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

[MonthOLDpickle]

What is up with this partpicker site? Or does nobody review stuff? All these mobos have like 14 reviews or less. It is worse if I uncheck WiFi on filter as I don't need it but eyeesh man I am overwhelemd. I choose the I7 13900k (I think) over I9 as I don't know if there is much of a gain over the I7..and went to look at mobos,,,

I thought you were just paying for how many ports...oh man...I think I want two nvme slots tho..

 

[Parsnip]

I think the guides on pcpartpicker are good starting points.

https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/

They go up in price as you scroll down the page, so pick something that looks like is in your budget ballpark as the core of your system and customize it further based on your liking/needs/local part availability.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Here is what I came up with:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7r3FJM

 

[Mivey]

Here is what I came up with:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7r3FJM

Damn, PC Part Picker has gotten really neat. It even shows you what the optimal layout of RAM is that you should use, as well as which other connectors you should use for SSD.
In addition to the old compat warnings, like making sure to update the BIOS in your case. Though that is a bit hard to do, unless you have an older compatible Intel CPU lying around.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

No way to update it if you're buying new stuff oO

I probably won't be able to get exact parts sure to where I live but this is something to go off of.

Life I want the Y60 case instead of the 40.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Though if I were to bump up the CPU or GPU, which one would be better?

 

[KingKrouch]

Looks like Framework finally unveiled their laptop that supports a removable dedicated GPU:

Fix Consumer Electronics

We know consumer electronics can be better for you and for the environment. Unlike most products, ours are open for you to repair and upgrade

frame.work

It seemingly has a AMD Radeon RX 7700S as a GPU option, but it raises the price of the laptop by $400. Apparently from their emails, it's going to have a 1440p 165Hz IPS display as well. Would have probably preordered this instead of financing an Alienware laptop if I wasn't in the rush to get a laptop, but if they keep this up and offer a black variant, I'll be down for using something from Framework as my next.

Also, for those interested in testing their storage ahead of R&C Rift Apart's PC release this month:

Hardware & Tech News - OC3D.net

OC3D is where you can find the latest PC Hardware and Gaming News & Reviews. Get updates on GPUs, Motherboards, CPUs, and more.

overclock3d.net

Did some testing of the BulkLoadDemo for DirectStorage, and it has some interesting results to say the least on my end. Might be worth checking out if you are interested in playing R&C Rift Apart on PC later this month. That has proper GPU decompression while Forspoken apparently (From what I heard) only supports CPU decompression. From what I could tell, there's an interesting bias towards boot drives with Windows performing slower, and some strange results on the NVME for my ITX setup where it should in theory be performing better.

KXG70ZNV512G NVME KIOXA 512GB (Primary NVME that came with my laptop):
6.74GB loaded in 0.49 seconds
4.54% Max CPU usage
Bandwidth: 13.84GB/s

Samsung 970 Evo Plus (2TB) (Secondary PCIE 3.0 NVME I put in my laptop):
6.74GB loaded in 0.33 seconds
7.48% Max CPU usage
Bandwidth: 19.60GB/s

WD_Black SN770 1TB (This is supposed to be a PCIE 4.0 NVME) (Main NVME on my ITX setup):
8.63GB loaded in 0.47 seconds
1.29% Max GPU usage
Bandwidth: 18.16GB/s

Western Digital Blue 500GB SATA SSD (Secondary drive on my ITX setup):
8.63GB loaded in 4.35 seconds
1.29% Max CPU usage
Bandwidth: 1.73GB/s

 

[Theswweet]

Been a tumultuous month. Swapped out my 7900XTX since I upgraded my laptop to a 6800m one that was on sale, and I need to have at least one nVidia machine for backup; so I got a 4090 and a Cablemod angled adapter. Said adapter fused itself to the card Saturday night and I promptly did an exchange at Microcenter - along with a new case and ATX 3.0 PSU. If this one melts despite all my precautions (Pl to 80%, HWInfo monitoring, etc) I think I might just never get an nVidia card again. Amazing card when it works, though!

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

So if you buy a mobo that says you need to update the BIOs, can you do it? (Looking at my list)..

Also I don't really need a I9 so I could get the I7 137000K but bump the GPU up to a 4090?

 

[Kvik]

I got a 4090 and a Cablemod angled adapter. Said adapter fused itself to the card Saturday night

I have the angled adapter myself (the 90 degree one) when I built my rig back in March, and I never had an issue to this day. And it was at the end of summer, so temps are much higher then. It's quite interesting hearing reports in Cablemod's Discord server because while the issue isn't widespread, it does happen, and often not because of a user's error or the adapter's.

