Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

Huge_Midget posted:

On the topic of cases, is there a go to full tower case that comes with at least six 3.5” HDD bays and a modern front I/O panel with USB Type C? It will be an air cooled setup, and if it had a 5.25” external bay that would be icing on the cake, but not necessary.

It's this: https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-define-r6-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352089 or one of Fractal's similar but slightly different models (not really sure what the full difference is)

https://www.newegg.com/black-white-phanteks-eclipse-p400s-tempered-glass-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811854054 if you want to save money and punt on the 5.25"

bus hustler fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Nov 13, 2019

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Whitest Russian
Nov 23, 2013

MikeC posted:

That doesn't quite make sense. We are talking 2016 Doom? The 6600k should crush that game to the tune of 100fps. What kind of stuff are you running in the background? Do you have a lot of bloatware?

It's not really a FPS problem but a frametime problem with a 6600k. It keeps jumping between ~5 and ~20 milliseconds between frames which is annoying.

Scruff McGruff
Feb 13, 2007

Jesus, kid, you're almost a detective. All you need now is a gun, a gut, and three ex-wives.

Huge_Midget posted:

On the topic of cases, is there a go to full tower case that comes with at least six 3.5” HDD bays and a modern front I/O panel with USB Type C? It will be an air cooled setup, and if it had a 5.25” external bay that would be icing on the cake, but not necessary.

The only ones I can think of are the Fractal Define R6, Phanteks Enthoo 719, and maybe the be quiet! Dark Base 900. There aren't a whole lot of cases with Type-C on the front panel and even fewer that support that many 3.5" bays.

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

"Stand back, Ottawan ruffian, or face my lumens!"

Mu Zeta posted:

Yall realize the 2080 ti costs over $1,000 right? Like, just the video card alone.

$1,000.

The Ti cards tend to 'age' better than the lesser cards. People who bought the 1080Ti at launch have gotten just as much value for their money as those who got into 970s at launch, and the 1080Ti never suffered from 0.5GB-Gate.

Before that, people spoke glowingly of their 980Tis, which has 1070-like performance, albeit at higher thermals and the cost of 2GB of buffer.

THF13
Sep 26, 2007

Keep an adversary in the dark about what you're capable of, and he has to assume the worst.

Huge_Midget posted:

On the topic of cases, is there a go to full tower case that comes with at least six 3.5” HDD bays and a modern front I/O panel with USB Type C? It will be an air cooled setup, and if it had a 5.25” external bay that would be icing on the cake, but not necessary.

Corsair sells an front panel upgrade for the 750d. https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categ...it/p/CC-8900138

They also sell additional hard drive bays if you want more than 6.

Incessant Excess
Aug 15, 2005

Cause of glitch:
Pretentiousness
Are the dimensions of a "reference" GPU related to other parts like the motherboard or could those conceivably change with a new GPU generation? If a case can fit a reference 2080ti, can I expect it to also fit a reference 3080, 4080 etc... ?

TheFluff
Dec 13, 2006

FRIENDS, LISTEN TO ME
I AM A SEAGULL
OF WEALTH AND TASTE

Incessant Excess posted:

Are the dimensions of a "reference" GPU related to other parts like the motherboard or could those conceivably change with a new GPU generation? If a case can fit a reference 2080ti, can I expect it to also fit a reference 3080, 4080 etc... ?

Not necessarily, no, but in practice, probably. There is a standard width that is generally adhered to, but the card length can be all over the place. In practice though GPU sizes have been fairly constant for years now.

AAAAA! Real Muenster
Jul 12, 2008

My QB is also named Bort

Hi Thread,

I am in the US building a new gaming PC. Someone helped me get this put together near the end of the last thread:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($471.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.89 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z390 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($74.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($233.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($94.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($99.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $1120.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-13 13:48 EST-0500

I upgraded the CPU because I have more room in by budget; I already have my Hard Drive situation sorted so it is absent from that list. I have a few follow up questions, though:
1.) I have maybe another $200 in budget, should I upgrade the graphics card?
2.) There are a staggering number of cases to chose from. I would like a medium sized (easy enough to move if I want to go to the rare LAN but not too small, either) with no lighting on the outside. Anyone have any suggestions or know a good brand to look at?
3.) Do I need any more cooling?

Fantastic Foreskin
Jan 6, 2013

A golden helix streaked skyward from the Helvault. A thunderous explosion shattered the silver monolith and Avacyn emerged, free from her prison at last.

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

Hi Thread,

I am in the US building a new gaming PC. Someone helped me get this put together near the end of the last thread:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($471.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.89 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z390 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($74.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($233.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($94.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($99.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $1120.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-13 13:48 EST-0500

I upgraded the CPU because I have more room in by budget; I already have my Hard Drive situation sorted so it is absent from that list. I have a few follow up questions, though:
1.) I have maybe another $200 in budget, should I upgrade the graphics card?
2.) There are a staggering number of cases to chose from. I would like a medium sized (easy enough to move if I want to go to the rare LAN but not too small, either) with no lighting on the outside. Anyone have any suggestions or know a good brand to look at?
3.) Do I need any more cooling?

You've got the most powerful gaming CPU paired with a decidedly mid-range GPU. Use case is gaming, yes? What resolution/refresh rate is your monitor?

AAAAA! Real Muenster
Jul 12, 2008

My QB is also named Bort

ItBreathes posted:

You've got the most powerful gaming CPU paired with a decidedly mid-range GPU. Use case is gaming, yes? What resolution/refresh rate is your monitor?
That is because I did some looking around and that CPU is on sale on Newegg and also Real Good so I upped it from a non-hyper threaded i7.
I have two Dell Ultrasharp 24 inch Infinity Edge Monitor - U2417H, Full HD 1920 X 1080 at 60 Hz. Prior feedback told me that these are not the best monitors for gaming, but I just got them recently and think they're great. I dont need ultramax settings on all my games, I care more about them running smoothly and being able to alt-tab out and not have the computer turn into a paper weight. I also would like the ability to run a game on one screen and occasionally stream a football game or something on the other, but if this is asking a lot of any computer and I'm just an idiot then I can stop trying to do both at the same time.

