PC Hardware Talk Megathread

[Muffins]

Took advantage of the Starfield bundle with the RX 7600 and finally upgrading from my 1060 6GB. Funny seeing that card below minimum recommendations on a game.

Not the greatest upgrade, but getting a $90 game for free and not having to upgrade my PSU for the more power hungry cards means its a decent stop gap until I upgrade this old PC in a year or two.

[DownInFlames]

Anyone else get a popup about an update for ViGEm Bus Driver? It's apparently legit but kind of scary to see.

https://docs.nefarius.at/projects/ViGEm/End-of-Life/

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

Anyone else get a popup about an update for ViGEm Bus Driver? It's apparently legit but kind of scary to see.

https://docs.nefarius.at/projects/ViGEm/End-of-Life/

I've been ignoring this one since it popped up. That's good to know it's okay.

[DownInFlames]

Some free games:

Plebby Quest: The Crusades
XKMLK-Y5F4I-LXNAV

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Q6HWF-FRLPC-NTHPB

Dishonored
MATP6-EVZW2-BKGTV

Breathedge
6YQQM-ZL449-J6RWH

God’s Trigger
YILRN-798ZB-CNFIX

DOOM (1993) lol
YVRNR-FVYY9-29XAR

[DoubleK]

What's the best way to add WiFi to my PC?

I have the PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 motherboard and have only used it with ethernet. That's not possible in my rental in Seattle, so I need to get a dongle or something like that.

TIA.

[Muffins]

The best way would be a PCI-E card. The easy and slightly cheaper way would be a USB dongle.

[photon]

Some of them come with a separate or detachable antenna making placement a little more convenient as some cards just have the antenna attached to the card which is inconvenient or impossible in some setups. The USB ones sometimes come with something similar too.

[DoubleK]

I went with this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZJRXT7X...look_titleToDp

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I'm thinking the next-gen version of the Intel Arc cards will finally be my next upgrade, assuming the price is still reasonable. I just can't justify the insane prices of the Nvidia or AMD cards

Just an update on this. Overall I've been happy with the card, especially at the price-point. The graphics and FPS have pretty much been everything I could hope for.

That said, I have started encountering some issues, and I can see why the price is what it is. They're fairly minor issues, but still annoying. For example, the card seems to struggle with spatial audio. Quite a few drops and pops while gaming.

I will say that Intel support has been very good. They're very attentive to their support forums and usually try to cook up a patch when something isn't working properly, but I do feel a bit like I've paid to be a beta-tester at times.

Hopefully they can gain a bigger footprint on their second generation cards.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

I went with this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZJRXT7X...look_titleToDp

Definitely should return. Usb dongles are #### .You want this instead

https://www.amazon.ca/ASUS-WiFi-Blue...s%2C192&sr=8-1

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Just an update on this. Overall I've been happy with the card, especially at the price-point. The graphics and FPS have pretty much been everything I could hope for.

That said, I have started encountering some issues, and I can see why the price is what it is. They're fairly minor issues, but still annoying. For example, the card seems to struggle with spatial audio. Quite a few drops and pops while gaming.

I will say that Intel support has been very good. They're very attentive to their support forums and usually try to cook up a patch when something isn't working properly, but I do feel a bit like I've paid to be a beta-tester at times.

Hopefully they can gain a bigger footprint on their second generation cards.

I've had the Arc 770LE since February and I'm pretty happy with it as well, especially since the summer as the drivers have felt pretty stable.

My biggest technical issue has come from trying to run a certain game in RPCS3, but it's one of those niche scenarios for a software that was designed for nvidia cards.

[Mazrim]

I'm looking to get new PCs for my wife and I. I built my desktop in early 2017 and bought my wife a gaming laptop in late 2017. Too many games are starting to exceed our specs even for minimum requirements. I can take my time getting something together at least, since the next FFXIV expansion doesn't come out until summer 2024.

Here's a build I spec'd out via MemEx, trying to go mid-range like last time and I'd like it to last me somewhere between 5-10 years.


Total is $2494.90 and those are regular prices, not sale prices. I'll be finally getting my wife off a laptop so I'm looking to build 2 PCs with identical specs. I figure that a 12th gen processor with a high single core speed and DDR4 RAM with low latency should be fine for a long time. I chose the 4070 because 12 GB of VRAM should stretch the lifespan of the card a lot more than 8 GB on the 4060. I'm not convinced DDR5 is worth it for this build and it comes with extra costs on the RAM and motherboard.

Any suggestions or thoughts on parts that might better suit a mid-range build or find some extra cost savings? I'll salvage the 2 TB SSD from my current PC so that saves a little bit on one computer.

