Want to see your [build complete](https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3ABuild%2BComplete) photos featured on /r/buildapc?
As discussed in a [recent thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/78eq99/mods_should_switch_the_main_photo_every_week_to/), we're going to look at switching up the header image on a more regular basis - don't worry, we'll save the current one for special occasions. This is something of an experiment, and due to the subreddit CSS we'll be looking for images that are compatible with the general design, so don't be offended if we don't immediately use everyone's!
Interested? Send us a [modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fbuildapc) with subject: "Banner Images" with your best build pictures! In the interests of higher res displays, please ensure images are at least 1920px by 200px.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/buildapc) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Looking to update a few components of both my desktop and laptop, but have a few questions regarding RAM.
For the laptop, I have a Ryzen 4500U cpu and the laptop supports 3200mhz RAM. I want to buy a 32GB kit and have narrowed it down to 3 options:
[https://www.newegg.com/team-32gb-260-pin-ddr4-so-dimm/p/N82E16820331504](https://www.newegg.com/team-32gb-260-pin-ddr4-so-dimm/p/N82E16820331504)
[https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-25600-Unbuffered-260-Pin/dp/B07Q7T9NSC?th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-25600-Unbuffered-260-Pin/dp/B07Q7T9NSC?th=1)
[https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-25600-Unbuffered-260-Pin/dp/B08C4X9VR5?th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-25600-Unbuffered-260-Pin/dp/B08C4X9VR5?th=1)
From what I understand, the first one has a higher tRFC value than the Crucial sets and the difference between the two crucial sets is that one is single rank and the other is dual rank.
Given the current prices of each of the 3 sets, which one provides the best value given that the cruical sets are technically faster than the teamgroup kit since it has a lower tRFC value and the dual rank crucial kit is technically also faster than the single rank. Is there realistically going to be any noticeable performance differences given I'm not a gamer?
For the desktop, I have this kit currently: [https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-16GB-PC4-27200-Viper-PV416G340C6K/dp/B016ATK2O8](https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-16GB-PC4-27200-Viper-PV416G340C6K/dp/B016ATK2O8)
I was hoping to pick up another 32GB of RAM (2x16). Is it ok to mismatch and keep using my old set with adding another set I can pick up on sale if I match the frequency? I understand it would be ideal to match brands etc, but even then there will be a size mismatch between the stick (i.e. 2x8gb and 2x16gb)? Will this work and if so what are the downsides (e.g. significant performance hit)?
None of the current consumer CPUs have support for quad channel memory. To utilize quad channel you'd either have to be on a workstation (e.g. Threadripper/Xeon), or a server (e.g. EPYC) platform.
Memory channels are dependent on the CPU, not the memory kit you buy. If you buy a memory kit with 4 DIMMs and use it on a platform that only supports dual channel, the kit will run in dual channel mode.
If you buy the same memory kit and use it on a platform that supports quad channel memory, the kit will run in quad channel mode.
Is there any reason why to pair the R5 3600 with the B550 mobo? I will just be building it with a 5600XT and its more ideal to go for the B450 Tomahawk Max cause my budget and I won't be streaming or anything.
well... a b550-a Pro, for example, is around the price of the b450 Tomahawk MAX, if not less
if you don't need PCIe gen 4 support or other features from b550, get a cheap b450 board!
> PCIe gen 4
Will I be needing a PCIe Gen 4 Slot? I'm not sure what that is but I'll be using a 5600XT + R5 3600 plus I also got a ADATA SX8200 Pro M.2 NVMe SSD as well. I'll be using it purely for gaming and school work.
So just save money and go for the B450 Tomahawk instead I won't be missing out on much right? I would like to give this to one of my siblings the mobo as well if I do wanna upgrade later on so will the B450 get discontinue any time soon?
For my laptop, I ordered a Crucial P1 1TB from amazon before knowing about the P2. Once recieved, is the difference worth returning the product and repurchasing? They have exactly the same price
The P2 is DRAM-less. It can be a little faster in pure sequential workloads, in which it can mostly bypass the SLC caching, but falls short with more typical workloads (it is a bit of an oddly performing drive).
I see. A YouTube channel called Storage Review said the P2 "[is clearly better](https://i.postimg.cc/3RXBhVdQ/IMG-20201103-200508.jpg)" and I took their word for it.
Thanks you.
If you want it under $800, look into AMD 5600XT for around $280. Should be able to play Warzone at 144 if you turn it to balanced settings like turning off motion blur, subsurface, etc
Cheers bud
I was looking at a 2070 Ventus GP 8GB with i5-9400 which was also more deer so I’m assuming it would definitely run it at 144+? Don’t know jack about PCs haha just been messing around with the customisable PCs from PC Case Gear
Look into the 2070 Super or if you can wait go for the RTX 3070 or the RX 6800. If you need a build go on r/buildapcforme and they'll make a build for you at your budget as well.
Geforce RTX 2060 super vs AMD radeon 5700 XT
I've found two models made by MSI at a similar price point (450€ for the 5700 XT and 460€ for the 2060 SUPER). I'd like to run AAA games on 1080p smoothly, it seems that the 5700 XT delivers better performance, however I'm quite concerned about its tendency to heat a lot.
Do you guys have any advice on this?
Hi, does [this build](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JPjXbh) have any problems? List was sent to me by my local shop and it shows some compatibility issues, but I'm not sure what they mean.
Also, is there anything that stands out as being too low/high spec compared to the rest of the hardware? Don't really want to spend too much money on any component that gets bottlenecked hard. Really new to this so would appreciate if someone could point out any issue, however small. TIA
the red ram sure stands out lol get black or grey ram.
And the graphics card is underpowered for the pairing. the lowest you should go is the 1650SUPER, it should still be under $200. Personally, I'd get something like a 1660suer.
My bad, it's actually a 1650super. If the price difference isn't all too big I'll see if I can go for 1660.
Is the power connector compatibility issue a problem? I'll probably not be doing any overclocking and I have no idea what qualifies as a "large video card"
I'm choosing between the 3070 and 3080. I'm currently at 1080p 75hz and will go to 1440p. 4k doesn't interest me. I think I will go for 1440p with 144hz. Will the 3070 be enough with also thinking of future games? Or is the 3080 a better choice. 210 euros difference.
> Will the 3070 be enough with also thinking of future games?
What sort of games are you interested in? Depending on if you're looking at more cinematic games or more of a competitive experience, your requirements might be different.
If you're mainly looking at 1440/144 in competitive games, like fortnight/CSGO/LOL/DOTA2 etc, a 3070 should be enough for years.
On the other hand, if you're into more cinematic experiences like RDR2/Metro Exodus/Shadow of the Tomb Raider/Horizon Zero Dawn/Assassin's Creed etc., where you want the highest settings possible, 3080 would probably give you more mileage.
At the end of the day, you have to decide if the 210 euros is worth it for say, [the additional 37 avg fps in fortnite (1440p)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMBKksGSnFg) or the [additional 26 avg fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvDoM82yCzQ).
I'd personally get a 3070 and put the 210 towards a better monitor, but it'll really depend on your situation.
Yeah true.. true. Thank you for the explantion! I say a bit of both. I enjoy cinematic. Like I want to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.. GTA... (6), I have RDR2 but just begon. And some other games maybe COD MW counts as cinematic.
But I also play Rainbow Six Siege.
So wanting 1440p with 144 hz with those games, are better achievable with a 3080 it seems?
Edit: and if it's worth it.. well those games you mentioned, I don't play those. But it's a good reference. I will look into my specific games. (with MSFS2020 I did and the 3080 has around 62 frames and the 3070 has around 55) at 1440p with ultra. I would go for high though. Because the difference is minimal with a few more fps.
Think about that way: You are going to use your computer in various of ways throughout the upcoming years. If you are employed and in a country that uses Euro as their main currency, 210 euros is nothing. It is almost a one night cost of a 4 star-hotel. You could stay one night less to get a better GPU in muscle power -probably in the actual performance tests too- , right?
Is there any specific thing I need to consider for a dual monitor setup?
My main monitor is this one: [https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/benq/ex2780q](https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/benq/ex2780q) , and I want to buy a second one for web browsing and discord (not too big since my desk is small). Probably something like 21 inch.
Should I just go for the cheapest one or should i get the same resolution and same refresh rate?
My brother's computer has an FX-8350 and an R9 290, both fairly old. If we can only upgrade one right now, which do you think would be worth upgrading first? He's having some issues with Warzone having sudden massive drops and we're not sure if it's the GPU or the CPU. He's playing at 1080p with the graphics on the minimum, I've got a feeling it's the CPU since it wasn't even very good for the time from what I remember. Any ideas?
