, a retractable microphone, and gel-infused ear cushions.

More great deals follow down below. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Gigabyte A5 X1 (RTX3070) Gaming Laptop: was $1,749, now $1,299 at Amazon
• Acer Predator Helios 300 (RTX 3060) Gaming Laptop: was $1,499, now $1,049 at Acer
• Razer Kraken Ultimate Gaming Headset: was $129, now $64 at Amazon
• AOC AG493UCX 49-Inch 120Hz Ultrawide Gaming Monitor: was $999, now $699 at Micro Center
• HyperX Pulsefire Dart Wireless RGB Gaming Mouse: was $99, now $39 at Amazon

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More GPUs are on sale today as we spot more 30-series graphics cards at discount pricing. Grab a Gigabyte Vision OC GeForce RTX 3070 from Newegg for only $589or a Gigabyte Eagle OC RTX 3060 for just $389. These GPUs have seen some serious price drops over the last couple of months, and with the 40-series cards on the horizon, here's hoping they drop in price even more. 

Today's also a good day to get your hands on a giant 31.5-inch curved QHD gaming monitor. The Acer XZ322QU has dipped down to an amazingly low $279 — that's a great deal for such a feature-rich display. 

Check out some peripheral offers below. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Gigabyte Vision OC GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GPU: was $759, now $589 with code GFDBT7389 at Newegg
• Gigabyte Eagle OC RTX 3060 12GB GPU: was $459, now $389 with code SSBT827 at Newegg
• Acer XZ322QU 31.5-Inch Curved QHD Gaming Monitor: was $399, now $279 at Micro Center
• Logitech G Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse: was $129, now $75 at Amazon
• Cooler Master MM720 Lightweight Gaming Mouse: was $52, now $16 at Amazon

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Nvidia's upcoming mid-range GeForce RTX 40-series (Ada Lovelace) graphics cards might be free from the shackles of high power consumption. Prominent hardware leaker kopite7kimi believes that the GeForce RTX 4060 will consume more power than Nvidia's current generation GeForce RTX 3070, far more than the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB that it's replacing. But the real question is; how much more power are we talking about? Even though kopite7kimi has a solid record, we still recommend you treat the rumor with caution.

Unfortunately, the leaker doesn't know the exact power specifications of the GeForce RTX 4060, so it's entirely an educated guess as to what it'll be like. However, evidence of the new 16-pin power connector and GeForce RTX 3090 Ti alone shows that the next generation of Nvidia GPUs will consume far more power than the current Ampere generation.

The GeForce RTX 3070 consumes around 220W on the Founders Edition to quickly refresh your memory with factory-overclocked SKUs boosting up to around 240-250W. The GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti consume 170W and 200W, respectively, with higher-end AIB partner cards consuming slightly higher than those values.

There's a possibility that the GeForce RTX 4060 may consume anywhere between 290W to 350W which is where the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and GeForce RTX 3080 sit in terms of power consumption. We've already seen reports of flagship GeForce RTX 40-series cards possibly consuming as much as 450W to 600W of power (which is also evident by the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti's power budget). So technically, there's plenty of power headroom in Nvidia's future lineup for a mid-range 350W GPU.

It will be interesting to see how the market handles a 300W to 350W mid-range graphics card in the future. In our current market, mid-rangers like the GeForce RTX 2060 and GeForce RTX 3060 and AMD's Radeon RX 6000-series counterparts all sit well within the 200W power bracket, with some featuring power budgets as low as 170W.

A jump from 300W to 350W in a single generation could pose a serious problem to budget gamers who want to either build a new system or upgrade their system with a new GPU. In addition, the 50% to 75% bump in power will undoubtedly require higher wattage PSUs and higher quality units that are more expensive for users who will not expect a significant jump in next-generation GPUs.

Additionally, bigger and more airflow-oriented computer cases might become necessary to fit a GPU with a cooler designed to handle 300W of power output. In the end, many gamers might need to upgrade additional components for a single GPU upgrade alone.

Desktop form factor graphics cards packing mobile Nvidia GPUs appear to be readily available in China. Twitter's I_Leak_VN spotted multiple RTX 30 series designs available on China's Taobao online market place, and shared mining performance tables featuring these unofficial products. VideoCardz picked up on this story and unearthed an image which appears to show scores of these graphics cards being prepared for shipping.

From the Taobao listing images, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 mobile GPU packing desktop graphics card appears to be the most popular of these unofficial mobile / desktop mashup products available now. They are priced at around 3,800 Yuan on average, which makes them roughly $560 as of this writing. 

The asking price isn't exactly a bargain for the gaming power that an RTX 3070M offers. In the US you can buy a proper desktop RTX 3070 for around $600. If you have pondered over RTX 30 laptops and desktops you will also be well aware that the mobile and desktop GPUs aren't created equal. See this table for comparison:

The most crucial differences between the two graphics solutions tabulated above is that the mobile version has its CUDA cores and GPU clock speeds pruned back significantly. Moreover, it runs with a lot less power on tap. The ~115W TDP quoted for the mobile GPU was how it was usually configured in the tight confines of a laptop. The Chinese hybrid solutions are mostly configured with twin fan coolers and have higher TDPs (single 8-pin power connector on the card).

So, what is the use of an RTX 3070M desktop graphics card if it isn't much cheaper, its content creator and gaming performance isn't going to be as good as the original desktop model, and the brand/build quality is suspect? It all comes down to cryptomining performance. Nvidia's laptop GPUs don't have an LHR technologies holding them back from working at their full potential down the silicon mines.

If you buy a new GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card from one of the big brands today, it will feature LHR technology, paring back ETH mining performance to about 30 MH/s. Nvidia recently struck back at a NiceHash workaround which effectively boosted the desktop RTX 3070 GPU ETH mining hash rate back to about 60 MH/s. However, buyers of the RTX 3070M desktop graphics cards won't need to worry about this whack-a-mole game, as they aren't buying LHR GPUs, and these lower power alternatives purportedly achieve up to approximately 65 MH/s. They might be more power efficient while mining, too, which could reduce costs involved in mining.

This isn't the first time we have reported on the repurposing of RTX 30 series mobile GPUs for desktop mining cards. In March we noted that the RTX 3060 Mobile was proving to be a popular choice for this kind of gray market activity.

If you are purely into PC gaming and content creation it is probably best to avoid these mashup mobile / desktop products. Desktop GPU pricing is slowly dropping to a more reasonable place. And with 'the merge' of Ethereum expected to actually happen in August, and next gen GPUs galloping along in Q3 and Q4, there will hopefully be plenty of nice GPU bargains over the summer.

Along with the Radeon RX 6950 XT, AMD recently launched two other new GPUs: the Radeon RX 6750 XT and RX 6650 XT. Like the 6950 XT, both come with faster 18Gbps GDDR6 memory, plus higher GPU clocks and slightly higher power consumption. However, prices are also slightly higher than the 6x00 XT models they replace, making the overall prospects a wash at best. You can see how the newcomers rank in our GPU benchmarks hierarchy, where they're just slightly ahead of the existing models.

AMD didn't provide samples of its new cards, so we turned to the AIB (add-in board) partners for review units. Asus sent us its ROG Strix 6750 XT, which looks identical to the ROG Strix 6700 XT other than that little "5" on the sticker. We actually have a Strix 6700 XT in hand as well, so we'll get to see exactly how much more performance you get from the two factory overclocked variants. Note that most of the other cards we've reviewed, including Nvidia's RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3070, run reference clocks, so you can add a few percent in performance if you're after like-for-like comparisons.

Here's the breakdown of the specs for the AMD Navi 22 GPUs along with Nvidia's competing 3070 and 3070 Ti.

Asus bumps the GPU clock up by 43MHz relative to the reference 6750 XT, which, in turn, has a 19MHz "improvement" over the reference RX 6700 XT. Of course, the higher TBP (typical board power) on the new model means it may end up boosting a bit higher in practice, but we'll get to that later. At least on paper, the main change is the switch to 18Gbps GDDR6. That's 12.5% more bandwidth in theory, but we don't know if other aspects of the memory like subtimings may reduce the real-world gains.

There's good news in terms of the general availability of graphics cards. As we've noted recently, many GPUs can now be found in stock for prices close to the MSRP. Above, we've listed the best street prices we've been able to find for the various GPUs. That presents some difficulties for the Asus ROG Strix, a premium card that commands much higher prices. At the time of writing, the least expensive RX 6750 XT we could find costs $240 less than the Asus model, and you can shave off another $55 by opting for an RX 6700 XT.

It feels very much as though AMD and its partners came up with a pricing structure based on how much GPUs were selling for several months ago. In the meantime, cryptocurrency (and stock) prices plummeted, which now means the new products cost too much. Short of changes in supply or demand, we expect prices to continue to decline, and the 6750 XT really shouldn't cost much more than the 6700 XT, which has us wondering why it even exists.

We know AMD is hard at work on its upcoming RDNA 3 architecture, and Nvidia is likewise working on its Ada architecture. We expect to see the first cards using those to arrive before the end of the year, perhaps as early as July for the RTX 40-series. Doing a relatively minor refresh with higher official prices less than six months before the next-gen cards arrive strikes us as odd. Perhaps the supply chain has finally started catching up with backorders, but there's a real chance AMD and Nvidia could end up with a glut of "old" GPUs on their hands in the coming months, much like what happened with the RX 570 back in 2018. 

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The Asus Radeon RX 6750 XT ROG Strix looks the same as many other ROG Strix cards that we've seen. That's not a bad thing, as you get plenty of RGB lighting effects, triple fans, and ample cooling. The card measures 322x141x57 mm and weighs 1569g, which is pretty chunky for a nominally 250W graphics card — for example, the Sapphire RX 6950 XT we looked at last week only weighed a few grams more at 1582g, though it was a wider 3.5-slot design. The Asus occupies 2.9 slots, though, so it's still plenty wide.

The three fans all have an integrated rim, which helps to improve static pressure and cooling. Asus also has the middle fan spinning in the opposite direction of the two outer fans, which it says helps reduce turbulence. It's tough to say how much that really matters, but the Strix card was generally quiet, with the fans stopping completely when GPU temperatures were below 50C.