 

[Theswweet]

I have the angled adapter myself (the 90 degree one) when I built my rig back in March, and I never had an issue to this day. And it was at the end of summer, so temps are much higher then. It's quite interesting hearing reports in Cablemod's Discord server because while the issue isn't widespread, it does happen, and often not because of a user's error or the adapter's.

Yeah to Cablemod's credit, they've handled it the best they can outside of a recall (which, tbh, it might be time for just to be safe...)

Anyway if a native 12vhpwr direct from the PSU triple-checked still causes a problem as far as I'm concerned it's on nVidia 100% and they're never getting another cent from me. Fire is no joke!

 

[Parsnip]

While the melting 12VHPWR connector issues may not be super widespread, it has been a bit disheartening to see people downplay the issue on various tech forums. As you say, fire is no joke.

Seems like they did make some smart improvements to the newer (still technically upcoming since the spec isn't finished) 12V-2x6 power connector that I guess already has some early implementations in the wild on some newer Nvidia cards. Shortened the sense pins and such.

So if you buy a mobo that says you need to update the BIOs, can you do it? (Looking at my list)..

Also I don't really need a I9 so I could get the I7 137000K but bump the GPU up to a 4090?

Depends on the mobo, but if you go for anything that's not absolutely barebones, so from middle to upper class mobo I would say, you'll probably have a bios flashback feature. Basically, you prepare a usb stick with the new bios beforehand, and you can flash the bios into the new mobo and you only need to power the mobo to do it. So before you install the cpu, ram etc. Here's an example from Asus, but it's the same basic principle for other mobos too. So I recommend that you don't dismantle your old PC before you have flashed the new mobo successfully.

I personally had an issue with my current MSI MAG B550M MORTAR board when I was trying to do the bios flashback, it just didn't work. Luckily I still had my old laptop available to actually research the issue.
If I remember the specifics right, it turned out that the way Windows formatted the usb stick wasn't good enough. If I remember right, I had to reformat the stick with rufus and then it worked just fine. It might have been that the usb stick had been bootable linux installer or something before and Windows didn't erase the boot partition. Or something. Like I'm fairly sure I removed all the partitions in the Windows disk manager and then created a new one, but maybe I didn't and that was the cause. It's a bit hazy.

 

[Mivey]

While the melting 12VHPWR connector issues may not be super widespread, it has been a bit disheartening to see people downplay the issue on various tech forums. As you say, fire is no joke.

Yeah, but pretty much the only way to reliably recreate the issue (according to Gamers Nexus aka "Tech Jesus") is to not plug in the cable right. If you can't expect people to get that right, then what can you do?
And even this issue is technically something the new standard takes care of, as newer power supplies are supposed have some kind of "negotiation" protocol that would likely detect the issue and just refuse to give power to the GPU unless you plug the cable in properly. It's just the combination of people using adapters and still messing up how to connect the new cable, plus using it on really powerful GPUs that send large amounts of energy through the plug.

 

[Theswweet]

Yeah, but pretty much the only way to reliably recreate the issue (according to Gamers Nexus aka "Tech Jesus") is to not plug in the cable right. If you can't expect people to get that right, then what can you do?
And even this issue is technically something the new standard takes care of, as newer power supplies are supposed have some kind of "negotiation" protocol that would likely detect the issue and just refuse to give power to the GPU unless you plug the cable in properly. It's just the combination of people using adapters and still messing up how to connect the new cable, plus using it on really powerful GPUs that send large amounts of energy through the plug.

I assure you I was incredibly careful to ensure the cable + adapter was fully attached, and the melted section was fused to my card without any gaps.

It's clear there's something up with the adapter beyond the usual "this connector was poorly designed" woes.

 

[Mivey]

I assure you I was incredibly careful to ensure the cable + adapter was fully attached, and the melted section was fused to my card without any gaps.

It's clear there's something up with the adapter beyond the usual "this connector was poorly designed" woes.

I am not sure if the video in question looked at the situation with our without adapters, I think the focus was just on the new cable, presumably with a new power supply that natively supported it.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

How is gigabyte for mobos?

Also since I can't figure it out due to language barrier, is Asus ROG strix gaming the oc version of a GPU?

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

This is the best I could find trying to match what I have put together over here:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Hkdtxs
This is what I put together:

https://abload.de/img/screenshot_20230723-0ejeyo.png

 

[Parsnip]

This is the best I could find trying to match what I have put together over here:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Hkdtxs
This is what I put together:

https://abload.de/img/screenshot_20230723-0ejeyo.png

Damn you are going all out with a 4090. And yeah that's the OC version, in the part number you'll notice O24G, the O is only there in the OC version.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

I only ask cause the white version is the same model but it says -25G-OC

Heh . It's more expensive than the block sure to color.

