PC Building/Upgrading/Parts-picking Megathread Reloaded

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > PC Building/Upgrading/Parts-picking Megathread Reloaded

«‹›816 »

bus hustler: Mar 14, 2019; Ha Ha Ha... YES!

I have a chance to pick up a this: https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics-Card/GV-N208TTURBO-11GC#kf

For a really good price. Am I screwed with a "blower" card, I've seen others with bad reviews? Am I better off passing on it? My current card is a 1080 non-ti, I play at 1080p 144hz and just am not quite getting 144+ in Apex at all times.

My case isn't small, and overall most of the year my house is cool, but I'm not running any non-stock cooling.

It's cheap enough that I wouldn't bother shopping for another card, just sticking with what I have.

bus hustler fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Mar 16, 2019

# ? Mar 16, 2019 23:24

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 8, 2024 13:46

BIG HEADLINE: Jun 13, 2006; "Stand back, Ottawan ruffian, or face my lumens!"

Contrary to popular belief (and warranty stickers), you *don't* void your warranty if you change out the stock cooler on a GPU - you only void your warranty if you somehow gently caress it up in doing so (and you have to replace the stock cooler for RMA service). So if you find the stock cooler inadequate or disappointing, you've got an out, even if buying the aftermarket solution would probably invalidate whatever good deal you got over getting a card with a better stock cooler.

# ? Mar 16, 2019 23:45

E2M2: Mar 2, 2007; Ain't No Thang.

I just got essentially a complete computer free:

3770k, 16gb ram, Asrock Z77 Extreme 4, GTX 660 TI, and a modular CM 600w PSU. Thing is none of the modular power supply stuff was included. Is there an easy way to replace all the cables?

# ? Mar 17, 2019 04:29

Not Wolverine: Jul 1, 2007

Stickman posted:

Honestly, unless you really want to run it shits and giggles, it's not worth the hassle. A D15 would work, but your not going to overclocking - for that you need serious liquid cooling. You also need a top-end motherboard capable of supplying 220W+ to the CPU, which will probably be ridiculously expensive on the used market. If you're running it alongside a GPU, you'll also a more powerful PSU.

And at the end of all of that, you get an 8-core CPU with worse multi-core performance than an i5 8400 (let alone a Ryzen 2600X) and terrible single-core performance. It's pretty much "historical value only" at this point.

I'm getting an AS Rock 970G-A/3.1 to go with the CPU it's from SA Mart the board can support the CPU. As for the cooler, the D15 just looks huge, and it's $90. I have no desire to overclock this CPU, I already have a Deepcool Gammaxx 400, which is basically a Hyper 212 but rotated 90 degrees and maybe better or maybe shittier depending on your opinion (tests results I looked up seem to be within margin of error). I doubt this cooler is enough, but I will give it a try first, I assume the 9370 will just throttle if my cooler cant handle it. I am tempted to go with a Deepcool Lucifer V2, it has 6 heat pipes and a 140mm fan in a single stack formation for $40, I think it would be better than the cooler I already have and maybe enough to handle the 9370. My next option would probably be either a $60 AIO single 120mm fan water cooler since I think that will fit easily inside my desired case, or maybe a Noctua DH14/15 or a very similar but cheaper (and shittier) Deepcool Assassin II. I just like my current Deepcool cooler, it was cheap, and it seems to perform great and it was easy to use, from the few reviews I've read/watched on youtube, Deepcool seems to run a couple C hotter than expensive namebrand coolers but for a much lower price. Unless someone here can legitimately say Deepcool sucks I think that will be my solution.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 04:35

Llamadeus: Dec 20, 2005

The actual advice there wasn't "get a D15", it was don't spend that much money and effort to run an ancient 220W CPU that performs worse than almost any other CPU you can buy.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 05:01

orange juche: Mar 14, 2012

Llamadeus posted:

The actual advice there wasn't "get a D15", it was don't spend that much money and effort to run an ancient 220W CPU that performs worse than almost any other CPU you can buy.

Pretty much this, it's a loving boat anchor that is far behind its Intel contemporaries, and it's not worth using. Do yourself a favor and throw it out. That 2200g upthread has more grunt than that piece of poo poo.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 05:09

Listerine: Jan 5, 2005; Exquisite Corpse

charity rereg posted:

I have a chance to pick up a this: https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics-Card/GV-N208TTURBO-11GC#kf

For a really good price. Am I screwed with a "blower" card, I've seen others with bad reviews? Am I better off passing on it? My current card is a 1080 non-ti, I play at 1080p 144hz and just am not quite getting 144+ in Apex at all times.

My case isn't small, and overall most of the year my house is cool, but I'm not running any non-stock cooling.

It's cheap enough that I wouldn't bother shopping for another card, just sticking with what I have.

If it's a retail deal, mind sharing the details? I'm getting a new card soon and specifically looking at blower cards for a multi-GPU setup.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 05:33

some dillweed: Mar 31, 2007

Hey, people. I'm looking at upgrading from my 2011 Sandy Bridge. My current system is an overclocked 2500K at 4.5 GHz, 16 GB DDR3-2133, and a GTX 1060 6 GB that has been boosting to an average ~1970 MHz. I think the CPU is definitely showing its age now, because a few recent games don't run very smoothly even with the overclock. I've gotten stuttering on a pretty regular basis in some recent ones, the most recent example being The Division 2. I'd like to get some kind of consistency back with games overall. I'd also like to try upgrading the CPU before I worry about possibly having to upgrade my GTX 1060 to keep the kind of performance and visuals I like. If removing the CPU bottleneck doesn't improve things enough, then I'll probably look into selling some of my stuff and grabbing an RTX 2070 or something.

