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

Shake Appeal · Jan 9, 2020

Newly built PC won't turn on!

Motherboard lights flash for a second when the PSU is turned on, but go off immediately. I ended up taking everything out of the case and just building the PSU, motherboard, CPU, cooler, and RAM on a box. Same deal. Stripped it back to motherboard, CPU (no cooler), single stick of RAM, no joy. Tried the RAM in different slots, again no luck.

This is a motherboard problem, right? I guess it could be the PSU, but I'd have to dismantle my current PC to check that.

Galaxea · Jan 9, 2020

Is it normal for the nzxt h510 case to have one weird standoff you can't screw into? It fits into the motherboards middle but it's flat so you can't add a screw to it. It does settle into the motherboard hole, though.

catpurrcat · Jan 9, 2020

Shake Appeal said:
Newly built PC won't turn on!

Motherboard lights flash for a second when the PSU is turned on, but go off immediately. I ended up taking everything out of the case and just building the PSU, motherboard, CPU, cooler, and RAM on a box. Same deal. Stripped it back to motherboard, CPU (no cooler), single stick of RAM, no joy. Tried the RAM in different slots, again no luck.

This is a motherboard problem, right? I guess it could be the PSU, but I'd have to dismantle my current PC to check that.

what motherboard is it?

Dave. · Jan 9, 2020

Shake Appeal said:
Newly built PC won't turn on!

Motherboard lights flash for a second when the PSU is turned on, but go off immediately. I ended up taking everything out of the case and just building the PSU, motherboard, CPU, cooler, and RAM on a box. Same deal. Stripped it back to motherboard, CPU (no cooler), single stick of RAM, no joy. Tried the RAM in different slots, again no luck.

This is a motherboard problem, right? I guess it could be the PSU, but I'd have to dismantle my current PC to check that.

It's probably safe enough these days, but NEVER run a CPU without a cooler! 😲

It goes properly off / fans stop too? Could be either of motherboard, PSU or CPU. Checking your past posts it's an X570 Aorus Elite, so not something in need of a bios flash for 3700x. You haven't mentioned GPU at all in the above?

Shake Appeal · Jan 9, 2020

Dave. said:
It's probably safe enough these days, but NEVER run a CPU without a cooler! 😲

It goes properly off / fans stop too? Could be either of motherboard, PSU or CPU. Checking your past posts it's an X570 Aorus Elite, so not something in need of a bios flash for 3700x. You haven't mentioned GPU at all in the above?

Yeah, I Googled online to check about running without a cooler, and the consensus was it was fine if it was for a few seconds of testing. It made trying both RAM sticks in different slots a lot quicker.

And yeah, it goes properly off. Fans never start. There's a brief flash of the on-board lights, then dead. The GPU is a 2070 Super, but I don't believe it's a problem as I can't get the motherboard to turn on with or without it.

I'm gonna grab a different PSU from a store tomorrow and see if that's the issue. Otherwise, I think I'm gonna have to RMA the board.

Dave. · Jan 9, 2020

Shake Appeal said:
Yeah, I Googled online to check about running without a cooler, and the consensus was it was fine if it was for a few seconds of testing. It made trying both RAM sticks in different slots a lot quicker.

And yeah, it goes properly off. Fans never start. There's a brief flash of the on-board lights, then dead. The GPU is a 2070 Super, but I don't believe it's a problem as I can't get the motherboard to turn on with or without it.

I'm gonna grab a different PSU from a store tomorrow and see if that's the issue. Otherwise, I think I'm gonna have to RMA the board.

Quite odd for it to be very dead, I too would check the PSU first then suspect the board. Usually the fans at least wobble.

Just to verify:

Shake Appeal said:
Motherboard lights flash for a second when the PSU is turned on, but go off immediately.

You are actually momentarily shorting PWR_SW to fire it up, right? Not just switching on the PSU and expecting it to boot? This description is strange wording.

Also a pic probably wouldn't hurt if you can.

I would still never run a CPU without a cooler, it might survive but it's very unlikely to boot.

Shake Appeal · Jan 9, 2020

Dave. said:
You are actually momentarily shorting PWR_SW to fire it up, right? Not just switching on the PSU and expecting it to boot? This description is strange wording.

Yep. Incredibly, it just turned on this way for the first time, so now I'm installing the cooler, RAM, and GPU properly and seeing if I can get to BIOS out of the case.

Edit: Okay, it posted out of case. I have no idea what was happening there.

catpurrcat · Jan 10, 2020

Shake Appeal said:
Yep. Incredibly, it just turned on this way for the first time, so now I'm installing the cooler, RAM, and GPU properly and seeing if I can get to BIOS out of the case.

