|OT| The PC Hardware Thread -- Buy/Upgrade/Ask/Answer
- Thread starter Durante
- Start date
Sure.
G.Skill, Crucial, Corsair, Hyper X and all those other companies do not manufacture the memory anyway. They buy the modules (dies) from Samsung, Hynix, Micron, bin it, make it look cool and sell as their own. It works a bit like Asus making a graphics card. They also rely on Nvidia/AMD and other companies to provide the essential parts but can design their own PCBs and cooling solutions. But there are guidelines they must follow through.
There are different memory dies from each main manufacturer as well. For example, there is Samsung B-Die, Samsung D-Die, Micron E-Die, Hynix MFR and a lot more. What kind of memory dies are being used and their silicon lottery is way more important than who made the Memory DIMMs, as all dies have a bit different characteristic.
For example, Micron E-Die can reach high clock speeds, but Samsung b-die can tolerate higher voltages and tighter timings (the speed isn't bad either).
But all that stuff is only relevant if you are going to manually OC. If not, ignore everything I've said, and go with "sure".
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No need to role your eyes on me. Just trying to help.
I see myself out now and go to bed. My jokes are getting worse.
Quick update: I've replaced the new PSU with the old one (blessed be my hoarding habits!), and it's working!
Now on to figure out how to request a repair/replacement from the store I've bought it (damn me for saying "eh, it's just a PSU, for once I can not buy it on Amazon"). Apparently only over the phone, which in the UK mostly means talking with a Scottish call centre, which means the language barrier is just too high for me
Hopefully the local store will reopen shortly, so I can go ask IRL.
Now on to figure out how to request a repair/replacement from the store I've bought it (damn me for saying "eh, it's just a PSU, for once I can not buy it on Amazon"). Apparently only over the phone, which in the UK mostly means talking with a Scottish call centre, which means the language barrier is just too high for me
Hopefully the local store will reopen shortly, so I can go ask IRL.
Crucial do as they're a brand of Micron, just saying!
That's why they have such a good list of Laptop compat especially as they're usually the OEM for the devices.
Yes, and Ok, and no.
Because they are a manufacture (See above), they make everything from decent stuff, to rubbish, because depending on their yields, you either get good stuff or not, and (usually) how much you pay gets you higher in the silicon lottery. Again, if you're not overclocking, RAM is RAM, Timings and speed aside.
At last the pieces of my new custom keyboard arrived. Assembled it yesterday and here it is:
Maybe it needs custom cable as well?
Maybe it needs custom cable as well?
No 10-keys? ewww get it away!At last the pieces of my new custom keyboard arrived. Assembled it yesterday and here it is:
Maybe it needs custom cable as well?
Nah, TKL is the best. It even has the ISO big fat enter key. Love it.
ANSI layout is for chumps aka I don't like it.
All my recent mechanical keyboards are ISO Layout, TKL or Keypad-less for better ergonomics. They've helped massively to relieve my RSI twinges that were starting a few years ago. I am really trying hard not to buy a new TKL with Red or Silver (Speed) switches as all my current boards are Browns or Hybrid-Capacitive in the case of my NovaTouch TKL.
ANSI layout is for chumps aka I don't like it.
All my recent mechanical keyboards are ISO Layout, TKL or Keypad-less for better ergonomics. They've helped massively to relieve my RSI twinges that were starting a few years ago. I am really trying hard not to buy a new TKL with Red or Silver (Speed) switches as all my current boards are Browns or Hybrid-Capacitive in the case of my NovaTouch TKL.
So, as it's clear all this electricity talk is total magic for me.
I've tried looking at PDUs but seem to be all oriented to server-racks, with specs I'm not familiar with, and prices that look... low?
On the other hand, when we talk about "fancy power strips", is this what it means?
I mean, Belkin is the only name I recognize. Everything else looks cheap, and is cheaply priced as well.
Except this, but for some reason it looks fishy to me!
I use APC Surgearrests
I guess these are the newer version.
Never had any problems.
I curse the damned day I decided to buy a 10-keys keyboard in the off-chance I feel the need to replay the dancing parts of Sid Meier's Pirates.
