Due to a gradually dying AIO cooler, I had to pull the trigger on a long-overdue CPU upgrade. I was still rocking an i5-4670k with a corsair H100i v1 after ~8.5 years of service. Honestly, I'm impressed that it lasted this long and even then it didn't completely fail, but it sounded like there's air in the pump and I couldn't really rely on it anymore. When it worked, it ran at 25 degrees idle. When it didn't, it went up to 100 idle. The CPU itself was still enough to get by for most games but was showing its age in stuff like WH3. If I was being strictly sensible, I'd have swapped out the cooler and continued to wait for Raptor Lake, 7000 series etc. but with tech there's always going to be something about to release. Instead, I've just finished installing an i7-12700k.
The i5-4670k was a damned good chip. At 8.5 years, it's the longest I've ever run with a CPU. It replaced the Q6600 (itself an amazing chip for its time) after 6 years or so. Hopefully Alder Lake will hold up even half as well as those did.
I did learn a few things from the build though:
-Fans are hard. Did you know Noctua make 5v PWM fans that won't work with any motherboard header or standard fan header (since they're all 12v)? Neither did I until I saw it highlighted in the instructions.
-The 8 pin CPU cable will never plug in easily
-If anything is near the ridiculously oversized heatsinks around the CPU, attach or plug in everything to it before installing it. Nearly had to dismount the cooling block because the clearance for a mini-usb connector on the pump was so tight.
+1
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
Just had my PC lock up due to either a driver or my video card shitting the bed.
Updated my drivers and ran Port Royal stress test twice, zero problems.
I'm hoping it was a cosmic ray or something, I dunno. I would prefer my GPU not die right now.
I just need mine to hang in there another couple or three quarters. Keep on shining a little longer you crazy diamond. V1m needs you to hold out until those 7700XTs appear (With 16GB VRAM, AMD you assholes, not 8)
The intel socket bracket for coolers sucks and terrified us last night. It’s like the complete opposite of the amd one on my comp feeling like it was barely on there. Not a fan of putting pressure on one corner to try to get it low enough to screw down
So that build sucked. I had to relocate the rad twice, the pump 3 times, the intel bracket for that is pure evil, organizing a mess of led connectors for the first time was a small annoyance and I’m thankful the case fans came with a splitter or I was gonna have to start killing some light choices, the only position for the pump cables required turning the pump and it still barely clears the 3080 which is gigantic. I think I’m team air coolers just from that experience. Running the power cables would have been fine except we discovered the leds for the radiator fans required a direct power line so I had to pull it back out for their adaptor thing.
But. In exchange for those parts of my soul. It powered up first try. And now my partner has a better computer than me and fancy curved 4k monitor and is going to move the index to their office so we’ll actually use it more easily. So I guess things are ok.
One time, with my old Alienware, something was wrong with Windows. An update would not install. I reimaged it and it fixed it.
I suspect something was wrong with their previous image.
So far, I have been pretty happy with it. I will have to replace the power supply if I upgrade the video card.
I got it on sale long ago. It was actually cheaper than the laptop I bought recently.
If it is a post-Dell-acquisition alienware, from after like 2009 so it probably is, you may not be able to replace the power supply, Dell uses non-standard parts to prevent you from being able to upgrade or reuse anything.
If it is a post-Dell-acquisition alienware, from after like 2009 so it probably is, you may not be able to replace the power supply, Dell uses non-standard parts to prevent you from being able to upgrade or reuse anything.
Oh. There is a guide on how to do it. You just need a few adapters that you can get on Amazon. I already got them. You need one for the DVD drive and one for a hard drive so the cable can fit in the case.
The main problem is that you need to find a card that fits in the case.
Actually, I need to save the link on the YouTube video on how to do it.
Video cards have definitely dropped in price. Hrrrmm....
An 850W power supply is almost $200, which is absurd.
That's probably a top of the line platinum rated and they've always cost that much. The Seasonic Prime Platinum I bought in 2018 was $189 and that was years before everything went to shit. A good gold rated 850w PSU with modular cables from a reputable manufacturer should be in the $120-150 range.
Power supplies did have a big uptick in prices during the early days of the shift to WFH in 2020 but those prices have all come down to normal levels. Normal being relative nowadays but high quality high wattage PSU's have always been pricey.
Look around. We're back in 70s era inflation. Everything has gone up, a lot, in the last year or two.
