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orange juche
Mar 14, 2012



Adus posted:

Is this actually a good part selection? Because it looks like not a bad deal. My current build is now 6 years old and the only thing that has been replaced is the power supply. It's been good, but I want some better game performance where I can run things at a high graphic setting. I tend to keep things on medium nowadays. Not looking for megaperformance top tier but something where I can set games to 'very high' and not have issues.

Honestly I'd put my budget at around 1500 but that includes getting a new monitor.

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? Gaming

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. $2k MAX. $1k-1.5k ideal. Including monitor.

If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution / refresh rate? How fancy do you want your graphics, from “it runs” to “Ultra preset as fast as possible”? Replacing current monitor so whatever looks best. Performance ideal a notch or two below 'ultra'.


That is actually a quite well balanced PC, and will get you what you're looking for without breaking the bank.

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Ak Gara
Jul 29, 2005

That's just the way he rolls.
My pumps have a molex cable for power and a fan header cable for PWM and RPM.
The Aquaero 6 has enough power to power a pump directly from the fan header right? Is there a molex power + 2pin fan header to 4 pin fan header cable?

Like this, but with PWM too


Also, I'm still concerned at max amps a wire can take. Molex can do about 10 amps I think? If I'm using all 4 of the molex chain, do I have to worry about the 6 pin peripheral cable part? I'm using 210 LED's for the fans alone + 94 LED's on strips.

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

Adus posted:

Is this actually a good part selection? Because it looks like not a bad deal. My current build is now 6 years old and the only thing that has been replaced is the power supply. It's been good, but I want some better game performance where I can run things at a high graphic setting. I tend to keep things on medium nowadays. Not looking for megaperformance top tier but something where I can set games to 'very high' and not have issues.

Honestly I'd put my budget at around 1500 but that includes getting a new monitor.

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? Gaming

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. $2k MAX. $1k-1.5k ideal. Including monitor.

If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution / refresh rate? How fancy do you want your graphics, from “it runs” to “Ultra preset as fast as possible”? Replacing current monitor so whatever looks best. Performance ideal a notch or two below 'ultra'.

It's pretty good. It lines up pretty well with our standard recommendations with two exceptions:

Storage: At this point, 1TB is the sweet spot for space/$$ on SSDs, and the VX500 is a pretty old model that's unlikely to be a good value right now. His spiel about NVMe drives is a little misleading because while they can read and write much faster than SATA drives, in practice performance really only differs with very large files. Gaming performance and loads times are nearly identical. I'm also wary of recommend QLC drives like the Corsair P1 and Intel 660p as primary system drives given the reduced endurance of QLC NAND vs TLC and the marginal cost savings. Right now the best 1TB deals are the Adata su800 ($98) for 2.5" SATA SSDs or the Inland Premium ($105) for M.2 NVMe.

PSU: The Cooler Master MWE series only has 5-year warranties and generally don't save much money over our standard recommendations: Seasonic Focus Plus Gold, Corsair RMX (2018) or RM (2019), EVGA G1+/G2/G3. Those all have 10-year warranties, with the exception of the 550/650W versions of the G2 and G3, which have 7.

Schadenboner
Aug 15, 2011

by Shine
The "6 Pin" power than a 1650S needs and the "PCIe 6+2" that Corsair PSUs have are the same thing, just with two of the pins (the "+2" presumably) dangling right?

Also, are any of the Corsair PSU series a "hard pass" (as the kids say these days)?

E: I've heard the easiest way to avoid seriously bad PSUs is to only look at Semi- and Full-Modular ones, but that's obviously just a first screening thing.

Schadenboner fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Nov 25, 2019

smenj
Oct 10, 2012
Hi all,

I'm in the UK and have a PC that I'm looking to upgrade - I've actually replaced the GPU a few times and am now on a 1070Ti, which I'm happy with. Issue is it's been long enough that the CPU's now the bottleneck (i5 3570k), and I can't overclock it since my case is very stupid and not wide enough for any decent aftermarket coolers. Figured I'd get a new case and add a new cooler to get a bit of extra life out of it, but getting a new case means rebuilding everything anyway, and getting a new CPU means new motherboard, RAM... You can see where this is going.

