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

[Erebus]

Need a little bit of advice here.

So I'm on a pretty old rig right now, specifically a 3570k (OC'ed) and 8GB of DDR3. The most modern parts of my hardware are the GTX1060 6GB and the SSDs I bought a couple of years ago.
For the most part, I don't have any gripes with my current build, sure it is getting a bit long in the tooth but all things considered it's still serviceable for my use case.

I've been thinking of upgrading to 16GB of RAM, an additional of 8GB of what I currently have, because recently I'm getting lots of RAM issues with some games (CoD Warzone is crashing almost in every match due to memory issues).
The thing is, there is slim chance that I'll find the same exact RAM modules that are installed right now. Do you think I'm better off buying a completely new 16GB kit than risking getting 8GB modules that are different than my current ones potentially causing instability?

 

[Black_Stride]

I have a ryzen 3600 with an asrock x570 gaming 4 board ( NZXT H510 case), not a fan of the stock cooler, which noctua cooler option is the best for this setup?

Click to shrink...

A D15S will serve you well.

Click to shrink...

He says he has a Ryzen 3600....you suggest a D15S?
Are you mad.!

ConHaki66 For the 3600 get a DarkRock 4, ShadowRock 3 or Mugan Scythe 5 which are all pretty big for that chip already but if you really really really want a Noctua then go for a U12 or U14.


Anyone who recommends you a dual tower cooler for pretty much anything less than a OC'd 8 core is just trying to steal your money.
The 3600 never gets hot enough to warrant a cooler that big.
You literally reach a point where the IHS is actually the limiting factor not the cooler itself.

The U series keeps up with the D series until you start very very heavy overclocking.

Need a little bit of advice here.

So I'm on a pretty old rig right now, specifically a 3570k (OC'ed) and 8GB of DDR3. The most modern parts of my hardware are the GTX1060 6GB and the SSDs I bought a couple of years ago.
For the most part, I don't have any gripes with my current build, sure it is getting a bit long in the tooth but all things considered it's still serviceable for my use case.

I've been thinking of upgrading to 16GB of RAM, an additional of 8GB of what I currently have, because recently I'm getting lots of RAM issues with some games (CoD Warzone is crashing almost in every match due to memory issues).
The thing is, there is slim chance that I'll find the same exact RAM modules that are installed right now. Do you think I'm better off buying a completely new 16GB kit than risking getting 8GB modules that are different than my current ones potentially causing instability?

Click to shrink...

You RAM will run at whatever the slowest stick is running at.
So if you can find RAM at the same speed or faster you should be sorted.

But if you are concerned then yeah just buy a 16GB kit and be done with it.

 

[SmartWaffles]

He says he has a Ryzen 3600....you suggest a D15S?
Are you mad.!

Click to shrink...

It's the first thing that came off my head! But you are right lol a U series is more fitting for a Ryzen.

 

[ConHaki66]

He says he has a Ryzen 3600....you suggest a D15S?
Are you mad.!

ConHaki66 For the 3600 get a DarkRock 4, ShadowRock 3 or Mugan Scythe 5 which are all pretty big for that chip already but if you really really really want a Noctua then go for a U12 or U14.


Anyone who recommends you a dual tower cooler for pretty much anything less than a OC'd 8 core is just trying to steal your money.
The 3600 never gets hot enough to warrant a cooler that big.
You literally reach a point where the IHS is actually the limiting factor not the cooler itself.

The U series keeps up with the D series until you start very very heavy overclocking.

You RAM will run at whatever the slowest stick is running at.
So if you can find RAM at the same speed or faster you should be sorted.

But if you are concerned then yeah just buy a 16GB kit and be done with it.

Click to shrink...

It's the first thing that came off my head! But you are right lol a U series is more fitting for a Ryzen.

Click to shrink...

thanks to both of you anyways

 

[maximumzero]

Boss wants me to build him a new PC and my two standbys, the Deskmini A300 barebones kit and the Inwin Chopin both seem to be out of stock. Any recommendations for a similar MITX-sized case?

Saw there's an Intel-based Deskmini on Amazon called the 110, but it seems to be based on an older Intel chipset and kinda a bad deal considering its cost.

