GPUs & CPUs & Enthusiast hardware: Questions, Discussion and fanboy slap-fights - Nvidia & AMD & Intel - Separe but Equal. Intel rides in the back of the bus.

[DeadwastePrime]

Imagine being able to have a 50% overclock on a modern CPU and on the stock cooler.

i mean i could do that with my 2200g and stock cooler but i have a feeling that would not go well at all

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

i mean i could do that with my 2200g and stock cooler but i have a feeling that would not go well at all

Oh you don't understand, you can never understand that moment in time. Intel released a CPU that could be had for under $120 that was as good or, in games, better than their $650 Pentium 2 450.
It was multiplier locked at 4.5x66mhz but the FSB could be changed from 66mhz to 4.5x100mhz on a stock cooler, 100% guaranteed because their process was that good at the time.

$120 cpu, $100 of 100mhz RAM, 199-245 buck for the hottest video card available, $100 for the BX6 mobo. For the first time ever you could get a fucking kick-ass PC with the latest graphics card for under $600 if you had a monitor and such. Financial analysts were betting on who would introduce the first sub-1000 dollar PC at the time, a good one that is, and Intel did so by mistake and the PC market exploded.

This created the broad enthusiast segment of overclocking, cooling, tweaking etc. We not only CADed water blocks, we CNCed them out of copper and rigged aquarium pumps to pump water through and then showing it off at LAN parties. This is why @Ginger Piglet's PSU have RGB, sorry about that.

edit: Wealth beyond measure, outlander.

 

[Secret Asshole]

Well, it might have been some random miracle, but I managed to get a 5600X at MSRP from Newegg. So my PC building quest is 50% complete. Now I only need a 30X series, preferably a 3090. I still have one reserved at EVGA, so its really just a matter of time. I'm gonna put that shit on lay away. I don't feel like waiting for a 3080 Ti and then playing IS IT IN SOCK LOLZ.

Also, I wasn't even paying attention to stocks. I just refreshed the page, added it to my cart and paid. I was curious if they had a bundle so I could just get a mobo with it, but they don't.

Seriously, I don't know why PC building these days feels like you are going on a quest for mysterious treasure.

EDIT:
Nevermind, the second one goes up, it just instantly gets bought.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

PSU have RGB

Sadly, these exist.

There is only one valid use for RGB LEDs and that is in pinball machines. Clear bumper caps with a colour changing RGB LED under them can look pretty deadly. Also replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs is a must and RGB could have a use for the inserts and lights that are supposed to change colour according to the game state. This works because pinball is best played with the room lights off.

As for the Ryzen 5000, I only just got a Ryzen 3700X this summer and it's not a big enough upgrade from that. The only game I have that really uses all the cores and threads is Cyberpunk 2077 (which explains why it's such a shitshow on console; the old gen consoles with their Bulldozer CPUs just don't have sufficient threads at sufficient power to run all the subsystems it's got going on at once, and this also explains why on PC it feels like certain mechanics were developed but then chopped off; they probably were just to make it actually run on old gen consoles).

Incidentally, I name all my PC builds after astronomical objects. Used to name them after planets in the 1990s (Venus was my original Pentium 60 because it was prone to overheating; Mars was the 200MMX we had after that, and the Pentium 4 1.5 we got in 2000 was Saturn because it was big and impressive looking but devoid of substance.) Since going SFF they've been named after moons. So I had Ganymede (i5-4690K, GTX 970) which was not as small as I had thought, Callisto (Ryzen 1600, GTX 1080 Ti) which was smaller and stabler, and currently (or when the 3080 arrives) Io, because she's a funny shape and runs too hot.

I'm thinking I might see if I do an SFF with custom water loop in 2023-4 and call it Europa. Then in 2026-7 I'd see if I could mod something even smaller and odder-shaped to be Amalthea. I've often thought that even sandwich cases like the Dan A4 and Kolink Rocket could be made smaller if you were willing to limit yourself to a short GPU. Maybe a server style PSU as well?

 

[White Devil]

I'd almost pay extra for something without RGB or obnoxious side windows. I was just gifted a used 1070 that's in good condition that thankfully doesn't have any of that gay gamer shit on it.

