The PC Builders Thread ("I Need a New PC") v3

[Crazymoogle]

my pc case has a vent for my Power supply underneath but it doesn't fit as snugly as it does with the fan facing upwards.

Click to shrink...

If you have good cooling in the middle of your case (1 or more exhausts and 2 or more intakes) it's can sometimes be a good thing to have it point up and take in air that way. But it's not critical because usually there is a vent on the bottom of the case anyway. Just make sure the fan is pointing at a vent.

Hi everyone! Been a long time since I've built a new PC and honestly, I'm a little out of the loop. My current system (I7 4770k/GTX780) is showing its age and I'm really wanting to play Half Life - Alyx with little to no compromises (and maybe even put the max on Doom?). I also do a lot of Blender/Zbrush/Unity/Photoshop/Substance work. Could I get some comments on this parts list here if you happen to see any glaring issues or see where I could trim a little to be able to afford some decent peripherals or perhaps I'm missing something (case fans? do i need those?) The only downside is I won't have a decent monitor to really push the thing for a while :/ but such is life I guess.

System Builder

pcpartpicker.com

Click to shrink...

No compromises means buying a Valve Index VR headset, honestly...but to consider your parts list

• Would probably go Dark Rock 4 instead of Pro 4, not sure the Ripjaws will fit under the Pro. And I would try to check to make sure the 4 fits vs. the slim, which is also good. Mugen 5 is great but again, check clearance specs!
• Personally I would go NVMe for your boot drive...the HP 512GB is on sale here for like $100 USD so would be interesting to see what sorts of NVME you could find.
• Not a fan of MSI X570 boards, would doublecheck Hardware Unboxed if it's alright. Strongly prefer ASUS TUF X570 (yeah, owners bias)
• Totally fine with a cheaper PSU like Mozendo says. And while I strongly prefer X570, if this is your build, as is, for a few years, then B450 Tomahawk Max is a great choice. If you are planning to go up to Ryzen 4000, then X570 makes sense. Same if you want to invest in PCIe drives later.

Anyway, whatever you choose, as long as you have 32GB Ram, a 2080+ and 3700X, that's totally set for Alyx and VR in general

 

[Rizific]

My only problem right now is the GPU is running hot when maxed out...in both Tekken 7 and Soulcalibur VI, it's topping out at 80° C (most other games I've got on this system are pretty light on the card). Wondering I should've gone for a larger or non-Zotac card.

Click to shrink...

got custom fan curves set up for your gpu? also, whats the fan situation like in your case?

 

[traveler]

Also looking to potentially upgrade for Alyx ^

Current rig is a 970 gtx, intel i5-4690k @3.50 ghz 4 core cpu, 8 gb of ram build from a while back. I have a gen 1 vive I won't be replacing for now, but did get the index controllers to pair with it for Alyx at least.

I understand my gpu is kind of borderline/not in huge need of upgrade outside of Alyx but looks like it'll be a little weak for Alyx itself? There's also the matter of the 3000 series arriving sometime soon-ish, so I'm considering seeing how much I can get out of a new build using my existing gpu, ssd, and power supply, but replacing the rest of the components in a new case and then getting whatever nvidias new card when it hits. Not certain how corona has impacted its arrival time, though, or the pricing of other computer components for the time being.

Is this a reasonable idea? Is building now even advisable due to c virus shortages/is building now BETTER because the shortages haven't hit yet?

What would be a good upper end build to target to use with my old gpu if I did take this approach. I can afford to go fairly top of the line. I am worried about how much sense it makes to replace the cpu too, though, given the advice in the op.

Thanks!

 

[NeoChaos]

got custom fan curves set up for your gpu? also, whats the fan situation like in your case?

Click to shrink...

Haven't set a fan curve on the card yet, will give it a shot. As for fan situation, I have a Corsair ML120 as front intake, but the positioning of the fan has it mostly pointing to the CPU and not the GPU.

