PC Building/Upgrading/Parts-picking Megathread Reloaded

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > PC Building/Upgrading/Parts-picking Megathread Reloaded

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Cross posting from HTPC thread. I bought an ASRock AM1H-ITX.

So my motherboard came and it only came with an atx splitter for two devices. Does this mean it only pulls enough power from the dc adapter (and I need a power supply for more) for two drives or just that I need to buy my own splitter? It has six SATA 3 ports on the board.

# ¿ May 10, 2016 06:33

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# ¿ May 1, 2024 23:12

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Anime Schoolgirl posted:

You need to buy your own splitter. The DC adapter powers absolutely nothing but the motherboard and CPU, and you have to use only the 24pin ATX, or the DC adapter for that sort of thing.

I don't think I understand. The psu is an external laptop charger that plugs directly into the motherboard, which has a 24-pin ATX port. The board came with a two-way ATX to SATA splitter. I'm wondering if I can just buy a cord like this that adds more SATA power plugs to the existing splitter, or if I need to go with a full (SFX) power supply. The current psu would be powering up to 5 drives (3x2.5" and 1 3.5" HDDs and one SSD) and maybe a low-profile GPU someday.

# ¿ May 10, 2016 18:20

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

My mobo has a SATA power out but only came with two male SATA power plugs. Can I just buy this and daisy-chain the current power cables to a couple of more SATA outs? The PSU should be able to handle it no problem.

# ¿ May 18, 2016 15:33

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Reposting because I think I got lost at the bottom of the last page. Sorry if it�s just a boring question!

What country are you in? Canada :canada:

What are you using the system for? Gaming and some photo and video editing. My MBP is starting to feel a little long in the tooth for 4K@60 video.

What's your budget? <$1000

If you�re doing professional work, what software do you need to use? Creative Cloud and Fusion360 are the most intensive.

If you're gaming, what is your monitor resolution? 1440p to 4k. Currently only have 1080p screens in the house. I'm more concerned with framerate than other graphics metrics, so I'll drop resolution to stay above 30fps but I'd like to get some 1440p medium-high graphics at 60fps going. No interest in VR.

I have a couple-of-years-old Samsung Evo SATA SSD (I think it's a 960), more than enough RAM, and storage all kicking around so I just need a CPU, MB, case, PSU, and GPU. I parted out this:

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600 3.1 GHz 6-Core Processor ($299.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: ASRock - B360M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.97 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card ($469.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G Mini (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($69.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $1029.93

The current GPU and CPU space is pretty alien to me, does this sound reasonable?

Power efficiency is also a pretty important variable, hence the gold PSU. I'd like the computer to be useful as an NAS, but I understand that getting a Synology or something would potentially pay for itself in power savings over the lifetime of the box (that <60W peak draw is insane). I also don't want my PC to look all garish, on my last build I actually cut out the power cord to the fan blue LEDs because ew. I'd pay a premium for low noise and low profile appearance.

[quote="tuyop" post="492651065"]
What country are you in? Canada :canada:

tuyop fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Feb 18, 2019

# ¿ Feb 17, 2019 16:24

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

An optical drive! Why?

# ¿ Feb 19, 2019 21:03

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

orange juche posted:

While not having an optical drive is cool/good, I can tell you a horror story of how the USB install media I bought for my Windows 10 install a couple years ago was corrupted out of the box, and how hosed I would have been had I not had a backup laptop to fall back on to spend 4 hours creating my own install media from due to Microsoft's install media creator being slow/buggy.

I imagine there are actual use cases for an optical drive and I was being facetious, but this example doesn�t seem to be related to optical drives at all!

But I keep an Ubuntu image on a lovely old USB for just that reason.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2019 23:32

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Reposting because I think I got lost at some point. Sorry if it�s just a boring question!

