-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
The PC Builders Thread ("I Need a New PC") v3
- Thread starter Crazymoogle
- Start date
- PC Tech OT
I prefer TN for gaming for the fast pixel response. I haven't used any of those apparently 1ms gtg IPS panels though, but those are still pretty new and high-end.
I'm looking for some advice with upgrading my PC. I built it back in 2013 and I think the only thing I've upgraded since then is the GPU. I don't really follow PC parts outside of very rarely looking into stuff for my own, and it's been so long since I've done that I'm kind of out of my element here. Essentially looking for the biggest bang for my buck or upgrading the weakest part or two of my build right now. I'm open to any recommendations really; just trying to get some ideas of what I can do and what my biggest areas for improvement are.
pcpartpicker.com
My Custom Build
pcpartpicker.com
Thats a good set up. The only thing I see from that that would need upgrading in the next few years is the 1660 super.Finally got the semi-budget VR build assembled yesterday. Played the very early parts of Half Life: Alyx (Oculus Quest + Link) and so far, so good.
I do have a heatsink from an old build I can use, but just using the stock one for now. Still need to tweak the case fans. (One or both of the Scythe fans has kind of a rattly quality to it, but not sure if it's due to running off a fan splitter. Should check fan headers in the BIOS.) Phanteks PSU is a version of the SeaSonic Focus Plus series.
If I was thinking ahead, I would have left the SATA drive disconnected before installing Windows. Even though the NVMe was first in the boot order, and I chose it for the Windows install, it still put the MBR on the SATA drive. Oh well.
PCPartPicker Part List
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor (Purchased For $110.52)
Motherboard: Asus TUF B450M-PLUS GAMING Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For $64.46)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (Purchased For $59.99)
Storage: HP EX920 256 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For $34.99)
Storage: SanDisk Ultra 3D 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $114.99)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB DUAL EVO OC Video Card (Purchased For $229.99)
Case: Fractal Design Core 2500 ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: Phanteks AMP 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $89.99)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12 redux-1300 PWM 54.32 CFM 120 mm Fan (Purchased For $13.90)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12 redux-1300 PWM 54.32 CFM 120 mm Fan (Purchased For $13.90)
Custom: Silverstone CPF02 11.81" 300mm (100mm/100mm/100mm) Black Sleeved (Purchased For $5.99)
Custom: Silverstone CPF02 11.81" 300mm (100mm/100mm/100mm) Black Sleeved (Purchased For $5.99)
Custom: Scythe GlideStream 120mm PWM SC Case Fan SY1225HB12MS-RKP (Purchased For $0.00)
Custom: Scythe GlideStream 120mm PWM SC Case Fan SY1225HB12MS-RKP (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $744.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-24 11:58 EDT-0400
I'm looking for some advice with upgrading my PC. I built it back in 2013 and I think the only thing I've upgraded since then is the GPU. I don't really follow PC parts outside of very rarely looking into stuff for my own, and it's been so long since I've done that I'm kind of out of my element here. Essentially looking for the biggest bang for my buck or upgrading the weakest part or two of my build right now. I'm open to any recommendations really; just trying to get some ideas of what I can do and what my biggest areas for improvement are.
My Custom Build
You are effectively doing a full rebuild.
The processor will bottleneck you to death....4 cores 4 threads from yester-yesteryear....it should already be struggling to play current gen games.
But simple bang for buck upgrades move to an SSD, and get your RAM to 16GB.
Anything else isnt really worth it without getting rid of your bottlenecks.
OP
OP
Basically,
VA: awesome contrast, not great viewing angles
IPS: awesome viewing angles, super bright, not great contrast
TN: super fast, poor contrast and brightness, cheap
That being said, I own a 24" TN G-Sync panel and it's totally fine for PS4 games. I just strongly prefer the high brightness and viewing angle of IPS for my daily work and casual usage, so I use a 27" QHD 144hz IPS for most things. TN is of course most popular for pro gaming, cheap panels, and anyone who wants to go above 165hz.