What country are you in? Canada
What are you using the system for? Mostly gaming (and general use). Some school-related work may come up in the future, but I don't have specific requirements at this point.
What's your budget? I was originally thinking ~$500 CAD for the CPU, RAM, and motherboard, but it looks like I'll probably have to put down $600 minimum for a decent upgrade. I can maybe stretch a bit if something warrants it, but I'm a student with debt so probably can't afford too much more.
Monitor resolution: 1080p and 60 Hz, and I tend to prefer "High" settings on games and a steady 60 fps because I generally don't like the feeling of laggy input with slower framerates (but deal with it when playing my PS4 or older consoles). I don't need "Ultra"-level graphics.

My tentative idea for immediate upgrades:
CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($282.48 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC ATX AM4 Motherboard ($209.03 @ Memory Express)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($175.13 @ Memory Express)
Total: $666.64 (including estimated 13% tax for GST+PST in Manitoba)

Stuff I already have:
Storage: 6 SATA drives (3 SSDs, 3 hard drives)
Video Card: MSI GTX 1060 GAMING X 6 GB
Case: Fractal Design Define R4
Power Supply: Corsair AX750 (750 W)
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-212D DVD/CD Writer

I'm not really looking to replace any of the hard drives right now since I don't really have the budget for it.
The power supply seems like it's still working fine, but I guess I might have to consider replacing it since it's been out of warranty since last May.
I occasionally still use the DVD drive if I want to back up any physical CDs/DVDs. But, to keep from spending another $50+ on a motherboard with 8 SATA ports like the MSI X470 "Gaming Pro Carbon" (either the in-stock non-AC or the backordered AC) I'd need to either find a decent external enclosure or just buy a cheap external drive, and those are also around $50. So, I'm not sure if I'd be better off paying the extra for the MSI X470 or just forgetting about the optical drive until I need/want to use it again.
Also, I have one of the original model Thermalright Silver Arrows on the 2500K right now with some nice, nearly silent fans, but I don't think there are any adapters available to reuse that on any of the newest CPUs. I'd like to keep the PC as quiet as possible since it's in my bedroom and I can't sleep with much noise.

That's a lot of text, but I think that's everything. Any alternative suggestions, like a quieter cooler for the CPU or cheaper/different RAM?

# ? Mar 17, 2019 06:29

Not Wolverine: Jul 1, 2007

orange juche posted:

Pretty much this, it's a loving boat anchor that is far behind its Intel contemporaries, and it's not worth using. Do yourself a favor and throw it out. That 2200g upthread has more grunt than that piece of poo poo.

A 2200G + a motherboard + RAM is significantly more expensive than what I am spending for the used FX-9370, but I think the 2200G is the better option if I needed more than just the CPU.

I double checked the system I plan to put this in and it has a Corsair 700w power supply, a couple years old but i assume it should work fine. As for the cooler, I already own a Deepcool Gammaxx 400 (basically a Hyper 212) which I doubt is enough to cool it but I will try it before looking into other options. Would a ~$60 all in one water cooler with a 120mm rad be worth trying? The case I plan to use doesn't have provisions for a big radiator, but I have ~~a Dremel~~ another case that can fit a dual 12mm rad if necessary.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 08:50

Rexxed: May 1, 2010; Dis is amazing!
I gotta try dis!

Crotch Fruit posted:

A 2200G + a motherboard + RAM is significantly more expensive than what I am spending for the used FX-9370, but I think the 2200G is the better option if I needed more than just the CPU.

I double checked the system I plan to put this in and it has a Corsair 700w power supply, a couple years old but i assume it should work fine. As for the cooler, I already own a Deepcool Gammaxx 400 (basically a Hyper 212) which I doubt is enough to cool it but I will try it before looking into other options. Would a ~$60 all in one water cooler with a 120mm rad be worth trying? The case I plan to use doesn't have provisions for a big radiator, but I have ~~a Dremel~~ another case that can fit a dual 12mm rad if necessary.

The hyper 212 is good for maybe up to 150W TDP processors, the 9370 is a hilarious 220 Watts TDP. It requires very big air or a big water cooler (240mm minimum I'd imagine). It's extremely bad. You'll probably need to underclock it to be more like the 8350 if you want to use that cooler.

Honestly I wouldn't take that thing for any price, it's an oddity that existed just so AMD could pretend they had high clock speeds because they had some really good binned chips around. It eats power and pours out heat and it's an FX CPU so it's just really bad to begin with. I really think you're underestimating the trouble you're getting. I mean it's a neat piece of history, the best of the worst line of AMD CPUs from the last decade, but that just kind of makes it an interesting oddity.

Here's cooler master's list of what their coolers will do including TDP ratings. Only five of their 240mm+ AIO coolers are over 220W TDP:
http://www.coolermaster.com/tdp-and-socket-compatibility/

# ? Mar 17, 2019 09:10

Not Wolverine: Jul 1, 2007

poo poo that is a lot worse than I thought, thanks for the chart.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 09:40

HalloKitty: Sep 30, 2005; Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast

Crotch Fruit posted:

poo poo that is a lot worse than I thought, thanks for the chart.

