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[PC Build Thread] Video cards: Still expensive. Ryzen: Still awesome.

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Posts

  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    Overall looks good, though I would consider going to a 2700x and at least 32 gigs of RAM (16 gig pair, not 4x8Gb) if you can swing it. At that point you are only likely to need to upgrade the GPU and add more storage in the future. And if RAM becomes a bottleneck you’ll have an upgrade path as well.

  • A duck!A duck! Moderator, ClubPA mod
    I think I would go the other way and suggest staying with 16 but getting better RAM. AMD recommends 3600 mhz CL 16 for the 3000 series, so if you don't want to buy it twice upgrade to that.

  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    What are the odds of a CPU upgrade? I guess I can’t answer that question but personally it’s damned infrequent. Unless it’s planned I wouldn’t spend more money to accommodate it.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    One question: do you have a Microcenter in the relative vicinity? (say within an hour)

  • That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guy Registered User regular
    A duck! wrote: »
    I think I would go the other way and suggest staying with 16 but getting better RAM. AMD recommends 3600 mhz CL 16 for the 3000 series, so if you don't want to buy it twice upgrade to that.

    Agreed. Even my baller-ass new 3900x/2080 Super build is only rocking 16gb of ram. Even under my most intense workloads I don't come close to maxing it out.

  • A duck!A duck! Moderator, ClubPA mod
    Orca wrote: »
    What are the odds of a CPU upgrade? I guess I can’t answer that question but personally it’s damned infrequent. Unless it’s planned I wouldn’t spend more money to accommodate it.

    Probably more likely than the OP is to needing 32GB. They only mentioned playing games, and there's no game that's near enough to chewing up 16GB right now.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Honestly considering grabbing another 8GB on sale for reasons #24gblife

  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    My RAM usage must be decidedly atypical since I’ve been finding 16 gigs constraining of late! But that’s keeping games loaded with tons of tabs open and other apps so...

  • MurroughMurrough Registered User regular
    First, thanks for the responses! I appreciate everyone’s advice.
    A duck! wrote: »
    I think I would go the other way and suggest staying with 16 but getting better RAM. AMD recommends 3600 mhz CL 16 for the 3000 series, so if you don't want to buy it twice upgrade to that.

    Are you saying I should stick with the 2600 and just upgrade the RAM so that I don’t have to worry about upgrading it down the line when I stick a ryzen 3rd gen in there?

    If that’s the case, any thoughts on a good 3600 MHz with 16 CL? PC part picker rating are a bit scarce.
    Mugsley wrote: »
    One question: do you have a Microcenter in the relative vicinity? (say within an hour)

    Unfortunately, I do not.

  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    I don't understand how people manage to have more than 10 or so tabs open, is it just because you never cull them or close them after finishing whatever you were doing on that site?

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    Bookmarks are for pages I’ll go back to. Tabs are for pages I might look at. So browsing a news site for me means opening every single article that catches my eye in a tab and reading maybe a third of them.

    Rinse and repeat for any and all link aggregators, research, news, ...

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    I don't understand how people manage to have more than 10 or so tabs open, is it just because you never cull them or close them after finishing whatever you were doing on that site?

    At work? Easy. 2 Salesforce for cases and referencing, 2 of our in house client facing website, 1 spreadsheet for a major clients terminals, 2 SSRS reporting sites for SQL queries, 1 ordering website, 1 other Salesforce for technician deployment (not run by us), JIRA for QA and knowledge base, Monday for scheduling, another tech website for another large client to verify installs.

    And yeah, I'll use all of them every single day.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    At home I've started moving chronically open tabs to the bookmark toolbar. Otherwise I have about 8-10 tabs open of sites I'm checking in with regularly.

    I agree with you; though I'm a (non-software) engineer as a career so I rarely have a need at work for more than a half dozen tabs at once.

  • IncindiumIncindium Registered User regular
    edited August 2019
    I was running out of memory with 16GB on Win 7 at home while gaming and started using Chrome Plugin the Great Suspender which suspends all your tabs to free up resources after a certain amount of time. Highly recommend it.

