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

[tr00per]

Alright, so I've got $300 to spend on a cpu+mobo. I'm looking at an MSI b450 gaming plus max + ryzen 3600 for a total of $285. Could I wiggle in a better mobo? Should I wait for any incoming price drops? The stock cooler should suffice with no OC, right?
Just wanted to get an opinion before I pulled the trigger.

 

[DSP]

To be clear, ALL of my non-VR gaming is in 1080p and I have literally no interest in 4k despite gaming on a 65" B7 OLED. I prefer the frames over the resolution. Also the 7th gen OLED can't handle 1440p properly anyway.

Thanks for the input. $60 is the price of one AAA game. Looking forward to the KO reviews tomorrow or Tuesday.

Click to shrink...

As long as you have a good CPU, you won't have problem.

 

[Beer Monkey]

As long as you have a good CPU, you won't have problem.

Click to shrink...

3700X with an X570 chipset. I'm solid.

Edit: I lied when I said all my non-VR gaming is in 1080p. I do Dolphin and CEMU in 4K/60, but that's a whole other thing (and doesn't need a strong GPU).

 

[dallow_bg]

I'd love to build a PC in a case that small but the cable management would give me nightmares. :O

Big props to you!

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Ha thanks. I used custom length PSU cables and even those were cramped.

I can't imagine using standard length cables in this case.

 

[Dave.]

That LG one he linked has g-sync, there is even a g-sync sticker on the bezel

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Despite the sticker, it's a "certified G-sync compatible" Freesync model, according to TFT Central:

https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/blog/lg-27gl83a-with-27-ips-panel-144hz-refresh-rate-and-srgb-gamut/

and Rtings

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/lg/27gl83a-b

Which is a good thing in this case, otherwise an AMD GPU owner should obviously get the Freesync BenQ! But I would recommend this LG (only from what I have heard / read) as you do also.

 

[Longnosedgoblin]

Are you using the stock fan?

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No, an is60 which should be fine for this cpu.

 

[Scarecrow]

I want to replace my laptops HDD with an SSD. If I backup the image using Macrium, can I swap the old HD with the new one, replace the image, and be good to go?

 

[KimonoNoNo]

Whelp, last night my 1070 just gave up the ghost.

No warning, just suddenly two blank screens. Luckily I've got an ancient gtx580 as a spare, but I was hoping the 1070 was going to tide me over until Ampere/Rdna2 later in the year.

Oh well, looks like I'll be catching up on my Indie game backlog for a while.

Edit: Lol, Somebody on Ebay is trying to flog a Rx570 for £330. That's as near as dammit twice as much as when that card was new.

Edit 2: WTF some of these BuyItNow prices are totally bonkers. Must be trying to cash in on mugs who think they can still make money on Crypto.

 

[shodgson8]

No, an is60 which should be fine for this cpu.

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It looks like a pretty low profile cooler. I think synthetic benchmarks specifically would push it pretty hard. Have you tried adjusting the fan profile?

Worst case if you think it should be doing better than it is you could reseat the heatsink to be sure.

 

[Isee]

Alright, so I've got $300 to spend on a cpu+mobo. I'm looking at an MSI b450 gaming plus max + ryzen 3600 for a total of $285. Could I wiggle in a better mobo? Should I wait for any incoming price drops? The stock cooler should suffice with no OC, right?
Just wanted to get an opinion before I pulled the trigger.

Click to shrink...

Mainboard:
Most people go for the b450 tomahawk max. Both boards are pretty much identical, but the VRM heatsink on the tomahawk is supposed to be better. The 3600 is such a low power part, I doubt it's going to matter.

Other than that: It's hard to find something outside the MSI b450 MAX and general x570 categories that supports ryzen 3000 CPUs out of the box. Especially when ordering online.

Cooler:
The cooler is in the "will get the job done" criteria. Nothing to worry about.

Overclock:
In general I wouldn't recommend overclocking Ryzen CPUs. As with Ryzen 2000 it seems to be better to cool as effective as possible, while applying a negative voltage offset with activated PBO (didn't work at launch, works with the new AGESA 1004b microcode). People are getting pretty good results, -0.1V seems to be the sweetspot, though that's not stable for everybody.

