GPUs & CPUs & Enthusiast hardware: Questions, Discussion and fanboy slap-fights - Nvidia & AMD & Intel - Separe but Equal. Intel rides in the back of the bus.

[General Emílio Médici]

Before anyone can make any recs can you confirm the primary purpose of wanting to upgrade (I can only assume it’s gaming)? What resolution are you wanting to game at? What games do you mostly play? What is your budget? Do you want to do AI shit with the PC?

Oh yeah fair enough. I wanna get a new monitor since my current one is a 1080p 60hz one so I didn't bother trying to upgrade the video card since last time. I wanna get a 144hz monitor sometime which is slightly bigger but that is secondary. The main reason I wanna upgrade the machine is cause EUV is gonna release and it will not run on my machine. It is also a more CPU heavy game than GPU heavy, and so are most of the games I like to play like EUIV and Civ though you never know when a decent shooter might drop, like with Atomic Heart (which is what led me to update my GPU back when I got it, since the older one of mine was weak and I got a good deal on this one I currently have from a sale).

I don't think I am gonna go much above 1080p, maybe up to 1440p (2560 × 1440) if I get a new monitor that is good for it. Not planning on any sort of AI shit. My budget is around 1500USD or so but I am also planning on buying the parts over a period of like 3 to 6 months so I can get up to 2k if need be. I would like the PC to last at least 5 years like this one did.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

why is it allmost all modern motherboards now have in built WiFi? Dunno, feels kinda weird. Maybe I am just paranoid.

It's convenient to have, something almost everyone wants, and saves you a bit of cash. I bought a cheap motherboard without it only to have to grab a wireless NIC for another $15.

Also really annoying how prevalent LGBT lighting is. I would love to have either a setting to turn it all off or just not get it.

Don't connect the RGB header? IDK how it works since I successfully avoided using it. Non-RGB RAM and coolers should be cheaper anyway.

Mainly on the fence about the GPU if I should try for a RX 9070 or a RX 7900 XT. The use of X's and XT's with the numbers themselves not apparently being the generation is really fucking annoying, what happened to the good old system where you have 9000 series, 9100 series, 9200 series and so on? Why this new shit that is seemlingly made to confuse you? Are they hoping I am gonna buy a older and weaker card just because the number if bigger as if I am not going to triple check before dropping over 800 Trump on a pc part?

The naming was changed to align the parts directly with Nvidia's. So 9070 XT competes with 5070 Ti, 9070 with 5070, and so on. Nvidia is what is on 90% of gaymer's minds, so AMD wants to look more like Nvidia. But unless they are going to make parts like "10080 XT" next gen, it's highly likely that they will change the naming scheme yet again. AMD's marketing department scores Ls all the time.

The 9070 and 7900 XT have similar raster performance. You trade 4 GB of VRAM for better raytracing, and more importantly, full FSR4 support. Because of an embarrassing leak the other day, it looks like AMD is working on bringing FSR4 to RDNA3 cards, but it could be at degraded performance.

 

[Mister Fister]

Would definitely recommend a 9800x3d if you’re playing CPU heavy games. Would also recommend keeping the 9070 for 1440p, maybe be able to get away with a 9060xt 16 gig.

 

[DavidS877]

WiFi

I agree, why would a desktop need WiFi, it's not like it moves around like a laptop, tablet, or phone. You've already got to plug it into the wall, just plug it into the network too.

 

[4090 Chad]

Oh yeah fair enough. I wanna get a new monitor since my current one is a 1080p 60hz one so I didn't bother trying to upgrade the video card since last time. I wanna get a 144hz monitor sometime which is slightly bigger but that is secondary. The main reason I wanna upgrade the machine is cause EUV is gonna release and it will not run on my machine. It is also a more CPU heavy game than GPU heavy, and so are most of the games I like to play like EUIV and Civ though you never know when a decent shooter might drop, like with Atomic Heart (which is what led me to update my GPU back when I got it, since the older one of mine was weak and I got a good deal on this one I currently have from a sale).

I don't think I am gonna go much above 1080p, maybe up to 1440p (2560 × 1440) if I get a new monitor that is good for it. Not planning on any sort of AI shit. My budget is around 1500USD or so but I am also planning on buying the parts over a period of like 3 to 6 months so I can get up to 2k if need be. I would like the PC to last at least 5 years like this one did.

PCpartpicker list

You could go with something like this. This is extreme overkill for 1080p though, so you would really want to upgrade to a not shitty monitor to really utilize this, but it would last you for the 5 years you desire. Going with the 7800x3d instead of the 9800x3d saves you some money and the 7800x3d is still insanely powerful. Also leaves you open to upgrade in the future since AM5 is getting another gen of CPUs it appears.