[DownInFlames]

I plugged your build into PCPartPicker and changed a couple of things. The extra $20 for DDR5 is worth it and so is the extra for the 980 Pro SSD for the boot drive. You might be able to some a few bucks by getting an 850W power supply but that might hinder a future upgrade if you think you might go that direction.

I'd gladly help you build them so you could save $75x2. Or possibly do it yourself? MemEx will mount the CPU and RAM to test it for free and that's the hardest part.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/N2qXkJ

Hopefully MemEx will price match the lower prices.

There are cheaper ways to get Windows that are a little shady but will still get you a legit OS.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

I plugged your build into PCPartPicker and changed a couple of things. The extra $20 for DDR5 is worth it and so is the extra for the 980 Pro SSD for the boot drive. You might be able to some a few bucks by getting an 850W power supply but that might hinder a future upgrade if you think you might go that direction.

I'd gladly help you build them so you could save $75x2. Or possibly do it yourself? MemEx will mount the CPU and RAM to test it for free and that's the hardest part.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/N2qXkJ

Hopefully MemEx will price match the lower prices.

There are cheaper ways to get Windows that are a little shady but will still get you a legit OS.

Thanks for the info! I had a friend tell me many of the same things separately since I posted this. I think what happened with the 1000W power supply was that I assumed the MemEx system configurator automatically shows the appropriate PSU but I see from the partpicker link that it's way off. I agree I could save some money there. My friend also said the same thing about putting the computer together. I'm a little scarred from an experience 10 years ago where I built a computer and it refused to POST, but I'm willing to give it another shot.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I'm looking to get new PCs for my wife and I. I built my desktop in early 2017 and bought my wife a gaming laptop in late 2017. Too many games are starting to exceed our specs even for minimum requirements. I can take my time getting something together at least, since the next FFXIV expansion doesn't come out until summer 2024.

Here's a build I spec'd out via MemEx, trying to go mid-range like last time and I'd like it to last me somewhere between 5-10 years.


Total is $2494.90 and those are regular prices, not sale prices. I'll be finally getting my wife off a laptop so I'm looking to build 2 PCs with identical specs. I figure that a 12th gen processor with a high single core speed and DDR4 RAM with low latency should be fine for a long time. I chose the 4070 because 12 GB of VRAM should stretch the lifespan of the card a lot more than 8 GB on the 4060. I'm not convinced DDR5 is worth it for this build and it comes with extra costs on the RAM and motherboard.

Any suggestions or thoughts on parts that might better suit a mid-range build or find some extra cost savings? I'll salvage the 2 TB SSD from my current PC so that saves a little bit on one computer.

I'd try to find a GPU with 16GB of VRAM. 12 is fine for now, but a lot of game developers have been cautioning that it's not going to be sufficient for much longer.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I'd try to find a GPU with 16GB of VRAM. 12 is fine for now, but a lot of game developers have been cautioning that it's not going to be sufficient for much longer.

I did think about that, but that leaves me with the $700 4060 Ti or the $1600 4080 as options. The price/performance value isn't really there for the 4060 Ti, since for $100 more the 4070 is just so much better despite the lower VRAM. I'm hoping that Nvidia's big push into using AI for future DLSS technology (frame generation, ray reconstruction and more) will mean less of a load on VRAM alone.

[DownInFlames]

I think you'll be fine with 12GB for awhile. You might want to upgrade sooner than the 5-10 years you're hoping for but I agree that the options aren't worth it right now, unless you go AMD.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I did think about that, but that leaves me with the $700 4060 Ti or the $1600 4080 as options. The price/performance value isn't really there for the 4060 Ti, since for $100 more the 4070 is just so much better despite the lower VRAM. I'm hoping that Nvidia's big push into using AI for future DLSS technology (frame generation, ray reconstruction and more) will mean less of a load on VRAM alone.

Yeah, it's either the 4060 Ti (which is still overpriced IMO) or an AMD card if you want more than 12GBs without having to sell a kidney.

[Mazrim]

I can't see myself going AMD for GPUs until they start to catch up to Nvidia on the technology in their cards. DLSS is too good.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I can't see myself going AMD for GPUs until they start to catch up to Nvidia on the technology in their cards. DLSS is too good.

I never use either since I find it makes games look crappy, but FSR2 is supposed to be really good now as well.
I'm definitely going AMD next time around just because screw nvidia, thinking next year or maybe 2025 I'll do another major build

edit: Only other thought on your build, I just upgraded my mobo, cpu and ram last month and found the ol' trusty 212 evo ran really hot. I'm sure it'd be fine on a 12600, but if it'll fit I recommend the Thermalright Peerless Assassin to everyone after seeing all the yootoobers test and praise it. Was about $20 cheaper too. Keeps my 13700k colder than my watercooled 9700k, which is nuts since 13th gen runs super hot

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BN628JRY?...roduct_details