Now I'm stuck with an unnecessarily wide keyboard, and the left side of the mouse is almost destroyed for all the times I hit the keyboard corner.
(Also I should look into getting some custom keycaps. The original ones are ok, but I wouldn't mind something fancier.)
Now I'm stuck with an unnecessarily wide keyboard, and the left side of the mouse is almost destroyed for all the times I hit the keyboard corner.
(Also I should look into getting some custom keycaps. The original ones are ok, but I wouldn't mind something fancier.)
I use the same keyboard for gaming and working (programming), and I think I haven't touched the 10-keys in... 20 years at least?
(except when dancing in Sid Meier's Pirates, which is not really the majority of my time
)I guess if you work with numbers it might be more useful?
I haven't used a calculator in a long time as well, so the 10-keys layout feels very unfamiliar to me at this point.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #966
You can take my Microsoft Natural Keyboard from my cold, dead hands.
(I use the keypad all the time ... for debug keys)
Anyway, I have an ultrawide monitor, the keyboard + mouse area still isn't as wide as the monitor, if the keyboard was more narrow I'd not have my arms parallel with one hand on WASD and one on the mouse -- which I assume is the best positioning ergonomically.
(I use the keypad all the time ... for debug keys)
Anyway, I have an ultrawide monitor, the keyboard + mouse area still isn't as wide as the monitor, if the keyboard was more narrow I'd not have my arms parallel with one hand on WASD and one on the mouse -- which I assume is the best positioning ergonomically.
Fuck that F-lock key though. (Also f-word this X-Bows for not having home/end)
You can just slide the keyboard over to the left if that's a problem. Also, how are your arms parallel while your MS natural keyboard isn't?!
OP
- Thread Starter
- #968
My arms are (mostly) parallel when I'm using the mouse.
The angle in the natural keyboard means that my wrists are (again, mostly) straight when using the keyboard.
Keeping your wrist dead straight and not having to move them would be the most ergonomically sound, position of your arms shouldn't matter that much if you're not straining them in any way.
I agree with WASD and mouse being parallel, in addition to being at armrest width away from your sides (at most). I also play a low-sensitivity, meaning my mouse pad is 45cm wide. Even if I wanted to use a full-size keyboard, that would never work.
For a lot of these smaller keyboards you can program different layers or combinations for physical keys you don't have. Some people can get by with this:
I have started to see a few customs like this though too:
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Heh. Not a bad idea. Though at that point you may just want to get a separate numpad. Speaking of which, there a good number of custom macro pads as well.I see your ^^ and raise you:
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X-Bows | Ergonomic Keyboards | Comfortable and pain-free keyboard
Based on a lot of relevant medical research results, X-Bows ergonomic keyboards are designed to be more comfortable and free from injuries. If you use a keyboard for more than 4 hours per day on average, Look no further than the X-Bows Ergonomic Keyboa
x-bows.com
I already suggested as much earlier, but that sure was handy on my Razer Tron keyboard (it was horrendous shit, but that was handy.)
(I also have a macro keypad somewhere.)
thanks!X-Bows | Ergonomic Keyboards | Comfortable and pain-free keyboard
Based on a lot of relevant medical research results, X-Bows ergonomic keyboards are designed to be more comfortable and free from injuries. If you use a keyboard for more than 4 hours per day on average, Look no further than the X-Bows Ergonomic Keyboa
RGB Keyboard boyz 4 lyfe, ergonomics be damned
So what brands should I look for and avoid for NVME M.2 SSDs? I remember Western Digital being good in the HDD days, are they alright nowadays?
Also, why do some SSDs have heatsinks? Is that really necessary?
Also, why do some SSDs have heatsinks? Is that really necessary?
Yes, all of them should be used with heatsinks. They can get hot during sustained read/write operations, independent of brand or pci express generation.
The ones coming with big, substantial heatsinks are pci express 4.0 though. 4.0 doubles the transfer speed in comparison to 3.0, which introduces further thermal challenges to NVMes. There is currently one controller capable of generation 4.0 speeds from Phison and all drives use them. This controller is getting exceptionally hot during sustained operations and needs the extra cooling.