 

[Gruntgar The Indentured]

PCpartpicker list

You could go with something like this. This is extreme overkill for 1080p though, so you would really want to upgrade to a not shitty monitor to really utilize this, but it would last you for the 5 years you desire. Going with the 7800x3d instead of the 9800x3d saves you some money and the 7800x3d is still insanely powerful. Also leaves you open to upgrade in the future since AM5 is getting another gen of CPUs it appears.

I think my biggest mistake was buying a Shane Nokes equivalent budget board for the heart of the system. Before all of my previous builds I read, researched and learned all I could from hours of content. This time I did the idiot "hurry and buy saar" Amazon order. My daughter has been hounding me for my 3080 forever. She gonna learn how to clean properly before that happens.

 

[General Emílio Médici]

That sounds pretty nice, the GPUs are what were really throwing me for a loop and knowing the logic on the names helps a lot. My current monitor is 27'' so I am looking at changing for one that is at least 29''. Not sure if I am gonna get a 4K one but we will see.

Speaking of which, what is the meme around monitors at the moment? Should I bother going higher than 144hz? It feels like more than that is a meme, especially if I am not gonna be playing shooters.

 

[Just Some Other Guy]

I agree, why would a desktop need WiFi, it's not like it moves around like a laptop, tablet, or phone. You've already got to plug it into the wall, just plug it into the network too.

There's literally nothing wrong with having wifi on a desktop. It works pretty good and who knows, maybe you recently moved stuff around and don't feel like having an ethernet cable going along the floor across a room or drilling new holes yet.

 

[4090 Chad]

Speaking of which, what is the meme around monitors at the moment? Should I bother going higher than 144hz? It feels like more than that is a meme, especially if I am not gonna be playing shooters.

For what it sounds like you want to do. I'd really recommend an OLED ultrawide. Check out the alienware 1440p ultrawides. They are really really nice for map games like EU and OLEDs provide the fastest pixel refresh along with infinite contrast so colors really pop.

 

[Freedom Fighter]

Should I bother going higher than 144hz? It feels like more than that is a meme, especially if I am not gonna be playing shooters.

I have a cheap 165hz and have run it at 120 and 144 frame limiter in some games. You can see some difference, but not a whole lot.

 

[General Emílio Médici]

For what it sounds like you want to do. I'd really recommend an OLED ultrawide. Check out the alienware 1440p ultrawides. They are really really nice for map games like EU and OLEDs provide the fastest pixel refresh along with infinite contrast so colors really pop.

I don't usually fullscreen my map games, so having a really big screen would help me run them at full resolution without any compromise (like when running EUIV I have to put it on 1440x900 to stay windowed on my 1680x1050 and that makes the interface a bit squished, on a ultrawide I would be able to have it a 1920x1080 and still on windowed).

Seems like most if not all OLED ones are 175hz and up so there is that. I am gonna keep an eye out for a good one, scour the net to see if I get some good deals. Finding these parts in Brazil can be a challenge, but I could schedule a trip and just buy a few abroad.

 

[Fcret]

Was doing some window shopping for parts just so I have a idea of what to buy when I get the money, why is it allmost all modern motherboards now have in built WiFi? Dunno, feels kinda weird. Maybe I am just paranoid.

Because the overwhelming majority of people only use wifi, and so non-wifi boards don't actually sell very well. It's kinda similar to why every motherboard includes built-in sound hardware now or built-in USB - the people who use it are such an overwhelming majority of the customer base that it doesn't make sense to spin off a ton of SKUs without it. Easier to just bundle it in, pass the cost on, and simplify product lines.

Mainly on the fence about the GPU if I should try for a RX 9070 or a RX 7900 XT.

If you're on the fence then get the RX 9070. Extra VRAM over 16 GB isn't that useful for games right now, more games are utilizing RT for things like global illumination which the 9070 is much better at, 9070 gets you access to FSR4 which is a massive improvement for upscaling, and on pretty much every traditional raster rendering task the 9070 is roughly on par with the 7900 XT. There's very little reason to buy a 7900 XT now unless you're getting an insane deal on it.

Also: Water Coolers. Should I get one? I have a really simple one that works really well but it is chinesium made, I only found out after the fact (I should have known it was too cheap) that it has a reputation for working flawlessly until a month after the 1 year warranty expires. Thinking of getting a good one if I buy this new PC.

