Building a gaming PC

[atomheartbevo 89626]

Oh good, Gamestop is getting into PC components, including the latest video cards.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/gamestop-to-sell-pc-hardware-including-rtx-3000-graphics-cards

https://weeklyad.gamestop.com/h/m/gamestop/flyerflip/browse?flyer_run_id=686349&locale=en&type=1

 

[BurntOrange&White 39930]

On 3/24/2021 at 7:11 PM, atomheartbevo said:

Oh good, Gamestop is getting into PC components, including the latest video cards.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/gamestop-to-sell-pc-hardware-including-rtx-3000-graphics-cards

https://weeklyad.gamestop.com/h/m/gamestop/flyerflip/browse?flyer_run_id=686349&locale=en&type=1

 

we'll take your 2080ti for $4.75  Resells for 2k

[atomheartbevo 89626]

High speed boat chases include GPUs/CMPs now.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gpu-smugglers-300-nvidia-cmp-30hx-gpus

Quote

Graphics cards, more specifically Nvidia's Cryptocurrency Mining Processor(CMP), are the new commodity among Chinese smugglers. TVB News reported that the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department busted a smuggling ring and recovered up to 300 CMP 30HX graphics cards.

The story seems like it came out of a movie. The Chinese authorities detected a suspicious fishing boat anchored just outside the Hong Kong International Airport. The sea smugglers were loading boxes from the fishing boat to a speedboat at 2 am. When their cover was blown, the shady men hopped on the speedboat and sped away towards mainland waters. A high-speed boat chase ensued (insert Bourne chase music), but the astute gang got away. However, the officers managed to detain the owner of the fishing boat.

Quote

The confiscated goods included typical exotic foods, such as sea cucumbers and shark fins, and tech products, like smartphones and computer gadgets. Much to the authorities' surprise, there were up to 300 unidentified graphics cards inside the boxes. According to the report, the lot of tech products is valued at HK$2 million (~$257,000).

Quote

The graphics cards lack branding or stickers that can provide a clue to their origins. Given the lack of display outputs, these graphics cards are unquestionably CMP offerings. They feature a black and grey cooler with two cooling fans. The pricing for Nvidia's CMP graphics cards remains a mystery, but we've seen the CMP 30HX hit the overseas market for as much as $723. With an estimated Ethereum hash rate up to 26 MH/s, the CMP 30HX isn't even that good for mining Ethereum. However, the graphics card shortage is likely affecting cryptocurrency miners as well, so they'll jump on any opportunity to make a profit. Besides, a contraband CMP 30HX is more affordable than buying directly from Nvidia or its partners.

 

 

 

[RichUT 1832]

Okay Surly computer gurus, I have 3-4 months to source a respectable GPU for my son's DIY gaming machine build. A good friend did us a solid and loaned us a 2080 for the summer, but the deal is that it goes back to him in the fall. 

I'm fine spending up to $600 or so, but don't want to go to the secondary market. Ideally we'd end up with a 30xx card, but I could live with one of the newer AMD cards.

What are the tips/tricks to know to have any sort of chance at getting one? I am not about to buy a bot, but I am fine getting up early or staying up late for site refreshes even if the chances there are somewhat slim. 

Any best practices to follow would be appreciated.  

[atomheartbevo 89626]

3 hours ago, RichUT said:

What are the tips/tricks to know to have any sort of chance at getting one? I am not about to buy a bot, but I am fine getting up early or staying up late for site refreshes even if the chances there are somewhat slim. 

What kind of CPU? Also what are the major games?  

Refresh the AMD direct buy page at odd times during the day - https://www.amd.com/en/direct-buy/us - you will sometimes catch them on there.

Find the cards you want on NewEgg (set the filter up), and then refresh that page, particularly later in the evening or early in the morning. Make sure you select "sold by NewEgg" or whatever, so that they will ship on time (more on this in the Amazon part). I got lucky on NewEgg and it only took a few days of looking late at night or early in the morning.  I picked up a 2060 though - if you are holding out for better, it will be tougher.

And setup some trackers in https://camelcamelcamel.com although you'll need to make sure you setup your email account to alert you to any price drops, but be wary - only buy from Amazon/shipped from Amazon - there's a shitload of people who are drop shipping, and who are selling cards they have ordered themselves, but don't physically have, so you could find yourself buying a card that might not are delivered for a while.

Just know up front that you are going to pay a hefty price because the 25% tariffs that Trump pushed through back in December are still in place for some reason.

I would avoid used - others have disagreed with me, but you don't know if they were in some kind of mining rig running 24/7 or what (and I know, people say a lot of miners under clock or under volt or whatever to keep temps down, but you don't know if they did that, and you don't know if they had some hard usage).