VA: awesome contrast, not great viewing angles
IPS: awesome viewing angles, super bright, not great contrast
TN: super fast, poor contrast and brightness, cheap
That being said, I own a 24" TN G-Sync panel and it's totally fine for PS4 games. I just strongly prefer the high brightness and viewing angle of IPS for my daily work and casual usage, so I use a 27" QHD 144hz IPS for most things. TN is of course most popular for pro gaming, cheap panels, and anyone who wants to go above 165hz.
OP
OP
You can reuse the PSU and GPU in a pinch. The Hyper 212 in theory would work but you probably don't have the brace adaptors for a modern build. The weakest point for now is probably the CPU but you're limited to max 4690K which I'm not sure you can even buy outside of the used market. I guess go for that if you could find one at ~100 dollars. You probably also need to go up to 16GB of RAM, but again, if you change your board the RAM is useless (the market has moved onto DDR4 now)
If upgrading only some parts now it would make sense to get a new Motherboard, RAM, and CPU first and keep the 1060 for the foreseeable future until you are ready to upgrade again.I'm looking for some advice with upgrading my PC. I built it back in 2013 and I think the only thing I've upgraded since then is the GPU. I don't really follow PC parts outside of very rarely looking into stuff for my own, and it's been so long since I've done that I'm kind of out of my element here. Essentially looking for the biggest bang for my buck or upgrading the weakest part or two of my build right now. I'm open to any recommendations really; just trying to get some ideas of what I can do and what my biggest areas for improvement are.
My Custom Build
The bang for the buck cpu+mobo combination depends on how much you are planing to spend, but a some of the common ones people go for are:
a B450 motherboard with a Ryzen 5 3600
a B450 mobo with a Ryzen 7 3700X,
an entry level X570 mobo with a Ryzen 7 3700X
Among the bang for the buck B450 and X570s you'll find.
- MSi B450 Tomahawk Max (~$115), MSI B450-A PRO Max (~$100)
- Asus X570 Prime-P, Asrock x570 Phantom Gaming 4 (~$150)
Oh well. Worst case scenario, I'll just get a 3600. Should be enough for next-gen @1080p60.
True youve got a win win atleast on the CPU side.
You basically just listed a full rebuild.
Chances are you will have to format the HDD and reinstall the OS so it really is just a full rebuild with some spares from the old machine.
Been 7 years since I've done a PC build -- finally talked myself into in a few months ago, UPS finally shipped the motherboard 2 weeks ago. Got everything assembled over the last couple days...
No video output. Not sure why I do this to myself?
Parts of note are:
ASUS ROG Strix B450-I
AMD RYZEN 7 3700X
CORSAIR SF Series SF600
ASUS Turbo GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
The motherboard lights up with all sorts of LEDs when I plug it in. When I power on the machine the GPU lights come on, and the CPU fan spins up periodically. Theoretically the motherboard should beep if it has interesting things to say, but it does not beep
Bad GPU? Bad GPU connection? Bad power supply? Bad motherboard? Bad RAM?
No video output. Not sure why I do this to myself?
Parts of note are:
ASUS ROG Strix B450-I
AMD RYZEN 7 3700X
CORSAIR SF Series SF600
ASUS Turbo GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
The motherboard lights up with all sorts of LEDs when I plug it in. When I power on the machine the GPU lights come on, and the CPU fan spins up periodically. Theoretically the motherboard should beep if it has interesting things to say, but it does not beep
Bad GPU? Bad GPU connection? Bad power supply? Bad motherboard? Bad RAM?
Most common mistakes:
1. Make sure HDMI/DP cable is plugged into the video card, and NOT the motherboard. The motherboard output is if you had an APU (CPU with integrated graphics), not just a regular CPU.
2. Make sure you have the external power cords from the PSU to the GPU. They require the extra power that the PCI-E slot cannot provide by itself.
4. Make sure the RAM is inserted all the way in. Also, try one module at a time and see if that works.
Also for some reason, the first boot up takes a minute or so on AM4 systems. After the first boot, everything works as normal on subsequent boots.
Thanks for the ideas. I think I've checked all of that, with the exception of one RAM module at a time. I'll give that a go.