 

[TheRedChair]

Well, it might have been some random miracle, but I managed to get a 5600X at MSRP from Newegg. So my PC building quest is 50% complete. Now I only need a 30X series, preferably a 3090. I still have one reserved at EVGA, so its really just a matter of time. I'm gonna put that shit on lay away. I don't feel like waiting for a 3080 Ti and then playing IS IT IN SOCK LOLZ.

Also, I wasn't even paying attention to stocks. I just refreshed the page, added it to my cart and paid. I was curious if they had a bundle so I could just get a mobo with it, but they don't.

Seriously, I don't know why PC building these days feels like you are going on a quest for mysterious treasure.

EDIT:
Nevermind, the second one goes up, it just instantly gets bought.

Its going to get worse unfortunately.

I'd almost pay extra for something without RGB or obnoxious side windows. I was just gifted a used 1070 that's in good condition that thankfully doesn't have any of that gay gamer shit on it.

Still have my 1070 on one of my back up gaming rigs. Works great. I play a little bit of Overwatch and Warframe from time to time. Actually gone back to playing Chess too on Chess.com. Bots only but it's rather fun and keeps your brain from turning into mush.

I've been building rigs for over 31 years. Have been in numerous contests (private forum for tech) in building rigs for the best bang for the buck. I even still have a client base as people are willing to pay me to look at their computer. Because people are afraid of being taken for a ride and rightly so.

What I can tell you people is that for all of the big wow factor that is going on currently... well if you got a computer that was built around 2015 or so, you really do not need anything at this moment. General Gaming performances are Meh at best.

I am NOT impressed with both AMD and Intel's latest CPU's due to the increase cost of these components.
And really you might want to look into buying a console for your gaming needs.

I bought my 5700XT for $300 new, reference card. My 5700 for $280. I bought both for testing at the time and I really liked the 5700 overall. Anyhow as of this posting the cheapest 5700XT on Newegg was $640.00. Everything else was sold out. Double the price in 12 months.

And yea I've heard all of the excuses, but because I do business on a global level... All of these excuses being thrown out there by the tech corporations are just that... excuses. They are making billions of extra profit by making those excuses.

So enjoy what you have now because you are not going to see prices like they were back in DEC 2019.

 

[White Devil]

What I can tell you people is that for all of the big wow factor that is going on currently... well if you got a computer that was built around 2015 or so, you really do not need anything at this moment. General Gaming performances are Meh at best.

I built mine in the middle of 2015 with a new at the time 970 Strix. Except for having to RMA my WD Black twice, I've had no issues. Mainly took the offer of the 1070 so I can play a few newer games on High / Ultra and it's been great so far. My original upgrade desire was a 2070 but miners sucked those all up and I'm not into getting bent over for a graphics card.

 

[Cope or Rope]

AMD really needs to step their game up especially in the budget sub ~250usd range. Nshittia has no competition above that.

 

[Secret Asshole]

Its going to get worse unfortunately.

Still have my 1070 on one of my back up gaming rigs. Works great. I play a little bit of Overwatch and Warframe from time to time. Actually gone back to playing Chess too on Chess.com. Bots only but it's rather fun and keeps your brain from turning into mush.

I've been building rigs for over 31 years. Have been in numerous contests (private forum for tech) in building rigs for the best bang for the buck. I even still have a client base as people are willing to pay me to look at their computer. Because people are afraid of being taken for a ride and rightly so.

What I can tell you people is that for all of the big wow factor that is going on currently... well if you got a computer that was built around 2015 or so, you really do not need anything at this moment. General Gaming performances are Meh at best.

I am NOT impressed with both AMD and Intel's latest CPU's due to the increase cost of these components.
And really you might want to look into buying a console for your gaming needs.

I bought my 5700XT for $300 new, reference card. My 5700 for $280. I bought both for testing at the time and I really liked the 5700 overall. Anyhow as of this posting the cheapest 5700XT on Newegg was $640.00. Everything else was sold out. Double the price in 12 months.

And yea I've heard all of the excuses, but because I do business on a global level... All of these excuses being thrown out there by the tech corporations are just that... excuses. They are making billions of extra profit by making those excuses.

So enjoy what you have now because you are not going to see prices like they were back in DEC 2019.

