The PC Builders Thread ("I Need a New PC") v3
- Thread starter Crazymoogle
- Start date
- PC Tech OT
So last Wednesday I bought a laptop with my credit card, and it wasn't supposed to be charged until it was actually shipped. The next day, I changed my mind and asked them to cancel the order, but they had already charged my card (they had packaged and put it on the dock, but weren't actually going to physically ship it until today due to Passover). I asked how long it would take for that charge to disappear from my card, they said 2-3 business days.
Fast forward to tonight and I get an email saying that I was chosen in the Newegg Shuffle, and a 3070 was waiting for me to purchase. I go through the checkout process, and immediately get an email saying my card was declined. The purchase from last week still hasn't disappeared, and the 3070 was sold to someone else instead.
Fun stuff.
Fast forward to tonight and I get an email saying that I was chosen in the Newegg Shuffle, and a 3070 was waiting for me to purchase. I go through the checkout process, and immediately get an email saying my card was declined. The purchase from last week still hasn't disappeared, and the 3070 was sold to someone else instead.
Fun stuff.
Thanks for some of the feedback!
i modified my build if anyone has a moment to look: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/ZiggZagBeats/saved/X3ZjHx
gpu is completely temporary until i can drop money on something worthwhile and actually available. I was thinking the 3060 ti. I'll be making music on it and gaming can wait a bit. I'd also get a second nvme storage down the road. The 2 tb from the same brand is a decent price just not necessary at the start.
i modified my build if anyone has a moment to look: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/ZiggZagBeats/saved/X3ZjHx
gpu is completely temporary until i can drop money on something worthwhile and actually available. I was thinking the 3060 ti. I'll be making music on it and gaming can wait a bit. I'd also get a second nvme storage down the road. The 2 tb from the same brand is a decent price just not necessary at the start.
might not be a bad idea. perfect fans to pair with my new lancool 2 mesh.
If you chose the NVMe SSD based on reviews, there haven been reports of ADATA changing the components last year and now the drive is not as fast as it was before (should still be better than the budget DRAMless options, but before it was almost on par with the Samsung 970 EVO). I understand that the 1TB model is for sure affected, have not heard if the 2TB or 512GB versions are. I bought a 2TB on september and it was still the original controller chip; around that time people were finding the replaced parts on the 1TB model, but it may just be I got lucky.
For audio production I would recommend AMD for sure, and go for a 5900X at least, if you can. DAWs like lots of cores. I do post production sound and music production myself, and my main machine is a 5950X.
Also, if you're going to be using lots of virtual instruments simultaneously, I'd recommend going for a 64GB 3600MHz CL16 kit like the G Skill Trident Z Neo one with those specs.
Well, I decided on this. It's a little more than I wanted to spend, but I guess that's okay. Does this all look good?
Here is the build ordered if anyone wants to offer me up any thoughts:
*BASE_PRICE: [+2195]
*BASE_PRICE: [+2195]
- CABLE: None
- CARE1: CPU Thermal Compound - Our Cooler Master MASTERGEL High Performance Thermal Compound can improve cooling performance as well as prolong the life of your CPU. [+10]
- CAS: Corsair Carbide Series 678C ATX Mid-Tower Low Noise Gaming Chassis w/ 3X Sound Dampening Panles + Side tempered glass [+79]
- CC: None
- COOLANT: None
- CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X 3.4GHz [4.9GHz Turbo] 16 Cores/ 32 Threads 72MB Total Cache 105W Processor [+340]
- CS_FAN: 6X 120mm Phanteks SK120 PWM FAN - high airflow nine-blade 500-1500 RPM Radiator Fans Black [+39]
- ENGRAVING: None
- FAN: CyberPowerPC MasterLiquid Lite 120mm ARGB CPU Liquid Cooler with Dual Chamber Pump & Copper Cold Plate