Fantastic Foreskin
Jan 6, 2013

A golden helix streaked skyward from the Helvault. A thunderous explosion shattered the silver monolith and Avacyn emerged, free from her prison at last.

Cool cool. The 9900k is grossly overkill for what you're looking to do, you won't be able to tap a fraction of it's potential. Grab a 3600, use the stock cooler, and pocket the difference; any modern processor will sail past the 60fps limit imposed by your monitors and should have no problem with multitasking like that. Also be sure to grab a Windows key from SA Mart rather than spending full retail.

Do you want to game on both monitors at the same? The 1660 super is a good choice for 1920x1080, but 3840x1080 would want something beefier.

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

That is because I did some looking around and that CPU is on sale on Newegg and also Real Good so I upped it from a non-hyper threaded i7.
I have two Dell Ultrasharp 24 inch Infinity Edge Monitor - U2417H, Full HD 1920 X 1080 at 60 Hz. Prior feedback told me that these are not the best monitors for gaming, but I just got them recently and think they're great. I dont need ultramax settings on all my games, I care more about them running smoothly and being able to alt-tab out and not have the computer turn into a paper weight. I also would like the ability to run a game on one screen and occasionally stream a football game or something on the other, but if this is asking a lot of any computer and I'm just an idiot then I can stop trying to do both at the same time.

Powerful cpus are really only necessary for pushing very high frame rates in demanding games. Pretty much every modern 6-core+ processor will run any current game at 60+ fps, so you can save a lot of money without seeing any performance difference:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($117.68 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($233.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($94.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($25.00)
Total: $621.62


A 2600 is fine for gaming right now, and the Pro4 is fine for upgrading to a 3600 or 3700x (or 4th-gen Ryzen equivalent) down the road. A Ryzen 3600 is a ~15% cpu performance boost, but gaming performance will be equivalent right now. If you'd like to just start with the 3600, though, get the B450 Tomhawk MAX motherboard for out-of-the-box compatibility.

The 3200 MHz RAM kit is QVL for either motherboard so it has guaranteed XMP compatibility (to run at the listed speed). At 60Hz, your also not going to see a difference between 3200 and 3600 ram.

You can get a copy of Windows 7 Pro on SAMart for $25 and use that to activate Windows 10 Pro. If you have any Windows 7/8/10 keys from previous computers that you aren't using anymore, you could also just reuse one of those keys!

E: My go-to non-flashy mid-tower case is the Fractal Design Meshify C (which also comes in windowed variants).

EE: Do you need a SSD?

Stickman fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Nov 13, 2019

TheFluff
Dec 13, 2006

FRIENDS, LISTEN TO ME
I AM A SEAGULL
OF WEALTH AND TASTE

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

That is because I did some looking around and that CPU is on sale on Newegg and also Real Good so I upped it from a non-hyper threaded i7.
I have two Dell Ultrasharp 24 inch Infinity Edge Monitor - U2417H, Full HD 1920 X 1080 at 60 Hz. Prior feedback told me that these are not the best monitors for gaming, but I just got them recently and think they're great. I dont need ultramax settings on all my games, I care more about them running smoothly and being able to alt-tab out and not have the computer turn into a paper weight. I also would like the ability to run a game on one screen and occasionally stream a football game or something on the other, but if this is asking a lot of any computer and I'm just an idiot then I can stop trying to do both at the same time.
With those monitors anything more expensive than a Ryzen 5 3600 is completely pointless and does absolutely nothing for you, streaming on one monitor or not. Same thing with the GPU, there's no point in spending more because you're effectively bottlenecked by the monitor. You don't need any fancy hardware at all to power 1080p at 60Hz these days. A 9900K and a 2070 (which is what you seem to have the budget for) is appropriate for 2560x1440 at well over 100fps. Asking it to do 1080p 60fps isn't even going to make it break a sweat.

A 27" 1440p 144Hz IPS monitor with variable refresh rate support is only around $400 these days, and it'll do more for gaming than almost anything else you can buy will.

TheFluff fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Nov 13, 2019

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

"Stand back, Ottawan ruffian, or face my lumens!"

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

Hi Thread,

I am in the US building a new gaming PC. Someone helped me get this put together near the end of the last thread:
I upgraded the CPU because I have more room in by budget; I already have my Hard Drive situation sorted so it is absent from that list. I have a few follow up questions, though:
1.) I have maybe another $200 in budget, should I upgrade the graphics card?
2.) There are a staggering number of cases to chose from. I would like a medium sized (easy enough to move if I want to go to the rare LAN but not too small, either) with no lighting on the outside. Anyone have any suggestions or know a good brand to look at?
3.) Do I need any more cooling?

1) If you're set on going with Intel, you should upgrade the *motherboard*. All Z390 boards are not created equal. Look into the Aorus Master board, it often goes on sale for ~$220. It sure isn't $220 right now, though. =/
2) Fractal Design's cases are a joy to build out of, and they're one of the last case makers that offer cases without side windows. The Meshify series also eschews the closed-front aesthetic for a cleaner flow-through.
3) Yes. The 9900K is an extremely hot processor, the 9900KS even more so, and the 212EVO is an *aging* HSF. Air cooling a 9900K, treat the Noctua NH-D15S as your jumping off point and realize you're not going to have much overclocking headroom...at all. I'm personally very anti-AIO because I don't like putting things with moving parts that can fail catastrophically and take out other components in the process in my computer. I didn't really have a choice with my current build, and am running a 360mm AIO with a push-pull config (that's three 120mm ML120 fans on either side) to cool the CPU.

Lastly, consider going AMD this time around - most people - myself included - will suggest the 3700X, but if you're dead-set on a high-end CPU go with the 3900X. By buying into the Z390 you're buying into a dead platform. Intel's already said their next gen CPU architecture's going to use a new socket and new board, while Socket AM4 still has Zen 3 scheduled for it before AMD retires it. What you lose in single-thread speed you'll gain in a mid-life upgrade path. Also, wait for BF/CM and see where 2060 Supers and non-Super 2070s land. There's a 2070S Zotac Mini on Amazon at the moment for $489.99, which feels like a price test to me.

BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Nov 13, 2019

bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

That is because I did some looking around and that CPU is on sale on Newegg and also Real Good so I upped it from a non-hyper threaded i7.
I have two Dell Ultrasharp 24 inch Infinity Edge Monitor - U2417H, Full HD 1920 X 1080 at 60 Hz. Prior feedback told me that these are not the best monitors for gaming, but I just got them recently and think they're great. I dont need ultramax settings on all my games, I care more about them running smoothly and being able to alt-tab out and not have the computer turn into a paper weight. I also would like the ability to run a game on one screen and occasionally stream a football game or something on the other, but if this is asking a lot of any computer and I'm just an idiot then I can stop trying to do both at the same time.

I'd recommend the following given today's prices and changes:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194, Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Not Needed
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($145, Newegg, $30 MIR)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($65, Newegg, just $10 cheaper)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 8 GB Video Card ($330, Newegg, $30 MIR)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($94.98 @ Newegg)

This is $820! plus $60 in mail in rebates if those are your thing [i didnt factor them into the cost], add the $100 if you buy Windows 10 outright and don't buy a Win7 key for whatever they cost in SA mart. Cheaper and a much better distribution of money.

If you want to save even more drop back down to the 1660 Super which takes you down to $720 out of pocket.

edit: It's my completely personal opinion that given you are way way under budget that springing for the 3600 right now is beneficial. There's some benefits out of the gate and if you do upgrade your monitor (the most likely upgrade in this setup, once you try high refresh its hard to go back) you won't need to buy an entirely new CPU and hope to sell the quickly depreciating old one.

bus hustler fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Nov 13, 2019

eames
May 9, 2009

I agree with charity rereg.

Not a great time to buy into Z390. Successor seems to be around the corner, Asus is already trying to move inventory with cashback promotions in some countries, new security mitigations were announced today (0 to 4% performance loss), any extra singlethread performance won’t be useful due to the 60 Hz screens.

If you go with the 1660 now you can save money for a midrange 7nm GPU next year and maybe even enjoy raytracing with your system.

eames fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Nov 13, 2019

AAAAA! Real Muenster
Jul 12, 2008

My QB is also named Bort

Wow, I was not expecting so much feedback, thank you everyone! I obviously have no idea what I am doing so I really appreciate all of the info. I obviously have some thinking to do! I was planning on getting an intel because I have read that most games and applications are designed with intel hardware in mind, but if I can spend that much less and will not be able to tell the difference due to picking a bad monitor last year maybe I'll just save me some cash.

Citycop
Apr 11, 2005

Greetings, Rainbow Dash.

I will now sing for you a song that I hope will ease your performance anxiety.

AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:

That is because I did some looking around and that CPU is on sale on Newegg and also Real Good so I upped it from a non-hyper threaded i7.
I have two Dell Ultrasharp 24 inch Infinity Edge Monitor - U2417H, Full HD 1920 X 1080 at 60 Hz. Prior feedback told me that these are not the best monitors for gaming, but I just got them recently and think they're great. I dont need ultramax settings on all my games, I care more about them running smoothly and being able to alt-tab out and not have the computer turn into a paper weight. I also would like the ability to run a game on one screen and occasionally stream a football game or something on the other, but if this is asking a lot of any computer and I'm just an idiot then I can stop trying to do both at the same time.

I can accomplish everything on your list with my current CPU, which I bought for $16.00 on ebay a year ago (Xeon X3440), with 8GB ram and a used, $250 GTX 1070. Your CPU choice is not just overkill, it's a huge waste of money. For your monitor setup your entire computer build could probably be around the $500 mark. Total, and it would probably still be overkill.

Stickman pretty much nailed a good price / performance system for you.

Citycop fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Nov 13, 2019

Oddhair
Mar 21, 2004

Looking for real advice re: a pair of water-cooled Titan Z cards I just inherited. I'm in the US and my power bill is included with my rent.

Current build: Core i5 4xxx, Asus mobo, 8GB DDR3, AMD 7870, Samsung SATA SSD. Plays everything I try to run pretty well, I don't dick with the sliders or try to eke out any additional visual bling, really, it's roughly as good as a PS4 but with more adjustibility.

I got this whole rack with a 4x120mm radiator (crap round tubes but large), two Titan Z cards with EKWB water blocks on them, a Corsair AX1200i power supply. I want to use them even though they were free/they're old. They're attached to an EKWB water block manifold that spaces the cards for quad-card SLI, but all the machines I have have spacing with two slots in between the full-length PCIe slots and so won't work. The air cooling that came with them is long gone.

Options:
I can upgrade my computer but I don't really feel a need to, also this option mostly requires me to pick a motherboard based on how far apart the PCIe slots are and ew, gross. Also, lots have a dead space adding a larger gap between the slots so I'm having to kind of slum it to find that spacing.
I can directly plumb new fittings onto the water blocks and use one or both of them that way in just any of my two towers that will accommodate the rest of the rigamarole, though this runs the risk of leaking whatever coolant is on them on the card(s) while re-plumbing them. I know how to deal with this but it will be annoying. Luckily there a MicroCenter here with EKWB fittings in stock, this method could be up and running tonight but it honestly won't. This method is kind of desirable as I have a smaller radiator, some leftover Tygon tubing from an old WC build, but the aforementioned hassles sort of balance out.

In looking at benchmarks I see that a single Titan Z with SLI functioning gets similar scores to a 970, and two with quad SLI gets similar scores as a 1070 non-Ti. With all that "knowledge" I can tell that a single TitanZ would be a video upgrade for me assuming SLI was working for whatever title I was playing.


Should I just say forget it and try to sell them to someone more enterprising? Should I replumb and stress test them individually to save me the headache of finding out they don't work after buying a new machine to accommodate them as-is? What would you do?

Fantastic Foreskin
Jan 6, 2013

A golden helix streaked skyward from the Helvault. A thunderous explosion shattered the silver monolith and Avacyn emerged, free from her prison at last.