The top of the card has a large illuminated RGB lighting strip, which also shines down on the fan. The fans don't have their own RGB LEDs, not that it really matters since they typically end up facing the bottom of your PC case. The traditional black/gray/silver color scheme that we've seen on so many other cards is here as well, with the Strix logo on the backplate of the card. There are two 8-pin PEG power connectors on the top, and a small cutout near the back of the card to allow air to flow through the heatsink fins.

The Asus RX 6750 XT includes the standard three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1 outputs. The IO bracket is only two slots wide, with half of it allowing ventilation of sorts. However, those heatsink fins are oriented parallel to the IO backplate, meaning most of the heat from the card will exhaust out the top and bottom and into your case. 

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Our GPU test PC and gaming suite was updated in early 2022. We're now using a Core i9-12900K processor, MSI Pro Z690-A DDR4 WiFi motherboard, and DDR4-3600 memory (with XMP enabled). We also upgraded to Windows 11 to ensure we get the most out of Alder Lake. You can see the rest of the hardware in the boxout.

Our gaming tests consist of a "standard" suite of eight games without ray tracing enabled (even if the game supports it), and a separate "ray tracing" suite of six games that all use multiple RT effects. We tested at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K for this review with "ultra" settings for the standard suite — basically maxed out settings, except without SSAA if that's an option. Our ray tracing suite consists of six games, and we tested at 1080p in "medium" and "ultra" settings, as well as 1440p at "ultra" settings — with the latter generally being too much for the RX 6750 XT.

We used AMD's public 22.5.1 drivers for these tests, and we also ran benchmarks on an Asus RX 6700 XT ROG Strix for comparison. (Note that AMD released 22.5.2 drivers that incorporate some additional performance improvements, particularly for DX11 games. We'll be retesting performance for our GPU benchmarks hierarchy in the near future with those drivers.) Let's get to the results, starting with 1080p.

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We'll start with our 1440p testing results, representing the ideal target for many gamers in terms of balancing resolution and performance. The RX 6750 XT also does great at 1440p, at least in our standard benchmarks, averaging over 80 fps across the test suite, with Total War: Warhammer 3 being the only game that can't average 60 fps or more — and it's a strategy game that's not quite as dependent on maintaining extremely high framerates.

Compared to the RX 6700 XT, the Asus 6750 XT delivered 6% higher performance pretty consistently across the test suite, ranging from a 5.6% to 8.3% improvement. That's nice, but we also need to factor in the overclocked nature of the Asus Strix card. If we compare the two Asus Strix models, the 6750 XT is still 5% faster overall, which is interesting to see. Basically, the RX 6700 XT Strix card was barely faster than the reference design in our testing, despite the substantially improved cooling.

Looking at some of the other GPUs, the 6750 XT basically tied the RTX 3070 (1.7% slower) while being 9% faster than the RTX 3060 Ti. Keep in mind, at current prices, the 6750 XT costs about as much as the 3060 Ti and $50 less than the RTX 3070. It's also $75 more than the cheapest 6700 XT, though, which still tends to deliver the best overall value.

Going through the individual games and focusing on the 3070 and 6750, AMD came out ahead in half the games (Borderlands 3, Far Cry 6, Forza Horizon 5, and Horizon Zero Dawn), with the 3070 delivering better performance in the other four games, with particularly large 18–20% leads in Flight Simulator and Total War: Warhammer 3.

As usual, ray tracing vastly favored Nvidia's competing GPUs, with the RX 6750 XT barely coming out ahead of the RTX 3060. Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 was 33% faster without enabling DLSS, and the 3060 Ti was 24% faster overall. But 1440p with ray tracing wasn't really a good experience on any of those GPUs, at least without some form of resolution upscaling.

The RX 6750 averaged just 23 fps across our six DXR games, and only Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition managed to break the 30 fps mark, with Control coming in just below that mark. By comparison, the RTX 3070 averaged 34 fps across the suite, but half of the games were still below 60 fps. Again, DLSS would help Nvidia quite a bit, and we'd love to see FSR 2.0 in more games as it generally provided a comparable experience. Unfortunately, FSR 2.0 at present is only available in a single game, Deathloop, with more to come in the future.

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1080p performance was about 33% faster than 1440p performance, and all of the games are now comfortably breaking 60 fps. This time, the RX 6750 XT came out 3% ahead of the RTX 3070, as the 96MB Infinity Cache has a higher hit rate at lower resolutions. The 6750 also remained about 6% faster than the RX 6700 XT, or 5% faster than the "apples-to-apples" Asus 6700 card.

Flipping through the charts, the AMD 6750 continued to lead in half of the games relative to the RTX 3070, but on Warhammer 3 showed more than a minor advantage for the Nvidia GPU. Flight Simulator incidentally ended up CPU limited on many of the graphics cards, with the 6750 landing just below the Nvidia CPU bottleneck of 84 fps — the fastest Nvidia GPUs we've tested managed around 87 fps, while AMD's fastest GPUs top out at around 83 fps.

All of our testing was completed last week, but AMD has since released an updated driver that might change the standings slightly. Other sites have reported about a 4% average increase in performance for the new "DX11 enhanced" driver, though Watch Dogs Legion — one of our test games — has seen double digit percentage gains. Note also that none of the games we tested are pushing more than 144 fps at 1080p ultra, so unless you're planning to run at minimum settings in order to boost frame rates for an esports game, there's little need for anything faster than a 144Hz monitor.

We tested in both "medium" and "ultra" settings for our ray tracing DXR suite at 1080p. Without resolution upscaling, 1080p ultra was still a marginal experience, averaging 36 fps across the six games, with Cyberpunk 2077 and Fortnite still falling below 30 fps. Control and Metro were the only games to feel mostly smooth, with 47–48 fps on average and minimums that stayed about 30 fps.

Nvidia's competing RTX 3070 delivered 47% higher fps in DXR, and the 3060 Ti was 29% faster overall. The RX 6750 was also 7% faster than the 6700 XT, slightly more than in our non-DXR gaming suite.

1080p medium with medium DXR effects still failed to get above 60 fps in all of the games, breaking that mark in two games (Control and Metro again). While that's not great, at least the worst-performing of the DXR games was now above the 30 fps barrier. We do run more demanding settings for DXR than are perhaps necessary, but we figure anyone thinking about ray tracing would prefer more eye candy rather than less. Otherwise, they could just turn off ray tracing altogether and get substantially improved performance.

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Ray tracing is obviously out of the question at 4K, so we're only looking at standard gaming performance. With 45 fps across our test suite, the 6750 XT delivered playable results, with Warhammer 3 being the only game to come up well short of the 30 fps mark. Forza Horizon 5 also nearly averaged 60 fps, but 4K doesn't do AMD's Infinity Cache any favors, and nearly every game now ran equal to or faster than the 6750 XT on Nvidia's competing RTX 3070. There's not much to add, with performance mostly mirroring what we saw at 1440p, just with much lower framerates.

If you're serious about taking on 4K gaming, you can use RSR — Radeon Super Resolution — to apply a universal upscaling algorithm to all games. It's comparable to NIS (Nvidia Image Sharpening), and while it generally doesn't look as good as native, upscaling 1440p to 4K delivers a far better experience on these high-end GPUs than trying to do 4K native. RSR is also relatively lightweight, meaning upscaling 1440p to 4K only ends up being a few percent slower than running 1440p, and some may find the resulting output to be more pleasing than native 1440p (especially on a 4K display).

FSR or DLSS still result in better upscaling quality in general, just because those require game integration and can render the HUD and text at native resolution and only apply upscaling to areas of the game where a few artifacts won't be as noticeable. But FSR and DLSS require work on the part of the game developers, whereas RSR and NIS are a cheap and "free" solutions for virtually all games.

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We use Powenetics testing hardware and software for our power, temperature, clock speed, and fan speed testing. We capture in-line GPU power consumption by collecting data while looping Metro Exodus at 1440p ultra as well as while running the FurMark stress test at 1600x900. Our power testing PC uses an open testbed, as that's required for all the extra wires and riser card, and it's the same old Core i9-9900K that we've used for the past several years.

We tested the Asus card in the three modes defined by Asus' GPU Tweak software: Gaming (default), OC, and Silent, with the latter two providing a 10% increase or decrease in power limits, along with a 20MHz increase/decrease in GPU clocks.

Interestingly, something is… off… with the GPU Tweak profiles. We actually confirmed this in some gaming tests, but the OC mode ended up using quite a bit less power than the default mode and also decreased performance by 1–2%. That's not supposed to happen, so something else apparently came into play, but this is actually good news. It means that anyone using the Asus RX 6750 XT will get optimal out-of-box performance without having to install any extra software.

One of the changes AMD made with the 6750 XT compared to the existing 6700 XT was a 20W increase in the power limit, but Asus pushed the limit even further. The 6750 reference design has a 250W power limit, compared to 230W on the reference 6700 XT. The Asus Strix card came in at 263W in our gaming test and hit 283W in FurMark. By comparison, the reference 6700 XT actually came in below the rated TBP at around 215W.

OC mode dropped the Asus card to 228W in Metro and 276W in FurMark, so it made a much bigger difference in gaming. The silent mode provided a bigger power decrease in FurMark, and actually got gaming power use below the RX 6700 XT. Of course, with the lower power limit, performance in Silent mode would be closer to the old 6700 XT, and the difference in noise levels was hardly noticeable (see below).

Clock speeds on the Asus 6750 XT were clustered pretty close together, regardless of which power mode was used. Even in Silent mode, the Asus card still averaged just over 2.6GHz, and it only dropped by around 40MHz in FurMark. On the other hand, the Gaming mode only improved average clocks by about 80MHz in gaming, or just 20MHz in FurMark.

Compared to the reference RX 6700 XT, the overclocked Asus 6750 XT provided about 160MHz higher GPU clocks, a 6.5% improvement that tracks pretty much directly with the increased frame rates that we measured. The GDDR6 memory meanwhile provided a theoretical 12.5% boost to bandwidth, but we didn't see any instances where performance increased by more than 10%. It's possible memory subtimings are also worse with the higher clocked memory, which could limit the potential gains.