That said, if you do not plan to hammer your drive with terabyte of data, no heatsink or the ones coming with your mb should be good enough.
For brand reputation: Samsung is the one most people trust the most, but generation 3 NVMes are "evolved" enough to start coming in the "it's all good enough" category. Just make sure to pick a "true" NVMe. There are drives with the same form factor, which fit most sockets but only operate at SATA speeds.
In general: M+B Key = SATA speeds, M Key = PCI-E x4 speeds (what you want).
For generation 4.0: As said, they are currently all using the same controllers and same flash memory. Doesn't matter which one you buy.
Samsung is supposed to release their own generation 4 NVMe drives this year. They will outperform the drives using the current Phison controllers but are also expected to come with the usual Samsung premium price.
For Samsung quality:
My incredibly old Samsung 830 EVO 256GB drive, that I'm currently using as my Linux drive is still at 100% condition (27801 GB write).
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB is also at 100% (30427GB write).
Crucial MX500 1TB is at 99% (11456 GB write)
While my Samsung 256GB 960 EVO NVMe, holding my win10 installation is already at 91% condition (25588GB write).
That said, the 960 EVO will easily hold me another 3-4 years, probably longer. I'm trying to make a point that old Samsung quality is not necessarily new Samsung quality.
I was once here asking for an advice but I didn't buy the 2070 Super because the pandemic is happening and the price in my country is just plain ridiculous. Should I wait for the new GPUs instead? I found a "normal" price for the GPU but I have tingling suspicions as this GPU should be cheaper than what it was in its release not exactly the same a year later.
We will get high end RTX 3000 cards this year, an RTX 3080 and an RTX 3080Ti. For the rest? I'm not sure they are going to arrive in 2020.
The RTX 2000 series release was staggered.
| 2080 / 2080 Ti | September 2018 |
| 2070 | October 2018 |
| 2060 | January 2019 |
And those are the official release windows, lack of availability and price gauging would tell an even worse story.
Nvidia might forgo a 2020 release for low-mid cards this time altogether. There are rumours about disagreements between Nvidia and TSMC, and RTX low to mid-range GPUs might be produced by Samsung instead.
How does this help you? Unfortunately, not at all.
Option 1:
Play the waiting game, and deal with whatever GPU you have now. Worst case scenario: Spring 2021.
Option 2:
Up your budget significantly to be able to buy a high end RTX 3000 card that is guaranteed to come in ~3-4 months.
Option 3:
Buy an RTX 2070S now, enjoy the upgrade but have buyer's remorse should an RTX 3070 arrive in a couple of months.
For covid19 price increases. Can't say much about that. Europe is stable, so far. But I've noticed a significant increase in PSU and Mainboard prices in the U.S. for example.
Yeah, I think I should wait for the new cards to come, together with AMD's offerings and buy a secondhand / clearance 2080. Is there a big jump to 3000 or Big Navi? I got bitten twice with my 760 to 970 upgrade few months before Pascal and earlier with the AGP/PCI-E era (lmao).
Rumours, take with lots of doubt and salt please:
-There was a "leak" of an RTX 3000 card on the 3D Mark Time Spy Benchmark Database. It was about 30% faster in that benchmark as a 2080Ti. People believe it must be the RTX 3080. But there are no indications towards 3080 or 3080Ti.
-Big Navi is supposed to be somewhere in-between 3080 and 3080Ti.
-We have no idea about Big Navi Ray Tracing performance. Or if AMD is going to release their own machine learned upscaling technology.
I'm gonna wait for the 3080 or Ti before my current 1080 goes back in it's box.
Thank you for this, I appreciate it - but I'm afraid I still don't quite understand. That's not because you're a bad writer, it's on me. Mainly where I'm getting tripped up are these two sentences -Yes, all of them should be used with heatsinks. They can get hot during sustained read/write operations, independent of brand or pci express generation.