 

[Ricky]

Can someone give me some advice on these builds? Someone in here helped me before but I couldn't find the post. I don't want to go over $1500.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7LnsPn

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($294.48 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition 57.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($44.00 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5 g Thermal Paste ($6.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard ($189.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G1+ 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($102.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $1302.89

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-14 12:46 EDT-0400

 

[Grimm Fandango]

Can someone give me some advice on these builds? Someone in here helped me before but I couldn't find the post. I don't want to go over $1500.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7LnsPn

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($294.48 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition 57.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($44.00 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5 g Thermal Paste ($6.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard ($189.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G1+ 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($102.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $1302.89

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-14 12:46 EDT-0400

Click to shrink...

From the OP, can you provide your preferences?

1. What do you want to use the computer for? (gaming? web? video editing? everything?)
2. Do you want to overclock? (will make your PC faster, but requires better cooling and can have various side effects)

 

[Iron Eddie]

I was watching the latest GPU head to head (5700XT versus 2060 Super)



But as you can see below PC gamers are not unlike console gamers when it comes to bias and non-constructive comments.

 

[Deleted member 198]

Decided to stop worrying about XYZ and am just going to slap a 3600 in my B350 board today or tomorrow. Gives me an excuse to do a good full cleaning too.

I'd like faster RAM and some other stuff for sure, but this is just much cheaper and easier at the end of the day.

 

[Ricky]

From the OP, can you provide your preferences?

1. What do you want to use the computer for? (gaming? web? video editing? everything?)
2. Do you want to overclock? (will make your PC faster, but requires better cooling and can have various side effects)

Click to shrink...

Oh my bad. I just want to use it for gaming. I'd like to hit 4k/60fps on some older games like maybe MGS V, Mass Effect Trilogy, DOOM (2016), Skyrim etc. but it's not a deal breaker if I can't. Again, I don't want to go over $1500. I'm not too sure about that overclocking. I don't think I'll need it. This will be my first build so I'm sure I'll want to upgrade at some point but I'd like to keep my first build for a few years.

 

[HotHamWater]

Whats the general consensus on the Acer Nitro VG270UPbmiipx? I'm looking to jump to 1440p 144hz and this is randomly available for £100 off atm. I'm in no rush, but if it's a good deal then I'll probably bite now and wait for a deal on a graphics card in the future (or wait for the Nvidia refresh).

Mainly used for single player games and the occasional multiplayer FPS, but I'm not trying to go pro or anything. I know the HDR is pretty worthless as well. Thanks.

 

[Nothing]

Need a little bit of advice here.

So I'm on a pretty old rig right now, specifically a 3570k (OC'ed) and 8GB of DDR3. The most modern parts of my hardware are the GTX1060 6GB and the SSDs I bought a couple of years ago.
For the most part, I don't have any gripes with my current build, sure it is getting a bit long in the tooth but all things considered it's still serviceable for my use case.

I've been thinking of upgrading to 16GB of RAM, an additional of 8GB of what I currently have, because recently I'm getting lots of RAM issues with some games (CoD Warzone is crashing almost in every match due to memory issues).
The thing is, there is slim chance that I'll find the same exact RAM modules that are installed right now. Do you think I'm better off buying a completely new 16GB kit than risking getting 8GB modules that are different than my current ones potentially causing instability?

Click to shrink...

Don't spend money on DDR3 RAM. You don't throw good money after bad. Save those funds for a new build.

 

[I Don't Like]

Oh my bad. I just want to use it for gaming. I'd like to hit 4k/60fps on some older games like maybe MGS V, Mass Effect Trilogy, DOOM (2016), Skyrim etc. but it's not a deal breaker if I can't. Again, I don't want to go over $1500. I'm not too sure about that overclocking. I don't think I'll need it. This will be my first build so I'm sure I'll want to upgrade at some point but I'd like to keep my first build for a few years.

Click to shrink...

Not sure about 4K60 on a 5700XT even on older games but again people always mention 4k60 and don't mention settings which are going to be the primary difference in FPS.

If you have 200 bucks to spare and since this is a gaming PC which presumably you won't upgrade again for a while, maybe you can get a slightly better card.

 

[Ricky]

Not sure about 4K60 on a 5700XT even on older games but again people always mention 4k60 and don't mention settings which are going to be the primary difference in FPS.

