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

Trisolarian

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two more weeks on that front, but of course the sale won't last til then.

on the flip side the samsung 980 pro nvme is dropping this month so if you were looking for a tippy top of the line drive for a zen3 build, that'll be the one. however it's also gonna be $230 :p
Ahhh PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives. Nice, very nice.

Not sure I'd buy one for current system performance but I know NV's Ampere provides something called 'RTX IO', which connects the GPU directly to NvMe 4.0 ssd. Kind of future proofing stuff as it will be useful to next gen experiences.

If anyone is going for a RTX 3o80 with a focus toward next gen, not a bad idea.

Also Phoenix RISING, I get paid to know all of the drive types, CPU generations, memory flavors, chipsets, interfaces, CPU feature sets etc and I forget/don't know about shit all of the time lol.
 

warp_

タコベルが大好き
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Ahhh PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives. Nice, very nice.

Not sure I'd buy one for current system performance but I know NV's Ampere provides something called 'RTX IO', which connects the GPU directly to NvMe 4.0 ssd. Kind of future proofing stuff as it will be useful to next gen experiences.

If anyone is going for a RTX 3o80 with a focus toward next gen, not a bad idea.
hadn't heard of this so i looked it up and this is some really cool tech wizardry!

out of curiosity do you think sony is doing something similar on their end with the ps5 to get their instant loads? obvious not the exact same since they are all amd but those loads are the most impressive thing shown off for the console so far.
 

Alextended

Segata's Disciple
Jan 28, 2019
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My PSU just died today. I hope it didn't take anything else with it. What should I get asap (I already have withdrawal symptoms, I hate using my phone for day to day stuff) that is affordable, long lasting and I can use for my current i73770K/GTX1080 and also keep for my future Zen3/RTX4070 or whatever setup? My dead one was a CoolerMaster Real Power M700. My case is a Corsair Carbide 400R. Brands and models that are likely to be available here pls so nothing too niche. God I hate having to redo my cabling and what not. Will I have to redo the little power switch cables and such or do those not lead back to the PSU, just the mobo?
 
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NarohDethan

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My psu just died today. What should I get that is affordable, long lasting and I can keep for my current i7/gtx1080 and also for my future zen3/rtx4070 or similar setup? My last one was a coolermaster realpower m700. Brands that are likely to be available here pls so nothing too niche.
EVGA g5
 

Alextended

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These are the evga available here.
This is where I price compare and find stuff. This is PSUs arranged by popularity. It's all in greek but if you press the button on top left that has like equalizer type gauges icon you can choose to only show certain brands. Press the + at the last of the handful brands there to expand and show all.
 
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Xclash

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Took me a few days but I locked in my undervolt for my 3080. Boosts to around 1845mhz & using around 230w. I did end up buying a Cooler Master NR200p just in case my Ncase M1 couldn't handle the heat but getting below 70c on the gpu with these settings. Very happy with it so far.
 

warp_

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God I hate having to redo my cabling and what not. Will I have to redo the little power switch cables and such or do those not lead back to the PSU, just the mobo?
power & reset buttons and the related control panel leds only go to the mobo not the psu directly so you'll be ok there.
 

ISee

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Big AMD Big Navi rumors today:


Navi 21 seems to be indeed an 80CUs part, clocking at 2.2GHz. Making it a 22.5 tflops AMD part.
This would make the new card 2.3x faster than a 5700XT, on paper.

Now we know that a 3090 is 2,1x faster than a 5700XT, in real life. (20 games average in 4 resolutions)
This obviously doesn't include RT performance or DLSS.

Big Navi release will be interesting. Unless AMD plays their duopolity game again and adopts Nvidia GPU prices. Which I half expect at this point.
For real, I also expect performance to be slightly under 3080.

 
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C-Dub

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I'm very excited about the new AMD CPUs moreso than a new GPU - I feel my 2070 Super is still good enough for my 1080p TV, so I want a new CPU and motherboard to upgrade to.

Then I'm going to recycle my old i7 6700K as the basis for an Unraid/Plex server. Been doing a lot of reading up on that today, as in how I'd do it and so on. All very interesting.
 