- HDD: 500GB WD BLACK SN850 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 7000/4100 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 810/680k [-49] (Single Drive)
- HDD2: None
- HEADSET: None
- IUSB: Built-in USB Ports (Based on motherboard and case selection)
- KEYBOARD: None [-5]
- MEMORY: 32GB (16GBx2) DDR4/3200MHz Dual Channel Memory [+180] (Performance Memory by Major Brands)
- MICROPHONE: None
- MONITOR: None
- MOPAD: None
- MOTHERBOARD: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PRO CARBON WIFI ATX w/ WiFi 6, RGB, Intel LAN, 2 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 6 SATA3, 2 M.2 SATA/PCIe [+141]
- MOUSE: None [-3]
- NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
- OS: Windows 10 Pro (64-bit Edition) [+31]
- OVERCLOCK: Pro OC (Performance Overclock 10% or more) [+19]
- POWERSUPPLY: 850 Watts - Corsair RM Series RM850 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Fully Modular Ultra Quiet Power Supply [+81]
- PRO_WIRING: None
- PROMOSALE1: CyberPowerPC FPS Gaming Mouse Pad [+0] (Large 14x12 Inches)
- RECOVERYUSB1: Windows 10 Recovery USB [+9]
- RUSH: 5% Instant Rebate on all orders over $999 for NO-RUSH Delivery, order will ship in 5 to 6 Weeks. Must Enter Coupon Code "NORUSH" during checkout. [+0]
- SERVICE: 3 Years FREE Service Plan (INCLUDES LABOR AND LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT)
- SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
- SPEAKERS: None
- USBHD: None
- VIDEO: GeForce® GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 [-522] (Single Card)
- WARRANTY: PREMIUM WARRANTY: Standard 1 Year Parts WARRANTY + ONE (1) YEAR SHIPPING [+19]
- WNC: None
- WTV: None
- _PRICE: (+2564)
If you already have a GPU there is literally no reason to get a pre built. The one above uses a 120mm AIO for a 5950X which simply put sucks big balls.
How much does this cost exactly? The RAM is a bit slow, the rest are kinda OK but the mobo, case and SSD are not things I would use if I were to build one.
Well, I decided on this. It's a little more than I wanted to spend, but I guess that's okay. Does this all look good?
Not bad at all. I would swap out the RAM for 3200/3600C16 and sell the ones that come with it. You might also be able to overclock it considering it's ballistix, however I'm not very familiar with what chip this particular kit uses, if it's Micron e die like all other Ballistix SKUs then it should be a very good overclocker.
The rumors were true, AMD drivers are absolutely, shockingly broken in 95% of their release.
Coming from Nvidia to an rx 6800 is probably the biggest mistake i've ever made (technologically). The gpu itself is powerful AF but the software including Radeon Adrenlin 2020 are among the buggiest applications/drivers i've ever used on windows.
Trawling through r/amdhelp and r/amd and i'm not alone. :(
Coming from Nvidia to an rx 6800 is probably the biggest mistake i've ever made (technologically). The gpu itself is powerful AF but the software including Radeon Adrenlin 2020 are among the buggiest applications/drivers i've ever used on windows.
Trawling through r/amdhelp and r/amd and i'm not alone. :(
OP
OP
Thanks to everyone posting in the thread, both questions and answers! (I'm working on a particularly complicated video game right now so waking hours are a bit constrained.) If you feel your question wasn't answered you can always tag Crazymoogle so that I will notice and respond!
(Still wondering if I should try installing the Zotac vbios for BAR)
(Still wondering if I should try installing the Zotac vbios for BAR)
Check if the 10400F/11400F + B560 are cheaper because if the platform cost is lower than the 3600+B550 then they're a better option, unless you're looking to upgrade to 12/16C CPUs at some point.
Well, I decided on this. It's a little more than I wanted to spend, but I guess that's okay. Does this all look good?
Crucial Ballistix 3200 MHz CL16, or from other brands, if you see a module that is 3200hz+ and CL14, that is very likely to be Samsung b-die.
But the safest bet is always looking at the compatibility list of your mobo in the product website. I think at 32GB you should be getting 3200mhz with any module, but it is worth checking if you are on an older platform.
+1 for Crucial Ballistix.