More information:
the board has an LED status light on boot: the order it goes for me is red (CPU), white (VGA), yellow (RAM), then it goes off (and the fan spins down), then the cycle starts again. e.g. it seems to be stuck in a loop. Supposedly there would be a "yellow-green" for boot, but I obviously cannot confirm this.
I'm not sure how to tell if it's bad RAM (part from hoping one is bad and one isn't), but maybe that's it?
I really underestimate how long it takes me to upgrade my pc. Decided to upgrade my htpc with old parts I had lying around. And some deals i got recently.
Went from
G4400
8gb 2400mhz ddr4
120gb ssd
750gb hard drive
Rx 470
To
Ryzen 1700
8gb 3000mhz ddr4
500gb ssd
4tb hard drive
RX 5700
Also took it completely apart and cleaned out all the dust. Did not realize how much was in there. Now I can finally play shadow of tomb raider without it running like trash.
Went from
G4400
8gb 2400mhz ddr4
120gb ssd
750gb hard drive
Rx 470
To
Ryzen 1700
8gb 3000mhz ddr4
500gb ssd
4tb hard drive
RX 5700
Also took it completely apart and cleaned out all the dust. Did not realize how much was in there. Now I can finally play shadow of tomb raider without it running like trash.
Could be bad RAM, I would test one stick at a time. However, I just remembered something else:
B450 boards were made before the Ryzen 3000 CPUs, so their BIOs need to be updated before you can use the new CPUs.
It's possible your mobo is one of old stock, before they updated all of them... Your mobo doesn't have a BIOs flashback feature from what I can see... You're going to have to either get a boot kit from AMD or use a different CPU first...
Last edited:
Dunno, there is this from your manual. Post pictures of your build.
2. Q LEDs (CPU, DRAM, VGA, BOOT)Q LEDs check key components (CPU, DRAM, VGA card, and booting devices) in sequence during motherboard booting process. If an error is found, the corresponding LED remains lit until the problem is solved. This user-friendly design provides an intuitive way to locate the root problem within seconds.
Whenever this has happened to me, it has been either a boneheaded mistake on my part (plugged into motherboard rather than video card, wrong input select on display, etc.) or a bad RAM module. Re-seating each stick of RAM and trying them one at a time would be my recommendation. If that doesn't work try doing the same with the GPU. Could also plug into mobo directly (with GPU removed) to see if that is the problem part.
This could be it. MSI re-released some b450 motherboards like the tomahawk with "MAX" added to the name meaning they come pre-flashed with Ryzen 3000 support.
Thanks friends.
It was the RAM. Currently at 16GB instead of 32, but I have video now and can start figuring out what else is wrong. :lol
And yeah, the B450 BIOS thing rings a bell -- IIRC the *theory* was that the ones being sold now work nicely with 3000 CPUs, but "YMMV".
Update the BIOs, or at least make sure it's one that's newer than 2301, I believe. Maybe that will also solve your RAM issue.
BIOS is 2901, so that looks good. I'll put this thing through the paces with an ubuntu image, and we'll see if everything else looks good.
It's hard to describe how much of a relief it is to actually get video output from a build.
(this is a sentry build -- I can take some photos if you guys want to see my dubious cable management)
It's hard to describe how much of a relief it is to actually get video output from a build.
(this is a sentry build -- I can take some photos if you guys want to see my dubious cable management)
Thanks for letting me know, I wasn't even considering the amount of fan headers the motherboard would support. Well I'm planning on going with a H510 case, and replace the two default exhaust fans that it comes with, with two Noctua fans. Plus using a Noctua NH-U12S for my CPU cooler, so that would be three fans (four if I add another Noctua fan to the CPU cooler) that I'll end up using with my build. So I should be fine with the Aorus Elite in that respect.
Though I noticed while going through the Aorus Elite manual, that one of the headers is listed as a "Water Cooling CPU Fan Header". If I hooked up one of my case fans to it, would that lead to any kind of issues, like the fan constantly running at full speed? (I know this may seem silly, but I don't like how SYS_FAN2 is near the center of the board, so I thought/hope that the CPU_OPT header will work just the same.)
