Build your own computer guide
- Thread starter Bonhomme Richard
- Start date
Check for a firmware update for your two M.2 drives before you get too deep into everything, too. One or both of them may need a firmware update to work with newer Win10 releases, and many times applying a firmware update will blank the drive.
Also you have sort of backed yourself into a corner by splitting things up across two separate M.2 drives. You are going to want whichever one gets used MOST to be in the upper M2_1 slot, because that is the one hooked directly to the CPU. The lower M2_2 slot is routed through the PCH (i.e., what passes for a "southbridge" these days), which means whatever you slot in there is going to have to share bandwidth with your network card, all your SATA ports, most (but not all) of your USB devices, and anything you put in the lower three PCIe slots.
Your top PCIe slot, your onboard sound, your RAM, your uppermost M.2 slot, and the four USB ports inside the red rectangle on your back panel all have dedicated lines to your processor. They don't share anything with anybody else. They all get to talk directly to the CPU independently and uninterrupted by any other components. VIP status, baby!
However, everything else on your board (all the remaining USB ports, all the SATA ports, the LAN, the lower M.2 slot, and the other three PCIe slots) all gets funneled through a x4 PCIe v4.0 link that joins the CPU to the PCH, which means they have to share the ~7.5GB/s provided by that x4 link split between all of them. That said, this should not cause any sort of problem at all UNLESS you someday exceed that budget by replacing the lower M.2 SSD wth one that actually runs at full PCIe v4 speed, by installing an expansion card in the other x16 slot (or you fill both x1 slots simultaneously), OR you decide to hook up a whole mess of USB and/or SATA devices.
tl:dr; For best performance, don't add any future PCIe cards into your machine alongside your GPU (with one exception--you can safely add a SINGLE x1 card into the lowest PCI_E4 slot), and if you ever decide to upgrade to a M.2 SSD that supports PCIe v4.0, make sure you install it in the upper M.2 slot.
--Patrick
Dave
Staff member
And now Windows is telling me that my computer is not activated, even though I have a product key (I made sure I took a picture of the product key before the upgrade). And even though I'm booting from the same hard drive, Windows is telling me the product key is bad and either wants to continually have a little "Activate Windows" thing on my screen that NEVER goes away, or purchase another Windows license even though this one is still good. They're probably telling me that since it's a different computer it doesn't count. Fuck that. You want me to pirate and I'll fucking do it.
Windows has been that way for a long time. If you call, there's a chance that will reactivate it for the new computer, but since everything is new they also might not.
GasBandit
Staff member
kmspico is your friend.
I thought you said you were keeping the M.2 from your other computer to use as a boot drive?
Well, keep the split nature of your MLB in mind if you decide to add other stuff later, regardless.
If your Windows license is for the "OEM" version, then technically you're supposed to buy a new Windows when you move to a new computer, and they might fight you. If it's for the "Retail" version, then they're supposed to let it reactivate.
--Patrick
Stupid question. I was just browsing a bit on logicalincrements, and annoying myself with the price differences for PC parts. The exact same build in the US would cost $1423 (=€1203), and in Belgium, €1589 (=$1881).
So. Besides the PSU (what with different voltages and such) and the keyboard (different lay-out), is there any piece of the PC where it makes any difference at all whether you'd buy it in the US or EU? Obviously shipping isn't free, either, but I'm pretty sure I can get a 20 pound box from the US to Belgium for a LOT less than the difference between those two.
I'm not really in a position to buy a full new build right now, just idly wondering. Perhaps I'll start looking around for someone to ship it all to me in one bog box in a couple of months, but we're not there yet :-P
So. Besides the PSU (what with different voltages and such) and the keyboard (different lay-out), is there any piece of the PC where it makes any difference at all whether you'd buy it in the US or EU? Obviously shipping isn't free, either, but I'm pretty sure I can get a 20 pound box from the US to Belgium for a LOT less than the difference between those two.
I'm not really in a position to buy a full new build right now, just idly wondering. Perhaps I'll start looking around for someone to ship it all to me in one bog box in a couple of months, but we're not there yet :-P
Fun fact, most power supplies these days are either “full range” 110-240V or user-selectable between 110-120 and 220-240, so that part might not even matter.
As for the second part, to some degree the materials themselves will matter (RoHS compliance or tariffs, for instance), but my guess is that what most affects regional retail pricing is the cost of bringing specific IP across borders. Each country has their own idea about what software/firmware/hardware is considered “legal” and so localizing installs or even adjusting performance in order to fit government regulatory guidelines for import/export/sale will sway the price accordingly. Did you know that in 1995 it was straight-up illegal for any American company/individual to ship any computing device with performance greater than 1.5 GFLOPs to China? But a modern RTX 3080 can theoretically crunch 30000 GFLOPs just 25 years later, and changing governmental regulations is...slower.
—Patrick
So, what I wound up with, when all was said and done, is:
ASRock X570 Pro4 mATX
16GB of DDR4 2133
Radeon RX570
Ryzen 3600
Corsair 750W PSU
Optical Drive
1TB 7200rpm Seagate that came in my Lenovo in 2008.