[RichUT 1832]

He went AMD Ryzen 7 on the processor. Game wise, he plays something called Osu and a lot of random modded Minecraft shit off of various servers. He mentioned wanting to play War Zone at some point too.

Thanks for the guidance. Will start to get in the habit of stalking NewEgg in the early morning and late at night.

[Jersey Man10 3528]

Check Reddit for pc parts sales too.

[speed817 19255]

Hit up microcenter (if you are near one) every morning before they open to see what cards they have available that day.  Enter the Newegg shuffle when they have them. 

[RichUT 1832]

1 hour ago, speed817 said:

Hit up microcenter (if you are near one) every morning before they open to see what cards they have available that day.  Enter the Newegg shuffle when they have them. 

No Microcetner in Austin. Never heard of the Newegg shuffle. Will have to go research that one.

[speed817 19255]

1 hour ago, RichUT said:

No Microcetner in Austin. Never heard of the Newegg shuffle. Will have to go research that one.

I've been entering the Newegg Shuffle almost every time they have a 3080 available.  Still no luck.

https://www.newegg.com/product-shuffle

[Captainant 27632]

Finally got my hands on a 3080, my local microcenter has a couple dozen EVGA FTW 3080 12GB in stock for $1000. The shortages are somewhat letting up finally!

Man the 3080 with DLSS is fucking incredible. I had to get a HDMI 2.1 cable to do it, but it'll push a rock solid 120fps 4k HDR signal on WarThunder and Lego Star wars. I had some issues with occasional black flickering until I changed the colors from RGB to 4:2:0 to get it to play nice with my LG oled

[Jersey Man10 3528]

Why not use DisplayPort cable? It will more than likely fix your issues.

Edit: Oh nvm you’re not using a monitor lol

[ztejas 43411]

7 hours ago, Captainant said:

on WarThunder and Lego Star wars.

Just ignore the sounds of me dying a little bit inside. 

[Captainant 27632]

4 hours ago, ztejas said:

Just ignore the sounds of me dying a little bit inside. 

Lolol not that many options for 4k DLSS that I play much of. Lego Star wars couch coop with the wife is pretty fun

[ztejas 43411]

21 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Lolol not that many options for 4k DLSS that I play much of. Lego Star wars couch coop with the wife is pretty fun

Honestly the new Lego star wars looks fucking awesome. I wish I had a rig to run it. Do y'all use like Xbox controllers or what?

[Captainant 27632]

15 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Honestly the new Lego star wars looks fucking awesome. I wish I had a rig to run it. Do y'all use like Xbox controllers or what?

Yeah, two xbox one controllers paired with Bluetooth works great, and Lego star wars does split screen coop natively. With steam big picture mode, you can use any PC like a console pretty easily. 

FWIW, if you have even a 3050 or similar tier AMD card you can probably run Lego star wars at 1080p

[speed817 19255]

Anybody interested in a motherboard?  Got this one from the Newegg shuffle a while back when I got my 3080.  Had a few no shows for Craigslist/Marketplace sales and don't really want to build a PC at this moment.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145275

 

[Elvis 3371]

How much are you asking?

[speed817 19255]

20 minutes ago, Elvis said:

How much are you asking?

$150 shipping included?  Little cheaper if you're local in Dallas and can meet up.

[Tonesky 932]

In 8/2017, we lost it all in Harvey.  I have beat on my wife that the personal property insurance money we have been holding for this day is also for the kids' lost shit.  And, with her sort of buy in, I then promised my son (about to turn 15) that his day would come.  Well, we are here - moving from rental squalor back to our own home within the next few weeks.  So, it is time to get my son a real gaming computer....  I will buy this, not build it myself.  But, I am OK with a custom build and am not limiting myself to some preconfigured Dell, etc..  What are appropriate specs?  I am not looking for minimum specs.  I want him to be blown away by his upgrade, and for it to get him through high school without need for significant upgrades.  But, I'm also not springing for the latest $1K + graphics card.  Thanks.

[elfenix 34223]

AMD 6800 cards are down under $700, nvidia 3080s can be found for $800.  so, not $1000, at least.  no idea what kind of markup a system integrator would put on those, tho. 

as for CPUs, for gaming it's the intel 12700KF.  32GB of ram, 2TB pcie 4 SSD should round it out. DDR4 vs. 5 doesn't matter so much for gaming so long as the speeds are DDR3200 or faster.  5 is the new hotness while 4 is going to be phased out over the next few years. 