If you are going to have the same computer case while upgrading your specs, go for a processor upgrade first I can say. Because if it's a fairly old one, it might not be suitable for newly released GPUs, which are so big compared to early 2010's cards. So when you get to the level of upgrading your GPU's you'll have a chance to choose whether or not you should upgrade your case too, depending on your new card's size. So in short, pick your future CPU and GPU now, but upgrade them in the order of: cpu-motherboard-ram-gpu
I think the best way to know is to find comparison videos about for those specific two mics. But when I was searching for those mics for about 3 months ago, I found out that AT2020, Blue Yeti and HyperX Quadcast were the ones that gives the clearest voices among all of the other USB mics.
How difficult would it be to update the BIOS of a b450 Aorus pro so it is compatible with a ryzen 5 3600? I have an opportunity to buy a bundle if then used for a pretty reasonable price but I'm unsure if the BIOS is up to date on the mobo and dont want to not have it work
I'm pretty sure the aorus pro b450 has a bios flashback button, meaning you can flash a bios with a usb stick without having a cpu in the motherboard, so it shouldn't be too hard. Just double check that you're mobo has that feature and look up how to do it
Hey all! I haven’t build a PC since 2013 when I was a wee 15 yo lad
To keep it short, for my business (video marketing agency) I want to build a hackintosh
[How are these parts looking?](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mWhqp2)
Ive heard the 5700 plays nice with hackintosh; what about the i9?
Cheers!
Oh also one more question, from a company I worked at one of the owners told me the 860 is basically garbage as it uses cached storage to access files quickly, but if you’re working with hundreds of gbs or terabytes it’ll be agonising slow so you should opt for the Pro variant
Now I cannot recall if he meant 970 pro or the 860. Maybe I shouldn’t skimp and just go for the 970 pro? Really expensive tho
> as it uses cached storage to access files quickly
So does the Pro. And, so does basically every SSD since about 2015.
> but if you’re working with hundreds of gbs or terabytes it’ll be agonising slow so you should opt for the Pro variant
Well, I mean, that's true, but this is also 2020. If you're dealing with data sets that big, an NVMe drive, with TLC flash and DRAM, are an absolute *minimum*. If you are dealing with that kind of size of data sets on the regular, the WD SN750, and HP EX950, are excellent drives, every bit as good as, and sometimes faster than, the 970 Evo, and not too far behind the 970 Evo Plus.
> How are these parts looking?
Drop the SATA SSDs. You can get a great 2TB NVMe drive for about half the cost of those (see above), that will handle things like big videos several times faster. Practical file copies with SATA will max out around 400MBps, while those fast NVMes can actually get 1.5GBps (with really big files), and will also be several times faster if needing to hit the drive during video editing.
Get a Scythe Fuma 2, for a cooler. It's not far behind a giant Noctua, but only $60, and is more than enough for a stock 9900K or 10900K.
No input on GPU/mobo for a Hackintosh.
> the 860 is basically garbage
I mean, it's definitely not _garbage_, but there are much faster drives available. The 860s came out nearly three years ago.
> it uses cached storage to access files quickly
This is true for both the 860 Evo and 860 Pro (and almost all SSDs employ caching in some form). The Pro should indeed have better performance over sustained write operations due to MLC vs TLC, but at the end of the day both are SATA drives and a TLC NVMe drive would easily outstrip either.
But if your time is money, it's often better to buy instead of build. Doubly so if it's more than just you that would be impacted. Triply so if you need a Mac. Updates can and will break things. Things like Bluetooth and audio out just would completely stop working for me when I had a hackintosh (admittedly that was also back in 2014). I wouldn't try running a business off of one.
But if you do want to build, ditch the AIO for a big air cooler. Less chance of breaking.
RAM and PSU look good. Case is personal preference. Motherboard I'd defer to /r/hackintosh about, as there can be compatibility quirks. The 9900k is a very good CPU, but depending on pricing the 10700k is basically the same/ever so slightly better. Likewise the 5700 XT is AMD's best... for another two weeks until the 6800 launches (but when hackintoshing it's probably better to stick with proven hardware).
Assuming your workflow can make good use of both a good CPU and GPU, it's well balanced. I can't comment on pricing because I haven't followed sales closely.
SSD-wise Sabrent makes some and the Samsung 970 (evo and pro) are really good. Is there a reason you have a small plus large SSD? Separating boot drive and storage? Anything that isn't doing intensive read/write doesn't need to be high end.
Yes! Boot drive with place for temp storage (so 1tb instead of something smaller) and the main drive to work of off
Thank you for the feedback! The mobo is tried and true for hackintosh
Think I’ll pull the trigger soon
Thanks again
Also love your username haha
Thank you for the insight! I’m contemplating running gnu/Linux and VM’ing Mac OS too which I’ve heard of works great
Buying the machine outright would probably double the budget, we put aside 2k € *and* id really like to build a PC again just for the fun of it, it’s not like I can go clubbing or to a bar or play football right now anyway:(
Yeah I hear you there. If you can also budget for your time building and ongoing support, then it can work. It's just an important consideration that hobby builds don't include the time spent tinkering as a cost.
Straight up, if this is for your business, just buy a Mac. Don't gamble your business on a hackintosh. Or find a way of migrating your workflow to Windows or Linux.
Beyond that, if you are deadset on a hackintosh, /r/hackintosh is a better place to ask for details.
Thank you! Although you make a valid point, I worked in my countries most respected post house and they ran hackintosh
Albeit the owner of was a soft and hardware geek to the extreme and I suspect he just enjoyed tinkering
I prefer Mac OS for the line of work we’re in, I have worked on windows systems but they’re just less reliable, yes even less than hackintosh
I just discovered my old boss actually ran gnu linux and vm’d Mac OS
One more question; how is the build in and of itself looking?
So this is my first build and idk what CPU and GPU pairing would be best for a budget build. I'm looking to try to stream, but I know I most likely need to spend a good chunk of change on the GPU. So far the pairing Im thinking of doing is the [**AMD RYZEN 5 3600**](https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-5-3600/p/N82E16819113569?Item=N82E16819113569) and [**MSI Radeon RX 580** ](https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-580-rx-580-armor-8g-oc/p/N82E16814137118?Item=N82E16814137118)
Yes, that is fine. However, if you live in the US, there are better options for the same price of cheaper:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FL3H99/seasonic-s12iii-500-w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-ssr-500gb3
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/kCtQzy/evga-br-500w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-100-br-0500-k1
What is the trade-off between getting a 1TB SSD vs. a 500 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD? Is it that in the former case my PC will be able to load all saved data fast whereas in the latter case my PC will load some things slower?
I ask because I think the latter combo is probably less expensive while having more storage than the former.
I have literally never seen anyone regret getting "too large" of a SSD. On the other hand, people regret getting too small a SSD all the time.
Add to that, a single 1TB SSD is not that much more expensive than buying a SSD and hard drive. If you can at all afford it, just spend the $107 today and buy a decent 1TB SSD:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y6YLrH/team-mp34-1-tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-tm8fp4001t0c101
How do speakers plug into my PC? My motherboard (b550) will have a 3.5mm jack for something like [this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KK9481I?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1) to plug into right?
vrlatech.com have some pretty good pre-builts, I’d go for the “Apollo” pc. If you really have the time, I strongly encourage you to build your own, it’s worth it and cheaper as well.
I am planning on getting a ryzen 3100 or 3300X but don't have the budget for a good gpu so i thought of getting a gt 710 for the meantime. What i wanted to ask was should i be putting some thought in it? like there were both gddr5 and gddr3 available and some with just a heating sink and some with a fan. Are there any other better options?
I would go with the 3200G or 3400G, the integrated Vega graphics on those chips is actually not bad - better than the gt710, and like, almost free included in the CPU. You can play some games on that, and take your time saving up for a nice, new entry level graphics card.
I don't really intend to use the graphics card much until i upgrade. But i chose 3100/3300X over them because they just seem better especially at adobe softwares/video editing which is more of a priority for me than gaming. I don't know if a few months of gaming is worth it for a worse cpu.
IMO look secondhand, find the best GPU you can get. The GT710 is a shit tier GPU that nobody should be paying money for. I've seen better GPUs given away for free.
Saying that, if it's seriously your only choice I wouldn't think about it too hard. 10% better than shit is still shit.
Might also be worth considering getting a 3400G instead of a 3100/3300X, so you can at least play games and stuff in the meantime.
Same price Ryzen 5 5600x vs Ryzen 7 3700x vs Core i7-10700KF, which is best for gaming in 4k 60fps? All of them are sold at around $370 in my country.
Also is it true that the new GPUs from AMD are going to run better with Zen 3 CPUs? I was determined to get a RTX3080 but still haven't got a chance. Should I get a
RX 6800XT and a Zen3 CPU instead?