Please re-consider. Any money put into a Bulldozer system is wasted money. Even the fastest (9590) is no better in any situation than even a Sandy Bridge quad core.
It's so bad that you could literally buy any used Intel Sandy bridge+ quad core office PC for a few bucks off ebay and jam a graphics card in it for a better experience, especially when you factor in noise, power and heat.

I've pulled up this recent review from 2017 to give some perspective: https://www.legitreviews.com/amd-fx-9590-8-core-cpu-review_190566

HalloKitty fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Mar 17, 2019

# ? Mar 17, 2019 10:13

Stickman: Feb 1, 2004

Going by ebay prices, you could probably get $180-200 for the CPU and motherboard (and maybe another $40-60 for your ram, depending). $200 gets you a very solid AM4 motherboard + Ram:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($90.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $205.97

If you live near a microcenter, you could most likely score a Ryzen 1600 for $80, and you've got a much better computer with great upgrade potential (B450 will be compatible with Zen 2/3) for less net cost than you'd spend on cooling and a PSU. Otherwise, Ryzen 2600s are $165 and 2600Xs are $185 (I recommend the X), which is still not much over the cost of getting the bulldozer working. All the Ryzen CPUs come with fully capable stock coolers (though only the X chips come with overclock-capable coolers).

# ? Mar 17, 2019 10:25

Stickman: Feb 1, 2004

Grog posted:

Hey, people. I'm looking at upgrading from my 2011 Sandy Bridge. My current system is an overclocked 2500K at 4.5 GHz, 16 GB DDR3-2133, and a GTX 1060 6 GB that has been boosting to an average ~1970 MHz. I think the CPU is definitely showing its age now, because a few recent games don't run very smoothly even with the overclock. I've gotten stuttering on a pretty regular basis in some recent ones, the most recent example being The Division 2. I'd like to get some kind of consistency back with games overall. I'd also like to try upgrading the CPU before I worry about possibly having to upgrade my GTX 1060 to keep the kind of performance and visuals I like. If removing the CPU bottleneck doesn't improve things enough, then I'll probably look into selling some of my stuff and grabbing an RTX 2070 or something.

What country are you in? Canada
What are you using the system for? Mostly gaming (and general use). Some school-related work may come up in the future, but I don't have specific requirements at this point.
What's your budget? I was originally thinking ~$500 CAD for the CPU, RAM, and motherboard, but it looks like I'll probably have to put down $600 minimum for a decent upgrade. I can maybe stretch a bit if something warrants it, but I'm a student with debt so probably can't afford too much more.
Monitor resolution: 1080p and 60 Hz, and I tend to prefer "High" settings on games and a steady 60 fps because I generally don't like the feeling of laggy input with slower framerates (but deal with it when playing my PS4 or older consoles). I don't need "Ultra"-level graphics.

My tentative idea for immediate upgrades:
CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($282.48 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC ATX AM4 Motherboard ($209.03 @ Memory Express)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($175.13 @ Memory Express)
Total: $666.64 (including estimated 13% tax for GST+PST in Manitoba)

Stuff I already have:
Storage: 6 SATA drives (3 SSDs, 3 hard drives)
Video Card: MSI GTX 1060 GAMING X 6 GB
Case: Fractal Design Define R4
Power Supply: Corsair AX750 (750 W)
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-212D DVD/CD Writer
I'm not really looking to replace any of the hard drives right now since I don't really have the budget for it.

Solid choices. I'd go with the $100 Aegis ram kit - it's 3000 but it's QVL for Ryzen and significantly cheaper. There's barely a difference between 3000 and 3200, even on Ryzen, and Ripjaws are a crapshoot for running at 3200 with Ryzen (they'll at least run at 3000, though).

Grog posted:

The power supply seems like it's still working fine, but I guess I might have to consider replacing it since it's been out of warranty since last May.

I'd replace the PSU if it's out of warranty. The Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 650W looks like the best Gold/modular/10-year warranty deal going for Canada right now.

Grog posted:

I occasionally still use the DVD drive if I want to back up any physical CDs/DVDs. But, to keep from spending another $50+ on a motherboard with 8 SATA ports like the MSI X470 "Gaming Pro Carbon" (either the in-stock non-AC or the backordered AC) I'd need to either find a decent external enclosure or just buy a cheap external drive, and those are also around $50. So, I'm not sure if I'd be better off paying the extra for the MSI X470 or just forgetting about the optical drive until I need/want to use it again.

If your drives are small, I'd start by spending money consolidating them over an 8-SATA motherboard. If you really want those extra sata slots, there's a few 2-port PCIe cards for ~$20 on Amazon.

Grog posted:

Also, I have one of the original model Thermalright Silver Arrows on the 2500K right now with some nice, nearly silent fans, but I don't think there are any adapters available to reuse that on any of the newest CPUs. I'd like to keep the PC as quiet as possible since it's in my bedroom and I can't sleep with much noise.[/list]
That's a lot of text, but I think that's everything. Any alternative suggestions, like a quieter cooler for the CPU or cheaper/different RAM?

Thermalright has a free AM4 upgrade kit if you contact their support!

# ? Mar 17, 2019 10:47

Zokari: Jul 23, 2007

So I'm planning to build a gaming PC for the first time and I basically just want to make sure I'm not loving anything up:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($184.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($93.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks - Eclipse P300 Tempered Glass (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - G 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $978.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-17 07:36 EDT-0400

The current price is about the upper limit of my budget, are any of these parts bad choices?