I've decided to rebuild in a new case in the end, and get a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM. Should be keeping all my other PC bits - GPU, hard drives/SSDs, PSU, etc. Note I've already bought the components for the new system below.

Old system:
Motherboard: Genuinely can't remember - an old ASUS one.
CPU: Intel i5-3570k

New system:
Motherboard:Gigabyte B450M DS3H
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600X
RAM: Corasir Vengeance LPX 3000MHz DDR4

Not really worried about compatibility of parts and such, since I got a motherboard/CPU combo deal, so the board should be pre-flashed/updated and the CPU preinstalled when it arrives. I'm mainly just asking about what problems I'll face trying to transfer across my existing installation and how I should prepare for doing so. Just to clarify, I'm hoping to essentially put the new motherboard in the new case, then transfer across the hard drives and GPU from the old system and turn it on.

I'm aware that starting from a fresh Windows install would normally be the best thing, but I'm hoping to be able to avoid it this time! I know I'll likely need to uninstall some drivers though, since I'm not starting from a blank installation and the current ones will be for the old Intel CPU. Or will installing the drivers for the new motherboard and CPU simply remove the old ones as it does so? What should I be doing to make sure everything works?

Gnumonic
Dec 11, 2005

Maybe you thought I was the Packard Goose?
What's the cheapest 650w+ PSU that is reliable and will last a while? Preferably Seasonic since, as I understand it, they make all the models that are worth buying for everyone else anyway. Full modular would be nice but I don't really care too much if it's semi-modular (i.e. has the mobo/cpu connection hardwired but nothing else).

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

Schadenboner posted:

The "6 Pin" power than a 1650S needs and the "PCIe 6+2" that Corsair PSUs have are the same thing, just with two of the pins (the "+2" presumably) dangling right?

Also, are any of the Corsair PSU series a "hard pass" (as the kids say these days)?

E: I've heard the easiest way to avoid seriously bad PSUs is to only look at Semi- and Full-Modular ones, but that's obviously just a first screening thing.

Yes, just use the 6-pin connect and leave the +2 dangling.

The RMX (2018) and RM (2019) are good gold models. The TXM psus are decent, too, but only if you need a sem-modular supply since they're usually more expensive than the newest RMX/RM models. The Bronze CX (2017) and CXM (2015, or perferrably v2 2017) are decent, but generally don't offer much savings over the gold lines and have 5-year rather than 7-year warranties.

I'd personally say that older models (i.e. non-2018-branded RMX, etc) are a "hard pass" because who knows how long they've been languishing on shelves. Anything below the CX/CXM, too, unless you absolutely must have the cheapest build.

Gnumonic posted:

What's the cheapest 650w+ PSU that is reliable and will last a while? Preferably Seasonic since, as I understand it, they make all the models that are worth buying for everyone else anyway. Full modular would be nice but I don't really care too much if it's semi-modular (i.e. has the mobo/cpu connection hardwired but nothing else).

Seasonic Focus Plus Gold is pretty much the best value line, and fully modular with a 10-year warranty. Sometimes you might see a Focus Gold (non-Plus) for cheaper - they're decent enough, semi-modular, and come with a 7-year warranty. There are a lot of decent manufacturers out there, though - Corsair's RMX line is CWT, for instance, and they'll save you $10 or $20 over a Seasonic right now. EVGA's best models are manufactured by Superflower.

Stickman fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Nov 25, 2019

Bank
Feb 20, 2004
Saw some crazy deal on Corsair 16gb RBG sticks and pulled the trigger..

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/e0y7bf/ram_corsair_vengeance_rgb_pro_16_gb_2_x_8_gb/

I haven't bought any other parts yet, but I guess this is how it'll start 😭

Schadenboner
Aug 15, 2011

by Shine
Are there any decent mATX B450s if I'm going to want to slap a 3700X in it (not much overclocking) or should I still go with the (ATX-only) Tomahawk MAX?

Ragingsheep
Nov 7, 2009

Schadenboner posted:

Are there any decent mATX B450s if I'm going to want to slap a 3700X in it (not much overclocking) or should I still go with the (ATX-only) Tomahawk MAX?

Buildzoid did a roundup of all the AM4 motherboards recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti38JS8RuPU

Schadenboner
Aug 15, 2011

by Shine

Ragingsheep posted:

Buildzoid did a roundup of all the AM4 motherboards recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti38JS8RuPU

Welp, I found a new channel to binge...