A 3200Mhz CL16 stick (and most Ballistix) can be easily overclocked to 3600Mhz, which would be ideal for an AMD build. I've got 2x16GB 3000Mhz CL15 OC'd to 3600Mhz CL16 and it's stable.
Thanks, I have a MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX right now combined with a 3600X (which I might upgrade next to a 5600 or wherever my board and PSU tap out). Should work just fine with that one as far as I can see.
Is ~160 a fair price?
And CL14 seems to easily double that price - would it be that noticeable in performance?
I'd consider virtually any used GPU that was released in the last decade over the GT710/730. There should be some available that cost less, will retain their resell value better and actually offer you _some_ level of playable framerates until you get your planned GPU.
I have a specific question about storage. I figure this should be the first thing I improve on my PC before anything else.
Currently I'm rocking a total of six (!) hard drives on my PC. The primary hard drive is a 500GB SSD Samsung 850 EVO. The rest are very old SATA drives of various sizes (two are 2TB, the rest are around 200-500GB).
The primary drive would be the primary focus, since 500GB is a pathetic amount of space, even without any games installed to it. I'm looking for something a lot bigger but also affordable.
As for the other drives, I'm wondering if I should replace all of them as well, just to ensure my PC isn't affected by their slow speeds or other compatibility issues. Am I better off just getting one big external drive to hold everything else, then moving whatever PC games or other stuff I want to run at high speed to the primary drive? At the very least, the current 500GB SSD could be used as a secondary drive, though I'd probably just put pictures or other files in there.
Help me out on this, please.
Currently I'm rocking a total of six (!) hard drives on my PC. The primary hard drive is a 500GB SSD Samsung 850 EVO. The rest are very old SATA drives of various sizes (two are 2TB, the rest are around 200-500GB).
The primary drive would be the primary focus, since 500GB is a pathetic amount of space, even without any games installed to it. I'm looking for something a lot bigger but also affordable.
As for the other drives, I'm wondering if I should replace all of them as well, just to ensure my PC isn't affected by their slow speeds or other compatibility issues. Am I better off just getting one big external drive to hold everything else, then moving whatever PC games or other stuff I want to run at high speed to the primary drive? At the very least, the current 500GB SSD could be used as a secondary drive, though I'd probably just put pictures or other files in there.
Help me out on this, please.
Honestly I don't think it matters that much. What I like to do is put my OS on a fast M.2 device but it doesn't have to be large. I'm actually pretty comfortable with 500GB for OS, but then I have various drives dedicated for games and storage. That keeps the OS drive space needs smaller and gives flexibility later if I want to reinstall or similar.
Regarding the other storage it's really down to personal preference. I personally use all SSD now on the PC but I have a NAS for bulk (pics, videos, etc).
Hello all! I'm going to build my first ever built - I managed to score an 3060, and I know I want to get a Rzyen 7 3700x to go with it.
I wanted to ask if any of you have a good recommendation for a motherboard - I settled on the 550M ones, but know I don't know which should be better from all the options, and if its better to have on board wifi or buy a PCie card with that separately.
I wanted to ask if any of you have a good recommendation for a motherboard - I settled on the 550M ones, but know I don't know which should be better from all the options, and if its better to have on board wifi or buy a PCie card with that separately.
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AMD Radeon Adrenalin 2020 / 19.12.2 drivers
They do and they're pretty fantastic. The ''AMD bad drivers'' was over 10 years ago.
www.resetera.com
You need to have your programs installed on the same SSD in order to run them at optimal speed, don't you?
I used to have a nightmare of a time extracting and editing files in Audacity until I finally moved the Audacity program to the SSD drive, for example. I imagine Steam would also need to be installed on your primary SSD drive while any game you want to run at SSD speeds would also have to be installed to the same drive.
It really depends on the application but at this time I wouldn't be able to tell you the difference between Intel Optane, M.2, or SATA SSD as it relates to game performance. You'll want other apps installed with the OS and game clients will install there, but the games themselves can be wherever.