I did thought about the Aorus Pro, but my main issue with it, is the placement of the chipset fan. It seems it will easily be blocked by the GPU, while the Elite chipset fan placement seems to be right below of the GPU. Am I wrong in that assumption?
If i was looking to upgrade for next gen future proof (next gen gpu 3080ti, next gen cpu (whatever this may be once next gen consoles have been out a year or so) and a next gen SSD)
is the only part safe to get now is the gpu once its out? are there any MOBO and SSD that would future proof for the upcoming later CPUs and SSDs?
is the only part safe to get now is the gpu once its out? are there any MOBO and SSD that would future proof for the upcoming later CPUs and SSDs?
You're sort of locking in to AMD with those requirements based off what we know/can expect, so an X570 board that has been noted it's going to receive Ryzen 4xxx CPUs.
Honestly though, you may as well wait. Unless you pick up a really good deal on a board, by time Ampere is expected to launch we will have new Intel CPUs, New Nvidia/AMD GPUs in touching distance, and new Ryzen CPUs.
OP
OP
- AMD CPUs: It seems likely (but not confirmed) that the AMD X570 will support Ryzen 4000. So if you get a reputable board (not the cheapest one) you have a shot at getting a BIOS upgrade just as the B450 did for Ryzen 3000.
- Intel CPUs: They are switching to a new socket for the next desktop models. So, no.
- GPUs: NVidia's Ampere (RTX 3000) is rumored for August. AMD for later in the year. Anything you buy now will be outstripped in performance this year.
- SSDs: Second generation PCIe4 SSDs are out later this year, such as the Samsung 980 Pro. They will be expensive, but offer PS5-level performance. Nonetheless most people can buy a cheap PCIe 3.0x4 drive now and get great performance, and it's not going to quickly become "insufficient" as a CPU or GPU would.
The header is AIO_PUMP, which is just a 4 pin fan header that is always set to 12V. This just means if you plug in a 3pin, it will always spin at full speed unless you tune the BIOS voltage, while if it's 4pin, the voltage is irrelevant and PWM controls the fanspeed.
All non-MSI boards have the chipset fan that high. Ironically only MSI boards have had obvious X570 problems. A lot of this is because the GPU does not create the most heat at that edge. So you're fine.
OP
OP
No
Basically, of the PCIe lanes on your motherboard, 16 are reserved for the GPU and the rest are dedicated to the X570 chipset. So in a bigger motherboard, it might disable some PCIe slots, but basically just imagine your M2s are sharing the remaining lanes of bandwidth. Usually the first drive gets a full 4 lanes and the other one shares with some other stuff. Ultimately though don't worry about counting lanes. Just check your MB manual to see what happens if both slots are in use (usually a loss of some secondary PCIe slots or SATA ports)
My friend's GPU(R9 380) broke so he is looking for a new one at around 200(or a bit more if it is worth it or less if the rest of the PC parts makes it useless for a GPU at that price).
The rest of the system(built around 2016):
CPU - i5 6400
8GB RAM
MB is Gigabyte 1151 GA-B150M
550W Corsair power supply
Also he has a 1080p LG 60 hz monitor.Someone else suggested to him a GTX 1650 but i am not sure if that is the right choice especially at the price of 209 Euros.Please any help would be appreciated
The rest of the system(built around 2016):
CPU - i5 6400
8GB RAM
MB is Gigabyte 1151 GA-B150M
550W Corsair power supply
Also he has a 1080p LG 60 hz monitor.Someone else suggested to him a GTX 1650 but i am not sure if that is the right choice especially at the price of 209 Euros.Please any help would be appreciated
1650s apparently aren't up to much, which leaves you with 5500XTs and 1660s, of these the 5500 don't appear to be much of an upgrade over 580s (which are still holding up for PS4/XB1 games), so its probably best to spend extra on a 1660.
Personally I'd just get a cheaper old card like a 580/590 or 1060, as budget cards aren't great right now.
Not sure this is the right topic, I will try anyway.
My relatively old Corsair case power LED does not blink when the system is put into standby mode, it just stays lit as if the PC was still fully powered on.
Is there something that I should doublecheck and if so, what would that be?
My relatively old Corsair case power LED does not blink when the system is put into standby mode, it just stays lit as if the PC was still fully powered on.
