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Tatsuta Age
Apr 21, 2005

so good at being in trouble


BIG HEADLINE posted:

I'd be a little :ohdear: about a 2700X on a B450 board, though. That's kind of stretching things.

Mine's working great

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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.

BIG HEADLINE posted:

I'd be a little :ohdear: about a 2700X on a B450 board, though. That's kind of stretching things.

Wait, what? Are you saying that it's stretching the board's capabilities? If you're not overclocking, any B450 board should be able to run up to the 3900x as long as you have at least a little airflow in your case. A 2700x should be no problem.

Scruff McGruff fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Nov 18, 2019

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

Hardware Unboxed says the B450 Tomahawk runs even the 3950x very well which is a $700 processor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J69aiJJEHzQ

MikeC
Jul 19, 2004
BITCH ASS NARC

Cyrano4747 posted:

OK, another question. I'm seeing some deals at microcenter for motherboard + processor combos. Is it worth the extra $30 to move up to a Ryzen 7 2700x from the Ryzen 5 2600 bundle?

Strictly on a CPU vs CPU comparison right now, if you are gaming then no. If you stream or run a lot tasks in the background or you have other tasks that require more cores then yes.

In the nebulous future of 24 to 48 months where no one knows anything for sure, 6 core CPUs may age much worse than an 8 core due to new consoles having 8 core AMD chips in them.

Oxyclean
Sep 23, 2007


I've been dragging my feet on a major upgrade for awhile and I think I'm at a point where the most sensible thing to do is a fresh build. Save the video card I guess. (Have a 1070)

I'm in Canada, and I feel like I should stay below 1000$ particularly considering I'm not getting a video card. Use case is gaming with a lot of multitasking. My current machine hates when I try to watch youtube or streams alongside Destiny 2 or other similarly demanding games. 16GB of memory is a must, no idea if 32 would be overkill.

What are people doing for storage these days? My last build started as a 500GB SSD for the OS and a few games and a 2TB HD for big storage. I know SSDs have become massively more affordable, and I recently picked up a new 1TB SSD that I might port over into my new build. Is there any reason not to just run pure SSD setups now that the drives are pretty cheap? If I grab another 1TB drive 2TB of storage probably should be enough.

Do I have any options for porting/transferring my Windows 10 license?

Thom P. Tiers
May 29, 2008

Red Birds
Red Ass
Red Text

Oxyclean posted:

I'm in Canada, and I feel like I should stay below 1000$ particularly considering I'm not getting a video card. Use case is gaming with a lot of multitasking. My current machine hates when I try to watch youtube or streams alongside Destiny 2 or other similarly demanding games.

This is an extremely simple task and I'm confused as to why your PC hates when you do that. What exactly does it hate about it? Watching a video on one monitor while playing a game on another one is something people do all the time and it definitely doesn't take up a lot of resources to do so.

What is your current setup? (RAM / CPU mainly)

bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

Oxyclean posted:

What are people doing for storage these days? My last build started as a 500GB SSD for the OS and a few games and a 2TB HD for big storage. I know SSDs have become massively more affordable, and I recently picked up a new 1TB SSD that I might port over into my new build. Is there any reason not to just run pure SSD setups now that the drives are pretty cheap? If I grab another 1TB drive 2TB of storage probably should be enough.

There's no benefit to storing media on an SSD if you aren't doing something further with the media, and further in this case likely means "professional." If you think games are going to end up on the spinning drive as an overflow then yes, it makes sense to keep every "application" on an SSD. Though outside of a few blips they've done nothing but get cheaper, so it's never a terrible idea to just buy it when you're ready. 1TB for $80 is the sweet spot right now I think.

Oxyclean
Sep 23, 2007


Thom P. Tiers posted:

This is an extremely simple task and I'm confused as to why your PC hates when you do that. What exactly does it hate about it? Watching a video on one monitor while playing a game on another one is something people do all the time and it definitely doesn't take up a lot of resources to do so.