 

[Duxxy3]

That new thread smell! Perfect timing too, as I just put together a HTPC build I could use to entertain friends (you know, when it's safe to hang out with other people again). Specs:

AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AF​

Noctua NF-L9a-AM4​

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC​

16 GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3600​

Zotac RTX 2070 Super Mini​

WD Blue 1 TB SATA SSD​

EVGA SuperNova 550 GM​

Silverstone SG13​

My only problem right now is the GPU is running hot when maxed out...in both Tekken 7 and Soulcalibur VI, it's topping out at 80° C (most other games I've got on this system are pretty light on the card). Wondering I should've gone for a larger or non-Zotac card.

For now, some pics:


Test build before I put it in the case.


Finished build.


Running Soulcalibur VI on my 4K set.

Click to shrink...

How do you have your fan and PSU setup? Front fan set to intake or exhaust? PSU fan down or fan up?

edit: Ok, so front is set to intake. Is your PSU set to exhaust the heat then?

 

[TeaberryShark]

My suggestion

System Builder

pcpartpicker.com

1. Changed the CPU Cooler for something that's just as effective while noticeably cheaper - source
2. Changed the Mobo for cheaper cost
3. Went with a Toshiba 2TB drive, these are rebranded HGST 3.5" drives so they're reliable without an insane cost.
4. Went with a cheaper SSD
5. Went with a cheaper, yet still great 750w Gold PSU.

As for case fans, you'll be fine

Click to shrink...

If you have good cooling in the middle of your case (1 or more exhausts and 2 or more intakes) it's can sometimes be a good thing to have it point up and take in air that way. But it's not critical because usually there is a vent on the bottom of the case anyway. Just make sure the fan is pointing at a vent.



No compromises means buying a Valve Index VR headset, honestly...but to consider your parts list

• Would probably go Dark Rock 4 instead of Pro 4, not sure the Ripjaws will fit under the Pro. And I would try to check to make sure the 4 fits vs. the slim, which is also good. Mugen 5 is great but again, check clearance specs!
• Personally I would go NVMe for your boot drive...the HP 512GB is on sale here for like $100 USD so would be interesting to see what sorts of NVME you could find.
• Not a fan of MSI X570 boards, would doublecheck Hardware Unboxed if it's alright. Strongly prefer ASUS TUF X570 (yeah, owners bias)
• Totally fine with a cheaper PSU like Mozendo says. And while I strongly prefer X570, if this is your build, as is, for a few years, then B450 Tomahawk Max is a great choice. If you are planning to go up to Ryzen 4000, then X570 makes sense. Same if you want to invest in PCIe drives later.

Anyway, whatever you choose, as long as you have 32GB Ram, a 2080+ and 3700X, that's totally set for Alyx and VR in general

Click to shrink...

Awesome thanks for the suggestions! I'll check these out.

 

[signal]

Assuming new cards in April, what's an estimate on how much RTX 2060 prices will drop?

 

[Rex_DX]

Awesome new thread!

Big thanks to Soda and Crazymoogle for the OTs and of course to all the other knowledgeable members for their support. These threads have been my go-to for sound advice since way back in the "old country."

Thanks to all involved.

 

[Gevurztraminer]

That new thread smell! Perfect timing too, as I just put together a HTPC build I could use to entertain friends (you know, when it's safe to hang out with other people again). Specs:

AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AF​

Noctua NF-L9a-AM4​

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC​

16 GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3600​

Zotac RTX 2070 Super Mini​

WD Blue 1 TB SATA SSD​

EVGA SuperNova 550 GM​

Silverstone SG13​

My only problem right now is the GPU is running hot when maxed out...in both Tekken 7 and Soulcalibur VI, it's topping out at 80° C (most other games I've got on this system are pretty light on the card). Wondering I should've gone for a larger or non-Zotac card.

For now, some pics:

Click to shrink...

Nice build there. I'm planning out a build in the sg13 case as well, just waiting on my motherboard to come. What is your fan setup? I've been thinking about modding the case to move the PSU to the front so larger cpu coolers can fit.

 

[Le Dude]

This is probably the best place to ask. I now have my PC hooked up to my monitor with a display port cable, and hooked up to my TV through an HDMI cable that runs through the ceiling all the way across the room. I haven't had the chance to play around much, but is there a good way to manage it so I can get a 1440p 144hz image in my monitor and switch to a 4K 60fps image when I want to use my TV?

