PC Hardware Talk Megathread

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Seems like massive overkill for your setup... I think 750w is on the low end of acceptable for a 3080 / i7, but it should still be adequate. I was however considering swapping for the coolermaster 850 watt one because I took a look at the cabling for this Corsair one and it seems to be a bit of a nightmare to work with for cable management.

Yeah, that was Newegg's suggestion. Part picker has my estimated wattage at 532, so even 650 should be adequate for if I ever decide to OC.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Yep, it shows me at 579. I think anything under 600 is totally fine for a 750W PSU, but I know some people seem to want more headroom. Obviously the 4000 series cards are going to require even more power so if there's a chance you'll upgrade that's a consideration, maybe.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Yep, it shows me at 579. I think anything under 600 is totally fine for a 750W PSU, but I know some people seem to want more headroom. Obviously the 4000 series cards are going to require even more power so if there's a chance you'll upgrade that's a consideration, maybe.

I'm still questioning if I'm even going to go with a 3070 or 3060ti. I still haven't upgraded to a 4k TV and have no idea when I plan to. I was thinking of future-proofing with the 3070, but if I'm not going to upgrade for another 2-3 years, it probably just makes more sense to go 3060ti and then just upgrade the card at the same time I buy a TV.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I think you're probably right.

Frankly, I've always thought "future proofing" was a bit silly. You either never end up actually substantially upgrading in the future, or by the time you do you want to change so much that you might as well just build again. Predicting the future, in terms of what technology will be available, what its requirements are and what you're actually going to need / want when that future comes around seems pretty impossible to me.

Still looking for a Mobo... looks like Memex NE has a Z690I on clearance, which would be a really good option for me, but it's slightly scary to buy something that someone probably returned.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Still looking for a Mobo... looks like Memex NE has a Z690I on clearance, which would be a really good option for me, but it's slightly scary to buy something that someone probably returned.

I was looking at this one: https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00119753

I know you said you were trying to stay away from DDR5 to keep costs down, but figured I'd post it in case you hadn't come across it.

EDIT: Although you can't OC these ones if that's important to you.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Yeah that was an option I was considering if I was going the DDR5 route when I was thinking about building in the Fractal case. The issue I have is that doing it that way bumps the total cost up by over $200 and I guess I just haven't been sold on that being worth it for the benefits of DDR5.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Yeah, that was Newegg's suggestion. Part picker has my estimated wattage at 532, so even 650 should be adequate for if I ever decide to OC.

You want 750 to 850 min with a 12th gen and 3070ti

Nvidia transient power spikes are brutal . I have a strix 3070ti in one of my many builds and I've seen that suckered go up to 350 wattplus alone. Your getting a card that's slightly better than a 3070 but with the power draw of a 3080.

That cpu plus gpu can easily pull alot of power let al9ne , fans,ram aio . Alot of 3070tis also use 3 8 pin connectors which alot of power suppliies under 780 won't have enough plug in spot to run 3 seperate cables, and yes you should run 3 seperate cables vs 2 with the spliter connectors.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I'm still questioning if I'm even going to go with a 3070 or 3060ti. I still haven't upgraded to a 4k TV and have no idea when I plan to. I was thinking of future-proofing with the 3070, but if I'm not going to upgrade for another 2-3 years, it probably just makes more sense to go 3060ti and then just upgrade the card at the same time I buy a TV.

3050 - 3060 = 1080p
3060 to 3080 = 1440p
3070 - 3090 = 4k obviously 3070/ti with limited settings usually around medium

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

You want 750 to 850 min with a 12th gen and 3070ti

Nvidia transient power spikes are brutal . I have a strix 3070ti in one of my many builds and I've seen that suckered go up to 350 wattplus alone.

