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

gabbo

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Installed my soundcard.

Good job red was already my colour scheme because there's a red LED on this thing. :steam_pig_deadpan:

That LED is the thing I hate about that card, as I don't have any other RGB and it really stands out when I have to open my case up
 

knch

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Sep 23, 2019
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What sound box specifically?

I used to be a bit fussy about soundcards but after my recent one broke couple of years ago I haven't gotten a new one, just been using the integrated which is fine enough but I'm always curious what others are using.
An original Schiit Modi at work and Schiit Bifrost at home. No complaints other than the Bifrost takes a little while to actually enable after it's powered on.
 
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Dandy

Bad at Games.
Apr 17, 2019
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Currently I have:
i5-6600k(not overclocked cause I am dumb)
16GB of RAM
MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB GAMING X Video Card

So, I think it's time to upgrade my video card and I am horrible at figuring out what to buy. I have a gsync monitor so Nvidia is what I'm going to want and I'm not really interested in spending more than $600CAD. Was looking at EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 Super SC Ultra Gaming. Is that a good option? Should I wait for something else?
 

ISee

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Currently I have:
i5-6600k(not overclocked cause I am dumb)
16GB of RAM
MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB GAMING X Video Card

So, I think it's time to upgrade my video card and I am horrible at figuring out what to buy. I have a gsync monitor so Nvidia is what I'm going to want and I'm not really interested in spending more than $600CAD. Was looking at EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 Super SC Ultra Gaming. Is that a good option? Should I wait for something else?
There are new GPUs coming this year. We have no specs, no prices, not even an ETA. Rumours are all over the place and not worth much currently. But it is reasonable to assume that they are going to be faster than current offerings.
My best guess: we'll have them in 5-8 months, but Nvidia is not really under pressure or in a hurry.

A 2060S is a good upgrade over a 1060. Chances are high that you'll start to run into CPU bottlenecks with that card though, especially if you plan to play above 60hz.

Still, focusing your budget on a new GPU is better than getting a new CPU now.

Should you wait? Idk, mainly depends on how unhappy you are with your performance right now.
 
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Dandy

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There are new GPUs coming this year. We have no specs, no prices, not even an ETA. Rumours are all over the place and not worth much currently. But it is reasonable to assume that they are going to be faster than current offerings.
My best guess: we'll have them in 5-8 months, but Nvidia is not really under pressure or in a hurry.

A 2060S is a good upgrade over a 1060. Chances are high that you'll start to run into CPU bottlenecks with that card though, especially if you plan to play above 60hz.

Still, focusing your budget on a new GPU is better than getting a new CPU now.

Should you wait? Idk, mainly depends on how unhappy you are with your performance right now.
Thanks! I think I'll probably hold off for now then. At the moment, there is no real urgency - I don't think there's anything coming out in the short term that will drive me to upgrade. Might as well start setting aside some money for a new CPU/motherboard and do it all at once.
 
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Parsnip

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Well, I used to use a Xonar U7 (for many years)... until it just broke.
That's the one I had as well. :)

Also confirmed that this "fix" worked for my problem with it but obviously not a very permanent solution. :weary-face:


They have since released a mkII of the thing but I don't think I trust it since they never really acknowledged the issue in the first place.
Also the drivers for Win10 were shitty for a long time, no idea if that's still the case though.

It's a shame too, I really liked its sound and the price wasn't too bad either.
 

didamangi

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What sound box specifically?

I used to be a bit fussy about soundcards but after my recent one broke couple of years ago I haven't gotten a new one, just been using the integrated which is fine enough but I'm always curious what others are using.
Used to have Fiio E10K for many years before changing it to a Topping D30 +A30 combo last year. Nothing wrong with the fiio sound quality wise, it's just that my current headphone (ATH-R70x) needs a bit more power than the fiio can give.

My setup now is Topping D30 +A30 combo for my headphone and stereo speakers and my onboard audio (Realtek 1220) for my 5,1 surround speakers.

Before that i use a creative x-fi titanium fatal1ty for my surround speakers but after upgrading from z77 to z390, onboard audo has come a long way it seem.

And the quality is close enough to my x-fi. So now i just kept the x-fi as a backup. Less hassle on drivers and game compatibility as well..
 
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Li Kao

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What's the go-to 2070 super ?
This is a jungle of choices just for one card.
 