They probably worth more as a collectable. You can get a 970 for $100 or less, or 1070 level performance in a new card for around $200. I'd just flip them.

bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

They don't sell well, since they came to you for free you could probably move them quickly for $250ea on ebay, maybe $200 and roll that into a 2060 Super or something if you need that much power, or a 1660super if you dont. If selling them isn't seen as rude, I realize not every gift comes without expectations, or the person might want to sell them if you aren't using them.

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

"Stand back, Ottawan ruffian, or face my lumens!"

charity rereg posted:

They don't sell well, since they came to you for free you could probably move them quickly for $250ea on ebay, maybe $200 and roll that into a 2060 Super or something if you need that much power, or a 1660super if you dont. If selling them isn't seen as rude, I realize not every gift comes without expectations, or the person might want to sell them if you aren't using them.

The x-factor that's working against him here is the fact that they've got waterblocks on them. If they still had the stock HSF on them, I could see them being desirable for someone wanting to do low-end ML applications and not spend a small fortune doing it. But with those EKWB blocks on them (which likely are specially tailored to the Titan Z), you've just turned something simple into a complex thing someone has to work around. A 'cheap' card just became more expensive because you have to then buy a new cooling apparatus for it.

If you itemize on your taxes, get in contact with your nearest 'tech-forward' college/community college/high school and see if they'll take them in as a donation.

BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Nov 13, 2019

bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

BIG HEADLINE posted:

The x-factor that's working against him here is the fact that they've got waterblocks on them. If they still had the stock HSF on them, I could see them being desirable for someone wanting to do low-end ML applications and not spend a small fortune doing it. But with those EKWB blocks on them (which likely are specially tailored to the Titan Z), you've just turned something simple into a complex thing someone has to work around. A 'cheap' card just became more expensive because you have to then buy a new cooling apparatus for it.

If you itemize on your taxes, get in contact with your nearest 'tech-forward' college and see if they'll take them in as a donation.

oh this is totally right, i spaced when pricing the cards. they do move (or at least did in sept, but two months is a long time!) but with the stock HSF. woof, yeah this is way more trouble than its worth.

Oddhair
Mar 21, 2004

Yeah, I was kind of leaning that way; since I can tell about the performance I was able to tell my buddy he couldn't use one of them (he has an Asus ROG G20 tower with a single slot to work with so theoretically possible but power will never let him) and also wouldn't get any additional performance over his 1070. Also, a 2080 fits fine.

I also would like to not try selling them with the water blocks on them, untested, after they've been sitting for years.

Pizdec
Dec 10, 2012
Is this the right place for external HDD recommendations? I'm thinking of buying a non-SSD one in the 1-2 TB range that will last me a good couple of years. Not looking for speed, just reliability. Should I just go with WD ELEMENTS as previously suggested, or are there more reliable options?

Also, what's the story with this?

Mu Zeta posted:

It's a pretty good time to be building a new pc right now in terms of price. RAM and SSD prices are the lowest they've ever been. Just last year 16 gigs of ram was like $180 and now you can do it for $60. The Ryzen 2600 + mobo will be around $200 and will last for years. New video cards are plentiful and in stock everywhere selling at or below msrp since the crypto thing crashed hard.

Fantastic Foreskin
Jan 6, 2013

A golden helix streaked skyward from the Helvault. A thunderous explosion shattered the silver monolith and Avacyn emerged, free from her prison at last.

It was a dumb idea from the start and the irrational exuberance died out.

Butt Ghost
Nov 23, 2013

So here’s the build I’m aiming for. It’s modified based on what orange juche sent me earlier. I decided to put in the Ryzen 3700X because its multi-threading gives it a leg up when it comes to emulating more strenuous titles.

I was wanting to know if I should go with 32 gigs of ram instead of 16, and if I should go with the fractal Meshify. I like the fractal define s2, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the $200+.

MikeC
Jul 19, 2004
BITCH ASS NARC

Whitest Russian posted:

It's not really a FPS problem but a frametime problem with a 6600k. It keeps jumping between ~5 and ~20 milliseconds between frames which is annoying.

Did you try orange juche suggestion? What kind of bloatware do you have? Just 5 min of googling suggests that you have a bloatware issue.

I mean sure, if you want to get 6 or 8 core SMT CPU just so you can have bloatware on it and run DOOM at the same time you can upgrade but it feels like you have a 0 dollar option available to you.



Nude Hoxha Cameo posted:

First and foremost, thanks for keeping the thread going - it’s an amazingly valuable resource!

But also a question: Are you planning on pulling over the quick picks? I’ve always found that useful as a starting point, and my guess is that it’s been helpful over the years to others as well.

ItBreathes posted:

If anyone cares to make and keep current such a list I'm happy to link in the OP / let them poach the rest of it for a new thread, though I'm going to be making some additions / revisions later this week.

It is so hard to make a good "generalized" list. Products to recommend scale with the resolution of the monitor, expected frame rate, the type of games (AAA vs Fortnite), longevity of components, current budget, upcoming budget for the next set of upgrades and said time table for upcoming upgrades.

It is far more important for people to be as informative as possible when asking questions so we can tailor advice to the individual. Include all of the things mentioned in the OP. It will save you a lot of headaches.

That said I'll piece together something in the next little bit with the most scalable components like CPU, RAM, and GPU since those are the ones that affect performance the most.

Butt Ghost posted:

So here’s the build I’m aiming for. It’s modified based on what orange juche sent me earlier. I decided to put in the Ryzen 3700X because its multi-threading gives it a leg up when it comes to emulating more strenuous titles.

I was wanting to know if I should go with 32 gigs of ram instead of 16, and if I should go with the fractal Meshify. I like the fractal define s2, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the $200+.

That is a beast of a PC. Definitely well beyond the price to performance sweet spot, especially the GPU which is an insane buy for 1440p, but if that's what you want then go for it.

As for the case, the Meshify C is a longtime goon stalwart. There are other cases like it in that price range that do just as good a job. Buy a more expensive case if there are specific front panel IO options you want/need or you need the additional space for SSDs/Hard drives that the small-sized mid towers can't give you. Is there a specific "want" on the case? Superior noise cancellation or RGB?