That's 60 watts above rated max. If you're in the 500s for your whole system's total power draw, a decent modern 750W PSU shouldn't have any issue at all. Fans, AIOs and ram are generally pretty low power draws. What's DDR4 ram, 3 watts per 8 gigs or so? SSDs are even less. Almost everything is the GPU and CPU.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

3050 - 3060 = 1080p
3060 to 3080 = 1440p
3070 - 3090 = 4k obviously 3070/ti with limited settings usually around medium

Yeah, that's why I'm thinking of just grabbing a 3060. I'll probably still be gaming at 1080p for another few years. My plasma just refuses to die.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Likewise, except it's 3 plasmas (granted I only ever use 2 of them). They're so good. I mean obviously OLED is better but not better enough to make it worthwhile to even bother with the hassle of replacement, much less the cost... to be fair though, I don't game on them.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

That's 60 watts above rated max. If you're in the 500s for your whole system's total power draw, a decent modern 750W PSU shouldn't have any issue at all. Fans, AIOs and ram are generally pretty low power draws. What's DDR4 ram, 3 watts per 8 gigs or so? SSDs are even less. Almost everything is the GPU and CPU.

750 is absolutely fine.
290 is power draw on a FE card . The asus 3070ti strix OC gaming card I have in my small build has a draw around 320watts. Most 3rd party cards are going to be oc and require 3 8 pcie cables which you often don't have on a 750 psu.
If you get a 2 8 pin card then who cares but alot of the 3070ti do have 3 pin. That's to get a bit more power out of them because those cards are 3070ti s but they decided to slap a 3090 heating to them.

[Meelapo]

I game on a 48" OLED and I have a 3080Ti. For the most part, the 3080Ti does what I need with settings on "High" or "Ultra" and I'm above 60 FPS. Some games do require that I enable DLSS "quality". But other than that all the bells and whistles, including ray tracing where supported, I turn on.

I have a 1000W PSU but I've also undervolted my GPU. Using the nvidia FPS counter I've seen power draw come out at 350-375W in demanding games.

If you want me to run a few games and report back the experience just let me know!

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

What processor are you running? 375W seems perfectly reasonable for a 3080ti... a 5950x peaks at like 220W so even there going above 850 on a PSU seems like it's probably unnecessary.

[Meelapo]

I run a 5600X.

I think 850W should be fine. I only went with 1000W because the PSU I wanted didn’t come in an 850W variant (or the price difference was negligible).

When my card is volted normally I’ve seen the nvidia panel list 1.1 volt with 420W draw. I’m don’t know much about power draw so I’m not sure if that helps.

Edit: I went with 1000W because I wanted the 80% utilization to fall within the area where the fans would spin very slowly to limit noise.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

That makes sense then.

I think people who are talking about transient spikes have a point, but realistically, if you're looking at something like a 12600 or 12700 that will typically be drawing under 100 watts, is rated 125 and peaks at, reportedly, 160W, your 320 watt (3080) or 350 watt (3080ti) GPU would need to spike to almost double its supposed max power draw to even hit the RATED wattage of your 750W PSU. And then you recognize that OPP for most PSUs is something like 30% above the rated wattage - unless the PSU you bought is a real piece of trash, the things can handle spikes; for that purpose your 750W PSU has something in the range of 975W of tolerance for spikes.

It's more of a concern if like me you're pursuing a SFF build I think.

[Meelapo]

The only thing is consider is the notion of “future proofing” - which I think you’ve noted. If you plan on going with the upcoming GPUs you might want to give yourself a bit more room. Also PSUs are a pain to swap out.

[Meelapo]

One more thing...

https://youtu.be/GOGUV1bsjtQ?t=1273

ATX 3.0 PSU news. Something that's worth considering too? I don't understand enough to know the implications of having/not having ATX 3.0 support.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Still creeping ever so slightly lower...

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product...-card/15976907

[TorqueDog]

Considering what I was expecting to spend on a GPU at some point, these prices make me consider just getting an RTX 3090 and futureproofing myself for a bit. Sell the 1080 Ti and 1070 I have now to recoup some of the cost.