What country are you in? Canada :canada:

# ¿ Feb 21, 2019 16:10

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Ah, crap, I tried looking at an AMD build instead, though I stuck with the RTX 2060:

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600 3.1 GHz 6-Core Processor ($299.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: ASRock - B360M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.50 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card ($469.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G Mini (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($69.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $1029.46

vs

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($228.00 @ Powertop)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($79.90 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card ($469.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G Mini (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($69.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $947.87

I don't even know anymore! :cry:

# ¿ Feb 21, 2019 19:44

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Stickman posted:

For video encoding, at least, the 2700X is best bang-for-buck if you can afford to spend a bit extra. I'm not sure about Fusion 360, but it also trounces an 8600 (or 2600) in 3ds max rendering. Unfortunately, there's not really any good options for mATX motherboards, so I'd consider something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($424.99 @ Powertop)
Motherboard: MSI - X470 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard ($229.00 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card ($469.00 @ Canada Computers)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($112.99 @ PC-Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $1345.97

It'll also draw more power than a non-overclocking Intel build. Ryzen 7 is also more affected by RAM speed than Intel (the system bus is tied to RAM speed), so if your RAM is <3000MHz DD4, you might be hurting performance a bit. Also, if your RAM is DDR3, you'll need to upgrade it for either system - both Ryzen and 8th/9th gen Intel CPUs are only compatible with DDR4.

Going by the techspot report, I suspect the 2600 would slightly outperform the 8600 for video editing, but they're probably awfully close. On the Ryzen build, I'd consider moving up to a B450 Tomahawk and maybe to a 2600X. The Motherboard will be compatible with the next two AMD CPU generations, and the Tomahawk is a solid board that will support decent overclocking or more power-hungry CPUs. On the Intel build, I'd at least get the H370 version of the motherboard for the same price. You'll still be limited to 2666MHz RAM and locked CPUs, but you'll get extra PCIe lanes (which don't matter too much now, but will if you upgrade the GPU or add additional PCIe cards at some3 point in the future) On both, I'd spend the extra $10 for the RMx PSU - it's fully modular and comes with a 10-year rather than 7-year warranty.

E: The Fractal Design Focus G actually comes with LED fans. If you don't want extra lights, I'd consider a Define C or Meshify C instead. Both come in ATX and mATX flavors, which choice of solid or windowed sides.

That's rough news, I'm sure that all my RAM laying around is DDR3.

That bill for the upgrade from Ryzen 5 to 7 is a bit much. It sounds like I'd only see a little bit of performance increase for like, almost twice the cost. The Ryzen 5 and 7 use the same socket, right? So can't I just upgrade later if I need to?

What are the limitations of the mATX mobos? I've only ever needed an extra PCI lane once for a wifi card, and I don't think I'd see any performance increases in wifi if I just do a USB3 dongle these days instead, right? I like small cases and I don't want to buy more than I need.

If I compare the X470, X370M, B450M Pro 4 and the B450 Pro 4 on ASRock's site, it sounds like the biggest feature differences between the mATX and ATX cards are PCI lanes and different M.2 slots at the highest end. Am I missing something here?

Thanks for the PSU recommendation, that's awesome.

Updated list, sounds like the AMD CPUs are the way to go.

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($228.00 @ Powertop)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($79.90 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($116.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card ($469.00 @ Canada Computers)
Case: Fractal Design - Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($53.99 @ PC-Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $1057.87

tuyop fucked around with this message at 12:59 on Feb 22, 2019

# ¿ Feb 22, 2019 12:53

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Yoshi Wins posted:

I currently have a MacBook. My PC parts are on the way, and I will probably be building it this weekend. How do I get Windows on it?

I see the SA Mart thread where I can get a key for $25. Do I use my Macbook to download it to a USB flash drive? Does it matter what kind of drive I download it to? Does it matter how the drive is formatted?