I fondly remember the above thread where a non-zero number of Era posters effectively claimed I was way off the mark for even asking if AMD's GPU drivers were still bad.AMD Radeon Adrenalin 2020 / 19.12.2 drivers
They do and they're pretty fantastic. The ''AMD bad drivers'' was over 10 years ago.
I rolled back my drivers to a release from March which gave me an extra 1000 points on timespy and with zero instability issues. These newly released drivers are completely broken, how on Earth did amd allow such a buggy driver to be released into the wild?
They don't need to be. So long as the Windows registry/steam knows where to look after theyre installed, theyll run fine. Now as for FPS, you might eke out a few extra by having them on an OS drive (especially if it's an nvme), but it's not going to be, to pardon the term, game changing. My windows install and every game I have installed are on two separate drives, no issues so far.
Hell, you can have steam games on a different drive than steam itself and it really won't effect anything
You don't. Just install things you need the speed for to SSDs. Doesn't have to be everything on the same drive.
There are some B550 boards with wifi 6, so it could be as good as you can get it with expansion cards, except for particularly premium ones. But I would not especially choose built in wifi over cards or dongle if other features like the amount of usb ports, price, amount of M.2 ports, etc are more important.
Are you looking specifically into B550 "M" for a micro-ATX build or is it just that the micro boards are more affordable? Going for mATX one benefit of the wifi being built-in is that you only have a limited amount of PCIe slots in that form factor.
For a budget option the MSI PRO B550M PRO-VDH WIFI (5) is pretty solid, but you would want a case with front panel usb c since it only has one in front and not one in the back. You can go up from there with boards that add more features.
I think I might have an error in my setup in regards to the HDD (?)
I have
CPU: Intel I5 11400F
MB: Gigabyte B560 Aorus mATX
...
SSD: Samsung 970 EVO PCIe 3.0 M.2 1TB
HDD: Toshiba 2TB P300 7200RPM
...
but looking at the Gigabyte B560, it does not seem to have a SATA port, which is what I need for the HDD (?)
Thanks! Looking at the picture and what you circled though, does this mean that some of the B560 variations do not have SATA ports for HDD, so I need to be careful which model I get? e.g. https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B560M-DS3H-rev-10#kfthose would be these ports on the side
They put less ports nowadays, specially small boards, but all of them should have at least 4. This one has most of them facing forward,
Bit of a pleb's PC question here folks... I have this 7 year old machine below which I rarely use for gaming myself, however my son is starting to get into a bit of Battlefront II, Titanfall 2, Plants vs Zombies, and other games that come with Game Pass / EA Play on PC. This is all done over Steam Link streaming at 1080p to a TV so nothing too taxing, the machine holds up ok mainly on medium settings but it can chug a bit every now and then. I won't be doing a system overhaul, but can anyone recommend what would be the best graphics card to upgrade from the 280x, that isn't overkill considering the other parts?
MSI Z97-G43 mobo
Intel Core i7 4790
8GB RAM
R9 280x 3GB
SSD drives
MSI Z97-G43 mobo
Intel Core i7 4790
8GB RAM
R9 280x 3GB
SSD drives
Ok thanks! (again :-))They put less ports nowadays, specially small boards, but all of them should have at least 4. This one has most of them facing forward,
An upgrade to 16GB RAM would be a good place to start (and should be super cheap) as 8GB RAM really isn't enough for modern games. That CPU is going to be a major bottleneck in a lot of games so not worth putting too much money into it, I wouldn't go with anything much more than a 5500XT (AMD due to the lower CPU bottleneck in modern games).
Yeah good shout on the RAM, an easy and cheap upgrade! Will have a look at the 5500XT, ta.
Does the RAM in my post seem fairly prized? And is it worth it in general to go for CL14 instead of CL16?
Seems fair based on the prices of other 32GB kits. More expensive than G.Skill Ripjaws V, less expensive than Trident Z and Corsair Vengeance LPX. Which is about how I would expect it to be.
So my newly built PC has begun to shut down while browsing, after having shut down while gaming only on certain games. My money is on a faulty motherboard, Power supply or riser cable. Will have to troubleshoot extensively but fortunately I have an extra PSU to test.