Cooling performance for the Asus Strix 6750 XT was great, with the GPU not going above 60C regardless of the performance profile or workload we threw at it. That's by design, as it's clear from the fan speed charts that the card spins up the fans to keep temperatures in check. For example, silent mode topped out at around 1250 rpm while gaming, whereas the default Gaming mode allowed the fans to reach up to 1600 rpm. However, despite the relatively large jump in fan speed, the actual noise levels were pretty consistent.

We measured noise levels at 10cm using an SPL (sound pressure level) meter. The SPL was aimed right at the middle GPU fan in order to minimize the impact of other fans like those on the CPU cooler and the noise floor of our test environment and equipment measures <33 dB(A).

Using the default settings, the fans reached a maximum of approximately 47% fan speed and generated 44.1 dB(A) of noise. We say "approximately" because the three fans on the Asus card don't need to spin at the same rate, but if all three spin at 47%, we got the same 44 dB we measured while gaming. Silent mode drops the average fan speed down to 42%, with noise levels of 40.0 dB(A), while the OC mode — which, as already noted, didn't seem to be working correctly — ran the fans at 43% and 41.3 dB. We also measured with a static fan speed of 75%, which generated 57.9 dB of noise.

Incidentally, we didn't include all the Asus RX 6700 XT figures in the power charts, but that card was slightly louder than the Asus 6750 XT, hitting 46.5 dB(A) while gaming with a 50% average fan speed. It appears that model may have been tuned for slightly lower temperatures at the cost of increased fan speed and noise.

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AMD's RX 6000-series refresh in May 2022 still strikes us as a bit odd, and for cards like the RX 6750 XT, it feels largely unnecessary. At least the RX 6950 XT makes a bit of sense, going for halo glory and competing against the RTX 3090 Ti. There's no new Nvidia competitor for the RX 6750 XT, however, so it basically competes with AMD's existing RX 6700 XT as well as the RTX 3070. That's not a bad thing, as the 6700 XT continues to be one of the best overall values for GPUs, except the RX 6750 XT basically makes things worse: It costs 15% more while only improving performance by around 6%.

Two months ago, finding a graphics card with RX 6700 XT / RTX 3070 levels of performance for $550 would have seemed pretty great, but GPU prices have plummeted as the cryptoapocalypse continues. Even in our traditional gaming suite, the RTX 3070 trades blows with the RX 6750 XT. Add in ray tracing and DLSS, and it's not too difficult to justify paying a bit more money for the extra features and performance Nvidia offers. Or, more likely, with rumors that Nvidia Ada may arrive in just a couple of months, enthusiasts will wait to see what comes next rather than buying a higher cost, warmed-over GPU that debuted over a year ago in March 2021.

AMD does have a new Raise the Game Bundle going on, which applies to all RX 6000-series graphics cards. We haven't seen much in the way of bundles since 2020, as every GPU sold out immediately, often at massively inflated prices. Plus, well, large-scale GPU miners don't care about gaming bundles. The new bundle choices currently include the 2022 Saints Row reboot, slated to arrive in September, or Sniper Elite 5, which comes out May 26. There will be other games added over the coming months as well, in case those games aren't on your list.

The real issue with the RX 6750 XT, in general, is that AMD has tried to increase the pricing on its GPU stack without offering a lot of extra value. The RX 6700 XT was already "overpriced" relative to where it should have landed, were it not for the GPU shortages of the past 18 months or more. Using Nvidia's MSRPs as a baseline, the RX 6700 XT should be taking on the RTX 3060 Ti, a $400 part. Granted, it hasn't ever really sold at that price in meaningful quantities, but GPU pricing now has it at around $550, and we could actually see it selling at $450 within another month or two. Given the features and performance, that's really where we'd prefer to see the RX 6750 XT as well — it should have a lower MSRP than the RTX 3070, since that GPU has DLSS and Tensor cores that provide extra functionality.

The Asus ROG Strix RX 6750 XT delivers a good level of performance, and it targets the sweet spot of 1440p gaming. The design of the card is great; we have no concerns with that. However, Asus takes AMD's already questionable price and then tacks on an extra $100, giving it a final recommended price of $650, and retail prices are even higher right now. You can find other RX 6750 XT cards for $550, though they'll likely leave out the RGB bling and more advanced cooling that Asus offers with its Strix line. How much is the extra cooling and RGB lighting worth, though? We'd say $50, $100 at most, meaning we can really only recommend the Strix 6750 XT if you can find it for closer to $600. Asus makes a good card, but there are better values right now, and we really hope availability will improve and that the price will drop to compete with the rest of the market — a market that's still in freefall from its unsustainable peak prices.

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Over the last few months, we’ve reviewed all kinds of motherboards supporting Intel’s latest Alder Lake-based processors. We’ve covered flagships and halo products on the Z690 enthusiast chipset to more budget-conscious offerings on the B660 chipset. Today we’ll show how the entry-level H610 chipset fares with a flagship-class CPU. While many will say that it isn't fair to put such an expensive processor on a cheap-as-they come board, all these boards list support for our Intel i9-12900K. We’ll compare features and specs among our three tested boards (Asus Prime H610M-A D4, Gigabyte H610M S2H DDR4, and MSI Pro H610M-G DDR4) and see how these MicroATX options perform with a power-hungry chip.

The H610 chipset uses a cut-down version of B660 and the enthusiast-class Z690 chipsets. Where the higher-end options get you overclocking, PCIe 5.0 capability and a slew of PCIe lanes and USB connectivity, H610 pares that down, so you’re limited to less of just about everything. From DMI lanes (eight to four) to USB port speed (no 20 Gbps ports), memory channels (dual to single) and networking (2.5 to 1 GbE), there’s simply less to go around. The changes under the hood amount to fewer USB ports, fewer M.2 sockets, and less bandwidth in general. With this, though, the price drops significantly compared to the other chipsets. But you lose all overclocking ability too, even the memory overclocking that’s on offer with B660 boards.

So if you aren't interested in making these serious sacrifices, consider checking out our best motherboards page for a listing of our favorite tested boards for higher-end chipsets.

For more information on the Intel chipsets, see the table below and our article covering the differences in more detail.

Intel Z690, H670, B660, H610 Specifications

Performance across these three boards using a flagship-class processor was all over the place, depending on the test. For the most part, any long-running, heavily multi-threaded tests were generally slower than B660 and Z690, due to the memory configuration and BIOS limits (MSI limits power draw to 110W, for example) or the VRMs overheating during stress testing. Performance in our game testing was good, but the MSI board was a bit slower than the rest. The short of it is this: If you want 100% from your H610 system all the time, it’s best to use a CPU such as an i5-12600, which runs at a 65W base with 117W turbo (versus our chip that runs 125W/241W and throttles for various reasons), otherwise, in some capacity, these boards prevent full performance in certain situations.

In the following pages, we’ll look at all three boards and focus on features, specifications, and performance in more detail to see what these sub $120 MicroATX motherboards can do in our testing suite. None of these will compete with the Z690 or B660 boards on our best motherboards list, but if you don’t plan on overclocking and will be using an appropriate chip for this class of board, these inexpensive H610 options are a great way to get into Alder Lake, though there are limitations. Let’s take a look at these boards in depth, starting at the beginning of the alphabet with the Asus Prime H610M-A D4.

Specifications: Asus Prime H610M-A D4

Inside the Box of the Asus Prime H610M-A D4

Inside the box, along with the motherboard, Asus includes a small set of accessories including a couple SATA cables, the IO shield, and more. Unlike the more expensive boards, the accessory stacks for these come with just the basics. Below is a complete list of the included extras.

• (2) SATA cables
• I/O shield
• M.2 screw package
• Support DVD
• User Guide
• ACC Express activation key card

Design of the Prime H610M-A D4

The Prime H610M-A D4’s design, like the others in its class, is simple compared to Z690 and most B660-based boards. A black PCB gives way to several white lines that meander their way around the board. The left VRM bank has a small silver heatsink on, it as does the chipset. Bbut otherwise, that’s all you’ll find in terms of design flourishes. None of these boards are made to show off, but at this price point, large heatsinks and shrouds that cover more expensive boards just aren’t a thing.

If your build plans require RGB lighting, the Prime H610M doesn’t have any integrated, but does have multiple headers so you can add some lights to your case. Control over the LEDs happens through the Asus Aura software.

Starting with the top half and the left side, we see all of the rear I/O exposed as this board doesn’t come with a fancy shroud or large VRM heatsink to cover it up. The silver VRM heatsink is small and hopefully does the job of keeping these low-powered VRMs running within specification (we’ll see of that’s true in testing later). Just above is a single 8-pin EPS connector (required) to power the CPU.

To the right of the socket, we run into two unreinforced, single-side locking DRAM slots that support up to 64GB. Memory support is listed up to DDR4 3200, which is the maximum stock specification for the platform. Unlike B660, you cannot overclock the memory on H610, so it’s best to get DDR4 3200 at the tightest timings for best results.

Sitting next to the DRAM slots are two (of three) 4-pin fan headers. Each fan header supports both PWM- and DC-controlled devices and can output up to 1A/12W. Three fan headers aren’t a lot, but this shouldn’t be an issue considering these systems generally use low-powered items that don’t need as much cooling and airflow.

Along the right edge of the board, we run into the first of five RGB headers. In this area are two out of the three ARGB 3-pin headers, while we find the others (2x 4-pin RGB and the other ARGB) along the bottom edge of the board. We run into the 24-pin EPS connector to power the board and a front-panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) header as we work our way down toward the middle.

The Prime has an 8-phase VRM with seven phases dedicated to Vcore. Unlike its more expensive B660 and Z690 counterparts, the high/low portions are not combined (which also saves on cost), so each phase has two ICs. Power comes from the 8-pin connector to a ASP2100 10-channel controller and is sent on to the 50A Vishay SiRA14 MOSFETs on the high side and 25A Vishay SiRA12 on the low side. Although this implementation is weak, it should be enough to power most chips in the Alder Lake lineup without throttling (though not our i9-12900K in stress testing).

