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

[Joe Spangle]

Is there any risk/downside to me under volting my cpu, other than the slight performance hit? My new build is running really hot - clocked it at 95C and the fans go mad and so after looking up some guides online i've changed the curve optimiser doodar to negative 30 and also limited the voltage. Now its running at 80c max and the fans don't sound like they are about to explode. Everything else seems fine and the performance hit seems negligible.

 

[fearthedawn]

Is there any risk/downside to me under volting my cpu, other than the slight performance hit? My new build is running really hot - clocked it at 95C and the fans go mad and so after looking up some guides online i've changed the curve optimiser doodar to negative 30 and also limited the voltage. Now its running at 80c max and the fans don't sound like they are about to explode. Everything else seems fine and the performance hit seems negligible.

No risk to the hardware, just don't forget you did it if you run into any stability problems

It took me forever to figure out but cyberpunk has random gpu driver crashes on my system unless i run my cpu at stock, years ago my system was perfectly stable with curve optimizer at -15 in various stress tests and games (and still is) so i just set it to -10 to be on the save side and forgot about it. Never had the idea it might be the problem in cyberpunk until the intel cpu disaster with nvidia blaming intel cpus for gpu errors, so i removed the undervolt and haven't had a crash since.

 

[Parsnip]

I think I recall Hitman 2 (or maybe it was 3, time is difficult) started having seemingly random gpu crashes for me with an undervolted rtx3070, while all the stress and stability testing were fine.
It's entirely possible that if I had just goosed up the voltage a little bit while still undervolting it might have been stable again, but I never bothered to test thoroughly, rather just stopped applying the undervolt.

 

[NarohDethan]

So, the new AMD GPUs are also expected to be short on supply, right?

 

[Parsnip]

So, the new AMD GPUs are also expected to be short on supply, right?

Who knows tbh. I'd say the chances for that are high for all hardware launches these days, but I haven't followed the rumor mill.
Maybe they were planning to launch earlier but delayed a few months so they could accumulate have more stock and have rock solid drivers and software stack ready for launch? Unlikely, but one can hope.

What's interesting to me is that since they decided to not compete at the ultra high end and want to go for the wider market, will they actually price their GPU's to move. They tried that a bit last time around but not nearly aggressive enough.

 

[Nebulys]

Given the RT performance probably won’t match the Nvidia equivalent, and their new AI upscaling is an unknown quantity compared to DLSS, in my view they need to price their card below the Nvidia card the 9070 is going up against.

Also, I know they’re not going for the higher end cards, but I really would like to switch to AMD for my next graphics card, but I like to have something like an 80-series.

Once I build my new PC (maybe 2 years from now) I’m hoping to run Bazzite or SteamOS on it. I know 2 years is a long time, but I’m not convinced having an Nvidia GPU will be much better in Linux than it is now, so I really hope AMD gives us an 80 series, even if they’re steering clear of the 90.

 

[kio]

with every passing day, the RTX 4080 Super is becoming more and more appealing
/rant

 

[Kvik]

You know summer is over when the CPU idle temp is back to 40C.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

I am gonna need some guidance as I somehow walked out of a local store with a 5070ti Vanguard with a inventory mistake on their part.

1) I want to somehow backup per app settings in my NVCP - is there a way or will I have to do it manually? I am gonna be DDUing the current drivers.
2) How do I make sure GSYNC is working? I have a 240hz 21:9 3440x1440 QDLED monitor. I was planning on getting a GPU before a new monitor but monitor had a deal on it.
3) HDR seems to work with my current 1070 but I haven't dealt much with it so yea who knows

 

[TheTrain]

Getting a desktop pc next week.
My budget was limited and i got a good deal on this so im happy with it.
Ryzen 7 5700X3D. RTX 4060 Ti. 32 GB RAM. 1 TB SSD.

Its a pretty good config, enjoy your ride!

 

[TheTrain]

I am gonna need some guidance as I somehow walked out of a local store with a 5070ti Vanguard with a inventory mistake on their part.

