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The PC Builders Thread ("I Need a New PC") v2

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Mullet2000

Mullet2000

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,894
Toronto
Astronut325 said:
I'm getting ready to make a new PC next month or in January (based on availability of cheap parts). How are people doing disk space these days? I know people are increasingly going SSD, but are people spending the top dollars for large SSDs? Or are most people opting for a small to medium size SSD (say 512GB) and a large mechanical/platter drive (2+TB)?

I have a lot of photos and videos of family going back more than a decade so I need a 4TB drive minimum. I'm thinking of getting a 1TB SSD and then a 8TB mechanical/platter drive to future proof myself since I build PCs every 6-8 years.
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For media like photos and videos no reason to use an SSD. A lot cheaper to use a nice big HDD for that.

As far as your OS, games, programs, etc, we're at the point where I'd at least suggest going full SATA SSD. M.2 SSDs are great but still pretty expensive for the 1-2 TB ones.

But yeah my suggestion is only use HDDs for media/file storage at this point. Once you start running all your programs on SSD it becomes really obvious what a difference it makes over an HDD even for really basic stuff.
 
TaterTots

TaterTots

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,962
Astronut325 said:
I'm getting ready to make a new PC next month or in January (based on availability of cheap parts). How are people doing disk space these days? I know people are increasingly going SSD, but are people spending the top dollars for large SSDs? Or are most people opting for a small to medium size SSD (say 512GB) and a large mechanical/platter drive (2+TB)?

I have a lot of photos and videos of family going back more than a decade so I need a 4TB drive minimum. I'm thinking of getting a 1TB SSD and then a 8TB mechanical/platter drive to future proof myself since I build PCs every 6-8 years.
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From the research I've done the past few months it seems like people get a medium sized(500gb) nvme and throw their OS and a game or 2 they play the most on there. That's backed up by a mechanical drive of a couple of tb's. It's the route I've chosen to take since I typically do not have many games installed at once anyway. Personally, I don't see a point in throwing photos on a ssd.
 
maped

maped

Member
Mar 7, 2018
237
Triscuitable said:
Simlpy put, StoreMI. A cheap $30 SSD plus a relatively inexpensive 4-6TB hard drive gives you an impressive amount of storage space that can be accessed at surprisingly fast speeds. If you have a separate SSD as a boot drive, even better!
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Yeah, as someone on a slowish/varying internet connection it's great to have all your games installed and ssd-accelerated without moving them around. At the moment I've got a 6TB drive filled and about terabytes worth of games still to install. Considering the ballooning size of game installs there's still definately some worth in hdds. It'll be interesting to see how the next console generation shakes out in regards to storage and how that affects the pc side.
 
Tekniqs

Tekniqs

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,216
looking into building with a 3700x (maybe a 'lower end' model in the ryzen line) or a 9700k. I mostly play games on my computer, but do also edit photos/videos as a hobby. What CPU do you guys do you think I should build with? (not limited to just the 3700x/9700k, cheaper = better lol)
 
PuppetMinion

PuppetMinion

The Fallen
Nov 1, 2017
2,296
freetacos said:
I think it's about time I upgrade my CPU? Currently have an Intel Core i5 4670 @ 3.4GHz, 16gb of ram, and a 1070 GPU. I only know so much about CPUs, but it sounds like it's bottlenecking my system a bit? (https://pc-builds.com/calculator/Core_i5-4670/GeForce_GTX_1070/0vb0UNlu/16/ ). Is it critical at this point?
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I had the exact same build up to august this year. It is not critical to upgrade imo but I found some micro stuttering I had completely went away. Also, my computer started to only boot up sometimes, so I kinda had to upgrade sooner rather then later.

I only kept the 1070 and my SSD. Very pleased being GPU bound in games instead of CPU. Will upgrade my GPU down the line but for now, it works very well for me.
 
Evolution of Metal

Evolution of Metal

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,960
Tekniqs said:
looking into building with a 3700x (maybe a 'lower end' model in the ryzen line) or a 9700k. I mostly play games on my computer, but do also edit photos/videos as a hobby. What CPU do you guys do you think I should build with? (not limited to just the 3700x/9700k, cheaper = better lol)
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3700X + B450 Tomahawk Max
Depending on how serious your video editing hobby is 2x8Gb or 2x16GB Ballistix 3200mhz RAM.
Invest into CPU cooler: 212 Evo Black or Mugen 5 Rev B.

