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

Li Kao

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I don't have much experience with CPU coolers. I currently use a pretty big one from Noctua in my current case. It's the Noctua NH-U12A, cost around twice what you currently selected. It's super quiet and also pretty good at cooling my 3800X. Basically 40 degree idle.
One thing that you need to take care with these giant Noctua coolers is their size. I have a large Fractal Define R6, so ample space there. The case itself is built to be quiet, so not optimal for air flow, but combined with the quiet Noctua fans, it ends up being super quiet.
Oh I would love some quiet case, I hate noise in general and could live in a monastery in that regard. It's just that my experience with the NZXT has been so bad that I always targeted temps. What are your temps when you push your PC ?
 

Mivey

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Oh I would love some quiet case, I hate noise in general and could live in a monastery in that regard. It's just that my experience with the NZXT has been so bad that I always targeted temps. What are your temps when you push your PC ?
Hmm, I don't think I have seen it hit temps above 60, either GPU (Asus RTX 2080 TI) or CPU.
But I don't think I have ever benchmarked this. If you want I can run a benchmark on the PC and see how high the temps get. It's not super hot right now in Vienna, so the result shouldn't be biased by that.
 
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Li Kao

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Hmm, I don't think I have seen it hit temps above 60, either GPU (Asus RTX 2080 TI) or CPU.
But I don't think I have ever benchmarked this. If you want I can run a benchmark on the PC and see how high the temps get. It's not super hot right now in Vienna, so the result shouldn't be biased by that.
Nah, don't go out of your way, it was in case you had benchmarked it in the past. My buying plan is still too sketchy to ask for info that precise.
I mean 400 for a new cpu + cooler + case is tempting. Really tempting. Keeping the 400 is, err... not uninteresting too.

Damn, it's by thinking like that and being slow that I will take a full force upgrade in the face.
 

Mivey

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Nah, don't go out of your way, it was in case you had benchmarked it in the past. My buying plan is still too sketchy to ask for info that precise.
I mean 400 for a new cpu + cooler + case is tempting. Really tempting. Keeping the 400 is, err... not uninteresting too.

Damn, it's by thinking like that and being slow that I will take a full force upgrade in the face.
So, out of curiosity, I did ran some benchmarks. For CPU, I found a free one by Geekbench. Their GPU Compute benchmark is over way too quick to really push the GPU much, but the CPU one ran a couple of minutes, and the max temp's I got were 54 degrees. I should note here that I have my Ryzen CPU set at a fixed base clock of 3.6 GHz, in order to keep things quiet and cool. If I need more CPU power in the future, I might unlock that.
For the GPU, I just fired up FFVIIR and let it run for about 5 minutes while I fixed some food. I got to about 68 degrees, and it wasn't increasing much more after that. Might have hit 70 if I let it run half an hour or so.
 
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Li Kao

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The Define r6 is not cheap :anguished-face:
But on the other hands it can receive lots of hdd/ssd. The cases I looked at like the Pure Base 500dx or even the horribly pricey torrent don’t have that many (2x 3,5’’ the MISERY for the PureBase).
 

gabbo

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The Define r6 is not cheap :anguished-face:
But on the other hands it can receive lots of hdd/ssd. The cases I looked at like the Pure Base 500dx or even the horribly pricey torrent don’t have that many.
What's the r6 cost these days? I got the Define 7 XL and... woo-wee was it pricey, but I could probably build a second home in there with all the space.
 

Li Kao

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What's the r6 cost these days? I got the Define 7 XL and... woo-wee was it pricey, but I could probably build a second home in there with all the space.
All over the place on Amazon.fr, but third parties.
220 on a French PC site that actually sells the products it lists. Frankly tired of Amazon and Fnac, no I don’t want to buy several hundreds worth of electronic from some random seller I have no faith in.
 

Mivey

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All over the place on Amazon.fr, but third parties.
220 on a French PC site that actually sells the products it lists. Frankly tired of Amazon and Fnac, no I don’t want to buy several hundreds worth of electronic from some random seller I have no faith in.
So as a reference point, when buying it in late 2019, I paid 148,48€ for the Define R6. In this Austrian sales tracker, Fractal Design Define R6 ab € 136,03 (2022) | Preisvergleich Geizhals Österreich, it still goes for 136€. Maybe you could try to import it, it's in the EU so shouldn't be a big headache.
There's also tons of different options with the R6. I think Fractal also has a lot of other cases they released since then. The cases are not cheap, but I'm very happy with the build quality, the look and the effective sound dampening of the Define R6 that I have.
 