What is your current setup? (RAM / CPU mainly)

Destiny starts to behave very poorly - usually I don't notice any frame loss in-game, but things won't load properly - models will linger on placeholder models, loot popups take too long to load, I get stuck on loading boundaries for a lot longer. This stuff can happen normally, but it always gets much worse and fairly consistent when I have a video playing on my other monitor. I've also experienced discord "dropping" audio (I'll randomly stop hearing people and they'll cut in and out) if I minimize it in these circumstances. (And I know it's something on my end because it'll stop happening the second I un-minimize) On occasion video playback gets stuttery or I get more noticeable performance issues in game.

It's just started to feel like my computer is having a harder time keeping up in general.I can play most of the games I want, but a lot of little things are getting on my nerves.

Can't pull up my CPU atm (at work), its a good few years old now (4th or 5th gen i5?) but I think a big piece of the problem is I'm on 8 gigs of ram. I've looked into upgrading it in the past, but I recall not being able to use DDR4 due to mobo/cpu compatibility limitation, and the DDR3 upgrade path was always pricey enough to lead me into putting it off.

e: Dug into post history, running an i5-4590 apparently.

Oxyclean fucked around with this message at 18:20 on Nov 18, 2019

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.

DDR3 can be had pretty cheap now. If you post a buying thread in SA-Mart I'd bet you can get another 8gb for :20bux:

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

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

Mu Zeta posted:

Hardware Unboxed says the B450 Tomahawk runs even the 3950x very well which is a $700 processor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J69aiJJEHzQ

Of course it'll run. In the short to mid-term. I wouldn't trust a high-draw CPU in a B450 board for over three years, though. Maybe to those of us who are comfortable in doing it, swapping out a motherboard is easy, but most of the people looking for advice in here are 'curious/engaged novices.'

When I give advice in here, I always assume people are going to be using these systems for 5+ years, because that's what people are usually saying they have - specs that were good...five years ago. It's why I counsel 6-8 core CPUs. It's why I've been saying 8GB video cards are a smarter choice than 6GB, even at 1080p.

The goal should be to make sure that once someone leaves this thread, they don't need to come back for 3-5 years.

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.

You ain't gonna kill your motherboard running an in-spec processor. Maybe if you crank the OC but if you're using a stock cooler you're not going to be able to pull that off either.

Also VRM quality and chipset are independent, you can get B450 boards with very robust power delivery.

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

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

ItBreathes posted:

You ain't gonna kill your motherboard running an in-spec processor. Maybe if you crank the OC but if you're using a stock cooler you're not going to be able to pull that off either.

Also VRM quality and chipset are independent, you can get B450 boards with very robust power delivery.

Agreed, but not everyone in here is going to 100% follow our advice, either.

"Surely this B450 'Bazooka' board is the same as this 'Tomahawk MAX,' they're made by the same company! And I save $30!" :downs:

Cyrano4747
Sep 25, 2006

Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

BIG HEADLINE posted:

Agreed, but not everyone in here is going to 100% follow our advice, either.

"Surely this B450 'Bazooka' board is the same as this 'Tomahawk MAX,' they're made by the same company! And I save $30!" :downs:

So what would be your mobo recommendation for a 2700x?

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

Just say "there are B450 boards that'll be decent for a 2700x, but the Aorus M would be pretty marginal". There's zero reason to avoid recommending specific B450 boards on the off chance somebody might ignore your advice and get a different B450 board.

The real issue with the 2700x for a gaming machine is that it's going to have basically identical performance to the 2600 right now. It's easier to overclock and there's actually overclocking overhead (unlike 3rd-gen Ryzen), but overclocking on a low-end VRM like the Aorus M is pretty marginal - overclocking requires more power than running a 3900x stock! I'd say just get the 2600 if you're on a 60Hz monitor and plan on staying on one for a while and upgrade to a 3rd/4th gen cpu when you need to, or go all the way up to a 3600 if you're on a high-refresh-rate monitor. I'd also spend the extra $10 for a mATX Pro4 over the Aorus M - it has a usb-c port, a second (SATA-only) M.2 slot, and the small vrm boost positions it a bit better for running more powerful cpus down the road.