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warp_

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new amd gpus are definitely less interesting cause there's no software to back them up. their drivers are pretty regularly shit, nothing like ancel or rtx voice or shadowplay or any of that stuff. for me amd will always be lagging behind nvidia until they step that side of their operations.
 

Alextended

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Eh, I don't even install the geforce experience crap like ever except to redeem games when I first got the gpu then I swiftly got rid of it. Amd drivers are fine. Never had any issues in two gens of gpu, settings worked properly etc., I didn't see a difference in that aspect to my use of nvidia cards so to me their drivers generally sucking is an 100% busted myth. Nvidia has had its share of flukes with certain issues that got famous for their absurdity, it happens. The one thing imo amd needs to match is ai based image upscaling. Would be rad if they did it right too, all on driver level and not explicit support on the game's side. If it's per game I don't care, I will need to upgrade gpu anyway if only some are still fine at the performance/quality level I deem acceptable because they support it but not others that don't.
 
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warp_

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yeah i skip geforce experience but the nice part is it isn't needed for most of the things i listed out.

rtx voice has been a huge boon to me during all this since i'm on work from home and can talk to co-workers without also sending out keyboard noise and then can play fighting games with friends remotely without everyone making clacking noises from arcade stick buttons. maybe not widespread use cases but still pretty cool.

for me it's just a thing where "fine" isn't really the level of support i want at this point, especially seeing the major and widespread issues with drivers for the 5000 series. but that just means there's a lot of room to improve for rdna2 so hopefully they've got that side working better at this point. amd's cpu side has made such huge improvements that i totally believe they can do it for gpus too.
 
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warp_

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I didn't see a difference in that aspect to my use of nvidia cards so to me their drivers generally sucking is an 100% busted myth
amd themselves admitted there were huge issues with the drivers for the 5000 series:
having your drivers cause so many instances of complete black screen is awful as well as not having a fix for these until seven months after release. but if they can come out of the gate strong for the rdna2 launch people won't even remember those issues at all.

you are very right that amd needs an answer to dlss. i'd completely forgotten about that and it's a pretty huge feather in nvidia's cap.
 
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Trisolarian

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hadn't heard of this so i looked it up and this is some really cool tech wizardry!

out of curiosity do you think sony is doing something similar on their end with the ps5 to get their instant loads? obvious not the exact same since they are all amd but those loads are the most impressive thing shown off for the console so far.
I don't know. However, the Geforce solution appears to be focused on only the data the gpu would load as opposed to the entire system, like the PS5.
 
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Phoenix RISING

A phoenix always RISES!
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I'm hoping AMD comes in at $500/$300 for their flagship and mid-range cards with a negligible performance differential against the 3080.

PCGMR would tear itself to shreds like console gamers do.

Fitted them individually sleeved PSU cables.

Can hardly see them when it's switched on.
Might have to get some LED strips



What is that red thing under your video card?
 

didamangi

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What is that red thing under your video card?
I'm guessing it's a Sound Blaster Z sound card.

Nvidia statement regarding 3080 stability.

NVIDIA posted a driver this morning that improves stability. Regarding partner board designs, our partners regularly customize their designs and we work closely with them in the process. The appropriate number of POSCAP vs. MLCC groupings can vary depending on the design and is not necessarily indicative of quality.
Current local price. 3080 is around $1100. 3090 is $2000. Yuck.
 
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d00d3n

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I was just able to order a 3090 FE from nvidia.com here in Sweden. It worked to add it to the cart, enter credit card information and confirm the purchase. I have received a confirmation email.

I have been obsessively checking nvidia.com, so pretty sure that the availability started very recently. May just be here in Sweden though.
 

Joe Spangle

Playing....
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I swear the Nvidia site is trolling me. I click on the 3080 page and it says check availability, click on that and it says see all buying options, click on that and im back on the check availability page.
 

NarohDethan

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I’ve had two random ‘lock ups’ this week while using Windows. i can open the task manager but cant click anything on it, nor open other folders or programs. I can summon the Windows menu and start writing but nothing comes out of it. I’m running the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool to check what can be happening. I’ve also had my mouse randomly stopping working twice as well. My bet is on USB drivers, or the Logitech G Hub is acting up (my headset wasnt recognized when I hard rebooted my PC).

the only other pointer I have is that both lock ups happened while using Chrome.
 