 

[chaobreaker]

I'm looking into replacing my 8 year old PC build but I don't see the point if I don't build a PC that's VR, 4K, and raytracing ready. Are these all still prohibitively expensive? I don't want to end up investing in a $2000 GPU. At worst I just want to build a PC that can easily upgrade down the line.

 

[NeoChaos]

Update on my RTX 2070: I quickly enabled of a custom fan curve in MSI Afterburner and got GPU temps down to 72° C in T7 and SCVI. However, the fan noise is very noticable; not unbearable and kinda gets drowned out by the TV, but it's very much there, so I'll tinker with the curve a bit to find a good middle ground.

How do you have your fan and PSU setup? Front fan set to intake or exhaust? PSU fan down or fan up?

edit: Ok, so front is set to intake. Is your PSU set to exhaust the heat then?

Click to shrink...

Right now the PSU fan is pointed at the top of the case. However it's an SFX PSU and the ATX adapter it came with has kinda sitting in the middle of that area, so the fan is pulling in air from inside the case as well. I'll give swapping the PSU direction a try anyway.

 

[Crazymoogle]

I'm looking into replacing my 8 year old PC build but I don't see the point if I don't build a PC that's VR, 4K, and raytracing ready. Are these all still prohibitively expensive? I don't want to end up investing in a $2000 GPU. At worst I just want to build a PC that can easily upgrade down the line.

Click to shrink...

Expensive? Yes. I mean, if you want 4K, that's one thing. High framerate VR? another. Raytracing? Welcome to the big dollars. At the very least you should wait and see how the Nvidia RTX 3000 lineup turns out soon.

 

[signal]

Anyone know if a Arctic Freezer 34 eSports would be worth upgrading to over the stock 2600x Wraith Spire?

 

[パンダさん]

Looks like the 3700x was a good purchase.
The Series X has 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz (3.6GHz with SMT).

Inside Xbox Series X: the full specs

This is it. After months of teaser trailers, blog posts and even the occasional leak, we can finally reveal firm, hard …

www.eurogamer.net

 

[Dick Whitman]

I will edit and say, you're right. The framerate is surprisingly good on those cards. I disagree that hitting 60 or below is "strong", but it does get close, so if that's all you need, alright. Maybe set it to "high" instead and try to pump it a bit further. Still, I would again prefer a 2080 or 3000 simply because with so little headroom, it seems unlikely that Cyberpunk or future games will perform to that same level. If W3 can't hit 60...

If Dick Whitman did go with this config, I must say I would probably advise an RTX 2070 Super and pairing it with a G-Sync display. If your framerate is going to rough it from 20-70fps all of the time, it would help a lot to have the refresh and framerate synced. Freesync monitors can do it too, but usually they are limited to activation around 45-48hz instead of the 30hz of G-Sync, so this is one of those times where it would help. If playing by TV, however, disregard, as that won't be possible without a TV supporting VRR (HDMI 2.1) and a card supporting HDMI 2.1. (Or you have the very rare GSync TVs with that stuff)

Click to shrink...

Is it possible to lock frame rates? Honestly, I would be fine with 30 fps since that's all I've ever really known having played on consoles pretty much exclusively for the past number of years. The reason why I like the idea of a card that is 4K 60 fps capable beyond the obvious benefit of having the option to run select titles at higher frames is because it provides added headroom like you said for upcoming titles and ensuring that at a minimum they can run at 4K 30 fps. The monitor I have now (LG's 27ud88w) only supports freesync.

 

[traveler]

I guess this means waiting for ampere is likely going to involve a longer wait than expected?

GTC News Can Wait | NVIDIA Blog

We have exciting products and news to share with you. But this isn’t the right time. We’re going to hold off on sharing our GTC news for now. That way, our employees, partners, the media and analysts who follow us, and our customers around the world can focus on staying safe and reducing the...

blogs.nvidia.com

 

[Ramathevoice]

Didn't think I'd be here so soon, but I'm suddenly running into a really frustrating issue:

After working fine for almost a year (and with 2 different TVs), my PC is suddenly outputting a black screen to my TV. I was literally playing Ori on my TV yesterday, and now when I try to switch display to the TV it's just black. TV is still recognized correctly in NVCP (GTX 1080, latest drivers, TV is an LG C9 and other sources work fine), tried unplugging the HDMI cable, rebooting, etc. Nothing. Only thing I've changed since yesterday is plugging in a webcam and installing Microsoft Teams to telework.