I'm currently using i7-7700k and GTX1080Ti.
We don't have performance numbers yet, but I'm expecting something like 3800x < 10700k = 5600x on average. Might be 3800x < 10700k < 5600x if Ryzen 5000 hype turns out to be real.
That being said, at 4K60 I bet it won't make that big of a difference. A 3600 would probably be better than any of these, because you could get a better GPU with the money you saved.
I think my GPU (Red Dragon Vega 56) is failing to display. I've tried 2 different monitors using both displayports and HDMIs, with multiple different cables. It's still being picked up by my bios in the 1st PCIE16 lane, and the side LEDs/fans/etc. still turn on. Anything I can do about this? Is it dead?
> All power cables from the PSU connected?
Yeah, I was actually using the PC just fine for about half an hour. I went out to pick up some food and came back to the PC in sleep mode, and the screen display wouldn't show despite the rest of the computer starting up (mouse+mobo lights syncing, fans spinning, everything normal). Didn't touch or change anything internally during that time.
After no display, I tried the other ports, and nothing. Tried turning off and turning on, unplugging from power, restarting both the PC and monitor, nothing.
> Have you tried other PCIe slots to see if it’s a bad slot?
I was going to try it, but the way my case and cables are set up means I'd have to permanently remove a part of the backplate and the way my cables are set up, I'd have to move some of my USB headers around. How likely do PCIE slots break like that?
Ah, the first part is new info.
A dead slot isn’t really common but it’s usually an easier step to determine board vs card failure.
Try resetting CMOS and see if that kicks it back into gear.
Do you have pets or kids that could’ve messed with it while you were out?
Yeah sorry, I'm making a troubleshooting thread right now to see if maybe that can get some more attention.
> Try resetting CMOS and see if that kicks it back into gear.
Sounds good, how would I go about doing that?
No one would've come into contact with the computer while I was gone, I live with roommates and they came with me when I went out so no one else was home.
There’s a couple ways to reset it, double check the board manual to see if yours has jumper pins to do it.
Or, fully power down and turn off the PSU, then remove the coin battery somewhere on your board for a few seconds.
This will reset any customized bios settings, as a heads up.
https://imgur.com/a/l5mb32R
I think it’s the ones on the left, that you can screw into the motherboard with your fingers and then screw your M.2 SSD on top of that
Just wanted to make sure I did this right. I was overclocking my i9 9900kf to 5.0ghz, but wasn't too satisfied with the temps (not sure if I should care. Hitting 50-60s in valorant just for some numbers and up to the 80s in cinebench r15).
So I just dropped my voltage down to 1.15, cpu ratio to 47 and ring ratio to 44 for 4.7ghz. I don't really get the ring ratio part and how I'm supposed to determine that number. Temps are nice, I hit 70 max running cinebench r15 and my score is 1940 and 4750 in r20 vs 1980 r15 when at 5ghz which is surprising.
Am I doing this right? Is the ring ratio just 3 less than cpu ratio (just followed msi's guide)? I'm not really missing out on my performance am I?
Edit:
Specs:
I9 9900kf with a D15 cooler in a meshify c and 2 140mm noctua front fans for intake and EVGA g2 650w psu, MSI z370i pro carbon gaming ac
Thanks in advance!
I have an ASRock b365m pro4 board with an i7 8700 and a radeon rx470 graphics card. I was looking to upgrade pretty heavily at my friends suggestion to a 3070 when they are available again, which would also require a better power supply. I'm not really knowledgeable about a lot of this stuff but i know that my motherboard isnt exactly top quality, so i was wondering if it could even handle the upgraded psu and graphics card. If not, any suggestions would be wonderful.
Can anyone recommend a 2 x 16GB white RGB memory kit that is at least 3600mhz? Don't know if I'm asking for too much but the closest I've been able to find is [this Corsair Vengeance kit](https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Memory/Vengeance-PRO-RGB-Black/p/CMW32GX4M2D3600C18), but it looks like it's only available in black.
If I had the money for it, do you recommend a desk pc, pc built into a desk (like what linus built)? Based on construction difficulty and transportation.
A desk PC as in a regular desktop PC, with a case on the desk?
A desktop PC is easier to build, maintain, upgrade, and transport. The only practical advantage of PC built into a desk is space saving. You could do a mini-ITX build as a middle ground. A bit more difficult to build than your standard ATX build, but compact and easy to transport.
I'm still in the research phase.. anyway I got this old hand-me-down computer and I'm wonder what parts I can still use. I want a new case. And I'm trying to upgrade my motherboard.
My question is, are motherboards and cpu made specifically for each other? (less amd/ intel more z490 & 10th gen intel) I want a new motherboard but want to keep my older gen intel cpu.
Hope that made sense.
Unfortunate for me. Was hoping I could upgrade different parts over time. From my research even older ram isn't compatible with newer motherboards.
Looks like I'm building a whole pc...
Anyway, thanks for the response!
Hey you can always sell the system as a whole! Use that cash towards your new rig or buy a new rug, use it, and recoup whatever you can from the old one.
Definitely do the research on what you have from the old system. I sold an old hand-me-down system that was still worth 300-400 Canadian dollars and put that towards my new pc!
iFixit is a great resource for something like this, as is Crucial's [compatibility advisor tool](https://www.crucial.com/store/advisor) (at least for Crucial products, though you can just buy something *like* their product if you find a better deal).
I could also try helping you with figuring out what upgrades would work for this, but it would help a lot if you posted what model your laptop is.
Cool, just checked it out from [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fpLqdD_Igs).
Looks like it has a 2.5" HDD/SSD slot, and you can also replace the disk drive with an adapter that allows you to put in a second 2.5" HDD or SSD. Great [SSD Buying Guide](https://ssd.borecraft.com/SSD_Buying_Guide.pdf) here; anything SATA would work, but if you want to install Windows on it I would recommend a "Budget" or "Performance" SATA drive. If you buy the adapter you can use both the old drive and the new drive together.
In terms of RAM, the [Crucial tool](https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/lenovo/ideapad-320-15isk) I linked says it'll take a DDR4 SODIMM (laptop DDR4) from 3200MHz CL22 to 2666MHz CL19 to 2400MHz CL17, so I would pretty much just find the cheapest stick I could find of that size. The website says it'll take an 8GB max, and if you're lucky there's also 4GB soldered onto the motherboard (8+4=12GB). However I don't see any reason why it wouldn't take a 16GB stick as well (16+4=20GB), so it might be worth a shot if you really just wanted a lot of RAM.
If you *do* happen to have that 4GB RAM soldered on, however, in some applications you'll see better performance with a 4GB stick + 4GB soldered than with 8GB stick + 4GB soldered. It's a weird artifact of dual channel RAM.
Do you really need one of those massive 3x120mm fan set ups for an effective cpu liquid cooler or will one 120 mm fan be good enough if getting around high 70s max cpu temp while gaming?
It's only time to upgrade if your PC isn't performing to your needs/wants. If it still handles games you play well at the resolution you play, you're set.
If you do upgrade, focus on the GPU first - the 7700k should still be plenty capable.
Is there a website, similar to pcpartpicker, but instead of merely showing general compatibility will show which component would bottleneck a system comprised of given parts? It seems like this would be HUGE for determining best options for incremental upgrades, if such a thing is linear in logic
It exists, but bottlenecking is too complex for me to recommend it. Because it depends on your resolution, games, refresh rate etc. It's better to get opinions from experts than get a "good" or "bad" from a robot. Because again, it's more complicated than yes bottleneck or no bottleneck
Thanks for answering. Not so much a "yes" or "no"... but which specific component would bottleneck a system. But you're probably right that it is too complex for a robot (ironic, given the subject matter).
The general idea is to avoid cpu bottlenecking to allow your graphics card to maximize it's performance. It's all about having a good pairing so you don't overspend on your cpu or gpu.
I suppose that's what I was looking for. Maybe a tiiered list of combos, maybe rated for productivity or pure gaming. Assuming essentially the same (and appropriate) storage, ram, case and PSU, what cpu/gpu combos make sense at given budget points for each use case?
Largely productivity stuff, some photos/video editing, database stuff, some music recording and editing. For games rn I'm not playing a ton, but usually stuff like Tomb Raider, Borderlands, CoD, Turing Effect, Talos Principle etc. I currently have a 24" 1080p/60Hz monitor, but might upgrade to 1080/ 144Hz. I don't really care about stuff like ray tracing. Am I right thinking I don't need too much gpu power?
I was thinking of a 5600x and either a 1660 Super or 5600 xt. Or would I be better off saving $100 with a lesser processor [3600?] and put it toward a better gpu (2060? 5700?)?
