PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

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Independent George
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Independent George »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Feb 08, 2021 7:42 pm I don't understand the temperature difference, either. I'm hoping that my CPU thermal paste is applied correctly - it was reapplied when I replaced the motherboard.

I'm also running the GPU full-load, which is sitting under the CPU heat sink / single Noctua fan assembly. It's got good separation, but I'm wondering if some of the air flow is going through the CPU heat sink and causing the raised temperature. I'd doubt it, but I wanted to mention it. When Folding@home is stopped, the CPU temperature drops to 38 °C, the GPU to 33 °C.

Have you compared the impact of your Eco mode on the Folding@home performance? Your metric could be credited points / day.

Detail - I think you meant that it's "73°F inside today;" instead of "73°C inside today;".
Oops. Yeah, 73°F inside my apartment, not 73°C. The latter would require a rather urgent call to the HVAC people.

If the thermal paste weren't applied correctly, I'd expect you to have issues at idle, and immediate throttling under load; I think it's fine. I wonder if adding a second fan would help, but it's probably just the added heat load of the two extra cores. Tortoise mentioned that he saw similar results with the exact same two CPUs. I'm just surprised because ten degrees is a substantial difference in temp for rather small difference in power draw.

I haven't done the comparison, but I'd expect a 10% decrease in CPU points based on the reduced all-core usage. I think it's a good trade-off, as the reduced fans are much less distracting and I'm more inclined to leave it running while I'm sitting at the desk and working on my laptop.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by tortoise84 »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Feb 08, 2021 7:42 pm I'm also running the GPU full-load, which is sitting under the CPU heat sink / single Noctua fan assembly. It's got good separation, but I'm wondering if some of the air flow is going through the CPU heat sink and causing the raised temperature. I'd doubt it, but I wanted to mention it. When Folding@home is stopped, the CPU temperature drops to 38 °C, the GPU to 33 °C.
Actually GPUs do put out a lot of heat, 150-250W depending on the model, so some of it will get sucked into the CPU heat sink raising the temp by a few degrees. I have an unusual compact upside down case, a Raijintek Styx, so I leave the side panel off for the GPU to vent hot air straight to the outside, and use the rear fan as an intake to blow fresh cold air into the CPU cooler. The hot air then exits out the side, or a bottom exhaust fan, or through the PSU which is in front of the CPU in this case.

A second CPU fan should lower temps by around 3C as well.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by LadyGeek »

^^^ Good info, thanks.
Independent George wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:08 am If the thermal paste weren't applied correctly, I'd expect you to have issues at idle, and immediate throttling under load; I think it's fine. I wonder if adding a second fan would help, but it's probably just the added heat load of the two extra cores. Tortoise mentioned that he saw similar results with the exact same two CPUs. I'm just surprised because ten degrees is a substantial difference in temp for rather small difference in power draw.
You're absolutely right. If the thermal paste was not correctly applied, I'd be having quite a number of issues right from the start.

Tortoise makes good points in the previous post. My GPU card is below the CPU heat sink. Although there's physical separation, I'll bet some of the GPU heat exhaust is mixing with the CPU air flow intake.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Mudpuppy »

LadyGeek wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 8:30 pm Tortoise makes good points in the previous post. My GPU card is below the CPU heat sink. Although there's physical separation, I'll bet some of the GPU heat exhaust is mixing with the CPU air flow intake.
The nice thing about the Noctua heatsink you have is it's pretty easy to add more fans to it to improve airflow. Although that might not help much if the GPU is proverbially poisoning the well.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by lazydavid »

LadyGeek wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 8:30 pm
Independent George wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:08 am If the thermal paste weren't applied correctly, I'd expect you to have issues at idle, and immediate throttling under load; I think it's fine. I wonder if adding a second fan would help, but it's probably just the added heat load of the two extra cores. Tortoise mentioned that he saw similar results with the exact same two CPUs. I'm just surprised because ten degrees is a substantial difference in temp for rather small difference in power draw.
You're absolutely right. If the thermal paste was not correctly applied, I'd be having quite a number of issues right from the start.
Thermal paste application is a surprisingly forgiving process. Gamers Nexus did a video about two years ago on this, and the performance difference between an absolutely perfect application and "I don't think you could have possibly screwed that up worse" is WAY smaller than you'd expect.

Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUWVVTY63hc
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by queso »

lazydavid wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 7:06 am
LadyGeek wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 8:30 pm
Independent George wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:08 am If the thermal paste weren't applied correctly, I'd expect you to have issues at idle, and immediate throttling under load; I think it's fine. I wonder if adding a second fan would help, but it's probably just the added heat load of the two extra cores. Tortoise mentioned that he saw similar results with the exact same two CPUs. I'm just surprised because ten degrees is a substantial difference in temp for rather small difference in power draw.
You're absolutely right. If the thermal paste was not correctly applied, I'd be having quite a number of issues right from the start.
Thermal paste application is a surprisingly forgiving process. Gamers Nexus did a video about two years ago on this, and the performance difference between an absolutely perfect application and "I don't think you could have possibly screwed that up worse" is WAY smaller than you'd expect.

Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUWVVTY63hc
Thanks for the video...pretty interesting how little delta even a horrible application has. It'll come in handy if I can ever get my hands on the parts for my build..
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Independent George »

So, I had a busy day at work today, and until just this moment, I'd completely forgotten I'd left FAH running the entire time. It's not that the fans are silent while the CPU is set on Eco-mode - fan noise is definitely noticeable when I think about it - but it's quiet and unobtrusive enough that I just didn't notice it while my concentration was elsewhere. There were even a few times when I got irritated at my laptop's high-pitched fans.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by LadyGeek »

Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water... my dual-boot Linux / Windows PC graphics failed. By failure, the video was corrupted inside open windows and in the task bar.

(A few weeks ago, I switched my Linux from Fedora / Xfce desktop to Ubuntu / Cinnamon desktop.) The failure was seen in the Linux "Windows".

I have two identical hardware Lenovo desktop PCs. One is my everyday Linux / Windows PC, the other was relegated as a backup PC and put in storage (was used by my late husband). I easily installed the SSDs into the second PC.

It booted into MS Windows out of the box. Microsoft even recognized the license as activated. However, it wasn't supposed to boot into MS Windows.

For some reason, the GRUB2 bootloader was hosed. I booted from my Ubuntu live USB stick and followed How to Repair GRUB2 When Ubuntu Won’t Boot. It worked. After fixing a few more software OS things, I was back in business.

The bottom line is that both PCs were purchased at the same time - about 3 years ago and put under heavy use. If one fails, the other is not far behind.* I'm thinking to replace this PC when the supply chain gets going and parts become available at decent prices.

As a backup, I can put the SSDs into my Ryzen 7 build - there's plenty of room.

* This PC already has one failed DP (display port) connector and the audio left channel line output is dead. I'm using the front-panel headphone connector.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by lazydavid »

Well my desktop has failed 4 times in the same way as previously over the past 2 days, and now is in it's "unrecoverable" state, where last time I had to have Asus replace the motherboard. I think I'm officially done with this crappy TUF X570-Plus Gaming board, and it's going in the trash. The question is what to replace it with? Currently looking at the ASRock Steel Legend X570, but very open to suggestions.

Requirements:
Must support nVME 4.0 drives
Must have USB-C on rear panel
Prefer many fan headers
Strong primary x16 slot that can support a heavy graphics card
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by queso »

lazydavid wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:37 am Well my desktop has failed 4 times in the same way as previously over the past 2 days, and now is in it's "unrecoverable" state, where last time I had to have Asus replace the motherboard. I think I'm officially done with this crappy TUF X570-Plus Gaming board, and it's going in the trash. The question is what to replace it with? Currently looking at the ASRock Steel Legend X570, but very open to suggestions.

