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

Joe Spangle

Playing....
Apr 17, 2019
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- 3D Mark, though I'm not sure what benchmarks are included in the free version.

- Unigine heaven and Unigene superposition.

While benchmarks are okay, you want to test with games anyway. The amount of times I thought an overclock is stable only to find a game crashing and having to adjust clock speed a tiny bit is surprisingly high.
Cheers. I also read that Bright memory has a benchmarking tool thats good for RTX stuff so i might try a bit of that and then just play some games.
 
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Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
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So as a current i5-4670K owner, who really wants to upgrade his CPU because 4 cores without hyperthreading are getting a real bottleneck, what are my best options? Budget isn't really an issue, but I would prefer it if price/performance is reasonable. And ideally something a bit futureproof that will last me a couple years.

Zen 3 release is next week, so I guess after benchmarks are out there it will be a good time to make some decisions?
Also, I'll be honest, I have no idea what Intel is currently up to and how competitive they are compared to AMD at the moment.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Allow me to insist
pleaseeeee
I have a 2600x / rtx 2060 super and I play at high or very high.

Should I buy a Asus TUF VG27AQ 27’’ 1440p 165 hz gsync compatible or should I upgrade the gpu first ?
I know nobody can answers with certainty, just trying to see my options.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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There are plenty of x570 and b550 board with that option.
It's called BIOS FLASHBACK on most boards.
Yeah, I found a bunch of MSI boards that support it. Thank you!

I grabbed the MSI MEG X570 UNIFY in the end. I saw it has a feature that lets you upgrade the BIOS via USB without a CPU or RAM attached.

So my new build is almost ready.

Parts I've ordered today:
Fractal Design Meshify C Case
MSI MEG X570 UNIFY
Corsair H100i

Parts moving from the old PC:
Sabrent Rocket 2tb m.2 SSD
2x 1tb Samsung SATA SSDs
EVGA 750 GQ 80+ Gold PSU
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 Super OC

Parts yet to order:
CPU - I'm not sure of my budget yet but I'm thinking Ryzen 7 5800X at a bare minimum
 
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ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
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What drew me in were the 3x m.2 slots. But reading reviews, it's a supposed to be pretty good.
The Unify is a slightly stripped down MSI X570 ACE.
Fortunately, they only saved on the unimportant stuff like RGB and the color scheme. All the rest is the same, for 50€ less. Hard to argue with that, if you ask me.

The Strix-E would have been also a good choice in that price range [~270€]. Excellent board, even slightly better VRM and the Asus BIOS on X570 is lately getting good. Their new Precision Boost Overdrive implementation (PBO + PBO fmax) is pushing ryzen 3000 cpus nicely, without disregarding safe cpu voltage and power levels.

The bios supporting Ryzen 5000 is available for both, by the way:
It's the one with AGESA V2 PI 1.1.0.0.
AGESA V2 PI 1.0.8.0 would also do.
 

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
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So as a current i5-4670K owner, who really wants to upgrade his CPU because 4 cores without hyperthreading are getting a real bottleneck, what are my best options? Budget isn't really an issue, but I would prefer it if price/performance is reasonable. And ideally something a bit futureproof that will last me a couple years.

Zen 3 release is next week, so I guess after benchmarks are out there it will be a good time to make some decisions?
Also, I'll be honest, I have no idea what Intel is currently up to and how competitive they are compared to AMD at the moment.
I have a Ryzen 3700X, I had an old Haswell i7 before, and certainly the new Ryzen is much faster. The clearest difference is in CPU heavy tasks like emulation.
With 8 cores, with "HyperThreading" (AMD calls it diferent, but it's the same thing really) that's enough to cover any multi processor needs from gaming. If the early benchmark leaks from Zen 3 are to be trusted, I'd really recommend you give the new AMD CPUs a good look.
 
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Firewithin

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Dec 19, 2018
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ive spent days looking at reviews/videos of stuff i want for my build and i cant make any decisions lol. i know i want an x570 board as im leaning towards either a 5800x or 5900x depending on if i can get one. im being drawn to the asus rog 570-F for some reason.

once i can make a MB decision other things will become easier (M.2, memory, etc)
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Welp, I'm back at square one wondering which type of screen to choose. For all the bad press they get, I always used TN panels, they don't look horrible. Then IPS glow looks terrifying. Not sure on VA, they are a little slow to change color, isn't it ?

I sorta need a new monitor to give the old one to my mother, but sometimes I wonder if I'm not better served keeping the old dumb 1080p screen.
Thonking.

Another way of seeing things would be to take a chance on a reputed IPS and return it if it's bad, but man, I don't really want to play ping pong with a monitor package.
 
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Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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There are rumors of 3060 TI and 3080 TI.
Before the actual 3080 real life availability.

I understand that the two aren't related but uh.