OP
Durante

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AFAIK, like most of the time, the differences are rather negligible. I'd first check if you have any sizing constraints (length, 2/3 slot, etc.), then see what you can get for a good price that fits the constraints, and finally look up reviews of that specific model to see if there's something wrong with it before buying.
 

didamangi

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What's the go-to 2070 super ?
This is a jungle of choices just for one card.
Sort by lowest price, read the reviews, I usually pick the one with pretty low temperature and noise on load. (Under 73c and 40 dBA on load). Guru3d, techpowerup, kitguru have comprehensive gpu reviews if you want to check them out.

Pricing is of course varied based on region but I found Palit and Galax to have the best price/performance/thermals in my region. If it's the same case in your region, Palit GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER JetStream review looks like a winner.
 
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fearthedawn

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Just as a warning: there is both a "(2070 Super) JetStream" and a "2070 (Super JetStream)" but afaik they haven't made a 2070 Super Super Jetstream ;)

Nothing but good things to say about my 1070 Super Jetstream for whatever that is worth.
 

Li Kao

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Sorry to come back with my usual indecisiveness, but I'm still brain(?)storming my next upgrade.
As much as I hate to admit it, I'm not totally immune to hype, Alyx is coming, ffs.

So I need a powerful GPU and a VR headset. Free, please :so-good-blob:
I'm eyeing a combo of 2070 super and Rift S (I know of a shop that still stock them). But it's not cheap, so I will surely have to upgrade step by step, and even then that Nvidia pricing is rough to swallow.
Knowing that a new line is coming doesn't help.
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
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My monitor shows a grey screen after I turned on my PC yesterday after coming home. How fucked am I?
Worked just fine the day before.
I already tried driver reinstalls, changing the port on the graphics card and even using a different cable (HDMI instead of DP), but no dice.
Is there anything else I haven't tried or will I need to send it back and get a replacement? (It's 2 months old, so warranty should cover it anyway at least)
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
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MSI RTX 2060 Super Gaming X will be mine tomorrow.
I hope I didn't make a mistake, I would have liked to opt for the 2070 but it was just too rich for my blood, and I will still be on 1080p for some times anyways.
 
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I've been asked for a recommendation for a build (mostly CPU+MOBO+RAM+GPU(if needed)).

It will be used mostly of office work and some image/audio editing. I was thinking of recommending a Ryzen 3400G or an i3 9100 but I'm not really sure what to recomend.
 

ISee

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I've been asked for a recommendation for a build (mostly CPU+MOBO+RAM+GPU(if needed)).

It will be used mostly of office work and some image/audio editing. I was thinking of recommending a Ryzen 3400G or an i3 9100 but I'm not really sure what to recomend.
There shouldn't be too much of a "CPU" performance difference between both. The 3400G has the better on board graphics though, so that should save you some money.
That said, a 4 core CPU might not be the best option, dependent on how relevant that editing scenario is. An "old", but new 2700 or 2700x with eight cores and 16 threads might be the better budget option. But you'll need a dedicated GPU with that.

For the rest: A half descent B450 board (MSI tomahawk b450 max?), 2x4GB of DDR4 3000-3200MHz ram (or better 2x8; image editing can eat RAM), 500W PSU with bronze certification, 512GB-1TB SDD and you are set.
 
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There shouldn't be too much of a "CPU" performance difference between both. The 3400G has the better on board graphics though, so that should save you some money.
That said, a 4 core CPU might not be the best option, dependent on how relevant that editing scenario is. An "old", but new 2700 or 2700x with eight cores and 16 threads might be the better budget option. But you'll need a dedicated GPU with that.

For the rest: A half descent B450 board (MSI tomahawk b450 max?), 2x4GB of DDR4 3000-3200MHz ram (or better 2x8; image editing can eat RAM), 500W PSU with bronze certification, 512GB-1TB SDD and you are set.
I originally was tempted to recommed a 3600/X or a 2700/X, but the fact that i needed to add a GPU (even if it was a low end one, any recommendation in this front?) was making me doubt.

Still i'll ask him how much he's willing to spend and then go with one option or the other.
 
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knch

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Sep 23, 2019
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I originally was tempted to recommed a 3600/X or a 2700/X, but the fact that i needed to add a GPU (even if it was a low end one, any recommendation in this front?) was making me doubt.