Requirements:
Must support nVME 4.0 drives
Must have USB-C on rear panel
Prefer many fan headers
Strong primary x16 slot that can support a heavy graphics card
You may not want another ASUS after your experience, but I'm on day 3 of my ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero and so far so good..
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by lazydavid »

queso wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:44 am You may not want another ASUS after your experience, but I'm on day 3 of my ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero and so far so good..
Lol, definitely not. Day 3 does not give me the warm and fuzzies. Both of my TUF X570s made it right around 3 months before progressively failing.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by queso »

lazydavid wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:53 am
queso wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:44 am You may not want another ASUS after your experience, but I'm on day 3 of my ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero and so far so good..
Lol, definitely not. Day 3 does not give me the warm and fuzzies. Both of my TUF X570s made it right around 3 months before progressively failing.
well...at least I don't have to worry for about 3 more months.. :happy
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by LadyGeek »

Good timing. My Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus was replaced on Dec 12, 2020 - about three months ago. :)

My next motherboard won't be ASUS and I'm keeping an eye on this discussion.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Horsefly »

Not sure if Asus boards should all be lumped together as bad. I built my new system in Sep-2020, using the ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming (WiFi 6) board. I use it every day and it has been completely stable.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Nekrotok »

Wow, so many reliability issues.. I've had a couple failures here and there but sounds like you guys are having worse luck. On the bright side, at least these issues can be fixed by replacing the broken part and you don't have to replace or rma the whole computer.

For anyone having just audio issues, apple makes a usbc to headphone adapter for like $8 that I found works quite well. Much simpler than replacing an entire motherboard.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Independent George »

Wow, I'm genuinely surprised by all the issues with the ASUS boards; they've historically made solid hardware, but that's a worrying large number of data points on the same product.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by lazydavid »

Independent George wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:34 pm Wow, I'm genuinely surprised by all the issues with the ASUS boards; they've historically made solid hardware, but that's a worrying large number of data points on the same product.
It may be specifically the TUF product line, as that's where I'm seeing the most consistent reports of major issues. It may not be the entire lineup. Like you, I've had good experience with them in the past, and have a friend who builds with Asus boards exclusively without incident.

So at a minimum, I'd definitely recommend avoiding the TUF X570-Plus, and also the Prime X570-P and X-570-Pro, which appear to be the same design. Other boards may very well be fine. I'm just not personally going to take the risk.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by knightrider »

Is there another forum to post general PC build questions? I manage some PCs at my work and my understanding is this thread is only for personal owned PCs. Not sure why it should matter, but it is what it is.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by LadyGeek »

You can try Tom's Hardware Forum. I don't post there, but it's packed with info.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Colorado Guy »

Am about to give up looking for a graphics card upgrade to my PC, and starting to look at pre-built PCs, which is not exactly what I want to do, and not the same components I would choose.

Does anyone have an opinion on the MicroCenter G900 and G360 computers? It seems that it is either that or wait until next year. I could wait, but after purchasing a pre-built for my grandaughter for gaming purposes, my ancient PC build seems to be quite the relic.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by d18lover »

Colorado Guy wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:56 am Am about to give up looking for a graphics card upgrade to my PC, and starting to look at pre-built PCs, which is not exactly what I want to do, and not the same components I would choose.

Does anyone have an opinion on the MicroCenter G900 and G360 computers? It seems that it is either that or wait until next year. I could wait, but after purchasing a pre-built for my grandaughter for gaming purposes, my ancient PC build seems to be quite the relic.
Tough time.

A few months ago, my pre-built Lenovo was $1300. It has an RTX 3070 onboard. I could likely sell the RTX 3070 for that price on eBay now. It's a money printing machine currently averaging about $8 per day in Ethereum, which I am then staking in Ethereum 2.0 paying 6% APR/reward. I had no idea I would use this for mining, but curiosity got the better of me. If I could go back in time I'd have bought as many of these as Lenovo would've sold me. When I see similar pre-builts coming up for sale, they are generally closer to $2000 now and 8+ weeks out as a wait. Subscribe to a gaming computer alert on Slickdeals if you want to catch a good deal. Have you researched much about this chip shortage? I am not sure "next year" is a realistic target for things to get better. If you are that passionate about gaming, you could pay the scalped price on eBay and be done with it.

MicroCenter computers are fine, use midrange components and will generally work pretty well. Check the reviews on each one. If you are retired or have a lot of free time, live near the MicroCenter, my understanding is you can line up around 5-6am and will probably get a GPU of some sort at MSRP most days.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Colorado Guy »

You're right. Today PCs with a 3070 are in the $2k range. And I agree with you, the situation may not change next year, with Ethereum pricing projections. Can I pay this? Yes, just don't want to reward scalpers.

