|OT| The PC Hardware Thread -- Buy/Upgrade/Ask/Answer

[Joe Spangle]

......................

Update

Finished the build and it works!
Is there a more nerve wracking time than switching the power on on a new PC build?

Was pretty tough to get all the cables in as its a small case, well, much smaller than my last one. I managed to fit my 5 disk drives in though (3 SSD, 1 HDD, 1 NVMe). Not totally the best fit as ive left one of the ssd's just hanging as there wasnt anywhere left to screw it down but i reckon it should be ok (no moving parts?). Tough cable management as there isnt much space but i think its my best build yet.

Overall happy. Temps seem ok so far. CPU is around 30C idle. Ran the new Cyberpunk bunchmark and they went up to 65c. GPU fine at 50c ish. Will see what a longer play session brings but right now im just pleased it switched on and nothing has gone pop.

 

[Joe Spangle]

...............

Update 2.

Played a bit of Kingdom Come this morning and noticed that the roof of the case is getting very hot. I didnt realise that the mightily chunky 3090 vents out at the top and as it sits so close to the case lid the air isnt really going anywhere and the temps were all rising fast so ive gone and drilled some speed holes in the case lid to try and let some hot air out.

 

[ExistentialThought]

Sheesh, navigating down the rabbit hole of mechanical keyboards is wowzah...

I have a Corsair with Cherry MX Speeds right now, but I was wanting to get a cute wireless purple or mint mechanical keyboard, preferably no RGB and trying to find one is just dizzying. It takes you down a rabbit hole of custom built mechanicals and it takes me back to when I just casually looked at building an arcade stick and I feel tapped out

Is there a reputable place to start with mechanicals? I feel like navigating Amazon is just a tidal wave of keyboards of varying quality and outside of Amazon is charting into uncharted waters.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Wireless will be the problem as i don't know much about them but if you want some brands that are reputable and do pretty colors then:

Ducky
Varmillo
Akko

Come to mind.

You can also find a wireless keyboard with a layout you like but in boring black or whatever and if it has cherry caps you can have a look for a replacement keycap set in colours you like or maybe two and mix and match.

Short message as i'm off to sleep for a couple of hours as it's nearly 5am lol.

 

[ExistentialThought]

Wireless will be the problem as i don't know much about them but if you want some brands that are reputable and do pretty colors then:

Ducky
Varmillo
Akko

Come to mind.

You can also find a wireless keyboard with a layout you like but in boring black or whatever and if it has cherry caps you can have a look for a replacement keycap set in colours you like or maybe two and mix and match.

Short message as i'm off to sleep for a couple of hours as it's nearly 5am lol.

Just hearing some brands is reallyyyy helpful. Like I have seen dozens of brands and it makes it so

That is a good idea about get a basic keyboard, I am still not use to thinking about replacing caps and all that fancy stuff haha. I was using membrane keyboards up until like 3 years ago haha.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Pulling keycaps is easy-peasy. You'll usually get a keycap puller with the keyboard or keycap set and it'll be some variation of this:



Loop puller over keycap, turn so you grab the corners and pull upwards. done.

 

[Mivey]

Just hearing some brands is reallyyyy helpful. Like I have seen dozens of brands and it makes it so

That is a good idea about get a basic keyboard, I am still not use to thinking about replacing caps and all that fancy stuff haha. I was using membrane keyboards up until like 3 years ago haha.

If you are interested in wireless mechanical keyboards, I'd recommend Keychron. Keychron | Wireless Mechanical Keyboards for Mac, Windows and Phones
They sell wireless keyboards in a wide variety of layouts, from full size down to 60%. I personally use a Keychron K2 for the office, and it's a really neat device. Battery lasts fairly long, I'd say about 2 weeks, and it charges in a couple of hours. The actual time the battery lasts will depend on your usage, of course.

 

[Parsnip]

How's the configurability on these mechanical keyboards? Like say, in the full Ducky if I wanted to replace the 4 media keys with some other media function, I assume it's done in software, and I need to have the software running in the background for it to work? You can't upload a profile into the keyboard or some such.