 

[poutmeter]

My PC is old and the i5-4690 is dying, so I need to update my CPU/MOBO before it gives up the ghost.

I'd appreciate it if you guys could help with deciding whether to go with Ryzen 7 2700X or R5 3600. Which would be a better option for gaming, knowing I currently have a R9 390 that will be updated at the end of the year, and will be gaming at 1080p for the foreseeable future?

 

[shodgson8]

My PC is old and the i5-4690 is dying, so I need to update my CPU/MOBO before it gives up the ghost.

I'd appreciate it if you guys could help with deciding whether to go with Ryzen 7 2700X or R5 3600. Which would be a better option for gaming, knowing I currently have a R9 390 that will be updated at the end of the year, and will be gaming at 1080p for the foreseeable future?

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I upgraded from an OC'd i5 4670k to the 3600. Saw some huge frame rate increases. Funnily enough I also had a 390 until a few months ago which I replaced with the 2060 Super.

For just gaming I would thoroughly suggest you go with the 3600. Even that is overkill at the moment as barely any games I have played are using 12 threads. The extra cores in the 2700X are useful for productivity or rendering but the extra per core performance you get on the 3600 will make a bigger difference in gaming right now.

 

[Longnosedgoblin]

It looks like a pretty low profile cooler. I think synthetic benchmarks specifically would push it pretty hard. Have you tried adjusting the fan profile?

Worst case if you think it should be doing better than it is you could reseat the heatsink to be sure.

Click to shrink...

It is one of the bigger low profile coolers, and I have replaced the fan with a 100cfm 140mm. Fan profile has been tweaked a little to smooth out the ramping at lower temps. I am happy with the idle and gaming load, but I think I will reseat to double check, also may try the wraith cooler it came with for comparison.

 

[Deleted member 35478]

Mainboard:
Most people go for the b450 tomahawk max. Both boards are pretty much identical, but the VRM heatsink on the tomahawk is supposed to be better. The 3600 is such a low power part, I doubt it's going to matter.

Other than that: It's hard to find something outside the MSI b450 MAX and general x570 categories that supports ryzen 3000 CPUs out of the box. Especially when ordering online.

Cooler:
The cooler is in the "will get the job done" criteria. Nothing to worry about.

Overclock:
In general I wouldn't recommend overclocking Ryzen CPUs. As with Ryzen 2000 it seems to be better to cool as effective as possible, while applying a negative voltage offset with activated PBO (didn't work at launch, works with the new AGESA 1004b microcode). People are getting pretty good results, -0.1V seems to be the sweetspot, though that's not stable for everybody.

Click to shrink...

I'm building my first AMD PC, Intel for over 10 years now, 3700x. Am I better off with the MSI b450 max board or x570 like the gigabyte 570x gaming X AM4 mobo? The MSI is a bit cheaper, so I can throw more money towards cooling. I also dont't know if I should just get the 3600 vs the 3700x, 4k gaming, VR, and some photo and video editing.

 

[TronLight]

Just got a 5700XT. I hope I didn't make a mistake lol

 

[Midas]

I just built together a PC. Ryzen 5 3600X, 32 GB RAM, Radeon 5700. What games should I test to push this?

 

[Deleted member 3190]

Just wondering if anyone has experience doing a build in a server chassis? I'm looking to move my server into a Rosewill RSV-4310L and I'm wondering if I would likely need to get extensions for my PSU cables to get to the drive bays at the front of the case? Also does anyone have any recommendations for a PSU in a Unraid/Plex server.

 

[Isee]

I'm building my first AMD PC, Intel for over 10 years now, 3700x. Am I better off with the MSI b450 max board or x570 like the gigabyte 570x gaming X AM4 mobo? The MSI is a bit cheaper, so I can throw more money towards cooling. I also dont't know if I should just get the 3600 vs the 3700x, 4k gaming, VR, and some photo and video editing.