Stickman fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Nov 18, 2019

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

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

Cyrano4747 posted:

So what would be your mobo recommendation for a 2700x?

Probably a mid-range, no frills X570 like the Aorus Elite or ASUS TUF. Using a 2700X in it, you won't get PCIe 4.0, but it'll be a better platform to drop a Zen 3 CPU into 3+ years from now. The fact that OG Ryzen processors are still available in abundance speaks well for what the supply of Zen 3s will be in 3+ years.

I'm just not as big a fan of the B-series boards, but I will acknowledge that the Tomahawk MAX is a good one amongst a lot of bad, mediocre, and middling ones.

Cyrano4747
Sep 25, 2006

Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

Eh thr while point of this is that I want to avoid refreshing the CPU right away. “I’ll have overhead to get a nicer CPU in the future” is how I ended up using an i5 this long.

Is the 2700x and it’s additional cores worthwhile from that perspective or just say gently caress it and go with the 2600. I’m not opposed to going nicer, exactly but I do want to avoid dropping a ton of cash. If I can get a better mobo+processor for the 300-350 ballpark I will but I’m not interested in a $400 processor alone right now.

Edit: didn’t see the reply above. 3 or 4 years to processor isn’t terrible.

Thom P. Tiers
May 29, 2008

Red Birds
Red Ass
Red Text

Oxyclean posted:

Destiny starts to behave very poorly - usually I don't notice any frame loss in-game, but things won't load properly - models will linger on placeholder models, loot popups take too long to load, I get stuck on loading boundaries for a lot longer. This stuff can happen normally, but it always gets much worse and fairly consistent when I have a video playing on my other monitor. I've also experienced discord "dropping" audio (I'll randomly stop hearing people and they'll cut in and out) if I minimize it in these circumstances. (And I know it's something on my end because it'll stop happening the second I un-minimize) On occasion video playback gets stuttery or I get more noticeable performance issues in game.

It's just started to feel like my computer is having a harder time keeping up in general.I can play most of the games I want, but a lot of little things are getting on my nerves.

Can't pull up my CPU atm (at work), its a good few years old now (4th or 5th gen i5?) but I think a big piece of the problem is I'm on 8 gigs of ram. I've looked into upgrading it in the past, but I recall not being able to use DDR4 due to mobo/cpu compatibility limitation, and the DDR3 upgrade path was always pricey enough to lead me into putting it off.

e: Dug into post history, running an i5-4590 apparently.

So, it's ~5 years old. Have you checked out your RAM usage when playing games and watching videos? It could definitely be hitting full capacity which could be causing all of the slow downs. I'm not trying to get you to not upgrade, but it's quite possible that swapping in 16GB of RAM could make everything so much better. If you want to upgrade anyways, you can definitely do it for a lot less than your $1,000 and be very happy with it.

Oxyclean
Sep 23, 2007


Thom P. Tiers posted:

So, it's ~5 years old. Have you checked out your RAM usage when playing games and watching videos? It could definitely be hitting full capacity which could be causing all of the slow downs. I'm not trying to get you to not upgrade, but it's quite possible that swapping in 16GB of RAM could make everything so much better. If you want to upgrade anyways, you can definitely do it for a lot less than your $1,000 and be very happy with it.

I think I usually see the CPU top out, but I think that might be expected? Don't remember what ram usage looks like but I know it gets up there. I know Steam's UI update bumped its memory footprint and I feel like I'm feeling that a bit.

I think I'm interested in doing an upgrade regardless - adding memory is certainly an option but I'm almost certain my current setup is 2 sticks of 4GB, so I can't just slap in another 8 gig stick, and regardless of how I slice it, it feels like a bit of a dead-end upgrade since I'll probably want to replace the processor and mobo sooner then later.