This was happening before the heavy inflation set in. Yes, inflation is real right now, but GPU price floors have been quite clearly manipulated upward as people showed willingness to pay the new prices.
Inflation is real, and prices do go up over that time, and GPU prices have outstripped inflation, but not by as much as you would expect.
in 2010 nvidia released the GTX 570. that card retailed for $350 USD
in 2020, nvidia released the RTX 3070. that card's MSRP was $500, though it never really hit that, that was the MSRP.
Based on a couple online tools, a rough average of what $350 in 2010 was equal to in 2020 when the 3070 was released is about $425. So the MSRP of the RTX 3070 is about $75 more than the GTX 570 from 10 years prior when you account for inflation. Again, assuming you ever see an RTX 3070 at MSRP, which there are other issues as to why it never was.
A similar exercise with the GTX 580 vs the RTX 3080 shows a MSRP of $500 for the 580 vs $700 for the 3080. $500 in 2010 is about $610 today, so a ~$90 price delta.
So yes, take them just at MSRP and the prices have gone up more than inflation, but at a rate of less than $10/year. Not saying that's good, but not as bad as we think.
And then covid happened and everything went to [explitive] and meant none of this mattered.
I found a 3060 for a good price on Amazon. I have been blowing money on computer hardware lately.
This should be the last of it. I do have a SSD drive laying around that I might be able to put in the Aurora R7.
I will have to look at the specs of the motherboard. I think it is only 500GB. Lately, I have been using an external 4TB drive that has been working great.
I kind of glossed over it when we picked it because it wasn’t one of the features I needed to focus on beyond having 1 but my partners new mobo has like 4 m2 slots. That’s so many.
Are other types of parts starting to use that connector or is that just for the person who wants A LOT of terrabytes of storage?
I kind of glossed over it when we picked it because it wasn’t one of the features I needed to focus on beyond having 1 but my partners new mobo has like 4 m2 slots. That’s so many.
Are other types of parts starting to use that connector or is that just for the person who wants A LOT of terrabytes of storage?
Two of them could be a nice PCIe4.0 m2 raid0 if you wanna be insane.
It is worth checking on how many lanes of PCIe you have available to play with. Sometimes they give you a boatload of ports but not enough lanes to make maximum use of them.
SW-4158-3990-6116
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
0
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
I kind of glossed over it when we picked it because it wasn’t one of the features I needed to focus on beyond having 1 but my partners new mobo has like 4 m2 slots. That’s so many.
Are other types of parts starting to use that connector or is that just for the person who wants A LOT of terrabytes of storage?
WIFI cards currently. I think there's other special use cases using the M.2 form factor but it's still fairly new.
It's just a real easy way to plug directly in to the PCIe lanes without requiring the size of a PCIe expansion card, which is big.
Posts
But then my 2080 (non-ti) had to go and fry.
I am now prancing around the forests of Elden Ring with no stutter.
EDIT - Benchmark
The i5-4670k was a damned good chip. At 8.5 years, it's the longest I've ever run with a CPU. It replaced the Q6600 (itself an amazing chip for its time) after 6 years or so. Hopefully Alder Lake will hold up even half as well as those did.
I did learn a few things from the build though:
-Fans are hard. Did you know Noctua make 5v PWM fans that won't work with any motherboard header or standard fan header (since they're all 12v)? Neither did I until I saw it highlighted in the instructions.
-The 8 pin CPU cable will never plug in easily
-If anything is near the ridiculously oversized heatsinks around the CPU, attach or plug in everything to it before installing it. Nearly had to dismount the cooling block because the clearance for a mini-usb connector on the pump was so tight.
Updated my drivers and ran Port Royal stress test twice, zero problems.
I'm hoping it was a cosmic ray or something, I dunno. I would prefer my GPU not die right now.
I just need mine to hang in there another couple or three quarters. Keep on shining a little longer you crazy diamond. V1m needs you to hold out until those 7700XTs appear (With 16GB VRAM, AMD you assholes, not 8)
A i9 12900k boosting to 4.2 ghz due to Dell power throttling it down to 160(180?) watts so it doesn’t thermal throttle.
For 5 grand
But. In exchange for those parts of my soul. It powered up first try. And now my partner has a better computer than me and fancy curved 4k monitor and is going to move the index to their office so we’ll actually use it more easily. So I guess things are ok.
