matmartin

Doesn't really change the calculus all that much. The fact remains you can build a €1039 SFF system around a RTX 5060Ti 8gb, RX 9060XT 8GB or right now even RX 9060XT 16GB (Amazon Warehouse Deal).

I have no interest at all in a Steam Machine without FSR4 because the other AMD upscalers are ugly — even on a 4K display. Even after they bring it to Steam Machine, I expect the 7060m will just not be up to the challenge to deliver passable graphical fidelity and framerates at a price point that is even remotely reasonable.

I could swallow this gigantic turd of a $1049 price tag with a single stick of DDR5 RAM with all the downside that configuration entails if we got one of those 9060XT 8GB dies that AMD is selling as the "Radeon 9060" in certain markets.

I think I would have seriously considered that device — even for let's say $1099. However I will give it a look after the FSR4 launch and hope Digital Foundry will review the gaming experience once the much superior upscaler is available.

Unfortunately Will I feel you are underselling the performance impact we are about to see due to this single DDR5 stick configuration considering the amount of upscaling this machine is going to use. That's going to challenge the CPU and RAM configuration.

Hardware Unboxed tested single DDR5 stick configurations seven months ago and found a -16% deficit in 1% lows and -12% overall at 1080p.

While you do make a good point that due to the graphical limitations of the machine we are less likely to see this translate 1:1 on the Steam Machine in the average, I expect the double digit loss in the 1% lows will persist. That's significant.

Even in today's crazy DRAM market, I'd much rather sell my AM4 motherboard, 32GB of DDR4 RAM and old AM4 CPU for let's conservatively estimate 250€ than spend 350€ on a 5800x3D.

On ebay used you can currently easily get 150€ for 32GB of DDR4 RAM. Add another 100€ for mainboard and the old CPU (unless it's ancient Zen or Zen+).

You got 250€ of play money and you already had a 300€ budget (350€ - say 50€ from the CPU sale alone in case of a 5800x3d upgrade).

For those 550€ you can get a Ryzen 7500f (112€), a decent Tuf Gaming B650 Plus (119€) and 32GB of DDR5 (359€ cheapest good kit). That's 590€.

After selling your old AM4 system that's just a 40€ difference and you leave the avenue open for a Zen6 or Zen7 upgrade in a couple of years.

It will be interesting to see how this market share develops over the coming surveys because there have been weird one-time outliers in the past which I assume come down to quirks of the samples Steam takes each month.

That said, it only makes sense that more people choose AMD's 9070 XT at a time when FSR4 has significantly decreased the upsampling gap while offering 5070 Ti performance at 2/3 of the price.

I bought an Asus Prime RTX 5070 with a free copy of Doom the Dark Ages for 510€ last summer because my RTX 4070 still sold for 400€ and I would have bought the Doom game anyway.

So basically an upgrade for 50€. For the money it is worth it, but I will say at 1440p the 12GB VRAM really is becoming an issue in games in which you want to activate all of the nvidia features as well as RT. Surprisingly also an issue was Diablo IV. It performed horribly with 12GB VRAM unless I went all the way down to RT off and medium textures.

So for me it was a nobrainer because of the low net cost but would I have been happy about it as the GPU for the next 3-5 years? No, I plan on selling it when the 60 series releases in Q3/4 next year.

This is even better advertisement for Panther Lake than Tom Petersen's Computex interview marathon.

Overall I like the new nvidia control panel. It's neat that you just have to apply global settings for DLSS models and it will just work.

Asus makes Corsair's and Logitech's pricing look outright reasonable.

I already buy RAM from a Chinese brand (Lexar) so whether they use SK Hynix chips like the ones I currently have (Lexar Ares 6000Mhz CL28) or of a Chinese manufacturer really doesn't matter to me as long as performance is up there.

Option 5 regarding the Steam Controller: I am monitoring the situation and waiting for more user feedback before making a final purchasing decision.

I have a Dual Sense Controller that serves most of my needs but it has certain known shortcomings on PC due to its input method.

@wsjudd For whom? For new builders the Intel 270K is likely going to be the vastly superior option and I don't see many AMD upgraders who pass on the opportunity to buy a 7800X3D but then suddenly urgently need a 7700X3D right before AMD's Zen6 launches later this year.

The 7700x3d is a bad deal in my opinion.

If you are willing to opt for a tray version the 7800X3 is currently available for as little as 260€ Realistically there is no world in which the severely downclocked 7700x3d is going to be a good deal unless it is significantly cheaper than that.