Click to shrink...

x570 will offer you access to PCI Gen 4.0, while you'll be stuck on PCI Gen 3.0 on the b450 board. Maybe not something that's relevant today, but maybe in 2-3 years? When it's time for a new GPU? Or maybe you'll want a very fast PCI gen 4.0 NVMe in 1.5 years?

Connectivity (USB ports, LAN, etc.) seems to be rather identical on both board. Vcore VRM seems to be slightly better on the Gaming X over the Tomahawk MAX. But cooling plays a big part here too and I can't tell how effective the heatsink on the Gaming X is.
And inb4: The B450 MAX is definitely enough to handle a 3700x! The Gaming X could be a tiny bit better, that's all. But both aren't mind-blowing in that regard.

Is it worth spending extra 50€ on the gaming X and another 100€ on the 3700x? It all depends on your budget in my opinion. Both the cheaper board and the cheaper CPU will give you currently the same performance as the more expansive parts. Getting the "cheaper" options could allow you the get a stronger GPU, which would be a greater help than 2 more cores for 2160p gaming.
A 3700x would, obviously, be better for your video editing though and is a very good, budget offering for gaming and semi processional editing workloads imo.

No clear answer from me, but I hope you have enough information to make the best decision for you.

 

[Mullet2000]

I'm building my first AMD PC, Intel for over 10 years now, 3700x. Am I better off with the MSI b450 max board or x570 like the gigabyte 570x gaming X AM4 mobo? The MSI is a bit cheaper, so I can throw more money towards cooling. I also dont't know if I should just get the 3600 vs the 3700x, 4k gaming, VR, and some photo and video editing.

Click to shrink...

I just built my first AMD CPU machine a few weeks ago too - 3800x.

I went x570 as I feel it will be a more futureproofed board. Ryzen 4000 will hopefully support AM4, and the boards support PCIe 4.0, which may not matter a lot right now but in a few years it may be something you're glad to have. The longer your Mobo lasts, the cheaper it'll be to add new parts to it due to not having to do a full rebuild for CPU/Mobo/Ram.

I'd suggest the 3700x for your use-case, also. 3600 is a great CPU too if you really want to cut your costs a bit, but the 8 core/16 thread of the 3700x should last you a good bit longer than the 3600.

 

[Razgriz417]

TIL that gigabyte warranties are not transferable. Nearly bought a $450 Gigabyte Windforce 2070 S on hardware swap but didn't want to risk getting a dud or coil whine card with no recourse as the seller didn't want to provide a receipt.

 

[Deleted member 17092]

I just built together a PC. Ryzen 5 3600X, 32 GB RAM, Radeon 5700. What games should I test to push this?

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What resolution are you playing at?

 

[Mullet2000]

TIL that gigabyte warranties are not transferable. Nearly bought a $450 Gigabyte Windforce 2070 S on hardware swap but didn't want to risk getting a dud or coil whine card with no recourse as the seller didn't want to provide a receipt.

Click to shrink...

Yeah not worth the risk there.

Anecdotal I know but: I bought a Windforce 2080 Super and the coil whine was absolutely off the carts, so I'm glad I was able to easily return it.

 

[Midas]

What resolution are you playing at?

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1080p right now. Didn't get a new monitor yet. :D

 

[CountAntonio]

Getting my parts in today and haven't built a PC in six years. Have a bit of anxiety about it....

 

[Deleted member 17092]

1080p right now. Didn't get a new monitor yet. :D

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Any modern AAA stuff you should be pretty good at 1080p 60. I run 1440p 144hz and my 5700xt does quite well with pretty much everything. Basically, enjoy the new build!

 

[Isee]

Getting my parts in today and haven't built a PC in six years. Have a bit of anxiety about it....

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It will be fine. Take your time, think twice and watch a building video (for the kind of CPU you bought) before starting.

 

[CountAntonio]

It will be fine. Take your time, think twice and watch a building video (for the kind of CPU you bought) before starting.

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MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX
AMD RYZEN 7 3700X

Yeah I should be good. Just always get a little nervous. So excited to be able to run my favorite games better finally. Been a struggle the last year or so.

 

[Nothing]

Whelp, last night my 1070 just gave up the ghost.