On the bottom half of the board, all of the bits are fully exposed - no faraday cages, shrouds, or heatsinks here, which keeps costs low. We see the Realtek ALC897 codec on the left side, along with four yellow audio caps and a visible audio separation line. While this audio solution is a couple of generations old, most users should find it good enough. If you truly care about pristine audio you should opt for a higher-end board or a good set of speakers with their own built-in DAC. Just above the audio section is a Key-E slot for a CNVi-based Wi-Fi card (not included).

A couple of M.2 sockets and PCIe slots take up space in the middle of the board. The top full-length PCIe slot runs at PCIe 4.0 x16, which is plenty of bandwidth even for a high-end graphics card. You’ll note none of these boards, and the H610 chipset in general, support PCIe 5.0. The x1 slot at the bottom supports PCIe 3.0 x1 from the chipset.

Located just on top of the primary graphics card slot is the first M.2 socket. This one supports up to 80mm modules and runs up to PCIe 3.0 x4 (32 Gbps) mode. The second slot supports the same 80 mm size, but bandwidth cuts back to PCIe 3.0 x2 (16 Gbps) mode. Compared to B660 and Z690, this is limited, so be sure you aren’t overbuying performance on storage. The board can’t support the speeds of the faster PCIe 4.0 drives. It’s also worth noting that this board does not support SATA-based M.2 modules. So be sure you have a PCIe Gen 3 SSD, a SATA 2.5-inch drive or – gaspt – a spinning-platter hard drive.

Along the bottom edge are several headers for connectivity and RGB lighting, along with four SATA ports. There’s no lane sharing between M.2 and SATA, so you can run with everything populated without losing a port or bandwidth. Below is a complete list of all the headers across the bottom of the board.

• Front panel audio
• SPDIF out
• (2) 4-pin ARGB headers
• 3-pin RGB header
• (2) USB 2.0 header
• (4) SATA ports
• Front panel header

Flipping the board around to the rear IO, you’ll see all the ports and plugs in their glory, since the IO plate doesn’t come preinstalled. The included IO plate is simple, just a thin piece of aluminum with labels stamped on the metal. Still, it will close the holes and identify ports as good as the preinstalled plates with graphics on them.

Working left to right, we first run into legacy PS/2 ports, one for a mouse and a second for a keyboard – this board is perfect if you’ve been holding onto a set of peripherals since 1996. Next to that is a video stack that includes D-SUB, HDMI (v2.1) and DisplayPort (v1.4) outputs for use with a processor that includes integrated video. There are six USB ports; two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) and four USB 2.0 (480 Mbps). The lower USB count is typical of the H610 boards, so be sure six are enough. Above a set of USB 2.0 ports is the Intel GbE port, while next to it is the space for a CNVi Wi-Fi card, should you choose to buy and install one. Finally, the audio stack on the right consists of three analog ports.

Firmware

Asus’ Prime H610M-A D4 BIOS should be familiar to those who ran Prime boards in the recent past. The Prime’s black and light-blue/white theme persists, as does the ease of movement through the UEFI. It’s loaded with options and menus, though the most frequently accessed items are easily accessible and not buried several layers down. There’s also an easy mode that’s more of a dashboard with limited functionality. We’re a fan of the Asus BIOS and its logical layout. It has everything you need, and then some, to tweak your motherboard and component settings (though no overclocking on H610). If you want to know how to access your BIOS (from any system), we can help!

Software

Asus has applications designed for various functions, ranging from RGB lighting control, audio, system monitoring, overclocking and more. Instead of plodding through each application as if it changes for each review, we’ll capture several screenshots of a few major utilities. In this case, here’s a look at Ai Suite 3, Armoury Crate, Sonic Studio and the Realtek Audio application.

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Specifications: Gigabyte H610M S2H DDR4

Inside the Box of the Gigabyte H610M S2H DDR4

Like the Asus previously and the MSI below, the included accessories in this tier of motherboard are bare bones. The Gigabyte H610M S2H DDR4 packs in a couple of SATA cables, a driver disk and that’s about it. Here’s the compete(ly short) list.

• (2) SATA cables
• I/O plate
• Support DVD
• User’s manual

Design of the H610M S2H DDR4

The H610M S2H DDR4 sports a jet-black PCB, along with solid and lined gray patterns that break up the monotony of an all-black motherboard. There are no heatsinks on the board outside of a small square with ribbing for extra surface area/cooling capability for the chipset. If you’re looking for integrated RGB lighting, you’ll need to look elsewhere or use the single 4-pin RGB header. In the end, it’s a budget board that doesn’t ask to be the center of attention.

The top half of the board is fully exposed, just like the Asus before it, and the MSI after. Above the VRMs is the required solid-pin 8-pin EPS connector to power the CPU. The first (of three) 4-pin fan headers sit immediately next to it. Surprisingly, each header outputs up to 2A/24W, so you shouldn’t have any issues putting in a pump or piggybacking fans on a single header if needed. As always, be careful not to overload the headers though.

Sliding past the socket area, we run into two unreinforced DRAM slots that secure the RAM with latches on both sides. Memory support is, of course, listed as DDR4 3200, which is the maximum stock speed for the platform. The system didn’t have any issues running our sticks with XMP at the 3200 MHz speed (these are DDR4 3600 sticks).

Along the right edge, we hit the 24-pin ATX connector for board power, four SATA ports, and a front-panel USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) connector. Gigabyte does not mention RAID support in the manual. Since there’s no lane sharing on this board, you can run all four SATA ports and the M.2 socket concurrently, just like on the Asus we looked at up top.

Gigabyte says the power delivery is set up in a 6+1+1 hybrid configuration. Power flows from the EPS connector to an ON Semiconductor MCP81530 controller and then Vishay RA18B and RA12 MOSFETs (50A) for the low and high sides. Again, this is far from the most powerful VRM setup we’ve come across, but it only needs to support the CPUs at stock speeds.

On the bottom half of the board, starting on the left side, we see the exposed audio section with the Realtek ALC897 codec on display and four yellow caps dedicated to audio. This is an older codec, but should still be OK for many users.

In the middle, we spy two PCIe slots and one M.2 socket. The top full-length PCIe slot runs at PCIe 4.0 x16 speeds and connects through the CPU. Meanwhile, the bottom x1 slot runs at PCIe 3.0 x1 speeds and sources bandwidth through the chipset.

The M.2 socket above the full-length PCIe slot supports PCIe drives up to 80mm. The bandwidth for the slot is similar to the other H610 boards, sporting a PCIe 3.0 x4 (32 Gbps) interface. SATA-based M.2 modules are not supported on this board either.

There are several headers across the bottom, including USB and RGB, etc. Below is a complete list of all the headers in this area.

• Front panel audio
• COM header
• 4-pin RGB header
• TPM header
• (2) USB 2.0 headers
• 4-pin System fan header
• Clear CMOS jumper
• Front panel header

One of the first things we notice about the rear IO area, outside of how sparse it is compared to B660/Z690, is the IO plate does not come preinstalled. Like the Asus, the IO plate is a simple piece of aluminum with holes cut out for the ports and stamped labels.

Working left to right, we hit two PS/2 ports (mouse and keyboard) first. Next is every video output from the last decade. This includes D-SUB, DVI-D, HDMI (v2.1), and DisplayPorts (v1.2) to use with integrated graphics. There are six USB ports, four USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) in black and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports in blue. Six USB ports on the rear IO isn’t a lot, so be sure you don’t need more or that you can use the front panel ports. Above a set of USB 2.0 ports is the Intel GbE port, and to the right is a 3-plug (analog) audio stack. You won’t find the optical SPDIF on any of these motherboards.

Firmware

Gigabyte’s H610 BIOS’ are much like Z690/B660 and matches the Aorus models we’ve looked at previously. The difference is that Aorus uses a black and orange theme while these budget boards are black and yellow (along with lacking overclocking options/capability). They all start in an informational EZ Mode that displays system information with limited functionality. You can enable XMP profiles from here, access Smart Fan 6 for fan control, Q-Flash, or the Advanced Mode.

When working in the Advanced portion of the BIOS, major headers are listed across the top, with sub-headings below. Everything is easy to find (especially since you can’t overclock). So you don’t have to bounce around as much. I still wish the company would enable page up/down functionality, but the BIOS is easy to read, and it’s not too hard to find what you’re looking for outside of that. And if you want to know how to access your BIOS (from any system), we can help!

Software

On the software side of things, Gigabyte’s primary tool is the App Center. This application is a central repository for all its applications, some Windows settings, and other third-party software. Simply download the applications you want, install them, and an icon shows up on the screen. We installed @BIOS (BIOS flashing utility), Easy Tune (overclocking/system tweaking), RGB Fusion 2.0 (to control RGB lighting) and last but not least, SIV (for monitoring). The Gigabyte website has many other helpful applications, including USB charging, LAN, and more that aren’t covered here. Overall, I like App Center’s small footprint and found its tools helpful.

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Specifications: MSI Pro H610M-G DDR4

Inside the Box of the MSI Pro H610M-G DDR4

Inside the box with the MSI Pro H610M-G DDR4, MSI includes your standard fare of accessories including SATA cables, driver disk and more. Like the others, the accessory stack is thin but should get you started without an extra trip for basic parts. Below is a complete list of the included extras.

• (2) SATA cables
• Quick install guide
• Registration card
• M.2 clip
• IO shields
• Driver DVD
• Case badge

Design of the Pro H610M-G DDR4

The H610M-G, as far as looks go, isn’t something that warrants your attention like the more expensive boards can. The Pro sports a black PCB and some gray lines stenciled on the board in a checkerboard-like pattern. You won’t find any shrouds or heatsinks, outside of a small chipset heatsink attached via push pins like the others. There are no RGBs on the board, so any lighting will have to come from the integrated headers.

On the top half, we get to see all the board is made of, since it lacks any kind of heatsink or shrouds in this area. On top is the 8-pin EPS connector (required) that sends power to the processor. To the right of the socket and left of the DRAM slots are the first (of two) 4-pin fan headers. I'm not sure this is enough for some systems, especially those using an AIO and multiple system fans. You’d need to piggyback a couple on a header. The good news is the headers should be able to take it, as they both output 2A/24W.