MikeC fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Nov 14, 2019

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

Butt Ghost posted:

So here’s the build I’m aiming for. It’s modified based on what orange juche sent me earlier. I decided to put in the Ryzen 3700X because its multi-threading gives it a leg up when it comes to emulating more strenuous titles.

I was wanting to know if I should go with 32 gigs of ram instead of 16, and if I should go with the fractal Meshify. I like the fractal define s2, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the $200+.

You have 4 ram slots so just add another 16 gigs later if you really need it. I like the Meshify for better airflow.

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

Pizdec posted:

Is this the right place for external HDD recommendations? I'm thinking of buying a non-SSD one in the 1-2 TB range that will last me a good couple of years. Not looking for speed, just reliability. Should I just go with WD ELEMENTS as previously suggested, or are there more reliable options?

Also, what's the story with this?

When crypto took off in 2017, miners started buying up gpus and prices skyrocketed by ~2-3x



Even after the crash and mining moving to ASICs it took until 2019 for prices to fall back below 2017 levels (for 2-year old cards), and NVidia fought like hell to keep prices as high as they could with Turing's pricing structure. It was pretty annoying for people like me who needed to build in the middle of the bubble, though I got lucky and managed to trade up a few times on the falling edge.

orange juche
Mar 14, 2012



Butt Ghost posted:

So here’s the build I’m aiming for. It’s modified based on what orange juche sent me earlier. I decided to put in the Ryzen 3700X because its multi-threading gives it a leg up when it comes to emulating more strenuous titles.

I was wanting to know if I should go with 32 gigs of ram instead of 16, and if I should go with the fractal Meshify. I like the fractal define s2, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the $200+.

I would bring that GPU back down to a 2080 Super. The 2080 TI won't do anything at 1440P a 2080 Super can't do. The 2080 TI's one use case really is doing 4K gaming, or pushing RTX at maximum settings at 1440P. If you're going with 1440P, then the Super is plenty enough. Ray tracing honestly isn't mature enough yet to justify the $1100 outlay for a 2080TI just to do a bit better in ray tracing right now, when the next generation of ray tracing cards will likely flatten the current gen, up to and including the 2080TI.

I game on a 2080 (non-super) at ultrawide 1440P, which is 30% more pixels than what you've got there, and I've never gone below a quite enjoyable framerate (100-120FPS) at maximum quality unless the game was horrendously optimized (Borderlands 3 :argh:), in which case it really doean't matter how much hardware you have it will still suck and you'll just be angrier.

Even with RTX on high in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 3440x1440 I was getting 45 FPS, which is fine, I was able to get 60FPS at full resolution by stepping back to medium RTX from maximum.

http://www.3dmark.com/pr/172870



Here's a Port Royal benchmark I just ran which tests how my system with a 2080 (non Super) does on RTX.

orange juche fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Nov 14, 2019

Butt Ghost
Nov 23, 2013

That’s a good point. I’ll lower it to a Super then if a TI is useless to me atm.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7wyGcq

I can settle for this sweeter price or reinvest that cash in a case that glows in the dark or some poo poo. Or maybe a better monitor.

orange juche
Mar 14, 2012



Butt Ghost posted:

That’s a good point. I’ll lower it to a Super then if a TI is useless to me atm.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7wyGcq

I can settle for this sweeter price or reinvest that cash in a case that glows in the dark or some poo poo. Or maybe a better monitor.


That monitor seems solid from reviews, the only thing is the on screen display is apparently the worst one ever designed into a monitor according to reviewers. From a technical standpoint however it's a great IPS monitor, with a range of 30hz to 144hz and all the bells and whistles that mean that Nvidia's GSYNC should work just fine with it. You could invest that money back into storage and upgrade your 1TB NVME into a 2TB drive from Sabrent that I linked earlier. That Sabrent Rocket 2TB drive is extremely solid, and if you're doing a lot of gaming, you're gonna want a lot of SSD space, because SSD's are absolutely the biggest improvement to computing since the GUI was invented.

orange juche fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Nov 14, 2019

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

If you end up going for 2TB, the Rocket is great but the MyDigitalSSD BPX Pro is $20 less and literally the same drive (as in the Rocket is a rebranded BPX Pro)!

You could also consider ditching your spinning rust drive and getting a 2TB Intel 660p for your second M.2 slot.

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

"Stand back, Ottawan ruffian, or face my lumens!"
Phison E12 drives are Phison E12 drives are Phison E12 drives, but MyDigitalSSD hasn't updated their website even news-wise in months. They also haven't put out a F/W update in well over a year.

I can't in good conscience recommend a company that can't even put up a "hey, we're still around and functioning" message on their website.

And of course, just as I look, they've at least tweeted they have new products, but still no new support info. The Inland drives are evidently coming with ECFM F/W version 22.4 out of the blister pack. No one's uploaded a F/W update tool yet or ascertained if it'll be another destructive update.

BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Nov 14, 2019

MikeC
Jul 19, 2004
BITCH ASS NARC



I'll get this out of the way first - If you NEED Raytracing come back in Mid-September when RTX 3XXX or AMD 6XXX series cards come out. Don't bother with anything on the market right now. You will be flushing money down the toilet.


Hi friends, please vet this post so it can be potentially linked as a tiered gaming PC build guide. I'll commit to updating this post at least once every two months till or sooner (LOL) when new products justify it. Since it will be linked and not in the OP itself, should it ever fall into obsolescence and/or someone else takes up the mantle, we can easily simply delete the OP link or have it point to another updated one.

Here are 4 builds I put together for each logical tier of gaming PC I could think of. Please read the commentary after each list as it will probably answer many questions in advance


N.B

- COVID is inflating some prices and Intel 10th Gen as well as AMD's Zen 2 speed refreshes have not driven prices down since they kind of suck in the value realm. Also, useable ray tracing tech is coming to new GPUs as early as September. Now is not the best time to buy but the guide is here if you do need to buy.