1) I want to somehow backup per app settings in my NVCP - is there a way or will I have to do it manually? I am gonna be DDUing the current drivers.
2) How do I make sure GSYNC is working? I have a 240hz 21:9 3440x1440 QDLED monitor. I was planning on getting a GPU before a new monitor but monitor had a deal on it.
3) HDR seems to work with my current 1070 but I haven't dealt much with it so yea who knows

1) You can't as far as I know, just take a screenshot of whatever you've changed in it
2) From the NVCP

3) Enable it on Windows, download and run "Windows HDR calibration app" and call it a day, leave it always on and enjoy. These days W11 is perfectly capable of handling an always enabled HDR monitor without any issue, it will automatically switch on an SDR container to run whatever it's on top of the image if it doesn't support HDR

 

[didamangi]

1) I want to somehow backup per app settings in my NVCP - is there a way or will I have to do it manually? I am gonna be DDUing the current drivers.

Download nvidia profile inspector and export all customized profile before uninstalling your driver. After installing new driver, import your customized profile.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Tooo late, but I found that and used it thanks. Though I need to try to understand LLM more.

 

[Nebulys]

What’s the thinking with Nvidia and Linux?

I’m looking to make the switch from Windows but Nvidia on Linux is apparently still a shitshow.

I have a 4080 and my PC is a HTPC, so I’d prefer a HTPC OS. I’m thinking Bazzite.

Is it worth trying Linux in this config, or am I setting myself up for a world of pain?

 

[Parsnip]

What’s the thinking with Nvidia and Linux?

I’m looking to make the switch from Windows but Nvidia on Linux is apparently still a shitshow.

I have a 4080 and my PC is a HTPC, so I’d prefer a HTPC OS. I’m thinking Bazzite.

Is it worth trying Linux in this config, or am I setting myself up for a world of pain?

My understanding is that it's a lot better and generally you are probably going to be fine, but you might run into some edge cases where it's not fine. Also I think maybe some multi monitor + HDR issues remain unsolved.

To be clear though I don't daily drive anything Linux at the moment so no first hand experience and my info might also be out of date.

 

[Parsnip]

Just had a sudden system crash while playing.

I hope it's a onetime fluke, don't really want and don't really have the budget for pc hardware now. It's also one of those that completely reboots the system so very few breadcrumbs to follow.
If it happens again I guess I would probably start with the PSU, it's my oldest component by far.


It did remind me that I've been meaning to update bios and chipset drivers for like a while now, so might as well do that now.

 

[Nebulys]

New computer get!

You’ll have to keep us posted on how you get on with the 4060 on Linux.

And by us, I mean me. I’m so very tempted to switch. I’m also tempted to grab a 9070, but I’d rather keep my current card if I can get away with it.

 

[undu]

What’s the thinking with Nvidia and Linux?

There's a fully open source vulkan driver maturing that's rully featured but not fully optimized yet. There's a fully open sourced kernel driver. In the next 1 to 2 years it will mature and be as fast as the proprietary one, using nvidia cards completely painless.
I think currently the experience depends on the distribution, so YMMV.

 

[Nebulys]

There's a fully open source vulkan driver maturing that's rully featured but not fully optimized yet. There's a fully open sourced kernel driver. In the next 1 to 2 years it will mature and be as fast as the proprietary one, using nvidia cards completely painless.
I think currently the experience depends on the distribution, so YMMV.

I probably won't be using a Nvidia GPU in 1-2 years. Almost certainly switching to AMD next time I build a PC, which will likely be long before then if Nvidia support continues to suck on Linux.

 

[Stevey]

Anyone else having issues with nvidia drivers?
The last 2 I've installed (Express through the nvidia app) have installed, but turned my second monitor off, then my main monitor is a black screen so I have to do a hard reboot.

After that no problems whatsoever :/

(This is on Windows 11, RTX3080Ti)

Maybe time to use DDU if it persists.

 

[Kvik]

Anyone else having issues with nvidia drivers?

I can recommend using NVCleanInstall to repack the GPU driver so that it'll only install the bare essentials (driver, hd audio, pyhsx and nvcp). I haven't had any issues since I've started using this tool back in the 30 series.

You can always install the other components like the NV app later.