Is there something that I should doublecheck and if so, what would that be?
I have been playing with this calculator https://notkyon.moe/ram-latency.htm and would like to know what's considered a good latency for DDR4
Is 9.5ns decent? and if I have 2 combination of 9ns, the one with higher freq. is better right?
Is 9.5ns decent? and if I have 2 combination of 9ns, the one with higher freq. is better right?
If you mismatch RAM with different speed, they will always run at the lower speed. Just get something like a DDR4 3600 C16, the whole latency thing doesn't matter in 99.9% of use cases as long as you get something decent.
Hello helpful PC building thread. If someone has a second. I've been thinking of doing a full overhaul and building a new system. For context here's what I have right now
CPU
Intel Core i7 3770K @ 3.50GHz
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8Z77-V (LGA1155)
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (EVGA)
Been seeing some bottlenecks here and there and I want to upgrade to the latest CPU architecture and also upgrade to faster modern RAM. So it would be a full mobo + CPU + RAM + probably new GPU as well while I'm at it. This is part just getting everything up to date and also getting myself in a place where I can get a VR rig, likely the Valve Index. Thinking i may switch to AMD as the Ryzen series looks super impressive.
Based on the part list in the OP I edited it a bit because I have my own case. Any thoughts?
pcpartpicker.com
CPU
Intel Core i7 3770K @ 3.50GHz
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8Z77-V (LGA1155)
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (EVGA)
Been seeing some bottlenecks here and there and I want to upgrade to the latest CPU architecture and also upgrade to faster modern RAM. So it would be a full mobo + CPU + RAM + probably new GPU as well while I'm at it. This is part just getting everything up to date and also getting myself in a place where I can get a VR rig, likely the Valve Index. Thinking i may switch to AMD as the Ryzen series looks super impressive.
Based on the part list in the OP I edited it a bit because I have my own case. Any thoughts?
System Builder
pcpartpicker.com
Last edited:
Hello helpful PC building thread. If someone has a second. I've been thinking of doing a full overhaul and building a new system. For context here's what I have right now
CPU
Intel Core i7 3770K @ 3.50GHz
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8Z77-V (LGA1155)
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (EVGA) 47 °C
Been seeing some bottlenecks here and there and I want to upgrade to the latest CPU architecture and also upgrade to faster modern RAM. So it would be a full mobo + CPU + RAM + probably new GPU as well while I'm at it. This is part just getting everything up to date and also getting myself in a place where I can get a VR rig, likely the Valve Index. Thinking i may switch to AMD as the Ryzen series looks super impressive.
Based on the part list in the OP I edited it a bit because I have my own case. Any thoughts?
System Builder
There's no real reason to go with a 3800x over 3700x especially if you are getting an x570 board. OC the 3700x a nudge and then presto you have a 3800x.
I'd also just hold onto the 1070 until this fall to see what amd and Nvidia are coming out with.
You'll probably see a pretty decent fps boost with just the CPU and RAM upgrade.
If you can swing a bit faster ram I'd go for that too as ryzen really likes fast ram.
Thanks for all your replies, nice to see torch being carried on! CrazyMoogle has been posting some quality responses.
I'm still on my 6700K + GTX 1070 but added a 2TB m.2 drive recently. DOOM loading maps in 3 seconds is pretty great.
Next upgrade will probably be to a used 2070 Super or something when prices come down slightly.
Here's hoping the new stuff in the next year or so is more interesting than things have been of late.
I'm still on my 6700K + GTX 1070 but added a 2TB m.2 drive recently. DOOM loading maps in 3 seconds is pretty great.
Next upgrade will probably be to a used 2070 Super or something when prices come down slightly.
Here's hoping the new stuff in the next year or so is more interesting than things have been of late.
I'm worried that my 1070 won't be able to keep up with pushing an Index to 144hz. Then again who knows if I'll even be able to get an Index by the Fall anyway lol. Though it still may be smart to hold off on the GPU until I definitely have an Index and see what the players do later in the year.
Bumped the Ryzen down to the 3700 and updated the RAM to... 32GB of DDR4 3600 LOL
My Custom Build
pcpartpicker.com
This makes more sense?