At first, I just wanted to upgrade my monitor, but that means a decision on G-sync or FreeSync, and that leads to needing a compatible graphics card to drive some of the newer games.

I actually saw graphics cards in stock for 1 day at MicroCenter (per their website), but they went quickly. Waiting at 6 AM in front of store seems to be the only way to actually get one. May go by there today to chat, but if they have some pre-builts there, I may succumb...
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by queso »

You could also try to reach out to one of the custom PC builders and see if they are able to get their hands on one and build you a machine. That would be kind of a way to split the difference between a prebuilt and trying to track down a GPU on your own. Maybe somebody like Origin, NZXT, Digital Storm, etc. might have a supply chain advantage?

I've been on a few stock alerts for months and have yet to get one that doesn't say "item is still out of stock". I think the scalping community has already written bots/scripts to grab them so beyond camping out in line I don't know how you can get your hands on one outside of a prebuilt, scalper, or possibly one of the custom PC outfits. Granted, with demand what it is they may be charging just as much as scalpers for custom builds that contain one of the highly sought after GPUs.

Good luck!
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Colorado Guy »

Regarding stock alerts, I am on one manufacturer list for stock updates, no news yet. I sometimes view a YouTube Live Stock Alert, where they monitor several retailers. Problem is, when something actually arrives in stock and an alert is sounded, the scalpers have bots that get to the website and purchase it before you can manually do it. I have actually had a couple of cards in my shopping cart but they disappeared within seconds. The NewEgg Shuffle is more of a lottery type setup, but at least at MSRP type pricing (for the most part).

I don't need the latest technology (like my granddaughter), but would like to get an upgrade.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by flyingcows »

d18lover wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 10:03 am
Colorado Guy wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:56 am Am about to give up looking for a graphics card upgrade to my PC, and starting to look at pre-built PCs, which is not exactly what I want to do, and not the same components I would choose.

Does anyone have an opinion on the MicroCenter G900 and G360 computers? It seems that it is either that or wait until next year. I could wait, but after purchasing a pre-built for my grandaughter for gaming purposes, my ancient PC build seems to be quite the relic.
Tough time.

A few months ago, my pre-built Lenovo was $1300. It has an RTX 3070 onboard. I could likely sell the RTX 3070 for that price on eBay now. It's a money printing machine currently averaging about $8 per day in Ethereum, which I am then staking in Ethereum 2.0 paying 6% APR/reward. I had no idea I would use this for mining, but curiosity got the better of me. If I could go back in time I'd have bought as many of these as Lenovo would've sold me. When I see similar pre-builts coming up for sale, they are generally closer to $2000 now and 8+ weeks out as a wait. Subscribe to a gaming computer alert on Slickdeals if you want to catch a good deal. Have you researched much about this chip shortage? I am not sure "next year" is a realistic target for things to get better. If you are that passionate about gaming, you could pay the scalped price on eBay and be done with it.

MicroCenter computers are fine, use midrange components and will generally work pretty well. Check the reviews on each one. If you are retired or have a lot of free time, live near the MicroCenter, my understanding is you can line up around 5-6am and will probably get a GPU of some sort at MSRP most days.
$8 per day mining eth on 1 desktop computer with 1 RTX 3070?

Not doubting you, that just seems really good on the surface. The cheapest spot rate AWS instances with discrete GPUs (p2.xlarge) would be about $6 a day, so curious if there is an arb opportunity here
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d18lover
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by d18lover »

flyingcows wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:11 am
d18lover wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 10:03 am
Colorado Guy wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:56 am Am about to give up looking for a graphics card upgrade to my PC, and starting to look at pre-built PCs, which is not exactly what I want to do, and not the same components I would choose.

Does anyone have an opinion on the MicroCenter G900 and G360 computers? It seems that it is either that or wait until next year. I could wait, but after purchasing a pre-built for my grandaughter for gaming purposes, my ancient PC build seems to be quite the relic.
Tough time.