 

[Mivey]

How's the configurability on these mechanical keyboards? Like say, in the full Ducky if I wanted to replace the 4 media keys with some other media function, I assume it's done in software, and I need to have the software running in the background for it to work? You can't upload a profile into the keyboard or some such.

Ducky keyboards aren't great about this. I don't think you have the option to freely map everything. There's some macros you can define, but it's all done on the keyboard itself, without software. My first mechanical keyboard was from Ducky, and aside from setting up a macro once, I didn't end up doing much with it. The flip side is that it also doesn't "need" any software to retain those macros, they are fully saved in its own memory.

Most OEM software is pretty bad, honestly. Some higher end keyboards ship with QMK, which is an open source firmware that is fully reprogrammable (allowing you to literally write small C programs to do whatever you want on the board). There's VIA which is running on top of QMK and allows remapping of all keys without needing to flash the board.

 

[Parsnip]

Ducky keyboards aren't great about this. I don't think you have the option to freely map everything. There's some macros you can define, but it's all done on the keyboard itself, without software. My first mechanical keyboard was from Ducky, and aside from setting up a macro once, I didn't end up doing much with it. The flip side is that it also doesn't "need" any software to retain those macros, they are fully saved in its own memory.

Most OEM software is pretty bad, honestly. Some higher end keyboards ship with QMK, which is an open source firmware that is fully reprogrammable (allowing you to literally write small C programs to do whatever you want on the board). There's VIA which is running on top of QMK and allows remapping of all keys without needing to flash the board.

Reading through the Ducky manual it looks like you can replace any key with another key with their macro stuff, so that would work for me.

Not sure if I end up getting one at some point but interest is rising.

 

[Le Pertti]

Ive also been trying to dive into the abyss that is mechanical keyboards! What I have found is that AliExpress might be a good alternative to get good quality at reasonable price. Its pretty much granted that all the big names in the sphere have huge price tags.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

AlieExpress aren't an option for me as i want ISO layout with the big enter key and the majority of stuff out there is Mini or ANSI with the stick thin enter key. bleh. Also AliExpress can be cheap for a reason. Quality may not be the highest consideration. You tend to get what you pay for.

 

[Le Pertti]

AlieExpress aren't an option for me as i want ISO layout with the big enter key and the majority of stuff out there is Mini or ANSI with the stick thin enter key. bleh. Also AliExpress can be cheap for a reason. Quality may not be the highest consideration. You tend to get what you pay for.

Yeah I imagine that getting an AZERTY layout will be little harder than I expect.

But I've seen people in the mechanical keyboard reddit show off their AliExpress setups and they seem just fine. I use a Razer mechanical keyboard now so anything will be better quality.

 

[Hektor]

I still run a 4690K

a) Should i upgrade it?
b) If so, what are good upgrades for it (Any that dont require me to buy a new mobo?)

 

[Knurek]

I still run a 4690K

a) Should i upgrade it?
b) If so, what are good upgrades for it (Any that dont require me to buy a new mobo?)

a) i5-12600K or 5600X
b) lol no

 

[Kvik]

Is there a reputable place to start with mechanicals?

Do you have a preference for form factors? Full/TKL/60% ?

I'm a fan of 60%, and I bought my Anne Pro (they're wireless) from Flashquark.

It's very much a hobbyist site, so if you're looking for prebuilt like Ducky, Realforce or HHKB you won't find it here, although you can find almost everything keyboard-related there.

Keyboards | Flashquark Mechanical Keyboard Store

Mechanical keyboards available in many different sizes and layouts. Offering 60%, 75%, TKL, hotswap, and custom built mechanical keyboard options to help you make your ideal mechanical keyboard

flashquark.com

They ship internationally from the US (I think NY-based) and are pretty helpful in helping with enquiries (They also have a Discord)

 

[Joe Spangle]

Can you get sata cables that hook the opposite way, the right angle ones? I can only find ones that hook down and could use some that hook up (if that makes sense?)