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Li Kao

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Interesting. Not really up for the added stress of international purchasing, but those prices…
 

Mivey

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Interesting. Not really up for the added stress of international purchasing, but those prices…
Something else to consider is that I see a lot of price variation across the versions of the R6 that are still for sale. Getting an R7 might be cheaper, and all versions of that are still up for sale. I think the "be quiet" series are also pretty good in benchmarks which measure how loud or quiet cases are. But they do offer less space for HDDs/SSD from what I understand.
 

Li Kao

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So, out of curiosity, I did ran some benchmarks. For CPU, I found a free one by Geekbench. Their GPU Compute benchmark is over way too quick to really push the GPU much, but the CPU one ran a couple of minutes, and the max temp's I got were 54 degrees. I should note here that I have my Ryzen CPU set at a fixed base clock of 3.6 GHz, in order to keep things quiet and cool. If I need more CPU power in the future, I might unlock that.
For the GPU, I just fired up FFVIIR and let it run for about 5 minutes while I fixed some food. I got to about 68 degrees, and it wasn't increasing much more after that. Might have hit 70 if I let it run half an hour or so.
You know what ? I'm lost and stubborn. So in an attempt to save on the case I will bench the PC and report back. Maybe simply buying some better fans would be enough to cool my shit.
Uh, on the other hand it won't lessen the noise.

edit Mivey
OK, confirmed. I didn't buy a case, I got an oven.
Geekbench CPU benchmark, max temp 80c. Uh.

Now should I try buying some quality PWM fans to replace the stock ones, maybe a better CPU cooler than the Wraith Prism, or just start over with a new case...
The NZXT H500 isn't an airflow case, and I'm afraid it's not particularly silent either when the temp gets high.



3d Mark demo
CPU high 85.6c
GPU high 69.1c (nice, I guess)





What am I supposed to understand ? Is it ancient alien ?
I just wanted to know the size of the fans I can put in my case. What is a fucking radiator mode ? A fan mode ? Why are there several size ?

I 'guess' it means I can put 1x 120mm max in the rear and 1x 140mm on top. I guess. All of them in exhaust mode because my case is bizarre.
 
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Li Kao

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NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 120mm​
32,9​
NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 140mm​
26,9​
Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black, Ventirad CPU 120mm​
119,9​
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor​
239,9​
be quiet! Pure Base 500DX ATX Mid Tower Case​
122,35​

Not cheap. not bad too I hope. Just annoyed by, well the price, and the case. Still very unsure about the case. too few 3.5" slots.
Oh yeah, I don't need the case fans if I buy a new case, not the most pricey part though.
 
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Mivey

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What am I supposed to understand ? Is it ancient alien ?
I just wanted to know the size of the fans I can put in my case. What is a fucking radiator mode ? A fan mode ? Why are there several size ?
Radiator mode is when you want to use liquid cooling. If you want to stick to air cooling you can just forget about it. There are several sizes there because you can either use 120MM fans or 140MM. Larger fans run quieter, so I'd recommend you go for those.

From the schematics, you can have 1 fan in the top, 1 fan in the rear and 2 in the front. And in each case you have the choice between 120MM and 140MM, except the rear one, which can only be 120M.
 
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Li Kao

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Radiator mode is when you want to use liquid cooling. If you want to stick to air cooling you can just forget about it. There are several sizes there because you can either use 120MM fans or 140MM. Larger fans run quieter, so I'd recommend you go for those.

From the schematics, you can have 1 fan in the top, 1 fan in the rear and 2 in the front. And in each case you have the choice between 120MM and 140MM, except the rear one, which can only be 120M.
Yup, if I don't change case I will be going with rear and top in exhaust mode, negative air pressure. GamersNexus did a benchmark where adding front fans augmented GPU temps.
That said I hate my case, and it is right now doing a gentle buzzing from hell, never could pinpoint the culprit.
 