If you have 200 bucks to spare and since this is a gaming PC which presumably you won't upgrade again for a while, maybe you can get a slightly better card.

Click to shrink...

Yeah it's hard for to state all the details correctly since I'm pretty new to this. I'm more of a hands on learner. Would it be ideal to replace the 5700XT with something like a 2070 Super?

 

[Deleted member 179]

Here's what I'm thinking. Stick with the 3600, a B450 and my GTX 1080, then upgrade to X670/Ryzen 4000/RTX 3000 when they come out. As for some other pieces, 2TB SSD sounds sexy and PC-O11 with RGB fans looks sexy.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/T8q6Pn

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($174.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8 GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case ($149.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA G5 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Corsair LL120RGB LED (Three Fans With Lighting Node PRO) 43.25 CFM 120 mm Fans ($123.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1333.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-14 15:28 EDT-0400

 

[evrythngwastakn]

Is a 2070 (non super) worth it at $500cdn? They pop up on amazon warehouse here and there in "like new" condition for around that price. Seems good? That's about what a 5700xt goes for.

 

[Rizific]

has anyone tried to do an RMA through the manufacturer of a GPU in a prebuilt instead of going through the prebuilt's company? the rx580 in my sons pc crashes quite a bit and has a noisy/clicky fan. been thinking about just giving him my 1070 and getting a new gpu. which brings me to the following

I was watching the latest GPU head to head (5700XT versus 2060 Super)

Click to shrink...

IMO the 2070s and 5700xt are more closer in performance (ignoring dlss+rt) than the 2060s. it beats the 2060s handily at the same price and hangs with the 2070s for $100 less. If you have $400, why even consider the 2060s? and if you want a 2070s, why would you when you can get pretty close to it and save $100? anyway thats where im at, im considering them both, but the issues that my son is having with his rx580 are kind of souring me on going with a 5700xt.

 

[Iron Eddie]

Is a 2070 (non super) worth it at $500cdn? They pop up on amazon warehouse here and there in "like new" condition for around that price. Seems good? That's about what a 5700xt goes for.

Click to shrink...

Both cards are comparable for performance with the edge going to the 5700XT especially for 1440p gaming, but Nvidia has better driver support. Personally I would recommend the 2070 Super but of course that will cost more.

 

[Zoon]

Should I consider a 3700X over a 3600X? The price difference is about 100€ so I think that even if I get an additional year out of it, it will be worth it. Intended use will mostly be 1080p60 gaming which both CPUs should be able to handle but I'm worried about next-gen requirements.

My cooler is a Cryorig H5 universal which judging by how it cools my current FX chip should do the job. Might add an additional fan just in case. Mobo will be the B450M Mortar titanium.

I know that the most sensible thing would be to wait for Zen 3 but I'm not sure I can wait. Bannerlord is borderline playable and there are at least 4-5 games I want to play which will be coming out before Zen 3.

 

[Mullet2000]

Is a 2070 (non super) worth it at $500cdn? They pop up on amazon warehouse here and there in "like new" condition for around that price. Seems good? That's about what a 5700xt goes for.

Click to shrink...

Be careful with Amazon Warehouse. I've heard a lot of horror stories even for "like new" stuff.

Not that the risk is very high since you can always return it.

 

[Raydonn]

Should I consider a 3700X over a 3600X? The price difference is about 100€ so I think that even if I get an additional year out of it, it will be worth it. Intended use will mostly be 1080p60 gaming which both CPUs should be able to handle but I'm worried about next-gen requirements.

My cooler is a Cryorig H5 universal which judging by how it cools my current FX chip should do the job. Might add an additional fan just in case. Mobo will be the B450M Mortar titanium.

I know that the most sensible thing would be to wait for Zen 3 but I'm not sure I can wait. Bannerlord is borderline playable and there are at least 4-5 games I want to play which will be coming out before Zen 3.

Click to shrink...

If you can wait for Zen 3 but need something to tide you over, get the 3600x. If you're going to skip this generation, then go for 3700x.
I believe the extra cores will be worth it if you plan on using it for 2-3+ years.
Zen 4 won't be RAM/MOBO compatible with whatever you decide to buy this year anyway.