Anyways, Navi is tomorrow and RTX 3070 the day after, right ? Can't wait !
Bracing for OUT OF STOCK
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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3070 was today ;)

spoiler: It's a 2080Ti.
So it's the perfect 1440p/120+ card no ?
Moot point anyways because as last time I can just ask to be notified by nvidia, until the status change to OOS, I suppose :thinking-blob:
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
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What time is the AMD RDNA2 event today? I need to know just how much and how old a video card I'll be getting for my new build and it hinges on this.
 
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Panda Pedinte

Best Sig Maker on the board!
Sep 20, 2018
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What time is the AMD RDNA2 event today? I need to know just how much and how old a video card I'll be getting for my new build and it hinges on this.
The event is tomorrow 12:00pm ET / 16:00pm BST / 09:00am PT
 
OP
Durante

Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
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3070 is looking really good from the reviews I read. Almost exactly 2080ti performance, and the best power efficiency of the Ampere cards so far.

Of course, the real question is the stock situation. Hopefully it (and the AMD cards) will alleviate that a bit for all of the market.
 

gabbo

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3070 is looking really good from the reviews I read. Almost exactly 2080ti performance, and the best power efficiency of the Ampere cards so far.

Of course, the real question is the stock situation. Hopefully it (and the AMD cards) will alleviate that a bit for all of the market.
Have the reviews been for the Nvidia base editions or AIB partners as well?
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
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I wasn't going to get a new GPU just yet, but I think I will try for a 3070. Those benchmarks and price are exceptionally good.
 

Firewithin

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Dec 19, 2018
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will there be a huge difference between 8 or 12 cores? im not sure which zen 3 i should attempt to snag next week
 
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Durante

Durante

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Have the reviews been for the Nvidia base editions or AIB partners as well?
All the reviews I saw were of the Nvidia FE.

will there be a huge difference between 8 or 12 cores? im not sure which zen 3 i should attempt to snag next week
I wouldn't expect there to be a huge difference in the vast majority of games over the next few years.
 
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Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Back to my monitor musing...
I already have a 4k/60 TV, the 1440/120 are not cheap and the 3070 benchmark I saw never really went as fast as 120 ips. Why not a simple 1440p 60, it's certainly cheaper.

Is there an advantage to have a 120+ hz monitor when you can't feed him this image count ? (well yeah, depends on the game and lots of them will hit 120, so there is that).
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
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Is there an advantage to have a 120+ hz monitor when you can't feed him this image count ? (well yeah, depends on the game and lots of them will hit 120, so there is that).
You aren't buying those monitors to get locked 120fps. You are buying them for the variable refresh rate experience and for the benefit of not having to endlessly tinker with settings to reach 60fps for 95% of your playtime.

Playing at variable 70-100 fps, even without reaching 120 is a noticeable improvement over locked 60.
Should a game be so taxing that above 60 fps becomes a struggle, variable refresh rates still offer you huge benefits as drops below 60 do not result in stutters or screen tearing.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
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Just a non initiated thought that people in the know could help me understand better. Looking at TechRadar 3070 benchmark one element jumped at me. Avg fps are generally cool but there are so many games where minimum fps jump off a cliff.
I mean, let's not look at HZD, because the game has a reputation but even GTAV in 4k :
Avg 96fps
Min... 15fps

What ? Is this common ? Is this indicative of a badly optimized game ?
 

EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
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Depends. It could be a scene with lots of effects, geometry, textures, AI & audio and the frames dipped because of heavy load and caching all those elements.

It could be bad optimization or a bad engine but ideally we'd need to know what scenes caused the dips and how long those drops lasted to make a judgement.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
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HZD is harsh on video memory, especially during the benchmark run.
I often witnessed frame time spikes, whenever my vram got loaded up. Which happened quiet regularly, even at 1440p.

For example, here:
VRAM goes up to 10700mb, two frame times spikes occur.



Stuff like that influences reported min FPS and is noticeable as a small stutter.
Long story short: It's just how the game is. Not much you can do about it.
Fortunately, gameplay is much smoother and consistent than the benchmark run.


 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Hmm, yeah, my question is dumb (surprise ! :disappointed-but-relieved-face:)
I'm viewing it from the wrong angle. I was thinking, whatever the avg might be, if a game has a min in the sub 20 there is a problem.
...
But it's an average, so it's far more important than the minimum fps.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
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But it's an average, so it's far more important than the minimum fps.
Neither a dump question, nor are minimum fps unimportant.
A big gap between average, maximum and minimum is a good indication of how "fluid" the gameplay experience might be.

You want all those things to be as close to each other as possible.
 

Joe Spangle

Playing....
Apr 17, 2019
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I think ive successfully undervolted my 3090 and it seems to be running....a bit better?

Followed this vid...



The temp doens't go over 70 C, the fans seem to stick at about 50% on average. I ran that Bright Memory benchmark for a bit (why does it start up Steam VR?), I also played RDR2 for a bit (what a great looking game). Tried Control and everything seems fine and super smooth.

I realise that a 3090 should beast everything at the mo but im still pleased to get it running pretty quiet and drawing less power for the same performance as out the box.
 