Continuing right, we run into two unreinforced DRAM slots that lock the sticks down on one side. Support is listed up to DDR4 3200 which is the maximum for the platform. We had to manually set the DDR4 3200 speed on this board as it didn’t play nice with XMP and our DDR4 3600 kit.

We find the first (of two) RGB headers in the upper-right corner. In this area, a 3-pin ARGB, while on the bottom is the 4-pin RGB. Down the right edge, we hit a system fan header, the EZdebug LED (the only board here that has one), a 24-pin ATX connector for board power, and finally, the front panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) connector.

MSI implements a six-phase VRM with four phases dedicated to Vcore. Of the three H610 boards heere, this one sports the weakest parts, which makes the default 110W limit understandable. Power is sent from the 8-pin EPS connector to a Realtek RT3628AE 9-channel controller (8+1). Power moves to the Sinopower 55A SM4337 N-channel MOSFETs and Sinopower 4503NH MOSFETs. Again, what’s here is a long mile from the most powerful we’ve seen, but it can support the 110W it’s limited to.

The bottom portion of the board also shows off the hardware. On the left is the Realtek ALC897 audio codec, along with four yellow caps dedicated to audio. There are two PCIe slots in the middle, with the top slot surprisingly reinforced to prevent EMI and shearing from heavy graphics cards. This slot runs at PCIe 4.0 x16 speeds and gets its lanes from the CPU. The x1 size slot runs at PCIe 3.0 x1 speeds and sources lanes from the chipset.

Next, we spy two M.2 sockets, one above and the other below the primary PCIe slot. The top socket is for storage modules, while the bottom socket is Key-E and supports CNVi Wi-Fi. The storage socket supports up to 80mm PCIe and SATA-based modules supporting speeds to PCIe 3.0 x4 (32 Gbps). Of the three boards in this review, it’s the only one that supports SATA-based M.2 devices.

Along the right edge are four horizontal-facing SATA ports. Like the others, RAID support isn’t mentioned in the manual. Note that you lose a SATA port (SATA7) when installing an M.2 SATA SSD in the M2_1 slot. Again though, this is the only board here with two M.2 slots. Your worst-case scenario is three SATA ports and SATA-based M.2. If you use a PCIe-based M.2, all four SATA ports remain active.

Several headers live across the bottom, including USB and SATA ports, RGB, etc. Below is a complete list of all the headers across the bottom of the board.

• Front panel audio
• 4-pin RGB header
• COM port
• USB 2.0 header
• TPM header
• Front panel header
• 4-pin ARGB header

As we move to the rear IO area, the IO plate is simple like the others - a thin metal shield with the labels stamped on. Working left to right, we hit the HDMI, D-SUB, and DisplayPort video outputs for use with a processor that has integrated graphics. Next to that is a PS/2 port that sits on top of two USB 2.0 ports (four total). The blue USB ports run at USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) speeds. Continuing right, we see the Intel GbE port and a three-plug audio stack.

Firmware

Like the other MSI BIOS configurations, you start with an informational EZ Mode that allows editing of some high-level functions, including enabling XMP profiles, adjusting fan speeds, and more. The main menu is informational up top, while the bottom two-thirds is where the adjustments happen. You select the section you want on the left or right sides, and the details show in the middle. Some digging is inevitable, but overall we find this BIOS full of options and easy to read and get around. The biggest difference between the Pro and other MSI motherboards is the color. Normally they use black and red, but the Pro has a black and white theme that matches the board.  And if you want to know how to access your BIOS (from any system), we can help!

Software

For software, the theme these days is to place a lot of the functionality in one program. MSI’s take on this is called Dragon Center, which lets you download individual applets. Some of the programs include Mystic Light (RGB control), LAN Manager, User Scenario (overclocking, monitoring, and fan control), Super Charger, MSI Companion (help record games), and many more.

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Test System

As of October 2021, we’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 64-bit OS with all updates applied. We kept the same Asus TUF RTX 3070 video card from our previous testing platforms but updated the driver to version 496.13. Additionally, our game selection was updated, as noted in the table below. We use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public unless otherwise noted. The hardware we used is as follows:

Test System Components

EVGA supplied our Supernova 850W P6 power supply (appropriately sized and more efficient than the outgoing 1.2KW monster we used) for our test systems.

Benchmark Settings

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Benchmark Results and Final Analysis

Our standard benchmarks and power tests are performed using the CPU’s stock frequencies (including any default boost/turbo), with all power-saving features enabled. We set optimized defaults in the BIOS and the memory by enabling the XMP profile. For this baseline testing, the Windows power scheme is set to Balanced (default), so the PC idles appropriately.

To get the most out of the Intel Alder Lake chips, you need to be on Windows 11 with its updated scheduler. In most cases, Windows 10 performs well. However, some tests (Cinebench R20, Corona and POVRay) take a significant hit. In short, if you’re going with Alder Lake, you must upgrade to Windows 11 for the best results across the board. That may change with patching and updates in the future, though.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Synthetics provide a great way to determine how a board runs, as identical settings should produce similar performance results. Turbo boost wattage and advanced memory timings are places where motherboard makers can still optimize for either stability or performance, though, and those settings can impact some testing.

The results in these benchmarks vary wildly with each board, with some results around the average for DDR4 systems and others clearly showing some form of throttling, be it thermals from the CPU or the VRMs holding our power-hungry CPU back.

In 7Zip, the Asus did well and the Gigabyte trailed closely behind. MSI posted the slowest result, around 13% slower than the Gigabyte. Cinebench and POV-Ray multicore performance was slower than all other Alder Lake-capable boards we’ve tested. Here again, the Asus board has a slight lead over the others. Single-core performance in Cinebench and POV-Ray matched all the other boards. Blender results were the same, with the Asus on top and the MSI trailing (significantly). It’s the heavy multi-threaded loads where these CPUs take a performance hit.

The boards did well overall in the Procyon office tests, mixing in with all other boards. However, inthe  Video Editing and Photo Editing portion, the MSI and Gigabyte boards struggled, while the Asus delivered a more middle-of-the-pack result.

AIDA bandwidth results were slower than the other DDR4 boards as far as bandwidth, but this is expected. Remember, it’s a single-channel configuration (that acts like dual channel) and we can only run DDR4 3200 instead of the DDR4 3600 we’re used to running on this platform. The Gigabyte was the only board that ran the sticks 1:1 and therefore had the best latency.

Timed Applications

LAME testing on these boards was the opposite of what we’ve seen so far, with the MSI coming out on top, matching the fastest time so far (9.50 seconds). The Gigabyte was just behind at 9.51 seconds, while the Asus was slightly slower at 9.59 seconds (right around average). In Corona, things went back to normal in the pecking order (Asus, Gigabyte and MSI). Here again, heavy CPU use caused these boards to run slower than others, with times of 58, 65, and 70 seconds respectively. The average is around 52 seconds, so you can see these are notably slower.

Handbrake results were similar, with all three of our MicroATX options running much slower than the others. The Gigabyte and Asus boards traded being the fastest between x264 and x265, with the MSI lagging behind, hampered by the BIOS configuration and its 110W limit.

3D Games and 3DMark

Starting with the launch of the Z690 chipset, we’ve updated our game tests. We’ve updated to Far Cry: New Dawn to Far Cry 6 and shifted from F1 2020 to F1 2021. We run the games at 1920x1080 resolution using the Ultra preset (details listed above). As the resolution goes up, the CPU tends to have less impact. The goal with these settings is to determine if there are differences in performance at the most commonly used resolution with settings most people use or at least strive for. We expect the difference between boards in these tests to be minor, with most falling within the margin of error differences. We’ve also added a minimum FPS value, as that can affect your gameplay and immersion experience.

In F1 2021, the pecking order we’ve mostly seen so far of Asus, Gigabyte and MSI remains intact. The Asus and Gigabyte tied with 138 fps minimums and 164 fps average. The MSI was slower than average, with 134 fps minimum and 160 average. Far Cry 6 told us a similar story, with the Gigabyte coming out on top with 124 fps (min) and 136 fps average. The Asus reached 120/134 fps (min/avg) while the MSI again brought up the rear. This time the MSI was  noticeably slower than the rest at 105/126 fps (min/avg).

These boards did well in the 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme tests producing middle-of-the-pack results. 3DMark Time Spy results place these DDR4 boards with others like them, which is to say toward the bottom of our chart. All results were within a couple of percent, but the MSI and its CPU power limit shows up here and in the games. If you want to get the most out of gaming with these boards and an i9-12900K, you’ll need to stick with the Asus or Gigabyte. But really you should opt for something less power-hungry with this platform.

Power Consumption / VRM Temperatures

We used AIDA64’s System Stability Test with Stress CPU, FPU and Cache enabled for power testing, using the peak power consumption value. The wattage reading is from the wall via a Kill-A-Watt meter to capture the entire PC, minus the monitor. The only variable that changes is the motherboard; all other parts are the same.

Power use on these boards was, again, all over the place. If you’ve been following along, you can guess the MSI uses the least power, since it’s the only one capped lower than the Intel specification for the chip. The Gigabyte and Asus tied for least power consumption at idle, and peaked around the 330-350W mark, slightly higher than the average of other boards. These are peak values, and once the turbo boost window closes, the clocks and voltage drop, and power use is in line with intel specs.

VRM temperatures on these boards were all high, and since you’ve seen the boards at this point and know what the VRMs are made of, you’ll already know why. For those who skipped around, the lack of heatsinks combined with an i9-12900K results in throttling. All three boards struggled mightily with feeding power to the chip when looking at the charts. The Asus lasted the longest before the power delivery started throttling, while the MSI and Gigabyte started just after the boost window closed. So while all of these vendors list support for the i9-12900K, you aren’t getting 100% performance out of the chips, specifically when hit with sustained heavily multi-threaded tasks.

Bottom Line

Some may look at this testing and wonder why we would test with a flagship-class processor in some of the least-expensive motherboards that support it. As we mentioned in the beginning, the company’s list support for the i9 processor and people will inevitably do it. It’s a reasonable take to believe if a board lists support for a CPU, you should be able to get all of the performance out of it. However, as we’ve seen, this isn’t true here. While the high-end chip works in these boards, there’s a ceiling on performance in some situations. There’s no doubt your best option on any H610 board is an i5 (think i5-12600, a 65W/117W CPU) or less, as they just can’t handle the mighty i9-12900K and its 241W turbo without throttling.