- This post not a substitute for asking in the thread for specific advice or for crosschecking in case the post falls out of date before I can update the post. It is designed to offer a general framework to see how far your money can go. Always post in the thread with the required answers to the questions in the OP to obtain optimal advice tailored to you! Click on the build link and you can edit any of the saved part lists and then repost in your question.

- RAM, Motherboard, GPU make/model (with the same chip), and Case are all interchangeable and not model specific. Prices and local availability fluctuate and the cheapest item is not necessarily the one on that part list. Windows 10 is not included in the build nor is a monitor included. This is the base cost for the box only and usually with a bang for buck frame of reference in mind. Windows 10 can be had for 19 dollars on SA Mart and monitor inquiries should be directed to the SH/SC Monitor thread.

- Check carefully to see if you need a feature that isn't on the motherboard used in this guide! If you need something, and it is not on it, we can find you another motherboard that does!

- Note on RAM: AMD motherboards can be picky about the RAM kits they take and the one listed is just a placeholder. Each motherboard typically has a Qualified Vendor List where they have actually tested RAM kits out to make sure they work. I highly recommend you find a RAM kit that is on your motherboard's QVL. Odds of bad things happening with non-QVL ram is low but if it doesn't work, troubleshooting or manual RAM tuning can be a nightmare.

- Note on CPU/MOBO compatibility: AMD has been generous by continuing to use the same socket for multiple generations and offering upgrade paths for users. However given the large number of CPUs that a motherboard must support, almost no motherboard covers all CPUs that fit the socket. Check for compatibility before buying.

- Every system here is AMD based. That's because they still offer the best bang for the buck. Intel 10th gen offerings mean that it is no longer embarrassing to buy an Intel-based system anymore but I will not list any parts for them here. If you want Team Blue, ask in the thread for a CPU/Mobo combo that fits in your tier.

Revision 2.0 - July 14, 2020

I want my kid to play Minecraft, Fortnite and/or the current E-Sport game de jour on a PC

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M/AC Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA Ultimate SU800 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.97 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($69.93 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: ARCTIC Arctic F14 PWM 77.3 CFM 140 mm Fan ($10.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $513.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-14 18:48 EDT-0400

This build is unchanged from 2019 although COVID prices have made it more expensive. For just around 500 USD, one can assemble a PC capable of playing the latest mass consumer, kid-friendly titles, with medium or low settings on a 1080p (also known as Full HD/FHD) monitor. An AMD CPU with integrated graphics can play these titles with a minimum of 45-60 frames per second as most of these titles are designed with low hardware requirements to capture the biggest audience possible. Modern "retro" gaming like Minecraft and other pixel style games should also be very playable. The primary advantage of this build is to save you the cost of buying a separate graphics card. It is important to note that these games are not the same as what is generally known as AAA games such as the latest Ubisoft open-world game (think Assassin's Creed or Ghost Recon). While it is possible to run these games at low graphics settings and still be enjoyable, "acceptable" performance in the FPS department is not guaranteed. It is important to note that this build is not necessarily recommended as even an increase in budget to around 700 dollars can buy substantial performance increases and unlock the door to a much better gaming experience. The longevity of the CPU is also questionable with respect to how long it can support gaming beyond these types of kid-friendly games. For those with absolutely no wiggle room, however, this will be a serviceable option as a barebones entry-level gaming PC.

The AMD AM4 socket on a B450 motherboard offers a lot of upgradability. The easiest upgrade will be the addition of a graphics card which should immediately boost performance by allowing higher graphics settings and increase framerates at 1080p. A used AMD RX 580 can be had for around $100 and even a new one should cost no more than around $150. The motherboard can also support a CPU drop-in upgrade with a modern Ryzen 3600 6 core/ 12 thread CPU costing about $200 dollars. Ryzen 4000 desktop CPUs being released in Q4 2020 will compatible though launch date and skus are not available as this time. This PC offers good flexibility for staggered upgrades even if it means throwing the CPU in the recycle bin after 12 months.

If the build must come in below 500 dollars, the AMD 3200G might save you up to 40-50 dollars although the hit in graphics performance is noticeable and the 3200G does not have SMT. This is not a recommended option but it does exist.


Budget 1080p gaming at 60 FPS

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($171.89 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA Ultimate SU800 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.97 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 580 8 GB GTS XXX ED Video Card ($169.99 @ B&H)
Case: Corsair 275R Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($72.20 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Cooler Master MasterWatt 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ B&H)
Total: $734.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-14 19:16 EDT-0400

For 730 USD, a solid budget PC can be had for gaming at 1080p with ~60 FPS, with high settings, in modern AAA titles. The CPU listed is the Ryzen 3600 which is now at 170 USD. Since the time of launch about 9 months ago, this outstanding value-oriented CPU has come down in price sufficiently to crowd out its older cousins which used to occupy the budget space. The other CPUs in contention are the Ryzen 2600 (can also be listed as a 1600AF or 1600 (12nm edition)) or the 3300X but only if they can beat the 3600 in price by at least 50 USD to maintain the same price to performance ratio. The 2600 and its variants lack the 3600's improvement in per-core speed and efficiency while the 3300X comes with just 4 cores which can be a detriment later in the system's life as games get more thread intensive. Ask in the thread for a more in-depth explanation if required.

A discreet graphics card has also been added and it is the remains the venerable AMD RX 580. If you want additional headroom to increase graphics settings in-game or to "lock-in" 60 FPS per second, an additional $50 dollars or so will net you the GTX 1660 Super which is the new king of the 1080p, High/Ultra settings, 60 FPS playground. AMD's offerings in the GPU upgrade department include the 5600XT. Sidegrade options for the RX580 include the Nvidia 1650 Super and the AMD 5500XT. These two options sip less power. This PC should be able to comfortably handle any modern-day game with an average of 60 FPS with typical "medium/high" in-game settings.

The storage listed is a 500 GB SATA SSD. The motherboard does offer a SATA/NVME M.2 slot and a minor cost increase of ~10-20 dollars will net you a fancier SSD though performance gains in booting Windows and loading games will be negligible.


