The PC Builders Thread ("I Need a New PC") v2

Evolution of Metal · Mar 14, 2020

VorpalNonsense said:
Waiting a year potentially opens up a cheaper/sooner ram upgrade path for me down the road, is my reasoning.

You aren't waiting a year. You are waiting 18 months if all things go smoothly... Don't know how much RAM you need, but it costs $70 to get a decent speed 16GB, which is all you need for gaming. The launch prices of DDR5 will be inflated and premium.

To recap:
• You are delaying your build for 18 months
• 16GB RAM costs $70-80
• Your reasoning is that 6.5 years down the line, you will not have to re-buy RAM for your next-next build

I remember watching a documentary about some hoarder who would rather burrow through trash all-day instead of working, "saving" money on food where the "stupid" people paid money for it.

eddy · Mar 14, 2020

maped said:
I don't think there is going to be any DDR4/5 -compatible hardware, at least in the past it's always been all new CPUs and motherboards when the change comes.

ASRock will usually do some weird cross-over board if at all possible, but you don't want that.

(DDR2/DDR3 example for history buffs)

Vimto · Mar 14, 2020

VorpalNonsense said:
Yep im aware that the price is likely to be sky high next year but if i buy 5 compatible hardware sometime in 2021 and then get 4 a little cheaper since it's on its way out, ill still have the opportunity to upgrade the ram to 5 a couple years down the road without having to replace the mb/cpu with it. While if I buy new hardware now then it'll all have to be replaced to get to 5 since nothing is compatible yet.
Waiting a year potentially opens up a cheaper/sooner ram upgrade path for me down the road, is my reasoning. Though I didn't elaborate on that as much in my prior post. Depends on the price of ddr5 and how my wallet is feeling that month. And how soon they actually manage to get it out the door. Could be longer.

This is a terrible plan.

maped · Mar 14, 2020

eddy said:
ASRock will usually do some weird cross-over board if at all possible, but you don't want that.

(DDR2/DDR3 example for history buffs)

Ah, you can always trust on Asrock to do the weirdest "solution looking for a problem" -motherboards. I had some distant memories of there being talk of boards like these in the ddr2 to 3 transition, but had no idea there was one for ddr4, too. Truly the worst possible solution.

catpurrcat · Mar 14, 2020

febLey said:
Be quiet! No noise, no RGB, just black and white.

Parts: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/febLey/saved/zMx9NG

Ping

Wow!!!! Well done, very clean.

f0rk · Mar 14, 2020

I have an i5 6600k and a 1070 and would like a 2nd monitor. I'm not really bothered by the price, but don't want to overpay for features I'm not going to use. I definitely want 144hz but not sure if 1440p is going to be worth it with my current setup. I'm also a bit confused by what G-Sync is. Is there a consensus pick for 24-27 inch 1080p/144hz?

eddy · Mar 14, 2020

f0rk said:
I have an i5 6600k and a 1070 and would like a 2nd monitor. I'm not really bothered by the price, but don't want to overpay for features I'm not going to use. I definitely want 144hz but not sure if 1440p is going to be worth it with my current setup. I'm also a bit confused by what G-Sync is. Is there a consensus pick for 24-27 inch 1080p/144hz?

1440p is worth it every day of the week. This is something you're going to keep using for at least five years.

I wish 1080p monitors would just go away.

ss_lemonade · Mar 14, 2020

f0rk said:
I have an i5 6600k and a 1070 and would like a 2nd monitor. I'm not really bothered by the price, but don't want to overpay for features I'm not going to use. I definitely want 144hz but not sure if 1440p is going to be worth it with my current setup. I'm also a bit confused by what G-Sync is. Is there a consensus pick for 24-27 inch 1080p/144hz?

It's hard to imagine especially if you've never seen it before. Here's a video I did before with Red Dead 2 to show the advantages of gsync

The counter at the upper left corner is my monitor's refresh rate. You can tell when gsync is engaged when the counter starts changing to match my framerate

Crazymoogle · Mar 14, 2020

VorpalNonsense said:
It's expected to hit the market late 2020 right? Mid 2021 might be the best time for me personally to pull the trigger. Guess I should be patient.