# ? Mar 17, 2019 12:41

bus hustler: Mar 14, 2019; Ha Ha Ha... YES!

Listerine posted:

If it's a retail deal, mind sharing the details? I'm getting a new card soon and specifically looking at blower cards for a multi-GPU setup.

It's not unfortunately, the card was purchased for a project and the project fell through after it was returnable - if I don't take it at this price it'll go to someone else who will use it & not resell it kind of deal. I'd probably sell my 1080 to help cover the cost, I guess that's why I'm a bit hesitant to take a "risk," as I can't just swap back.

I'll probably do it, I'm running a full size ATX case that has decent fans and is relatively noise dampening, and this PC is otherwise loaded for the near future, Ryzen 2600/32GB/1TB SSD/Auros B450 board. I'm interested in exploring dual 144hz or 1440p in the future too.

edit: I've also been dicking around with streaming, so I think the RTX will have a bunch of benefits? Not sure how much of NVidia's marketing should be believed with the RTX NVENC performance gains.

bus hustler fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Mar 17, 2019

# ? Mar 17, 2019 14:23

Not Wolverine: Jul 1, 2007

HalloKitty posted:

Please re-consider. Any money put into a Bulldozer system is wasted money. Even the fastest (9590) is no better in any situation than even a Sandy Bridge quad core.
It's so bad that you could literally buy any used Intel Sandy bridge+ quad core office PC for a few bucks off ebay and jam a graphics card in it for a better experience, especially when you factor in noise, power and heat.

I've pulled up this recent review from 2017 to give some perspective: https://www.legitreviews.com/amd-fx-9590-8-core-cpu-review_190566

Yeah I am reconsidering right now, but I already paid for the CPU. I think I got an OK deal, I don't wish to disclose the amount because I don't care to see the resulting goon rage of "ur gay buy Intel" after I have already bought the processor. If I cant get out of the deal, I still kinda want the CPU for the sheer novelty of it, I still think I got an OK deal (I know I can't convince anyone here of that), and paying for a cooler will be just me trying to cut my losses.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 16:18

Fantastic Foreskin: Jan 6, 2013; A golden helix streaked skyward from the Helvault. A thunderous explosion shattered the silver monolith and Avacyn emerged, free from her prison at last.

Everybody's telling you to buy AMD, dude. Just, not ancient terrible AMD.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 16:28

HalloKitty: Sep 30, 2005; Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast

Crotch Fruit posted:

Yeah I am reconsidering right now, but I already paid for the CPU. I think I got an OK deal, I don't wish to disclose the amount because I don't care to see the resulting goon rage of "ur gay buy Intel" after I have already bought the processor. If I cant get out of the deal, I still kinda want the CPU for the sheer novelty of it, I still think I got an OK deal (I know I can't convince anyone here of that), and paying for a cooler will be just me trying to cut my losses.

Nothing wrong with modern AMD stuff, seriously [From Ryzen onwards]. I recommended and built a Ryzen 2700X based system for my younger brother, and it beats the poo poo out of my own, old, Intel 3770K system in terms of CPU grunt.

It's just that there's a particular, unfortunate period of AMD products where they were just churning out stuff that was impossible to recommend at any price. They thankfully redesigned their CPU architecture entirely, and are totally over that now.

HalloKitty fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Mar 17, 2019

# ? Mar 17, 2019 17:08

OtherworldlyInvader: Feb 10, 2005; The X-COM project did not deliver the universe's ultimate cup of coffee. You have failed to save the Earth.

charity rereg posted:

It's not unfortunately, the card was purchased for a project and the project fell through after it was returnable - if I don't take it at this price it'll go to someone else who will use it & not resell it kind of deal. I'd probably sell my 1080 to help cover the cost, I guess that's why I'm a bit hesitant to take a "risk," as I can't just swap back.

I'll probably do it, I'm running a full size ATX case that has decent fans and is relatively noise dampening, and this PC is otherwise loaded for the near future, Ryzen 2600/32GB/1TB SSD/Auros B450 board. I'm interested in exploring dual 144hz or 1440p in the future too.

edit: I've also been dicking around with streaming, so I think the RTX will have a bunch of benefits? Not sure how much of NVidia's marketing should be believed with the RTX NVENC performance gains.

I've been looking at buying a used GTX 1080, what exact kind of card is it and what kind of price did you have in mind?

# ? Mar 17, 2019 17:16

some dillweed: Mar 31, 2007

Stickman posted:

Solid choices. I'd go with the $100 Aegis ram kit - it's 3000 but it's QVL for Ryzen and significantly cheaper. There's barely a difference between 3000 and 3200, even on Ryzen, and Ripjaws are a crapshoot for running at 3200 with Ryzen (they'll at least run at 3000, though).

Ah, right. Thanks for pointing that out. I completely forgot to check the QVL. I can't remember where I saw it, but it seemed like 3200 was the point of diminishing returns for Ryzen setups. That might have been using Samsung B-die CL14 stuff, though, which looks like it's around $250. Yeesh. Other than the Aegis, it looks like (Canadian) Amazon has a few of the Kingston HyperX 3200 sets that are on the QVL for that board. I'm guessing that wouldn't be worth the extra ~$50? I could also probably go for one of the cheaper motherboards without any built-in wireless and cut the cost a bit more.