Flex 1080p at 100+ FPS or 1440p at 60+ FPS

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($171.89 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB PULSE Video Card ($399.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case ($80.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master MasterWatt 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1020.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-14 19:15 EDT-0400

The $1000-$1100 price range will buy you either a true high refresh rate experience at 1080p or offer a solid 1440p (also known as QHD) experience at 60-90 FPS. This build will serve either a gamer who owns a 144Hz or 240Hz 1080p monitor or a gamer with a 1440p monitor. The graphics card is now the AMD RX 5700XT, the current mainstream recommendation at 1440p. The PSU is also upgraded to a 650w fully modular unit for increased headroom in case future upgrades require it.

There is a ton of flexibility to this build. Should the current budget be insufficient, there is a myriad of cost-cutting measures or reasonable upgrades available to the buyer. On the CPU front, the 3600 will likely remain a capable CPU for the foreseeable future. If one wishes to cut costs, the alternative CPUs listed in the budget 1080p build remain viable options. If one wishes a degree of future-proofing for 8 core consoles launching this Thanksgiving, purchasing a 3700X at an additional 80 USD will let you match them core for core. Both the XBOX and PS5 will run a custom version of the 3700X processor which means the 3700X has the potential to age in the long-term (24-48 month) better than the 3600 might. This is speculation though as we have no idea if developers can or will leverage all 8 cores at launch or how badly 6 core parts will fare should doomsday come to pass.

The previous version of this build had 3600 MHz CL16 RAM but with 3200 CL16 RAM sliding in at sub 70 dollar rates, it may be worth saving the around 30 bucks or so if you can find a cheap QVL complaint kit and give up ~2-4 FPS tops if money is tight. The SSD is now a 1TB drive for extra storage. With the size of games these days, 500 GB can feel quite small.

Another option is to go for a more budget-oriented GPU. The AMD RX 5700 offers only an 8-15% drop in performance and can be had for as low as $330-350 at the time of writing. This will mean that you run the risk of having games drop below 60 FPS at times but with modern monitors and adaptive sync technology, the penalty for dropping slightly below 60 FPS is nowhere near as punishing to the user experience as before. Other budget options include older AMD and Nvidia GPUs. The Vega 56/64 series cards can sometimes be had for cheaper though in general, if you want AMD, the 5700 is the way to go. Nvidia doesn't really have a serviceable budget option here. The 2060 non-super is simply not recommended due to its 6 GB of VRAM. If push comes to shove, the GTX 1660 Super and 1660 Ti can be pressed into 1440p service at reduced graphics settings (medium) so if you want to carry those GPUs over to a new build, that can be an option although buying them new for this build is not recommended. There are better places to find savings on a gaming PC.

If you have the extra money in the budget and want to spend it for better performance, the primary place will be the GPU. The RTX 2070 Super from Nvidia is $100 dollars more for marginally superior performance (title to title basis) but does have ray tracing support on its hardware. Ray tracing on current RTX cards are abysmal, however. If you want to guarantee good ray tracing performance, wait until this fall when new cards come out. That said one potential ace that the RTX lineup has up its sleeve is DLSS 2.0. This Nvidia technology allows for rendering at low resolution and then upscaling while maintaining visual fidelity although the games that currently have this as an option can be counted on two hands. The RTX 2080 and 2080 Super are options to consider if you want better frames per second performance than what the 5700XT can offer. AMD currently has no viable competitor to these Nvidia offerings. Be prepared to pay for the performance.


Flex 1440p 100+ FPS or 2160p - You should not buy this build see notes.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($75.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card ($719.99 @ Walmart)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($98.99 @ Walmart)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($116.01 @ Amazon)
Total: $1540.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-14 19:35 EDT-0400

If you are in the market for this kind of performance, you should wait till September or October and go all-in on next-gen. RTX 3000 series and AMD 6000 series will offer major performance boosts over the 2080 Super/Ti for much less. That is before considering ray tracing. There isn't much to be said here that isn't already covered by the previous sections. 4K gaming at high settings will require a 2080 Super at least with a 2080 Ti being recommended. You can still use a Ryzen 3600 if you want for a 4K build as the GPU is the main constraint to save some money.

The main update to the build from the July 2019 variant is the inclusion of an X570 motherboard for PCIE 4.0 access and the potential for newer SSDs this fall to make use of the extra bandwidth available. Also, I have scaled back the GPU to the 2080 Super as the 2080 TI remains well above 1000 USD. The 2080 TI is recommended though if you want 4K performance right now. Next-gen GPUs can't come soon enough.


MikeC fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Sep 10, 2020

wormil
Sep 12, 2002

Hulk will smoke you!

Stickman posted:

You can't really go wrong per se, but I'd probably avoid Zotac since their support has a terrible reputation and single-fan cards since they'll be hotter and louder. The MSi Ventus doesn't have a zero-rpm mode to stop the fans at idle, if you care about that feature. The EVGA SC Ultra has a weird giant stack of thermal transfer pads on the vram (but it still seems to perform okay) and the Gigabyte has plastic backplate (but it's thermals are still fine). The MSi Gaming X and the triple-fan Gigabyte are good, but pricier.

Thanks, I went with the MSI 1660 Super Gaming X. Most others were out of stock and jumped $20 between afternoon to evening. Seems like a good choice though, reviews say it is quieter than other 1660 supers.

Here To Help
Aug 16, 2008
Hey folks,

I've been putting together a part list for a new PC build, including eventually a monitor that should perform solidly at 1440p. I'm planning to start picking up the parts around the black friday sales when I can hopefully chop a little bit off the total price tag. I'm posting this as a sanity check - am I making a clearly inferior pick on a certain part, are there good alternatives to consider, etc.