 

[Parsnip]

Can you get sata cables that hook the opposite way, the right angle ones? I can only find ones that hook down and could use some that hook up (if that makes sense?)

I get what you mean but I dont think I've ever seen one. What'd your usecase for that?

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Can you get sata cables that hook the opposite way, the right angle ones? I can only find ones that hook down and could use some that hook up (if that makes sense?)

This sound silly but look for Left Handed or Left Angle Sata Cables.
They do exist but they are obviously a niche product. I settled for standard Right-Angle cables.

SATA Cables | Cables | StarTech.com United Kingdom

Our high quality Serial ATA (SATA) cables are designed to provide maximum durability and performance. We carry a huge selection of SATA cables, including straight SATA cables and Angled SATA cables, in a variety of lengths, with a wide selection of connectors available. | United Kingdom

www.startech.com

 

[Joe Spangle]

I get what you mean but I dont think I've ever seen one. What'd your usecase for that?

The case i have is pretty tight and has the mobo flat and it looks like it'll be easier to get all the cables in if they were hooking up rather than down.

This sound silly but look for Left Handed or Left Angle Sata Cables.
They do exist but they are obviously a niche product. I settled for standard Right-Angle cables.

SATA Cables | Cables | StarTech.com United Kingdom

Our high quality Serial ATA (SATA) cables are designed to provide maximum durability and performance. We carry a huge selection of SATA cables, including straight SATA cables and Angled SATA cables, in a variety of lengths, with a wide selection of connectors available. | United Kingdom

www.startech.com

Cool, cheers. I might just use some normal flat ones and try and run them round the sides a bit. Not much room to work with though.

 

[Parsnip]

I'm actually now curious if they sell those here in the common tech stores.

And yes, they do. That's a first, never seen one before.
I also had never seen one angled like this.

They are gonna kiss!

I guess it makes sense that there would be different angles, I doubt they are technically more complex than the more common ones so at least they shouldn't be more expensive, but definitely niche.

 

[Joe Spangle]

If i want to take out the ssd that has my windows install on and copy it to a new one is it fairly straight forward? do i just use the system image thingy?

 

[Parsnip]

So, I've been looking at some mechanical keyboards for a few days. There's a lot of choice but I'm not really finding exactly what I want.
Can someone recommend me full 100% (none of that 97%), wireless, (hot swappable), ISO with big enter key, with 4 extra buttons above the numpad? Basically the ducky full keyboard, but wireless?
I couldn't really find one to that spec.

If i want to take out the ssd that has my windows install on and copy it to a new one is it fairly straight forward? do i just use the system image thingy?

I've never had luck with cleanly cloning a boot drive to another disk, sadly. Even with supposed pro level tools that everyone else swears by.
I always need to fix the boot manager or some other stuff and I never quite remember what exactly worked last time, so it's always a headache.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong in some way, or my original install is installed in some weird way.

 

[Joe Spangle]

I've never had luck with cleanly cloning a boot drive to another disk, sadly. Even with supposed pro level tools that everyone else swears by.
I always need to fix the boot manager or some other stuff and I never quite remember what exactly worked last time, so it's always a headache.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong in some way, or my original install is installed in some weird way.

Yeah i've read up on it and it seems like just doing a fresh re-install is the better option.

 

[Mivey]

So, I've been looking at some mechanical keyboards for a few days. There's a lot of choice but I'm not really finding exactly what I want.
Can someone recommend me full 100%, wireless, (hot swappable), with 4 extra buttons above the numpad? Basically the ducky full keyboard, but wireless?
I couldn't really find one to that spec.

IQUNIX F97 Hitchhiker Wireless Mechanical Keyboard

F97 Released! Great refinements over the previous F96 keyboard. Features hot-swappable, 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 5.1, KDA Profile PBT keycaps, Cherry MX/TTC switches, Extended Battery Life. Looks great! Works great! Shop now to enjoy a special offer for the new-in item!

iqunix.store

Note that iQuinix has other designs too, if that colour isn't to your liking. Their boards all come with ANSI layouts (so the American layout), if you need ISO then you are very much out of luck, I think.

