Anything that is finely tuned like memory that you'll surely forget should be backed up to USB and yes Asus .... I'll never ever touch them again unless it's the last board in stock and is a Strix or better
GL man
Problem is they are the only board manufacturer I have used for over 20 years. The familiarity and I know hows things work on an Asus board for better or worse.
But in the end I managed to get back into bios and set the memory. As for the CPU well unsurprisingly it behaves exactly the same as the 9800x3d. I.e In most of my games where they have a canned benchmark it scores around the same. We are talking margin of error scores/frames. And using the Final fantasy series benchmarks it scores that ever so slightly higher the exception being Dawntrail. I used Dawntrail, Endwalker and Shadowbringers. When I tested a 7950x3d versus a 7800x3d it always felt while it was part of the same family there were times in certain games/benchmarks it was more like the ginger stepchild due to scheduling/windows mishandling/CCD latency etc. I do find it scores low on 3d mark so I am not sure if that a CCD issue. I think I score higher with my 9800x3d which is like @38k odd and on the 9950x3d it like @34k although when I check the CPU score it seems to be more closer to the 9800x3d CPU score. But I have always known Intels usually score higher in the Cpu section so I am not really bothered about this anomaly.
So the night before I got the CPU I updated the AMD driver chipset and flashed my bios. Screw reinstalling windows and to it credit it has performed without any interaction needed from me to say use a third party program to properly utilise the CCD with the X3d cache. I am also pleasantly surprised by temps considering. I was expecting like a 14900k scenario like where games which didn't use many cores ran fine enough but in games where it uses more cores it starts to run hot. So far this has not been the case for me. I am sure I will run into a game that will make the CCD's play up or the temps will be high or at least what I consider to be high but so far this has not been the case.
I am using the same cooler as I used for my 9800x3d and I am sure it runs that ever so slightly cooler although I can put that down to 'new toy syndrome; or maybe I did a better job this time round of applying the thermal paste and better contact. To simulate a productivity workload I use Cinebench now I realise this is unrealistic but it is the closest I get to something that would load up the cores to simulate something that certain people would use this kind of CPU for. I hit 43k and the temps were like 75C that the Tctl/Tdie reading. That was drawing about 230w. And in gaming it draws way more than my 9800x3d but still runs as cool as my 9800x3d.
Overclocking is the same as the 9800x3d as it is fully unlocked and even though there are some constraints as the the CCD with the X3d cache is lower clocked you can get very good results. I just use the same settings as my 9800x3d which is -20 PBO +200 core overdrive. This results in the non cache CCD cores to hit 5.855 MHz single core and the CCD with the x3D cache to hit 5.680 MHz obviously under an all core full load scenario this will be far less. It may be possible to hit more But I am happy enough with the results. Although if I was interested to see how much further it would go I would try a better like -25 and if possible -30. Also there is a possibility of using the eclk to push it even further. But seeming it clocks as well as my 9800x3D is enough for me.
Obviously this CPU is not aimed at the hardcore gamer and something like the 7800x3d and the 9800x3d is still the way to go simply due to it being cheaper. However I have never liked you were pidgeoned holed so to speak, I always preferred the Intel way of things. This is the price you pay for the flagship and it good for both gaming and productivity which leads me to the 9950x3d white elephant. Price. I am now aware that as far as AMD cpu's go this is a pricy option. But you are getting 9800x3d gaming performance and high productivity performance. So I consider the pricing to be fair. And as being a former intel user paying like 600-700 for each LGA 1700 CPU generation you get kind of use to it.
Also consideration must be given you are not getting 7800x3d gamng performance but left lacking in productivity performance or where you are left wanting from the 7950x3d where productivity is good but the gaming performance while still being very good wasn't as good as the 7800x3d Due to it CCD issues or more precisely shortcomings.
You are getting the best of both worlds but at a price. The gaming performance of the 9800x3D and multi core performance of the 9950x in one CPU and while it doesn't represent good value for money, you are getting the best all round CPU that isn't called Threadripper. And on that note now that I have scratched the 9950x3d itch it time to go price a thread ripper setup....
All testing was done on the Asus x870e hero and Msi 5090 and at 4k.