Still i'll ask him how much he's willing to spend and then go with one option or the other.
Nvidia 16-something, AMD 5000-something, or something from the previous gens, or the very bottom of whatever price aggregator is applicable in your area if you really want to save all of the money for the other parts.
 

ISee

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any recommendation in this front?
In general what knch said, but hard to specify without more information.
Personally I'd consider a RX 570 4GB card for that scenario. A rather low end card, but worth a look if price is very relevant.

R5 3400G is ~180€ over here.

R7 2700 (non X) is ~ 145€
RX 570 with 4GB ~ 130€

That would be 95€ more expansive assuming mainboard, ram, SSD, case and PSU stay the same.
But you'd get a significant jump both in CPU and GPU performance. Is it needed? I don't know and your regional prices may be different.
 
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In general what knch said, but hard to specify without more information.
Personally I'd consider a RX 570 4GB card for that scenario. A rather low end card, but worth a look if price is very relevant.

R5 3400G is ~180€ over here.

R7 2700 (non X) is ~ 145€
RX 570 with 4GB ~ 130€

That would be 95€ more expansive assuming mainboard, ram, SSD, case and PSU stay the same.
But you'd get a significant jump both in CPU and GPU performance. Is it needed? I don't know and your regional prices may be different.
He seems open to the idea of a 2700 (or a 3600).
So I'm looking for GPUs if we can find a RX570 on the cheap he might get it. And if not I'll try to find a RX 560/1050.
 
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Le Pertti

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I'm trying to figure out just how I can build a PC again. I have very little money each month to work with at the moment so one option would be to just save but I'm bad at that, so I was thinking maybe get parts, something small every month and slowly build my PC and for the more expensive parts I would have to save.

Here's my thinking on things to get first.

Things I could use already:
Mouse (already have)
Keyboard
Monitor
SSD (with a dock for external storage that I can put into a PC later.)
DAC (not a huge necessity but mostly because I want one.:D)

Things that I can get that don't get old too fast:
The case (going for ITX)
PSU

Fresh things that get old fast and best to get new:
Motherboard
Processor
RAM
NVMe
GPU



In what ways could I do this? Also I could look for second hand, buys stuff when they are on sale and or at historical low. Also with everything going on in the world I can imagine prices are going to be high.

I'm seeing this a long form project, like how people used to restore and fix up old cars haha. Once it's finished I will treasure it so much more.:D
 

ISee

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If you ask me, replace what needs to be replaced (monitor, mouse, drives, etc).
For the rest: safe money untill you can buy everything at once.
Old cars are charming, because they are old.
Old hardware is also charming, but obsolete.
 
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knch

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Sep 23, 2019
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Soooo, I don't have a clue about monitors in general but I want to get a 144Hz one and can't think of too many reasons to stay on 1080p so here's the question - is this a good model/deal?

e: Not sure what's going on with the link, maybe now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-S2716DG-Anti-Glare-LED-backlit-Response/dp/B01784K78A

e2: welp, the 44% discount is gone already anyway.
The snob in my scoffs at you even considering associating a TN panel with the word good in any way. (Only have experience with Dell's IPS displays, which are great.)
 

Copons

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Good news everybody! I've got more hardware issues! Are y'all happy? 😭

I was playing Ori 2 and I've got a random freeze. No big deal, I launch it again and it freezes at the exact same point, but this time it fucks up the entire OS, and I'm left with a hardware reset.
Just, Win didn't turn back on, and it got stuck at the loading logo.
I turned it off and on again a few times, it tried to enter Automatic Repair, but the screen went black (the monitor doesn't turn off automatically, btw) forever.
I unplugged the PC from the power for a few hours, and then it worked again.

It happened again a few days later, when trying to download something with Chrome. More precisely, after Alt+click, which triggers a download, opening a Win Explorer dialog (is it still called "explorer"? 😁).

And again today while playing Dota Underlords.

At this point the suspects are:
  • RAM, but I've run memtest and it hasn't found any errors.
  • PSU, which is aging, and I was thinking of replacing anyway, but of course now it's not an essential buy, and Amazon would ship it in a month or so. Also, I have no idea how to test a PSU!
  • The drives.

I have two drives: a 7 years old 128GB Sandisk SSD (old school SATA) with pretty much just the OS and some selected apps; a 7 years old 1TB WD Blue HDD with pretty much everything else.
I've run chkdsk /scan /r /f on both drives and... needless to say, I haven't found any errors.