Cooler wise, the stock one that comes with the Ryzen CPU works fine, so the Cryorig H5 will be even better. Just make sure you have a compatible mounting kit for it, if it was made before the AM4 platform was released.

 

[I Don't Like]

Yeah it's hard for to state all the details correctly since I'm pretty new to this. I'm more of a hands on learner. Would it be ideal to replace the 5700XT with something like a 2070 Super?

Click to shrink...

I definitely would. For a gaming PC where you're not getting a card as a stop-gap or are not a person who will upgrade frequently you need to maximize the budget favoring the GPU - simple as that. Otherwise you've simply limited your performance right out of the gate AND ended up with something that will show its age faster. Makes zero sense.

 

[evrythngwastakn]

Be careful with Amazon Warehouse. I've heard a lot of horror stories even for "like new" stuff.

Not that the risk is very high since you can always return it.

Click to shrink...

I've rolled the dice a half dozen times and it's always been really good. The ram I got said "acceptable" but was still sealed so I paid 40% off the normal-ish price. But yeah, a little iffy on something like the GPU but the price kinda has piqued my interest.

 

[Raydonn]

Here's what I'm thinking. Stick with the 3600, a B450 and my GTX 1080, then upgrade to X670/Ryzen 4000/RTX 3000 when they come out. As for some other pieces, 2TB SSD sounds sexy and PC-O11 with RGB fans looks sexy.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/T8q6Pn

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($174.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8 GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case ($149.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA G5 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($109.99 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Corsair LL120RGB LED (Three Fans With Lighting Node PRO) 43.25 CFM 120 mm Fans ($123.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1333.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-14 15:28 EDT-0400

Click to shrink...

Here is my one change.

RAM: https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232880
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800)

I guess you don't currently have a windows license?

 

[Zoon]

If you can wait for Zen 3 but need something to tide you over, get the 3600x. If you're going to skip this generation, then go for 3700x.
I believe the extra cores will be worth it if you plan on using it for 2-3+ years.
Cooler wise, the stock one that comes with the Ryzen CPU works fine, so the Cryorig H5 will be even better. Just make sure you have a compatible mounting kit for it, if it was made before the AM4 platform was released.

Click to shrink...

Thanks, I'm more and more leaning towards the 3700X. My current build (besides the GPU which died early and I had to replace) is 8 years old lol, so I'm hoping to get at least 5 years out of it.

I've already considered getting a cheaper AM4 like a 2600 and replacing it with a Zen 3 one, but there is still no official confirmation about current boards supporting them (especially since the one I'm getting is a b450m non-MAX version).

As for the cooler, I've already bought the AM4 mounting bracket since they were running low on stock.

 

[catpurrcat]

Not sure about 4K60 on a 5700XT even on older games but again people always mention 4k60 and don't mention settings which are going to be the primary difference in FPS.

If you have 200 bucks to spare and since this is a gaming PC which presumably you won't upgrade again for a while, maybe you can get a slightly better card.

Click to shrink...

Yeah it's hard for to state all the details correctly since I'm pretty new to this. I'm more of a hands on learner. Would it be ideal to replace the 5700XT with something like a 2070 Super?

Click to shrink...

For 4K, absolutely go 2070S. This old article from techspot shows it.

Is a 2070 (non super) worth it at $500cdn? They pop up on amazon warehouse here and there in "like new" condition for around that price. Seems good? That's about what a 5700xt goes for.

Click to shrink...

No. In this case, for $500 CAD, the 5700XT is an excellent value.

Otherwise go with a 2070S for the higher price.

 

[Deleted member 179]

Here is my one change.

RAM: https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232880
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800)

I guess you don't currently have a windows license?

Click to shrink...

Oh nice, good looking out friend. and yeah, when I built 4 or 5 years ago is when you could get cheap windows keys off reddit and that unfortunately does not work anymore lol

 

[Crazymoogle]

I was watching the latest GPU head to head (5700XT versus 2060 Super)



But as you can see below PC gamers are not unlike console gamers when it comes to bias and non-constructive comments.

Click to shrink...

I was going to post these videos if you didn't. I think it's a really even and interesting comparison of the cards. I'm still a bit more concerned than him about DLSS - it's not like Radeon magically has tensor core silicon somewhere they aren't using, so Nvidia has a definitive advantage there - but he's right that it's hardly supported and the 5700 XT is a substantial value when comparing typical web price.