DDR5 is expected to happen with AM5, which is in 2021. Ryzen 4000 will continue to use AM4 sockets and DDR4 memory. Given the timeline of Ryzen 4000, you might not see Ryzen 5000/AM5/DDR5 (strangely in sync) until late 2021. So you're not really waiting 1 year. Closer to 2. DDR5 may premiere a bit earlier if AMD releases a second generation of Zen 3 CPUs during 2021, for example processors with iGPUs or exotic enthusiast models that add more chiplets (They just have to create a DDR5 IO chiplet).

You could wait, but with the entire market reeling a bit and Intel content to play the slow game, it seems very likely that DDR4 holds through 2021. You'll see DDR5 RAM for sale, but at not-friendly prices.

PunchDrunk28 · Mar 14, 2020

Ok, its been awhile since I've posted, but I have my new cpu, mobo and ram ready to install. Plan on doing so Monday. I also found my Windows 7 code that I used back in 2015 when I upgraded it to Windows 10. Will I be able to use the same product key when I build the new pc?

VorpalNonsense · Mar 14, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
DDR5 is expected to happen with AM5, which is in 2021. Ryzen 4000 will continue to use AM4 sockets and DDR4 memory. Given the timeline of Ryzen 4000, you might not see Ryzen 5000/AM5/DDR5 (strangely in sync) until late 2021. So you're not really waiting 1 year. Closer to 2. DDR5 may premiere a bit earlier if AMD releases a second generation of Zen 3 CPUs during 2021, for example processors with iGPUs or exotic enthusiast models that add more chiplets (They just have to create a DDR5 IO chiplet).

You could wait, but with the entire market reeling a bit and Intel content to play the slow game, it seems very likely that DDR4 holds through 2021. You'll see DDR5 RAM for sale, but at not-friendly prices.

I totally blanked on most boards generally not being supportive of older ram formats, you can tell how often I buy ram. I thought crossover boards were more common, but eddy pointed out they kinda suck. Obviously that fucks up that idea. Dumb mistake. But thanks for replying to inform me of more realistic expectations while being kind, which is more than i can say for the asshole who compared "waiting until next year to upgrade" to "stupid trash digging hoarder." Articles online lead me to believe it was coming sooner than that. I'll keep this info in mind! Maybe I'll hop in sooner, I'll give it a think.

Rizific · Mar 14, 2020

f0rk said:
I have an i5 6600k and a 1070 and would like a 2nd monitor. I'm not really bothered by the price, but don't want to overpay for features I'm not going to use. I definitely want 144hz but not sure if 1440p is going to be worth it with my current setup. I'm also a bit confused by what G-Sync is. Is there a consensus pick for 24-27 inch 1080p/144hz?

i ran a 6600k and 1070 on a 1440p 144hz monitor for a while. upgraded the cpu to a 9600k though. the 1070 does fine at 1440p. youll be able to play any of the latest AAA games at 60fps and over provided youre ok with not running games maxed out.

Crazymoogle · Mar 14, 2020

VorpalNonsense said:
I totally blanked on most boards generally not being supportive of older ram formats, you can tell how often I buy ram. I thought crossover boards were more common, but eddy pointed out they kinda suck.

Keep in mind that crossover boards used to be possible because the motherboard (North Bridge) was holding the memory controller. On Ryzen, the CPU itself has the memory controller inside the package, so there's no way to override that AFAIK. I believe Intel also has an integrated controller these days. End result is that the CPU has a much closer relationship to memory for speed reasons, the MB manufacturer has less chips to include, and the only cost is less flexibility for solutions like this. I suspect some of your confusion is the sheer number of pre-March AMD Investors meeting discussion articles out there. The Meeting cleared up a lot of roadmap questions.

There will definitely be X670 motherboards this holiday, but a popular strategy right now is to buy cheap (Ryzen 3600) with an X570 board, and then upgrade the CPU to Ryzen 4000 later. It's not clear yet which boards will get BIOS updates to support these CPUs, but the most recent - X570 - seems the most likely. And since the CPU contains the most important stuff, it's not a huge motherboard problem like it may have been in the past.

VorpalNonsense · Mar 14, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
Keep in mind that crossover boards used to be possible because the motherboard (North Bridge) was holding the memory controller. On Ryzen, the CPU itself has the memory controller inside the package, so there's no way to override that AFAIK. I believe Intel also has an integrated controller these days. End result is that the CPU has a much closer relationship to memory for speed reasons, the MB manufacturer has less chips to include, and the only cost is less flexibility for solutions like this. I suspect some of your confusion is the sheer number of pre-March AMD Investors meeting discussion articles out there. The Meeting cleared up a lot of roadmap questions.