Now, before pulling the trigger on a slightly overpriced (but with 1-day delivery, blessed Amazon) 1TB WD Blue SN550 NVMe to replace both my old drives, I'd love to know your opinion!
Maybe I'm missing something! Maybe it's indeed the damn PSU fucking up the whole thing!
 
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Durante

Durante

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Hard to say. If you ran a full memtest though it's pretty certain that it's not RAM (or anything on the mainboard related to RAM).

The whole "needs unplugging to run again" might be indicative of PSU troubles.
 
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Copons

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PSU seems like a good candidate. How aging it is exactly and what unit?
XFX Pro 650W 80+ Bronze, bought for my 2013 build, so it's 7 years old (same age as the drives).

Hard to say. If you ran a full memtest though it's pretty certain that it's not RAM (or anything on the mainboard related to RAM).

The whole "needs unplugging to run again" might be indicative of PSU troubles.
Yeah, I'm totally out of my knowledge area here! I've unplugged it from the power (to be more precise: I've simply turned the PSU switch off) out of rage and frustration from these continuous failures I've been having in the last few months, and that seemed like the most "final" thing to do to the PC, shy of throwing it out the window. 😅

Anecdotally, I've never had any reasons to doubt it.
Though, thinking about it, I've recently noticed one single behaviour change.
When turning it on, some fans used to spin very loudly for a couple of seconds (GPU I think?).
At some point in the last couple of months, it just stopped doing it.
I didn't pay much attention to it, because I was incrementally changing several components, and sort of thought it was the new motherboard or the new CPU or whatever.
Now I guess I'm more inclined in thinking it's the PSU...

Anyway, the one I was planning to buy (Corsair TX-M 650W 80+ Gold) is out of stock until the April 17, and there doesn't seem to be many alternatives with the whole pandemic going on.
I guess I'll just pre-order it, and wait patiently. At least I've got my Animal Crossing island to tend to!
 

ISee

Oh_no!
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Bought a Raspberry Pi to test Pi-Hole. It's a side project I always was interested in and I also wanted a reason to have a Raspberry Pi connected to my living room TV for emulation and steam link (That's where the router is located at). My Wife just doesn't know yet... ^^ :p ;)

Anyway: Pi-Hole is blocking 33% of all DNS requests in our home... That's more than I anticipated.
Websites are beautifully clean now, no annoying "disable your add-blocker pop ups", websites seem to load even faster. I know, you can achieve similar results with blocking apps, but this seem to be a bit cleaner as it is even blocking requests from Fire TV sticks, on Smartphones, in mobile games etc.
It's not working 100%, but I'd say in 9 out of 10 cases.

The devices producing most unwanted DNS requests are the Amazon Fire TV sticks btw.
They are constantly trying to contact Nielsen Holdings and are more aggressive than Google and Microsoft combined!
Maybe they should be called Amazon Trojan Horse Sticks. Need to exchange them for something else in the future.
 
Dec 5, 2018
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So with all this working from home (althought it might not matter since I might be in a sort of limbo soon), I've come to realize that my secondary monitor is getting old so I was thinking of buying a new (main) monitor so I can use my current monitor as a secondary monitor and save my old monitor as a backup.

I've been eying the: LG 27GL850-B 27" seems interesting, the only "bad" thing is the HDR (but it's not something that bothers me for now or the forseeble future).

Do you guys think is a good deal ? Or what would you recommed for that price (or lower) ?
 
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ISee

Oh_no!
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So with all this working from home (althought it might not matter since I might be in a sort of limbo soon), I've come to realize that my secondary monitor is getting old so I was thinking of buying a new (main) monitor so I can use my current monitor as a secondary monitor and save my old monitor as a backup.

I've been eying the: LG 27GL850-B 27" seems interesting, the only "bad" thing is the HDR (but it's not something that bothers me for now or the forseeble future).

Do you guys think is a good deal ? Or what would you recommed for that price (or lower) ?
It's a pretty good gaming display.
 