Far from cheap, even by mechanical keyboard standards, but it hits all your boxes. Does look like a quality build and I have heard great things about iQuinix quality wise.
Generally, the hobby tends much more towards more compact designs. I'd definitely recommend you try out a tenkeyless (TKL) keyboard at least once. Unless you literally entering long numbers into a spreadsheet all day, there is virtually no point for having a dedicated numpad as part of the keyboard. I personally have a wireless numpad I use like once a month if I need to entire some data into a spreadsheet for some purpose. It mostly collects dust.

 

[Parsnip]

IQUNIX F97 Hitchhiker Wireless Mechanical Keyboard

F97 Released! Great refinements over the previous F96 keyboard. Features hot-swappable, 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 5.1, KDA Profile PBT keycaps, Cherry MX/TTC switches, Extended Battery Life. Looks great! Works great! Shop now to enjoy a special offer for the new-in item!

iqunix.store

Note that iQuinix has other designs too, if that colour isn't to your liking. Their boards all come with ANSI layouts (so the American layout), if you need ISO then you are very much out of luck, I think.

Far from cheap, even by mechanical keyboard standards, but it hits all your boxes. Does look like a quality build and I have heard great things about iQuinix quality wise.
Generally, the hobby tends much more towards more compact designs. I'd definitely recommend you try out a tenkeyless (TKL) keyboard at least once. Unless you literally entering long numbers into a spreadsheet all day, there is virtually no point for having a dedicated numpad as part of the keyboard. I personally have a wireless numpad I use like once a month if I need to entire some data into a spreadsheet for some purpose. It mostly collects dust.

Oh right, I forgot that ISO is the only way. Also that KB you linked is like 97% or whatever they call that when it's all cramped up like that. Disgusting.

Anyways, I definitely need the numpad, some pretty important shortcuts there in Blender and such.


Sadness.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

A super quick look suggests:
Logitech G915
Logitech G613
Razer Pro Type
Filco Majestitouch Convertable 2

but i don't know if any are available with superior ISO layout and the Filco will be ball-aching expensive but lovely.

 

[Parsnip]

A super quick look suggests:
Logitech G915
Logitech G613
Razer Pro Type
Filco Majestitouch Convertable 2

but i don't know if any are available with superior ISO layout and the Filco will be ball-aching expensive but lovely.

Yeah I saw that Razer too and it's almost good, Just no ISO as far as I can see and no extra 4 keys.
Logitechs are generally too tall, weirdly enough. Just add another requirement to my list I guess.

I'm actually thinking about maybe just compromising and possibly replacing the print screen, scroll, pause/break row with other keys. I never use those, and if I can reconfigure them to be any other key and just change the keycaps, that could be doable and widen my options a lot. I don't "need" 4 extra keys, I could very well work with just 3 too.

I saw something yesterday that would fit into this spec I think, now I just need to find it again and see if my memory is correct.

edit: Actually Akko might have something that fits my original spec, just their site is kind of bad in terms of filtering so I need to look at most of the kayboards more closely.

edit edit: No luck with Akko after all. I did notice that the Razer Pro Type seems to be available in ISO layout at local stores, but no stock so who knows.
That's my top option for now.

 

[Stevey]

Anybody know what's going on here?
My desktop resolution is 1440p, so why is NVCP using 1080p as a base value?

 

[curi0usBystander]

Does anyone here have a zotac GPU ? I always hear horror stories but the thing is i've found a 3070Ti at basically MSRP.

The catch is that it's a refurfished card, The store claims it has never been used (a bit weird ) and so they give me 3 years of warranty (which is a good thing since it's like it was a new card).

E; doesn't matter, I tried to buy it but it keeps giving me an error, I guess the store didn't get updated and still shows that is available. Guess I'll have to keep looking.