:munch:

E: RIP mATX apparently. :sigh:

Schadenboner fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Nov 25, 2019

DustyNuts
Jun 1, 2000

Have you seen me?

Hi all, am I doing anything dumb with this budget build? I like mini stuff because it's fun to cram everything into a small container.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BNkhtp

My current mini build is in a Silverstone SG13. Intel I5-7400, ASRock H170M-ITX/DL, GTX 1060 3GB. I thought I'd try an AMD build for once. I want to build a new computer so I can play current titles with decent graphics.

Any criticism appreciated, thanks!

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

Schadenboner posted:

Are there any decent mATX B450s if I'm going to want to slap a 3700X in it (not much overclocking) or should I still go with the (ATX-only) Tomahawk MAX?

There is an MSI b450m Max board that's compatible out of the box

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-ProSeries-Motherboard-B450M-PRO-VDH/dp/B07XH629TV

But I think mATX is pretty much dead at this point.

Kerbtree
Sep 8, 2008

BAD FALCON!
LAZY!

Schadenboner posted:

Welp, I found a new channel to binge...

:munch:

E: RIP mATX apparently. :sigh:

I'm considering something similar myself - Buildzoid spent a bunch of time making happy noises about the B450M Mortar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSqhVlpgw3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qZW3-xZEHg

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

Schadenboner posted:

Are there any decent mATX B450s if I'm going to want to slap a 3700X in it (not much overclocking) or should I still go with the (ATX-only) Tomahawk MAX?

Not really. The VDH MAX that Mu Zeta mentioned isn't very good (though it would work). The only B450 mATX I'd call good is the MSi Mortar, but that hasn't been available in the US for over a year. If you really want a cheap mATX, the ASRock B450m Pro4 is probably the "best" of the pack, but you'd need a way to flash it and it you'd want to stick to QVL ram. If you really want mATX I'd just probably just pay extra for the X570 mATX Pro4 and save the hassle.

Kerbtree posted:

I'm considering something similar myself - Buildzoid spent a bunch of time making happy noises about the B450M Mortar:

Yeah, if you're in Europe the Mortar is a good option. It has a MAX variant with guaranteed 3rd-gen compatibility and the fancy gui bios, but the non-MAX variant has a "flash bios" button for cpu-less usb flashing so it's also a safe choice.

Stickman fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Nov 25, 2019

Assepoester
Jul 18, 2004
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
Melman v2
Micro-ATX isn't dead, it just became Mini-DTX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCeBYEAxC7Q

Schadenboner
Aug 15, 2011

by Shine

Kerbtree posted:

I'm considering something similar myself - Buildzoid spent a bunch of time making happy noises about the B450M Mortar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSqhVlpgw3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qZW3-xZEHg

Problem being that the only way to get a Mortar or Mortar Max or Mortar White seems to be importation from the UK (I’m :gop:). Nowhere else has it.

:(

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

DustyNuts posted:

Hi all, am I doing anything dumb with this budget build? I like mini stuff because it's fun to cram everything into a small container.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BNkhtp

My current mini build is in a Silverstone SG13. Intel I5-7400, ASRock H170M-ITX/DL, GTX 1060 3GB. I thought I'd try an AMD build for once. I want to build a new computer so I can play current titles with decent graphics.

Any criticism appreciated, thanks!

You'll need a plan to flash the bios on the b450 if it doesn't come preflashed with 3rd-gen compatibility - either buying from Microcenter or another brick-and-mortar where you can see compatibility stickers or where they'll flash for free, buying or borrowing a 1st/2nd-gen cpu long enough to update the bios, or use AMD's loaner program.

- The Mugen 5 is a nice cooler, but it isn't necessary for the 3600. The stock cooler is fine for cooling. If you want something a little quieter and want to keep costs down, a Gammaxx 400 or Arctic Freezer 34 would be sufficient. I'd start with stock and see if the noise bothers you.

- The ASRock B450 itx is a decent board, but the Asus B450i is just $15 and offers a decent vrm upgrade and second M.2 slot. The VRM upgrade isn't strictly necessary for a 3600, but would be good if you ever upgrade to a more power-hungry cpu.