When forced to use such a power-hungry CPU and performance is key, the Asus is the best option, followed by the Gigabyte. MSI’s notably lower power limit may be good for board longevity, but is notably slower than the rest in several tests and gaming. A more reasonable processor would resolve this concern and then you’re down to the features and specifications.

Regardless of processor choice, the Asus is arguably the best option here and is the only one that supports two M.2 sockets for storage. If Wi-Fi is required, the Asus and Gigabyte have a key-E M.2 socket for CNVi-based NICs. Outside of that, these boards have the same PCIe slots(count/type/bandwidth), the GbE port, 64 GB memory capacity and four SATA ports. Even the audio codecs are the same. As far as pricing, surprisingly, the MSI is the most expensive at $117.99 with the Asus at 109.99 and the Gigabyte the least expensive of the bunch at $89.99.

If you’re looking to get into Alder Lake on the cheap and will not overclock, the H610 chipset is the least expensive way in, but it’s not without drawbacks. There are fewer USB ports and what’s available is slower  (no 20 Gbps USB or Type-C ports, for example). Frankly, you’re limited in what processors you can utilize (because you can use any Alder Lake processor), considering the slower performance we saw in heavy multi-threaded loads with our Core i9. But if you’re not trying to run the best Alder Lake has to offer, it’s a good way to get the latest and greatest Intel has to offer without putting huge a hole in your bank account.

MORE: Best Motherboards

MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard

MORE: All Motherboard Content

With an RTX 3070 and an Intel Core i7-12700H, this is a great price reduction on an MSI GL76 gaming laptop for $1,599 from Newegg. The GL76 has a large 17.3-inch screen and a futuristic gamer-centric style.

Also available today is the great Samsung 980 Pro 1TB for $139 one of the best SSDs we've reviewed, and AMD's Ryzen 5 5600X is on sale for $217 - a fantastic price for performance ratio. 

Scroll down for more deals and cases and pre-built desktops. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• MSI GL76 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop: was $1,899, now $1,599 at Newegg
• Samsung 980 Pro (1TB) PCIe Gen 4 SSD: was $229, now $139 at Amazon
• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X: was $309, now $217 at Amazon
• Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow: was $109, now $74 at Newegg with code AEDCVX and after rebate
• ABS Master Gaming PC (Ryzen 5 5600X, RTX 3060): was $1,599, now $1,269 at Newegg

Today’s best deals in detail

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Could this be the end of severe stock shortages and super-inflated prices for graphics cards? We can't fully say but, the increase in availability paired with news of crypto mining changes is putting the stock on shelves and GPUs in the hands of PC enthusiasts. Nvidia has listed several new GPU options on their website, including the Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 Ti X3 8GB available from Overclockers for £629. This is one of the cheapest RTX 3070 Ti's we have seen in a long time and a step closer to the MSRP prices announced at the beginning of these shortages. 

With 6144 CUDA cores that have a boost clock of 1770MHz and 8GB of the faster GDDR6X VRAM, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti from Inno3D is a gaming monster that will be more than capable of playing all the latest titles at high to maximum settings on high refresh rates. 

It's not definitive that we are over the worst of supply chain and materials issues but perhaps the demand for graphics cards has eased a little and we're seeing them on store shelves for more than five seconds. 

A new generation of GPUs loom in the near future and how much they are going to cost is still a mystery at the moment. However, if you're looking for a replacement card right now or even thinking about a new PC build, this is a great card at a good price. 

We have more great deals for you today, starting with Gigabyte's Aorus 15P XD (RTX 3070) for $1,199 from Antonline — that's $700 off its listed retail price. The laptop also features an 11th Gen Intel CPU and a 240Hz FHD screen. 

Razer's ergonomic gaming chair, the Iskur X has been reduced from $399 to $249 at BestBuy. Check out other gaming chair options in our best gaming chairs picks. You can also get your fingertips on the low-profile keys of Corsair's K70 RGB MK.2 for just $99 at BestBuy.

Check out more deals below. 

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Gigabyte Aorus 15P (RTX 3070) Gaming Laptop: was $1,899, now $1,199 at Antonline
• Razer Iskur X Gaming Chair: was $399, now $249 at Best Buy
• Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 Low Profile Keys: was $150, now $99 at Best Buy
• Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition: was $1,699, now $1,399 at Best Buy
• WD Black D30 2TB External SSD: was $269, now $179 at Amazon

Today’s best deals in detail

Looking for more deals?

• Best deals on tech & PC hardware
• Best gaming laptop deals
• Best monitor deals
• Best PC and laptop deals
• Best SSD deals
• Best CPU deals
• Best Dell and Alienware deals
• Best 3D printer deals
• Best Raspberry Pi deals

Asus has reduced the price of its TUF Gaming OC series graphics cards to retailers, and so in turn that new lower price is being passed on to consumers. With plenty of stock also promised for Asus cards this is a very positive time for PC enthusiasts looking to finally build or upgrade their PC. Scan currently has the RTX 3070 Ti TUF Gaming OC 8GB listed for £697 — that's a whopping £72 cheaper than its nearest competitor. 

The Asus RTX 3070 Ti TUF Gaming OC 8GB has 6144 CUDA cores with a base clock speed of 1580 MHz, 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM, and a triple-fan cooling system with a metal base plate to help dissipate heat. This card is also pretty chunky due to the enlarged heatsink which makes this GPU take up 3 slots in your rig. 

The 3070 Ti is a mid to high-end GPU, sitting just below the RTX 3080 and Radeon 6800 XT in our GPU hierarchy, and is capable of performing some serious FPS on high settings in most games. This card is also a great choice if you're looking to run a gaming monitor with high refresh rates.

At this price range, the Asus Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8GB TUF Gaming OC is now competing in price with AMD's 6700XT. Hopefully, this sparks a bit of competition between Team Red and Team Green and results in lower pricing.

Razer's latest Blade 15 ditches the Advanced moniker of previous models, but it's still an appealing option for gamers and creators alike, thanks to a premium aluminum chassis and powerful components. Our $2,999 review unit ships with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12800H CPU paired with an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti, along with a 240 Hz 1440p display–although if money isn't an issue, you can get an i9/3080 Ti for $3,999.

The changes to the chassis aren't drastic and include slightly larger keys, a power button that's now integrated into the keyboard and additional ventilation on the bottom. But given the Blade's design was already excellent, we're not complaining. The laptop's primary downsides are its high price (the base model starts at $2,499 with an RTX 3060) and the display, while colorful, doesn't get as bright as some of the competition. 

Design of the Razer Blade 15 

Not a whole lot has changed aesthetically with the Blade 15 compared to last year's Blade 15 Advanced, but that's fine because Razer's black aluminum chassis have long been considered one of the nicest in the gaming laptop game–especially if you like understated designs. Although, as always, the green three-headed Razer snake logo clashes pretty hard with the otherwise sleek design.

If you aren't familiar with Razer's laptop designs, they're similar to Apple's MacBooks in their rigid aluminum shells and rounded corners. But of course, since these are Razer gaming laptops, the shells are black. The company does sell similar silver laptops under the Razer Book brand, but they're 13-inch models with integrated graphics. You do, though, get an RGB-lit keyboard with Razer's laptops, which adds a bit of customizable gamer edginess.

One aspect of the Blade 15 design that's definitely not apple-like, though, is the bottom. Razer has tweaked the base and the hinge this time around to allow for better cooling, which largely involves removing metal from the chassis. But that hasn't changed the laptop's weight or dimensions. At 4.4 pounds (2.01 kg) and 3.98 x 9.25 x 0.67 inches (355 x 235 x 16.99 mm), the Blade 15 isn't the smallest or lightest laptop. But it isn't particularly bulky either. If you want something smaller and lighter (but not thinner), Asus' 14-inch Zephyrus G14 is 3.79 pounds and 12.28 x 8.94 x 0.76 inches.

Bezels around three sides of the 15.6-inch display are still slim, and once again Razer has stuck with a 16:9 aspect ratio. That's not surprising given it's likely difficult to source high-refresh, gaming-focused 16:10 or 3:2 displays. But those who do content creation as well as gaming, may wish for a taller screen.

One change from last year's model is that Razer has moved the power button from its previous spot within the right speaker grille to inside the keyboard panel itself, in the upper-right corner where the delete button usually lives (pushing that button one key to the left). I didn't find this to be a major issue, likely in part because I've owned an Asus laptop for years with the power button in that position. But for some, it may be an annoyance that takes some getting used to.

Port selection remains ample with the Blade 15. The left edge houses an audio jack, Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C and two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports. Razer's proprietary three-prong power jack is also here.

On the left edge lives an SD card slot, another USB-A and USB-C port, full-size HDMI and a lock slot. This is a great collection of ports for a slim gaming laptop (or any laptop, period), and I like that it's all on the sides of the laptop, rather than mostly on the back with Alienware's latest x14 and x17 portables. 

I do, though, love the fact that the Alienware x14 charges solely over USB-C. Razer's 230W power brick uses a proprietary oval-shaped three-pronged connector that looks and feels bulky when plugged in, and the braided cable is annoyingly stiff. But with x14 also tops out at an RTX 3060, so gaming performance will be more constrained there.

Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the Razer Blade 15 

With its Core i7-12800H CPU and RTX 3070 Ti, I expected the Blade 15 to run games very well, but not in the same realm as top-end systems like MSI's GE76 Raider, with an i9 and a 3080 Ti. So we put the latest Blade up against the Blade 15 Advanced from late 2021 (i7-11800H, RTX 3070), Asus' smaller Zephyrus G14 (Ryzen 9 6900HS, RX 6800S) and the bigger-but-cheaper Aorus 17 XE4 (Core i7-12700H, RTX 3070 Ti).