Edit: Okay, it posted out of case. I have no idea what was happening there.

wait, so it posted when not mounted to the case? If so it sounds like you're short circuiting your motherboard somehow when it's attached to the case and not posting.

yellow wallpaper · Jan 10, 2020

above one is fun one. wish I could help. am curious how it turns out! best of luck!

Galaxea · Jan 10, 2020

New build is up and running! Took a bit longer than I anticipated (juggling a toddler, puppy and cooking dinner while going back and forth between building this pc/taking out PSU from other build). It seems to be fine, so far. I need to install drivers and get ram running higher than 2666mhz. Sleep calls first.

Shake Appeal · Jan 10, 2020

catpurrcat said:
wait, so it posted when not mounted to the case? If so it sounds like you're short circuiting your motherboard somehow when it's attached to the case and not posting.

Yeah, I have no idea. Might have been this, might have been something I did wrong with the Define R6's fan hub, might have been not using the little plastic tray Gigabyte provide for the front header. But it's all working now, and I'm happily testing and installing everything.

Dave. · Jan 10, 2020

Shake Appeal said:
Yeah, I have no idea. Might have been this, might have been something I did wrong with the Define R6's fan hub, might have been not using the little plastic tray Gigabyte provide for the front header. But it's all working now, and I'm happily testing and installing everything.

Great news!

dallow_bg · Jan 10, 2020

I'm building later today (Friday) as my PSU comes in.

I'm praying this motherboard recognizes my 9th gen chip.

Deleted member 35478 · Jan 10, 2020

Would there be any issues with mobo and ram compatibility with this combo, ryzen 3700x build. Also, is that mobo decent, I'm coming from intel builds, this is my first AMD build, and i've typically used Asrock mobo with good luck.

Gigabyte X570 GAMING X ATX AM4 Motherboard

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory

So I don't plan on over clocking, I overclocked all my intel builds), with Ryzen is it recommended to get a better cooler than the stock one, or is stock fine? I always bought coolers for my intel builds, cpu's were K models. I've had closed loop and air.

Finally, are we at the point that it's best to wait for ryzen 4000 chips, I believe they're out early 2020?

Thank you

Wraith · Jan 10, 2020

Galaxea said:
Is it normal for the nzxt h510 case to have one weird standoff you can't screw into? It fits into the motherboards middle but it's flat so you can't add a screw to it. It does settle into the motherboard hole, though.

Looking at pics of the h510, seems like this is normal. It's just flat on top, doesn't stick up through the motherboard screw hole? Is it removable or built-in?

Lightjolly · Jan 10, 2020

So I have a dilenma.

I'm going to be staying at 1080p/60hz for a while, have no problem with that. My GTX 1060 has been holding up very well, but I do think I want to at least play upcoming games very fluid and maxed out. So I think I should either get GTX1660tTI, RTX 2060 or wait for the 3000x?

Also there's some shop nearby selling a GTX 1080ti for like $130, yes you read that right. It's one of those mobile repair shops, so I'm skeptical, but at least they offer warranty for it.

Mullet2000 · Jan 10, 2020

Lightjolly said:
So I have a dilenma.

I'm going to be staying at 1080p/60hz for a while, have no problem with that. My GTX 1060 has been holding up very well, but I do think I want to at least play upcoming games very fluid and maxed out. So I think I should either get GTX1660tTI, RTX 2060 or wait for the 3000x?

Also there's some shop nearby selling a GTX 1080ti for like $130, yes you read that right. It's one of those mobile repair shops, so I'm skeptical, but at least they offer warranty for it.

The 1080ti sounds sketchy so I wouldn't go for that lol.

The 1660ti wouldn't be enough of a jump from your 1060 to justify imo. And 3000 series would be pretty overkill for 1080/60. So I'd say 2060 Super if you're really wanting to upgrade now.

Vimto · Jan 10, 2020

Are there any benchmarks for nvlink ray tracing performance? How do 2 RTX cards scale with ray tracing.

Galaxea · Jan 10, 2020

Wraith said:
Looking at pics of the h510, seems like this is normal. It's just flat on top, doesn't stick up through the motherboard screw hole? Is it removable or built-in?

It seemed built in from looking at it. Computer is working fine so I guess it's intention! I looked at the nzxt manual and it did show you installing 8 screws instead of 9.

Dylan · Jan 10, 2020

Lightjolly said:
So I have a dilenma.

I'm going to be staying at 1080p/60hz for a while, have no problem with that. My GTX 1060 has been holding up very well, but I do think I want to at least play upcoming games very fluid and maxed out. So I think I should either get GTX1660tTI, RTX 2060 or wait for the 3000x?