What country are you in? USA
What are you using the system for? Gaming
What's your budget? Flexible but keeping it around ~1500 before monitor as a goal.
If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution? Currently 1080p, but expecting to upgrade to a 1440p monitor

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($309.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($48.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($74.29 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($403.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($133.08 @ Amazon)
Monitor: LG 32GK650F-B 32.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor ($346.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1707.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-14 01:44 EST-0500

When it comes to the Motherboard I'm also looking at the x570 tuf with wifi, along with the b450 tomahawk options that seem popular. I'll make a decision based on pricing vs features closer to black friday. I may swap the GPU to a sapphire pulse again depending on prices. Storage is mostly a placeholder but I'll be looking in the 1tb (and roughly $100) range when the time comes. I want a platinum rated modular PSU but again, not wedded to a brand. Finally for the case I'm also considering the fractal meshify C.

Anyways, taking this list as a sort of outline for a PC, is there anything that just doesn't make sense? Should I consider going to 32gb ram? Any options I've overlooked or brand recommendations for specific parts? Thanks.

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

BIG HEADLINE posted:

Phison E12 drives are Phison E12 drives are Phison E12 drives, but MyDigitalSSD hasn't updated their website even news-wise in months. They also haven't put out a F/W update in well over a year.

I can't in good conscience recommend a company that can't even put up a "hey, we're still around and functioning" message on their website.

And of course, just as I look, they've at least tweeted they have new products, but still no new support info. The Inland drives are evidently coming with ECFM F/W version 22.4 out of the blister pack. No one's uploaded a F/W update tool yet or ascertained if it'll be another destructive update.

Thanks! It sounds like the firmware is probably cross-compatible between MDSSD and Corsair, but that's an unsupported pain in the rear end :/



Thanks for writing all this great stuff out! At the beginning where you talk about asking the thread, I'd mention that prices change and there are a lot of interchangeable parts, so there's a good chance that asking will shave a bit of the cost the build. I'd also mention the motherboard/cpu combo deals at Microcenter for US folks.

In the budget builds, the Corsair CX (2017) basically the same price as the VS for a newer, higher-quality design.

For the ultra-budget build, the 3400g and 2400g have close to identical gaming performance and dropping down lets you move to a cheaper (but still upgrade-capablee) motherboard. I also switched to the cheaper Masterbox Q300L, which really needs the extra intake fan but still comes out cheaper and more compact. That'll either save $70 or give headroom for upgrade to a 1TB drive. It might also be worth mentioning that swapping out to Ryzen 1600 + 1650/570 is just ~$100 more and would vastly improve performance in more demanding games, but that might be better relegated to thread advice.

MSi's Armor cooling was still terrible when the 580 was released, so I'd avoid that particular model. Unfortunately, 580 prices aren't what they once were and the cheapest model I'd recommend is only $20 away from a decent 1660 (the Ventus doesn't have fan-stop, but it's cooling is fine).

E: For the "Flex" build, I'd probably just go ahead and throw in a Meshify C. It's a decent build-quality upgrade over the P400 for only $20. I'd also just stick to 3200MHz RAM - G.Skill lists that 3600 kit as only qvl for a few top-end x570 boards, so it could potentially have XMP issues.

I'd also probably mention that the 2080 Super is a "splurge" upgrade - it's a pretty marginal ~15% performance boost for $300 over the XT (or $200 over the 2070 Super).

EE: Apparently the su750 is dramless so I'd probably just recommend spending the extra $5 for an su800 to avoid the extra wear-and-tear.

Stickman fucked around with this message at 08:46 on Nov 14, 2019

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

Here To Help posted:

Hey folks,

I've been putting together a part list for a new PC build, including eventually a monitor that should perform solidly at 1440p. I'm planning to start picking up the parts around the black friday sales when I can hopefully chop a little bit off the total price tag. I'm posting this as a sanity check - am I making a clearly inferior pick on a certain part, are there good alternatives to consider, etc.

What country are you in? USA
What are you using the system for? Gaming
What's your budget? Flexible but keeping it around ~1500 before monitor as a goal.
If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution? Currently 1080p, but expecting to upgrade to a 1440p monitor

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($309.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($48.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($74.29 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($403.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($133.08 @ Amazon)
Monitor: LG 32GK650F-B 32.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor ($346.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1707.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-14 01:44 EST-0500

When it comes to the Motherboard I'm also looking at the x570 tuf with wifi, along with the b450 tomahawk options that seem popular. I'll make a decision based on pricing vs features closer to black friday. I may swap the GPU to a sapphire pulse again depending on prices. Storage is mostly a placeholder but I'll be looking in the 1tb (and roughly $100) range when the time comes. I want a platinum rated modular PSU but again, not wedded to a brand. Finally for the case I'm also considering the fractal meshify C.

Anyways, taking this list as a sort of outline for a PC, is there anything that just doesn't make sense? Should I consider going to 32gb ram? Any options I've overlooked or brand recommendations for specific parts? Thanks.

This looks good and it sounds like you have a handle on the options. For gaming right now a 3700x will perform similarly to a 3600, but it's not too expensive of an upgrade.

The Tuf and Elite are pretty similar - the main difference is that the Tuf has a USB-c port on the back but no front-panel usb-c header while the Elite has a front-panel header but none on the back. Since the H510 has a front-panel usb-c port, you might prefer the Elite.

For your SSD, look for deals on the HP ex920, Inland Premium, Sabrent Rocket, Corsair MP510, or Silicon Power A80. The WD Blue is a SATA drive rather than proper NVMe, but there's not really a noticeable difference in gaming performance. The Crucial MX500, Samsung 860 Evo (not QVO), and Adata su800 are all good SATA drives that are worthwhile if they offer a bit of savings over the NVMe options.

The Mugen 5 is great, but isn't strictly necessary. The stock cooler on 3700x is sufficient for cooling, though it's a bit too loud for some people.

I'd consider leaving the H510 in it's stock negative-pressure configuration (2x exhaust, no intake). Gamersnexus found that it reduces gpu temperatures at the cost of slightly increased CPU temperatures, and gpu temps are what's most important for gaming.

E: You're selected monitor is a VA panel, which tend to have a noticeable amount of ghosting due to their slow pixel response time. There's several good 1440p/144Hz IPS options available right now in the same price range - I'd ask for recommendations over in the monitor thread!

Stickman fucked around with this message at 08:42 on Nov 14, 2019

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5