Also, yeeeah, I should probably add a new power supply into the equation. Well, my birthday's this week and I've been running the same CPU for the past 8 years, so maybe I can talk my parents into funding the upgrade.

quote:

If your drives are small, I'd start by spending money consolidating them over an 8-SATA motherboard. If you really want those extra sata slots, there's a few 2-port PCIe cards for ~$20 on Amazon.

Honestly, I could/should probably just take my 128 GB Crucial m4 out if I want to keep using the DVD drive. The hard drives are two 2 TB and one 6 TB, and at least the 2 TB drives should probably be replaced soon-ish. [e: I conflated specs a bit. The PCIe-only M.2 slot cuts off the use of various PCIe slots and the PCIe/SATA slot cuts off the use of two of the SATA ports.] (I wouldn't have this much storage if not for terrible rural internet speeds.)

quote:

Thermalright has a free AM4 upgrade kit if you contact their support!

Oh yeah. I think I remember seeing this around the time they announced it. Thanks for the reminder. I'm sure I don't have the receipt from the cooler lying around anymore, but if I can check the mount shape and provide them with that info then maybe they'll be willing to send one of those AM4 brackets anyway. It's probably worth trying, at least.

I also forgot at least one thing in my late night posting, but maybe I should be asking this somewhere else? The onboard sound on these motherboards is probably good enough now in terms of sound quality, but I've had an X-Fi Titanium HD in my system for years since I used to listen through headphones pretty much exclusively, and the main reason I'm still using it is because it has a mini-Toslink input that I can run my PS4's sound through to my speakers since I don't have any kind of receiver. I have a Roland Quad Capture for amateur music recording stuff and bought some cheap Toslink-to-Coaxial converter to be able to use the Roland's Coaxial input and remove the Titanium HD completely (I think it worked when I tested it?). It looks like most motherboard manufacturers don't provide information on what the line-in on any of their boards can take, but I'm assuming it's just 3.5 mm or 1/8-inch like they have been historically. If I stopped using the Roland, is there any cheap and/or simple way of taking the digital audio from the PS4 Pro to the motherboard's line-in? Or would I still have to use some kind of external DAC or receiver setup?

some dillweed fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Mar 17, 2019

# ? Mar 17, 2019 18:17

Ciaphas: Nov 20, 2005; > BEWARE, COWARD

Trying to drive a 3440x1440@120hz monitor for Division 2 isn't really making it even to 60FPS most of the time on any quality above medium. Am I likely by about now to get good bang for my buck on a CPU/mobo/ram uptick if I were to go to Fry's Electronics today, or have things not changed enough yet since Skylake? (That used to be a daft question. Not so sure nowadays.)

Current specs copied out of Speccy:

pre:

Operating System
	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
	Intel Core i5 6600K @ 3.50GHz	37 �C
	Skylake 14nm Technology
RAM
	16.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1333MHz (15-15-15-35)
Motherboard
	Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. Z170MX-Gaming 5 (U3E1)	37 �C
Graphics
	Dell AW3418DWX (3440x1440@120Hz)
	3071MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (ASUStek Computer Inc)	53 �C
Storage
	1907GB Micron_1100_MTFDDAK2T0TBN (SATA (SSD))	45 �C
	223GB Corsair Force GT (SATA (SSD))	40 �C
Optical Drives
	No optical disk drives detected
Audio
	Realtek High Definition Audio

# ? Mar 17, 2019 18:23

ethanol: Jul 13, 2007

I doubt anything you buy today is gonna drive a Ubisoft 2019 title at 4k 120 hz

# ? Mar 17, 2019 19:16

TheFluff: Dec 13, 2006; FRIENDS, LISTEN TO ME
I AM A SEAGULL
OF WEALTH AND TASTE

Ciaphas posted:

Trying to drive a 3440x1440@120hz monitor for Division 2 isn't really making it even to 60FPS most of the time on any quality above medium. Am I likely by about now to get good bang for my buck on a CPU/mobo/ram uptick if I were to go to Fry's Electronics today, or have things not changed enough yet since Skylake? (That used to be a daft question. Not so sure nowadays.)

Current specs copied out of Speccy:
pre:
Operating System
	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
	Intel Core i5 6600K @ 3.50GHz	37 �C
	Skylake 14nm Technology
RAM
	16.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1333MHz (15-15-15-35)
Motherboard
	Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. Z170MX-Gaming 5 (U3E1)	37 �C
Graphics
	Dell AW3418DWX (3440x1440@120Hz)
	3071MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (ASUStek Computer Inc)	53 �C
Storage
	1907GB Micron_1100_MTFDDAK2T0TBN (SATA (SSD))	45 �C
	223GB Corsair Force GT (SATA (SSD))	40 �C
Optical Drives
	No optical disk drives detected
Audio
	Realtek High Definition Audio

Things have changed since Skylake, but mainly in the number of cores you can get and how many cores new AAA titles demand (they suddenly started benefiting from more than 4 cores in the last year or so). Still, getting below 60Hz on a 1080Ti and a 6600K sounds suspiciously low, but I don't have any experience with The Division 2.

