Build your own computer guide

This new PC seems to be working well. For now.
Win10 is activated (seriously, "I changed some of my hardware recently" is acceptable for "literally nothing but the mouse and keyboard is the same"?)
I have surround sound now! :)My wife already complained about the bass :(
The printer works!
The GFX card works!
The internet works!
Haven't installed a single game yet, but, you know, I'll get there
 
After updating to Win11: no more surround sound. Realtek will just not believe there's actually 5 boxes there. The two back speakers just make the same noise as the front. Booh.
I swear, building a PC is fun, getting all the drivers correct is another matter.
 
After updating to Win11: no more surround sound. Realtek will just not believe there's actually 5 boxes there. The two back speakers just make the same noise as the front. Booh.
I swear, building a PC is fun, getting all the drivers correct is another matter.
This is why it's usually better to just install your os new rather than so the hoops to upgrade an OS
 
In games and apps, it does recognize the surround. In Windows it doesn't. Apparently this motherboard doesn't support Spatial sound from the back, only from the (single) front jack. So surround headset? No problem. Surround from 4 pin connection? Nahhh, not gonna do that. And for some reason it classifies 5.1 as spatial sound instead of as a specific system, which Win10 didn't.
Makes perfect sense to me. Yes. Definitely.
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This was a thing in more than one game, the surround got broken, don't know why. Probably something to combat piracy, no doubt.

--Patrick
 
Just something to keep in mind when considering your next build.


The final unmasking came when Der8auer delidded the processor, exposing its utter lack of any actual silicon dies underneath. Rather than legitimate CPU cores, the counterfeiters had simply fashioned a rectangular bump on the heatspreader's underside to mimic the look of processors' dies. The package was just an empty board.
--Patrick
 
...we will have great, great, great products. But we tried that strategy [King of the Hill] — it hasn't really grown. ATI has tried this King of the Hill strategy, and the market share has kind of been...the market share. [currently about 12%]
Meanwhile NVIDIA's next flagship GPU (RTX 5090) is rumored to require anywhere from 550-600W from your system, which is an increase over the 450W of the RTX 4090.

In other words, if you're looking to build a top-shelf gaming system between now and (probably) some time in 2026, your GPU choice is going to be limited to NVIDIA...unless Intel pulls something amazing out of their hat with Battlemage, buuuuuuut I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

--Patrick
 
So, I think I'm going to get together some parts for a new computer. Don't really feel the need to upgrade, but thought it might be a good idea to get ahead of future tariffs. Going with a budget build (Ryzen 5 7600X3D, Asus B650, 32GB DDR5-6000). Any recommendations on a video card? Gaming isn't a huge priority so I don't need anything fancy (for reference I'm still rocking a GTX960). Was thinking about an RTX 3050, but open to suggestions.
 
If you look hard enough, you can find RTX 4070 12GB for less than $500, I think that's probably the best deal going right now.
I wouldn't even bother looking at anything less than 12GB, no matter what chip is on the board. Too many "Eight is not enough" articles out there.

--Patrick
 
Woof, I don't think I have it in me to spend $400+ on a video card, but I appreciate the recommendation. Maybe I'll get lucky when the BF sales roll around.
 
I don't think I have it in me to spend $400+ on a video card, but I appreciate the recommendation.
Unfortunately, the video card people don't give two chips about the buying public right now. The only "budget" GPUs out there right now that meet the "12GB or higher" requirement that I know of are the RTX 3060 and the Radeon 6750, both of which can be had for ~$300. The Intel A770 can be found with a similar price and a full 16GB of VRAM, but its performance is only ~70% that of the 3060/6750. And there really isn't much worth having at all once you go much below that $300 mark, sorry...unless you find someone willing to give away a 1080Ti or something.

--Patrick
 
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