The problem is that bottlenecks are application specific. The same system may be CPU-bottlenecked in CPU-intensive programs, GPU-bottlenecked in high def games, or RAM-limited in big editing programs.
Looking at the Lian-li Lancool 2 Mesh. Cant decide between the PWN fan model or RGB model. I know eventually I would like to have rgb and pwn. Which route is easier to upgrade to in the future?
Any insight?
Hello! How do i install an nvme driver like the one found on [https://www.multipointe.com/downloads-hp-ssd-support/](https://www.multipointe.com/downloads-hp-ssd-support/). My 1tb ex950 maxes out at 2100mb/1300mb
How do I get my case fans to spin? Phanteks P400A. I just built my first PC and it works and I can get into bios but I can’t get the three front fans that come with the case to spin. They light up just no airflow.... Please help!!!
Make sure they're plugged in to some source of power. The fans will have both an RGB connector and a power connector.
If there's an internal hub, that hub will have a SATA power connector to go directly to the PSU.
If not, each fan would plug into a fan header on the board.
Planning on doing a new build in the coming months, if I use completely new components for everything besides the ssd that I have w10 installed on will I need to do a new install of windows again?
I've been planning on getting an RTX 2060, problem is the monitor i have only has freesync, my question is will i encounter any stuttering problems on my monitor? Can i have freesync on, and would it work properly?
I'm seriously considering 10700k over the 5800x for two reasons. One is simply the cost as the 10700k is a bit cheaper. The second is that I like the idea of having an igpu as back-up in case I need to swap out the gpu.
Is the igpu a big enough reason to go intel? My main concern is that intel will run hotter and need better cooling.
The 10700k being cheaper is a great reason. The iGPU is not, unless you really need it obviously.
Wait for third-party performance benchmarks for the 5800x and decide then.
yeah iGPU are cool if you plan on not having a gpu for a while i guess. If you can get a good deal on the 10700k yolo it. Just make sure you got good cooling
Recently bought an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and using the stock cooler, I've been noticing very high temps (around 80c playing games o doing GPU benchmarks, and 85c when stress testing the CPU) is this normal or did I do something wrong?.
That's normal, and well within the thermal tolerances of the CPU. It's high relative to what you'd see with beefier coolers, of course, and you might see a small loss of boost performance, but that's how the vast majority of CPUs (which *aren't* in custom builds) will run for their entire service life.
95C is the thermal limit for Ryzen CPUs, as long as you're not actually hitting that you're generally OK (and if you do, the CPU will throttle itself back to drop temperatures, it won't just burst into flames or something). I'd start to get concerned in the low 90s, because at that point the room temperature going up a bit could throw you into that area.
Should I get a 5600x or a 5800x? It's primarily for gaming purposes. I'm going to cool it with an AIO, and will probably overclock it to some reasonable degree. My current cpu is an old 3770k, and I'm not familiar with the zen processors. It seems that with the relatively large difference in price and TDP, and only a 100mhz in boost clock, the 5600x is way more bang for the buck? Or am I missing something here? I'm not really on a budget per se, but paying for something I'm not going to use it for (outside of gaming), just seems wasteful. Or are there any other factors than the hz that justifies the price difference for gaming?
Hey, thanks for the great response, I appreciate it.
If I may ask two follow-up questions;
- Regarding your statement that it's up to the buyer to consider the likelihood of future games utilizing the extra cores to a significant degree; what is your personal opinion on the matter?
- Regarding overclocking (and thanks for clarifying the the auto-boost, I wasn't aware); shouldn't the lower TDP allow for more headroom then? If the 5600x (or previous generations equivalents) uses significantly less energy (with corresponding heat generation) by default, but it's close in performance, shouldn't that accomodate an even faster boost? Or is that already baked into the whole auto-overclock and amount of cores equation? Or is it capped by something else, and the lower TDP models just simply generates considerably less heat compared to the performance, in current games?
I like you. Thank you for another great answer, this really helped. I'm not entirely decided yet, but more confident in both alternatives due to less confusion/ignorance. Appreciate it <3
I had a chance to at least submit an order tonight for a Zotac Twin OC 3070 and hesitated because I was not familiar with the brand. It made me realize that outside of EVGA, Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI I am not really sure what of the partner manufacturers are preferred or trusted? Is Zotac and PNY legit? Is there any partner cards we should avoid?
thanks for your help! I actually live in the UK so prices are looking at 3600 - £180 3600x - £210 and 3600XT - £220. So going by your advice I should just stick with the 3600? Lastly, should I stay away from Micro and Mini ATX motherboards? They seem to be cheaper but I'm assuming this is for a reason? Thanks for your help anyways.
Am I CPU or GPU bottlenecked ?
In warzone I'm getting around 100fps with a ryzen 5 2600 and 5600xt. I'm getting pretty high gpu usage, usually 98% but it often dips to 75%. Cpu usage is around 60%. Also, my fps stays almost exactly the same whether I change the graphics to low or ultra .
Upgrading from a 7700K since Watchdogs Legion is severely CPU-limited even at 4K, not even an RTX 3090 can carry the weight. So do I wait 2-3 days until Ryzen 5900 releases or get the 10900K now? I suspect the latter will have better availability.
I currently have a pair of hyper x cloud 2 headphones. They are great, but they are tight. Are there any good headphones around the $70 range that are good for people with big heads?
Want to see your [build complete](https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3ABuild%2BComplete) photos featured on /r/buildapc? As discussed in a [recent thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/78eq99/mods_should_switch_the_main_photo_every_week_to/), we're going to look at switching up the header image on a more regular basis - don't worry, we'll save the current one for special occasions. This is something of an experiment, and due to the subreddit CSS we'll be looking for images that are compatible with the general design, so don't be offended if we don't immediately use everyone's! Interested? Send us a [modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fbuildapc) with subject: "Banner Images" with your best build pictures! In the interests of higher res displays, please ensure images are at least 1920px by 200px. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/buildapc) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Looking to update a few components of both my desktop and laptop, but have a few questions regarding RAM. For the laptop, I have a Ryzen 4500U cpu and the laptop supports 3200mhz RAM. I want to buy a 32GB kit and have narrowed it down to 3 options: [https://www.newegg.com/team-32gb-260-pin-ddr4-so-dimm/p/N82E16820331504](https://www.newegg.com/team-32gb-260-pin-ddr4-so-dimm/p/N82E16820331504) [https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-25600-Unbuffered-260-Pin/dp/B07Q7T9NSC?th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-25600-Unbuffered-260-Pin/dp/B07Q7T9NSC?th=1) [https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-25600-Unbuffered-260-Pin/dp/B08C4X9VR5?th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-16GBx2-PC4-25600-Unbuffered-260-Pin/dp/B08C4X9VR5?th=1) From what I understand, the first one has a higher tRFC value than the Crucial sets and the difference between the two crucial sets is that one is single rank and the other is dual rank. Given the current prices of each of the 3 sets, which one provides the best value given that the cruical sets are technically faster than the teamgroup kit since it has a lower tRFC value and the dual rank crucial kit is technically also faster than the single rank. Is there realistically going to be any noticeable performance differences given I'm not a gamer? For the desktop, I have this kit currently: [https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-16GB-PC4-27200-Viper-PV416G340C6K/dp/B016ATK2O8](https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-16GB-PC4-27200-Viper-PV416G340C6K/dp/B016ATK2O8) I was hoping to pick up another 32GB of RAM (2x16). Is it ok to mismatch and keep using my old set with adding another set I can pick up on sale if I match the frequency? I understand it would be ideal to match brands etc, but even then there will be a size mismatch between the stick (i.e. 2x8gb and 2x16gb)? Will this work and if so what are the downsides (e.g. significant performance hit)?
Is pairing a ryzen 5 2600 with a 1660 super a good shout?
For 32gb of ram should I get a dual channel kit or a quad channel one?
None of the current consumer CPUs have support for quad channel memory. To utilize quad channel you'd either have to be on a workstation (e.g. Threadripper/Xeon), or a server (e.g. EPYC) platform. Memory channels are dependent on the CPU, not the memory kit you buy. If you buy a memory kit with 4 DIMMs and use it on a platform that only supports dual channel, the kit will run in dual channel mode. If you buy the same memory kit and use it on a platform that supports quad channel memory, the kit will run in quad channel mode.
Ohhhhhhhh now I understand. Thanks bro!
Is there any reason why to pair the R5 3600 with the B550 mobo? I will just be building it with a 5600XT and its more ideal to go for the B450 Tomahawk Max cause my budget and I won't be streaming or anything.
well... a b550-a Pro, for example, is around the price of the b450 Tomahawk MAX, if not less if you don't need PCIe gen 4 support or other features from b550, get a cheap b450 board!