No warning, just suddenly two blank screens. Luckily I've got an ancient gtx580 as a spare, but I was hoping the 1070 was going to tide me over until Ampere/Rdna2 later in the year.

Oh well, looks like I'll be catching up on my Indie game backlog for a while.

Edit: Lol, Somebody on Ebay is trying to flog a Rx570 for £330. That's as near as dammit twice as much as when that card was new.

Edit 2: WTF some of these BuyItNow prices are totally bonkers. Must be trying to cash in on mugs who think they can still make money on Crypto.

Click to shrink...

If you want something with the sole purpose of tiding you over for 6 to 9 months, I would do something like this.

You could probably sell it for 50 bucks easily when you replace it after the next cycle releases.

 

[Deleted member 35478]

x570 will offer you access to PCI Gen 4.0, while you'll be stuck on PCI Gen 3.0 on the b450 board. Maybe not something that's relevant today, but maybe in 2-3 years? When it's time for a new GPU? Or maybe you'll want a very fast PCI gen 4.0 NVMe in 1.5 years?

Connectivity (USB ports, LAN, etc.) seems to be rather identical on both board. Vcore VRM seems to be slightly better on the Gaming X over the Tomahawk MAX. But cooling plays a big part here too and I can't tell how effective the heatsink on the Gaming X is.
And inb4: The B450 MAX is definitely enough to handle a 3700x! The Gaming X could be a tiny bit better, that's all. But both aren't mind-blowing in that regard.

Is it worth spending extra 50€ on the gaming X and another 100€ on the 3700x? It all depends on your budget in my opinion. Both the cheaper board and the cheaper CPU will give you currently the same performance as the more expansive parts. Getting the "cheaper" options could allow you the get a stronger GPU, which would be a greater help than 2 more cores for 2160p gaming.
A 3700x would, obviously, be better for your video editing though and is a very good, budget offering for gaming and semi processional editing workloads imo.

No clear answer from me, but I hope you have enough information to make the best decision for you.

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I just built my first AMD CPU machine a few weeks ago too - 3800x.

I went x570 as I feel it will be a more futureproofed board. Ryzen 4000 will hopefully support AM4, and the boards support PCIe 4.0, which may not matter a lot right now but in a few years it may be something you're glad to have. The longer your Mobo lasts, the cheaper it'll be to add new parts to it due to not having to do a full rebuild for CPU/Mobo/Ram.

I'd suggest the 3700x for your use-case, also. 3600 is a great CPU too if you really want to cut your costs a bit, but the 8 core/16 thread of the 3700x should last you a good bit longer than the 3600.

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Thank you for the responses, appreciate it. I keep my pc's for a long time, currently have a desktop i5 2500k gtx 970 and htpc 3570k gtx 1080, so older builds lol. I'm keeping the 1080 and swapping it into the AMD build, runs games and VR well enough for now, and I'm waiting for RTX 3000 cards, let ray tracing mature a bit more.

I cheaped out a bit with my last builds, going i5 vs i7, so I'll go with the 3700x / x570 board for a little more future proofing. I don't mind spending a little more seeing how my last builds lasted a long time, and could have lasted a bit longer had they been i7's.

 

[dtamago]

I feel I should upgrade my I7 6700K soon, I've been thinking of going team red, I mostly use the PC for gaming at 1440p, aside from the power efficiency, is there a reason I should go for a Ryzen 5 3600 over a 2700X?

 

[bloodyroarx]

Ok this might be a weird question I dont know. With tax time coming up I am finally after a couple setbacks ready to upgrade from my aging 970

I play at 1080p.

Im eyeing either a 5700xt OR a 2070 Super. My question is at 1080p is the raytracing abilities of the 2070 super a worthwhile addition or am i better off saving the money and getting the 5700xt?

 

[KimonoNoNo]

If you want something with the sole purpose of tiding you over for 6 to 9 months, I would do something like this.

You could probably sell it for 50 bucks easily when you replace it after the next cycle releases.

Click to shrink...

I was thinking along the same lines and picked up a Rx580 of ebay for just under £100.