Edited July 12, 2022 by elfenix

[Texaskimo 135]

Not sure if anyone can help with this, but I've got a frustrating problem with a PC I just built. Relevant components:

Motherboard - ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F

CPU - AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

RAM - 32 GB (2x16) DDR4 3200

GPU - MSI GeForce RTX 3080 12GB

Storage - 4TB HDD (SATA connected) + 1 TB SSD M.2 connected

PSU - EVGA SuperNOVA 1000GT 1,000 watt

 

Problem: I assembled everything and turned it on for the first time, it briefly displayed the BIOS screen indicating new CPU detected for about 1/2 second or so, then the screen went blank. The post check lights on the motherboard indicate it pasts post check for VGA, CPU, and DRAM (white, red, and yellow lights turn on then back off) but not the boot device (green light comes on and stays on). I have not been able to get it to actually display anything on my screen with the following troubleshooting configurations, getting the exact same symptoms with each attempt:

HDD SATA connection moved to a different slot, HDD removed entirely (so just SSD), SSD removed (so just HDD), RAM pulled and reseated, just one stick of RAM (tried with each stick), graphics card replaced with the one on my current functional computer, cleared CMOS RAM, and replaced the battery of the CMOS RAM.

I also tried removing the graphics card entirely, which resulted in both the POST check keeping both the white (VGA) and green (boot device) error lights on which was expected.

Is my next step a motherboard swap, or is there something else I can try first?

Edited August 27, 2022 by Texaskimo
forgot one of my troubleshooting steps

[immamac 42835]

1 minute ago, Texaskimo said:

Not sure if anyone can help with this, but I've got a frustrating problem with a PC I just built. Relevant components:

Motherboard - ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F

CPU - AMD Ryzen 9 5900X

RAM - 32 GB (2x16) DDR4 3200

GPU - MSI GeForce RTX 3080 12GB

Storage - 4TB HDD (SATA connected) + 1 TB SSD M.2 connected

PSU - EVGA SuperNOVA 1000GT 1,000 watt

 

Problem: I assembled everything and turned it on for the first time, it briefly displayed the BIOS screen indicating new CPU detected for about 1/2 second or so, then the screen went blank. The post check lights on the motherboard indicate it pasts post check for VGA, CPU, and DRAM (white, red, and yellow lights turn on then back off) but not the boot device (green light comes on and stays on). I have not been able to get it to actually display anything on my screen with the following troubleshooting configurations, getting the exact same symptoms with each attempt:

HDD SATA connection moved to a different slot, HDD removed entirely (so just SSD), SSD removed (so just HDD), graphics card replaced with the one on my current functional computer, cleared CMOS RAM, and replaced the battery of the CMOS RAM.

I also tried removing the graphics card entirely, which resulted in both the POST check keeping both the white (VGA) and green (boot device) error lights on which was expected.

Is my next step a motherboard swap, or is there something else I can try first?

So it posted once then didn’t post again? 
did you use mother board standoffs? 

[immamac 42835]

Do you have a spare GPU or have you tried the GPU in a different slot? 

[Texaskimo 135]

Yes, there are motherboard standoffs. About half the time I try to power it up I see the bios logo screen for a half second or so before the screen goes blank again. The monitor indicates it is getting a signal (the power light is blue instead of amber) but displays nothing.

[immamac 42835]

1 minute ago, Texaskimo said:

Yes, there are motherboard standoffs. About half the time I try to power it up I see the bios logo screen for a half second or so before the screen goes blank again. The monitor indicates it is getting a signal (the power light is blue instead of amber) but displays nothing.

If it comes on at all the GPU should be fine. Have you tried reseating all the PSU connections on both sides? You should be able to get into BIOS without boot drives. 
 

do you know which key gets you into bios? Have you booted then spammed that? 

[Texaskimo 135]

1 minute ago, immamac said:

If it comes on at all the GPU should be fine. Have you tried reseating all the PSU connections on both sides? You should be able to get into BIOS without boot drives. 
 

do you know which key gets you into bios? Have you booted then spammed that? 

Yeah I did conclude the GPU was unlikely to be the problem after ripping the one out of my current setup and plugging it into the new build and getting the same results. 

del gets me into bios settings per the motherboard manual, I've tried spamming it at startup to no avail. I have tried reseating all the power connections on the consumption side, but have not pulled the power supply out to try reseating all the connections on the supply side. I'll try that next, thanks.

[immamac 42835]

Just now, Texaskimo said:

Yeah I did conclude the GPU was unlikely to be the problem after ripping the one out of my current setup and plugging it into the new build and getting the same results. 

del gets me into bios settings per the motherboard manual, I've tried spamming it at startup to no avail. I have tried reseating all the power connections on the consumption side, but have not pulled the power supply out to try reseating all the connections on the supply side. I'll try that next, thanks.