- You can get QVL 3200 ram for only a few dollars more, and there are several options if you don't like the aesthetics!

- The 970 Evo is now expensive for the performance it offers. The 1TB Inland Professional is just $104 and twice the capacity. I'd get that or a Kingston A2000 and ditch the spinny disk. An Intel 660p or Adata su800 makes a great secondary SSD for game installs, etc.

- The fan controller included in the "i" variant of the H200 isn't really worth paying extra for. Unless you specifically chose the blue case for the color, you could save a bit with an H200.

- I hate to see a CXM go into brand new $900 build, even if it is on sale. I'd consider bumping it up to an RMx, though saving $35 is a better deal than usual.

Stickman fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Nov 25, 2019

Citycop
Apr 11, 2005

Greetings, Rainbow Dash.

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

Adus posted:

Is this actually a good part selection? Because it looks like not a bad deal. My current build is now 6 years old and the only thing that has been replaced is the power supply. It's been good, but I want some better game performance where I can run things at a high graphic setting. I tend to keep things on medium nowadays. Not looking for megaperformance top tier but something where I can set games to 'very high' and not have issues.

Honestly I'd put my budget at around 1500 but that includes getting a new monitor.

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? Gaming

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. $2k MAX. $1k-1.5k ideal. Including monitor.

If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution / refresh rate? How fancy do you want your graphics, from “it runs” to “Ultra preset as fast as possible”? Replacing current monitor so whatever looks best. Performance ideal a notch or two below 'ultra'.

My budget was $2k with a 1440 monitor, I'm pretty close. You could (read: should) step down to the 2070 super... You should also forego the 360 radiator AIO, that was a splurge. Also this memory is a bit of a splurge. I'm waiting for some black friday deals on ram, case and video card still. You probably don't need the cabinet fan as well...

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (Purchased For $188.23)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool CASTLE 360EX 64.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (Purchased For $121.99)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For $149.99)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For $74.99)
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For $99.19)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card ($719.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case ($128.99 @ Adorama)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $74.99)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($25.00)
Case Fan: Deepcool RF120M(5 in 1) 56.5 CFM 120 mm Fans ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Dell S2716DGR 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor (Purchased For $349.99)
Keyboard: Logitech G610 Wired Gaming Keyboard (Purchased For $49.99)
Custom: AC Infinity AIRPLATE T9, Quiet Cooling Fan System 18" with Thermostat Control, for Home Theater AV Cabinets ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2333.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-24 21:16 EST-0500

Citycop fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Nov 25, 2019

Adus
Nov 4, 2009

heck

Citycop posted:

My budget was $2k with a 1440 monitor, I'm pretty close. You could (read: should) step down to the 2070 super... You should also forego the 360 radiator AIO, that was a splurge. Also this memory is a bit of a splurge. I'm waiting for some black friday deals on ram, case and video card still. You probably don't need the cabinet fan as well...

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (Purchased For $188.23)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool CASTLE 360EX 64.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (Purchased For $121.99)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For $149.99)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For $74.99)
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For $99.19)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card ($719.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case ($128.99 @ Adorama)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $74.99)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($25.00)
Case Fan: Deepcool RF120M(5 in 1) 56.5 CFM 120 mm Fans ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Dell S2716DGR 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor (Purchased For $349.99)
Keyboard: Logitech G610 Wired Gaming Keyboard (Purchased For $49.99)
Custom: AC Infinity AIRPLATE T9, Quiet Cooling Fan System 18" with Thermostat Control, for Home Theater AV Cabinets ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2333.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-24 21:16 EST-0500

how'd you get such low prices on some of these things that you already marked as purchased? like if i unmark those things and have it auto-generate some of the prices go up considerably.

Citycop
Apr 11, 2005

Greetings, Rainbow Dash.

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

Adus posted:

how'd you get such low prices on some of these things that you already marked as purchased? like if i unmark those things and have it auto-generate some of the prices go up considerably.

I practically live on this page:

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/new/

I check it on my phone constantly when I'm away from the house.

also check Newegg's ebay store often.