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Copons

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Finally got around to replace the old PSU (XFX Pro 650W 80+ Bronze) with the new one (Corsair TX-M 650W 80+ Gold).
Haven't done anything major or intensive yet, but so far the noise difference is staggering.
Compared to before, my room now sounds like the PC is turned off, and I live alone on top of a mountain, by night, at peak quarantine lockdown, and my daughter is in an orphanage.
 

gabbo

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So while I am waiting to see final specs on the next gen consoles so I can, especially GPUs, better match them; this is what I'd currently be building. I don't plan on gaming above 1080p for a while so the gfx card may overkill, but I want to be able to max at 1080p anything I throw at it hence the 5700 XT choice.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($428.75 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($204.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($94.50 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($569.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Rev. 2 ATX Full Tower Case ($394.58 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.99 @ Canada Computers)

plus 16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3000 RGB in 2x8gb from my brother-in-law who upped his ram recently.

Is the ddr4-3000 too low for such a build, given that I don't overclock?
 

Theswweet

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Hey guys, do we know the current ETA for RDNA2/Ampere, or are we SOL 'cause of the COVID-19?

Looking to upgrade my GPU from my Vega 56 soon-ish, but nothing on the market is a significant enough upgrade under $400...
 

Parsnip

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Hey guys, do we know the current ETA for RDNA2/Ampere, or are we SOL 'cause of the COVID-19?

Looking to upgrade my GPU from my Vega 56 soon-ish, but nothing on the market is a significant enough upgrade under $400...
Nothing official yet, sometime Q3 seems like a decent guess.
Seems extremely likely that quantities will be very limited and priced high though.
 
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didamangi

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So while I am waiting to see final specs on the next gen consoles so I can, especially GPUs, better match them; this is what I'd currently be building. I don't plan on gaming above 1080p for a while so the gfx card may overkill, but I want to be able to max at 1080p anything I throw at it hence the 5700 XT choice.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($428.75 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($204.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($94.50 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($569.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Rev. 2 ATX Full Tower Case ($394.58 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.99 @ Canada Computers)

plus 16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3000 RGB in 2x8gb from my brother-in-law who upped his ram recently.

Is the ddr4-3000 too low for such a build, given that I don't overclock?

Not too low but not ideal, But it's free. I would suggest a lower price case iike the meshify c and you can use the difference of ~$265 for a lot of things like towards a quieter 3rd party cooler if you find the default amd cooler too loud on load, or better ram, or additional storage.
 
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low-G

old school cool
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So while I am waiting to see final specs on the next gen consoles so I can, especially GPUs, better match them; this is what I'd currently be building. I don't plan on gaming above 1080p for a while so the gfx card may overkill, but I want to be able to max at 1080p anything I throw at it hence the 5700 XT choice.
You're not going to match console spec without RT hardware though. I even wonder what devs will do if there is some graphical feature they only bother to develop with RT in mind. Will they bother developing a fallback render method for whatever effects are missing?
 
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ISee

Oh_no!
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gabbo , I can only mirror what low-G and didamangi said!

If you want to match consoles, you'll want some kind of GPU with hardware based Ray Tracing features and you are overpaying for the case. While I like BeQuiet, a lot, I do not think spending 21% of your total budget on a case makes a lot of sense. Instead invest it in better parts.
My Case recommendation would be a phantek p400a digital for ~$120 (CAD). Small case, looks nice, easy to build in and excellent out of the box cooling performance. The suggested Meshify C is also a very good case, but (afaik) you need to equip it with a couple more fans to get similar cooling results as the p400a, which brings the price up a bit. There is also a cheaper p400a variant, without fans. If you have enough fans lying around. But the meshify C could be the better choice then...

This would free up ~ $275 (CAD) and would allow you to go for a RTX 2070S, which sounds a bit like overkill. But there is no such thing as overkill in the GPU department, not in an industry where engines and tech is constantly evolving imo.
 

gabbo

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ISee said:
Less expensive case, better card, maybe up the ram frequency
The GPU I listed is basically a place holder anyway, as I want to see what AMD do with ray tracing in their next line of cards before deciding one way or another.

As for the case, I didn't realize the rev2 of the 900 Base Pro 900 had shot up so much in price (the black, and grey editions are pushing $800!?) . Will keep an eye on it's price over time, but since i'm looking for full tower with a single 5.25 slot, i'd probably go Define R7 (pcpartpicker didn't list a price for the regular define7, only had the 7 xl to go on) as I have an R4 and the thing is great but a bit too small.