1,000$ might be a bit high, but keep in mind I'm in Canada and prices look a bit different, For example it looks like a 2700x goes for around 260-270$ I don't entirely mind spending a bit more if it's going to be worth it, since I feel like I might have skimped on my processor last time around.

It sounds like AMD is the way to go these days? I've seen the 2700x come up a bunch in the last page, is that like a sweet spot at the moment?

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

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

Oxyclean posted:

It sounds like AMD is the way to go these days? I've seen the 2700x come up a bunch in the last page, is that like a sweet spot at the moment?

It's by far the best *value* at the moment. Micro Center's selling the 2700X for $160 at the moment, before the $30 bundle discount (which usually ends up being ~$15 after tax). $160 for a very respectable 8/16 CPU.

Tack on the fact that any AM4 board will also be able to drop in a Zen 3 processor in the future gives you an easy upgrade path to a 12-16 core CPU...if/when that *ever* becomes worthwhile to have.

BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Nov 18, 2019

VelociBacon
Dec 8, 2009

Oxyclean posted:

I think I usually see the CPU top out, but I think that might be expected? Don't remember what ram usage looks like but I know it gets up there. I know Steam's UI update bumped its memory footprint and I feel like I'm feeling that a bit.

I think I'm interested in doing an upgrade regardless - adding memory is certainly an option but I'm almost certain my current setup is 2 sticks of 4GB, so I can't just slap in another 8 gig stick, and regardless of how I slice it, it feels like a bit of a dead-end upgrade since I'll probably want to replace the processor and mobo sooner then later.

1,000$ might be a bit high, but keep in mind I'm in Canada and prices look a bit different, For example it looks like a 2700x goes for around 260-270$ I don't entirely mind spending a bit more if it's going to be worth it, since I feel like I might have skimped on my processor last time around.

It sounds like AMD is the way to go these days? I've seen the 2700x come up a bunch in the last page, is that like a sweet spot at the moment?

I think I might have 16gb of DDR3 kicking around, maybe send me a PM, I'm in Canada too, if you're in the same city you can pick it up for free and if you're not I'm happy to mail it to you for the cost of shipping a padded envelope.

Llamadeus
Dec 20, 2005

Oxyclean posted:

It sounds like AMD is the way to go these days? I've seen the 2700x come up a bunch in the last page, is that like a sweet spot at the moment?
I'd say for $200 and under the 2600 and 3600 are the two sweet spots from a mostly gaming perspective.

bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

BIG HEADLINE posted:

It's by far the best *value* at the moment. Micro Center's selling the 2700X for $160 at the moment, before the $30 bundle discount (which usually ends up being ~$15 after tax). $160 for a respectable 8/16 CPU.

Tack on the fact that any AM4 board will also be able to drop in a Zen 3 processor in the future gives you an easy upgrade path to a 12-16 core CPU...if/when that *ever* becomes worthwhile to have.

It's $260 CAD which sucks, it's more than just the exchange rate price increase. Same price as the 3600.

All from Newegg.ca, Oxyclean could do:

AMD RYZEN 5 3600 6-Core 3.6 GHz (4.2 GHz Max Boost) Socket AM4 65W 100-100000031BOX Desktop Processor ($260)
MSI X570-A PRO Motherboard AMD AM4 SATA 6Gb/s M.2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 HDMI ATX ($199)
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C16D-16GVKC ($93)
CORSAIR VS Series, VS550, 550 Watt (550W), Active PFC, 80 PLUS White Certified Power Supply ($65-$15 MIR)

If you don't need a case, SSD, or Video Card you could get out the door for about $650 shipped. Case I dunno add $75 roughly. SSD is $110 for 1TB in Canada, so definitely under $1000 no matter what.

You could go with the 2700x for the exact same price but I probably wouldn't for basic gaming, and save a few bucks by going with the B450 Tomahawk Max for $150.

bus hustler fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Nov 18, 2019

Oxyclean
Sep 23, 2007


charity rereg posted:

It's $260 CAD which sucks, it's more than just the exchange rate price increase. Same price as the 3600.