I’m just tired
I suspect something was wrong with their previous image.
So far, I have been pretty happy with it. I will have to replace the power supply if I upgrade the video card.
I got it on sale long ago. It was actually cheaper than the laptop I bought recently.
Oh. There is a guide on how to do it. You just need a few adapters that you can get on Amazon. I already got them. You need one for the DVD drive and one for a hard drive so the cable can fit in the case.
The main problem is that you need to find a card that fits in the case.
Actually, I need to save the link on the YouTube video on how to do it.
Video cards have definitely dropped in price. Hrrrmm....
It is like a drug deal of something.
I notice it is cheaper on eBay than Amazon.
Remember when that price was like $250-300? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
I may go ahead and get that.
It was crazy
was
That's probably a top of the line platinum rated and they've always cost that much. The Seasonic Prime Platinum I bought in 2018 was $189 and that was years before everything went to shit. A good gold rated 850w PSU with modular cables from a reputable manufacturer should be in the $120-150 range.
Power supplies did have a big uptick in prices during the early days of the shift to WFH in 2020 but those prices have all come down to normal levels. Normal being relative nowadays but high quality high wattage PSU's have always been pricey.
I dunno, even before everything happened, I was pretty happy getting my 3080 for 700ish
This was happening before the heavy inflation set in. Yes, inflation is real right now, but GPU price floors have been quite clearly manipulated upward as people showed willingness to pay the new prices.
yeah a 650w is fine, I am using a 650 with a 3070ti even. It might be insufficient for a 3080.
yeah 3080s are floor of like $900 now so
Wish I saw your post. I went ahead and got a 850W on NewEgg. People were acting like it is the best. It is probably overkill.
I was planning on going for a 3060.
in 2010 nvidia released the GTX 570. that card retailed for $350 USD
in 2020, nvidia released the RTX 3070. that card's MSRP was $500, though it never really hit that, that was the MSRP.
Based on a couple online tools, a rough average of what $350 in 2010 was equal to in 2020 when the 3070 was released is about $425. So the MSRP of the RTX 3070 is about $75 more than the GTX 570 from 10 years prior when you account for inflation. Again, assuming you ever see an RTX 3070 at MSRP, which there are other issues as to why it never was.
A similar exercise with the GTX 580 vs the RTX 3080 shows a MSRP of $500 for the 580 vs $700 for the 3080. $500 in 2010 is about $610 today, so a ~$90 price delta.
So yes, take them just at MSRP and the prices have gone up more than inflation, but at a rate of less than $10/year. Not saying that's good, but not as bad as we think.
And then covid happened and everything went to [explitive] and meant none of this mattered.
This should be the last of it. I do have a SSD drive laying around that I might be able to put in the Aurora R7.
I will have to look at the specs of the motherboard. I think it is only 500GB. Lately, I have been using an external 4TB drive that has been working great.
Are other types of parts starting to use that connector or is that just for the person who wants A LOT of terrabytes of storage?
Two of them could be a nice PCIe4.0 m2 raid0 if you wanna be insane.
It is worth checking on how many lanes of PCIe you have available to play with. Sometimes they give you a boatload of ports but not enough lanes to make maximum use of them.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
WIFI cards currently. I think there's other special use cases using the M.2 form factor but it's still fairly new.
It's just a real easy way to plug directly in to the PCIe lanes without requiring the size of a PCIe expansion card, which is big.
CORSAIR HX Series, HX850, 850 Watt, 80+ Platinum Certified, Fully Modular Power Supply https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NARQ2QU/
https://www.newegg.com/super-flower-leadex-iii-sf-850f14hg-850w/p/1HU-024C-00005
Use code SSBR2728 for more $ off
That took 45 seconds on r/buildapcsales
Yeah. That super flower one is a good deal. I already ordered an EVGA one.
This grandpa is doing the same thing I am doing. I wonder if he knew about the adapters you need.
https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=12G-P5-3657-KR
Get a small discount with code SG6LFX7LRLICR2Y
Yeah. I have been getting a "Your connection is not private" when I go to that site. Chrome is blocking it.
Can you buy on the site? I was able to get to it earlier today, it just points to sellers. Only Amazon has them through 3rd parties.
I did not realize that it is not really a performance increase. You are paying primarily for the RTX and DLSS.
Nvidia kind of makes things misleading.
That just sounds like they're both CPU-limited.