Parts which excel at price/performance without compromising anything as far as sound or thermals go.
 

jenya

Member
Oct 27, 2017
265
I've been playing on a 34" 21:9 display (Dell U3415W) since 2015, I want to replace it with a 49" 32:9 one (idk which one yet) but I still have a GTX 970 though... I would like to get at least 30fps on high? settings if it's possible, any graphics card recommendations?
 
Samaritan

Samaritan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,696
Tacoma, Washington
jenya said:
I've been playing on a 34" 21:9 display (Dell U3415W) since 2015, I want to replace it with a 49" 32:9 one (idk which one yet) but I still have a GTX 970 though... I would like to get at least 30fps on high? settings if it's possible, any graphics card recommendations?
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Are you looking at 3840x1080 monitors or 5120x1440? If you're planning on playing games in that super ultrawide aspect ratio, that's going to make a huge difference on what video cards will work for you.
 
Jadax

Jadax

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
1,055
I'm looking to buy an external hard drive to store family movies etc - it'll be used frequently (probably daily when family is together to go through family pics/movies).

Is a traditional hdd better or ssd? Daily use.
 
Pretendo Switch

Pretendo Switch

Banned
Nov 8, 2017
957
$1399 for the 24 core and $1999 for the 32 core... I'm gonna slum it with the 12 core 3900X I think. MAYBE get the 3950X.

I do love new hardware launches though. Always exciting
 
I Don't Like

I Don't Like

Member
Dec 11, 2017
14,891
Astronut325 said:
I'm getting ready to make a new PC next month or in January (based on availability of cheap parts). How are people doing disk space these days? I know people are increasingly going SSD, but are people spending the top dollars for large SSDs? Or are most people opting for a small to medium size SSD (say 512GB) and a large mechanical/platter drive (2+TB)?

I have a lot of photos and videos of family going back more than a decade so I need a 4TB drive minimum. I'm thinking of getting a 1TB SSD and then a 8TB mechanical/platter drive to future proof myself since I build PCs every 6-8 years.
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If those mechanical drives are storing documents that you need available immediately, at all times, you get a big ass external for cheap and just plug it in when needed.

Also someone mentioned 1TB NVMes being expensive. No they aren't, unless you consider $100 expensive. The Crucial P1 and the Inland 1TBs are around that price. Meanwhile the Samsung 860 EVO 2TB SATA SSD is $199. For $300 you can get 3TBs of flash storage and that's only if you need to install a shitload of games and applications.

So I'm still gonna say don't fucking bother with mechanical drives. You can avoid having to install them which can be a pain in some cases, using power, generating heat and noise. Also two fewer cables.

1TB M.2 NVMe + 2TB SATA SSD or 1TB M.2 NVMe + big external.
 

Interested Observer

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,654
I have a 1440p monitor. Was playing Destiny yesterday and went into the graphics settings and noticed it has set the resolution to 4k.

Is there any advantage or point to that? I put it back to 1440p thinking it made the most sense, but why would the resolution be at a setting my monitor doesn't support?
 
XR.

XR.

Member
Nov 22, 2018
6,576
Interested Observer said:
I have a 1440p monitor. Was playing Destiny yesterday and went into the graphics settings and noticed it has set the resolution to 4k.

Is there any advantage or point to that? I put it back to 1440p thinking it made the most sense, but why would the resolution be at a setting my monitor doesn't support?
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You're probably seeing higher resolutions because DSR/downsampling is enabled in the control panel. You can check the control panel for your GPU and look for Destiny and see whether it's enabled or not.
 
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Wraith

Wraith

Member
Jun 28, 2018
8,892
Astronut325 said:
I'm getting ready to make a new PC next month or in January (based on availability of cheap parts). How are people doing disk space these days? I know people are increasingly going SSD, but are people spending the top dollars for large SSDs? Or are most people opting for a small to medium size SSD (say 512GB) and a large mechanical/platter drive (2+TB)?

I have a lot of photos and videos of family going back more than a decade so I need a 4TB drive minimum. I'm thinking of getting a 1TB SSD and then a 8TB mechanical/platter drive to future proof myself since I build PCs every 6-8 years.
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While SSDs still have an advantage over big 5400RPM drives for photos (thumbnails load instantly, no delay while cycling through full images), if you need 4TB minimum, it's probably (still) cost-prohibitive to go SSD.

Unless you can split your data between drives, like photos on SSD, videos on HDD or something. Not sure on the split there.