When we ran Grand Theft Auto V's benchmark at very high settings, the 2022 Blade 15 was edged out at 1080p by the Aorus by a single frame (effectively a tie), while it beat the previous Blade 15 Advanced by 6 fps at 1080p and 5 fps at 1440p. Again, the Zephyrus was far behind at 71 and 41 fps, depending on resolution settings.

Far Cry New Dawn's benchmark (ultra settings) is more demanding on the CPU, and so saw the new Intel 12th Gen powered Blade 15 looking its best yet, nearly 20 fps ahead of its predecessor at 1080p and 14 fps ahead of the bigger Gigabyte laptop. And the new Blade 15 was the only laptop here to go beyond 60 fps at resolutions above 1080p. 

The Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark (medium settings) saw the new Blade 15 significantly lose out to the larger Aorus 17 XE4 for the first time, with the Razer managing 68 fps at 1080p, while the Aorus hit 76 fps. Continuing the trends elsewhere though, the previous Blade 15 was markedly slower, and the Zephyrus was again lonely in last place, slipping just below 30 fps at its native resolution.

Last up, in Borderlands 3 ("badass" settings), the 2022 Blade 15 led at 1440p, but lagged behind the Aorus at 1080p and just barely beat the Zephyrus at that resolution.

We also use the Metro Exodus benchmark to stress test gaming laptops to see how the components perform during use. We run the benchmark on the RTX preset, 15 times in a row, to simulate about a half-hour of gaming. The laptop ran the game's benchmark at an average of 64.73 fps and was consistent, starting off at 65.74 fps on the first run, dipping as low as 64.33 on the fourth run before recovering and sticking above that for the rest of the runs.

During that test, the CPU's Performance cores ran at an average of 2.88 GHz, while the Efficiency cores averaged 2.23 GHz. The CPU package hit an average temperature of 82.23 degrees Celsius. The GPU, meanwhile, had an average clock speed of 1,254 MHz and measured 74.99 degrees Celsius.

Productivity Performance on the Razer Blade 15

As we've seen with previous Blade 15 models, while gaming performance is generally very good, productivity performance tends to be more mixed – not bad, just not always quite as good as you might expect. But given that this is a gaming laptop, it's obviously smart for Razer to prioritize frame rates over, say, encoding speed.

On the Geekbench 5 benchmark, which relies heavily on the CPU, the 2022 Blade 15 was bested by the larger Gigabyte Aorus 17 XE4, but not by much in the single-core test. The AMD-powered Zephyrus did better on the multi-core test. But the Blade 15's performance was still strong for a laptop of its size and thickness, besting most of the competition at both settings.

For our file transfer test, we have laptops copy roughly 25GB of test files. Here, the Blade 15 was far from slow at 932.1 MBps. Still, that result landed it in last place amongst its peers, nearly 50 MBps behind last year's Blade 15 Advanced, and more than 500 MBps behind the Gigabyte. 

In our Handbrake test, where we have computers transcode a 4K test video to 1080p, the 2022 Blade 15 surprisingly looked its worst. Its time of 7 minutes and 25 seconds managed to beat the larger Gigabyte laptop's time of 8:42 by more than a minute. But both the Zephyrus (6 minutes even) and the previous-gen Blade 15 (5:36) did better here. This result was somewhat surprising, but we re-ran the test a number of times and got similar results with each run.

Display on the Razer Blade 15

Razer sells most configurations of the Blade 15 with two different screen options. There's a 360 Hz, 1080p display and a 1440p, 240 Hz panel. And depending on what's in stock, there's usually no price difference. Serious esports addicts may want to stick to the higher-refresh 1080p panel, but for most people the 1440p screen – which is what Razer sent us – is probably the best balance of sharpness and speed. There's also a 4K 144 Hz screen option. But as of this writing, it was only offered on the top-end $3,999 configuration.

Anecdotally, the 1440p screen on the Razer Blade 15 looks very good, with vivid colors and decently deep blacks; it's not as good as OLED, but this is an "IPS-grade" screen according to Razer. In Age of Empires IV, I found myself missing the extra resolution of my main 4K display, where I could see more of the map (and more of my villagers and troops). But in Elden Ring the smaller 1440p display didn't seem lacking in detail compared to my 55-inch 4K OLED, since I was sitting much closer to the screen with the laptop.

As you can see in our test results below though, The Blade 15's display is not the brightest of gaming displays – by a longshot.

The Blade 15's panel delivered 123% of the Adobe sRGB gamut and 87.1% of the larger DCI-P3 space. Those numbers are worse than the previous Blade 15 Advanced, but better than the other laptops here.

But when it comes to brightness, the new Blade 15 averaged just 232 nits, making it the dimmest display of this measured bunch, again a bit behind the previous Blade 15 Advanced, and less than half the brightness of the Zephyrus G14.

Again, the screen on the Blade 15 doesn't look particularly dim, but we ran our tests multiple times and got nearly identical results. I didn't have any brightness issues when gaming or enjoying other content on the Blade 15, but if you often game in bright or sunlit rooms you may want to consider other gaming laptops with brighter displays.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Razer Blade 15

Regardless, if your primary concern is gaming, it's unlikely you'll have any issues with the keyboard here. Alternating between Age of Empires IV and Elden Ring using Corsair's Katar Pro Wireless mouse as cursor control, I didn't have any complaints about the keyboard.

Razer says the keys are also slightly larger now, and it does seem like there's a bit less of a gap between keys. But this is a subtle change, and the overall typing experience is closer to OK than excellent. The keys feel solid, but travel is shallow. I much prefer the mechanical switch option on Alienware's x17 R2, anything from Lenovo's Thinkpad line, or ideally one of the best gaming keyboards. The key situation here is still fine for a gaming laptop. I just wish it could be better. The per-key Chroma backlighting though is still a nice feature to have if you want to change up the look and feel of your laptop while you're gaming or working.

As far as I can tell, nothing has changed with the company's touchpad. You still get a roomy 5.1 x 3.1-inch mouse movement area, which makes Windows 11 gestures easier than on some laptops. Gamers are, of course, going to want a mouse – ideally one of the best gaming mice – but for those times when you don't have a dedicated mouse handy, the touchpad here offers little to complain about.

Audio on the Razer Blade 15

The upward-firing speakers on the Blade Pro, which sit on either side of the keyboard, get surprisingly loud. When I listened to Meteor's synthwave opus White Crows at maximum volume, the laptop was easily loud enough to fill my living room with sound. In fact, sitting right over the keyboard, the sound output was actually uncomfortably loud–which is not something I often say about gaming laptops.

That said, while sound remained crisp even when cranked all the way up, the lack of low-end to back up the high volume opening synth sounds on the track "Overload" for instance, made the overall sound harsh. I tried using the pre-installed THX Spacial Audio software to crank up the bass, but it didn't deliver the kind of audio I'd expect from a thicker gaming laptop with a speaker dedicated to the low end. The easiest solution is to  just keep the volume somewhere close to about 70%, which I still found plenty loud for music and gaming, but less harsh to my ears.

Upgradeability of the Razer Blade 15

Getting inside the Razer Blade 15 is easy enough, provided you have a small Torx bit. Remove six small screws under the laptop and you should be able to pry off the bottom. Some sort of spudger or an old credit card may help, but I was able to get the bottom off using just my short fingernails. 

Inside, there is a fair amount you can do. Two SO-DIMM RAM sticks can be swapped out (just be careful of the large ribbon cable that runs between them), as can the M.2 Wi-Fi module. The main M.2 SSD is hiding under a metal heatsink that you can remove with two screws. But if you just want to add more storage, you don't have to remove the boot drive. There's a second M.2 slot mounted right above the main one. Adding two SSDs right on top of each other probably isn't a great idea thermally. But if you're just looking to add extra storage for games or media, having the second M.2 socket certainly is handy.

Battery Life on the Razer Blade 15

Along with incremental updates to the Blade's design comes an incremental battery life improvement. 

Razer's latest 15-inch laptop ran for 4 hours and 54 minutes on our battery test, which continuously browses the web, streams video and runs OpenGL tests while connected to Wi-Fi with the screen at 150 nits of brightness. That's 10 minutes longer than the previous model, and 48 minutes longer than Gigabyte's big Aorus 17 XE4. But it's the smaller, AMD-powered ROG Zephyrus G14 that blows the competition away with its unplugged longevity, more than doubling the Blade 15, lasting 10 hours and 38 minutes on our test.

In short, while you can watch a movie or do some work on the Blade 15 without the charger, you'll want to keep the 230-watt power adapter handy for gaming, or at least a USB Type-C charger for a full workday with the Blade 15.

Heat on the Razer Blade 15

While we ran our Metro Exodus benchmark on the Blade 15, we used a Flir camera to measure surface temperatures to see how hot the laptop gets while the system is under load.

The center of the keyboard measured 109.8 degrees Fahrenheit (43.2 degrees Celsius), which is quite warm but not hot enough to make me want to stop gaming. The touchpad was comparatively cool at 85.5 degrees Fahrenheit (29.72 Celsius).

On the underside of the laptop, the hottest spot was off-center, near the front, and measured 98.06 degrees Fahrenheit (36.7 degrees Celsius). While these temperatures aren't particularly hot, you can see from the image above that a large part of the center of the laptop's base gets nearly as warm as the hottest spot here. This is likely why Razer decided to redesign the base of the laptop to remove more metal and help improve airflow and thermals.

Webcam on the Razer Blade 15

Webams on gaming laptops typically feel like afterthoughts (if the laptop has a webcam at all). That's because streamers will want to use one of the best webcams rather than anything built into a bezel. But Razer moved to 1080p webcams in the Blade 15 last year when many of us were working from home. And for anyone who uses their laptop for more than just gaming, this still feels like a long-overdue addition.

The Blade 15's webcam worked well and was fairly fast using Windows Hello's facial recognition to log in. Colors were accurate and details were more discernible than with most laptop webcams. As we noted in our review of last year's Blade 15 Advanced model, the webcam isn't the best at handling bright light from windows and overhead bulbs. And things get noticeably fuzzy when the light gets low. But the webcam here is still a cut above the camera quality of most laptop webcams.