Anyone have experience with something like that? Maybe I should try rolling back the drivers... Dear lord I hope my HDMI cable hasn't crapped out, no telling when I can get a new one that's long enough with the whole COVID thing :(

E: unplugged webcam, no dice. PC still recognizes TV as an audio device, but no sound is output to the TV. TV knows there is a signal, and even switches to HDR mode, but still shows a black screen.

E: I guess it was a handshake issue. Plugged in my laptop with the same cable and it worked fine, switched back to my desktop and it's all good now :)

 

[Infinite Justice]

Welp i created a RGB version of a PC i'm looking to build soon.

Will see which version of this new PC that i eventually go with.

 

[ABeezy1388]

I am still having mouse and keyboard issues. It makes no sense... for anyone that was quoting me in the V2 thread or saw my posts....

I have a basic Logitech wireless mouse (dongle) and a Microsoft wireless keyboard (dongle) and they both get real shitty pretty frequently. Mouse starts lagging or just stops being responsive for 10-30 seconds, works again for a few repeat. The keyboard then also gets laggy and doesn't register all my key strokes then either catches up or just misspells what I am typing... they do NOT happen in sequence with each other. The mouse has worked flawlessly on 5-6 different machines and the keyboard also on a couple.

Few people suggested interference but I literally use this same mouse EVERYDAY on my work laptop and never have an issue. I just built my new SFF ITX build, not sure if the interference is strictly with that... or what? I have the most up to date drivers for both the mouse and keyboard. This is realllllly starting to bug me though. Anyone have any ideas?

I did plug in a wired USB mouse and keyboard, with the limited time using them (i couch game/pc/internet surf so its hard to do with wired) they did seem to work fine. Should I bite the bullet and get a bluetooth mouse and keyboard? I have several bluetooth 8bitdo controllers and an Xbox controller for gaming, all of those work without a hitch... so i really am at a loss what to do here...

Also sucks... all the mouse and keyboard options I seem to like are all wireless with dongles not bluetooth...

 

[Mar Tuuk]

Help! I'm building my pc and trying to get the screw off the m.2 cover for the motherboard and it stripped. What are my options?

 

[Wraith]

This might be a pricing mistake, I don't know, but giving it a shot. $115 for a 2TB SATA SSD.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sandis...ata-solid-state-drive/5969504.p?skuId=5969504

FWIW, the Sandisk Ultras are good SATA drives. Has been $220 lately, was $200 last year, with a dip below that during black friday.

EDIT - Price is back at $220.

 

[catpurrcat]

Looks like the 3700x was a good purchase.
The Series X has 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz (3.6GHz with SMT).

Inside Xbox Series X: the full specs

This is it. After months of teaser trailers, blog posts and even the occasional leak, we can finally reveal firm, hard …

www.eurogamer.net

Click to shrink...

That Series X - if the real world performance actually matches a PC - is a beast. And some of the discussion from this pragmatic thread came true as you pointed out. The 8c/16t at different clock speed (expected being a SoC), the GPU that is effectively a 2080 (or 2070S) but am I right to say no dedicated GPU vram? It's 16GB across the entire console? If so then real world perhaps closer to what some of us thought initially, like a 5700/5700 XT but certainly optimized to the max being a console so certainly will punch above its specs weight.

Will be shocked if it's coming at $499.