Yeah, its ok, but I just want something new. 2020 was a miserable year for me, with health issues, delaying my degree because of chink flu and now possibly having to take a medical leave from my uni (with or without income, I'll try to finagle it somehow). So there's this massive shit pile that I was hit with. PC gaming is a big hobby of mine. It made me feel a little bit good looking up parts, planning it out in my head, hunting down components to fuck over bots and scalpers.

It actually felt good getting the 5600X processor at MSRP to fuck over scalpers and bots. Just you know, when you feel like shit sometimes you just need something cool. I'm honestly probably doing something massively retarded with my money, but I really just don't care and I'm tired of pouring everything I make into student debt. I want something nice and slick and play a ton of shit with massive mods and VRAM without worrying about it. The last piece before I start buying the boring stuff is finding a 3090 (The $1,500 ones) because I have a feeling the 3080 Ti won't be much cheaper and it won't be for MSRP.

I know its extravagant, but I'm not doing it for bragging rights, I'm doing it to indulge and be free and have something to look forward to.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

I'd almost pay extra for something without RGB or obnoxious side windows. I was just gifted a used 1070 that's in good condition that thankfully doesn't have any of that gay gamer shit on it.

I actually think there'd be a market for prebuilts whose USP is basically, "computers for grownups." So out goes the RGB blinkenlights and that angular "eXtREmE GaMiNG" plastic shite, and in comes smooth brushed aluminium, possibly with the company logo etched into it, a single power and disk activity LED, and any colour so long as it's silver.

Also, no windows or tempered glass and any and all light-up bits on the inside with the leads yanked out.

That being said, some of these extreme case mods can be pretty tasty in the same way that art cars can be. As long as there is actual creativity there rather than just obnoxiously theming it about some consoomer bollox.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

That being said, some of these extreme case mods can be pretty tasty in the same way that art cars can be. As long as there is actual creativity there rather than just obnoxiously theming it about some consoomer bollox.

I want a case that's a foot with a Tom Selleck mustache on it, one fan spits out air there so it's always swaying in the breeze a bit. Power on by pulling the big toe. Where are all the absurdist or weird cases?
The market would be small but I think it could grow, someone shows up to a LAN party where everyone have those blinged out RGB rigs except his case is an 80's ghetto blaster or 70's phonebooth covered in graffiti. There could be consoom strong enough to put out things like that, Lian Li can sublet Mattel for all the plastic crap.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

80's ghetto blaster

Speaking of which, I might be able to score a particularly nice one of those in good condition off Greedbay. Not a JVC RC-M90 or Conion C-100F, because they go for stupid amounts of money, but a pretty tasty piece of retro hi-fi gear for a below average price.

I'm thinking it might be doable to fit your PC in a boombox style case. ITX board, flatpacked via riser with the GPU and power supply, m2f HDMI breakout cable to the back panel, and for added amusement make the speakers functional.

Then again, Lian Li did the infamous train PC so anything is possible.

 

[Stasi]

I want a case that's a foot with a Tom Selleck mustache on it, one fan spits out air there so it's always swaying in the breeze a bit. Power on by pulling the big toe. Where are all the absurdist or weird cases?
The market would be small but I think it could grow, someone shows up to a LAN party where everyone have those blinged out RGB rigs except his case is an 80's ghetto blaster or 70's phonebooth covered in graffiti. There could be consoom strong enough to put out things like that, Lian Li can sublet Mattel for all the plastic crap.

I would 100% get a novelty case over one of these glass panel RGB monstrosities.

Not exactly a full PC but same concept, this guy put a lattepanda into a tank toy which is pretty cool. If you want to do something crazy with a PC case probably the only option right now is DIY

 

[Secret Asshole]

So I managed to score a Zotac Trinity on Ebay for basically MSRP ($1800). Spent more than I wanted, but unfortunately prices are going to increase by 25% because of Trump's tarrifs, so a $1500 card is going to end up being $1700+. I figure I'd jolt ahead of the curve, so now I've got my Ryzen and my GPU. All I need now is the rest of everything. What a fucking mess this was.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

So I managed to score a Zotac Trinity on Ebay for basically MSRP ($1800). Spent more than I wanted, but unfortunately prices are going to increase by 25% because of Trump's tarrifs, so a $1500 card is going to end up being $1700+. I figure I'd jolt ahead of the curve, so now I've got my Ryzen and my GPU. All I need now is the rest of everything. What a fucking mess this was.