Crusty Nutsack
Apr 21, 2005

SUCK LASER, COPPERS


Hi everyone. I'm not building a PC but I think this is still the thread I need? I just need a recommendation on what external SSD to buy. My boyfriend died recently and I want to dump his photos and other stuff from his old, jacked Windows laptop onto an SSD to backup/put on my newer Windows laptop. I assume it's best to buy an SSD now? It probably doesn't have to be huge, 500gb should be more than plenty.

Price under $100 would be great, and if I can find a good black friday deal that'd be cool too. I'm in the US. I'm not really sure if it even matter which brand to buy anymore, or if there's different types, etc. Thanks for your advice!

teacup
Dec 20, 2006

= M I L K E R S =
Do most motherboards have Bluetooth and wifi in them at the moment? Or am I kidding myself and should just just USB?

Also I am going to be building mine soon and I want to finally smash through my backlog of wii and wii u games (and GameCube if they still work?) and I know emulators are pretty decent here. What hardware add on do I need to be able to plug poo poo in on these? I still have the controller and consoles (although no actual GameCube) and I don’t mind using a different controller but I don’t know how the motion / extra screen stuff works.

Citycop
Apr 11, 2005

Greetings, Rainbow Dash.

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

Crusty Nutsack posted:

Hi everyone. I'm not building a PC but I think this is still the thread I need? I just need a recommendation on what external SSD to buy. My boyfriend died recently and I want to dump his photos and other stuff from his old, jacked Windows laptop onto an SSD to backup/put on my newer Windows laptop. I assume it's best to buy an SSD now? It probably doesn't have to be huge, 500gb should be more than plenty.

Price under $100 would be great, and if I can find a good black friday deal that'd be cool too. I'm in the US. I'm not really sure if it even matter which brand to buy anymore, or if there's different types, etc. Thanks for your advice!

hard to go wrong, almost anything would work as long as the laptop has a usb port:

https://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Elements-Portable-External/dp/B06W55K9N6


teacup posted:

Do most motherboards have Bluetooth and wifi in them at the moment? Or am I kidding myself and should just just USB?

Also I am going to be building mine soon and I want to finally smash through my backlog of wii and wii u games (and GameCube if they still work?) and I know emulators are pretty decent here. What hardware add on do I need to be able to plug poo poo in on these? I still have the controller and consoles (although no actual GameCube) and I don’t mind using a different controller but I don’t know how the motion / extra screen stuff works.

It's definitely not a given, especially the bluetooth. In fact, I can't think of any that have bluetooth. You're better off buying a good board, then just adding a PCIe WiFi card that supports BT

Citycop fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Nov 25, 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.

Schadenboner posted:

Welp, I found a new channel to binge...

:munch:

E: RIP mATX apparently. :sigh:

He says, here and in other videos, that its really not that important for the 3600 or 3700, they don't have the power draw to need beefy vrms. He recommends the B450 Gaming Plus for mATX if you have a 3600 or 3700. It limits your options to drop in a 3900/3950 down the line, but honestly by the time consumer workloads need those kinds of core counts I doubt any of these processors will be relevant.

Citycop
Apr 11, 2005

Greetings, Rainbow Dash.

I will now sing for you a song that I hope will ease your performance anxiety.
I think I am that rare use case that holds on to motherboards until the ebay options run out. I might be one of a handful of people running a GTX 1070 on a Socket 1156 motherboard. So when it comes to choosing B450 over X570... I should get the X570 because I'll have it forever.

Stickman
Feb 1, 2004

teacup posted:

Do most motherboards have Bluetooth and wifi in them at the moment? Or am I kidding myself and should just just USB?

Also I am going to be building mine soon and I want to finally smash through my backlog of wii and wii u games (and GameCube if they still work?) and I know emulators are pretty decent here. What hardware add on do I need to be able to plug poo poo in on these? I still have the controller and consoles (although no actual GameCube) and I don’t mind using a different controller but I don’t know how the motion / extra screen stuff works.

Any motherboard that has built-in Wifi will have bluetooth, too, but few motherboards have them. Like Citycop said, if you have a free PCIe slot, that's the most reliable option - usb tends to be a bit flaky for wifi (bluetooth can be okay). Whether it's worth getting a board with built-in wifi/bluetooth really depends on the type of board your looking for - some types have good options, some have none.

Adus
Nov 4, 2009

heck
I frankensteined some things. Opinions or suggestions helpful. Case fans or other cooling options perhaps?