 

[Snakethesniper]

I'm thinking about upgrading my PC in the near future, at the moment I'm running:

• Ryzen 5 1600 @ 3.7Ghz
• Asus Prime B350-Plus
• RTX 2060
• 16 GB RAM DDR4
• 2x Crucial MX500 1TB
• Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus

Not gonna touch the GPU for the moment due to the prices...
I play at 1080p @ 144Hz..

My primary need would be to upgrade the CPU (and that means the MOBO and RAM too).
I'd change the case too since the filters are damaged and I'd like a bit more space inside.
Can you suggest me a good upgrade from this config?

Thanks

 

[Parsnip]

If you want to stick with AMD, Ryzen 5600X is a pretty good 6c 12t CPU.
If you want more cores, you might want to wait and see how the Ryzen 7 5800X3D shapes up, rumors are placing it arriving at the end of March.

On Intel side Alder Lake was pretty well reviewed and beat AMD offerings in quite a few game benches around similar price points. That was back in early November, so I don't know if price changes have changed that in significant way.

And all in all it depends on your budget of course.

 

[Knurek]

If you want to stick with AMD, Ryzen 5600X is a pretty good 6c 6t CPU.

*6c 12t

A week from changing my GPU and I still can't get over the fact that a card as powerful as 3070 can be engineered to be below ambient noise level at full load.
Like, literally, my CPU fan is louder

 

[Parsnip]

*6c 12t

Oops.

 

[Kinthalis]

Guys, not sure if there's a better thread for this question: I got a new Xbox Series X/S gamepad cause my old 360 gamepad died. I'm having a weird issue where the gamepad can connect to my windows 11 PC over Bluetooth just fine, but it can't connect via USB. If I unpoair the gamepad and connect it directly to the PC via USB I get a slight rumble, then nothing. If I turn the gamepad on via the xbox logo button, it starts blinking, looking for a wireless connection. I've tried 2 USB wires and 2 PC's (one laptop) and I get the same result.

Anyone have this issue before? Looking online it seems most people have the opposite issue, with USB working fine but not Bluetooth, so weird.

 

[Parsnip]

Guys, not sure if there's a better thread for this question: I got a new Xbox Series X/S gamepad cause my old 360 gamepad died. I'm having a weird issue where the gamepad can connect to my windows 11 PC over Bluetooth just fine, but it can't connect via USB. If I unpoair the gamepad and connect it directly to the PC via USB I get a slight rumble, then nothing. If I turn the gamepad on via the xbox logo button, it starts blinking, looking for a wireless connection. I've tried 2 USB wires and 2 PC's (one laptop) and I get the same result.

Anyone have this issue before? Looking online it seems most people have the opposite issue, with USB working fine but not Bluetooth, so weird.

Not sure if this makes a difference, but you could try checking if there's a firmware update for the controller. Find the Xbox Accessories app from the windows store and see if it has an update. Or even just reinstall the firmware with the app.
It should be possible to do through the working bluetooth connection.

 

[Kinthalis]

Hey guys quick question: I have a closed-loop liquid cooler for my i7 8700k from Corsair. Will this fit onto a new socket 1700/alder lake setup with an i7 12700k? Or do I need to buy a new cooler too?

Not sure if this makes a difference, but you could try checking if there's a firmware update for the controller. Find the Xbox Accessories app from the windows store and see if it has an update. Or even just reinstall the firmware with the app.
It should be possible to do through the working bluetooth connection.

I ended up connecting it to my one x and it updated there, now it works. So weird.

 

[Parsnip]

I ended up connecting it to my one x and it updated there, now it works. So weird.

Huzzah!

 

[didamangi]

Manage to snag a 3060 ti for $570 ( ASUS RTX 3060 Ti Dual Mini V2 OC). That's not too far from my country's "msrp" on launch day ($450-550 depending on the brand and model)
Not my first choice in the least and load temperatures on some youtube videos are conflicting but glad I bought it in the end.

Not too shabby once undervolted. Not really hearing any noise difference on load compared to my previous GPU (Palit 1070 jetstream) which is good. Although I do put my case on the floor (on a stand, so not a total heathen)

I guess that's one upside to a good mesh case. Undervolted load temps are 70C max. Not that different compared to stock which is 72C but with uptick in performance.