I did put together a different version of that list, now with a 3rd party cooler :


CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($428.75 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ Canada Computers)
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($204.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($94.50 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($569.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define 7 XL ATX Full Tower Case ($279.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($169.99 @ Best Buy Canada)

I've never really understood the RAM frequency issue with Ryzen CPUs, and what the sweet spot is.. Why say 3400+ vs 3000 is such a big deal
 
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ISee

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I've never really understood the RAM frequency issue with Ryzen CPUs, and what the sweet spot is.. Why say 3400+ vs 3000 is such a big deal
Not a big deal, but it can make a difference.
The infinity fabric is linked to the speed of your ram and so faster ram allows for faster communication between cpu cores, ram, cache etc.
Also faster ram with tighter timing will also improve cpu performance in some scenarios.
 

gabbo

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Not a big deal, but it can make a difference.
The infinity fabric is linked to the speed of your ram and so faster ram allows for faster communication between cpu cores, ram, cache etc.
Also faster ram with tighter timing will also improve cpu performance in some scenarios.
Okay, so for the most part the ddr43000 from my brother in law would be perfectly fine, but I could get improved performance from higher frequency. I will keep this in mind going forward, but free will help as a starting point ;) Thanks for explaining it
 
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Doctor Ironic

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Hey y'all! I haven't upgraded my PC since 2013. (Well, willingly, anyways. Last year my 770 died and I had to replace it with a cheap 1060.) But things have been looking up for me lately, aside from the apocalypse happening outside. I've got a decent job, I have a rainy day fund put away, and I'm finally on track to have enough money to blow on a gaming PC again - which I'd love to get back into. It's been so long I'm probably just gonna start from scratch, I don't even know how long these hard drives are gonna last. I'm pretty sure my 500GB internal is from 2008?

But a few things have thrown me into question. Mostly having to do with timing. This is all very preliminary and things are weird for everyone right now, but I'm trying to get a decent feel together for what my future will look like. My goal is to have all this assembled in time for Cyberpunk in September, but if things like the pandemic and next-gen consoles affect things, I'm not gonna be too heartbroken if I have to delay. So:

1) When would be the ideal time to buy? I've been hearing that you may want to wait on GPUs because NVIDIA has something new coming out in a few months? Are CPUs still fair game? I imagine SSDs and the like are probably just gonna keep going down, right?

2) How will the next-gen consoles factor into things? I built my rig in 2013, it was a mid-to-high-range spec for the time, and because the new-gen consoles released later that year and games took a bump up in specs, I wound up running everything on low in a matter of a year or two. Should I hold off until next year, maybe?

3) Are the standards pretty well set where they are right now? I mean things like NVME, DDR4, etc - is there anything that would require me to buy a whole new motherboard on the horizon or am I good to replace parts as needed for a while?

I'm aware these are kind of generalized and vague but this is my first attempt at just dipping my toes back into the pool and I'll read whatever I need to get back up to speed with the enthusiasts.
 

Xclash

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1) When would be the ideal time to buy? I've been hearing that you may want to wait on GPUs because NVIDIA has something new coming out in a few months? Are CPUs still fair game? I imagine SSDs and the like are probably just gonna keep going down, right?

There is really no ideal time to buy. Buy when you are comfortable is my personal advice. It's good to have a general idea when products will come out but don't go crazy over it. I'll give a quick breakdown and if anyone else is reading, please correct me if I'm wrong.

CPU. AMD and Intel are going to release new CPUs this year. AMD has really taken back marketshare within the enthusiast DIY community over the past few years and taken the fight to Intel in every category now (surge in laptop, ass kicking in servers).

Motherboards: Generally releases with new CPUs. AMD motherboards has been pretty good about supporting multiple generations while Intel you get two gens at most.

Ram: Far more affordable than in 2018,

SSD: Likewise has really become affordable in the last year or two.

GPU: Nvidia is king at the high end right now. Lots of good competition in the sub $450 GPU range between AMD and Nvidia. New stuff should be out in 2nd Half 2020.

2) How will the next-gen consoles factor into things? I built my rig in 2013, it was a mid-to-high-range spec for the time, and because the new-gen consoles released later that year and games took a bump up in specs, I wound up running everything on low in a matter of a year or two. Should I hold off until next year, maybe?

It's highly unlikely that a computer built this year is going to running on low in a year (can't predict it 100%) but engines are more scalable, PC isn't a bastard child anymore, the push for things such as DLSS will prolong your computer from aging. Holding off is the best option unless you can't. While there is still great progress in raw power, it's taking longer and longer so things don't get as outdated.