A few months ago, my pre-built Lenovo was $1300. It has an RTX 3070 onboard. I could likely sell the RTX 3070 for that price on eBay now. It's a money printing machine currently averaging about $8 per day in Ethereum, which I am then staking in Ethereum 2.0 paying 6% APR/reward. I had no idea I would use this for mining, but curiosity got the better of me. If I could go back in time I'd have bought as many of these as Lenovo would've sold me. When I see similar pre-builts coming up for sale, they are generally closer to $2000 now and 8+ weeks out as a wait. Subscribe to a gaming computer alert on Slickdeals if you want to catch a good deal. Have you researched much about this chip shortage? I am not sure "next year" is a realistic target for things to get better. If you are that passionate about gaming, you could pay the scalped price on eBay and be done with it.

MicroCenter computers are fine, use midrange components and will generally work pretty well. Check the reviews on each one. If you are retired or have a lot of free time, live near the MicroCenter, my understanding is you can line up around 5-6am and will probably get a GPU of some sort at MSRP most days.
$8 per day mining eth on 1 desktop computer with 1 RTX 3070?

Not doubting you, that just seems really good on the surface. The cheapest spot rate AWS instances with discrete GPUs (p2.xlarge) would be about $6 a day, so curious if there is an arb opportunity here
Not so sure what that means in terms of AWS. My rewards seems to go up and down, with weekends being around $5-6 per day and weekdays around $8. Average rash rate of 62 after tweaking the GPU settings. Of course it also depends on the current ETH price which seems to swing at random.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by LadyGeek »

Feel free to start a new thread on crypto mining rigs (PCs) - virtual or otherwise.

If you do, post a link to the thread here.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by d18lover »

Colorado Guy wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 10:26 am You're right. Today PCs with a 3070 are in the $2k range. And I agree with you, the situation may not change next year, with Ethereum pricing projections. Can I pay this? Yes, just don't want to reward scalpers.

At first, I just wanted to upgrade my monitor, but that means a decision on G-sync or FreeSync, and that leads to needing a compatible graphics card to drive some of the newer games.

I actually saw graphics cards in stock for 1 day at MicroCenter (per their website), but they went quickly. Waiting at 6 AM in front of store seems to be the only way to actually get one. May go by there today to chat, but if they have some pre-builts there, I may succumb...
One thing to note is that Freesync and G-Sync are mostly compatible these days. I was running a RTX card with a FreeSync Premium monitor and Freesync was enabled beautifully. Somewhere along the line AMD opened that up. So, if you get a monitor with Freesync you can run any graphics card you like without screen tearing. There are some caveats, but it bears further research before purchasing.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by hudson »

I've built my own PC several times back years ago.
They were all fun projects. Building your own and troubleshooting helps you learn to troubleshoot PCs, open the case and fix stuff....an extremely useful skill.
I don't care to build PCs anymore, but sometimes, I'll go to a website and build one up and put the components in the cart before bailing.
Sometimes, I'll research those little box PCs; I'm always tempted to get one....but I always bail. My preference now is to just get a Dell OptiPlex with a good size case and call it quits.
Sometimes I get the fever and pull my hard drive, pop in another and install Linux and run it for a while....and maybe clone a drive just to keep in practice.
Bottom line: Tinkering with hardware, software, and networks is fun, and it pays!
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Colorado Guy »

d18lover wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 5:47 pm One thing to note is that Freesync and G-Sync are mostly compatible these days. I was running a RTX card with a FreeSync Premium monitor and Freesync was enabled beautifully. Somewhere along the line AMD opened that up. So, if you get a monitor with Freesync you can run any graphics card you like without screen tearing. There are some caveats, but it bears further research before purchasing.
Thx. Admittedly this is a confusing area for me, and I will be looking into this more. Am not familiar with the Premium designation yet. AMD maintains a list of FreeSync monitors that are "compatible" with GSync. The monitor I was impressed with (beautiful IPS colors) was not on that list, and only had a 60 Hz refresh rate, which is another consideration. So let's see what MicroCenter wants to sell me this time. Too early for full 4k IMHO, so may be looking for a 2k monitor going forward.

While it is fun to geek out on this stuff, after awhile I tire of the chase. At the moment my existing rig is still running fine.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by dwc13 »

The other night I stopped by the local Micro Center to pick up a cable modem but that's a story for another time. While I was there, I checked to see if graphics card availability had improved since December 2020. Nope, lol, other than GeForce GT 710 cards. Well, let me clarify -- there were three (3) AMD RX 6900XT cards inside the locked display case. Problem: The price tag was $2,499.99 per unit.