I'm worried that my 1070 won't be able to keep up with pushing an Index to 144hz. Then again who knows if I'll even be able to get an Index by the Fall anyway lol. Though it still may be smart to hold off on the GPU until I definitely have an Index and see what the players do later in the year.
Bumped the Ryzen down to the 3700 and updated the RAM to... 32GB of DDR4 3600 LOL
My Custom Build
This makes more sense?
Looks good to me. Yeah I'd hold on the GPU and see how it holds up. If you feel like you need a boost then grab a 2070 super. Basically a 2080 for $100 less.
I finished my build!
I'm waiting on my 2tb NVMe to arrive to replace one drive withing the tower, but here's my new video editing machine:
My previous tower was built in 2013 using a 3770k and 16gb of DDR3, and it honestly never gave me any trouble. That being said, a feature film I rendered on it took ~4 hours and change to export, whereas this tower did it in 1 hr 12 min.
I'm waiting on my 2tb NVMe to arrive to replace one drive withing the tower, but here's my new video editing machine:
- 9900k (OC to 5ghz)
- 64gb Corsair Vengeance 3200 DDR4
- Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Pro Wifi Motherboard
- GTX 1070 (least important part, weirdly enough)
- Fractal R6 USB-C case
- Noctua NH-D15 Cooler (huge, silent)
- Corsair CX650M Modular power supply
- 2x Sandisk 256gb SSDs
- 1x WD Blue 6tb 5400 for storage
- 1x WD Black 1tb 7200 for footage (upgrading to NVMe next week)
My previous tower was built in 2013 using a 3770k and 16gb of DDR3, and it honestly never gave me any trouble. That being said, a feature film I rendered on it took ~4 hours and change to export, whereas this tower did it in 1 hr 12 min.
I was looking at getting Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 32GB DDR4 3600 with timings of 18-22-22-42 & CAS Latency 18 on Amazon (It's going for $175). But, then I noticed on Amazon that they have G.Skill Trident Z Neo Series 32GB DDR4 3600 with timings of 16-19-19-39 & CAS Latency 16 (The price for it is $190). How much, if any, of an improvement will the G.Skill Trident have over the Corsair Vengeance in gaming (For an X570 build)?
Man, now I'm going to have a hard time in deciding with either going with the Aorus Elite, or spending the extra $59 for the Aorus Pro.
Thanks, so that means I would have no issue if I used the CPU_OPT header for a case fan then, if I go with the Aorus Elite.
Man, now I'm going to have a hard time in deciding with either going with the Aorus Elite, or spending the extra $59 for the Aorus Pro.
Last edited:
Summer's coming and I have, admittedly, some silly questions. I have the Fractal Design Define R6 case and my question is: Would it be silly to switch over to the Meshify S2? I did recently convert it to the open layout and my temps have come down a bit, especially on my nvme ssd where the hottest part (not sure if its the controller or nand but it's temp #2 on HWiNFO) now caps out at 65c instead of 80c
For the other question, I have the BeQuiet Dark Rock 3 and my 3800x caps out around 77c - 80c in intense games (for now). Would it be worth it to grab an aio OR the Dark Rock 4 Pro? I think an aio would be more aesthetically pleasing but also immensely dangerous because its liquid >.>
For the other question, I have the BeQuiet Dark Rock 3 and my 3800x caps out around 77c - 80c in intense games (for now). Would it be worth it to grab an aio OR the Dark Rock 4 Pro? I think an aio would be more aesthetically pleasing but also immensely dangerous because its liquid >.>
The meshify S2 is definitely more open, but if you are planning to get a bigger cooler or AIO, getting the case would be just as expensive or more. But if the concern is more than just CPU, a case makes more sense.
As for AIOs, they can fail for other reasons, but leaking fluid is almost unheard of. If you want one for the aesthetics it wouldn't be any danger. Some people don't trust them as much because they have internal parts, but AIOs from reliable brands you'll probably have to damage it in some way for them to leak.
I can't know how your system temps will vary after these changes, but I would say that it could be worth it to spend $90-140 to lowers temps by 10C. But not so much spending $280 to lower them by 12C.