I am not buying for a month or two waiting for work to start up.

I will need two things:

An operating system
A new monitor, preferably 2k which I think is 1440 and at least 120hz

 

[Parsnip]

Ah yeah the white edition should be the same situation and have both OC and non-OC versions, the proper product code for the OC edition being ROG-STRIX-RTX4090-O24G-WHITE.
I think it's some kind of "very special edition" so that's why it's more expensive.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Where can I get an OS key that isn't hundreds? I am currently using W10 Pro but don't think I can use it on completely new hardware.

My current system is a decade old lol.

Also what monitor is good? 1440 I think with high hertz. I am doing to be keeping one of my old 1080 screen.

 

[fearthedawn]

This is the best I could find trying to match what I have put together over here:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Hkdtxs
This is what I put together:

https://abload.de/img/screenshot_20230723-0ejeyo.png

If the information i found is correct the case only has 34cm gpu clearance but the 4090 strix is a 35,76cm beast. Doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't fit if they've been very conservative or account for a radiator in the front (both things many manufacturers don't do but maybe), but you've also selected a 280 aio where the front is the only place the case supports a 280 rad so the chance of your components fitting in this case is slim to none.

edit update: their page lists "340mm/310mm (If installed front radiator)"

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Yes I can always choose another case as I will be payday picking up the parts.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

So I know its preference but I am gonna get a Li Lian 011 Mini Air cause you can fit a 4090 in it and even an AIO,

but AIO or air cooler!?

 

[lashman]

So I know its preference but I am gonna get a Li Lian 011 Mini Air cause you can fit a 4090 in it and even an AIO,

but AIO or air cooler!?

i'd go with a good air cooler (noctua probably), AIO are just a pain in the ass

 

[C-Dub]

I found my AIO a nuisance and I’m not sure of the benefits.

I’d consider getting one again, but I’m not convinced it’s a must-have. I’d need to see benchmarks against the CPU I’m buying.

 

[Mivey]

I found my AIO a nuisance and I’m not sure of the benefits.

I’d consider getting one again, but I’m not convinced it’s a must-have. I’d need to see benchmarks against the CPU I’m buying.

i'd go with a good air cooler (noctua probably), AIO are just a pain in the ass

Water cooling is in principle far more effective, if set up right. So if you wanna push the hardware and overclock, then water cooling will be a good idea.
If you plan on running at stock clocks, then water cooling might still be a bit quieter, but that also depends a lot on your PC. With large fans and a custom cooling profile, air cooling can be really quiet too. There's also specific cases that insulate you from the noise, at the cost of air flow (not massively so from my experience, just not as good as completely open design).

 

[madjoki]

I always end up with air

• no pumps to break (will probably last longer)
• no possibility of leaks
• cheaper

not staring inside PC to care about cleaner look of AIO.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Yea I found a test using the same case I got but the I9 (I would be getting the I7) 13900k and the noctua d15 was getting better results than AIO.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

If I am doing to build in like two or three months would I just wait till next year? I know that waiting for new stuff is pointless but my current setup works.

 

[Kvik]

I always end up with custom watercooling.

• I used the same D5 pump I bought in 2014 for nearly 24/7 operation.
• Zero leaks in nearly 10 years of continuous operation.
• Expensive, but extremely quiet when coupled with low RPM PWM fans.

AIO is only good for emergencies at best. If your budget allows, custom watercooling is the way to go.

 

[Mivey]

I always end up with custom watercooling.

• I used the same D5 pump I bought in 2014 for nearly 24/7 operation.
• Zero leaks in nearly 10 years of continuous operation.
• Expensive, but extremely quiet when coupled with low RPM PWM fans.

AIO is only good for emergencies at best. If your budget allows, custom watercooling is the way to go.

That's a good point, from what I understand, a big issue with many AIO solutions is the lack of an upgrade path, so if you have a future system that might need more cooling, or just generally a few changes here and there, it seems you are just stuck and need to buy a new one, whereas a fully custom solution gives you way more flexibility.

On the other hand, given how much you can mess up with them, especially when you are new, I am not sure it's really something you can recommend to people who aren't that familiar with building PCs in the first place.

 

[Kvik]

On the other hand, given how much you can mess up with them, especially when you are new, I am not sure it's really something you can recommend to people who aren't that familiar with building PCs in the first place.