Stock:

Undervolt:

Hey guys quick question: I have a closed-loop liquid cooler for my i7 8700k from Corsair. Will this fit onto a new socket 1700/alder lake setup with an i7 12700k? Or do I need to buy a new cooler too?

https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411406331277-How-to-Use-your-old-retention-bracket-to-mount-an-Elite-Capellix-cooler-to-an-LGA-1700-socket

 

[Kinthalis]

Manage to snag a 3060 ti for $570 ( ASUS RTX 3060 Ti Dual Mini V2 OC). That's not too far from my country's "msrp" on launch day ($450-550 depending on the brand and model)
Not my first choice in the least and load temperatures on some youtube videos are conflicting but glad I bought it in the end.

Not too shabby once undervolted. Not really hearing any noise difference on load compared to my previous GPU (Palit 1070 jetstream) which is good. Although I do put my case on the floor (on a stand, so not a total heathen)

I guess that's one upside to a good mesh case. Undervolted load temps are 70C max. Not that different compared to stock which is 72C but with uptick in performance.

Stock:

Undervolt:

https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411406331277-How-to-Use-your-old-retention-bracket-to-mount-an-Elite-Capellix-cooler-to-an-LGA-1700-socket

Woot! Thanks!

I also picked up a 3060ti for around the same price (I think I got it for $550) at microcenter a couple of months ago. Do you have any undervolting guides handy?

 

[Parsnip]

I've been still keeping my eye on Asus' TUF models even though I've decided to wait for the next round regardless of the prices (well, I mean, if I got one for MSRP I might consider it). I'm still just so baffled about the VRAM amount in the base models. My middle of the road, 6 year old card has 8gigs of VRAM so it just feels weird that lots of the cards are still rocking that same amount.

But yeah, the TUF cards have also gone down in price, just under €700 for the 3060 Ti TUF, so not quite 550 yet, but not quite the €990 it was not too too long ago.
Other TUF prices are €930 for the 3070 Ti, €1380 for the 3080 (12GB model) and €1670 for the 3080 Ti.
So it's all gone down, some more than others but maybe relatively about the same? Too lazy to do the actual math. Still an obscene amount of money though.

 

[didamangi]

Woot! Thanks!

I also picked up a 3060ti for around the same price (I think I got it for $550) at microcenter a couple of months ago. Do you have any undervolting guides handy?

Be sure to take some time testing stability though, my go to are 3dmark timespy on loop for 30 minutes. And metro exodus built in benchmark tool, also for 30 minutes. Metro's benchmark find undervolt/oc instability really fast for me. UNIGINE Benchmarks free benchmarks are good alternatives if you don't have those.

After that, if any crashes happens, just lower the clock/pick a step higher voltage. whichever you prefer and test it again.

I've been still keeping my eye on Asus' TUF models even though I've decided to wait for the next round regardless of the prices (well, I mean, if I got one for MSRP I might consider it). I'm still just so baffled about the VRAM amount in the base models. My middle of the road, 6 year old card has 8gigs of VRAM so it just feels weird that lots of the cards are still rocking that same amount.

But yeah, the TUF cards have also gone down in price, just under €700 for the 3060 Ti TUF, so not quite 550 yet, but not quite the €990 it was not too too long ago.
Other TUF prices are €930 for the 3070 Ti, €1380 for the 3080 (12GB model) and €1670 for the 3080 Ti.
So it's all gone down, some more than others but maybe relatively about the same? Too lazy to do the actual math. Still an obscene amount of money though.

Yeah, I wouldn't buy one with those prices tbh. That's still too high on every tier for me.

The vram situation isn't ideal but for a 1080p/1440p card like the 3060 ti, 8gb shouldn't be a problem for majority of games (for now). And seeing nvidia/amd pushing their dlss/rsr, it might not matter for future games as well for those 2 resolutions.