There will definitely be X670 motherboards this holiday, but a popular strategy right now is to buy cheap (Ryzen 3600) with an X570 board, and then upgrade the CPU to Ryzen 4000 later. It's not clear yet which boards will get BIOS updates to support these CPUs, but the most recent - X570 - seems the most likely. And since the CPU contains the most important stuff, it's not a huge motherboard problem like it may have been in the past.

Ah, I see! There's for the tips! I didn't know about those changes with the memory controller. The x570 is definitely appealing, that's one of the ones I've been glancing at lately.

Crazymoogle · Mar 14, 2020

While I work on the PC Builder's Thread v3 - thanks Soda - here's a promised glimpse at my recent build.

Still a little bit of cable slop but (a) it's really hard dealing with all of the RGB and (b) humanity has yet to solve our GPU power crisis. Just looking at this picture makes me want to go and re-route things a bit more...

Ryzen 3600 + Dark Rock Slim
ASUS TUF X570 WiFi
Salvaged EVGA GTX970
2x Trident Z Neo
3x Thermaltake Riing Trio + 2x Cooler Master MF120 Halo
Not Seen: 2TB SX8200 Pro NVMe
Fractal Meshify C

Crazymoogle · Mar 14, 2020

PunchDrunk28 said:
Ok, its been awhile since I've posted, but I have my new cpu, mobo and ram ready to install. Plan on doing so Monday. I also found my Windows 7 code that I used back in 2015 when I upgraded it to Windows 10. Will I be able to use the same product key when I build the new pc?

Check if the Windows 10 key is bound to your account. Type "activation" in the search field to get a Control Panel window. It should show your current edition of Windows 10, and if it's bound to your account. If it is, great! If it's not, you'll lose it.

That being said, if it doesn't carry over, you won't be prevented from using Windows 10 on your new PC. You'll just have to deal with the watermark and then the annoying notifications after 30 days. So you're free to use Microsoft's tool and make a bootable USB stick now.

m_shortpants · Mar 14, 2020

Infinite Justice said:
Nice 👍

Once again trying to get me on the RGB train...

Thank you! This was the first time I've ever done any RGB or used an AIO cooler , so it took me forever to figure out how to daisy chain everything together lol.

Also I completely missed one of the connections on my watercooler which took me a while to troubleshoot. Fun experience though! Love the way it turned out.

Playing Forza Horizon maxed out at 4k and 75Hz is amazing. Looks mind boggling. Need to connect this to my LGC8.

catpurrcat · Mar 14, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
While I work on the PC Builder's Thread v3 - thanks Soda - here's a promised glimpse at my recent build.

Still a little bit of cable slop but (a) it's really hard dealing with all of the RGB and (b) humanity has yet to solve our GPU power crisis. Just looking at this picture makes me want to go and re-route things a bit more...

Ryzen 3600 + Dark Rock Slim

ASUS TUF X570 WiFi

Salvaged EVGA GTX970

2x Trident Z Neo

3x Thermaltake Riing Trio + 2x Cooler Master MF120 Halo

Not Seen: 2TB SX8200 Pro NVMe

Fractal Meshify C

That's really nice! And thanks for taking point on the OT thread.

VorpalNonsense this build is actually a really good template to follow. Just swap the 970 with a 5700XT or 2060 Super and you have a really strong value build that will last you many years, with an upgrade path.

yellow wallpaper · Mar 14, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
While I work on the PC Builder's Thread v3 - thanks Soda - here's a promised glimpse at my recent build.

Still a little bit of cable slop but (a) it's really hard dealing with all of the RGB and (b) humanity has yet to solve our GPU power crisis. Just looking at this picture makes me want to go and re-route things a bit more...

Ryzen 3600 + Dark Rock Slim

ASUS TUF X570 WiFi

Salvaged EVGA GTX970

2x Trident Z Neo

3x Thermaltake Riing Trio + 2x Cooler Master MF120 Halo

Not Seen: 2TB SX8200 Pro NVMe

Fractal Meshify C

if you're running hot.. take out the soft filter in front of the case. I have and hate this case. build looks pretty, minus those dongleberry gpu cables.

here's my turd lookin pretty. downgraded from a 2080ti to a 1080. upgraded a 97k to a 9900k.