 

[Chrome Hyena]

So I'm looking to build a gaming PC for my kid, (she 16) this what i have:

• 
  Acer KA270HK bmjdppx UM.HX0AA.005 27" UHD 3840 x 2160 (4K) 4ms (GTG) 60 Hz DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort Monitor
  • $249.99
• 
  
  
  
• 
  Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow CC-9011173-WW Black Steel / Plastic / Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
  • $95.99

• 
  Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G
  • $6.99
• 
  
  
  
  
• 
  Windows 10 Home - 64-bit - OEM
  • $109.99
• 
  
  
  
• 
  WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD40EFRX
  • $115.99
• 
  
  
  
• 
  G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16D-16GVRB
  • $74.99
• 
  
  
  
  
• 
  ASRock X570 STEEL LEGEND WIFI AX AM4 AMD X570 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard
  • $169.99
• 
  
  
  
• 
  AMD RYZEN 5 3600 6-Core 3.6 GHz (4.2 GHz Max Boost) Socket AM4 65W 100-100000031BOX Desktop Processor
  • $174.99
• AMD RYZEN 5 3600 6-Core 3.6 GHz (4.2 GHz Max Boost) Socket AM4 65W 100-100000031BOX Desktop Processor
  gift offer
  1× AMD Xbox Game Pass Gift

Order Summary

• 9 Item(s)
  $998.92
• Tax help
• • Change
    None
• So opinions? She wants to play new games, with eyes on VR for Half Life Alyx. But that may wait, just wanted to run modern games on high settings. I want to add a 2070 to it as well.

 

[dallow_bg]

New thread so thought I'd share again with specs this time

Built Jan 2020

• Case - DAN Case A4-SFX v4.1 (silver)
• Mobo - Asus ROG Strix Z370-I mini-ITX (gifted to me)
• CPU - Intel i7-9700K (undervolted)
• GPU - ASUS Radeon RX 570 (just a stopgap till 30xx series)
• RAM - 16GB (8GB x2) AData DDR4 3000 something (gifted to me)
• SSD - 2TB (1TB x2) Silicon Power A80 M.2 NVME
• PSU - Corsair SF 600 W 80+ Plat
• Cables - PSlate custom non-sleeved cables
• CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9i chromax
• Case Fan - Noctua NF-A9 chromax

Waiting to install:

• GPU - NVIDIA 3080
• (we'll see what happens!)
• Case Fan 2 - Noctua NF-A9x14 (for under mobo)
• RAM - 32GB (16GB x2) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 3200 (white)

This might be a pricing mistake, I don't know, but giving it a shot. $115 for a 2TB SATA SSD.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sandis...ata-solid-state-drive/5969504.p?skuId=5969504

FWIW, the Sandisk Ultras are good SATA drives. Has been $220 lately, was $200 last year, with a dip below that during black friday.

EDIT - Price is back at $220.

Click to shrink...

Dang, nice little deal.

 

[Deleted member 5876]

That Series X - if the real world performance actually matches a PC - is a beast. And some of the discussion from this pragmatic thread came true as you pointed out. The 8c/16t at different clock speed (expected being a SoC), the GPU that is effectively a 2080 (or 2070S) but am I right to say no dedicated GPU vram? It's 16GB across the entire console? If so then real world perhaps closer to what some of us thought initially, like a 5700/5700 XT but certainly optimized to the max being a console so certainly will punch above its specs weight.

Will be shocked if it's coming at $499.

Click to shrink...

2 gigs dedicated for OS.
So it's 14 gigs for the game to use to split across GPU or CPU how the dev sees fit.
This will actually be very good for performing compute workloads.

EDIT:
Can't do math.

 

[catpurrcat]

2 gigs dedicated for OS.
So it's 12 gigs for the game to use to split across GPU or CPU how the dev sees fit.
This will actually be very good for performing compute workloads.

Click to shrink...

Interesting. But for a console focusing on 4K, won't the lack of dedicated vram result in worse textures? I guess not, seeing as how we don't even use the full 8gb vram on PC...what do you think?

 

[catpurrcat]

New thread so thought I'd share again with specs this time

Built Jan 2020

• Case - DAN Case A4-SFX v4.1 (silver)
• Mobo - Asus ROG Strix Z370-I mini-ITX (gifted to me)
• CPU - Intel i7-9700K (undervolted)
• GPU - ASUS Radeon RX 570 (just a stopgap till 30xx series)
• RAM - 16GB (8GB x2) AData DDR4 3000 something (gifted to me)
• SSD - 2TB (1TB x2) Silicon Power A80 M.2 NVME
• PSU - Corsair SF 600 W 80+ Plat
• Cables - PSlate custom non-sleeved cables
• CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L9i chromax
• Case Fan - Noctua NF-A9 chromax

Waiting to install:

• GPU - NVIDIA 3080
• (we'll see what happens!)
• Case Fan 2 - Noctua NF-A9x14 (for under mobo)
• RAM - 32GB (16GB x2) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 3200 (white)

Dang, nice little deal.