    Of course I went with 32GB of RAM in my new system so I could go back to my 50+ tabs open if I wanted to and not notice them.

    Incindium on
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    Nintendo ID: Incindium
    PSN: IncindiumX
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    at work I never have less than roughly 30 tabs open.

    at home? the most tabs I'll have open is when I go through my RSS reader, I'll open links I want to read in one go, and then go through them. So I might get 20-25 tabs open then, but as soon as I read that tab, I close it. I generally only have 3-4 tabs open at a time on a home machine.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • KiTAKiTA Registered User regular
    Aridhol wrote: »
    KiTA wrote: »
    Thoughts on the SteelSeries Arctis line of headsets?

    I am currently rocking a Cyber Acoustics AC-204 -- the $9 special from Fred Meyer -- and was thinking of upgrading. Steelseries has been good to me in the past, although nothing can beat these CA headsets for being effectively bulletproof.

    Edit: AH. The 3 Bluetooth is a bad idea. Apparently the mic causes the headset to go mono, because of a limitation in bluetooth.

    I have an Arctis 7 and before that I had another wired steelseries headset.
    The Arctis 7 is comfortable, has good sound and has good battery life but I'll never buy another Steelseries product.

    There are proprietary connectors / cables, the accessories (like new ear pads) are NEVER in stock and basically do not exist. Customer service is fucking atrocious.
    Basically if nothing ever goes wrong they're great but I regret owning these and I will never buy another steelseries product.

    If I were to go back in time I'd save for a good pair of Sennheiser's.

    Tldr; Steelseries makes good stuff they just don't give a shit after you buy it. Get fucked customer!

    Sennheiser's have proprietary connectors, too? Or do they? Hm. Might be dependent on the version.

    My big thing is I don't like headsets that have rotating earpieces. They tend to have like 1cm of plastic holding them together and I've snapped like 4 of them in my day. It's the number two failure point for my headsets after one ear or the other just randomly dying. I kinda want to get wireless, too, so a proprietary connector isn't a huge deal? Maybe?

    But then again, this review has me definitely taking a pause on the Arctis 7. It's one of many, but that one's epic. The Steelseries customer service team told some guy that they'll RMA it, just send in a picture of the headset being destroyed. So he did.

    Then they denied the RMA.

    These stupid CA AC-204s last forever, the last pair died after like 3 years when the wire got caught in my chair wheels.

    A duck! wrote: »
    Orca wrote: »
    What are the odds of a CPU upgrade? I guess I can’t answer that question but personally it’s damned infrequent. Unless it’s planned I wouldn’t spend more money to accommodate it.

    Probably more likely than the OP is to needing 32GB. They only mentioned playing games, and there's no game that's near enough to chewing up 16GB right now.

    Modded Minecraft.

  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited August 2019
    I tend to keep an absurd amount of tabs open because my bookmarks are a mess and I can't bring myself to go in and sort that shit out.

    So I will have tabs open for a game I'm playing, or something I'm reading about, and then leave them open in case I need them next time I play the game or whatever.

    But then I play a different game, and don't want to close the tabs of the other game, because I might play it again later that day or tomorrow. Again, I could bookmark them, but I have too many "temp" bookmark folders where I had that days tabs open for future re-opening, and then forget they're there and since I didn't put any time into naming it, they all look the same and I can't find anything.

    And this goes on, and adds up, and then I have 4 browser windows open with dozens of tabs in each. EDIT: It's a blessing when my computers reboot after an update, because even though I know I can restore the tabs, it is almost like a get out of jail free card.

    It's basically if you watch a show about hoarders, but apply it to webpages.

    Because the irony is that in actual reality I have an extremely organized space, and anything I don't use for awhile gets tossed/donated/sold, because I can't stand clutter. To the point that it took me actual years of being married (and then kids; that was really what did it because it was adapt or die for me) before any thing in "my" space being slightly out of its place wouldn't cause a substantial amount of stress. I mentally track everything solely mine, in my office, and it all needs to be exactly where it is, and nothing more.