All from Newegg.ca, Oxyclean could do:

AMD RYZEN 5 3600 6-Core 3.6 GHz (4.2 GHz Max Boost) Socket AM4 65W 100-100000031BOX Desktop Processor ($260)
MSI X570-A PRO Motherboard AMD AM4 SATA 6Gb/s M.2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 HDMI ATX ($199)
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C16D-16GVKC ($93)
CORSAIR VS Series, VS550, 550 Watt (550W), Active PFC, 80 PLUS White Certified Power Supply ($65-$15 MIR)

If you don't need a case, SSD, or Video Card you could get out the door for about $650 shipped. Case I dunno add $75 roughly. SSD is $110 for 1TB in Canada, so definitely under $1000 no matter what.

You could go with the 2700x for the exact same price but I probably wouldn't for basic gaming, and save a few bucks by going with the B450 Tomahawk Max for $150.

Cool. This is really helpful. (I'll need a case, but I presume that's moslty personal preference, as long as I get something that can fit standard ATX?)

Whats the tradeoffs between the 2700x and the 3600? The former seems to be Ryzen 7 and the latter is Ryzen 5, I guess that's like a generation thing? If they're about the same price, why not go for the 2700X if it has 2 more cores?

Oxyclean fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Nov 18, 2019

MikeC
Jul 19, 2004
BITCH ASS NARC
The 3600 is on a new architecture which has 5 to 10 percent IPC gains along with better sustained clock speeds. This wipes out the 2700x's extra cores unless you have a workload that saturates 8 cores 16 threads.

teagone
Jun 10, 2003

That was pretty intense, huh?

I'm looking at my mainboards RAM QVL list again, can someone explain to me what the "DIMM" column means at the end here:



Because I'm assuming that means those modules only work in a single and dual DIMM configuration based on the checkmarks. Is that right? The same 2x8GB kit is super cheap right now, and I want to upgrade my server to 32GB of RAM by using the other two DIMM slots. Will those modules not work in a 4 DIMM configuration?

teagone fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Nov 18, 2019

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

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

teagone posted:

I'm looking at my mainboards RAM QVL list again, can someone explain to me what the "DIMM" column means at the end here:



Because I'm assuming that means those modules only work in a single and dual DIMM configuration based on the checkmarks. Is that right? Because the same kit is super cheap right now, and I want to upgrade my server to 32GB of RAM. Will those modules not work in a 4 DIMM configuration?

It's an indicator of how many DIMMs come with that particular SKU. Those two listed are 2x8 DDR4-3200 kits. Those are single-ranked modules, meaning there are only chips on one side of the PCB - those will always perform better with less issues if you fully populate your slots.

BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Nov 18, 2019

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.

5 and 7 are just segments like Intel. The 2700X has two more cores, the cores in the 3600 are ~15% stronger. The 3600 performs better today unless you have a use for more cores (i.e. not gaming), but some people are afraid that 6/12 CPUs will go obsolete quickly since the new consoles are 8 core. I can't say I share this fear, but it's there.

Cyrano4747: No one can say how long a processor will last. If the above comes to pass than the 2700X will have a longer life span, if not it'll last roughly as long as the 2600, and how long either of those last depends on what happens in the CPU industry down the line. At a readily available $120 for the 2600 you get a fine 60fps processor at i3 pricing.

it dont matter
Aug 29, 2008

I've got a HP microserver that's primarily used as a Plex server. It's doing fine for that purpose, but I'm thinking about replacing it with a more capable system that I can use for some games too. I'm gonna try building around a Ryzen 5 3600, but I haven't set up an AMD system since the Athlon days. So, coupla questions:

- Any recommendations for a motherboard? It doesn't need to be anything crazy powerful, but 6x SATA ports would be handy.
- I was under the impression AMD systems were a little more sensitive when it comes to RAM, is that still the case? I assume it's pretty safe to go by whatever Crucial or whoever recommends as suitable for your board?

teagone
Jun 10, 2003

That was pretty intense, huh?