Click to shrink...

Beautiful.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

So I'm looking to build a gaming PC for my kid, (she 16) this what i have:

• Acer KA270HK bmjdppx UM.HX0AA.005 27" UHD 3840 x 2160 (4K) 4ms (GTG) 60 Hz DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort Monitor
  • $249.99
• Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow CC-9011173-WW Black Steel / Plastic / Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
  • $95.99
• Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G
  • $6.99
• Windows 10 Home - 64-bit - OEM
  • $109.99
• WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD40EFRX
  • $115.99
• G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16D-16GVRB
  • $74.99
• ASRock X570 STEEL LEGEND WIFI AX AM4 AMD X570 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard
  • $169.99
• AMD RYZEN 5 3600 6-Core 3.6 GHz (4.2 GHz Max Boost) Socket AM4 65W 100-100000031BOX Desktop Processor
  • $174.99
• AMD RYZEN 5 3600 6-Core 3.6 GHz (4.2 GHz Max Boost) Socket AM4 65W 100-100000031BOX Desktop Processor
  gift offer
  1× AMD Xbox Game Pass Gift

Order Summary

• 9 Item(s)
  $998.92
• Tax help
• • Change
    None
• So opinions? She wants to play new games, with eyes on VR for Half Life Alyx. But that may wait, just wanted to run modern games on high settings. I want to add a 2070 to it as well.

Click to shrink...

The main storage for the OS should really be a SSD. It doesn't need to be an nvme, a 1TB SATA like the Crucial MX500 should be about the same price of that 4TB NAS HDD, for gaming you are better having just a 1TB SSD at the start and then add more storage later than starting with a 4TB HDD.

I don't know how good that display is going to be for gaming, but there is at least the similarly priced ASUS VP28UQG that seems more gaming oriented since it has freesync and advertises its response time. But people who know more about monitors should have better suggestions than I do.

You don't need the extra tube of thermal paste, the cooler that comes with the 3600 has pre-applied thermal paste.

The case comes with three RGB fans, which is great for the price, but since they are all intakes I would say it is worth it to add one more modest ~$12 exhaust fan in the back.

 

[Chrome Hyena]

The main storage for the OS should really be a SSD. It doesn't need to be an nvme, a 1TB SATA like the Crucial MX500 should be about the same price of that 4TB NAS HDD, for gaming you are better having just a 1TB SSD at the start and then add more storage later than starting with a 4TB HDD.

I don't know how good that display is going to be for gaming, but there is at least the similarly priced ASUS VP28UQG that seems more gaming oriented since it has freesync and advertises its response time. But people who know more about monitors should have better suggestions than I do.

You don't need the extra tube of thermal paste, the cooler that comes with the 3600 has pre-applied thermal paste.

The case comes with three RGB fans, which is great for the price, but since they are all intakes I would say it is worth it to add one more modest ~$12 exhaust fan in the back.

Click to shrink...

Thanks that is all really helpful! Back in the hayday of comp building (early 2000s), I was always told to get your own paste because it performed better?

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

Thanks that is all really helpful! Back in the hayday of comp building (early 2000s), I was always told to get your own paste because it performed better?

Click to shrink...

For regular use, the difference is going to be very hard to notice, plus the cooler that comes with the 3600 is quite modest so it almost defeats the purpose. There is however the practical reason of just in case you anticipate you may have to reinstall the cooler and need more than thermal paste for one application.

 

[PhantomFFR]

So I'm looking to build a gaming PC for my kid, (she 16) this what i have:

• So opinions? She wants to play new games, with eyes on VR for Half Life Alyx. But that may wait, just wanted to run modern games on high settings. I want to add a 2070 to it as well.

Click to shrink...

As has been said: You really don't want to build a PC without a SSD.
Get either a 2070Super or a 2060Super, unless the 2070 costs the same as the 2060Super.