That being said, it's really hard not to just wait on Ampere right now when you consider just how expensive a graphics card is. I'm sure the days feel longer for many of us right now these days, but oof, it would suck to spend that much on a (great) card but see it get blown away by the 3060. (Of course, it sucks doing memory management on the GTX970 right now too)

 

[Raydonn]

Oh nice, good looking out friend. and yeah, when I built 4 or 5 years ago is when you could get cheap windows keys off reddit and that unfortunately does not work anymore lol

Click to shrink...

If you don't mind a Windows CD Key that might not work in the future again, guru3d and techpowerup usually recommends certain sites that sells them for around $12-20.

 

[Iron Eddie]

I was going to post these videos if you didn't. I think it's a really even and interesting comparison of the cards. I'm still a bit more concerned than him about DLSS - it's not like Radeon magically has tensor core silicon somewhere they aren't using, so Nvidia has a definitive advantage there - but he's right that it's hardly supported and the 5700 XT is a substantial value when comparing typical web price.

That being said, it's really hard not to just wait on Ampere right now when you consider just how expensive a graphics card is. I'm sure the days feel longer for many of us right now these days, but oof, it would suck to spend that much on a (great) card but see it get blown away by the 3060. (Of course, it sucks doing memory management on the GTX970 right now too)

Click to shrink...

Lots of excitement just around the corner.

 

[RaySpencer]

HELP! I need a new monitor!

I dont know what to get though :( I want a FreeSync one, 1080p 16:9 24" probably a good size. Whats the best bang for your buck? Im in Canada, and shit is expensive :(

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Posted this in the PC gaming thread, but it fits here much better. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[Eraser_Arcade]

Reading all this talk about Ryzen 4000, now has me second guessing about my recent purchase of a 3700x. While I know no one knows what the full specs for Zen 3 will be (as well as the release date), but I'm just curious what would be the likelihood of any real gaming performance differences (between a 3700x & 4700x) for a build that will be focused on 60fps at 2160p/1440p?

If you don't mind a Windows CD Key that might not work in the future again, guru3d and techpowerup usually recommends certain sites that sells them for around $12-20.

Click to shrink...

Speaking of which, How long does Microsoft allowed a non-genuine Windows 10 to stay active? The reason I'm asking is because I want to make sure all of my computer parts (i.e. motherboard) work fine, before I purchase & activate a Windows 10 key.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Reading all this talk about Ryzen 4000, now has me second guessing about my recent purchase of a 3700x. While I know no one knows what the full specs for Zen 3 will be (as well as the release date), but I'm just curious what would be the likelihood of any real gaming performance differences (between a 3700x & 4700x) for a build that will be focused on 60fps at 2160p/1440p?

Click to shrink...

4700 will undoubtedly be better, probably not in core count but architectural speed. But at 4K your bottleneck will still be mostly your GPU. Since we don't know if it's August or December you may as well hold onto it and then try to sell the CPU later if you see enough evidence to upgrade.

Speaking of which, How long does Microsoft allowed a non-genuine Windows 10 to stay active? The reason I'm asking is because I want to make sure all of my computer parts (i.e. motherboard) work fine, before I purchase & activate a Windows 10 key.

Click to shrink...

A key is not required to install Windows. You can use for a month without much nagging, after which I believe it's still functioning bit a bit more naggy.

 

[Smokey]

Got my 9900k stable at 5ghz, on 1.3v, with Load Line Calibration set at 8. Temps are good, and when gaming, generally stays in the mid 60s. Pretty happy with that.

5.1ghz requires 1.34 - 1.36 and meh, the temp increase along with fan noise isn't worth it.

 

[Deleted member 179]

If you don't mind a Windows CD Key that might not work in the future again, guru3d and techpowerup usually recommends certain sites that sells them for around $12-20.

Click to shrink...

Oh... I didnt know it was still an option elsewhere >:)

 

[Raydonn]

Speaking of which, How long does Microsoft allowed a non-genuine Windows 10 to stay active? The reason I'm asking is because I want to make sure all of my computer parts (i.e. motherboard) work fine, before I purchase & activate a Windows 10 key.

Click to shrink...