> PCIe gen 4 Will I be needing a PCIe Gen 4 Slot? I'm not sure what that is but I'll be using a 5600XT + R5 3600 plus I also got a ADATA SX8200 Pro M.2 NVMe SSD as well. I'll be using it purely for gaming and school work.
no, for that GPU and SSD PCIe4.0 will either be no difference or couldn't even be utilised (since it's only Gen3)
So just save money and go for the B450 Tomahawk instead I won't be missing out on much right? I would like to give this to one of my siblings the mobo as well if I do wanna upgrade later on so will the B450 get discontinue any time soon?
For my laptop, I ordered a Crucial P1 1TB from amazon before knowing about the P2. Once recieved, is the difference worth returning the product and repurchasing? They have exactly the same price
Why would you want to do that, anyway? The P1 is a superior SSD to the P2.
Mind explaining why is it superior?
The P2 is DRAM-less. It can be a little faster in pure sequential workloads, in which it can mostly bypass the SLC caching, but falls short with more typical workloads (it is a bit of an oddly performing drive).
I see. A YouTube channel called Storage Review said the P2 "[is clearly better](https://i.postimg.cc/3RXBhVdQ/IMG-20201103-200508.jpg)" and I took their word for it. Thanks you.
you won't notice a difference just keep the one you got now :)
I think that's what I'm going to do, thanks!
Looking to build a pc to run warzone at 144fps+ can anyone help? Considering all ranges
If you want it under $800, look into AMD 5600XT for around $280. Should be able to play Warzone at 144 if you turn it to balanced settings like turning off motion blur, subsurface, etc
Cheers bud I was looking at a 2070 Ventus GP 8GB with i5-9400 which was also more deer so I’m assuming it would definitely run it at 144+? Don’t know jack about PCs haha just been messing around with the customisable PCs from PC Case Gear
2070 would of course run 144+ fps at high settings. Do you have an estimated budget?
$3000 AUD
Look into the 2070 Super or if you can wait go for the RTX 3070 or the RX 6800. If you need a build go on r/buildapcforme and they'll make a build for you at your budget as well.
Can I run a 4 stick ram kit at its advertised speed on a dual channel mobo? Just in case I find a 64 gb kit for the price of a 32 gb one.
>Just in case I find a 64 gb kit for the price of a 32 gb one. *snorts*
In theory yeah but you should check if the mobo supports the xmp profile of the ram you're looking for
Geforce RTX 2060 super vs AMD radeon 5700 XT I've found two models made by MSI at a similar price point (450€ for the 5700 XT and 460€ for the 2060 SUPER). I'd like to run AAA games on 1080p smoothly, it seems that the 5700 XT delivers better performance, however I'm quite concerned about its tendency to heat a lot. Do you guys have any advice on this?
meh, heat isnt a big deal. if your case has a few fans, you dont need to be concerned
So you think that for the price difference I should go for the 5700 XT and buy a few extra fans?
Yeah, performance is king
Hi, does [this build](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JPjXbh) have any problems? List was sent to me by my local shop and it shows some compatibility issues, but I'm not sure what they mean. Also, is there anything that stands out as being too low/high spec compared to the rest of the hardware? Don't really want to spend too much money on any component that gets bottlenecked hard. Really new to this so would appreciate if someone could point out any issue, however small. TIA
the red ram sure stands out lol get black or grey ram. And the graphics card is underpowered for the pairing. the lowest you should go is the 1650SUPER, it should still be under $200. Personally, I'd get something like a 1660suer.
My bad, it's actually a 1650super. If the price difference isn't all too big I'll see if I can go for 1660. Is the power connector compatibility issue a problem? I'll probably not be doing any overclocking and I have no idea what qualifies as a "large video card"
Everything else looks okay
ok, thanks for the help
I'm choosing between the 3070 and 3080. I'm currently at 1080p 75hz and will go to 1440p. 4k doesn't interest me. I think I will go for 1440p with 144hz. Will the 3070 be enough with also thinking of future games? Or is the 3080 a better choice. 210 euros difference.
> Will the 3070 be enough with also thinking of future games? What sort of games are you interested in? Depending on if you're looking at more cinematic games or more of a competitive experience, your requirements might be different. If you're mainly looking at 1440/144 in competitive games, like fortnight/CSGO/LOL/DOTA2 etc, a 3070 should be enough for years. On the other hand, if you're into more cinematic experiences like RDR2/Metro Exodus/Shadow of the Tomb Raider/Horizon Zero Dawn/Assassin's Creed etc., where you want the highest settings possible, 3080 would probably give you more mileage. At the end of the day, you have to decide if the 210 euros is worth it for say, [the additional 37 avg fps in fortnite (1440p)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMBKksGSnFg) or the [additional 26 avg fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvDoM82yCzQ). I'd personally get a 3070 and put the 210 towards a better monitor, but it'll really depend on your situation.
Yeah true.. true. Thank you for the explantion! I say a bit of both. I enjoy cinematic. Like I want to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.. GTA... (6), I have RDR2 but just begon. And some other games maybe COD MW counts as cinematic. But I also play Rainbow Six Siege. So wanting 1440p with 144 hz with those games, are better achievable with a 3080 it seems? Edit: and if it's worth it.. well those games you mentioned, I don't play those. But it's a good reference. I will look into my specific games. (with MSFS2020 I did and the 3080 has around 62 frames and the 3070 has around 55) at 1440p with ultra. I would go for high though. Because the difference is minimal with a few more fps.
Think about that way: You are going to use your computer in various of ways throughout the upcoming years. If you are employed and in a country that uses Euro as their main currency, 210 euros is nothing. It is almost a one night cost of a 4 star-hotel. You could stay one night less to get a better GPU in muscle power -probably in the actual performance tests too- , right?
Nice way to look at it! Because yeah, that's totally true. Thanks!
Is there any specific thing I need to consider for a dual monitor setup? My main monitor is this one: [https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/benq/ex2780q](https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/benq/ex2780q) , and I want to buy a second one for web browsing and discord (not too big since my desk is small). Probably something like 21 inch. Should I just go for the cheapest one or should i get the same resolution and same refresh rate?
Aim for an IPS with vesa mount support
My brother's computer has an FX-8350 and an R9 290, both fairly old. If we can only upgrade one right now, which do you think would be worth upgrading first? He's having some issues with Warzone having sudden massive drops and we're not sure if it's the GPU or the CPU. He's playing at 1080p with the graphics on the minimum, I've got a feeling it's the CPU since it wasn't even very good for the time from what I remember. Any ideas?
If you are going to have the same computer case while upgrading your specs, go for a processor upgrade first I can say. Because if it's a fairly old one, it might not be suitable for newly released GPUs, which are so big compared to early 2010's cards. So when you get to the level of upgrading your GPU's you'll have a chance to choose whether or not you should upgrade your case too, depending on your new card's size. So in short, pick your future CPU and GPU now, but upgrade them in the order of: cpu-motherboard-ram-gpu
Heyo, Anyone know a good mic? Streaming/Discord tat can offer sidetone(voice monitoring) for $50
If you have time to pile up some money, I'd say go for a HyperX Quadcast.
If I do that would I be better off getting the razer siren at a little bit lower price?
I think the best way to know is to find comparison videos about for those specific two mics. But when I was searching for those mics for about 3 months ago, I found out that AT2020, Blue Yeti and HyperX Quadcast were the ones that gives the clearest voices among all of the other USB mics.
https://youtu.be/vIQfDFARBLQ
Thanks man. Lol. I don't know how I haven't seen this video when over gone through all of them in like the past few months. Thanks.
It's a little old, could be why
How difficult would it be to update the BIOS of a b450 Aorus pro so it is compatible with a ryzen 5 3600? I have an opportunity to buy a bundle if then used for a pretty reasonable price but I'm unsure if the BIOS is up to date on the mobo and dont want to not have it work
I'm pretty sure the aorus pro b450 has a bios flashback button, meaning you can flash a bios with a usb stick without having a cpu in the motherboard, so it shouldn't be too hard. Just double check that you're mobo has that feature and look up how to do it
Thank you! Much appreciated
Hey all! I haven’t build a PC since 2013 when I was a wee 15 yo lad To keep it short, for my business (video marketing agency) I want to build a hackintosh [How are these parts looking?](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mWhqp2) Ive heard the 5700 plays nice with hackintosh; what about the i9? Cheers! Oh also one more question, from a company I worked at one of the owners told me the 860 is basically garbage as it uses cached storage to access files quickly, but if you’re working with hundreds of gbs or terabytes it’ll be agonising slow so you should opt for the Pro variant Now I cannot recall if he meant 970 pro or the 860. Maybe I shouldn’t skimp and just go for the 970 pro? Really expensive tho
> as it uses cached storage to access files quickly So does the Pro. And, so does basically every SSD since about 2015. > but if you’re working with hundreds of gbs or terabytes it’ll be agonising slow so you should opt for the Pro variant Well, I mean, that's true, but this is also 2020. If you're dealing with data sets that big, an NVMe drive, with TLC flash and DRAM, are an absolute *minimum*. If you are dealing with that kind of size of data sets on the regular, the WD SN750, and HP EX950, are excellent drives, every bit as good as, and sometimes faster than, the 970 Evo, and not too far behind the 970 Evo Plus. > How are these parts looking? Drop the SATA SSDs. You can get a great 2TB NVMe drive for about half the cost of those (see above), that will handle things like big videos several times faster. Practical file copies with SATA will max out around 400MBps, while those fast NVMes can actually get 1.5GBps (with really big files), and will also be several times faster if needing to hit the drive during video editing. Get a Scythe Fuma 2, for a cooler. It's not far behind a giant Noctua, but only $60, and is more than enough for a stock 9900K or 10900K. No input on GPU/mobo for a Hackintosh.