The ones coming with big, substantial heatsinks are pci express 4.0 though. 4.0 doubles the transfer speed in comparison to 3.0, which introduces further thermal challenges to NVMes. There is currently one controller capable of generation 4.0 speeds from Phison and all drives use them. This controller is getting exceptionally hot during sustained operations and needs the extra cooling.
That said, if you do not plan to hammer your drive with terabyte of data, no heatsink or the ones coming with your mb should be good enough.
For brand reputation: Samsung is the one most people trust the most, but generation 3 NVMes are "evolved" enough to start coming in the "it's all good enough" category. Just make sure to pick a "true" NVMe. There are drives with the same form factor, which fit most sockets but only operate at SATA speeds.
In general: M+B Key = SATA speeds, M Key = PCI-E x4 speeds (what you want).
For generation 4.0: As said, they are currently all using the same controllers and same flash memory. Doesn't matter which one you buy.
Samsung is supposed to release their own generation 4 NVMe drives this year. They will outperform the drives using the current Phison controllers but are also expected to come with the usual Samsung premium price.
For Samsung quality:
My incredibly old Samsung 830 EVO 256GB drive, that I'm currently using as my Linux drive is still at 100% condition (27801 GB write).
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB is also at 100% (30427GB write).
Crucial MX500 1TB is at 99% (11456 GB write)
While my Samsung 256GB 960 EVO NVMe, holding my win10 installation is already at 91% condition (25588GB write).
That said, the 960 EVO will easily hold me another 3-4 years, probably longer. I'm trying to make a point that old Samsung quality is not necessarily new Samsung quality.
To elaborate - my plan is to continue saving money until September when the Nvidia 3080s hit, and keep an eye out for deals on NVMe M.2 SSDs along the way. There's currently a sale Western Digital is having, and I'm confused by the option to buy them with or without heatsinks: WD_BLACK SN750 NVMe™ SSD | Western Digital Store
Given I don't plan on doing huge transfers except to download Steam games, am I correct that they would not need heatsinks according to your post?
Also, is this a decent deal I should jump on, or should I wait to see if I can snag PCI Express 4.0 drives?
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My fault, it is contradictory. I'm trying to give people enough information so they can make their own decisions. Without giving clear recommendations.
It is doable without heatsinks, but high-end drives have them for good reason. You should use a heatsink, though personally I'm relying on the ones that came with my mainboard.
Considering that you can get 2 TB 4.0 drives for that price, like the Sabrent 2TB Rocket, I'm not sure $400 for a 3.0 drive makes a lot of sense.
That said, there can be differences how the flash memory is being used on those drives, which will affect longevity. Relevant for professional use, the WD 750 is marketed towards gamers, as the Saberent. You'll still get years of usage out of them even with constant game installs/deletes and by the time your 2TB NVMe dies, you'll be able to replace it for $70.
For usefulness: It doesn't help, it doesn't hurt. Installing games through steam is faster, because it takes steam less time to reserve space on the drive before starting the download. That's a negligible difference. Will it help it the future? Probably. But prices should be even better by then.
When building new: You can find 1TB gen 3.0 NVMes for just over 110€/$ in the u.s. and europe. That's a bit more expansive than a 1TB SATA SSD or a SATA SSD and HDD combo. Putting in NVMe drives into new builds is starting to become cheap enough to become the standard.
So, what would be a good NAS box these days? As silent as possible. I have a bunch of drives I'm eventually looking to move out of my pc into an external box so as roomy as possible would also be nice.
But seems like maybe they are more expensive than I expected.
Is Synology the brand to look at? QNAP and Asustor equivalents seem at least cheaper.
But seems like maybe they are more expensive than I expected.
Is Synology the brand to look at? QNAP and Asustor equivalents seem at least cheaper.
Hey, it's my monthly worried posts about temps ! As I was saying to a friend on discord, I shudder to think about my temp on demanding games like Control.
So I have that shit
NZXT H500
What model of Noctua CPU cooler would fit, this one ?
Noctua NH-U12A, Ventirad CPU Premium avec Ventilateurs NF-A12x25 PWM Ultra Performants (120 mm, Marron)
Amazon product
And if I want to go nuclear winter, would that case be a good fit for airflow ?