Crazymoogle · Mar 14, 2020

yellow wallpaper said:
if you're running hot.. take out the soft filter in front of the case. I have and hate this case. build looks pretty, minus those dongleberry gpu cables.

Oh, I'm not running hot. It's (a) I live in a hot country (+30c) and I have a child that is obsessed with RGB. I agree the GPU is bad but no solving it really until RTX 3000 and then maybe that ridiculous EVGA power bracket 😆 On the plus side here with ceiling fans or aircon always running, the build itself is basically silent - even with 5 fans - I've never heard it rise above the background noise level.

For those who care, it's 3x140mm in, 2x120mm out. And I guess the BeQuiet Silent Wings 3 120mm on the Heatsink. I got a deal on the Riing Trio so I can't honestly recommend them at MSRP for most people. The CM MF120 Halo was a lot cheaper and about 80% of the lighting level...and it can daisy chain the RGB. CM even sells a magnetic 6 port controller if you have a lot of 3pin RGB devices.

Soda · Mar 14, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
While I work on the PC Builder's Thread v3 - thanks Soda - here's a promised glimpse at my recent build.

Still a little bit of cable slop but (a) it's really hard dealing with all of the RGB and (b) humanity has yet to solve our GPU power crisis. Just looking at this picture makes me want to go and re-route things a bit more...

Ryzen 3600 + Dark Rock Slim

ASUS TUF X570 WiFi

Salvaged EVGA GTX970

2x Trident Z Neo

3x Thermaltake Riing Trio + 2x Cooler Master MF120 Halo

Not Seen: 2TB SX8200 Pro NVMe

Fractal Meshify C

Can't go wrong with a BQ cooler. Great products. Solid build overall and that's a huge SSD lol.

yellow wallpaper · Mar 14, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
Oh, I'm not running hot. It's (a) I live in a hot country (+30c) and I have a child that is obsessed with RGB. I agree the GPU is bad but no solving it really until RTX 3000 and then maybe that ridiculous EVGA power bracket 😆 On the plus side here with ceiling fans or aircon always running, the build itself is basically silent - even with 5 fans - I've never heard it rise above the background noise level.

For those who care, it's 3x140mm in, 2x120mm out. And I guess the BeQuiet Silent Wings 3 120mm on the Heatsink. I got a deal on the Riing Trio so I can't honestly recommend them at MSRP for most people. The CM MF120 Halo was a lot cheaper and about 80% of the lighting level...and it can daisy chain the RGB. CM even sells a magnetic 6 port controller if you have a lot of 3pin RGB devices.

it really looks good buddy!! Love the rgb and glad your kid does too. IF for some reason you need more airflow, the foam filter pops off with lil work. id like to see it with the glass on, i want to assume you have the smoked glass!

Crazymoogle · Mar 14, 2020

yellow wallpaper said:
it really looks good buddy!! Love the rgb and glad your kid does too. IF for some reason you need more airflow, the foam filter pops off with lil work. id like to see it with the glass on, i want to assume you have the smoked glass!

I do...but of course with my floor it's just impossible to clear the reflection. 😆 Having the RGB is definitely needed to illuminate the case, and I suppose after I replace the video card I will need an RGB strip on the bottom. Here's a quick photo anyway.

yellow wallpaper · Mar 15, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
I do...but of course with my floor it's just impossible to clear the reflection. 😆 Having the RGB is definitely needed to illuminate the case, and I suppose after I replace the video card I will need an RGB strip on the bottom. Here's a quick photo anyway.

looks great! and i know how the tint works so i am picturing it.

Infinite Justice · Mar 15, 2020

febLey said:
Be quiet! No noise, no RGB, just black and white.

Parts: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/febLey/saved/zMx9NG

Ping

Pretty nice but

HOLY SHIT THAT COOLER IS FUCKING HUGE :O

Crazymoogle · Mar 15, 2020

Infinite Justice said:
HOLY SHIT THAT COOLER IS FUCKING HUGE :O

Yeah, the Dark Rock Pro 4 is massive. As are any of the "maximum air cooling" heatsinks. Many of them are so big because they have a fan in the middle, and sometimes a third on the back. Realistically speaking you only want it for the high power enthusiast builds, but if you want the best, this is one of them.