Personally I'd be feeling kinda eh about upgrading such a recent CPU and at least wait until Zen 2 arrives sometime this summer, but if you really want to play the game and it really is CPU-bottlenecked then welp, you might as well buy now.

ethanol posted:

I doubt anything you buy today is gonna drive a Ubisoft 2019 title at 4k 120 hz

1440p 21:9 ultrawide isn't nearly as demanding as 4K (5 million pixels/frame vs. 8.3 million pixels/frame). Also, it's a G-sync monitor, he doesn't need anywhere near a stable 120Hz.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 19:28

ethanol: Jul 13, 2007

Whoops I misread that as 4k

# ? Mar 17, 2019 19:29

orange juche: Mar 14, 2012

ethanol posted:

I doubt anything you buy today is gonna drive a Ubisoft 2019 title at 4k 120 hz

3440x1440 is a lot less than 4k. Less of a difference than 1080p to 4k, but its still several million pixels.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 19:31

Arivia: Mar 17, 2011

Ciaphas posted:

Trying to drive a 3440x1440@120hz monitor for Division 2 isn't really making it even to 60FPS most of the time on any quality above medium. Am I likely by about now to get good bang for my buck on a CPU/mobo/ram uptick if I were to go to Fry's Electronics today, or have things not changed enough yet since Skylake? (That used to be a daft question. Not so sure nowadays.)

Current specs copied out of Speccy:
pre:
Operating System
	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
	Intel Core i5 6600K @ 3.50GHz	37 �C
	Skylake 14nm Technology
RAM
	16.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1333MHz (15-15-15-35)
Motherboard
	Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. Z170MX-Gaming 5 (U3E1)	37 �C
Graphics
	Dell AW3418DWX (3440x1440@120Hz)
	3071MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (ASUStek Computer Inc)	53 �C
Storage
	1907GB Micron_1100_MTFDDAK2T0TBN (SATA (SSD))	45 �C
	223GB Corsair Force GT (SATA (SSD))	40 �C
Optical Drives
	No optical disk drives detected
Audio
	Realtek High Definition Audio

That memory speed is suspiciously low. I�m guessing you maybe have DDR3, but did you maybe forget to turn on XMP or something?

# ? Mar 17, 2019 19:33

TheFluff: Dec 13, 2006; FRIENDS, LISTEN TO ME
I AM A SEAGULL
OF WEALTH AND TASTE

Arivia posted:

That memory speed is suspiciously low. I�m guessing you maybe have DDR3, but did you maybe forget to turn on XMP or something?

Pretty sure Z170 doesn't support DDR3 at all. What you're seeing reported there is just the single channel data rate, but it also says dual channel, which means double data rate, so what he's got is DDR4-2666, which is perfectly fine. If you look in e.g. CPU-Z on your own machine you'll see the DRAM frequency being reported the same way there - in my case I have DDR4-3200 so the frequency of each channel is 1600MHz.

TheFluff fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Mar 17, 2019

# ? Mar 17, 2019 19:43

Son of Thunderbeast: Sep 21, 2002

Sup thread, I haven't built a computer since like 99 or 00 or so, and tbh I'm intimidated by all the new and different things :corsair:

. So I'm reading through the OPs, and watching the Tech Report how-to video, and I'm gonna spend the day basically re-learning stuff and wrapping my mind around it to figure out a new PC build. In the meantime, if anyone has recommendations I'm all ears!

What country are you in?: US

What are you using the system for?: Video editing, some light/occasional gaming and probably streaming as well.

What's your budget?: $1000, but I can maybe go to $1500 if there's reason to.
I have monitor/speaker/peripherals so this is just for the computer itself. I've got software licenses etc. taken care of. I have 3 monitors I want to use (mix of HDMI and DVI, though I have adapters and eventually want to go to all HDMI)

If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution?: Not picky for gaming purposes, I just wanna run it at a decent resolution and settings high enough to look pretty. I currently do most of my gaming on Xbox/Switch and think all those games look fantastic (specifically thinking of Doom and BOTW, respectively)

edit: although for video editing purposes I'd want as much graphics capability as reasonably attainable.

Son of Thunderbeast fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Mar 17, 2019

# ? Mar 17, 2019 19:44

Stickman: Feb 1, 2004

orange juche posted:

3440x1440 is a lot less than 4k. Less of a difference than 1080p to 4k, but its still several million pixels.

Yeah, UW is ~30% more pixels, so it's about a ~25% performance hit over non-UW. 1440p -> 4k is 125% more pixels, so something like a 55% performance hit (for comparison, 1080->1440 is only 75% more pixels / 45% performance hit).

# ? Mar 17, 2019 19:44

Stickman: Feb 1, 2004

TheFluff posted:

Pretty sure Z170 doesn't support DDR3 at all. What you're seeing reported there is just the single channel data rate, but it also says dual channel, which means double data rate, so what he's got is DDR4-2666, which is perfectly fine.

Weirdly, there are a couple of DDR3 Z170 motherboards, but the Gaming 5 mATX isn't one of them!

Ciaphas posted:

Trying to drive a 3440x1440@120hz monitor for Division 2 isn't really making it even to 60FPS most of the time on any quality above medium. Am I likely by about now to get good bang for my buck on a CPU/mobo/ram uptick if I were to go to Fry's Electronics today, or have things not changed enough yet since Skylake? (That used to be a daft question. Not so sure nowadays.)

Current specs copied out of Speccy:

This does sound like weirdly poor performance, though. Is your 6600K overclocked? People with overclocked 2500ks have been reporting better framerates than that, so it's weird that the 6600k would be falling down that hard. You might also want to check out Hardware Unboxed's Division 2 performance guide for more details on what to tweak!