Perhaps an adaptive high refresh rate screen with 2560*1440 resolution would be a better choice for a gaming PC than a 60 hz UHD screen. Even for productivity I feel that 27" is a bit too small for that resolution to be comfortable.

As long as there is no air between the cooler and the CPU it doesn't matter that much what your thermal compound is made of for non OC. Also these days most thermal compounds coming with coolers is fairly good.

 

[Chrome Hyena]

As has been said: You really don't want to build a PC without a SSD.
Get either a 2070Super or a 2060Super, unless the 2070 costs the same as the 2060Super.

Perhaps an adaptive high refresh rate screen with 2560*1440 resolution would be a better choice for a gaming PC than a 60 hz UHD screen. Even for productivity I feel that 27" is a bit too small for that resolution to be comfortable.

As long as there is no air between the cooler and the CPU it doesn't matter that much what your thermal compound is made of for non OC. Also these days most thermal compounds coming with coolers is fairly good.

Click to shrink...

Cool, thanks to both of you. I will be looking into changing out the monitor and hdd.

 

[TaterTots]

I've owned a 5700 XT since November. I have had 1 issue. My Odyssey Plus headset was seeing double in the cliff house, but not in Steam VR. That has since been resolved and I haven't experienced any other issues. Can someone elaborate what the known issues are that I've been able to avoid this whole time?

Kind of confused why all those Youtube personalities suggested it as the best card at the end of the year if its having so many issues.

 

[I Don't Like]

Help! I'm building my pc and trying to get the screw off the m.2 cover for the motherboard and it stripped. What are my options?

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Tried the rubber band trick?

 

[signal]

Anyone know if a Arctic Freezer 34 eSports would be worth upgrading to over the stock 2600x Wraith Spire?

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Help me nerds!! It's on sale...

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

Help me nerds!! It's on sale...

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I've only seen positive reviews of it. This fella in the video bellow loved it, mind you, he is comparing the model that comes with two fans.

The Best Budget CPU Cooler: 7 Coolers Tested, 1 Winner Chosen

What's the best budget CPU cooler? Let's test them out and see! --- Recommended Coolers --- Best Overall Budget CPU Cooler: http://geni.us/NysSs8t Budget CPU...

youtu.be

 

[Shoichi]

That new thread smell.

I'm waiting to see ampere. My build will then slowly see a complete rebuild

 

[signal]

I've only seen positive reviews of it. This fella in the video bellow loved it, mind you, he is comparing the model that comes with two fans.

The Best Budget CPU Cooler: 7 Coolers Tested, 1 Winner Chosen

What's the best budget CPU cooler? Let's test them out and see! --- Recommended Coolers --- Best Overall Budget CPU Cooler: http://geni.us/NysSs8t Budget CPU...

youtu.be

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Will just glue a second fan to it. EZ.

 

[Crazymoogle]

I've owned a 5700 XT since November. I have had 1 issue. My Odyssey Plus headset was seeing double in the cliff house, but not in Steam VR. That has since been resolved and I haven't experienced any other issues. Can someone elaborate what the known issues are that I've been able to avoid this whole time?

Kind of confused why all those Youtube personalities suggested it as the best card at the end of the year if its having so many issues.

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Hardware Unboxed: Can we still recommend AMD?
Gamers Nexus: RX 5700 XT Review: Thermals, Noise, Gaming, and Broken Drivers
Extremetech article
Hothardware article
wccftech article
PCGamesN article

Could it be amplified? Sure. But when GN talks about the lack of response and action from AMD I pay attention. It could be fixed or at least partially fixed now, but the onus is on AMD to show they've steadied the ship.

 

[NeoChaos]

Update on my RTX 2070: I quickly enabled of a custom fan curve in MSI Afterburner and got GPU temps down to 72° C in T7 and SCVI. However, the fan noise is very noticable; not unbearable and kinda gets drowned out by the TV, but it's very much there, so I'll tinker with the curve a bit to find a good middle ground.


Right now the PSU fan is pointed at the top of the case. However it's an SFX PSU and the ATX adapter it came with has kinda sitting in the middle of that area, so the fan is pulling in air from inside the case as well. I'll give swapping the PSU direction a try anyway.