Also there's some shop nearby selling a GTX 1080ti for like $130, yes you read that right. It's one of those mobile repair shops, so I'm skeptical, but at least they offer warranty for it.

If your 1060 is holding strong for now, why not wait until the "upcoming games" are out first? That way you'll have a better idea of exactly what hardware you'll need to play them at 1080p/60fps. There may be a chance that your 1060 will cut it for a bit longer than you expect.

Shake Appeal · Jan 10, 2020

Played Control for a couple hours with a different mix of settings and RTX trying to find the sweet spot (for pure candy it's probably all max settings but DLSS on and capping rez).

My GPU temp never went above 71 (mostly high 60s) and my CPU sat at 45. This rules.

Lightjolly · Jan 10, 2020

Dylan said:
If your 1060 is holding strong for now, why not wait until the "upcoming games" are out first? That way you'll have a better idea of exactly what hardware you'll need to play them at 1080p/60fps. There may be a chance that your 1060 will cut it for a bit longer than you expect.

You're right, let's hope it can run Cyberpunk well :P

selfnoise · Jan 10, 2020

Dylan said:
If your 1060 is holding strong for now, why not wait until the "upcoming games" are out first? That way you'll have a better idea of exactly what hardware you'll need to play them at 1080p/60fps. There may be a chance that your 1060 will cut it for a bit longer than you expect.

I have a 1060 and I've looked at the performance graphs and I'm waiting for Ampere. Just as a datapoint. It just doesn't seem like quite enough of a performance bump right now if you want to stay in the same cost bracket.

Galaxea · Jan 10, 2020

The MSI 450 Tomahawk MAX is great but it definitely lacks usb ports. I guess a $25 dollar pci USB card is going to be an extra addition to my pc.

Dylan · Jan 10, 2020

Superkamikazee said:
Finally, are we at the point that it's best to wait for ryzen 4000 chips, I believe they're out early 2020?

Thank you

I'm in the same boat as you; I've been mulling on building a 3700x build. My feeling is to wait until the new hardware is close enough to impact the price of the current hardware, at which point I can decide if it's better to pick up a discounted 3700x or actually wait until the 4000 series.

Wraith · Jan 10, 2020

Galaxea said:
The MSI 450 Tomahawk MAX is great but it definitely lacks usb ports. I guess a $25 dollar pci USB card is going to be an extra addition to my pc.

I never really find myself running out of ports (between motherboard, case, and the one on my keyboard), but USB hubs are dirt cheap, if you don't want to take up a expansion slot.

BeCrush · Jan 10, 2020

Galaxea said:
Is it normal for the nzxt h510 case to have one weird standoff you can't screw into? It fits into the motherboards middle but it's flat so you can't add a screw to it. It does settle into the motherboard hole, though.

I just finished my build w/ the same exact issue....I guess its just to keep the other holes aligned??? but it worked for me w/o issue.

RandomDazed · Jan 10, 2020

hey all,

this is gonna be a pretty generic question. I've been out of the pc building game for about 5 years (my rig is still doing me well) but i'm starting to think about putting a new one together.

I generally like intel systems over AMD but perhaps that's not longer a valid opinion these days?

I currently have a 4770k (water cooled and overclocked) and from a quick google, i think the current equivalent would be the 9900k? If i understand, this is the 9th gen... is there any word on the 10th gen version of this?

are motherboards for this processor not going to have the newest PCIE 4.0 compatibility?

Sorry if these questions are a bit out of date... i figured i'd wait till CES was over before looking seriously incase there was any HUGE announcements (there didn't seem to be for full sized ATX desktop?)

Galaxea · Jan 10, 2020

Wraith said:
I never really find myself running out of ports (between motherboard, case, and the one on my keyboard), but USB hubs are dirt cheap, if you don't want to take up a expansion slot.

Oh that will work. Thanks! It's just I am using a couple USB external hdds for backup media on Plex and my PC speakers power by USB. I am going to eventually just buy a couple HDD backup drives to raid.

Edit: actually, HDD drives would exceed the power limitations. I never use all of my pci slots so it's probably safer to just get the pci slot.

Wraith · Jan 10, 2020

Galaxea said:
Oh that will work. Thanks! It's just I am using a couple USB external hdds for backup media on Plex and my PC speakers power by USB. I am going to eventually just buy a couple HDD backup drives to raid.

If your external drives aren't powered (by AC adapters), I'd probably leave them on the motherboard ports and put less critical devices on the hub (if you go that route).

Galaxea · Jan 10, 2020

BeCrush said:
I just finished my build w/ the same exact issue....I guess its just to keep the other holes aligned??? but it worked for me w/o issue.