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d00d3n

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I am a bit unsure of how to connect pcie power to my 3090 fe. Do I have to use two separate PCIE cables from my PSU and connect to the nvidia adapter? Or is it fine if I connect the 8+8 pins (on the GPU side) from my existing single cable to the adapter?
 
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ISee

Oh_no!
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I am a bit unsure of how to connect pcie power to my 3090 fe. Do I have to use two separate PCIE cables from my PSU and connect to the nvidia adapter? Or is it fine if I connect the 8+8 pins (on the GPU side) from my existing single cable to the adapter?
Depends on your PSU power rail setup.
Just to be sure, you can take two separate cable from your power supply. It's the correct way if you are on a multi rail design. Doesn't change anything if you are on one big single rail.
 

Phoenix RISING

A phoenix always RISES!
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I am a bit unsure of how to connect pcie power to my 3090 fe. Do I have to use two separate PCIE cables from my PSU and connect to the nvidia adapter? Or is it fine if I connect the 8+8 pins (on the GPU side) from my existing single cable to the adapter?
Wow, you actually got one? Grats.

Still a desert over here.
 

d00d3n

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Depends on your PSU power rail setup.
Just to be sure, you can take two separate cable from your power supply. It's the correct way if you are on a multi rail design. Doesn't change anything if you are on one big single rail.
Thanks! My PSU was a single rail design, so I went with the single cable (which splits into two at the GPU side).

Here is a picture of my build btw:


Not the easiest thing to deal with that bulky pci power adapter, but I used some tape to lead it along the edge of the 3090. The PSU and another fan are hidden in the lower black box. SSD drives are taped to the other inner side of the chassi.
 
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ISee

Oh_no!
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Looks great, extra thumbs up for Noctua (y)
Could you do me a favor please?
Would you be so nice to run this benchmark at 4k/DLSS quality/RTX maxed out and post your result.

Thanks in advance.

 

d00d3n

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Looks great, extra thumbs up for Noctua (y)
Could you do me a favor please?
Would you be so nice to run this benchmark at 4k/DLSS quality/RTX maxed out and post your result.

Thanks in advance.

I am getting soft crashes when trying to run the benchmark, unfortunately.

Should maybe reinstall nvidia driver rather than assuming that it would just work :)

Edit: Still the same error, unfortunately. Reads "GPU crashed or d3d device removed". I get into the menu, but crashed when pressing run or immediately before that
 
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ISee

Oh_no!
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Hmm that's strange. I thought, those crashes should be history with the newest drivers.
But a crash because the GPU is hitting unstable clocks should result with the driver crashing and not the GPU being removed.
How strong is your PSU and what else are you running? Maybe try two cables anyway?
 

Stevey

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Wow, why did Nvidia put the power connector in that position?

Looks out of place.
 

d00d3n

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Hmm that's strange. I thought, those crashes should be history with the newest drivers.
But a crash because the GPU is hitting unstable clocks should result with the driver crashing and not the GPU being removed.
How strong is your PSU and what else are you running? Maybe try two cables anyway?
It is a 750W PSU. Running the 3090 FE, a 9900k overclocked to 5.0 (if I remember correctly), 16 gb ram, two nvme ssds, four sata ssds. I think I will try a couple of more games until I try two cables. Control and the star wars flying game seemed to work fine
 
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Joe Spangle

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Demand for these new cards seems crazy. How many people are looking to upgrade? Is it in the Hundred thousands? Millions? I have no idea what size the market is for these new cards. Steam survey always says that top end cards represent a tiny percent of users.

Or is it just very limited stock that is making it seem like they are impossible to get ?(here in UK at least).
 

gabbo

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Demand for these new cards seems crazy. How many people are looking to upgrade? Is it in the Hundred thousands? Millions? I have no idea what size the market is for these new cards. Steam survey always says that top end cards represent a tiny percent of users.

Or is it just very limited stock that is making it seem like they are impossible to get ?(here in UK at least).
A little of both. limited stock + certain segment of the market looking to upgrade
 
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