But yes, absolutely put OS and apps on SSD.
 
Polyh3dron

Polyh3dron

Prophet of Regret
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,860
So traditionally is a release date like this one for the 3950X the time when it goes up for sale on Newegg and assorted places, or will it go up for preorder on websites before that?
 
Tekniqs

Tekniqs

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,216
Evolution of Metal said:
3700X + B450 Tomahawk Max
Depending on how serious your video editing hobby is 2x8Gb or 2x16GB Ballistix 3200mhz RAM.
Invest into CPU cooler: 212 Evo Black or Mugen 5 Rev B.

Parts which excel at price/performance without compromising anything as far as sound or thermals go.
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Not too serious about the editing...just whenever I go on vacation. Might dabble more with editing videos of my games tho.
I was thinking of using AiO cooling for cpu. Saw some builds in partpicker that looks pretty nice
 
exodus

exodus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,942
Wraith said:
While SSDs still have an advantage over big 5400RPM drives for photos (thumbnails load instantly, no delay while cycling through full images), if you need 4TB minimum, it's probably (still) cost-prohibitive to go SSD.

Unless you can split your data between drives, like photos on SSD, videos on HDD or something. Not sure on the split there.

But yes, absolutely put OS and apps on SSD.
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Considering this is family pictures, they'd likely want a RAID setup for redundancy unless they have backup cloud storage. SSDd are loads more reliable so they could get away with a single drive. If 2TB would suffice, I'd probably go SSD at that point.

Otherwise, I'd probably look for a RAID enclosure and maybe do 2x 4TB drives in RAID 1. RAID enclosures are a bit of a pain though. There are some real stinkers out there. Not sure which one to recommend.

Or maybe just 2x 4TB 2.5" external drives and do occasional backups. Not quite as robust, but cheaper and simpler.
 
Lakeside

Lakeside

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,210
exodus said:
Considering this is family pictures, they'd likely want a RAID setup for redundancy unless they have backup cloud storage. SSDd are loads more reliable so they could get away with a single drive. If 2TB would suffice, I'd probably go SSD at that point.

Otherwise, I'd probably look for a RAID enclosure and maybe do 2x 4TB drives in RAID 1. RAID enclosures are a bit of a pain though. There are some real stinkers out there. Not sure which one to recommend.

Or maybe just 2x 4TB 2.5" external drives and do occasional backups. Not quite as robust, but cheaper and simpler.
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RAID is for high availability, not backup. You still need a backup.
 
freetacos

freetacos

Member
Oct 30, 2017
13,163
Bay Area, CA
PuppetMinion said:
I had the exact same build up to august this year. It is not critical to upgrade imo but I found some micro stuttering I had completely went away. Also, my computer started to only boot up sometimes, so I kinda had to upgrade sooner rather then later.

I only kept the 1070 and my SSD. Very pleased being GPU bound in games instead of CPU. Will upgrade my GPU down the line but for now, it works very well for me.
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Thanks for the input. I definitely get some stuttering from time to time, and it's noticable enough. I'll probably upgrade everything except my gpu in the next 6 months
 
myzhi

myzhi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,650
Firokese said:
That's not what backup does.
You can have RAID 1, a virus screws your data on both drives... checkmate...
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You house can blow up and you loose everything. Enough with your what if scenario. People do run virus scan and other software to protect against that. And, no, I don't trust my stuff you online backup.
 

eddy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,738
myzhi said:
I don't need luck because I know what I am doing, have not lost data and/or gotten a virus in 20+ years, but keep up with your stupid gif...
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Doesn't change the fact that RAID Is Not A Backup.

RAID does not protect against malice, human error, many forms of file-system corruption and it implies that the data is not geographically distributed, so you're not safe from fire, water, etc.

You can ignore all those issues, but you should do so knowing that your RAID-1 array is not a backup.
 
CreepingFear

CreepingFear

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
16,766
myzhi said:
You house can blow up and you loose everything. Enough with your what if scenario. People do run virus scan and other software to protect against that. And, no, I don't trust my stuff you online backup.
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Viruses aren't shit, it's Crypto Malware that you have to worry about. Most anti-viruses can't do shit against Cryptoware.
In order to have a true backup, you need to follow 3-2-1 Back Up. 3 Copies, Two different devices, 1 offsite.
Edit: RAID is not a backup.
 
myzhi

myzhi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,650
CreepingFear said:
Viruses aren't shit, it's Crypto Malware that you have to worry about. Most anti-viruses can't do shit against Cryptoware.
In order to have a true backup, you need to follow 3-2-1 Back Up. 3 Copies, Two different devices, 1 offsite.
Edit: RAID is not a backup.
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When did I say I didn't have a backup of backup, I have my raid 5 4x8TB and disconnect 2x10TB USB. All I said was, raid 1 is backup. Sure, one possible way.
 