BIG HEADLINE posted:

It's an indicator of how many DIMMs come with that particular SKU. Those two listed are 2x8 DDR4-3200 kits. Those are single-ranked modules, meaning there are only chips on one side of the PCB - those will always perform better with less issues if you fully populate your slots.

Ahh, thank you for the clarification! Picked up the same kit I ordered last year for $130 for ~$60 just now :)

Oxyclean
Sep 23, 2007


Thanks for the responses regarding the Ryzen processors.

I've noticed more recent mobos have like, dedicated slots for a different style of SSD, M.2? Is there an advantage to that style of SSD?

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.

Primarily it doesn't use any cables.

They usually fit NVMe drives too, which cost the same as SATA drives, but this is less important than the cables part, unless you're doing video editing or the like.

dobbymoodge
Mar 8, 2005

I want to expense a desktop for work because my 16GB laptop swaps daily and I can only bump it to 20GB. This might have something to do with hanging 2 4k displays off of it...
  • What country are you in?
    USA
  • What are you using the system for? Web and Office? Gaming? Video or photo editing? Professional creative or scientific computing?
    "Software development" but also kind of devops
  • What's your budget? We usually specify for just the computer itself (plus Windows), but if you also need monitor/mouse/whatever, just say so.
    $500-$1,000, maybe more, depends on approval. Monitors and peripherals are all set, so I'm budgeting for storage, CPU, RAM and GPU
  • If you’re doing professional work, what software do you need to use? What’s your typical project size and complexity? If you use multiple pieces of software, what’s your workflow?
    Emacs, Firefox with tons of browser tabs, xterm, Slack :suicide:, lots of custom tooling - some quite RAM-hungry - and some virtualization. For $REASONS I use Xfce4+Xorg instead of Gnome+Wayland
  • If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution? How fancy do you want your graphics, from “it runs” to “Ultra preset as fast as possible”?

A bit more detail, I added dual 4k displays to my work laptop and now I often find myself waiting for my screen to draw when I switch workspaces. I think this is because X has to copy huge chunks of data into VRAM, and under memory pressure this spikes CPU load. I'm guessing X decaches the framebuffer to reclaim the RAM and needs to trigger a redraw for every window on screen.

I leave my laptop on my work desk and SSH over VPN when I need to work remotely, so switching to a desktop doesn't disrupt this workflow. I'd like a machine that I can stick 32-64GB RAM into and that can support my multiple-workspaces workflow on these dual 4k displays at 60Hz in a fairly zippy fashion.

I don't think this is a complicated list, except for the GPU. The Lenovo T480s I have uses Intel Graphics which is basically garbage. Waiting 1/4 to 1/2 seconds for my desktop to redraw is surprisingly disruptive, and I feel like a "Real GPU" with it's own dedicated RAM would help minimize this. I've heard that the driver support for Radeon cards is pretty good under Linux these days, but I don't know how to apply "list of GPU specs" to my particular needs here.

Since I'm going to expense this, it needs to be a simple purchase. Ideally I'll be pricing out a Lenovo or Dell desktop that gets me what I want, or gets me 80% of the way and then I can expense the GPU and/or more RAM.

I looked into small form factor configs, but I think that really limits my options for adding a GPU today and for upgrading it a couple years down the road. If the display redraw problem is solved, this ought to suit my work needs for a few years to come.

Zikan
Feb 29, 2004

My PC is coming up on 5 years old, so I'm wondering what's the best bang for my buck upgrades to get in the short-medium term. I've overclocked the GPU but not the CPU.