And these things come up and curious how much they actually affect this?

"Warning!Some AMD B450 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Matisse CPUs. Upgrading the BIOS may require a different CPU that is supported by older BIOS revisions.
Note:The motherboard M.2 slot #1 shares bandwidth with SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports. When the M.2 slot is populated, two SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports are disabled."

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($110.58 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB Video Card ($499.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Walmart)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Dell S2716DGR 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor ($349.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1524.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-25 02:59 EST-0500

Not married to that monitor, it was just on another list and I left it there for now.

SupSuper
Apr 8, 2009

At the Heart of the city is an Alien horror, so vile and so powerful that not even death can claim it.
I'm looking to upgrade my game playing PC into a game programming PC, so I assume I wanna get as much cores for my buck as possible. Here's my current build (from Speccy):

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz
RAM: 8,00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 801MHz
Motherboard: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z87-A (SOCKET 1150)
Graphics: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 TI WINDFORCE 2X 8GB GD5
Case: Corsair 550D Midtower ATX
Power Supply: Corsair CX650 Modular 650W 80+ Bronze

What new parts do you recommend? Are Threadrippers worth it for professional use or better stick to Ryzen?

orange juche
Mar 14, 2012



SupSuper posted:

I'm looking to upgrade my game playing PC into a game programming PC, so I assume I wanna get as much cores for my buck as possible. Here's my current build (from Speccy):

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz
RAM: 8,00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 801MHz
Motherboard: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z87-A (SOCKET 1150)
Graphics: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 TI WINDFORCE 2X 8GB GD5
Case: Corsair 550D Midtower ATX
Power Supply: Corsair CX650 Modular 650W 80+ Bronze

What new parts do you recommend? Are Threadrippers worth it for professional use or better stick to Ryzen?

What's your budget and how badly do you want those cores? The Ryzen 9 3950X (16c32t) basically obsoletes previous gen Threadripper for large multicore workloads unless you really need 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes for some reason.

Once Zen 2, 3xxx Threadripper is a thing, then they'll probably outstrip Ryzen 9 for heavy threaded workloads, but right now 3950x is almost as fast as the top 2x series threadripper, but more efficient, and the total cost of the build is lower.

orange juche fucked around with this message at 11:47 on Nov 25, 2019

KillHour
Oct 28, 2007


orange juche posted:

What's your budget and how badly do you want those cores? The Ryzen 9 3950X (16c32t) basically obsoletes previous gen Threadripper for large multicore workloads unless you really need 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes for some reason.

Once Zen 2, 3xxx Threadripper is a thing, then they'll probably outstrip Ryzen 9 for heavy threaded workloads, but right now 3950x is almost as fast as the top 2x series threadripper, but more efficient, and the total cost of the build is lower.

Good news! 3950x comes out in ~40 minutes, but so does the 3960x and 3970x Threadripper! And the review embargo lifts at noon so if you waut to see if they're any good, they'll all be gone! Also the 18 core Intel HEDT part is out today and we have no idea how it compares for the same reason!

Time to decide what you're gonna drop 4 figures on today sight unseen. :homebrew:

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

The reviews are out and Threadripper is destroying everything again

Cabbages and Kings
Aug 25, 2004


Shall we be trotting home again?
I have this motherboard: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813128835?Item=N82E16813128835

GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming 7

Currently have a core i5-6500 in it, 16gb of RAM and a GTX 1080.

Trying to decide if I upgrade the chip, or if it's time for new mobo/proc/ram.

What's the fastest chip I can put in this mobo? I see it supports "6th and 7th generation processors", does that mean I can put a LGA 1151 core i7 in there, but not an LGA 1151 core i9?

I do not keep up on this stuff the way I used to so if someone can tell me:
* what are the fastest processors I can put in this motherboard
* in general does it seem worth upgrading the chip vs doing the whole mobo/ram/processor, which is probably money I'd rather not spend now.

If I could put 3-500$ into this for a substantial performance increase I probably would; I know I am starting to be CPU bound in some games.

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

You'll be able to get a Ryzen 3600, B450 mobo, and 16gigs of DDR4 3200mhz RAM for under $400 and it will last you for years.