No idea... I would buy it once you're ready to use it.
The delivery of the key is pretty much instantaneous. It also stays in your account to be revealed once you're ready, so it depends on how much you trust the website.

I mean, the owners of Techpowerup and Guru3d seems to vouch for them, so I can only assume that they are legit.

 

[StudioTan]

I had a question. I'm looking to upgrade my 980 ti to a 2070S. The 2080s is about $300 CDN more so it doesn't seem worth the extra cost. I do some gaming on my PC but mostly it's for 3D graphics and Photoshop work and the Nvidia cards have some integration with rendering in Maya. For gaming DLSS 2.0 looks like it'll keep the 2070S pretty competitive for a while so I think it's the best price to performance right now.

My question is whether people think my i7 6700k will be any kind of bottleneck. Look at the new chips in comparison it seems like while they have more cores the 6700 still seems to hold up pretty well and I'd rather wait until later in the year to get a new CPU. At the same time I don't want to be wasting the power of the new GPU. Will I be ok waiting until the new AMD CPUs are out?

 

[Raydonn]

I had a question. I'm looking to upgrade my 980 ti to a 2070S. The 2080s is about $300 CDN more so it doesn't seem worth the extra cost. I do some gaming on my PC but mostly it's for 3D graphics and Photoshop work and the Nvidia cards have some integration with rendering in Maya. For gaming DLSS 2.0 looks like it'll keep the 2070S pretty competitive for a while so I think it's the best price to performance right now.

My question is whether people think my i7 6700k will be any kind of bottleneck. Look at the new chips in comparison it seems like while they have more cores the 6700 still seems to hold up pretty well and I'd rather wait until later in the year to get a new CPU. At the same time I don't want to be wasting the power of the new GPU. Will I be ok waiting until the new AMD CPUs are out?

Click to shrink...

You're going to start running into bottlenecks, unfortunately. 4/8 threaded CPUs are starting to lag behind in newer games.



However, I would recommend holding out until later this year to upgrade your CPU. It will still be serviceable until then.

 

[StudioTan]

You're going to start running into bottlenecks, unfortunately. 4/8 threaded CPUs are starting to lag behind in newer games.



However, I would recommend holding out until later this year to upgrade your CPU. It will still be serviceable until then.

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Yeah, I agree. I skimmed the video and unless I'm willing to spend another $800+ (with tax) on a new CPU/MB nothing cheaper seems like that much of an improvement. I still think the 2070S by itself is going to be a big upgrade over my 980 ti.

Plus. I have 2 other computers in the house I use so buying a new video card is basically like doing 3 upgrades at once since the older cards get passed down the line lol.

 

[ThereAreFourNaan]

But as you can see below PC gamers are not unlike console gamers when it comes to bias and non-constructive comments.

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Comments are always full of trash yeah.

I was going to post these videos if you didn't. I think it's a really even and interesting comparison of the cards. I'm still a bit more concerned than him about DLSS - it's not like Radeon magically has tensor core silicon somewhere they aren't using, so Nvidia has a definitive advantage there - but he's right that it's hardly supported and the 5700 XT is a substantial value when comparing typical web price.

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What I find a bit odd about HBU's general attitudes is that they're often covering old GPUs to see which "aged better" and the like, so they do care about longevity, but then here they aren't bothered by the lack of forward looking features compared to Turing. He does mention that there's a "chance" that 5700xt might not age as well because of DLSS, which is a factor of course, but really that's secondary imo because even many games that don't explicitly support DLSS in the future will still almost certainly support the basic feature set that the new consoles ship with (RT being most prominent but also VRS and others).

I feel a lot of anxiety recommending PC hardware around a new console launch, but that goes double for RDNA1 and Nvidia's 16 series stuff, because they aren't dirt cheap yet they obviously are feature lacking. I definitely agree the optimal strategy is waiting but an 8% avg perf lead is not IMO very convincing as a sales pitch for the 5700XT in this comparison.

 

[eEK!]

What I find a bit odd about HBU's general attitudes is that they're often covering old GPUs to see which "aged better" and the like, so they do care about longevity, but then here they aren't bothered by the lack of forward looking features compared to Turing. He does mention that there's a "chance" that 5700xt might not age as well because of DLSS, which is a factor of course, but really that's secondary imo because even many games that don't explicitly support DLSS in the future will still almost certainly support the basic feature set that the new consoles ship with (RT being most prominent but also VRS and others).