Sure, the learning curve is somewhat steep for beginners, especially when you have thousands of dollars worth of equipment that may lose their warranties at the drop of a hat. Still, in recent years, companies like EK has been making headway to make custom water cooling more accessible for beginners.

Kits such as these:

EK-Quantum Power Kit Velocity² 240 Series – EK Webshop

EKWaterBlocks Shop offers you complete assortiment for water-cooling of your PC. Only EK and EK confirmed quality products.

www.ekwb.com

Provides a good starting point for beginners and upgrade path for more components.

 

[Parsnip]

If I am doing to build in like two or three months would I just wait till next year? I know that waiting for new stuff is pointless but my current setup works.

I don't think there's anything happening in the near future that I would consider worth waiting for.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Something happens in Sept/Oct but nothing works actually launch until next year no?

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

If I plan to go along the lines of I7 13700kf and a 4090, what new shiny monitor should I look to get?

I currently have 1080/60x2

Really use to having two monitors.

 

[Theswweet]

If I plan to go along the lines of I7 13700kf and a 4090, what new shiny monitor should I look to get?

I currently have 1080/60x2

Really use to having two monitors.

There's plenty of 4k/160hz monitors out there, and that would be a great fit.

 

[gabbo]

Hoping I can get some upgrade advice from fellow Councillors.
Looking at options to upgrade my HTPC (i5 6500, 32GB DDR4 2400mhz, Z270, GTX1070, Scythe Big Shuriken 3 cooler) - mostly used for media and retro gaming. For the PC games I run on it, it does fine (I generally don't go newer than 7th gen-era PC titles unless they're distinctly lower rez/indie titles), and media streaming requires a potato, so it's not issue at all.

Those 4 cores however don't do emulation any favours (especially with PS3 and OGXbox playing a bigger role recently). I'd be keeping the GPU and cooler, and my one rule for the machine is the parts have to come used (helps keep budget low). With that in mind, I've been seeing some decent prices on Zen2 CPUs and AM4 boards. Would a 3600/3700x and a B4-550 w/higher frequency RAM be a worthwhile upgrade or should I hold out for Zen3/Intel equivalent prices to drop lower?

Keeping in mind a budget of roughly $200 CAD and that I keep the machines for 5-10 years unless something dies (or I hand-me-down from my main pc).

 

[MegaApple]

Pointers for Mechanical Keyboard?

First time I'm buying Keyboard (that's not usual consumer grade membrane). Going for brown switches because middle ground between linear and fully clickity.
Which brands should I look for? and what other criteria should I keep in mind?

 

[KingKrouch]

So I'm getting a ADT-Link PCIE X16 to NVME EGPU adapter alongside an NVME Thunderbolt enclosure to check if my USB 4 AMD Alienware laptop supports eGPUs before I invest in a Razer Chroma X (the one with ethernet and USB ports) and an RX 7900XTX. Thinking on selling my old PC rig, since i barely use it anymore, and I want less setups that I use more consistently. I keep getting mixed messages on whether or not USB 4 on AMD Ryzen 6000 setups supports Thunderbolt or not, so I want to try it since I had luck with the DisplayPort USB 4 cable that I have (And for those wondering, yes I can plug that cable into the Steam Deck and get a full 3440x1440 at 175Hz for some reason, downside is no charging or USB ports)

This laptop performs pretty decently when docked at 3440x1440 with the RX 6850M XT, but that's more like a 6650XT in GPU power and is perfectly fine on a 1080p display from what I heard. I just wish that for the charger, they used some sort of standard that would let you use a 250W power brick that doesn't go for $140 on Dell's site.

Should give me a fun project to do while I'm recovering from surgery.

 

[Mivey]

Pointers for Mechanical Keyboard?

First time I'm buying Keyboard (that's not usual consumer grade membrane). Going for brown switches because middle ground between linear and fully clickity.
Which brands should I look for? and what other criteria should I keep in mind?

Sorry for the late response.

I would generally recommend Keychron for newcomers. They sell relatively cheap products that are still of decent quality. I think starting out with Brown swiches is good idea, a very gentle introduction to having more tactility in your switches. The nice thing about almost-all keychron boards is that they feature "hot-swappable sockets" meaning you can relatively easily remove the keycaps and switches, and just place new ones in the sockets, without needing to soder them (as you would otherwise). In this way, if you want to try something else later down the line, you can. And switches tend to be far more affordable, even the most premium ones.