So I have that shit
NZXT H500
What model of Noctua CPU cooler would fit, this one ?
Noctua NH-U12A, Ventirad CPU Premium avec Ventilateurs NF-A12x25 PWM Ultra Performants (120 mm, Marron)
Amazon product
And if I want to go nuclear winter, would that case be a good fit for airflow ?
NHU12A is an exceptionally good cooler.
Meshify C is a good case. (though I prefer the cheaper p400a, but it is constantly sold out)
The problem is the~200€ investment. At this point you might as well get the r5 3600 [~170€] and get better temperatures and performance that way.
Meshify C is a good case. (though I prefer the cheaper p400a, but it is constantly sold out)
The problem is the~200€ investment. At this point you might as well get the r5 3600 [~170€] and get better temperatures and performance that way.
I kinda toyed with the idea of waiting for the 4000 series. Wait, will my B450 Tomahawk be compatible ?
And the plan just took an arrow to the knee. I don't know if I missed a timed discount but the cooler got from 99 to 124 euros overnight
Wait, ISee you think a 3600 with stock cooler might be better than my 2600x with stock cooler ?
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B450 will support Ryzen 4000, but it will be a special situation:
Official AMD post about it on Reddit
For Ryzen 3000, that's no problem at all. Just make sure to be on the newest BIOS for your Mainboard.
I have no idea of what I'm talking about, but would the Noctua NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler be a respectable replacement to the NHU12A ?
It's 60 euros, that's certainly better than 120+
I plan to buy Control in August and would like if possible to avoid calling the firemen.
Edit - Or the Noctua NH-U12S Chromax Black, 120mm. I mean, it's not the end of the world but with a glass panel I maybe should keep it black.
Why are there so many fucking CPU cooler ref ?
It's 60 euros, that's certainly better than 120+
I plan to buy Control in August and would like if possible to avoid calling the firemen.
Edit - Or the Noctua NH-U12S Chromax Black, 120mm. I mean, it's not the end of the world but with a glass panel I maybe should keep it black.
Why are there so many fucking CPU cooler ref ?
It ain't bad, but why not save some money? Pretty much the same, performance wise.I have no idea of what I'm talking about, but would the Noctua NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler be a respectable replacement to the NHU12A ?
It's 60 euros, that's certainly better than 120+
I plan to buy Control in August and would like if possible to avoid calling the firemen.
Edit - Or the Noctua NH-U12S Chromax Black, 120mm. I mean, it's not the end of the world but with a glass panel I maybe should keep it black.
Why are there so many fucking CPU cooler ref ?
Amazon product
I'm very cool with saving money
I see it comes with pre-applied paste, I suppose I should be some just in case ? Never did that, should I target a specific paste or brand or caracteristics etc. ?
If you want to save money, go with the pre applied paste.I'm very cool with saving money
I see it comes with pre-applied paste, I suppose I should be some just in case ? Never did that, should I target a specific paste or brand or caracteristics etc. ?
The consent is that Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is the best paste out there. But it is also expansive. I do not think it makes much sense to spend 8€ on paste with a 40€ cooler. You'll be shaving off another 2-3°C, max!
By the way the 212 EVO Black Edition was a breeze to mount, they have replaces the weird X shaped thingy with separate support ‘rails’
They are indeed not cheap especially the larger units. All are about as easy to use as the next one, so don't focus too much on the brand. Make sure to buy a unit with more slots than you need if you're ever thinking of expanding unless you want to spend an eternity when doing so.So, what would be a good NAS box these days? As silent as possible. I have a bunch of drives I'm eventually looking to move out of my pc into an external box so as roomy as possible would also be nice.
But seems like maybe they are more expensive than I expected.
Is Synology the brand to look at? QNAP and Asustor equivalents seem at least cheaper.
(Specific to my Synology) They're only silent for as long as the CPU fan doesn't collect too much dust, after which it's a tossup between the fan not working at all and OMG dafudge is that horrid noise?! (a.k.a. add some dust filtration)