Yeah it works fine for me also. The manual for the case shows it only being installed into 8 instead of the usual nine so it is normal.

Galaxea · Jan 10, 2020

Wraith said:
If your external drives aren't powered (by AC adapters), I'd probably leave them on the motherboard ports and put less critical devices on the hub (if you go that route).

Both of the drives are powered externally so maybe it is safe?

Deleted member 62028 · Jan 10, 2020

I'm going to sell my 1070, put my old 470 in and hope for Big Navi and the 3000 series to be very competitive and therefor decent prices.

Mauricio_Magus · Jan 10, 2020

Lightjolly said:
So I have a dilenma.

I'm going to be staying at 1080p/60hz for a while, have no problem with that. My GTX 1060 has been holding up very well, but I do think I want to at least play upcoming games very fluid and maxed out. So I think I should either get GTX1660tTI, RTX 2060 or wait for the 3000x?

Also there's some shop nearby selling a GTX 1080ti for like $130, yes you read that right. It's one of those mobile repair shops, so I'm skeptical, but at least they offer warranty for it.

I recommend to go with the 2060 Super or to wait for whatever is coming next.

That 130 buck card sounds too good to be true.

Galaxea · Jan 10, 2020

gaffertape said:
I'm going to sell my 1070, put my old 470 in and hope for Big Navi and the 3000 series to be very competitive and therefor decent prices.

Let's hope. My friend wants to buy my 1660ti whenever the 3000 comes out. I only paid around 205 after discounts so I should get most of my money back.

Deleted member 62028 · Jan 10, 2020

Galaxea said:
Let's hope. My friend wants to buy my 1660ti whenever the 3000 comes out. I only paid around 205 after discounts so I should get most of my money back.

That's why I want to sell now.
I can still get 200€ for the card and I only paid 350 back in fall 2016.
Just not sure yet, if the new cards will come out in early 2020 or later.
Half a year with my old GTX470 won't be fun.

NeroPaige · Jan 10, 2020

boris_feinbrand said:
I am waiting to upgrade my old ass PC. Considering what to do with my old components. I was considering turning them into a small form NAS for my home. It's an old i5 4660, R9 380 with 16GB ddr3. Barely enough to even run games these days. Would that even be worth it or should I try getting rid of the PC and just go for an APU and a Micro ITX case?

That's an interesting thought, turning the old motherboard into a NAS for a new PC to read from. Could remove the GPU and just use the onboard graphics to make it smaller and consume less. Probably those huge silent fanless coolers and a fanless PSU to make it totally silent if on all the time since the CPU might not need gaming-tier cooling.

How would you get the raided drives from the old motherboard appear in the OS of the motherboard as if it was an external USB drive? I don't know how it works.

Galaxea · Jan 10, 2020

I think I am just going to turn my book external HDDs into internal drives. They haven't left my desk since I bought them. It would save two USB ports.

eddy · Jan 10, 2020

RandomDazed said:
I currently have a 4770k (water cooled and overclocked) and from a quick google, i think the current equivalent would be the 9900k? If i understand, this is the 9th gen... is there any word on the 10th gen version of this?

The Core i9-10900K, which is the rumored flagship model in Intel's 10th-generation Comet Lake-S family, comes with two additional cores.

Apparently, the new Intel 400-series motherboards are ready to go, but Intel hasn't been able to optimize the 10-core processor's power draw for smooth operation. Initial speculation put Comet Lake-S's release date somewhere in February. As how things stand right now though, the launch might be pushed to April or May.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intels-new-desktop-processor-draws-too-much-power

RandomDazed · Jan 10, 2020

eddy said:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intels-new-desktop-processor-draws-too-much-power

What is the hottest, newest, best, most overclockanble amd CPU right now?

Advc · Jan 10, 2020

Y'all, I'm thorn. I'm looking for a $200-$300 GPU for my Ryzen 5 2600 and I don't know if I should wait for the newly announced 5600 XT or purchase a 1660 Super EVGA SC Ultra, right now. It seems the 5600 XT is gonna be a bit more powerful than the Super but it's also gonna be more expensive and since I'm currently on a tight budget, I don't know if I should wait and save a bit more or go ahead right now and get the 1660S. I'm gonna use the card for light gaming and mostly for design(PS, Flash, Sony Vegas) and some light 3D rendering which according to some reviews, the 1660S performs very well with Vray and similar apps, performing in some examples even higher than the 1660Ti. But then again, the 5600 XT it's gonna be more powerful than those two but I also don't know how radeon cards perform with 3D rendering engines but I assume they should work fine too? Some light would be appreciated.