    Tabs though? If there were digital equivalent to ungodly stench and infestation, you could probably put me in a TV show. :lol:

    EDIT: This is actually one of the numerous reasons I have two PC's on my desk, so the second one can be the clutter, and the main one can run stuff unencumbered (also so I can still have a PC open when I am playing a console game).

    The Dude With Herpes on
    Steam: Galedrid - XBL: Galedrid - PSN: Galedrid
    Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
    Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand

  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited August 2019
    New monitors should be here this afternoon.

    Quick clarification question: If I have them set to 144hz, and the fps is under 144, I don't need freesync on, right? Or even v-sync for that matter. And I should never use vsync in combination with freesync? Is there any situation where I'd still want to use vsync?

    EDIT: two minutes with the new monitor, i turn my head to look at the old one on my second pc and it looks like someone jacked the brightness all the way down. :rotate:

    EDIT2: Meh, looks like because I have everything going through my receiver, 120hz is the max I can get. That's fine, I suppose. I still have yet to see if I can tell the difference over 60hz, not sure 120 vs 144 would be anything dramatic.

    The Dude With Herpes on
    Steam: Galedrid - XBL: Galedrid - PSN: Galedrid
    Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
    Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    You probably won't notice the difference between 144hz and 120hz at all, and you'll notice it when you go sit and look at something running at 60hz.

    Always be freesyncing. It can smooth out gameplay even above the 45hz sweet spot it's made for.

  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited September 2019
    Hrm, having a hard time getting HDR to pass through my receiver on the PS4. It's supposed to work but it isn't, and I know my cables are good enough. I saw a tip to move the input with hdr to the port closest to the output but maaaaaaaan I don't want to try to fiddle behind my reciever, it is not in a convenient place. :rotate:

    Still, even without HDR turned on (I ran a cable directly to the monitor to test) the difference is pretty dramatic. It isn't that my old monitors weren't good, but they just don't match the color vibrancy at all of this new monitor. They're also not as bright. I'm still on the fence if that's a good thing or not. The brightness helps the colors pop but man is it bright. But Destiny 2 on PS4 even without HDR is way way more colorful, which is neat. Turning HDR on makes a bit of a difference, but not as much as I was expecting; however if I run my receiver to put the PS4 to both old and new monitors the visual difference is huge (that is, even with HDR off). But fiddling between HDR and no HDR when directly connected to the monitor, I'm not entirely sure I like the HDR difference. It makes blacks too dark, and cuts out a lot of detail I can see, even with dark blacks without HDR. I fiddled with the white/black levels in-game with HDR enabled and couldn't find anything that didn't end up looking washed out that also left me with any detail in blacks.

    I'm sure there's games with better HDR implementation that I should be using. Maybe I'll mess with FFXV later, that is if I fiddle with the inputs and see if I can't get the HDR to pass through; because I'm not having a separate cable running.

    EDIT: It just occurred to me that if I have the monitor running at max brightness (default HDR setting in the onboard menu does this) then a game running HDR would have nowhere to go to increase the brightness if it even wanted to. Later I'll try reducing the brighness and then seeing if running a PS4 game with HDR on makes more of a difference. I know since it's HDR400, at least from what I could read up on, means it isn't really HDR at least like you'd get with an HDR1000 monitor or dolby HDR on a TV or anything. As I said, how distinct and vibrant the colors are out of the box already made my old monitors, that I had zero problems with, look dim and washed out in comparison. I'm sure I could have gotten them looking more like this, but I was trying so hard to get them to look as close to each other as possible so it didn't drive me nuts, that I likely limited what they could do. Either way, I don't plan on returning these new ones. Besides their out of the box quality, the complete lack of a single dead pixel on either screen, and their price/features, they're sticking around. Old monitors are going to get mounted from the ceiling downstairs for exercising.

    The Dude With Herpes on
    Steam: Galedrid - XBL: Galedrid - PSN: Galedrid
    Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
    Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand

  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    so my 1 year old logitech mouse is definitely having both the left and right click switches wear out badly. Is there a brand with more reliable switches or all they all just crapshoots?