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Li Kao

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It started with a cpu and ended at 680 euros.
I’m shitting bricks, so scared of breaking something…

Didn’t pull the trigger yet.

Pure Base 500dx
Samsung 870 evo 1to
Noctua NH-U12A
Ryzen 5800x

I know I spammed this thread, but if there is an obvious issue, SPEAK UP PLZ :anguished-face:
 

Mivey

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It started with a cpu and ended at 680 euros.
I’m shitting bricks, so scared of breaking something…

Didn’t pull the trigger yet.

Pure Base 500dx
Samsung 870 evo 1to
Noctua NH-U12A
Ryzen 5800x

I know I spammed this thread, but if there is an obvious issue, SPEAK UP PLZ :anguished-face:
Have you run this through https://pcpartpicker.com/? In my experience, it's good at finding compatibility issues. I'd double check if your case has enough room to put the CPU cooler in.
Seems good to me otherwise.
EDIT;
So the cooler seems ok, the Noctua fan has 158mm height, and the case is 232 mm wide, and according to its website your beQuiet should have problems fitting it: Max.construction height of CPU cooler unit (mm) 190
 
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Li Kao

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Downgraded the plan to a 5600x, the gain from going 5800x seems extremely minimal in games.
 
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Doctor Ironic

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Dumb question but I've been out of the game for a while. If I buy a PC case imported from Japan, as long as it uses standard part sizes (it does) and I use my own power supply, it shouldn't matter if I still use American parts in there, right?

I'm honestly still a maybe on it, it doesn't have all the USB ports I'd like, but I am considering it.

Also, what are the current rumors about the 4000 series? Do they still have the ridonkulous power draws I heard about? Are we thinking late this year/early 2023 for release?
 

Kvik

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as long as it uses standard part sizes (it does) and I use my own power supply, it shouldn't matter if I still use American parts in there, right?
Modern PSUs should have the AC switching capabilities from 100-240V/50-60hz. So even if you're planning to use the PSU which comes with it, you won't have any issues. But since you will be using your own PSU, it won't matter at all.

As a general rule, always check the power/voltage specification if importing any electronics from JP, though. With modern electronics, you probably won't have any issues, but for retro computing they seldom have switching capabilities.
 

Mivey

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Dumb question but I've been out of the game for a while. If I buy a PC case imported from Japan, as long as it uses standard part sizes (it does) and I use my own power supply, it shouldn't matter if I still use American parts in there, right?

I'm honestly still a maybe on it, it doesn't have all the USB ports I'd like, but I am considering it.

Also, what are the current rumors about the 4000 series? Do they still have the ridonkulous power draws I heard about? Are we thinking late this year/early 2023 for release?
This is basically just a Define 7 compact, actually. At least it has the same dimensions. Which isn't a huge surprise, I guess, since Fractal Design is making this one too.
Pretty steep price, honestly. Do you pay any import fees on it too?
 

Parsnip

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Looks like nvidia has officially introduced MSRP pricecuts to the highend models of the 3000 series, everything from 3080 12GB upwards gets some form of an official price cut. I mean the original prices on all of those were ridiculously overpriced. The 3080 12GB model for about $800 is getting to the point of being a pretty good deal. It approaches the performance of the 3080Ti in a fair few games and the extra vram is nice, and the Ti's new MSRP is still $1100, so quite a lot more.

Of course that's still a lot of money though. But in relation to everything above it, it's a pretty good deal.
 

Li Kao

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Man that new SSD feels a little slow, maybe I should check the speeds

Old Samsung (main ssd)


New Samsung


...
Well, I'm ok with that !

By the way, if those speeds are very wrong for classic SSD, tell me.
 

C-Dub

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Man that new SSD feels a little slow, maybe I should check the speeds

Old Samsung (main ssd)


New Samsung


...
Well, I'm ok with that !

By the way, if those speeds are very wrong for classic SSD, tell me.
Presumably by "classic SSD" you mean a SATA SSD, right?

If it is SATA, then yeah, your new drive is about as fast as SATA goes. If you want a faster drive you will need to use a PCIe NVMe.
 
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Li Kao

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Presumably by "classic SSD" you mean a SATA SSD, right?