I feel a lot of anxiety recommending PC hardware around a new console launch, but that goes double for RDNA1 and Nvidia's 16 series stuff, because they aren't dirt cheap yet they obviously are feature lacking. I definitely agree the optimal strategy is waiting but an 8% avg perf lead is not IMO very convincing as a sales pitch for the 5700XT in this comparison.

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It makes sense that they aren't considering Tensor cores as a future requirement yet, RT/DLSS doesn't have much support yet (similar to TressFX/Hairworks/PhsyX did when they launched) and the PS5/XB hardware RT could just be marketing talk, as all we know for sure about AMD RT is that its way behind Nvidia.

 

[Bladelaw]

the ssd tech going into consoles came to pc last july and is only available on amd's X570 mobos currently but nothing actually truly utilizes it (to my knowledge).

market's pretty good everywhere that isn't gpus. If you want to hold onto your 3770k then your best bet is getting a good cooler and overclocking it as high as it can manage. For 1440p 60fps, the rtx 2060 or 2060 super should be able to get you there outside of cpu bottlenecked games

I think going for a new pc build, in general, wouldn't be a bad idea, and AMD's next batch of CPUs that are due this year will work on X570, X470, B450, X370 and B350 mobos with a bios update so there's no harm in going for, say, an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 cpu or Ryzen 7 3700x cpu right now.

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Ok so I spent some time looking and parting out a new system. Here's what I've come up with to hopefully future proof me for this console cycle. My current system will be a hand-me-down to my wife.

CPU: Ryzen 9 3900x
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid LC240E
Motherboard: MSI MPG x570 Gaming PRO Carbon
Video: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti SC Ultra Gaming
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3600
SSD: Sabrient 1TB Rocket NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2
PSU: Corsair RM750x
Case: Either Cooler Master MasterBox MB520 Mid or Lian Li PC-O11D Mid

Anything here look out of place? I don't mind spending a bit more now to not have to worry about upgrading core pieces (CPU/Motherboard especially). The only thing that would make me hesitate is if the Ryzen 4000 series is comparably priced to the 3900x

 

[Deleted member 179]

No idea... I would buy it once you're ready to use it.
The delivery of the key is pretty much instantaneous. It also stays in your account to be revealed once you're ready, so it depends on how much you trust the website.

I mean, the owners of Techpowerup and Guru3d seems to vouch for them, so I can only assume that they are legit.

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Follow up, do you have a link to their articles about it?

Edit: Nvm found it

 

[Deleted member 9290]

Oh... I didnt know it was still an option elsewhere >:)

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That's still too expensive. You can get OEM keys on eBay for only 3-6 bucks.

Same rules, they will work now, but maybe not for another new future installation.

 

[spootime]

Ok so I spent some time looking and parting out a new system. Here's what I've come up with to hopefully future proof me for this console cycle. My current system will be a hand-me-down to my wife.

CPU: Ryzen 9 3900x
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid LC240E
Motherboard: MSI MPG x570 Gaming PRO Carbon
Video: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti SC Ultra Gaming
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3600
SSD: Sabrient 1TB Rocket NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2
PSU: Corsair RM750x
Case: Either Cooler Master MasterBox MB520 Mid or Lian Li PC-O11D Mid

Anything here look out of place? I don't mind spending a bit more now to not have to worry about upgrading core pieces (CPU/Motherboard especially). The only thing that would make me hesitate is if the Ryzen 4000 series is comparably priced to the 3900x

Click to shrink...

3900x is overkill unless you need it for productivity reasons.

IMO wait for ryzen 4700x or buy a 3700x now. use the saved cash to upgrade GPU. Alternatively buy a 3600 now and buy a 4700x later if you dont want to wait.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Definitely saving my $1200 check for the Ryzen 4000 CPU build :).

 

[spootime]

Definitely saving my $1200 check for the Ryzen 4000 CPU build :).

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Ryzen 4000 and an ampere/AMD card.

This is why its hard to recommend anything to people right now. So close to the next gen stuff!