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EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
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"Rage Mode" oooof, right in my rose-tinted nostalgia goggles.
I need more info and independent reviews and benchies but this is looking decent for AMD. They may even tempt me back.
Is it value for money and is there any stock available? If yes then i'll probably go Team Red :D
 
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gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
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My 970 will live to see another build, at least until I get good 3rd party/aib reviews for the 6800 and the 6800xt
 

Alextended

Segata's Disciple
Jan 28, 2019
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FInally high end competition after 3 generations. Even if they suffer with RT (but how often will that be used as anything more than an add-on paid by NV, like PhysX back in the day, when the game/art was mostly made without it in mind and the standard current pipelines instead, when consoles are AMD based themselves so will likely settle for minimal RT) that's a great development, espcially if they can keep improving like they did with CPUs Zen 1 to Zen 3. Hope these show to be even better value once prices/stock settles form third parties as well for both companies. I'm still keeping my 1080 a while longer regardless.
 

Parsnip

Riskbreaker
Sep 11, 2018
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Cautiously optimistic. Some question marks remain like RT performance, the whole synergy thing with Ryzen and actual card availability to name a few.
And obviously third party benches are needed.
Prices are a bit disappointing.

But if AMD can deliver cards (hah!) and keep the prices while Nvidia struggles to deliver cards and prices are getting jacked up. :shrugblob:

Both AMD products are now waiting on third party benches. :crystalblob:
 

Sygmaelle

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Sep 8, 2019
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I was getting ready for tomorrow's bloodbath, creating accounts on every single online shop I could think of and whatnot

Then, holy macaroni batman




There has been quite a few of brand new 2080ti being sold around that price on Ebay.fr !

literally so FREAKING glad I wont have to deal with the launch laule
 

Darktalon

Junior Member
Jun 18, 2020
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HZD is harsh on video memory, especially during the benchmark run.
I often witnessed frame time spikes, whenever my vram got loaded up. Which happened quiet regularly, even at 1440p.

For example, here:
VRAM goes up to 10700mb, two frame times spikes occur.



Stuff like that influences reported min FPS and is noticeable as a small stutter.
Long story short: It's just how the game is. Not much you can do about it.
Fortunately, gameplay is much smoother and consistent than the benchmark run.


Please, utilize this guide, and you will see that the game is using less VRAM than you think.
Also, you should close all background programs, and restart your computer every now and then, to avoid fragmented VRAM.

MSI Afterburner can now display per process VRAM!
 
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Durante

Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
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RDNA2 looks interesting. I'm very curious to see how the less memory bandwidth / more cache tradeoff plays out in real-world benchmarking. And RT of course.

But it's good to see that AMD can at least compete at the high end again when it comes to the basics.
 
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Durante

Durante

I <3 Pixels
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There has been quite a few of brand new 2080ti being sold around that price on Ebay.fr !
A 2080ti for ~450€ is actually a really good deal, even with all the recent announcements.

It's as fast as a 3070 and has a bit more memory, just enough to put it on the safer side regarding next-gen ports.
But most importantly, usually when a new generation of cards is released the old ones are made obsolete in terms of feature set, and are thus no longer as good a buy as their raw performance implies. But with Turing, it already supports the full DX12U features, same as Ampere and RDNA2, so it's a safe buy from that perspective too.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Uh, let me retract. There was a retailer with cards. It is getting hammered into oblivion.

edit : couldn't validate order, it's OOS.
 

Dandy

Bad at Games.
Apr 17, 2019
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Part of me is tempted to try and get a 3070... But I also have till December to get a 3080. I mean, that's something that could happen, right?!?
 

Involution

Junior Member
Aug 24, 2020
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That 6900 seems like great value at first glance. If the reviews on the card are good I may consider that over the 3080. Trying to gauge cost/performance but it seems I'll be waiting a while longer before I can do that.
 

Sygmaelle

MetaMember
Sep 8, 2019
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A 2080ti for ~450€ is actually a really good deal, even with all the recent announcements.

It's as fast as a 3070 and has a bit more memory, just enough to put it on the safer side regarding next-gen ports.
But most importantly, usually when a new generation of cards is released the old ones are made obsolete in terms of feature set, and are thus no longer as good a buy as their raw performance implies. But with Turing, it already supports the full DX12U features, same as Ampere and RDNA2, so it's a safe buy from that perspective too.
yeah i didnt even hesitate, even more so after having watched the digital foundry video review indicating that 8 gb of vram actually showing their limit

Its a super solid card for 1080 / 1440p in my case for that value, couldn't be happier

And speaking of case I bought a Fractal Meshify C to be able to use it. Was trying to get a Lian Li cool II mesh but wouldn't have gotten it before 15 days from now
 

Parsnip

Riskbreaker
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I wish Fractal made a new Define 7 Compact, just even more compact. A micro atx size to be exact. :) I'd probably buy one one D7 Compact if it wasn't so tall.

Though to be honest I still might buy one. But I wouldn't be as happy about it.
 
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