I’d try that. Then I’d try booting with only 1 stick of RAM. If that doesn’t work then it’s likely the mobo. 
 

also you may know, but make sure the m.2 slot you use for the nvme drive is the one directly using the cpu pcie lanes not the chipset lanes. 

[Texaskimo 135]

26 minutes ago, immamac said:

I’d try that. Then I’d try booting with only 1 stick of RAM. If that doesn’t work then it’s likely the mobo. 
 

also you may know, but make sure the m.2 slot you use for the nvme drive is the one directly using the cpu pcie lanes not the chipset lanes. 

I pulled the power supply, rerouted the cables so they had an easier path (less twisting into place when setting the power supply back in the case) and retried, no luck.

The m.2 card is in the slot between the GPU and the CPU, not in the slot by the SATA ports. Per the manual, this is the slot that supports PCIe 4.0 while the one by the SATA ports only supports PCIe 3.0 and disables several of the SATA ports when in use. The SSD I have is PCIe 4.0. Regardless, I did test booting with the SSD removed and it did not change anyhing.

I did test each stick of RAM individually with the same result, so I don't think RAM is the problem unless I got lucky enough to get 2 bad sticks. 

I was really hoping it wouldn't be the motherboard, mainly because I don't want to fuck with removing the CPU cooler and cleaning off the thermal compound from it and the processor. 

[immamac 42835]

3 minutes ago, Texaskimo said:

I pulled the power supply, rerouted the cables so they had an easier path (less twisting into place when setting the power supply back in the case) and retried, no luck.

The m.2 card is in the slot between the GPU and the CPU, not in the slot by the SATA ports. Per the manual, this is the slot that supports PCIe 4.0 while the one by the SATA ports only supports PCIe 3.0 and disables several of the SATA ports when in use. The SSD I have is PCIe 4.0. Regardless, I did test booting with the SSD removed and it did not change anyhing.

I did test each stick of RAM individually with the same result, so I don't think RAM is the problem unless I got lucky enough to get 2 bad sticks. 

I was really hoping it wouldn't be the motherboard, mainly because I don't want to fuck with removing the CPU cooler and cleaning off the thermal compound from it and the processor. 

I’d get an x570 anyway, especially with a 5900x. B550 is a shit chipset. 

[elfenix 34223]

[Texaskimo 135]

Well I disassembled the whole thing and boxed up the motherboard. When the replacement comes it'll be fun times repeating the whole build to find out if it really was the motherboard.

[immamac 42835]

8 minutes ago, Texaskimo said:

Well I disassembled the whole thing and boxed up the motherboard. When the replacement comes it'll be fun times repeating the whole build to find out if it really was the motherboard.

You sticking with B550? Seriously it’s dogshit and will make your processor underperform. 

[Texaskimo 135]

27 minutes ago, immamac said:

You sticking with B550? Seriously it’s dogshit and will make your processor underperform. 

No I did a return for refund and placed a new order for an ASUS Prime X570 to replace it. I can't say I know much about motherboard performance so I took your word for the X570 being better.

[immamac 42835]

Just now, Texaskimo said:

No I did a return for refund and placed a new order for an ASUS Prime X570 to replace it. I can't say I know much about motherboard performance so I took your word for the X570 being better.

You won’t regret it. Much better chipset. You shouldn’t go crazy with overclocking, but if you are on an AIO liquid cooler you should definitely let the amd Ryzen Master suite do some OC on the processor. 5900x is great. 

[Braff Zacklin 13552]

4 hours ago, immamac said:

B550 is a shit chipset. 

Objectively false. Stick to macs.

[Jersey Man10 3528]

I have a feeling that it was your power supply.

[Zeus 6013]

Took my bare bones piece of shit 8th gen i3 and 1050 to the next level since graphics cards are back to normal prices... finally...

$60 - 1 stick of fast 16gb ram

https://www.newegg.com/patriot-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820225275?Item=N82E16820225275

$270 - RX 6600 GPU

https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-6600-mech-2x-8g/p/N82E16814137690?Item=N82E16814137690

$90 - Motherboard

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813144525?Item=N82E16813144525

$180 - 12th gen i5

https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i5-12400f-core-i5-12th-gen/p/N82E16819118360?Item=N82E16819118360

$600 total for new computer since I already had a few SSDs and HDs, and a tower.

Runs AAA games perfect 1080p and high settings, plenty good for me.

Hitman III is beautiful

[Zeus 6013]

On 8/27/2022 at 8:04 PM, Jersey Man10 said:

I have a feeling that it was your power supply.

