PC Hardware Talk Megathread

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Nvidia releasing Ti SKUs that jacked up the price for barely any improvement while the normal SKUs were still perpetually out of stock really pissed me the hell off. Let's take our already impossible to find product, and divide our production into a new higher priced SKU with tiny performance bump, so now we're producing even fewer of the original SKU which were already good enough for the majority of consumers who wanted them.

From a business perspective, if you're selling something faster than you can make them, why wouldn't you create a higher tier so that you can make more money for the same amount of units sold?

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

From a business perspective, if you're selling something faster than you can make them, why wouldn't you create a higher tier so that you can make more money for the same amount of units sold?

Because the reason you're selling them faster than you can produce them is you can barely produce ANY due to the worldwide semiconductor shortage going on.

It's basically price gouging.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Because the reason you're selling them faster than you can produce them is you can barely produce ANY due to the worldwide semiconductor shortage going on.

It's basically price gouging.

I don't think you can price gouge on luxury computer hardware. And you're looking at it as a disappointed consumer, from a shareholder perspective leaving money on the table would be irresponsible. Also Nvidia has released a Ti version of their cards for many years now and I'm sure it was always the plan for the 3080, it's not their fault the chip shortage resulted in zero stock

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I don't think you can price gouge on luxury computer hardware. And you're looking at it as a disappointed consumer, from a shareholder perspective leaving money on the table would be irresponsible. Also Nvidia has released a Ti version of their cards for many years now and I'm sure it was always the plan for the 3080, it's not their fault the chip shortage resulted in zero stock

Thanks Captain Obvious. Yes, I know how being a public company beholden to shareholders works. I can still be a disappointed consumer in spite of that knowledge and I can still think that it’s a dick move to dilute already vanishingly low SKU availability and go from a $699 MSRP on the 3080 to a $1,199 MSRP on the 3080 Ti which works out to a 70% increase in price for a ~14% performance increase in some cases at best.

Nvidia saw scalpers gouging the #### out of people and didn’t think “hey, we should try to stop that”, they thought “hey, we should do that”.

[Hemi-Cuda]

So my motherboard and/or cpu are starting to go, my random lockup issues that have been a minor pain for years are now increasing to the point of major annoyance. Anyone have suggestions on a new mobo/cpu pairing that would be the best bang for the buck for a GTX 1080? I've got an i7-6700k, so I'm assuming I shouldn't have to spend that much to get something that will outperform it. I'm just looking for the lowest cost CPU that won't be a bottleneck for the 1080. And before anyone mentions future proofing, I'm already planning on building a new machine from scratch whenever I get the funds and ability to actually buy a 3080 or 4080 or whatever the card will be. This machine is going to be a secondary PC for the kids, so no need to upgrade the 1080 as long as it's still kicking

[TorqueDog]

I have an AMD X570 board and a Ryzen 5 3600 (non-X) and it doesn’t bottleneck my 1080ti. I’d recommend something like that, go cheaper on the board as you won’t need to spend big if you’re already doing a full upgrade later. Actually, I am kicking around the idea of upgrading to a beefier processor so if you’re willing to go second-hand, we might be able to work something out as long as you have a suitable board.

[zamler]

Ryzen 9 5900X is easily the best overall processor for gaming and general use.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by zamler

Ryzen 9 5900X is easily the best overall processor for gaming and general use.

I don't doubt you, but I'm not looking to spend $800 on a new CPU for an old machine

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I have an AMD X570 board and a Ryzen 5 3600 (non-X) and it doesn’t bottleneck my 1080ti. I’d recommend something like that, go cheaper on the board as you won’t need to spend big if you’re already doing a full upgrade later. Actually, I am kicking around the idea of upgrading to a beefier processor so if you’re willing to go second-hand, we might be able to work something out as long as you have a suitable board.

PM sent

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I have an AMD X570 board and a Ryzen 5 3600 (non-X) and it doesn’t bottleneck my 1080ti. I’d recommend something like that, go cheaper on the board as you won’t need to spend big if you’re already doing a full upgrade later. Actually, I am kicking around the idea of upgrading to a beefier processor so if you’re willing to go second-hand, we might be able to work something out as long as you have a suitable board.

When are you thinking of doing this? I might be interested in your stuff you don't need.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

When are you thinking of doing this? I might be interested in your stuff you don't need.

Heh, a lot sooner than I had originally thought now that Hemi reached out. It was more of a “if the opportunity arises” kind of thing and now I’m deciding which proc. I should buy should Hemi commit to mine.