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    so my 1 year old logitech mouse is definitely having both the left and right click switches wear out badly. Is there a brand with more reliable switches or all they all just crapshoots?

    When you figure it out let me know. :P

  • Pixelated PixiePixelated Pixie They/Them Registered User regular
    so my 1 year old logitech mouse is definitely having both the left and right click switches wear out badly. Is there a brand with more reliable switches or all they all just crapshoots?

    I've had really good luck with SteelSeries lasting a while.

    ~~ Pixie on Steam ~~
    ironzerg wrote: »
    Chipmunks are like nature's nipple clamps, I guess?
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Got my G502 Proteus used from eBay last year with no problems. Try a replacement? Corsair mice also well reviewed

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    edited September 2019
    Yeah I've had the same g502 since 2016 with no issues

    jungleroomx on
  • Pixelated PixiePixelated Pixie They/Them Registered User regular
    That_Guy wrote: »
    That_Guy wrote: »
    That_Guy wrote: »
    After several failed attempts this weekend, it seems that I cannot get Windows 10 to install properly on my NVMe drive. It either bluescreens while installing or, if it does get installed, it bluescreens repeatedly while trying to install drivers or windows updates. No idea wtf is up with that, but I finally gave up and just installed it on my older regular SSD instead. Much disappoint.

    On the bright side, at least I have a shiny new Ryzen 3600 now.

    Rest your BIOS and try the install again. If that doesn't work, update your BIOS and try again. If none of that works make sure your your MVME drive is good. If it's good, you might have a bad motherboard.

    Fairly certain the NVMe is good. I've been using it (Samsung 960 EVO) for about a year for games with no problem, and it seems to still be happy as a gaming drive right now.

    It's an MSI X570 Gaming Plus mobo. I don't believe there's a newer BIOS available yet. I'll double-check though. But maybe just have to wait for some BIOS updates to come down the line?
    I wouldn't wait. If there's a feature that's supposed to work and it isn't, you gotta return that board. My x570 board has no problems booting to my new NVME drive.

    So umm... dumb question time. It appears that Windows was installing in legacy BIOS mode and not UEFI, as near as I can tell (and both my SSDs are listed as having "MBR" and not "GPT" partition styles in windows disk management). Would that cause problems like I was having?

    It could, yes. If you are doing a clean install of windows on a new SSD, you want to use EFI Boot with GPT partition style. You can do this by using Windows/DOS disk management to convert the drive to GPT and disabling legacy boot in the BIOS. Download the latest Windows 10 Media Creation Tool and have it bild you new installation media too.

    To go back a few days...

    I updated my BIOS and converted my NVMe drive to GPT. Changed boot from Legacy to UEFI, and reinstalled Windows to the NVMe this morning.

    So far, everything seems to be working, barring a blue screen while running Windows Update after the first launch, and this annoying error. Not sure if this is just the usual Windows-is-stupid or something to be concerned about.

    ~~ Pixie on Steam ~~
    ironzerg wrote: »
    Chipmunks are like nature's nipple clamps, I guess?
  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    edited September 2019
    hmmm guess I'll try a steelseries 110 then, that looks like about what I'm after, not giving logitech my business right after my last one only lasted a year.
    ehhh actually a lot of reviews say the rubber grips just sort of get unglued after a couple months
    why can't mice just be not bullshit

    BahamutZERO on
    BahamutZERO.gif
  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    yeah this rubber grip coming off thing seems like a pretty common complaint in reviews so forget that, maybe... corsair then?

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • LuvTheMonkeyLuvTheMonkey High Sierra Serenade Registered User regular
    I like my Roccat Kone. Less than a year of owning it but it's good. I have the EMP version.

    Molten variables hiss and roar. On my mind-forge, I hammer them into the greatsword Epistemology. Many are my foes this night.
    STEAM | GW2: Thalys
  • Ear3nd1lEar3nd1l Eärendil the Mariner, father of Elrond Registered User regular
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    @Pixelated Pixie keep trying. If that single one fails to update, you should be able to install it separate via the relevant KB page.