Last edited:
Is it worth building a budget gaming PC on a M3A32-MVP Deluxe. Specs of that mother board are as follows:
- AMD AM2+/AM2 Platform
- Support latest AMD Phenom ™ Quad-Core Processor
- Dual-Channel DDR2 -1066/800/667/533
- 4 x PCIe 2.0 Gfx with ATI CrossFireX™ support
- Precision Tweaker 2
- 8+2 Phase Power Design
- ASUS Q-Shield
- Support 45nm Phenom™ II CPU
- AMD AM2+/AM2 Platform
- Support latest AMD Phenom ™ Quad-Core Processor
- Dual-Channel DDR2 -1066/800/667/533
- 4 x PCIe 2.0 Gfx with ATI CrossFireX™ support
- Precision Tweaker 2
- 8+2 Phase Power Design
- ASUS Q-Shield
- Support 45nm Phenom™ II CPU
Damn Microcenter is running out of stuff a lot rn. I've had my cart full of my build, waiting for a check to hit my bank account. The PSU I had in there sold out, and the 2070 super I had as well. They pretty much only have the $580 triple fan cards now. Might have to wait even longer now.
Depends on what you want to play and how cheap you can get a CPU/RAM for it.
Consider that you can get a new Ryzen 3200G, that is about twice as fast as the best possible AM2+ CPU and has a servicable IGPu, which the AM2 CPUs lack; a mainboard that will very likely allow you upgrades to one yet to be released generation of Ryzen CPUs and 16 GB DDR4 RAM less than 250€.
This is for a friends old Alienware. He'll probably be happy with something close to current gen at around 30-60 fps at 1080/2k
[/QUOTE]
The lack of SSE4.1 and 4.2 in some of those CPUs will literally lock you from playing a bunch of games.
Well a bunch of Denuvo games anyway.
But since you said close to current gen, you should be able to run a bunch of X360 titles and earlier gen denuvo titles no problem.
Itll be a squeeze but its totally doable at 1080p
If you get an X6 youll actually not be horribly bottlenecked at 1080/30~60.
Funny enough those 6 cores for gaming actually do better today than at launch when basically no titles actually used the cores.
So yeah its actually totally doable.
Your frametimes wont be perfect with modern titles and the FPS might be really erratic at times but if thats all you got.
Go for it, totally totally doable.
The lack of SSE4.1 and 4.2 in some of those CPUs will literally lock you from playing a bunch of games.
Well a bunch of Denuvo games anyway.
But since you said close to current gen, you should be able to run a bunch of X360 titles and earlier gen denuvo titles no problem.
Itll be a squeeze but its totally doable at 1080p
If you get an X6 youll actually not be horribly bottlenecked at 1080/30~60.
Funny enough those 6 cores for gaming actually do better today than at launch when basically no titles actually used the cores.
So yeah its actually totally doable.
Your frametimes wont be perfect with modern titles and the FPS might be really erratic at times but if thats all you got.
Go for it, totally totally doable.
The lack of SSE4.1 and 4.2 in some of those CPUs will literally lock you from playing a bunch of games.
Well a bunch of Denuvo games anyway.
But since you said close to current gen, you should be able to run a bunch of X360 titles and earlier gen denuvo titles no problem.
Itll be a squeeze but its totally doable at 1080p
If you get an X6 youll actually not be horribly bottlenecked at 1080/30~60.
Funny enough those 6 cores for gaming actually do better today than at launch when basically no titles actually used the cores.
So yeah its actually totally doable.
Your frametimes wont be perfect with modern titles and the FPS might be really erratic at times but if thats all you got.
Go for it, totally totally doable.
[/QUOTE]
Appreciate the input!
However as far as I can tell, 30 fps might actually me doable even with an AM2 Phenom X4.
Last edited:
AM3 processors are backwards compatible with AM2+
All the MB needs is a BIOS update much like we got going from Zen+ to Zen 2 processors/motherboards.
Itll be vendor specific, and I didnt bother checking what kind of Motherboard they were asking about, I was just guessing it was one of the ones with an updated BIOS for AM3.