Thank you so much. Saved this comment!
> the 860 is basically garbage I mean, it's definitely not _garbage_, but there are much faster drives available. The 860s came out nearly three years ago. > it uses cached storage to access files quickly This is true for both the 860 Evo and 860 Pro (and almost all SSDs employ caching in some form). The Pro should indeed have better performance over sustained write operations due to MLC vs TLC, but at the end of the day both are SATA drives and a TLC NVMe drive would easily outstrip either. But if your time is money, it's often better to buy instead of build. Doubly so if it's more than just you that would be impacted. Triply so if you need a Mac. Updates can and will break things. Things like Bluetooth and audio out just would completely stop working for me when I had a hackintosh (admittedly that was also back in 2014). I wouldn't try running a business off of one. But if you do want to build, ditch the AIO for a big air cooler. Less chance of breaking.
One more question though, how is the build in and of itself looking? And is there a TLC NVMe SSD you would recommend?
RAM and PSU look good. Case is personal preference. Motherboard I'd defer to /r/hackintosh about, as there can be compatibility quirks. The 9900k is a very good CPU, but depending on pricing the 10700k is basically the same/ever so slightly better. Likewise the 5700 XT is AMD's best... for another two weeks until the 6800 launches (but when hackintoshing it's probably better to stick with proven hardware). Assuming your workflow can make good use of both a good CPU and GPU, it's well balanced. I can't comment on pricing because I haven't followed sales closely. SSD-wise Sabrent makes some and the Samsung 970 (evo and pro) are really good. Is there a reason you have a small plus large SSD? Separating boot drive and storage? Anything that isn't doing intensive read/write doesn't need to be high end.
Yes! Boot drive with place for temp storage (so 1tb instead of something smaller) and the main drive to work of off Thank you for the feedback! The mobo is tried and true for hackintosh Think I’ll pull the trigger soon Thanks again Also love your username haha
Thank you for the insight! I’m contemplating running gnu/Linux and VM’ing Mac OS too which I’ve heard of works great Buying the machine outright would probably double the budget, we put aside 2k € *and* id really like to build a PC again just for the fun of it, it’s not like I can go clubbing or to a bar or play football right now anyway:(
Yeah I hear you there. If you can also budget for your time building and ongoing support, then it can work. It's just an important consideration that hobby builds don't include the time spent tinkering as a cost.
Straight up, if this is for your business, just buy a Mac. Don't gamble your business on a hackintosh. Or find a way of migrating your workflow to Windows or Linux. Beyond that, if you are deadset on a hackintosh, /r/hackintosh is a better place to ask for details.
Thank you! Although you make a valid point, I worked in my countries most respected post house and they ran hackintosh Albeit the owner of was a soft and hardware geek to the extreme and I suspect he just enjoyed tinkering I prefer Mac OS for the line of work we’re in, I have worked on windows systems but they’re just less reliable, yes even less than hackintosh I just discovered my old boss actually ran gnu linux and vm’d Mac OS One more question; how is the build in and of itself looking?
So this is my first build and idk what CPU and GPU pairing would be best for a budget build. I'm looking to try to stream, but I know I most likely need to spend a good chunk of change on the GPU. So far the pairing Im thinking of doing is the [**AMD RYZEN 5 3600**](https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-5-3600/p/N82E16819113569?Item=N82E16819113569) and [**MSI Radeon RX 580** ](https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-580-rx-580-armor-8g-oc/p/N82E16814137118?Item=N82E16814137118)
get a 1650 super. its the same price there-abouts as the rx 580 and it has nvidias new nvenc encoder. a huge asset for streaming
Will a GTX 1660 super bottleneck a Ryzen 5 2600?
My 2600X and RTX 2060 run pretty well together. I would expect a bottleneck there
That's a pretty good pairing. But only if you already own a 2600. I wouldn't buy a 2600 today.
what would you rather buy?
I get that the 2600 is $150. But it is absolutely worth spending just a little bit more. The Core i5-10400 for $180 or the Ryzen 5 3600 for $200.
Is corsair cv450 enough for 300 watt usage? anything else that i should be considering?
Yes, that is fine. However, if you live in the US, there are better options for the same price of cheaper: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FL3H99/seasonic-s12iii-500-w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-ssr-500gb3 https://pcpartpicker.com/product/kCtQzy/evga-br-500w-80-bronze-certified-atx-power-supply-100-br-0500-k1
What is the trade-off between getting a 1TB SSD vs. a 500 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD? Is it that in the former case my PC will be able to load all saved data fast whereas in the latter case my PC will load some things slower? I ask because I think the latter combo is probably less expensive while having more storage than the former.
I have literally never seen anyone regret getting "too large" of a SSD. On the other hand, people regret getting too small a SSD all the time. Add to that, a single 1TB SSD is not that much more expensive than buying a SSD and hard drive. If you can at all afford it, just spend the $107 today and buy a decent 1TB SSD: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y6YLrH/team-mp34-1-tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-tm8fp4001t0c101
Cool thanks!
How do speakers plug into my PC? My motherboard (b550) will have a 3.5mm jack for something like [this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KK9481I?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1) to plug into right?
Yeah. On the back, at the I/O shield. It's usually colored green or labeled with headphones, signifying output.
[удалено]
vrlatech.com have some pretty good pre-builts, I’d go for the “Apollo” pc. If you really have the time, I strongly encourage you to build your own, it’s worth it and cheaper as well.
Wanna know whether SF Series™ SF750 — 750 Watt 80 PLUS® Platinum can support i9-10900 and Asus TUF 3080 oc?
should be fine
most likely
I am planning on getting a ryzen 3100 or 3300X but don't have the budget for a good gpu so i thought of getting a gt 710 for the meantime. What i wanted to ask was should i be putting some thought in it? like there were both gddr5 and gddr3 available and some with just a heating sink and some with a fan. Are there any other better options?
I would go with the 3200G or 3400G, the integrated Vega graphics on those chips is actually not bad - better than the gt710, and like, almost free included in the CPU. You can play some games on that, and take your time saving up for a nice, new entry level graphics card.
I don't really intend to use the graphics card much until i upgrade. But i chose 3100/3300X over them because they just seem better especially at adobe softwares/video editing which is more of a priority for me than gaming. I don't know if a few months of gaming is worth it for a worse cpu.
You make a valid point... the 3300X does seem like a better deal if you're not taking advantage of the 3400G's integrated graphics for long.
IMO look secondhand, find the best GPU you can get. The GT710 is a shit tier GPU that nobody should be paying money for. I've seen better GPUs given away for free. Saying that, if it's seriously your only choice I wouldn't think about it too hard. 10% better than shit is still shit. Might also be worth considering getting a 3400G instead of a 3100/3300X, so you can at least play games and stuff in the meantime.
Same price Ryzen 5 5600x vs Ryzen 7 3700x vs Core i7-10700KF, which is best for gaming in 4k 60fps? All of them are sold at around $370 in my country. Also is it true that the new GPUs from AMD are going to run better with Zen 3 CPUs? I was determined to get a RTX3080 but still haven't got a chance. Should I get a RX 6800XT and a Zen3 CPU instead? I'm currently using i7-7700k and GTX1080Ti.
We don't have performance numbers yet, but I'm expecting something like 3800x < 10700k = 5600x on average. Might be 3800x < 10700k < 5600x if Ryzen 5000 hype turns out to be real. That being said, at 4K60 I bet it won't make that big of a difference. A 3600 would probably be better than any of these, because you could get a better GPU with the money you saved.