I'd caveat that with the fact that 3200mhzCL14 is probably going to guarantee Samsung B Die, and if you're willing to put in the work (and time) to overclock and aggressively tune your subtimings then you will see an improvement in a lot of "CPU" bound games. Now whether that is going to give you enough additional performance to justify the price premium is debatable.
If you're just going to run XMP settings then it's definitely not worth your while. 3600mhzCL16 is cheap and will beat out much more expensive 3200mhzCL14, especially on Zen 2/3 when using XMP. I still say the sweet spot is 4x8GB 3600mhzCL16 as that guarantees dual rank, and should be a "set and forget" XMP option on any decent $100+ B550/X570/B560/Z590 board.
You're extracting all of the "low hanging fruit" of performance gains out of your CPU without paying a major price premium for it.
As an example, I just picked up a 11370H/3060 laptop that came stock with a single stick of 8GB RAM. Forza Horizon 3 was a complete stutter fest out of the box with frequent dips down to the 30fps range. Just adding an extra stick of RAM meant it was a perfectly locked 60fps.
That laptop CPU is only 4c8t so while it's certainly faster than your 4790, it's a worthwhile comparison. That's nearly a 5 year old game at this point, so 16GB as a requirement has been around for a good few years now. It'll definitely make a difference.
GPU prices are terrible at the moment so it may be worth seeing what difference you get from simply jumping to 16GB RAM. Just be sure that you stay in dual channel mode.
Ok great, I'll definitely try RAM first. Right now it was 2 x 2GB and 1 x 4GB of DDR3 so my best route will be to go for a new 2 x 8GB kit I imagine. I take it any decent DDR3 kit will be fine? Any particular speeds I should be looking for? This is the mobo:
Specification Z97-G43
As a world leading gaming brand, MSI is the most trusted name in gaming and eSports. We stand by our principles of breakthroughs in design, and roll out the amazing gaming gear like motherboards, graphics cards, laptops and desktops.
www.msi.com
I was looking at them since they were more affordable locally, but I was checking that I can strech the budget a little bit and go for an Asus X570-P on Amazon and get a cheap PCIe wireless card.
Is that a better choice for a Ryzen 7?
Hi all. I hope this is ok - I'm doing some preliminary research into how much it would cost to put together a small-factor HTPC for the living room. I've never done this before but I'm looking at the possibility of a small PC that can be used for watching films, playing the odd older game or two and general storage of family stuff.
- What's your budget and currency?
- Ideally around £400 range, if not cheaper. Happy to sacrifice power for cost.
- What do you want to use the computer for? (gaming? web? video editing? everything?)
- Very light gaming (I mostly game on PS4 and don't play any online/competitive games). Thinking this would be mostly for older games for now. Would also be used for storing music, movies, books, photos etc for syncing to various devices we have (iPhones, Kindles etc) or playing on the TV
- I do want to use an SSD for booting quickly/suspending etc. but am open to having a smaller SSD drive for the OS and a couple of games and using a regular HDD for other storage
- Will need wifi & bluetooth for connecting to other devices although will probably be plugged via eithernet into the router
- When do you plan to purchase the parts and build it?
- In the next six months or so - putting the feelers out as I have never built a PC before.
- Are you reusing any parts or are you building a completely new computer?
- Completely new
- Do you only need the computer itself or do you need accessories, such as a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers?
- Planning to use plugged into my living room TV (4k) so no monitor/speakers needed and I do have a bluetooth keyboard/mouse and Xbox one controller for gaming so no accessories needed
- Do you want to overclock? (will make your PC faster, but requires better cooling and can have various side effects)
- No
B550 are perfectly capable of handling a 3700X or 5800X (A520 are the real budget boards), it is only for the Ryzen 9 that one may look into higher end boards. The X570 chipset benefits is more pcie 4.0 lanes, and connectivity in general like more usb 3.1 and 3.2, but nothing stops manufacturers from putting just as capable voltage regulators on the B550s board.
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