3) Are the standards pretty well set where they are right now? I mean things like NVME, DDR4, etc - is there anything that would require me to buy a whole new motherboard on the horizon or am I good to replace parts as needed for a while?

Only thing off the top of my head is DDR5 ram which will start coming for consumers next year and will require new motherboards and cpus. PCIE 4.0 is out on AMD now and intel soon. Maybe if Intel gets the support for the simplier ATX 12VO but that's years away.

TLDR - When you are ready to build, just come ask us and we will help you out.
 
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ISee

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Pure speculation from me:

1) When would be the ideal time to buy? I've been hearing that you may want to wait on GPUs because NVIDIA has something new coming out in a few months? Are CPUs still fair game? I imagine SSDs and the like are probably just gonna keep going down, right?
New GPUs will come out this year, but I expect a huge price gap between low-mid and high+ cards and a general increase in price.

-It is rather unlikely that production can be run at 100% across all quarters (already didn't). I expect demand to be higher than supply for quiet some time. You already have supply problems during a normal launch. It will be even more problematic in our current, uncharted waters.

-Purchasing power for low and middle class will be significantly lower. Industry states like the U.S. are expecting 16% unemployment rates, prices for groceries are already increasing here in Germany etc. Everything combined will influence and limit the total amount of "purchasing power" that can go into PC Parts and cheaper cards will become more relevant (+availability markups).

-Unaffected by this will be high earners. Nvidia, AMD, Intel will try to make their money back on them. If you can afford a 1300€ GPU, chances are high you can afford 1800€ as well.

//If there is a big, second wave of infections later this year. It will all go downhill from an economical pov. I think a second, mayor shutdown this fall is possible.

2) How will the next-gen consoles factor into things? I built my rig in 2013, it was a mid-to-high-range spec for the time, and because the new-gen consoles released later that year and games took a bump up in specs, I wound up running everything on low in a matter of a year or two. Should I hold off until next year, maybe?
Consoles, as with this gen., will set the foundation that you'll have to orientate around. The big factor is that we do not know if consoles will finally make a jump to "general" 60 fps in games. If they do, than "matching" console specs might be an easy and cheap solution for many people.
If they don't and console hardware will still be used for 30fps, but at much higher graphical fidelity than you'll need to exceed console specs by a nice margin. This also depends on the resolution you are planning to game at and the resolution consoles will be aiming at.
Personally, I think 30 fps is here to stay on consoles, maybe with unlocked fps modes that will rely on VRR (Free-Sync) technology.
Which could be problematic because Free Sync doesn't seem to work below 48fps?

I'd say you'll need an 8 core, 16 thread CPU, NVMe (preferably PCI-E Gen.4), 16GB of RAM and a GPU with dedicated Ray Tracing acceleration.
With emphasis on the GPU, as always.

We have no idea how capable the new GPU side on consoles is going to be, especially from a Ray Tracing perspective.
Certain forums already promise 2080S with twice the 2080Ti RTX performance though and have other interesting ideas.

3) Are the standards pretty well set where they are right now? I mean things like NVME, DDR4, etc - is there anything that would require me to buy a whole new motherboard on the horizon or am I good to replace parts as needed for a while?
DDR4 is now pretty "oldish" and I fully expect a switch to DDR5 during the next gen console life-cycle. But not this or next year.
NVMe and PCI-Gen 4 arrived this year into the consumer market and is here to stay a while. I do not expect PCI-Gen 5 anytime soon.
NVMe will, of course, get better but the new PCI-E 4.0 interface won't change.


---

So what do you make of this? Buy now, later this year or wait?
If you ask me: Start enjoying instead of constantly waiting. You sound like you are eager to get back and hardware will constantly get better. There is always a reason to wait.
 
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Pommes

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Le Pertti

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I'm looking at screen and trying to find a gamer friendly IPS 24" monitor under 200€. I've found two Acer monitors that seem good, on paper they seem exactly the same but whats the difference other than price?


 
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EdwardTivrusky

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I have a "Lian-Li PC-011 Dynamic Air" case and my old Dark Rock IV CPU cooler wouldn't fit so i'm using the stock AMD Wraith RGB cooler with my 2700X but it's loud and my CPU temps can hover in the high 60s. Can anyone recommend a decent, reliable, simple AIO Water Cooler for me to look into? Preferably not for mad money either.