I do miss the fast startup of an SSD, but two of them were fried by this PSU and there's no way in hell I'm hooking up the last. And it still won't run Dual Universe.
ASRock X570 Pro4 mATX
16GB of DDR4 2133
Radeon RX570
Ryzen 3600
Corsair 750W PSU
Optical Drive
1TB 7200rpm Seagate that came in my Lenovo in 2008.
I do miss the fast startup of an SSD, but two of them were fried by this PSU and there's no way in hell I'm hooking up the last. And it still won't run Dual Universe.
Reviews for Radeon 6x00 cards are coming in (mainly 6800/6800XT).
The verdict:
-Do you care about raytracing, CUDA, G-SYNC, DLSS (upscaling), or streaming? Get the NVIDIA RTX 3080.
-Do you care about “native” 1440/4K, larger VRAM, lower power usage, or Vulkan? Get the Radeon 6800 XT.
-Are you still gaming at 1080p or below? Pick whichever one is available. It really doesn't matter.
—Patrick
The verdict:
-Do you care about raytracing, CUDA, G-SYNC, DLSS (upscaling), or streaming? Get the NVIDIA RTX 3080.
-Do you care about “native” 1440/4K, larger VRAM, lower power usage, or Vulkan? Get the Radeon 6800 XT.
-Are you still gaming at 1080p or below? Pick whichever one is available. It really doesn't matter.
—Patrick
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<Wayne’s World sounds...>
</...Wayne’s World sounds>
I try to fix my mistakes rather than just forgetting about them...unlike some people.
—Patrick
Everyone has the ability to quote a post in their reply in order to “freeze” someone’s comments in their original state. Additionally, if it’s really so important to you, as an admin you have the ability to edit any post you want and add whatever fact-check disclaimer you think it deserves. Correcting a typo is hardly ”disingenuous.”
What _I_ don’t understand is how someone who sounds so butthurt over something as minor fixing a typo gets to call me a “humorless prat.”
—Patrick
If we actually get that full $2K (yeah, right), I may be in the market to replace this 5 year old laptop. Figure half that will get me something decent. Don't really need a full-on gaming laptop, because it'll see most of its use at work for browsing, Word, PS, anime watching, and so on. Gaming just asks for me to be interrupted repeatedly as soon as I launch something, so why spend the money?
(ETA: why a hug? It's just this laptop's time to pass the torch. It's still got a long life ahead as a possible linux machine if the plan comes to fruition.)
(ETA: why a hug? It's just this laptop's time to pass the torch. It's still got a long life ahead as a possible linux machine if the plan comes to fruition.)
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After transfering my PC (i5-6500, 5700xt) into my new case (a Lian Li Cool Mesh) i suddenly got problems with my GPU. I also switched PSU from a thermaltake 630w to a be quiet! 550w. The GPU would crash as soon as I start a game. I now have it undervolted and everything runs fine, but this isnt a solution for the long run. Should I reinstall my old PSU?
Make sure the supplemental power plugs that go into the top of the card come from two separate cords.
AMD's official 5700XT page recommends a minimum 600W PSU, so maybe it really does matter?
--Patrick
AMD's official 5700XT page recommends a minimum 600W PSU, so maybe it really does matter?
--Patrick
Sigh. Back to the ol' ketchup and mustard cables. Might just buy some cable extensions so I dont have to see them.
Dave
Staff member
I've been having issues in PUBG seeing the enemies on my 4K monitor. I thought it had a higher refresh rate when I bought it. So I just bought a new 2K 170Hz monitor. Maybe now I can see things. If this doesn't work then it's definitely my old eyes.
Soooo a bit of an update to this, for anyone who doesn't ride the tech news sites as hard as I do.
We already know about the GPU situation, and how mining and scalpers have combined to drive the price of graphics cards to double their MSRP (or even more, in some cases). The same is true for the top-tier CPUs, with Ryzen 5950x models selling at around a 50% premium over their MSRP.
But now there is word that RAM prices are going to rise as 2021 continues. Some places have already hiked RAM prices 20-30%, with predictions that the premium on DDR3/DDR4 may increase to as much as 40-50% by the end of the year.
And now there's news that new digital currencies based on storage space (Burst, Chia, etc) may be catching on, which is drying up supply of large-capacity (4GB and up) HDDs. This has triggered an associated panic buying of SSDs, meaning that storage prices in general are also trending upwards.
All this means that today you can expect a build with MSRP of ~US$2375 to actually set you back about US$3750 (about a 50% total markup) unless you get really lucky with your shopping. In other words, it is an absolutely terrible time to be building a top-tier system right now. There are still some deals to be had with some 6-core mid-range Intel CPUs if you're willing to accommodate their slightly higher power draw, but that's only gonna shave about US$150-200 off the total price.
Oh and this one's for @DarkAudit - We know NVIDIA is releasing a line of dedicated mining cards to fill the demand, but did you know you may soon be able to get your dedicated mining cards that will sit in a box where nobody can see them... with RGB?
--Patrick