    @BahamutZERO I know you're going to turn your nose up at used hardware but you aren't giving your own money to Logitech (the previous owner did that)

  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    why would anyone sell a good mouse in working condition though

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • AridholAridhol Daddliest Catch Registered User regular
    edited September 2019
    Not all Logitech mice are created equal. My 502 Hero is probably going to outlast me.
    Built like a tank.

    Edit: no one should buy Steelseries anything until they fix their shit customer support.

    Aridhol on
  • Pixelated PixiePixelated Pixie They/Them Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    @Pixelated Pixie keep trying. If that single one fails to update, you should be able to install it separate via the relevant KB page.

    Yeah, I ended up manually installing it. It was just annoying that windows update couldn't seem to do it.
    Ear3nd1l wrote: »

    @Ear3nd1l - I've used a vertical pretty much identical to that. It's sort of pseudo-vertical, as your hand ends up at more of a 30-40 degree angle instead of a 90-degree vertical. It took a fair bit of getting used to, and in the end I discarded it as it didn't seem to make a significant difference in the hand/wrist pain I was having. A true vertical might have done, but I never got around to trying one.

    I know of several people who swear by these kind, though, so really YMMV? Give it a shot! You've generally got like a 30-day return window with Amazon, so there's that.

    ~~ Pixie on Steam ~~
    ironzerg wrote: »
    Chipmunks are like nature's nipple clamps, I guess?
  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    edited September 2019
    Alright Folks,

    Looking to possibly upgrade my graphics card for better performance in Control. I currently have a 4690 i5 processor, 16gb of RAM and a Radeon 470 w/ 4gb of RAM. Thinking of going for a Geforce 1660 Ti, as it appears a pretty good bang for your buck upgrade at around $230 or so from a quick glance at Amazon. The 2060 Super seems nice but around $420 it might be too much card for the rest of my system, but maybe I could turn on raytracing?

    Thoughts? This would probably be the last piecemeal upgrade for this system before a complete overhaul.

    webguy20 on
    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • AridholAridhol Daddliest Catch Registered User regular
    Apparently some issues with hitting advertised boost numbers for a lot of new ryzen 3xxx series folks.

    https://youtu.be/DgSoZAdk_E8

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    why would anyone sell a good mouse in working condition though

    https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/333307352770

    https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/163840867274

  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    hey dumb question I just tried out eyefinity on my pc didn't like it, it wasn't exactly clear on how you turn it off so i just deleted the settings it made in the AMD Radion settings and it went away

    except now my PC keeps turning on with it enabled and I have to pull up the program to disable it every time.

    It's... unclear to me what to do?

  • AridholAridhol Daddliest Catch Registered User regular
    hey dumb question I just tried out eyefinity on my pc didn't like it, it wasn't exactly clear on how you turn it off so i just deleted the settings it made in the AMD Radion settings and it went away

    except now my PC keeps turning on with it enabled and I have to pull up the program to disable it every time.

    It's... unclear to me what to do?

    You gotta remove all the drivers and reinstall if you just deleted the files.
    Then go in and turn it off properly :)


    1. Open AMD Radeon Settings.

    2. Go to Display tab.

    3. Click on Additional Settings. A new window will open.

    4. Click on Disable Eyefinity Display Group

  • BloodycowBloodycow Registered User regular
    @KiTA I have the Arctis 7 Pro + Game DAC and I really like them. They are pretty comfortable for me. I did just have to RMA them though. My 7 year old son likes to steal them from my PC and play with them on the PS4 and somehow he messed up the MIC.

    It retracts into the left side. It would work, but I had to damn near put the thing into my mouth to get it to register any input.

    So I contacted Steel Series, showed them my receipt and sent them a few pics. They approved the RMA. Then I destroyed my headphones and my new ones should arrive on Tuesday.

    Their customer support has been great for me. Maybe it's better now then it was?

    Scared the shit out of me breaking my headphones in half though, since they worked fine except for the microphone.

    " I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.”
    ― John Quincy Adams
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