Power supplies are getting thin on the ground right now. I thought that I might need to ascend from 700W to 800W because of the higher power use of the 3080 FTW Ultra, and as stated above had to resort to greedbaying the last 800W SFX brick in the whole of the UK. Yeah, you can get a bronze 500W lump fairly easily but with a 3090 you'll really be wanting 850W or more. Good luck with that. All the workstation grade (1000W+ platinum / titanium) bricks are on order with an ETA of as late as April here.

General words of advice - never buy a cheap power supply. You can treat a good part like shit and get away with it, that's why it's a good part. But if you get a bargain basement Chinese knockoff grey box power supply you will either have a non-functional system at best or a fire at worst. Also, higher quality power supplies generally allow you to run closer to the line than lower quality ones without tripping due to better efficiency.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Power supplies are getting thin on the ground right now. I thought that I might need to ascend from 700W to 800W because of the higher power use of the 3080 FTW Ultra, and as stated above had to resort to greedbaying the last 800W SFX brick in the whole of the UK. Yeah, you can get a bronze 500W lump fairly easily but with a 3090 you'll really be wanting 850W or more. Good luck with that. All the workstation grade (1000W+ platinum / titanium) bricks are on order with an ETA of as late as April here.

General words of advice - never buy a cheap power supply. You can treat a good part like shit and get away with it, that's why it's a good part. But if you get a bargain basement Chinese knockoff grey box power supply you will either have a non-functional system at best or a fire at worst. Also, higher quality power supplies generally allow you to run closer to the line than lower quality ones without tripping due to better efficiency.

Weight isn't a good measurement but if your x00 watt power supply weighs as much as a box of tissues then it's not right.

My own rule of thumb for truly cheap shit is google the thing, if you only get Chinese forum posts under no circumstances should you buy it, that is how you end up with tissue box PSUs and VIA chips. If all the results and reviews are in Russian it might actually be decent for the bargain bin price it retails at. If every result is from Brazil then I just don't know.
I bought a pretty decent IPS screen from AOC's Pro-Line for €110, new, this way. It was only meant to stand upright to show documents, charge my phone and not be TN trash and it does a fine job of that. Only reviews of it were in russian or on russian youtube channels where bearded men turned off the lights and peered at monitors in their dark living rooms. They weren't as thorough as GamersNexus but if it passes the eye test...

Didn't Nvidia release GPUs for the Chinese market that had the same model numbers as the western ones, but they were gimped? Like the box said GTX 1060 but it was more of a GTX ~1054:ish. The market wasn't what it is today but the GeForce 4 MX was spiritually a Chinese product.

 

[Allakazam223]

So I managed to score a Zotac Trinity on Ebay for basically MSRP ($1800). Spent more than I wanted, but unfortunately prices are going to increase by 25% because of Trump's tarrifs, so a $1500 card is going to end up being $1700+. I figure I'd jolt ahead of the curve, so now I've got my Ryzen and my GPU. All I need now is the rest of everything. What a fucking mess this was.

Wait til you start looking for a PSU.

 

[Just Some Other Guy]

Power supplies are getting thin on the ground right now. I thought that I might need to ascend from 700W to 800W because of the higher power use of the 3080 FTW Ultra, and as stated above had to resort to greedbaying the last 800W SFX brick in the whole of the UK. Yeah, you can get a bronze 500W lump fairly easily but with a 3090 you'll really be wanting 850W or more. Good luck with that. All the workstation grade (1000W+ platinum / titanium) bricks are on order with an ETA of as late as April here.

General words of advice - never buy a cheap power supply. You can treat a good part like shit and get away with it, that's why it's a good part. But if you get a bargain basement Chinese knockoff grey box power supply you will either have a non-functional system at best or a fire at worst. Also, higher quality power supplies generally allow you to run closer to the line than lower quality ones without tripping due to better efficiency.

Ah yes, anybody wondering what a cheap PSU can do...go look at the Death of a Gutless Wonder reviews on jonnyguru.

Some legit entertainment to be had there.