Apparently Micro Center doesn't want to sell the AMD RX 6900XT graphics cards as a standalone offering at a lower price, even though the ask (and current bid) price on ebay is considerably lower. Maybe the store prefers selling it as part of an upgrade to one of their in-house PCs. Who knows, but a $2,500 asking price is way too rich for me. Someone who made a killing trading GameStop might be willing to splurge, though...
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by queso »

I got a stock alert email about 3 hours ago from B&H that the MSI RTX 3080 was back in stock, but in the couple minutes it took me to click on it and check it was already back to "unavailable".
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by junior »

For those struggling to get computer parts:

When I bought a GPU and CPU last year, I used a free, open source bot that works with Amazon. I suppose there's a small chance Amazon will get angry with you and ban you for buying things with a bot, but this seems unlikely.

If anyone is adventurous, here's the link, please don't use it for scalping, it requires you to install Python and go through some setup but I'm no programmer and I was able to do it:

https://github.com/Hari-Nagarajan/fairgame
Last edited by junior on Fri May 07, 2021 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Independent George
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Independent George »

I've written off 2021 for getting a GPU; I'm holding out for the next gen, which sounds like it's going to be amazing.
sycamore
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by sycamore »

Looks like supply for AMD Ryzen CPU 5xxx is getting better?
The 5600X is going for list price at $299 at newegg. At Amazon it's also $299 but not in stock until May 24.
And the 5800X is going for about $20 under list.

But the 5900X and 5950X are still quite above list.
Rex66
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Rex66 »

dwc13 wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 4:45 pm The other night I stopped by the local Micro Center to pick up a cable modem but that's a story for another time. While I was there, I checked to see if graphics card availability had improved since December 2020. Nope, lol, other than GeForce GT 710 cards. Well, let me clarify -- there were three (3) AMD RX 6900XT cards inside the locked display case. Problem: The price tag was $2,499.99 per unit.

Apparently Micro Center doesn't want to sell the AMD RX 6900XT graphics cards as a standalone offering at a lower price, even though the ask (and current bid) price on ebay is considerably lower. Maybe the store prefers selling it as part of an upgrade to one of their in-house PCs. Who knows, but a $2,500 asking price is way too rich for me. Someone who made a killing trading GameStop might be willing to splurge, though...
Those are supposedly over clocked special edition cards but yep way too much. They don’t show them as available online but if u go to the store they seem to always be available.
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Independent George
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Independent George »

sycamore wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 2:35 pm Looks like supply for AMD Ryzen CPU 5xxx is getting better?
The 5600X is going for list price at $299 at newegg. At Amazon it's also $299 but not in stock until May 24.
And the 5800X is going for about $20 under list.

But the 5900X and 5950X are still quite above list.
The 5600X and 5800X have generally been available at MSRP since March - not all the time, but often enough that you shouldn't need to rely on bots to buy them. The 5900X and 5950X remain in short supply; those are the dual-chiplet processors, so I think AMD wants to concentrate on meeting the volume demand on the single-chiplet units first even though the margins are lower.

As I understand it, AMD also fulfilled their contractually obligated terms to Sony & Microsoft, and can now devote more of TSMC's fab capacity to their higher margin CPUs/GPUs. Demand is still unusually high, though, and supplies are still constrained by materials shortages (plus a drought in Taiwan), so I don't expect things to normalize until at least Q2 2022. That's just my wild guess, though; I haven't read any definitive information.
killjoy2012
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by killjoy2012 »

If you have a local Microcenter and are willing to camp, it's really not that hard to land a GPU/CPU. It may take a few tries.

Bigger problem is the pricing. I got an ASUS 3080 OC Strix in Dec 2020 for an absurdly expensive price of $850. Same card today is $1050/1100 retail list price. Probably 2-3x that price scalped.

Mining ETH may be partly to blame, but that ends in July. And if you're buying $1000 GPUs to only make $8/day for the next 60 days, probably not a very smart move. I think it's more perfect storm related -- COVID based manufacturing reductions, lot of people sitting around with nothing to do and stimulus money in hand wanting GPU/CPU/PS5, overall manufacturing capacity can't keep up, tariffs, etc.
Slacker
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Slacker »

killjoy2012 wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 3:51 pm If you have a local Microcenter and are willing to camp, it's really not that hard to land a GPU/CPU. It may take a few tries.