No, water cooling is really only useful if you're planning to do sustained all-core shit or you're running an Alder Lake or Raptor Lake i9. The 7700X is not a scorcher.

The cooler I recommend is the Thermalright Peerless Assassin. It's like $30 and will be pretty much as effective as anything else you could be spending your money on. It also has no RGB.

 

[StacticShock]

Also really annoying how prevalent LGBT lighting is.

just use openrgb and turn off all that gay shit, however limiting yourself to 32GB ram is kind of meh, i am only using 32GB because of my motherboard else i would have gone to 64GB, shame that zen is keeping the price of DDR4/5 somewhat consistent, i cannot find 64GB ram in both ddr4/5 without a big price change unlike ddr3/4 where 64GB can be well over 30$ difference.

I agree, why would a desktop need WiFi, it's not like it moves around like a laptop, tablet, or phone. You've already got to plug it into the wall, just plug it into the network too.

sometimes wifi is better, though i am biased as i lost a pc to a lightning strike that fried my pc from the ethernet cable, bluetooth is good too.

I would like the PC to last at least 5 years like this one did.

weellll, i'd say wait for zen6/7 but your desire to play EUV seems to be bigger so go for it.
on a unrelated note, i found myself with some extra fun monkey money to waste and i was thinking about buying a vega 64 and passing the RX580 to a younger relative to play zoomernite, ebay recommended me this one.

damn it looks nice buut.

keep in mind that my proto-commie monkey goverment will slap 92% on that 548, meaning 504,39 extra monkey money to be paid, totaling 1052.65 monkey money and for your kiwi, 192$, not counting shipping...
although i also got offered a radeon VII and the 16GB and the price isn't bad either, 2000 monkey money in total whereas my used market is offering the fucking things for 2300 and 4000 minimum.

 

[WelperHelper99]

I would love to have either a setting to turn it all off or just not get it.

I just left the lights for my fans on my rig unpluged. As for motherboard lights, there are settings to turn that off, like ASRock has Polychrome sync, MSI has something similar. You can run your rig dark if you want.

 

[General Emílio Médici]

keep in mind that my proto-commie monkey goverment will slap 92% on that 548, meaning 504,39 extra monkey money to be paid, totaling 1052.65 monkey money and for your kiwi, 192$, not counting shipping...

That's why you get a flight on the red eye to Miami and buy the smallest components in the USA. As long as you are not too obvious about it the tax people on the airport will let you get away with it under the personal use clause (which is why you can buy a stick of ram and a CPU, but not bring 5 GPUs over).

Then again the BRL has been so devalued against the dollar and the current Airline shitshow in BR has raised prices so badly it might not even be worth it for some pieces since what you save on the thing you waste on the flight. Unless you do a proper trip.

 

[StacticShock]

Then again the BRL has been so devalued against the dollar and the current Airline shitshow in BR has raised prices so badly it might not even be worth it for some pieces since what you save on the thing you waste on the flight. Unless you do a proper trip.

the point is to order from chyna and the regular chinese eletronics dealer is kind of alright, sure most of the regular chinkenese are souless bugs but the ones that just want to do business minus extreme jewtry stand out, alibaba is a very nice place if you know how to go about it, the Radeon VII i found has a 1 minimum order but the problem seems to be shipping.

i can't wait for the US to coup us already, i want to import eletronics again

 

[WelperHelper99]

the point is to order from chyna and the regular chinese eletronics dealer is kind of alright, sure most of the regular chinkenese are souless bugs but the ones that just want to do business minus extreme jewtry stand out, alibaba is a very nice place if you know how to go about it, the Radeon VII i found has a 1 minimum order but the problem seems to be shipping.

i can't wait for the US to coup us already, i want to import eletronics again

>tfw you want a coup for cheap AMD GPU's.

 

[StacticShock]

>tfw you want a coup for cheap AMD GPU's.

i mean the other option is to become venezuela 2.0 because china and russia want to stay away from US dolla dolla, so...
between a rock and a hard place i'd take the one that will let me import eletronics cheaper

 

[Susanna]

You shouldn’t use WiFi on a desktop unless you absolutely desperately have to, but having WiFi means you also have Bluetooth, so you do want to have it.

 

[WelperHelper99]

You shouldn’t use WiFi on a desktop unless you absolutely desperately have to, but having WiFi means you also have Bluetooth, so you do want to have it.

I exclusively use wifi. Wifi 6 is a fucking beast. If i get the chance ill switch to wired, not in my current battlestation setup though. Wifi works well enough in modern day, just make sure its modern.