 

[AmpleApricots]

I helped choosing an 1080p IPS monitor in the sub 100 euro range for a friend who needed a monitor but needed something cheap. I'm now convinced that there are basically no truly bad monitors anymore. The panels come all from the same manufacturer anyways.

Weight is not a good indicator for the quality of a power supply, there's a lot of useless stuff or stupid design decisions that can make a power supply actually heavier than it needs to be. All the cheaper power supplies are basically exactly the same design these days and the undercutting happens in the component selection. The differences show up in the expensive units.

It's true that it's not worth it saving on a power supply, especially since a power supply not quite up to the task can cause a lot of random problems, even if it doesn't downright break. Nowadays I'd also really look at efficency. Modern PCs have become monsters at being really power efficient in idle or nearly idle states and an inefficient power supply will not run well when the computer draws
< 12W while browsing or something insanely low like that. This not only means wasting electricity but also premature aging of power supply components. On the other hand, don't be afraid to run a power supply close to it's maximum output, even for long periods of time. If well designed, that's what it was made to do. There's absolutely no advantage in buying a supply that's grossly over-scaled, quite the contrary. When in doubt, buy a wattmeter and measure what your computer actually consumes in different load scenarios. Cheap ones are not super accurate but good enough. A lot of people grossly overestimate how strong a power supply they need. A good power supply can last you generations of computers without a hitch and doesn't need to be replaced.

 

[Secret Asshole]

So I had to return my 3090, because the ebay seller wouldn't vacillated on if the warranty was good or not and I'll be fucking goddamned if I'm risking no warranty on that card. So I'm back to hunting. Bad news is I'm going to get fucked by tariffs. Worse news, Ebay is taking forever with giving me my money back so I can replace it which means talking to my credit card company tomorrow to punch them in the cock. Good news, everyone else is getting fucked by tariffs. Also good news, bitcoin is crashing. And with NVIDIA's event tomorrow everyone is going to want whatever new cards they're offering that you'll never be able to buy. So it is likely my build will be finished soon.

Power supplies are getting thin on the ground right now. I thought that I might need to ascend from 700W to 800W because of the higher power use of the 3080 FTW Ultra, and as stated above had to resort to greedbaying the last 800W SFX brick in the whole of the UK. Yeah, you can get a bronze 500W lump fairly easily but with a 3090 you'll really be wanting 850W or more. Good luck with that. All the workstation grade (1000W+ platinum / titanium) bricks are on order with an ETA of as late as April here.

General words of advice - never buy a cheap power supply. You can treat a good part like shit and get away with it, that's why it's a good part. But if you get a bargain basement Chinese knockoff grey box power supply you will either have a non-functional system at best or a fire at worst. Also, higher quality power supplies generally allow you to run closer to the line than lower quality ones without tripping due to better efficiency.

Holy shit, you weren't kidding. What the ever living fuck.

Weight isn't a good measurement but if your x00 watt power supply weighs as much as a box of tissues then it's not right.

My own rule of thumb for truly cheap shit is google the thing, if you only get Chinese forum posts under no circumstances should you buy it, that is how you end up with tissue box PSUs and VIA chips. If all the results and reviews are in Russian it might actually be decent for the bargain bin price it retails at. If every result is from Brazil then I just don't know.
I bought a pretty decent IPS screen from AOC's Pro-Line for €110, new, this way. It was only meant to stand upright to show documents, charge my phone and not be TN trash and it does a fine job of that. Only reviews of it were in russian or on russian youtube channels where bearded men turned off the lights and peered at monitors in their dark living rooms. They weren't as thorough as GamersNexus but if it passes the eye test...

Didn't Nvidia release GPUs for the Chinese market that had the same model numbers as the western ones, but they were gimped? Like the box said GTX 1060 but it was more of a GTX ~1054:ish. The market wasn't what it is today but the GeForce 4 MX was spiritually a Chinese product.

I will NEVER buy a chink power supply.

Wait til you start looking for a PSU.

Its insane. It used to be a cheap component, I could get like a gold 1k Watt for like $150, now they're at least double that.

In the end, I chose an EVGA SuperNova, 850W Gold. Normally this would have been like $110-120 but it was $160. Jesus christ.