When I got the 3080 on launch, the 10gb vram is worrisome but almost 2 years later, there's still very very few games that gave it a problem vram wise at 4k. (CMIIW)

The rumors about the power draw of the 4xxx series card are concerning though.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090-class GPU with 600W TGP has reportedly been confirmed - VideoCardz.com

GeForce RTX 40 Series: Great performance comes with great power bill There is yet another report that next-gen NVIDIA series will require lots of power. Granted, we are only talking about the flagship models for now, but 600W graphics cards are still something that many of us simply cannot...

videocardz.com

 

[Kvik]

I wonder how much they'll going to charge us for 4080 Ti. $3K AUD for a reference GPU is absurd.

 

[「Echo」]

Probably a silly question, but what's the standard GPU upgrade procedure? Usually from gen-to-gen whenever I get a new GPU i build a whole new PC fresh, but this time, I have a more than good enough base so a 3070ti should carry me for the rest of this gen.

So, just pop the ol' 1080ti out and slap the 3070ti in? Should i wipe drivers? If it matters I'm already on the latest available Nvidia drivers.

 

[didamangi]

Probably a silly question, but what's the standard GPU upgrade procedure? Usually from gen-to-gen whenever I get a new GPU i build a whole new PC fresh, but this time, I have a more than good enough base so a 3070ti should carry me for the rest of this gen.

So, just pop the ol' 1080ti out and slap the 3070ti in? Should i wipe drivers? If it matters I'm already on the latest available Nvidia drivers.

I always do this when changing a gpu.

• download display driver uninstaller (ddu): Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 18.0.4.9
• Restart to safe mode
• run ddu. on device type pick gpu > nvidia, and then click clean and shutdown
• pop out old gou
• put in the new gpu
• install the latest drivers

might be overkill but I swear by it

 

[Pommes]

Probably a silly question, but what's the standard GPU upgrade procedure? Usually from gen-to-gen whenever I get a new GPU i build a whole new PC fresh, but this time, I have a more than good enough base so a 3070ti should carry me for the rest of this gen.

So, just pop the ol' 1080ti out and slap the 3070ti in? Should i wipe drivers? If it matters I'm already on the latest available Nvidia drivers.

It should not be necessary to wipe the drivers since the newest Nvidia driver supports both the 1080ti and the 3070ti.

 

[Parsnip]

Probably a silly question, but what's the standard GPU upgrade procedure? Usually from gen-to-gen whenever I get a new GPU i build a whole new PC fresh, but this time, I have a more than good enough base so a 3070ti should carry me for the rest of this gen.

So, just pop the ol' 1080ti out and slap the 3070ti in? Should i wipe drivers? If it matters I'm already on the latest available Nvidia drivers.

Since you aren't switching from green to red, I'd just pop in the new card and re-install the latest driver as a clean install.
Even that might be unnecessary, but old habits die hard.

 

[C-Dub]

Since you aren't switching from green to red, I'd just pop in the new card and re-install the latest driver as a clean install.
Even that might be unnecessary, but old habits die hard.

This is what I did when I upgraded from 3070 to 3080. No issues, and it worked fine until I decided to reinstall Windows due to changing my boot drive.

 

[gabbo]

Probably a silly question, but what's the standard GPU upgrade procedure? Usually from gen-to-gen whenever I get a new GPU i build a whole new PC fresh, but this time, I have a more than good enough base so a 3070ti should carry me for the rest of this gen.

So, just pop the ol' 1080ti out and slap the 3070ti in? Should i wipe drivers? If it matters I'm already on the latest available Nvidia drivers.

If you were coming from AMD, what didamangi said for sure. A 1080 and a 3070 driver wise arent big enough leaps to require that kind of drastic measure by default, but you always could do so just to be safe.

 

[gabbo]

On a different note, with GPU prices falling, does anyone have any experience with the 'zip' payment method on NewEgg? $600 CAD spread over 4 payments for a 3060 is a little easier to swallow than all at once, but I don't know anything about the system and how safe/secure it is.