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Follow up: after consulting with OptimumTech's excellent undervolting guide and a handful of crashes later, I've undervolted the GPU to a point where it maxes out around 70° C in the Namco fighter duo (Tekken peaks around 71, while Soulcalibur doesn't go higher than a nice 69). This is also with the GPU's stock fan curve rather than the noisy Afterburner one and I see no issues with the less GPU-intensive games on the system, so I think I've found my sweet spot in terms of temperature and noise for this system.

 

[tm24]

All this OT making me really want to upgrade this rig

 

[signal]

Maybe this. But in April or whenever new GPUs are out 🤔

 

[Reinhard]

Maybe this. But in April or whenever new GPUs are out 🤔

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Much better off getting a Ryzen 3600 (non X version), it will last you much longer with the improvements the 3000 series made over 2000. Plus with the Ryzen 3000 series, you will be able to run the 3200 memory at 3600 pretty easily with the correct voltages/subtimings.

 

[signal]

Much better off getting a Ryzen 3600 (non X version), it will last you much longer with the improvements the 3000 series made over 2000. Plus with the Ryzen 3000 series, you will be able to run the 3200 memory at 3600 pretty easily with the correct voltages/subtimings.

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But 40€ more 😔 But yeah may as well.

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

But 40€ more 😔 But yeah may as well.

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I have a 3600, it's worth it. It's way more efficient at the same tdp, performing better than the 2000 series in every way.

 

[maped]

I am still having mouse and keyboard issues. It makes no sense... for anyone that was quoting me in the V2 thread or saw my posts....

I have a basic Logitech wireless mouse (dongle) and a Microsoft wireless keyboard (dongle) and they both get real shitty pretty frequently. Mouse starts lagging or just stops being responsive for 10-30 seconds, works again for a few repeat. The keyboard then also gets laggy and doesn't register all my key strokes then either catches up or just misspells what I am typing... they do NOT happen in sequence with each other. The mouse has worked flawlessly on 5-6 different machines and the keyboard also on a couple.

Few people suggested interference but I literally use this same mouse EVERYDAY on my work laptop and never have an issue. I just built my new SFF ITX build, not sure if the interference is strictly with that... or what? I have the most up to date drivers for both the mouse and keyboard. This is realllllly starting to bug me though. Anyone have any ideas?

I did plug in a wired USB mouse and keyboard, with the limited time using them (i couch game/pc/internet surf so its hard to do with wired) they did seem to work fine. Should I bite the bullet and get a bluetooth mouse and keyboard? I have several bluetooth 8bitdo controllers and an Xbox controller for gaming, all of those work without a hitch... so i really am at a loss what to do here...

Also sucks... all the mouse and keyboard options I seem to like are all wireless with dongles not bluetooth...

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Where do you plug your dongles in and what's your distance to them? 2.4GHz wireless devices usually work best at distances under 6f/2m, and when the dongle and device can "see" each other. Especially thick wood like desktop or any kind of metal like a computer case can be extremely detrimental to the signal. If interference is the problem you can try getting a usb hub and a long cord and moving it away from any wifi-equipped device that might be causing the interference. Other options include changing your router to use exclusively 5GHz band and trying if changing the wifi channel might help.

You wouldn't generally want a bluetooth mouse for anything but occasional use, bluetooth still has enough inherent lag in the protocol to be noticeable when mousing.

 

[signal]

I have a 3600, it's worth it. It's way more efficient at the same tdp, performing better than the 2000 series in every way.

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Alright. Maybe some of that will drop in price in a couple of months to compensate anyway lol.

 

[パンダさん]

Maybe this. But in April or whenever new GPUs are out 🤔

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I'd also recommend going for the 3600.
Follow the prices of the EVGA 2060 KO (and Ultra), I got one for 299 at Alternate (I assume you're from Germany).
Maybe replace the G.Skill Ripjaws with G.Skill Aegis 3200, they are a bit cheaper, but equally good.

 

[Reinhardt Schneider]

Alright. Maybe some of that will drop in price in a couple of months to compensate anyway lol.

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You can make some sacrifices in your build to compensate for the price, imo. You can go for a cheaper monitor (if you're willing to limit yourself to 60Hz) and a non modular psu (You'll have to do some extra cable management though)