NVCleanstall v1.18.0 Download

NVCleanstall lets you customize the NVIDIA GeForce Driver package by removing components that you don't need (or want). This not only keeps things ti

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Stevey]

I can recommend using NVCleanInstall to repack the GPU driver so that it'll only install the bare essentials (driver, hd audio, pyhsx and nvcp). I haven't had any issues since I've started using this tool back in the 30 series.

You can always install the other components like the NV app later.

NVCleanstall v1.18.0 Download

NVCleanstall lets you customize the NVIDIA GeForce Driver package by removing components that you don't need (or want). This not only keeps things ti

www.techpowerup.com

Thanks, that looks great.

 

[ezodagrom]

Got a 4070 Super for myself over a month ago, and I wanted to get a new GPU for my sis that could handle MH Wilds better than her current one (she has my old 3060 Ti currently, I have a 1440p monitor and she has a 1080p one).

At first I was waiting for the 5060 Ti, but between all the problems the 50 series are having, and me having a feeling that it's not gonna be a good enough upgrade over a 3060 Ti, I was having 2nd thoughts. I also considered an AMD alternative, but the RX 9070 costs more here than I'm willing to spend, plus my sis would lose DLAA on FFXIV, the other anti-aliasing options FFXIV has are all awful.

Luckily a local store got 4070 stock today at near MSRP (MSI Ventus 3X), I went for it, and it went out of stock again right after I ordered it. xD

A 4070 is way overkill for her current CPU though, an old i7 9700K, so that's the next upgrade, I'm probably gonna get a new one for her around this summer or so.
I'm hoping AMD releases a Ryzen 9700 non-X until then, it would be cheaper than a 9700X and it would be a good enough upgrade.

 

[Parsnip]

Anyone else having issues with nvidia drivers?
The last 2 I've installed (Express through the nvidia app) have installed, but turned my second monitor off, then my main monitor is a black screen so I have to do a hard reboot.

After that no problems whatsoever :/

(This is on Windows 11, RTX3080Ti)

Maybe time to use DDU if it persists.

The drivers that started with the 5000 series rollout have been quite shaky for a bunch of people, not entirely sure how limited the issues are to 5000 series or if older cards are affected as well.
Could try rolling back to 566.36 if you keep having issues.

 

[d00d3n]

Has anyone managed to buy a 5090 after all this time?

I have had a discord bot service notifying me about FE availability on my mobile phone, but there has never been stock for me on the Swedish nvidia marketplace. I have checked the relevant thread on our largest national "gaming message board" for availability of good non-FE models as well. No luck finding a 5090. All AAA gaming halted since november or so ... No STALKER 2, no Indiana Jones, no Avowed, and no FFVII Rebirth PC version.

 

[NarohDethan]

I want a 9800x3D

Should I stick with my MSI B650 Tomahawk or I should buy a new mobo to get the most of it.

 

[madjoki]

I want a 9800x3D

Should I stick with my MSI B650 Tomahawk or I should buy a new mobo to get the most of it.

No reason to upgrade mobo unless you miss some feature you want.
Under the hood, all current AM5 mobos are based on same promontory chipset.
So perf wise, zero difference.

 

[d00d3n]

I was fed up with waiting and ordered a PNY 5090 OC (no LED model) for 3000 euro yesterday, which will be delivered on Monday. A FE would have been nice looking and cheaper, but it is not available realistically, runs hotter and is louder in this generation. User impressions from the PNY 5090 seem to be good, but I found no real comprehensive review.

 

[low-G]

I am feeling very wary about not building a new PC in so long now. My i9-9900k seems fine but I'm worried about tariffs making me waste my money etc. I haven't been playing the latest high spec games. Only a portion of that is because of my system's age, plus I'm on a 3090. I wouldn't be buying a new GPU and a new PC either...

 

[Parsnip]

Yeah the 3090 is a good card in other ways too and plenty powerful, but some recent games have been quite VRAM hungry so that 24 gigs of VRAM is one of its biggest advantages right now and in the near future.