You just want to use the windows media creation tool (google is your friend) and make a bootable usb. The key is just a straight up text string that you enter to activate windows after (or during) installation.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2019 02:40

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Who comes up with the naming for these things? That reads like the output from a markov generator fed with vocabulary from 2003 Mountain Dew ads. :stare:

# ¿ Mar 1, 2019 03:44

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Why do those games require twice as many cores as games from three years ago?

# ¿ Mar 1, 2019 21:00

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Does the Fractal Design Core 500 case have trouble with normal GPUs, like a 2060?

tuyop fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Mar 4, 2019

# ¿ Mar 4, 2019 03:20

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Stickman posted:

It�s also <160mm for modular PSUs, which means either a EVGA G3 (150mm) or Seasonic Focus Gold (140mm). An SFX PSU like the Corsair SF600 would give you even more space to work!

Ah, thanks for that idea.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2019 11:53

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Yoshi Wins posted:

I just put together a PC, and now I'm trying to get Windows on it. I have a license key, and I have USB drive that I believe I formatted correctly from my MacBook. Here are the instructions I followed for preparing the USB boot drive: https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/203696

My finished drive looks just like the one in the article, except that theirs has a folder called Support. I don't have that, but I don't know why. I did everything that they did.

The USB drive is being detected by my PC's BIOS. When I select the USB drive from the boot menu in the BIOS, I get this message: "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"

I'm not sure what to do. The motherboard is an ASUS X470 Pro.

Instead of all that try using boot camp assistant. https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-windows-10-installer-usb-drive-mac

# ¿ Mar 10, 2019 23:25

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Trastion posted:

Is this the right place for recommendations on NAS for home use?

I need more storage for my Plex server and was thinking about getting a NAS box but do not know what is good out there and what is just. I don't want to spend a ton but I don't need to buy drives as I have a few 4tb drives already. I am hoping for something that can handle 4 or 5 drives probably.

Just bought a Synology DS218+ and I recommend it! There are a couple of quirks coming from Raspbian for my NAS needs but so far it hasn�t been totally destroyed by a power outage so I�m very pleased.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2019 22:59

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Josh Lyman posted:

Can you guys recommend a WiFi card for my desktop? It�s connecting to a TP-Link A7 router and I only have 100mbps FIOS at the moment, but I want to stream 4K video from my desktop in my bedroom to the TV in the living room. Distance from my desktop to the router is about 35 feet. From what I can tell, these 2 are recommended:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/6Zs8TW/asus-pce-ac55bt-b1-none-wi-fi-adapter-pce-ac55bt-b1

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/tTdqqs/gigabyte-wireless-network-card-gcwb867di

Your internet connection isn't the important variable here, you could have ADSL and it wouldn't matter.

What matters is that you're trying to stream high-bandwidth files across wifi. Unless your network is rock solid and has extremely low interference and the construction of your house is ideal, you'll probably run into issues no matter what hardware you use.

You may be able to get away with powerline ethernet, which I'd try before upgrading the wifi card, but you'll probably just have to run an ethernet cable from your router through your walls (and even then maybe to the living room TV as well).

# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 16:32

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Wait, you don�t need twice the power capacity in your PSU as the components use?

Did you ever? Where did I get that idea?

# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 22:46

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

/\/\/\ oh hey

Stickman posted:

Neither case has fantastic cooling, but from what I've seen the ML08B is a bit better. The biggest problem with the 202 is that the GPU bay has a huge intake vent but no exhaust - if they'd just set up some proper airflow in the chamber it would have been much cooler! Neither should be too much of an issue with a 1660 Ti, though, so the ML08B probably isn't worth the extra money + cheaper looking design.

Can�t you just punch some holes in the back and drill in spots for a fan using a tap or will there still be insufficient space? Not the most aesthetically pleasing option, I know.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2019 21:41

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# ¿ May 1, 2024 23:12

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

I, too, weep for enormous software companies with effective monopolies and more revenue than most countries. :qqsay:

# ¿ Mar 31, 2019 17:48

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > PC Building/Upgrading/Parts-picking Megathread Reloaded