[Hemi-Cuda]

After doing some reading I think I'm going to go with the MSI B550-A Pro motherboard to pair with that CPU

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00112797

A lot of higher end mobo features but still in budget pricing. My preferred brand is Asus, but I'd have to spend $50-100 more to get an equivalent board from them

[PsYcNeT]

As someone that's owned a lot of ASUS and MSI crap, I pivoted off ASUS a few years back when they burned me on two z170 motherboards in a row within a 6 month window.

MSI since has been rock solid on 2 motherboards, 2 video cards and surprisingly a PSU in that timeframe.

Also peripheral note, MemEx has both EVGA FTW3 and MSI Ventus x3 3080Ti's in stock right now.

[photon]

I finally have been doing some gaming after updating to the 5900X earlier this year.

After playing through AC Valhalla and trying a few other games on my backlog (I totally forgot about Days Gone!) my CPU upgrade I think is enough for me to be ok with my 2080. I don't need 144Hz and my screen is only 1440p, and this combo is fine for that.

When I update my monitor I'll need to upgrade but I'm not in a huge rush for that.

[PsYcNeT]

I had/have a 3080 (which is now in my wife's PC as she plays Horizon: Zero Dawn), but I upgraded to a 3080Ti with my mining money so i can do 4K/120hz on my TV better.

Very worth it for that reason.

[BlAcKNoVa]

I bought the EVGA FTW3 3080 TI with the 850 watt PSU bundle a few days ago. I've had a couple random PC shutdowns though. Both times it has happened I haven't been under much load at all. The first time it happened was last night, was editing a video in Vegas Pro, but not actually rendering yet. Thought the power went off in the house but it was just the PC. Second time was early this morning, was watching youtube before bed and it shut off once again. Both times the temps were completely fine (in the 40's). I was on Cyberpunk for 4 hrs the first night with the card and had no issues with everything maxed in gamed.

Only thing I've read that could be the issue is the card power spikes too much causing the PSU to shut off. I haven't OC it or anything, no need to.

As for the other discussion going on, I have a B550 Aorus Pro with a Ryzen 5800x and have no complaints so far. Seems like a perfect combination.

[BlAcKNoVa]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1430287280070008834

I was in the SW location yesterday buying a new monitor for my PC and a customer beside me asked about new cards and the only one they had available was a 2060 from last generation so still slim pickings.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Decided to give the Windows 11 beta a shot on my old Surface Pro 4. First I discovered that it's not actually supported, but apparently if you join the dev insider channel instead of the beta channel it will work. However Microsoft released an actual ISO for the beta release, so I setup a USB with that and tried a fresh install with it to see what would happen. And it installed fine, zero issues. So I suspect that if you have older hardware and can't officially upgrade through Windows update you'll still have the option to do a scratch install

As for Windows 11 itself I'm impressed. The start menu is much cleaner and works a lot better with a tablet interface, the settings menu is much more organized than Win 10 and looks a lot better too, and it's very snappy. Really looking to try out the Android app integration whenever that gets released

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I have an AMD X570 board and a Ryzen 5 3600 (non-X) and it doesn’t bottleneck my 1080ti. I’d recommend something like that, go cheaper on the board as you won’t need to spend big if you’re already doing a full upgrade later. Actually, I am kicking around the idea of upgrading to a beefier processor so if you’re willing to go second-hand, we might be able to work something out as long as you have a suitable board.

Thanks to Torque for a quick and painless purchase. Rebuilt system is working great and it's so nice to not have it randomly lock up 2-3 times per day. Much quicker than the old i5 6700k I had in there before as well. I'm also sold on MSI motherboards, so much nicer than the POS Gigabyte one I had

[chemgear]

Cross linking with the TV thread - the 48 (previous gen) is the best gaming monitor I've ever had. Not for everybody though.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1431240772507115524

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Thanks to Torque for a quick and painless purchase. Rebuilt system is working great and it's so nice to not have it randomly lock up 2-3 times per day. Much quicker than the old i5 6700k I had in there before as well.

You're welcome, thanks for the quick and painless sale.

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Decided to give the Windows 11 beta a shot on my old Surface Pro 4. First I discovered that it's not actually supported, but apparently if you join the dev insider channel instead of the beta channel it will work. However Microsoft released an actual ISO for the beta release, so I setup a USB with that and tried a fresh install with it to see what would happen. And it installed fine, zero issues. So I suspect that if you have older hardware and can't officially upgrade through Windows update you'll still have the option to do a scratch install

The support thing around Windows 11 is frustrating as someone who owns a Surface Go LTE that will not officially receive Windows 11 (LTE SKU was released in late November 2018). However, it appears that the 'Insider Program' loophole will remain for people who want to run Windows 11 anyways, with the caveat that it will not be a configuration supported by the product group, so no support. So I plan on continuing to run it anyway.