 

[Crazymoogle]

What I find a bit odd about HBU's general attitudes is that they're often covering old GPUs to see which "aged better" and the like, so they do care about longevity, but then here they aren't bothered by the lack of forward looking features compared to Turing. He does mention that there's a "chance" that 5700xt might not age as well because of DLSS, which is a factor of course, but really that's secondary imo because even many games that don't explicitly support DLSS in the future will still almost certainly support the basic feature set that the new consoles ship with (RT being most prominent but also VRS and others).

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I give HBU a pass because giving two points to Nvidia would prove nothing. The video proves pretty emphatically the 5700 XT is a supercharged RTX 2060 Super for 2020. Sure, I would have added the DLSS scores, but they are going to do that going forward. Rationally, the argument makes total sense.

But my point is that VRS, RT...all fancy nice things but hardly game changers especially in the 2060/3060 tier of cards. The real deal, to me is simply that even a "mid-level" card like the 2060S is more than a 3700X. That's crazy. So I'm much more inclined to spend big on a card that can last me 5 years than to half-ass it because "half ass" could still be the second or first-most expensive piece of my rig.

Ok so I spent some time looking and parting out a new system. Here's what I've come up with to hopefully future proof me for this console cycle. My current system will be a hand-me-down to my wife.

CPU: Ryzen 9 3900x
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid LC240E
Motherboard: MSI MPG x570 Gaming PRO Carbon
Video: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti SC Ultra Gaming
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3600
SSD: Sabrient 1TB Rocket NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2
PSU: Corsair RM750x
Case: Either Cooler Master MasterBox MB520 Mid or Lian Li PC-O11D Mid

Anything here look out of place? I don't mind spending a bit more now to not have to worry about upgrading core pieces (CPU/Motherboard especially). The only thing that would make me hesitate is if the Ryzen 4000 series is comparably priced to the 3900x

Click to shrink...

This is a rig for pro apps (video editing? 3D work?) right?

• Supercore CPU with AIO cooling
• Low end GPU
• Gen 4 PCIe SSD

If this was a game rig I would drop down to a 3600 and Gen3x4 SSD, while moving up the GPU substantially. But it depends entirely on the workload you want. Beyond that, well in general I would be cautious with MSI X570 boards and read the reviews as they had a few total failures (despite being the gold standard for B450M). I would check youtube especially.

 

[Deleted member 179]

Definitely saving my $1200 check for the Ryzen 4000 CPU build :).

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I've got the itch BAD so I'm just getting a 3600. I'll ditch it and the B450 board once 4000 comes around.

 

[Bladelaw]

3900x is overkill unless you need it for productivity reasons.

IMO wait for ryzen 4700x or buy a 3700x now. use the saved cash to upgrade GPU. Alternatively buy a 3600 now and buy a 4700x later if you dont want to wait.

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We're always close to some next gen stuff. At some point you need to snap the line and say "this is good enough". From a productivity standpoint I do some video editing, programming, streaming/encoding, I'm learning 3D modeling (mostly for 3D printing stuff), and a ton of multitasking especially with the lockdown and occasionally needing to work from home. The primary use is gaming but I want to handle the other stuff well too. I can drop the processor to a 3700x and bump the GPU to a 2070 if that's a better price/power proposition for gaming.

This is a rig for pro apps (video editing? 3D work?) right?

• Supercore CPU with AIO cooling
• Low end GPU
• Gen 4 PCIe SSD

If this was a game rig I would drop down to a 3600 and Gen3x4 SSD, while moving up the GPU substantially. But it depends entirely on the workload you want. Beyond that, well in general I would be cautious with MSI X570 boards and read the reviews as they had a few total failures (despite being the gold standard for B450M). I would check youtube especially.

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I don't think I want to compromise on the SSD unless there's an imminent price drop on the horizon or a Gen3x4 makes more sense. My budget is pretty loose so I can get nearly anything short of a God Box but i'd like to keep the total cost to less than $2000. Looks like a 3700x is a solid option and would let me bump up the video card to at least a 2070. I didn't realize MSI's 570 boards were sketchy, is there a more reliable option?

Ideally I'd like the core of the system to last the same ~8 years I got out of my current setup with minor upgrades (more RAM, new Video card, etc) so I don't mind spending a bit more up front so I don't have to down the road.