If it is SATA, then yeah, your new drive is about as fast as SATA goes. If you want a faster drive you will need to use a PCIe NVMe.
Yup, plain 'old' SATA SSD.
As long as I don't change case and CPU cooler I can't put a nvme in there with a peaceful mind. And my mobo doesn't support the super speedy nvme anyways.
 
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C-Dub

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Until DirectStorage is more of a thing I don't really feel NVMes are significantly more beneficial than a SATA SSD for 99% of games. There are a handful of AAA games where load times shave a few seconds off with NVMe, but that's about it.

Obviously when we start seeing more games using DirectStorage that will change drastically, but it's coming along very slowly.
 

Parsnip

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Undervolted my GPU, to 900mV.
Runs about 50-60W leaner (as per MSI Afterburner stats), 8C cooler and the same perf.

Seems stable at 900mV, 875mV crashed the benchmark I was testing with. Haven't played any games yet, so we'll see if it's truly stable in the end.
Electricity prices going up everywhere, now I've done my part on reducing usage. :grinning-face:
 
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kio

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Guys, I'm looking for a dual 144Hz 1080p monitor setup (I think 1440p is overkill).
Is this a good monitor?
 

Mivey

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The addiction continues....



Finally found a cheap 68 keys hot swappable board that support fn layer editing. Might be my new favorite after some adjustment period.
Nice. Personally don't see a reason to ever starting using anything but 75%, but I can see how for gaming alone it's probably not a big adjustment.
What switches do you use?
 

didamangi

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Nice. Personally don't see a reason to ever starting using anything but 75%, but I can see how for gaming alone it's probably not a big adjustment.
What switches do you use?
Yeah, the 75 exploded with knob layout like the top one is my favorite tbh. too bad that one doesn't support fn layer although that's not a big deal for 75% layout.

jwick t1 for my main board (top), jwick black for the bottom one, jwick yellow for the right one, all lubed by someone else, I don't have the time or patience to lubed/filmed hundreds of switches :D. I do tuned the stabs and do the simple mod like adding rubber dampening myself.

Tried more expensive ones like the u4ts, ink blacks, aqua kings. But jwicks is my favorite out of all of them so far when lubed. Luckily they're very cheap.

Might try the new keychron v1 as well when it's on sale in my country. Looks like another good budget keyboard, with QMK/VIA support.

 
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NarohDethan

There was a fish in the percolator!
Apr 6, 2019
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Current build:

Intel i7 10700 (not k)
Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Elite
16gb RAM DDR4 3200 mhz
RTX 2070 Super
EVGA 600W BQ
CoolerMaster 212 evo cooler
Case NZXT H510

Planned build

AMD 5800X
ASUS ROG Strix B550-A
32 gb RAM DDR4 (basically gonna reuse it plus upgrade 2 more sticks)
Either a 3080Ti or whatever is the 4080 line
EVGA G5 1000W
Corsair Capellix H150i 360mm AIO
Case Corsair 5000D Airflow

Does this makes sense or should I just stick with my CPU.
 

Pommes

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Current build:

Intel i7 10700 (not k)
Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Elite
16gb RAM DDR4 3200 mhz
RTX 2070 Super
EVGA 600W BQ
CoolerMaster 212 evo cooler
Case NZXT H510

Planned build

AMD 5800X
ASUS ROG Strix B550-A
32 gb RAM DDR4 (basically gonna reuse it plus upgrade 2 more sticks)
Either a 3080Ti or whatever is the 4080 line
EVGA G5 1000W
Corsair Capellix H150i 360mm AIO
Case Corsair 5000D Airflow

Does this makes sense or should I just stick with my CPU.
Wild uninformed ramblings:
It probably depends on what resolution and frame rate you want to achieve.
When you play on 1080p to achieve very high framerates (120+) the 5800x might give you a good bump.
When you plan to play with a 4k resolution on lower framerates (~60 FPS) you probably don't need to change the CPU.
The Geforce 4000 series could perhaps profit from PCI Express 4 (bonus for the 5800x). But I currently think that this is unlikely.
Another advantage of PCI Express 4 might be the SSD speed in combination with Direct Storage.
But it will take some time until the first titles start using Direct Storage. And it is currently unknown how big the advantage of Direct Storage will be.
 