As far as criteria, well, it all comes down to what you like. I would just advise to keep an open mind and not be afraid to try new things, though of course, it is not the cheapest hobby, so totally understand that people are not too willing to spend 100$ or more on something new to them.
Maybe as mech boards get more and more popular, you'll have local stores where you can try out switches and form factors before purchasing, but as it stands, you pretty much have to order online and hope for the best.

 

[KingKrouch]

I would generally recommend Keychron for newcomers. They sell relatively cheap products that are still of decent quality. I think starting out with Brown swiches is good idea, a very gentle introduction to having more tactility in your switches. The nice thing about almost-all keychron boards is that they feature "hot-swappable sockets" meaning you can relatively easily remove the keycaps and switches, and just place new ones in the sockets, without needing to soder them (as you would otherwise). In this way, if you want to try something else later down the line, you can. And switches tend to be far more affordable, even the most premium ones.

YES, THIS! Keychron is probably the most solid keyboards that I've bought that work out of the box with a detachable USB C cable, sensible RGB (can be controlled on the board or through OpenRGB), decent and non-aggressive appearance (No ugly/tacky silver accents in a black build like Corsair keyboards), no need for AA batteries, and with Bluetooth support to spicen up the deal (So you can use it on three different devices, used mine with the Steam Deck for a bit). Got myself a 96% K4, and this is probably the best keyboard that I've owned.

I'd recommend the Gateron Red variant for starters, but you can luckily buy replacement switches on their site and hotswap them easily if you want something from Cherry for example.

Got mine set up with O-Ring dampeners and pudding keycaps.

I really want to check out their new gaming mice, as I'm just about tired with bloated proprietary software from the likes of Logitech and Razer just to adjust the RGB/polling rate/DPI. Those also support Bluetooth.

 

[KingKrouch]

So I'm getting a ADT-Link PCIE X16 to NVME EGPU adapter alongside an NVME Thunderbolt enclosure to check if my USB 4 AMD Alienware laptop supports eGPUs before I invest in a Razer Chroma X (the one with ethernet and USB ports) and an RX 7900XTX. Thinking on selling my old PC rig, since i barely use it anymore, and I want less setups that I use more consistently. I keep getting mixed messages on whether or not USB 4 on AMD Ryzen 6000 setups supports Thunderbolt or not, so I want to try it since I had luck with the DisplayPort USB 4 cable that I have (And for those wondering, yes I can plug that cable into the Steam Deck and get a full 3440x1440 at 175Hz for some reason, downside is no charging or USB ports)

This laptop performs pretty decently when docked at 3440x1440 with the RX 6850M XT, but that's more like a 6650XT in GPU power and is perfectly fine on a 1080p display from what I heard. I just wish that for the charger, they used some sort of standard that would let you use a 250W power brick that doesn't go for $140 on Dell's site.

Should give me a fun project to do while I'm recovering from surgery.

Okay, so I got those things in, and honestly, it's strange how a 6900XT in an eGPU setup over Thunderbolt performs noticeably worse than the dedicated graphics. Was barely cracking a stable 30FPS in Starfield or Genshin Impact, while the dedicated GPU was getting twice that in Starfield and 3 times that with Genshin. So sadly this probably won't be a viable option until USB 5 releases, which by then I'll probably replace this laptop with a Framework one anyways.

Also, the selection of good Thunderbolt docks (Something that also has USB ports and an Ethernet jack) that support DisplayPort 1.4 at 8K 60Hz/4K 120Hz is surprisingly rare. Even the entry level Thunderbolt docks are like $200+.

I guess this is where they get you nowadays with laptop setups. The price of a decent dock.

 

[moemoneyb1]

Decided for my birthday to get a PNY RTX 4090. It runs really well with Cyberpunk 2077 path tracing and frame generation on an LG C1 OLED 4k TV. It chews through less demanding games with ease.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

So the new intel refresh are out, verdict? I still can't decide whether to go Intel or AMD. I game majority of the time. Video edit and sometimes stream for friends.

 

[Parsnip]

So the new intel refresh are out, verdict? I still can't decide whether to go Intel or AMD. I game majority of the time. Video edit and sometimes stream for friends.

The intel refresh is just that, a refresh. No significant differences to the 13 series as far as I could see.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

So if I buy the AM5 7800X3D I do have the ability for a CPU upgrade in the future correct? If so how long do they plan to use that socket?



Also what motherboard to get as I see people mention to get B650E or X670E chipsets as it's a bit rough trying to part out as I am not really able to read the local language. So why those specifically?

 

[Stevey]

I'm going to order a das keyboard 6 tomorrow.
Anyone use one?

 

[Stevey]

It came today, feels really nice.
Went for the Cherry MX Blue version.

 

[Durante]