Oxyclean
Sep 23, 2007


Stickman posted:

The VS series is an old line that's not very good compared to more modern models and has a measly 3-year warranty. At the very least, I'd go with 2015 update of the CXM (with a 5-year warranty). Since your build is sufficiently high-end I'd seriously consider just getting a nice, fully-modular, gold efficiency RMX (2018) (10-year warranty).

The MSi X570-A (and Gaming Plus) have pretty sub-par VRM for entry-level X570 boards. The Asus TUF X570 is only $10 more and is much more solid. If you'd like to save a bit of money, the B450 Tomahawk MAX is solid for $140, but you lose some features: just one M.2 slot, mid-quality onboard sound, no PCIe 4.0. The B450 Pro Carbon AC adds a second M.2 slot, an onboard sound upgrade, and integrated wifi/bluetooth, but you might have to use the cpu-less usb bios upgrade prior to installing the 3600 and the bios will be keyboard-only due to size constraints.

What's the application for PCIe 4.0? Think I'm deciding between the Tomahawk and ASUS one here, I can probably live with one M2 slot, and I'm not sure what to make of the onboard audio tradeoff. (For comparison for audio support/expectations, I think my current mobo is an ASRock H97 Pro4?)

Cabbages and Kings
Aug 25, 2004


Shall we be trotting home again?

Mu Zeta posted:

You'll be able to get a Ryzen 3600, B450 mobo, and 16gigs of DDR4 3200mhz RAM for under $400 and it will last you for years.

*sigh* Looking at benchmark numbers on the i7-770K vs the Ryzen 3600 you are right I think it would be dumb to put more into this system

especially since i can probably flip my existing mobo/proc/ram for 150-200, this becomes basically the same $200 upgrade.

i just loving hate mounting mobos and wiring up case buttons with my aging arthritic hands.

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

One advantage of NZXT cases is that they put the front panel connectors in one block.

jokrswild
Feb 12, 2004

I'm an astronomer, and these are the stars! Can you see the stars?
The school I work for is looking at starting or joining an eSports league, and I've been tasked with putting together a build quote for this.

I don't have a problem buying/pricing/building PCs in general, and could set you up with business PCs all day long, but my problem with eSports is that I'm not sure what's important, and generally haven't looked too much into the ultra high-end parts. I'm a casual gamer at best, myself. So gamers: what do you need to be successful?

Looking mainly for things to look out for, and what eSports really needs, but if someone has a sample build they'd like to share I'd appreciate it.

Location: USA
Use Case: eSports
Budget: ~$3k per, inclusive of monitor(s)
Monitor res/refresh: Open to suggestions here.

Kalman
Jan 17, 2010

KillHour posted:

Good news! 3950x comes out in ~40 minutes, but so does the 3960x and 3970x Threadripper! And the review embargo lifts at noon so if you waut to see if they're any good, they'll all be gone! Also the 18 core Intel HEDT part is out today and we have no idea how it compares for the same reason!

Time to decide what you're gonna drop 4 figures on today sight unseen. :homebrew:

Puget's testing is up on the new parts. For lots of actual stuff, the new Intel part and the Threadripper parts are basically comparable (with the Intel part coming in at half the price); for things that multi-thread extremely well (like Premiere export), Threadripper comes in 30-40% ahead of the Intel parts.

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bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

Is this a high school or higher education? You should be contacting all of the big manufacturers (isn't your school contracted with someone?) to see what sort of sponsorships and discounts they'll throw your way.

Prebuilt IMO is absolutely the only option when talking computers in a high reliability environment, especially around children. With absolutely no discounts or advantaged pricing you can get a Dell Alienware Aurora 8 for $1,899.99 that will blow away any games you'd realistically want to play, so you should have no problem hitting 3k per machine with 3-5 years of warranty & support.

You want: Fast SSD, top end video card, high refresh rate monitor (most esports titles are still played at 1080p at 144 or 240hz on a TN panel LCD), fast processor, nothing really different for "esports" than the regular gaming machines we price here, except sparing no expense where we often tell goons the $150 isn't worth a 3-5% difference. Realistically you also want to build out a separate network that's segmented and set up for low latency. There's more to it than just "get fast PCs," but that's really 97% of it.

bus hustler fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Nov 25, 2019

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