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ScreamingTrees

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10700 - 5800x doesn't seem like it would be enough of an increase to me. With the 7000 AMD out this year and the 13th Gen Intel, it might be an idea to wait and see.
 
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NarohDethan

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Wild uninformed ramblings:
It probably depends on what resolution and frame rate you want to achieve.
When you play on 1080p to achieve very high framerates (120+) the 5800x might give you a good bump.
When you plan to play with a 4k resolution on lower framerates (~60 FPS) you probably don't need to change the CPU.
The Geforce 4000 series could perhaps profit from PCI Express 4 (bonus for the 5800x). But I currently think that this is unlikely.
Another advantage of PCI Express 4 might be the SSD speed in combination with Direct Storage.
But it will take some time until the first titles start using Direct Storage. And it is currently unknown how big the advantage of Direct Storage will be.
For now I'll be playing at 1440p
 
OP
Durante

Durante

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I'm generally not into unboxing videos but this is pretty interesting:
 
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Li Kao

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How relevant are the vanilla 3080 ? Because while the ti is still pricey as fuck, they are reaching 800-900 euros level, nearly palatable. I mean, all being relative.
 

C-Dub

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I paid £650-ish for my 3080 FE and it’s a great card. Demolishes everything I throw at it.

I know people want the latest and greatest, but I think people are going to regret not getting a 30 series when they see the price and power demands of the 40 series and realise that a good 30 series card will see them through a whole console generation of games and then some.
 

Li Kao

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I paid £650-ish for my 3080 FE and it’s a great card. Demolishes everything I throw at it.

I know people want the latest and greatest, but I think people are going to regret not getting a 30 series when they see the price and power demands of the 40 series and realise that a good 30 series card will see them through a whole console generation of games and then some.
Yeah this is what makes me second guess waiting. Power hungriness, availability, price ? When a high end 30xx would do the job.
When the launch comes and there are jack shit cards in stock, I can't even imagine a funny meme to describe my shocked face.
 
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Hektor

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Ima put my question here

I rebuild my new pc but it doesn't post
No beep, no signal, no periphals, but the fans spin, gpu lights up etc.

I was thinking it might be because of the 4 pin connector that's unused next to the 8 pin. But I googled it (since I don't have a fitting atx connector here rn) and most results tell me that is not the issue, so what to believe?

Is my mainboard just not drawing enough power without it, or is the issue elsewhere?

I reseated ram, checked all connections, and removed the gpu all of it to the same result
 

Hektor

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Rebuilds the whole PC again and still the same issue.
However, i noticed theres quite a bit of a delay (2-3 seconds) between pressing the power button and the computer starting, so i assume it might just be underpowered afterall. Ill try to buy a fittng connector tomorrow
 

Stevey

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Could be a faulty PSU, coul;d try disconnecting everything except CPU and RAM, should hardly need any power then.
What PSU have you got? How old is it?
Edit: Wait, ATX is 24 pin, which connector are you talking about? A photo would help :)
 

Hektor

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Already tried without gpu to the same effect.

I can hardly imagine the PSU is faulty, worked perfectly fine in my pc until I changed most of the other hardware (mobo, cpu, ram)

I mean this 4 pin next to the 8 pin power for the cpu

 

Parsnip

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How relevant are the vanilla 3080 ? Because while the ti is still pricey as fuck, they are reaching 800-900 euros level, nearly palatable. I mean, all being relative.
The vanilla 3070 and 3080 were priced to move (in relative terms), anything above that was not. It's telling that the recent MSRP price cuts are all for the highest of high end.
The 10G 3080 is still definitely a good card. But also keep your eye out for the 12G version, its price got slashed a bit and I've seen some listed here and there actually cheaper than the 10G model.

Ima put my question here

I rebuild my new pc but it doesn't post
No beep, no signal, no periphals, but the fans spin, gpu lights up etc.

I was thinking it might be because of the 4 pin connector that's unused next to the 8 pin. But I googled it (since I don't have a fitting atx connector here rn) and most results tell me that is not the issue, so what to believe?

Is my mainboard just not drawing enough power without it, or is the issue elsewhere?

I reseated ram, checked all connections, and removed the gpu all of it to the same result
I'd say it could depend on what cpu you got, if it needs that extra juice or not. Could be that some new CPU's just won't boot without it, who knows.
 
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