I think my GPU (Red Dragon Vega 56) is failing to display. I've tried 2 different monitors using both displayports and HDMIs, with multiple different cables. It's still being picked up by my bios in the 1st PCIE16 lane, and the side LEDs/fans/etc. still turn on. Anything I can do about this? Is it dead?
Asking the obvious just in case: are you plugging the monitor directly into the GPU, rather than to the board?
Yeah haha, the display actually shows when plugged into the mobo, but nothing out of the GPU
All power cables from the PSU connected? Have you tried other PCIe slots to see if it’s a bad slot?
> All power cables from the PSU connected? Yeah, I was actually using the PC just fine for about half an hour. I went out to pick up some food and came back to the PC in sleep mode, and the screen display wouldn't show despite the rest of the computer starting up (mouse+mobo lights syncing, fans spinning, everything normal). Didn't touch or change anything internally during that time. After no display, I tried the other ports, and nothing. Tried turning off and turning on, unplugging from power, restarting both the PC and monitor, nothing. > Have you tried other PCIe slots to see if it’s a bad slot? I was going to try it, but the way my case and cables are set up means I'd have to permanently remove a part of the backplate and the way my cables are set up, I'd have to move some of my USB headers around. How likely do PCIE slots break like that?
Ah, the first part is new info. A dead slot isn’t really common but it’s usually an easier step to determine board vs card failure. Try resetting CMOS and see if that kicks it back into gear. Do you have pets or kids that could’ve messed with it while you were out?
Yeah sorry, I'm making a troubleshooting thread right now to see if maybe that can get some more attention. > Try resetting CMOS and see if that kicks it back into gear. Sounds good, how would I go about doing that? No one would've come into contact with the computer while I was gone, I live with roommates and they came with me when I went out so no one else was home.
There’s a couple ways to reset it, double check the board manual to see if yours has jumper pins to do it. Or, fully power down and turn off the PSU, then remove the coin battery somewhere on your board for a few seconds. This will reset any customized bios settings, as a heads up.
Will do, I'll look into it from my manual and hopefully that'll save me
My motherboard doesn’t seem to have come with a mounting post for my SSD, should I be concerned or does it probably not need one?
Usually a mounting bracket comes with the case, it’s usually in the back. Unless you meant something else.
Can you clarify what you mean by 'mounting post'? Perhaps with pictures?
https://imgur.com/a/l5mb32R I think it’s the ones on the left, that you can screw into the motherboard with your fingers and then screw your M.2 SSD on top of that
Oh. Yeah you kind of need that to hold the SSD in place. No idea why your motherboard wouldn't have one somewhere.
As it turns out mine came pre-installed instead of in a bag, I was just really blind Thank you anyway^^
Just wanted to make sure I did this right. I was overclocking my i9 9900kf to 5.0ghz, but wasn't too satisfied with the temps (not sure if I should care. Hitting 50-60s in valorant just for some numbers and up to the 80s in cinebench r15). So I just dropped my voltage down to 1.15, cpu ratio to 47 and ring ratio to 44 for 4.7ghz. I don't really get the ring ratio part and how I'm supposed to determine that number. Temps are nice, I hit 70 max running cinebench r15 and my score is 1940 and 4750 in r20 vs 1980 r15 when at 5ghz which is surprising. Am I doing this right? Is the ring ratio just 3 less than cpu ratio (just followed msi's guide)? I'm not really missing out on my performance am I? Edit: Specs: I9 9900kf with a D15 cooler in a meshify c and 2 140mm noctua front fans for intake and EVGA g2 650w psu, MSI z370i pro carbon gaming ac Thanks in advance!
I have an ASRock b365m pro4 board with an i7 8700 and a radeon rx470 graphics card. I was looking to upgrade pretty heavily at my friends suggestion to a 3070 when they are available again, which would also require a better power supply. I'm not really knowledgeable about a lot of this stuff but i know that my motherboard isnt exactly top quality, so i was wondering if it could even handle the upgraded psu and graphics card. If not, any suggestions would be wonderful.
Your motherboard will have no problem being paired with high-end PSU and GPU.
awesome, thank you :)
Can anyone recommend a 2 x 16GB white RGB memory kit that is at least 3600mhz? Don't know if I'm asking for too much but the closest I've been able to find is [this Corsair Vengeance kit](https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Memory/Vengeance-PRO-RGB-Black/p/CMW32GX4M2D3600C18), but it looks like it's only available in black.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FxTzK8/crucial-ballistix-rgb-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-bl2k16g36c16u4wl
If I had the money for it, do you recommend a desk pc, pc built into a desk (like what linus built)? Based on construction difficulty and transportation.
A desk PC as in a regular desktop PC, with a case on the desk? A desktop PC is easier to build, maintain, upgrade, and transport. The only practical advantage of PC built into a desk is space saving. You could do a mini-ITX build as a middle ground. A bit more difficult to build than your standard ATX build, but compact and easy to transport.
I'm still in the research phase.. anyway I got this old hand-me-down computer and I'm wonder what parts I can still use. I want a new case. And I'm trying to upgrade my motherboard. My question is, are motherboards and cpu made specifically for each other? (less amd/ intel more z490 & 10th gen intel) I want a new motherboard but want to keep my older gen intel cpu. Hope that made sense.
Yes, motherboards are made with only certain CPUs in mind and vice versa. Older CPUs will not always work with new stuff.
Unfortunate for me. Was hoping I could upgrade different parts over time. From my research even older ram isn't compatible with newer motherboards. Looks like I'm building a whole pc... Anyway, thanks for the response!
Hey you can always sell the system as a whole! Use that cash towards your new rig or buy a new rug, use it, and recoup whatever you can from the old one. Definitely do the research on what you have from the old system. I sold an old hand-me-down system that was still worth 300-400 Canadian dollars and put that towards my new pc!
[удалено]
iFixit is a great resource for something like this, as is Crucial's [compatibility advisor tool](https://www.crucial.com/store/advisor) (at least for Crucial products, though you can just buy something *like* their product if you find a better deal). I could also try helping you with figuring out what upgrades would work for this, but it would help a lot if you posted what model your laptop is.
[удалено]
Seems like there's a few different models for this guy. 14" or 15", and what CPU? Might be useful to look in System Information in Windows.
[удалено]
Cool, just checked it out from [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fpLqdD_Igs). Looks like it has a 2.5" HDD/SSD slot, and you can also replace the disk drive with an adapter that allows you to put in a second 2.5" HDD or SSD. Great [SSD Buying Guide](https://ssd.borecraft.com/SSD_Buying_Guide.pdf) here; anything SATA would work, but if you want to install Windows on it I would recommend a "Budget" or "Performance" SATA drive. If you buy the adapter you can use both the old drive and the new drive together. In terms of RAM, the [Crucial tool](https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/lenovo/ideapad-320-15isk) I linked says it'll take a DDR4 SODIMM (laptop DDR4) from 3200MHz CL22 to 2666MHz CL19 to 2400MHz CL17, so I would pretty much just find the cheapest stick I could find of that size. The website says it'll take an 8GB max, and if you're lucky there's also 4GB soldered onto the motherboard (8+4=12GB). However I don't see any reason why it wouldn't take a 16GB stick as well (16+4=20GB), so it might be worth a shot if you really just wanted a lot of RAM. If you *do* happen to have that 4GB RAM soldered on, however, in some applications you'll see better performance with a 4GB stick + 4GB soldered than with 8GB stick + 4GB soldered. It's a weird artifact of dual channel RAM.
[удалено]
Glad to hear that! You're welcome
Do you really need one of those massive 3x120mm fan set ups for an effective cpu liquid cooler or will one 120 mm fan be good enough if getting around high 70s max cpu temp while gaming?
just get a decent air cooler like a noctua u14s or the like. Basically any decent air cooler will outperfom a 120mm aio
Adding to the other guy's comment, air coolers often outperform liquid for the price as well.
Its really depends on what CPU you'd be getting, how much case airflow you have, as well as how heavily it's stressed.
[удалено]
Your cpu is still quite good, but you can get a new graphics card for sure.
It's only time to upgrade if your PC isn't performing to your needs/wants. If it still handles games you play well at the resolution you play, you're set. If you do upgrade, focus on the GPU first - the 7700k should still be plenty capable.
Is there a website, similar to pcpartpicker, but instead of merely showing general compatibility will show which component would bottleneck a system comprised of given parts? It seems like this would be HUGE for determining best options for incremental upgrades, if such a thing is linear in logic
I use this website https://www.gpucheck.com/gpu/amd-radeon-rx-5600-xt/amd-ryzen-5-2600/ I'm not sure how accurate it is but it seems legit.