They checked one for me at Fry's back when Fry's was a thing.

[Texaskimo 135]

On 8/27/2022 at 8:04 PM, Jersey Man10 said:

I have a feeling that it was your power supply.

Everything is working now with the new motherboard, so evidently it was the motherboard. What a pain in the ass though.

Thanks @immamac for helping with the troubleshooting.

[immamac 42835]

57 minutes ago, Texaskimo said:

Everything is working now with the new motherboard, so evidently it was the motherboard. What a pain in the ass though.

Thanks @immamac for helping with the troubleshooting.

Glad it’s working for you! If you wanna try to OC it come back in here and we will get it humming 

[atomheartbevo 89626]

NVIDIA cancels their $900 card, their cheapest, but keeps the $1200 and $1600 cards.  The $900 card was too confusing for consumers.

https://kotaku.com/nvidia-pc-graphics-card-rtx-4080-4090-price-date-cancel-1849659147

[Captainant 27632]

4 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

NVIDIA cancels their $900 card, their cheapest, but keeps the $1200 and $1600 cards.  The $900 card was too confusing for consumers.

https://kotaku.com/nvidia-pc-graphics-card-rtx-4080-4090-price-date-cancel-1849659147

I mean, it's the 4070. They just didn't want to charge $900 for a xx70 card and break their pricing model. Because the 12GB and 16GB 4080s weren't just a difference in memory, the 16GB was 30% faster by Nvidia's own published benchmarks. And then they "unlaunched" the 12GB 3 days after they published the numbers lol

[rage-a-holic 4378]

Ok, my 5 year old i5 Gigabyte build is dying and I'm tired of troubleshooting it.

Hit me with some budget MB/CPU/GPU mATX combo recs. I don't play any super intensive 4k FPS shit. 

[elfenix 34223]

not a bad time for it as GPU prices have crashed pretty hard. 

reddit likes this sale on this board today:

https://www.newegg.com/msi-pro-b550m-vc-wifi/p/N82E16813144548

and on this gpu:

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-gv-r665xtgaming-oc-8gd/p/N82E16814932520

amd 5600 processors were on sale for $129 on amazon yesterday, or $125 at microcenter right now if you can get to one (not sure if you're in mexico)

 

[speed817 19255]

16 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

Ok, my 5 year old i5 Gigabyte build is dying and I'm tired of troubleshooting it.

Hit me with some budget MB/CPU/GPU mATX combo recs. I don't play any super intensive 4k FPS shit. 

I got a motherboard that's just sitting around.  Never opened.  Works with 10th and 11th gen intel CPUs.  Let me know if you're interested....

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145275

[rage-a-holic 4378]

2 hours ago, speed817 said:

I got a motherboard that's just sitting around.  Never opened.  Works with 10th and 11th gen intel CPUs.  Let me know if you're interested....

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145275

Thanks, I appreciate it, but I'm looking to buy everything via Amex for the points and extended warranty.

[immamac 42835]

3 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

Thanks, I appreciate it, but I'm looking to buy everything via Amex for the points and extended warranty.

You in quintana roo or where? IMO take a trip to Houston and go to microcenter and just get whatever their bargain bin shit is at the time. It's been really good lately. As long as you stick to i5 or Ryzen 5 or better with 3600MT/s DDR4 you are good. 

I wouldn't look at i7/Ryzen 7 unless you were gonna be doing something like video work or 4k gaming. Get a 3070 or 3060 and call it a day. 

M.2 drives are cheap as shit now too. I would overbuy storage at these prices. 

[rage-a-holic 4378]

1 minute ago, immamac said:

You in quintana roo or where? IMO take a trip to Houston and go to microcenter and just get whatever their bargain bin shit is at the time. It's been really good lately. As long as you stick to i5 or Ryzen 5 or better with 3600MT/s DDR4 you are good. 

I wouldn't look at i7/Ryzen 7 unless you were gonna be doing something like video work or 4k gaming. Get a 3070 or 3060 and call it a day. 

Puebla. I'm coming to Austin for a week, but I won't be anywhere near a Microcenter, and I'm not wasting a day of driving and $100 in gas to visit the nearest one.

Has to be a retailer that can deliver in 3-4 days (Amazon, newegg, etc)

 

[immamac 42835]

3 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

Puebla. I'm coming to Austin for a week, but I won't be anywhere near a Microcenter, and I'm not wasting a day of driving and $100 in gas to visit the nearest one.

Has to be a retailer that can deliver in 3-4 days (Amazon, newegg, etc)

 

When are you coming? I may be swinging by one I can grab stuff that you buy/pay for online there. It's what I did with rgbiii for my latest thing.