Stickman fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Mar 17, 2019

# ? Mar 17, 2019 19:47

orange juche: Mar 14, 2012

Stickman posted:

Weirdly, there are a couple of DDR3 Z170 motherboards, but the Gaming 5 mATX isn't one of them!

This does sound like weirdly poor performance, though. Is your 6600K overclocked? People with overclocked 2500ks have been reporting better framerates than that, so it's weird that the 6600k would be falling down that hard. You might also want to check out Hardware Unboxed's Division 2 performance guide for more details on what to tweak!

Could just be a nasty as gently caress heatsink. That thermal paste is 4 years old.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 20:09

Khorne: May 1, 2002

Crotch Fruit posted:

Yeah I am reconsidering right now, but I already paid for the CPU. I think I got an OK deal, I don't wish to disclose the amount because I don't care to see the resulting goon rage of "ur gay buy Intel" after I have already bought the processor. If I cant get out of the deal, I still kinda want the CPU for the sheer novelty of it, I still think I got an OK deal (I know I can't convince anyone here of that), and paying for a cooler will be just me trying to cut my losses.

AMD Ryzen 1600 is $50 at microcenter right now. If you're going to buy a cheap AMD CPU that is the one to get.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 20:20

Stickman: Feb 1, 2004

Son of Thunderbeast posted:

Sup thread, I haven't built a computer since like 99 or 00 or so, and tbh I'm intimidated by all the new and different things . So I'm reading through the OPs, and watching the Tech Report how-to video, and I'm gonna spend the day basically re-learning stuff and wrapping my mind around it to figure out a new PC build. In the meantime, if anyone has recommendations I'm all ears!

What country are you in?: US

What are you using the system for?: Video editing, some light/occasional gaming and probably streaming as well.

What's your budget?: $1000, but I can maybe go to $1500 if there's reason to.
I have monitor/speaker/peripherals so this is just for the computer itself. I've got software licenses etc. taken care of. I have 3 monitors I want to use (mix of HDMI and DVI, though I have adapters and eventually want to go to all HDMI)

If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution?: Not picky for gaming purposes, I just wanna run it at a decent resolution and settings high enough to look pretty. I currently do most of my gaming on Xbox/Switch and think all those games look fantastic (specifically thinking of Doom and BOTW, respectively)

edit: although for video editing purposes I'd want as much graphics capability as reasonably attainable.

Puget Systems is the go-to site for for productivity benchmarks/hardware recommendations. If you're using Premiere Pro, the 2700X or 9700k perform similarly and are a big step up from i5s or a 2600X, but the 2700X is much cheaper to build. The 9900k is a bit of step up from there, but will run about $400 more expensive than a 2700X build. On the GPU side, anything NVidia 1060+ will perform similarly on 4K live editing, but the 1060 starts to lag a bit in certain settings (like Red with heavy effects), and falls behind at 6k.

With that in mind, my baseline recommendation would be:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($288.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: HP - EX920 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB OC Video Card ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design - Define C ATX Mid Tower Case ($96.87 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.99 @ Newegg Business)
Total: $1025.82

A 1660 Ti should perform similarly to a 1070, but unfortunately Pudget hasn't benchmarked the newest NVidia generation. On the gaming side, it'll run all but the most intensive new games (i.e. AC:Odyssey) at 1080p/60Hz/ultra settings, and you those few games will be rock-solid with just a few settings tweaks. Upgrading to a 2060 would max all current games at 1080p/60Hz/Ultra + raytracing support. Since you're just doing light gaming, either card probably also be sufficient for 1440p with a few settings turned down, but a 2070 would give you close to solid 60fps at 1440p/ultra.

If you're not upgrading right away, I'd consider spending $25 extra for the MSi Gaming Pro Carbon AC. It has some nice upgrades like slightly better power management, an addition M.2 slot, slightly better on-board audio, and integrated wifi/bluetooth, but it's currently back-ordered. B450/X470 boards will also be compatible with the next two AMD CPU generations, so there will be plenty of in-place upgrade capacity. The newest CPUs are likely coming this summer, so if you're not building right away it might be worth waiting to see how they turn out.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 20:33

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Crotch Fruit posted:

Yeah I am reconsidering right now,

Thank goodness.

quote:

but I already paid for the CPU. I think I got an OK deal, I don't wish to disclose the amount because I don't care to see the resulting goon rage of "ur gay buy Intel" after I have already bought the processor. If I cant get out of the deal, I still kinda want the CPU for the sheer novelty of it, I still think I got an OK deal (I know I can't convince anyone here of that), and paying for a cooler will be just me trying to cut my losses.

You don't want to be the goon in the well.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/dictionary.php?act=3&topicid=2573

# ? Mar 17, 2019 20:40

Stickman: Feb 1, 2004

Zokari posted:

So I'm planning to build a gaming PC for the first time and I basically just want to make sure I'm not loving anything up:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($184.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($93.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks - Eclipse P300 Tempered Glass (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - G 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $978.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-17 07:36 EDT-0400

The current price is about the upper limit of my budget, are any of these parts bad choices?

Looks good! Just a couple of tweaks:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($184.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($90.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks - Eclipse P300 Tempered Glass (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1000.70

Motherboard: The Pro4 has pretty marginal power management - it's fine for a non-overclocked 2600, but a 2600X going to stress it a bit if you turn on the auto-overclocking, which you should (Precision Boost Overdrive). The Tomahawk has top-notch power management!