Dave. · Jan 10, 2020

BeCrush said:
I just finished my build w/ the same exact issue....I guess its just to keep the other holes aligned??? but it worked for me w/o issue.

Galaxea said:
Is it normal for the nzxt h510 case to have one weird standoff you can't screw into? It fits into the motherboards middle but it's flat so you can't add a screw to it. It does settle into the motherboard hole, though.

Normal, and can be described as a "desirable feature". That central spot is common to all motherboard shapes, and having a solid nub there instead of a spot for standoff + screw means you can align the motherboard with the rest of the standoffs and have it hold in place against the spring of the I/O panel, without having to one-handedly screw in one spot yourself while applying sideways pressure to the board with your other hand.

I Don't Like · Jan 10, 2020

Advc said:
Y'all, I'm thorn. I'm looking for a $200-$300 GPU for my Ryzen 5 2600 and I don't know if I should wait for the newly announced 5600 XT or purchase a 1660 Super EVGA SC Ultra, right now. It seems the 5600 XT is gonna be a bit more powerful than the Super but it's also gonna be more expensive and since I'm currently on a tight budget, I don't know if I should wait and save a bit more or go ahead right now and get the 1660S. I'm gonna use the card for light gaming and mostly for design(PS, Flash, Sony Vegas) and some light 3D rendering which according to some reviews, the 1660S performs very well with Vray and similar apps, performing in some examples even higher than the 1660Ti. But then again, the 5600 XT it's gonna be more powerful than those two but I also don't know how radeon cards perform with 3D rendering engines but I assume they should work fine too? Some light would be appreciated.

Wait, save up more and compare benchmarks when the card is out, then make a decision. It doesn't sound like you're desperate to change out now so might as well.

Qudi · Jan 10, 2020

Do you prefer VA or IPS monitor panels? I never had a IPS monitor so i dont know how much the IPS Glow will annoy me.

Polyh3dron · Jan 10, 2020

RandomDazed said:
What is the hottest, newest, best, most overclockanble amd CPU right now?

None of the Ryzens are THAT overclockable afaik, but it's the 3950X. 16 cores/32 threads, 3.5 GHz Base Clock, max boost 4.7 GHz, 105W TDP for $750. It puts the comparable Intel CPUs mostly to shame, especially in terms of price. It's currently the top of the line traditional desktop CPU, anything beefier and we're moving into HEDT/Threadripper territory.

Ploid 6.0 · Jan 10, 2020

I upgraded my ram a year or two ago and let the other kit rot in a storage somewhere then for some reason this week I got the idea to just put them in the rest of the slots (likely youtube or something) and see if they work. Different brand name and 3 different kits (the old sticks were the same but single stick packages, part of the reason I just got a kit of higher sized ram), and they work with no real identifiable loss of performance (I ran multiple ram benchmarks before I tried it, Aida64). Now, what the heck is having so much ram useful for, better than being shelved I guess.

Vulcano's Assistant · Jan 10, 2020

Qudi said:
Do you prefer VA or IPS monitor panels? I never had a IPS monitor so i dont know how much the IPS Glow will annoy me.

I prefer IPS monitors because of work, but for consuming media, well lets say I wouldn't get an IPS TV.

Beer Monkey · Jan 10, 2020

If the base 2060 KO is truly $279.99 thats a new price performance ratio that bumps the card up to near 1660 Super on value and makes the 1660 ti irrelevant.

Many GPUs may need to get repriced in the next week or two.

https://wccftech.com/evga-geforce-rtx-2060-ko-series-279-usd-tackle-amd-rx-5600-xt/

selfnoise · Jan 10, 2020

Beer Monkey said:
If the base 2060 KO is truly $279.99 thats a new price performance ratio that bumps the card up to near 1660 Super on value and makes the 1660 ti irrelevant.

Many GPUs may need to get repriced in the next week or two.

https://wccftech.com/evga-geforce-rtx-2060-ko-series-279-usd-tackle-amd-rx-5600-xt/

Nvidia did this to themselves.

boris_feinbrand · Jan 10, 2020

NeroPaige said:
That's an interesting thought, turning the old motherboard into a NAS for a new PC to read from. Could remove the GPU and just use the onboard graphics to make it smaller and consume less. Probably those huge silent fanless coolers and a fanless PSU to make it totally silent if on all the time since the CPU might not need gaming-tier cooling.

How would you get the raided drives from the old motherboard appear in the OS of the motherboard as if it was an external USB drive? I don't know how it works.

I don't know yet either. I think the CPU alone should really be enough for what it needs to do.
I am currently researching what options I have.

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

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