Bigger problem is the pricing. I got an ASUS 3080 OC Strix in Dec 2020 for an absurdly expensive price of $850. Same card today is $1050/1100 retail list price. Probably 2-3x that price scalped.

Mining ETH may be partly to blame, but that ends in July. And if you're buying $1000 GPUs to only make $8/day for the next 60 days, probably not a very smart move. I think it's more perfect storm related -- COVID based manufacturing reductions, lot of people sitting around with nothing to do and stimulus money in hand wanting GPU/CPU/PS5, overall manufacturing capacity can't keep up, tariffs, etc.
Another factor, directly related to the specific price increase you observed, is the expiration of tariff waivers which caused every GPU to increase double digits % in MSRP starting January / February time frame.
beastykato
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by beastykato »

I highly doubt that the EIP-1559 will immediately kill mining. Based on estimates I've seen the profitability would be reduced by ~34%, certainly a blow to some miners but if I'm still making profit at my electric rate why would I stop? It's supposed to introduce a deflationary component as well, which could offset the reduction.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Independent George »

So, the GPU shortage continues, but AMD just announced something that might make it a bit more bearable - their sampling technology, FSR, is going to be compatible with previous gen cards (including from Nvidia), and should help squeeze a bit more performance out of them:

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/and-f ... on-details
But FSR works on other hardware, including Nvidia's graphics cards. AMD tested one of Nvidia's older (but still very popular) mainstream GPUs, the GTX 1060, with Godfall at 1440p on the epic preset. It ran natively at 27 fps, but at 38 fps with quality mode on — a 41% boost. In fact, AMD says that FSR, which needs to be implemented by game developers to suit their titles, will work with over 100 CPUs and GPUs, including its own and competitors.
As always, we should be skeptical of first-party benchmarks, and it will probably be at least a year before new titles are launched with native FSR support, but that is good news for people who don't want to pay the ridiculous prices GPUs go for these days. Word is that FSR is also much, much easier to implement than DLSS, and the fact that the consoles use AMD chips should mean it gets pretty widespread adoption. The fact that talked about testing it on the GTX 1060 at their launch event is genuinely amazing, and great for consumers.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Independent George »

Woo! After seven months, I finally managed to submit an order for the Ryzen 9 5900x I originally wanted; I've got a buyer lined up for my 5600x at $225, so by the time I take delivery, I'll have basically rented the old chip for $10/month while waiting for stock to stabilize.
Colorado Guy
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Colorado Guy »

Independent George wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 7:40 am Woo! After seven months, I finally managed to submit an order for the Ryzen 9 5900x I originally wanted; I've got a buyer lined up for my 5600x at $225, so by the time I take delivery, I'll have basically rented the old chip for $10/month while waiting for stock to stabilize.
Congrats to you! You have been more patient than I. I will be interested in the performance improvements seen over your current 5600x.

I will be interested in what anti-virus/anti-malware setup you are intending to use on your new PC. Have used MalwareBytes for years, but there are better tools out there today. I am looking at updating to a combination of programs, but it is unclear what is a best scenario in today's environment. Am even thinking of a VPN setup which is an option for some software configurations. Security is key, cost is not.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Independent George »

Colorado Guy wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 8:05 am
Independent George wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 7:40 am Woo! After seven months, I finally managed to submit an order for the Ryzen 9 5900x I originally wanted; I've got a buyer lined up for my 5600x at $225, so by the time I take delivery, I'll have basically rented the old chip for $10/month while waiting for stock to stabilize.
Congrats to you! You have been more patient than I. I will be interested in the performance improvements seen over your current 5600x.