Software and Warranty on the Razer Blade 15

Preinstalled software on the Blade 15 ispleasingly minimal. You get THX Spatial Audio, an equalizer and audio optimizer for sound tuning, plus the company's Synapse software for controlling lighting, customizing micros and more.

The latter, like Alienware's Command Center, is a capable and slick piece of software that gets the job done. It also feels far less annoying and clunky here when it comes pre-installed on a PC it was designed for, rather than when you're being nagged to download it after plugging in a peripheral.

Of course, you also get Windows 11 Home, which includes a bit of bloat, like Spotify, WhatsApp and more. Razer sells the Blade 15 with a 1-year warranty.

Razer Blade 15 Configurations

The 2022 Blade 15 starts at $2,499 with a Core i7-12800H, an RTX 3060, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD and a 240 Hz QHD display. Stepping up to $2,999 keeps the CPU, RAM, Storage and display of the base model, but upgrades to a speedier RTX 3070 Ti – or for the same price you can drop to a 1080p screen that's 360 Hz.

A pair of $3,699 models jump up to a top-end RTX 3080 Ti and double the RAM to 32GB, while again giving you the option of either a 240 Hz 1440p display or a 360 Hz 1080p screen. Finally, the top $3,999 model gets the 3080 Ti and extra RAM, but also ups the CPU to a Core i9-12900H and swaps the screen for a 144 Hz 4K panel. All models ship with Windows 11 Home.

All things considered, our $2,999 review unit strikes the best balance between price and gaming prowess, since even the 3060 model is very expensive. We also prefer the 240 Hz display, but if you're a very serious esports enthusiast with far better reflexes than me, you may want the higher refresh 1080p panel option instead.

Bottom Line

While the Razer Blade 15 doesn't have flashy (and frankly superfluous) features like the Animatrix display on the lid of Asus' Zephyrus G14, or the dual displays of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, it still packs one of the nicest designs in the gaming laptop space, with ample ports right where you expect them on the edges of the laptop.

Gaming performance on the $2,999 model we tested was also quite good. Productivity performance was a bit more mixed, which may put off some creators who also like to game on their laptop. As usual, the Blade 15 is also quite expensive, especially if you opt for the entry model for $2,499 with an RTX 3060. The display on our review unit was also a bit dim compared to the competition, although it is colorful and looked good during our time with it. It may not be the best gaming value, but if you like its black metal frame and want a gaming laptop that also has a great 1080p webcam, the Blade 15 is well worth considering. Tone down the RGB on the keyboard and it would also make for a capable premium PC for the office. But if you want to avoid a few raised eyebrows, you may want to slap a sticker over the bright-green snake logo on the lid.

Prices of some graphics cards have been slowly falling recently and we've even been seeing more stock online and in stores. The shortages are by no means over, but there does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Today we have an Asus Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 TUF Gaming 8GB OC for £639 from CCL Computers which is the lowest price I've seen a non-founders edition 3070 GPU since they launched. 

Asus' RTX 3070 TUF Gaming 8GB OC comes with 5888 CUDA cores and those all-important tensor cores for its Ray Tracing abilities. Those cores are able to boost up to 1815MHz for gaming and overclocking. This RTX 3070 also features 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM and 2 x HDMI 2.1 ports and 3 x DisplayPort 1.4a. 

The RTX 3070 is a fairly high-end graphics card and is able to play the latest games at high resolutions and frame rates. It is also a rather large card, so make sure you have a case that is large enough to house the beast and enough clearance between fans and radiators.

If you would like to see how this RTX 3070 compares to other graphics cards in the current generation - whether they are Nvidia or AMD, then check out the best GPUs for gaming and our GPU hierarchy for benchmarks and other details. 

More Nvidia RTX 3070 Deals

Just in time for the weekend, we have some fantastic deals on offer.  Grab an iBuyPower pre-built PC (12th Gen, RTX 3070 Ti) for $1,899 that features the latest 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700KF and an RTX 3070 Ti. If you're not comfortable sourcing the parts or building your own PC then this is a great option for a powerful productivity and gaming rig. 

Also featuring today is an Asus Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti TUF Gaming OC GPU for $729 from Micro Center, and some G.Skill Trident Z5 Series 32GB (DDR5 6000) RAM for $359 from Newegg.  

Have a look down below for some more great deals.

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• iBuypower Pre-Built (12th Gen, RTX 3070 Ti): was $2,499, now $1,899 at iBuypower
• Asus Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti TUF Gaming OC: was $949, now $729 at Micro Center
• G.Skill Trident Z5 Series 32GB (DDR5 6000): was $470, now $359 at Newegg
• G.Skill Trident Z5 Series 32GB (DDR5 5600): was $489, now $339 at Amazon
• Gigabyte G5 MD (RTX 3050 Ti): was $1,199, now $999 at Newegg

Today’s best deals in detail

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Warehouse operatives who attempted to steal a batch of twenty Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics cards have been detained by police, and their swag confiscated, reports Mash, in a story spotted by VideoCardz. What appears to have been a trio of thieves (two insiders and an outsider) were recorded on camera purloining the score of desirable GPUs from a warehouse owned by Russia's largest online retailer, Wildberries.

In the video shared by Mash yesterday, and watched by nearly a million netizens, you can see the thieves stroll casually but purposefully through the Wildberries warehouse, wheeling several non-descript cardboard boxes through the corridors.

The camera angle changes and shows the thieves wheel their boxes under a stairwell. A few seconds later they are grabbing Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics cards from the boxes under the stairs, and running up the stairs. The camera view changes again and you can see the two insiders dropping bundles of graphics card boxes from an upper window to someone waiting outside, below. After that the footage ends, but one must assume the outsider runs off and loads these boxes into his car or van.

The story source publication takes us from there. It says that the thieving trio decided to sell one of the shiny new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics cards to a local pawn shop (for 60,000 rubles, or approx $572), as a test for their illicit money making scheme. The owner of the shop was somewhat suspicious about the provenance of the goods, so decided to inform police.

Naturally, as these were stolen goods, the police found and detained the thieves and confiscated all the stolen graphics cards. We don't know how many cards were left to be confiscated as it is possible the thieves sold some of the  20 GPUs to other pawn shops or their friends or acquaintances.

The source report says that a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti sells for 200,000 rubles in Russia (about $1,908), but the thieves were happy with 60,000 per piece (about $572). If they had successfully fenced all 20, the possible proceedings could have been equivalent to $11,440 from goods with a local market value of $38,140. Crime doesn't pay folks.

It is worth mentioning that graphics cards and other computer components are going to get more expensive and hard to find in Russia as sanctions bite. Early on in the Russia - Ukraine war companies like AMD, Intel and Nvidia decided to limit their Russia business. More recently the biggest PC components names like Asus, Gigabyte and MSI have fallen in line.

GDDR6X video memory is known to run notoriously hot on Nvidia's latest RTX 30-series graphics cards. While these are some of the best gaming GPUs on the market, the high memory temps have been an ongoing concern. Hardware modder and YouTuber DandyWorks recently shared a new video, showing how a memory cooling modification involving copper shims as a replacement for thermal pads, and the gains are seriously impressive.

The mod was able to reduce the GDDR6X temperatures on an Asus TUF RTX 3070 Ti by a whopping 46 degrees Celsius, from 110C to 64C. While that's an amazing improvement by simply swapping out thermal pads for copper, the process is rather complicated. If you're interested in performing the mod yourself, be prepared to put in a fair amount of work. Also note that the Asus TUF GPUs are known to have relatively poor GDDR6X cooling, so the gains might not be as significant with other RTX 30-series cards.

Dandy shows that the mod for his particularly card requires three components: copper shims, non-conductive Kapton tape, and thermal paste with an applicator. Additionally, you might need 400 grit sandpaper for smoothing out the copper shims.

The copper shims should be 0.2mm thinner than the size of the thermal pads to work properly. Again, some experimentation may be required, depending on your particular card. If your graphics card uses a separate cold plate for cooling the memory, you may be able to get away with slightly thicker copper shims that are the same size as the thermal pads.

You'll need to search online or dismantle your graphics card to see which method of cooling it uses. Otherwise, the basic process will be similar, regardless of your particular GPU.

You remove the cooler from the graphics card, replace the thermal pads on the GDDR6X (or other) memory modules with copper shims sandwiched in-between thermal paste — don't use too much or too little. You'll also want to put layers of Kapton tape all around each module to ensure a short doesn't occur, as that can kill the graphics card.

GDDR6X Copper Cooling Results

After the mod was complete, Dandy fired up T-Rex, a cryptocurrency mining app for Nvidia GPUs, and ran it for over two and a half hours. Results showed the memory temps operating at an incredible 64C, which is a 46C drop from the card's original temperature of 110C with the stock thermal pads.

If you have an RTX 30-series card that is running borderline temps of 106C–110C on the GDDR6X modules, this mod could be beneficial to you. Lowering memory temps will give the memory additional overclocking headroom, and that's beneficial for gaming as well as mining applications. It should also improve the lifespan of your card. While Nvidia rates the memory for up to 110C, many are concerned that cards won't last more than a few years if they continually run at such high temperatures.

Today's deal is a massive $757 savings on an RTX 3070 gaming laptop, the Alienware m15 R6 from Dell.  This laptop was already previously on sale in the Dell store and now has an additional 17% knocked off of that already reduced price. 

You can also get a great deal on the Corsair 5000X RGB ATX mid-tower case from Newegg, on sale for $164. And if you're looking for some massive storage options for your data, here's an amazing storage deal on the 18TB WD Elements external HDD for only $297 from Amazon. 

Scroll down below for more Real Deals!

TL;DR — Today’s Best Deals

• Alienware m15 R6 (RTX 3070): was $2,499, now $1,742 at Dell
• Corsair iCUE 5000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case: was $184, now $164 at Newegg with rebate
• CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML280 Mirror RGB AIO Cooler: was $134, now $65 at Newegg
• WD 18TB Elements External HDD: was $529, now $297 at Amazon
• Corsair Void RGB Elite Wireless Gaming Headset: was $99, now $67 at Amazon

Today’s best deals in detail

Looking for more deals?

• Best deals on tech & PC hardware
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• Best SSD deals
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• Best Dell and Alienware deals
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