Memory: The Aegis is QVL for Ryzen boards. While it's unlikely to be an issue since most 3000 RAM will at least run at 3000 (well 2933), it's only $5 for the peace of mind.

Storage: The Tomahawk only has one M.2 slot, so I switch your Blue to 2.5". Since it's a sata SSD, performance will be the same either way and it clears the slot for a future NVMe upgrade. It's not a big deal since 2.5" enclosures for SATA m.2 drives are only $10, but it might save some hassle down the road!

Power Supply: Modular supplies are nicer to work with than semi-modular, you get a 10-year vs 5-year warranty, AND it's cheaper (after rebate).

# ? Mar 17, 2019 20:42

Ciaphas: Nov 20, 2005; > BEWARE, COWARD

Stickman posted:

Weirdly, there are a couple of DDR3 Z170 motherboards, but the Gaming 5 mATX isn't one of them!

This does sound like weirdly poor performance, though. Is your 6600K overclocked? People with overclocked 2500ks have been reporting better framerates than that, so it's weird that the 6600k would be falling down that hard. You might also want to check out Hardware Unboxed's Division 2 performance guide for more details on what to tweak!

Thanks for the tweak guide, I'll spend some time loving around. It's not constantly below 60, it's totally playable, it's just inconsistent, so GSync isn't really helping. I'll have to spin up RivaTuner or whatever statistics program people use nowadays, see for sure if I'm blocked on CPU

As for the overclock, it's capped out at 4.2ghz, any higher and i have to muck around too much. Not even gonna bother next time :effort:

Ciaphas fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Mar 17, 2019

# ? Mar 17, 2019 20:51

Llamadeus: Dec 20, 2005

Ciaphas posted:

As for the overclock, it's capped out at 4.2ghz, any higher and i have to muck around too much. Not even gonna bother next time

That seems a bit conservative (unless cooling is the limiting factor), according to Silicon Lottery 100% of their Skylake chips can do 4.5 GHz at 1.376V (and most can probably do it with slightly less voltage than that): https://siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics

Not that an extra 0.3-0.4 GHz will make a huge difference.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 21:07

Son of Thunderbeast: Sep 21, 2002

Stickman posted:

Puget Systems is the go-to site for for productivity benchmarks/hardware recommendations. If you're using Premiere Pro, the 2700X or 9700k perform similarly and are a big step up from i5s or a 2600X, but the 2700X is much cheaper to build. The 9900k is a bit of step up from there, but will run about $400 more expensive than a 2700X build. On the GPU side, anything NVidia 1060+ will perform similarly on 4K live editing, but the 1060 starts to lag a bit in certain settings (like Red with heavy effects), and falls behind at 6k.

With that in mind, my baseline recommendation would be:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($288.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: HP - EX920 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB OC Video Card ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design - Define C ATX Mid Tower Case ($96.87 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.99 @ Newegg Business)
Total: $1025.82

A 1660 Ti should perform similarly to a 1070, but unfortunately Pudget hasn't benchmarked the newest NVidia generation. On the gaming side, it'll run all but the most intensive new games (i.e. AC:Odyssey) at 1080p/60Hz/ultra settings, and you those few games will be rock-solid with just a few settings tweaks. Upgrading to a 2060 would max all current games at 1080p/60Hz/Ultra + raytracing support. Since you're just doing light gaming, either card probably also be sufficient for 1440p with a few settings turned down, but a 2070 would give you close to solid 60fps at 1440p/ultra.

If you're not upgrading right away, I'd consider spending $25 extra for the MSi Gaming Pro Carbon AC. It has some nice upgrades like slightly better power management, an addition M.2 slot, slightly better on-board audio, and integrated wifi/bluetooth, but it's currently back-ordered. B450/X470 boards will also be compatible with the next two AMD CPU generations, so there will be plenty of in-place upgrade capacity. The newest CPUs are likely coming this summer, so if you're not building right away it might be worth waiting to see how they turn out.

that's thorough and everything I could want! Thanks a ton for this. I'll look into the 10 series some more but this looks like exactly what I need.

# ? Mar 17, 2019 21:24

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 8, 2024 13:46

90s Solo Cup: Feb 22, 2011; To understand the cup
He must become the cup

E2M2 posted:

I just got essentially a complete computer free:

3770k, 16gb ram, Asrock Z77 Extreme 4, GTX 660 TI, and a modular CM 600w PSU. Thing is none of the modular power supply stuff was included. Is there an easy way to replace all the cables?

I'd rather replace the entire PSU than try to find cables for it. It's just easier and safer that way.

Spend the $100 on a decent PSU (Seasonic Focus Gold or Corsair RMx) and you'll have better peace of mind.

Crotch Fruit posted:

Yeah I am reconsidering right now, but I already paid for the CPU. I think I got an OK deal, I don't wish to disclose the amount because I don't care to see the resulting goon rage of "ur gay buy Intel" after I have already bought the processor. If I cant get out of the deal, I still kinda want the CPU for the sheer novelty of it, I still think I got an OK deal (I know I can't convince anyone here of that), and paying for a cooler will be just me trying to cut my losses.

Best of luck to you. I remember the hype about Bulldozer, the subsequent letdown and how I memory-holed that entire era of AMD product and nearly AMD itself until Ryzen released.

90s Solo Cup fucked around with this message at 23:45 on Mar 17, 2019

# ? Mar 17, 2019 23:42

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > PC Building/Upgrading/Parts-picking Megathread Reloaded

«‹›816 »