So it makes no sense for AM5 owners who maybe started on a Ryzen 7500f and are looking for a minor CPU upgrade. They'd be much better advised to get the 7800X3D now. Especially since the announcement of the 7700X3D is likely to mean the end of production for the 7800X3D. That's what happened with the 5800X3D.

On the other hand if you are building a new PC right now, Intel is really offering the better value for money options between the 250/270K processors. It really makes little sense to build a new machine with an inferior 7700X3D only because you get another AM5 upgrade at the end of the day. That upgradability in my opinion doesn't make up for the fact you are using a worse CPU in the meantime.

The market is pretty much saturated with 26.5" 1440p OLEDs of different manufacturers. Prices are dropping and options for the consumers are plentiful. I doubt Samsung display has really anything substantially different to offer in this category.

Therefore I would recommend you look at the next upgrade path one level above 1440p 26.5". So probably one of the 32" monitors with a higher resolution.

I hope we are seeing the first signs of recovery from the disastrous pivot to live service titles under Jim Ryan with the announcement of new Sony 1st party Singleplayer titles.

It's the only reason why I would consider investing into Sony's hardware in the first place.

Sony probably made a mistake by not coughing up the money to utilize effective DRM for their PC Ports which is why sales success was mixed.

If you go to typical pirating sites, Sony ports were day 1 cracked and had hundreds of thousands of downloads on the biggest trackers.

Pirates will deny this, but this does actually hurt sales.

Feels like it's something new every other day. Read a news item on Pc Games Hardware the other day that advised me to immediately update my AMD chipset drivers and now this for my GPU.

Geez.

@wsjudd I'll watch or read a review in case of a surprising turnaround of events. That being said, the review would have to be overwhelmingly positive for me to change my mind and give it a closer look. My pile of opportunities is already considerable.

I wish IO Interactive nothing but the best. Unfortunately the game sequences shown were of disappointing quality - both from a technical and gameplay perspective.

Definitely not a game I am interested in anymore.

@Eruanno Even if it was a cut down 8GB 9060XT the Steam Machine would be extremely interesting because FSR4 Performance Mode is a really nice option for gaming on a couch computer.

The 7060m on the other hand with FSR2/3.1 upscaling is not something I would use on my UHD television under any circumstance. It just doesn't look good.

I bought a desktop 5070 last summer for 500€ including a free copy of Doom: TDA.

Its 12GB VRAM was really already the lowest allocation I considered.

Considering the PlayStation 6's rumored memory size (24-30GB), I hope a future RTX 6080 or 6070Ti is going to give us 24GB at least.

That's the GPU I hope will then finally fullfil my pathtracing dreams.

I remember the days when people marveled at Call of Duty's graphical prowess but those days have long since passed.

I don't expect gigantic leaps but maybe this move will finally let the studios flex their muscles a bit more.

@Granadico I think some UbiSoft games make (limited) use of the controller's features.

@Granadico If you want to be cynical you could argue that by not implementing the anti scalper measures for the release, Valve made sure to minimise its own financial risk. Selling as many contollers as possible from the first batch is a way to make sure you recoup as much of the development cost as possible even if the product is a bomb.

Now that they have a better grasp of consumer demand, they can swoop in with the "scalper protection".

I think it is absolutely the right decision to part ways with the Ryzen5 3600. It launched seven years ago! That's an entire console gen.

Although I personally would go even a step further and test with a Ryzen 7500f (it's a 120€ part after all). It would give DF a long-term baseline for the foreseeable future instead of having to consider making the next jump from the 5600 once again in a couple of years and devaluing the comparison data in the process.

The 7500f/7600 you could realistically keep using for the remainder of the decade.

Damn, I was unaware there was new memory coming for AM5. I bought a kit of Lexar Ares 6000MhzCL26 last year right as prices were beginning to skyrocket.

On the other hand upgrading from one AM5 motherboard to another is not very economical anyway. My RAM kit is probably going to be plenty fast for the remainder of this generation.

So I'll probably make the jump to new memory (and a BTF motherboard) with next gen. Until then my 9800x3d is going to suffice.

So on paper I find this news exciting but unless you're new to AM5 or a real enthusiast it is hard to justify pursuing that upgrade path.

After I suffered the second consecutive mouse wheel failure with my Logitech mouse, I ordered a ASUS ROG Gladius III that was on sale and have been very happy with my purchase.

ASUS definitely appears to be underrated in that segment of computer hardware.

If I decide to go wireless again with my next mouse, I am definitely going to consider this model.