Nothing

Nothing

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,095
Astronut325 said:
I'm getting ready to make a new PC next month or in January (based on availability of cheap parts). How are people doing disk space these days? I know people are increasingly going SSD, but are people spending the top dollars for large SSDs? Or are most people opting for a small to medium size SSD (say 512GB) and a large mechanical/platter drive (2+TB)?

I have a lot of photos and videos of family going back more than a decade so I need a 4TB drive minimum. I'm thinking of getting a 1TB SSD and then a 8TB mechanical/platter drive to future proof myself since I build PCs every 6-8 years.
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If I were you'd I'd buy one of these on a good sale right now.

You should start using external HDDs so your files transfer over and it's not such a hassle when you're building a new PC.
 
Lakeside

Lakeside

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,210
myzhi said:
Sure, that's exactly what we were discussing...Time for my sanity to move on.
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I don't think any of us are worried about you losing your data.

RAID 1 is absolutely not a backup. People should not treat it as such. You can ask any industry expert and you'll hear the exact same thing all day long. RAID (in any form) is about high availability. You still need a backup.
 
myzhi

myzhi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,650
Lakeside said:
I don't think any of us are worried about you losing your data.

RAID 1 is absolutely not a backup. People should not treat it as such. You can ask any industry expert and you'll hear the exact same thing all day long. RAID (in any form) is about high availability. You still need a backup.
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I don't disagree with what you and others are saying, but I just feel raid, with more drive failure tolerance, is better "backup" than 1 drive USB ones that most people will only go with.
 
XR.

XR.

Member
Nov 22, 2018
6,576
Interested Observer said:
Yep that's what it is. Does it come with a big performance hit?
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Rendering resolution has a big impact on performance, but it depends on what resolution you're playing in. 4K is very demanding vs. 1440p, because it's more than double the pixels your GPU needs to render.

DSR can still be enabled in the control panel without a performance hit however; it's just down to what resolution you select in the game.
 
HarryDemeanor

HarryDemeanor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,422
I think my 1080 is starting to crumble. Random crashes while playing WoW and my PC is starting to hard reboot out of nowhere. Had graphical corruption display at one point during one of the crashes.

Starting to wonder if it's my RAM instead.
 
jett

jett

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,652
Thanks to everyone's help, I finally made the leap to SSD (and also Windows 10, had been slumming it in 7 all this time). I'm not sure how much faster it really feels since I haven't really done a lot, but it does feel pretty smooth.

Gotta a question, is it worthwhile to install Intel Rapid Storage? I had that on my old Windows installation, not sure if it did much or anything at all.
 
Vulcano's Assistant

Vulcano's Assistant

Member
Oct 29, 2017
13,472
I've been having a look at the TRX40 boards announced so far. Have to say I am a bit disappointed in that ASRock has X570 boards with thunderbolt 3, but their TRX40 do not. And they still look like they are going to be $600.
 
catpurrcat

catpurrcat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,789
Nothing said:
Black Friday pricing is live for the most popular 27" G-sync 1440p monitor (with the built-in G-sync module) again.

Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC Monitor - Black - $350

This is what I recommend purchasing to most anyone that is looking to get into adaptive sync VRR with an Nvidia GPU at a reasonable price.
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Excellent recommendation.

I have the freesync model (2719dgf) that was a bit cheaper than this and it works fine with my gsync card. Manufacturing date was Sept 2019, if a "newer" panel means anything.

DOT_mjo said:
Would anyone recommend a 5700xt over a 2070Super?
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Of course. Both are fine choices. Really similar performance. Full disclosure: 2070s owner.
 
catpurrcat

catpurrcat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,789
HarryDemeanor said:
I think my 1080 is starting to crumble. Random crashes while playing WoW and my PC is starting to hard reboot out of nowhere. Had graphical corruption display at one point during one of the crashes.

Starting to wonder if it's my RAM instead.
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What are the temps like in your system? Make sure the fans are actually running (especially video card). Also switch to an SSD if you're still using a mechanical HDD.
 
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