What country are you in? USA
What are you using the system for? Gaming
What's your budget? $500-$1k
If you’re doing professional work, what software do you need to use? None
If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution? 1900x1200
How fancy do you want your graphics, from “it runs” to “Ultra preset as fast as possible”? As pretty as I can make it in my budget

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($33.89 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5 g Thermal Paste ($6.15 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4 GB Twin Frozr V Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($188.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($98.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Dell U2415 24.1" 1920x1200 60 Hz Monitor ($199.90 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech G710 Plus Wired Gaming Keyboard ($193.32 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G502 Proteus Core Wired Optical Mouse
Total: $851.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-18 15:44 EST-0500

Obvious point of upgrade is the graphics card as the 970 is starting to go lower then I like on settings with the newest games. I used to be an Nvidia only person but I see ATI has actually gotten competitive since I built this PC, so I'm willing to make the switch if it saves me money.
Monitor I'm probably not upgrading at the moment until the more pressing needs are addressed. I'd only want 144 hz if I was upgrading, since it's primary use is for gaming, not doing anything else with it really.

I'm willing to replace the mobo and CPU if it's time for them to go. Mostly I want to get a shopping list ready for all of the holiday sales.

Monstaland
Sep 23, 2003

Dammit.

So I just received a 1660 Super which needs to be connected to an 8 pin connector. My PSU has only 6, which was sufficient for my old 1050 GPU.

I guess using some kind of 6 to 8 adapter is pretty dumb considering this 1660 runs on 125 watt and my only option is replacing my PSU?

Edit:
This is my power unit:
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500 W

There are all kind of connectors on this unit, amongst others two eight pin red coloured cable connection ports. For a noob like me it makes sense to just order a cable to put it one of those 8 pins connectors to connect with my GPU and voila everything is fine or will my newly build explode or something comparable

Monstaland fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Nov 18, 2019

BIG HEADLINE
Jun 13, 2006

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

Klaaz posted:

Dammit.

So I just received a 1660 Super which needs to be connected to an 8 pin connector. My PSU has only 6, which was sufficient for my old 1050 GPU.

I guess using some kind of 6 to 8 adapter is pretty dumb considering this 1660 runs on 125 watt and my only option is replacing my PSU?

Nope, not dumb. Even though it's an eight-pin connector, the 1660S will never use the additional 150W an eight pin connector supplies. As you said, the TDP of the card is 125W. The PCIe slot supplies 75W, and a six pin will supply another 75W. You've got some overage. Wouldn't suggest going for a :krad: overclock, though.

If your PSU's 5-7 years old, it might not be a horrible idea to change it out (especially if it's not modular because those are :swoon: ), but that's your discretion.

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

Klaaz posted:

Dammit.

So I just received a 1660 Super which needs to be connected to an 8 pin connector. My PSU has only 6, which was sufficient for my old 1050 GPU.

I guess using some kind of 6 to 8 adapter is pretty dumb considering this 1660 runs on 125 watt and my only option is replacing my PSU?

A 6 -> 8 pin adapter will work, but if your psu is old and/or out of warranty you should seriously consider replacing it anyway. What model is it?

E: Looking at reviews, you should have a 6+2 PCIe connector on one of your cables!

Zikan posted:

My PC is coming up on 5 years old, so I'm wondering what's the best bang for my buck upgrades to get in the short-medium term. I've overclocked the GPU but not the CPU.

What country are you in? USA
What are you using the system for? Gaming
What's your budget? $500-$1k
If you’re doing professional work, what software do you need to use? None
If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution? 1900x1200
How fancy do you want your graphics, from “it runs” to “Ultra preset as fast as possible”? As pretty as I can make it in my budget

PCPartPicker Part List

Obvious point of upgrade is the graphics card as the 970 is starting to go lower then I like on settings with the newest games. I used to be an Nvidia only person but I see ATI has actually gotten competitive since I built this PC, so I'm willing to make the switch if it saves me money.
Monitor I'm probably not upgrading at the moment until the more pressing needs are addressed. I'd only want 144 hz if I was upgrading, since it's primary use is for gaming, not doing anything else with it really.

I'm willing to replace the mobo and CPU if it's time for them to go. Mostly I want to get a shopping list ready for all of the holiday sales.