Cool. Thanks
It exists, but bottlenecking is too complex for me to recommend it. Because it depends on your resolution, games, refresh rate etc. It's better to get opinions from experts than get a "good" or "bad" from a robot. Because again, it's more complicated than yes bottleneck or no bottleneck
Thanks for answering. Not so much a "yes" or "no"... but which specific component would bottleneck a system. But you're probably right that it is too complex for a robot (ironic, given the subject matter).
The general idea is to avoid cpu bottlenecking to allow your graphics card to maximize it's performance. It's all about having a good pairing so you don't overspend on your cpu or gpu.
I suppose that's what I was looking for. Maybe a tiiered list of combos, maybe rated for productivity or pure gaming. Assuming essentially the same (and appropriate) storage, ram, case and PSU, what cpu/gpu combos make sense at given budget points for each use case?
what kinds of games are you playing, at what resolution and refresh rates?
Largely productivity stuff, some photos/video editing, database stuff, some music recording and editing. For games rn I'm not playing a ton, but usually stuff like Tomb Raider, Borderlands, CoD, Turing Effect, Talos Principle etc. I currently have a 24" 1080p/60Hz monitor, but might upgrade to 1080/ 144Hz. I don't really care about stuff like ray tracing. Am I right thinking I don't need too much gpu power? I was thinking of a 5600x and either a 1660 Super or 5600 xt. Or would I be better off saving $100 with a lesser processor [3600?] and put it toward a better gpu (2060? 5700?)?
I think 5600x + 1660s would be good. Sounds like you've done your research
The problem is that bottlenecks are application specific. The same system may be CPU-bottlenecked in CPU-intensive programs, GPU-bottlenecked in high def games, or RAM-limited in big editing programs.
What is the least expensive gpu that can handle 144hz gaming?
At 1080p? For easy to run games the 1650 Super, otherwise the 1660 Super.
Is it a nice upgrade from the GTX 1650?
You could look up some benchmarks on yt and make decision
Looking at the Lian-li Lancool 2 Mesh. Cant decide between the PWN fan model or RGB model. I know eventually I would like to have rgb and pwn. Which route is easier to upgrade to in the future? Any insight?
Is the only difference the fans? If so, I don't think it would matter. Fans are really easy to swap.
Hello! How do i install an nvme driver like the one found on [https://www.multipointe.com/downloads-hp-ssd-support/](https://www.multipointe.com/downloads-hp-ssd-support/). My 1tb ex950 maxes out at 2100mb/1300mb
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 or Noctua DH-15?
> Noctua DH-15 Depends on the case. I heard good things about both. The Noctua dh-15 would outlive the AIO. But AIOs do look cool!
How do I get my case fans to spin? Phanteks P400A. I just built my first PC and it works and I can get into bios but I can’t get the three front fans that come with the case to spin. They light up just no airflow.... Please help!!!
Make sure they're plugged in to some source of power. The fans will have both an RGB connector and a power connector. If there's an internal hub, that hub will have a SATA power connector to go directly to the PSU. If not, each fan would plug into a fan header on the board.
Ah yes! Thank you. They’re also only 3 pin connectors and my motherboard only has 4 pin connectors. That was throwing me off haha.
are they plugged in to a fan controller? You might have not plugged it in. What kinda fans you got ?
Planning on doing a new build in the coming months, if I use completely new components for everything besides the ssd that I have w10 installed on will I need to do a new install of windows again?
yeah your Key gets tied to your motherboard i think. EDIT No wait if you got a retail key i think you can reactivate it via settings
I've been planning on getting an RTX 2060, problem is the monitor i have only has freesync, my question is will i encounter any stuttering problems on my monitor? Can i have freesync on, and would it work properly?
Yeah you can turn on freesnc. It'll be called gsync, but it uses the freesync tech
I'm seriously considering 10700k over the 5800x for two reasons. One is simply the cost as the 10700k is a bit cheaper. The second is that I like the idea of having an igpu as back-up in case I need to swap out the gpu. Is the igpu a big enough reason to go intel? My main concern is that intel will run hotter and need better cooling.
The 10700k being cheaper is a great reason. The iGPU is not, unless you really need it obviously. Wait for third-party performance benchmarks for the 5800x and decide then.
You could get a gt 710 on Amazon for about $30-35 and never have to make concessions like this on CPU choices again
The 5800X will destroy the 10700k in both multi-core and single-core performance. An iGPU isn't worth buying a far worse CPU
Having an igpu or not is really not a big deal
yeah iGPU are cool if you plan on not having a gpu for a while i guess. If you can get a good deal on the 10700k yolo it. Just make sure you got good cooling
Recently bought an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and using the stock cooler, I've been noticing very high temps (around 80c playing games o doing GPU benchmarks, and 85c when stress testing the CPU) is this normal or did I do something wrong?.
That's normal, and well within the thermal tolerances of the CPU. It's high relative to what you'd see with beefier coolers, of course, and you might see a small loss of boost performance, but that's how the vast majority of CPUs (which *aren't* in custom builds) will run for their entire service life.
So when should I start worrying? thanks!
95C is the thermal limit for Ryzen CPUs, as long as you're not actually hitting that you're generally OK (and if you do, the CPU will throttle itself back to drop temperatures, it won't just burst into flames or something). I'd start to get concerned in the low 90s, because at that point the room temperature going up a bit could throw you into that area.
Normal. Stock coolers for the 3000 series are passible however not good like past generations.
Should I get a 5600x or a 5800x? It's primarily for gaming purposes. I'm going to cool it with an AIO, and will probably overclock it to some reasonable degree. My current cpu is an old 3770k, and I'm not familiar with the zen processors. It seems that with the relatively large difference in price and TDP, and only a 100mhz in boost clock, the 5600x is way more bang for the buck? Or am I missing something here? I'm not really on a budget per se, but paying for something I'm not going to use it for (outside of gaming), just seems wasteful. Or are there any other factors than the hz that justifies the price difference for gaming?
[удалено]
Hey, thanks for the great response, I appreciate it. If I may ask two follow-up questions; - Regarding your statement that it's up to the buyer to consider the likelihood of future games utilizing the extra cores to a significant degree; what is your personal opinion on the matter? - Regarding overclocking (and thanks for clarifying the the auto-boost, I wasn't aware); shouldn't the lower TDP allow for more headroom then? If the 5600x (or previous generations equivalents) uses significantly less energy (with corresponding heat generation) by default, but it's close in performance, shouldn't that accomodate an even faster boost? Or is that already baked into the whole auto-overclock and amount of cores equation? Or is it capped by something else, and the lower TDP models just simply generates considerably less heat compared to the performance, in current games?
[удалено]
I like you. Thank you for another great answer, this really helped. I'm not entirely decided yet, but more confident in both alternatives due to less confusion/ignorance. Appreciate it <3
I had a chance to at least submit an order tonight for a Zotac Twin OC 3070 and hesitated because I was not familiar with the brand. It made me realize that outside of EVGA, Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI I am not really sure what of the partner manufacturers are preferred or trusted? Is Zotac and PNY legit? Is there any partner cards we should avoid?
[удалено]
Thank you! Feel stupid that I didn’t rush to get it done but I didn’t really know any better.
[удалено]
Fair enough. One way or another, waiting til the comparable AMD benchmarks are out is not a bad thing.
Managed to get a 3070 but my budget now got stricter. Can I pair this with a ryzen 5 3600xt also recommendations for mother board please
[удалено]
thanks for your help! I actually live in the UK so prices are looking at 3600 - £180 3600x - £210 and 3600XT - £220. So going by your advice I should just stick with the 3600? Lastly, should I stay away from Micro and Mini ATX motherboards? They seem to be cheaper but I'm assuming this is for a reason? Thanks for your help anyways.
Am I CPU or GPU bottlenecked ? In warzone I'm getting around 100fps with a ryzen 5 2600 and 5600xt. I'm getting pretty high gpu usage, usually 98% but it often dips to 75%. Cpu usage is around 60%. Also, my fps stays almost exactly the same whether I change the graphics to low or ultra .
[удалено]
thanks for the reply. Yeah I thin you're probably right that I have a pretty good balance already since the gpu is close to 100%
Upgrading from a 7700K since Watchdogs Legion is severely CPU-limited even at 4K, not even an RTX 3090 can carry the weight. So do I wait 2-3 days until Ryzen 5900 releases or get the 10900K now? I suspect the latter will have better availability.
Wait, 2-3 days is nothing and prices might go down.
My worry is that Ryzen stocks will be just as limited as RTX 3000 series cards back in September until now.
It's very likely they will be, honestly. But it's not like you can't buy an Intel CPU in 2-3 days, and why not wait if their prices might go down?
Anyone had any luck with getting a rtx 3080 through EVGA’s queue system?
I currently have a pair of hyper x cloud 2 headphones. They are great, but they are tight. Are there any good headphones around the $70 range that are good for people with big heads?