I will be interested in what anti-virus/anti-malware setup you are intending to use on your new PC. Have used MalwareBytes for years, but there are better tools out there today. I am looking at updating to a combination of programs, but it is unclear what is a best scenario in today's environment. Am even thinking of a VPN setup which is an option for some software configurations. Security is key, cost is not.
I'm not expecting a massive performance improvement on my 5600x outside of things like Folding@Home (thanks again, LadyGeek, for pointing me in that direction), but I do expect the extra threads to aid greatly in multitasking. The single-core performance should be almost exactly the same, but I tend to have a lot of applications and browser tabs open while playing Dwarf Fortress (which is single-threaded, but incredibly demanding on that single thread).

I just use Windows firewall (which has come a long way since the 90s) plus the Dashlane VPN. And I made sure to change my router password from the default; other than that, I don't go crazy on security. The biggest hole is typically the user, rather than the hardware.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by LadyGeek »

I should mention that I've cut down on my folding@home activity. I used to leave it on from early morning to late at night, but now I limit the hours to just the morning. It's almost summer time and the room is getting warm.

Also - Even though the ambient fan noise is at a reasonable level, it just builds up on your brain over time. When I stop folding@home, my ears say "Thanks!" and I'm back to a quite room. The fan noise without folding@home is so low that I have to concentrate to listen for it.

I'm still racking up lots of points thanks to the GPU.

As for security, I'm using Malware bytes behind a NAT router with the default admin password changed. I don't use a VPN.
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Independent George
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by Independent George »

I got my 5900X yesterday, and started putting it through its paces. As expected, single-core performance compared to the 5600X is roughly the same (1,611 in Cinebench R23 on my 5900X, and 1,531 on the old 5600X), but multi-core is almost doubled (17,577 vs 9,896). I assume that's because two chiplets allows for greater variance in the best and worse cores.

The interesting thing is the heat load. When I run Folding At Home on 'high', three threads go to ~85% and 21 remaining threads at 95-99%, the temp stays at 58 degrees C and the CPU fans are nearly silent. When I open Dwarf Fortress, a single thread goes to 100%, temp stabilizes at 67 degrees, and the CPU fans ramp up to 2000 RPM.

Dwarf Fortress only hits one thread, but hits it hard. That is appropriately Dorfy.
aednichols
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by aednichols »

Believe this is because single-thread boost clock is much higher than all-core boost. And the chip adjusts fan speed to the hottest core.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by tortoise84 »

Independent George wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:18 pm I got my 5900X yesterday, and started putting it through its paces. As expected, single-core performance compared to the 5600X is roughly the same (1,611 in Cinebench R23 on my 5900X, and 1,531 on the old 5600X), but multi-core is almost doubled (17,577 vs 9,896). I assume that's because two chiplets allows for greater variance in the best and worse cores.

The interesting thing is the heat load. When I run Folding At Home on 'high', three threads go to ~85% and 21 remaining threads at 95-99%, the temp stays at 58 degrees C and the CPU fans are nearly silent. When I open Dwarf Fortress, a single thread goes to 100%, temp stabilizes at 67 degrees, and the CPU fans ramp up to 2000 RPM.

Dwarf Fortress only hits one thread, but hits it hard. That is appropriately Dorfy.
You should try the Curve Optimizer to decrease the voltage which will allow you to reach higher boost frequencies with lower temps and power usage. On my 5600X I use Curve Optimizer negative 25 and raised the PBO limits to PPT 128W, TDC 80A, EDC 125A, +50MHz boost. In Cinebench R23 I can reach 12,000 with all cores boosting to 4.7GHz. I also upgraded to an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 120mm and the temps reach 78C. Anything under 80C is fine.

I posted my build on PCPartPicker: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/mG4nTW

I also managed to get my hands on a 3070 Ti. It runs my games great e.g. FS2020 at 50-60 fps 1440p High-End detail settings.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by LadyGeek »

Why did you have to hammer in the 'loops' in your case to make the GPU card fit? To me, that's a problem with the case. It looks like you worked on the first expansion slot opening as well (the blue cable adapter slot).

Nice photos, BTW.

My case is a Fractal Design Meshify C ATX.
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Re: PC Build Thread - 2020... and beyond!!!

Post by tortoise84 »

Yes it is a problem with that particular case. The bottom end of most expansion card brackets has a slight bend outwards, which gets caught on the edge of the case after going through the loop. So I had to hammer in the loops to give them a little more room. I don't think other cases even have loops like that. It's usually just a slot that's wide enough to give more tolerance.
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