Deleted member 56752 · Mar 15, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
While I work on the PC Builder's Thread v3 - thanks Soda - here's a promised glimpse at my recent build.

Still a little bit of cable slop but (a) it's really hard dealing with all of the RGB and (b) humanity has yet to solve our GPU power crisis. Just looking at this picture makes me want to go and re-route things a bit more...

Ryzen 3600 + Dark Rock Slim

ASUS TUF X570 WiFi

Salvaged EVGA GTX970

2x Trident Z Neo

3x Thermaltake Riing Trio + 2x Cooler Master MF120 Halo

Not Seen: 2TB SX8200 Pro NVMe

Fractal Meshify C

2 TB NVME. Omg I am salivating at the thought

PunchDrunk28 · Mar 15, 2020

Crazymoogle said:
Check if the Windows 10 key is bound to your account. Type "activation" in the search field to get a Control Panel window. It should show your current edition of Windows 10, and if it's bound to your account. If it is, great! If it's not, you'll lose it.

That being said, if it doesn't carry over, you won't be prevented from using Windows 10 on your new PC. You'll just have to deal with the watermark and then the annoying notifications after 30 days. So you're free to use Microsoft's tool and make a bootable USB stick now.

I don't have an account attached to my Windows 10, but I think I can still add one.

Kiyoshi · Mar 15, 2020

PunchDrunk28 said:
I don't have an account attached to my Windows 10, but I think I can still add one.

You can use your Windows 7 key when installing Windows 10.

m_shortpants · Mar 15, 2020

I found that the "silent" profile in NZXT Cam for my X62 Kraken was still rather loud. Ended up tweaking the radiator fans to not kick in until 50 degrees and the CPU runs cooler at idle, go figure. And it's more quiet.

KdotIX · Mar 15, 2020

Pulling together a new build and I got a few questions:

I've gone for the AMD 3700x and I'm wondering if I really need one of those huge air cooling heat sinks, was considering the Noctua NH-D15 chromax, or whether I will be okay sticking on the cpu cooler that comes with the CPU. Main scenario is games running 3440x1440 minimum 60fps.

Secondly, considering the Gigabyte Aorus X570 Master, having used Asus boards all the time, is the Gigabyte any good?

Finally, I'm waiting to splash some cash on the RTX 3000 cards, what can I get in the meantime which is inexpensive but will still be good for running most games? Also any indication of a rough timeline for the new cards?

Crazymoogle · Mar 15, 2020

Hey everyone,

NEW THREAD HERE: EVEN MORE RGB!!!!

Tons of thanks to Soda; honestly I reused a lot of his page format. I will do my best to update the builds soon, but even those I left in because they are still very solid.

Crazymoogle · Mar 15, 2020

Since I may have flubbed the whole thread transfer, let's just reply to something...

KdotIX said:
Pulling together a new build and I got a few questions:

I've gone for the AMD 3700x and I'm wondering if I really need one of those huge air cooling heat sinks, was considering the Noctua NH-D15 chromax, or whether I will be okay sticking on the cpu cooler that comes with the CPU. Main scenario is games running 3440x1440 minimum 60fps.

Secondly, considering the Gigabyte Aorus X570 Master, having used Asus boards all the time, is the Gigabyte any good?

Finally, I'm waiting to splash some cash on the RTX 3000 cards, what can I get in the meantime which is inexpensive but will still be good for running most games? Also any indication of a rough timeline for the new cards?

You don't need the absolute beast coolers like the Dark Rock 4 Pro, but the DR4 or DR4 Slim are a good idea. Generally you want something with a big heatsink and at least one fan, but something ultra compact like the Wraith cooler. Or go AIO with a 240mm water cooler. At stock though the Wraith will work. It just may be hotter/noisier than you want.

AORUS is a good brand for X570. The Master is...expensive...but they have a bunch of good models.

RTX 3000 is considered to be happening very, very soon. Just a question of April or May. I'd consider either bringing over an old card or going with the 1660 series if you absolutely need something today. 1660 Super will do just fine for games like Overwatch, though you'd have to sell it after moving up.

The PC Builders Thread ("I Need a New PC") v2

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