 

[d00d3n]

I was fed up with waiting and ordered a PNY 5090 OC (no LED model) for 3000 euro yesterday, which will be delivered on Monday. A FE would have been nice looking and cheaper, but it is not available realistically, runs hotter and is louder in this generation. User impressions from the PNY 5090 seem to be good, but I found no real comprehensive review.

I got the PNY 5090 OC last Friday. This is how my final build looks (sorry about the Swedish brand soft drink in the dark upper right corner):



Impressions:
The PNY 5090 OC is pretty much exactly as large as my Gainward 4090. It looks much nicer, and the magnetic support bracket is much nicer than the mechanical variant which was screwed on the previous GPU. I had no issues installing it.

The NVIDIA app seems to have improved the last couple of months, with configuration files for games actually being identified and forced changes sticking in games. Forcing the DLSS transformer model in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth worked perfectly with some game specific choices in the NVIDIA app UI.

Multi-frame generation seemed pretty useful to me, but decreased mouse sensitivity in some games as a possible bug, which left a bad first impression in some cases.

One of the nicest benefits of the 5090 compared with the 4090 turned out to be support for DSR and DLDSR using the full specs of my 4k 240 hz display. That was not possible on my 4090, which kind of impeded playing older games with the best possible settings.

I am happy with my build! I am glad that I did not pay the even more outrageous prices for an ASUS Astral 5090 or an MSI SUPRIM 5090.

 

[low-G]

Yeah the 3090 is a good card in other ways too and plenty powerful, but some recent games have been quite VRAM hungry so that 24 gigs of VRAM is one of its biggest advantages right now and in the near future.

Which means my only path forward would be a 5090 really, which I feel pretty blah about :/

 

[kio]

I think I'm pretty much settled on what I want to get but would very much appreciate any input if I'm doing terribly wrong.

https://pt.pcpartpicker.com/user/kio/saved/g6sF4D

What I'm still on the fence about:

1. Go with a X870 mobo or go a tier below to a X670 or even a B650
2. Go with a base 9070XT or spend ~50€ more to get an OC but I'm still not sure if the clock gain is worth it at all

 

[Parsnip]

I think I'm pretty much settled on what I want to get but would very much appreciate any input if I'm doing terribly wrong.

https://pt.pcpartpicker.com/user/kio/saved/g6sF4D

What I'm still on the fence about:

1. Go with a X870 mobo or go a tier below to a X670 or even a B650
2. Go with a base 9070XT or spend ~50€ more to get an OC but I'm still not sure if the clock gain is worth it at all

Personally I'd probably go for the 1000W variant of that PSU, it's the one thing that will likely outlast everything else in the system, that's where I would put the extra ~50€. That would leave you some more headroom if you decide to upgrade the GPU in a few years. Of course if you don't plan any incremental upgrades, then it doesn't really matter, 850W should be able to absord any weird spikes that GPU may have and then some.

As for the chipset, I don't have any specific advice as such, but just some food for thought. I guess? I suppose it's more like, my own process on when think about motherboards specifically.
Instead of thinking about the chipset, I'd instead just look at the mobo features I want/need. For me I'd start with my nvme slot needs and work my way from there. Do I plan to have more than one nvme drive and kind of speeds I want from the main drive? If I need more than one, what kind of speeds do I want or need from the additional drives? I'm writing from memory here but for example B650 doesn't have PCIe 5.0 lanes, right? Is that a deal breaker? The drive on your list PCIe 4 drive so you don't technically need a board with 5.0 specs, right now. PCIe 4 is plenty fast already, but will you potentially want to update to an even faster main drive in the lifetime of the system?

Other thing is overclocking potential. Lower tier chipsets generally don't have much, but if you plan to just use the CPU at stock, or even underclock/eco mode it, then it again doesn't matter as much.
But since you are going for the top of the line CPU, there's probably some minimum enthusiat recommendation for it in terms of VRM solutions and whatnot. So probably not the lowest tier, but a midtier boards with X670 and a good VRM solution would probably be perfectly fine.

There was a good google sheet for AM4 back in the day for this whole VRM thing, I think someone posted it in this thread in fact, so I wonder if there's a similar sheet going around for AM5 boards as well.