For gaming right now, a 4790k should still be fine @60Hz outside of small frame pacing issues in one or two of the most demanding games. If you don't want to spend more now you could get by with just a gpu upgrade, and a 1660 Ti/2060/5700 would max most games at high/ultra settings. If you really have the itch to upgrade, start with deciding the resolution/refresh rate of the monitor since that will impact your gpu choice (and cpu, to a lesser degree).

Stickman fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Nov 18, 2019

Monstaland
Sep 23, 2003

Edit I am slow


Anyway, I'll just order a new cable then! Might buy a new PSU later. Tnx for help guys, much apreciated.

Monstaland fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Nov 18, 2019

Zikan
Feb 29, 2004

Stickman posted:

For gaming right now, a 4790k should still be fine @60Hz outside of small frame pacing issues in one or two of the most demanding games. If you don't want to spend more now you could get by with just a gpu upgrade, and a 1660 Ti/2060/5700 would max most games at high/ultra settings. If you really have the itch to upgrade, start with deciding the resolution/refresh rate of the monitor since that will impact your gpu choice (and cpu, to a lesser degree).

For a monitor upgrade I'd be going with 1440p 144hz but that won't be for a while, 2021 at the earliest (I'm assuming that 4k will still be a pipe dream if you're interested in performance without splurging for the top of the line graphics card for the foreseeable future). I wouldn't mind planning for that although 1920 x 1200 IPS looks great to me even if it's only 60hz. I don't play enough multiplayer games where I'd appreciate the extra frames over upgrading the cpu/mobo/gpu at the moment.

My goals are to play the major AAA releases of next year (Cyberpunk, Doom Eternal, Death Stranding) on the highest settings possible at 1200p 60hz while staying in my budget.

Zikan fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Nov 18, 2019

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.

alphabettitouretti posted:

I've got a HP microserver that's primarily used as a Plex server. It's doing fine for that purpose, but I'm thinking about replacing it with a more capable system that I can use for some games too. I'm gonna try building around a Ryzen 5 3600, but I haven't set up an AMD system since the Athlon days. So, coupla questions:

- Any recommendations for a motherboard? It doesn't need to be anything crazy powerful, but 6x SATA ports would be handy.
- I was under the impression AMD systems were a little more sensitive when it comes to RAM, is that still the case? I assume it's pretty safe to go by whatever Crucial or whoever recommends as suitable for your board?

The standard go-to board is the MSI Tomahawk MAX, it has a good VRM and actually effective VRM cooling. The MAX variant is designed for 3rd gen Ryzen out of the box and should be fine with any 3000-3200-3600 memory kit. The usual recommendations are Crucial Ballistix Sport LT, G.Skill Ripjaw V, or Corsair Vengeance, whichever's on sale for the best price.

It is worth noting that, on most motherboards, if you use an M.2 drive it will disable 2 of the SATA ports on the board. It's also worth noting that unless you get a G series Ryzen processor you will need a GPU in the system to get any display out so keep that in mind if you don't already have one and you're not looking to run a headless system (I assume it will still POST even without a GPU but I honestly don't know if that's actually the case).

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it dont matter
Aug 29, 2008

Scruff McGruff posted:

The standard go-to board is the MSI Tomahawk MAX, it has a good VRM and actually effective VRM cooling. The MAX variant is designed for 3rd gen Ryzen out of the box and should be fine with any 3000-3200-3600 memory kit. The usual recommendations are Crucial Ballistix Sport LT, G.Skill Ripjaw V, or Corsair Vengeance, whichever's on sale for the best price.

It is worth noting that, on most motherboards, if you use an M.2 drive it will disable 2 of the SATA ports on the board. It's also worth noting that unless you get a G series Ryzen processor you will need a GPU in the system to get any display out so keep that in mind if you don't already have one and you're not looking to run a headless system (I assume it will still POST even without a GPU but I honestly don't know if that's actually the case).

Thanks, I'll check out that board.

Totally forgot about m2 disabling sata ports. I've only got 4 drives right now so not a big deal.

GPU is going to be whatever mid range card is a good price at the time.

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