 

[Isee]

MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX
AMD RYZEN 7 3700X

Yeah I should be good. Just always get a little nervous. So excited to be able to run my favorite games better finally. Been a struggle the last year or so.

Click to shrink...

Nice, have fun building and playing.

Thank you for the responses, appreciate it. I keep my pc's for a long time, currently have a desktop i5 2500k gtx 970 and htpc 3570k gtx 1080, so older builds lol. I'm keeping the 1080 and swapping it into the AMD build, runs games and VR well enough for now, and I'm waiting for RTX 3000 cards, let ray tracing mature a bit more.

I cheaped out a bit with my last builds, going i5 vs i7, so I'll go with the 3700x / x570 board for a little more future proofing. I don't mind spending a little more seeing how my last builds lasted a long time, and could have lasted a bit longer had they been i7's.

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Yeah, makes sense in your position. Enjoy.

 

[Lirion]

Debating wether I should build a 3900x pc now or wait for the 4000 series and gtx 30xx.

 

[shodgson8]

Ok this might be a weird question I dont know. With tax time coming up I am finally after a couple setbacks ready to upgrade from my aging 970

I play at 1080p.

Im eyeing either a 5700xt OR a 2070 Super. My question is at 1080p is the raytracing abilities of the 2070 super a worthwhile addition or am i better off saving the money and getting the 5700xt?

Click to shrink...

It's really a matter of your own preferences. It meant enough to me that I made the switch to Nvidia this time (RT in both Control and Cyberpunk were a big driving factor). Best to watch some videos and see how much you care. Either way you will get a good boost from a 970 whichever you pick. It's worth knowing that even at 1080 a 2070S will be hit pretty hard with all the RT effects maxed.

 

[Isee]

Debating wether I should build a 3900x pc now or wait for the 4000 series and gtx 30xx.

Click to shrink...

Is your current performance okay? --> wait

Is you current performance kind of okay? --> wait

Is your performance bad and you want to play? --> go for it.

Do you have a lot of money? --> first the 3900x, 4900x later

;)

 

[Lirion]

Is your current performance okay? --> wait

Is you current performance kind of okay? --> wait

Is your performance bad and you want to play? --> go for it.

Do you have a lot of money? --> first the 3900x, 4900x later

;)

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I don't have a PC at the moment, just a Mac Mini I use for everyday stuff. I'm not in that much of a hurry but really tempted haha.

 

[Rice Eater]

Edit: Lol, Somebody on Ebay is trying to flog a Rx570 for £330. That's as near as dammit twice as much as when that card was new.

Edit 2: WTF some of these BuyItNow prices are totally bonkers. Must be trying to cash in on mugs who think they can still make money on Crypto.

Click to shrink...

I just looked at Craigslist again today. My favorite listings

GTX 1060 $250. Price is firm
GTX 1070 TI $400
GTX 1080 TI $900 OBO. Serious inquiries only

Who are these people? 😂

I must say though it's people who are selling Nvidia cards that are more likely to be unreasonable(or batshit crazy) compared to people selling AMD cards.

 

[tr00per]

Mainboard:
Most people go for the b450 tomahawk max. Both boards are pretty much identical, but the VRM heatsink on the tomahawk is supposed to be better. The 3600 is such a low power part, I doubt it's going to matter.

Other than that: It's hard to find something outside the MSI b450 MAX and general x570 categories that supports ryzen 3000 CPUs out of the box. Especially when ordering online.

Cooler:
The cooler is in the "will get the job done" criteria. Nothing to worry about.

Overclock:
In general I wouldn't recommend overclocking Ryzen CPUs. As with Ryzen 2000 it seems to be better to cool as effective as possible, while applying a negative voltage offset with activated PBO (didn't work at launch, works with the new AGESA 1004b microcode). People are getting pretty good results, -0.1V seems to be the sweetspot, though that's not stable for everybody.

Click to shrink...

Good information. Thank you!

 

[Isee]

I don't have a PC at the moment, just a Mac Mini I use for everyday stuff. I'm not in that much of a hurry but really tempted haha.

Click to shrink...

There is no final hardware, everything will be significantly outperformed one day.
But if you are not in a hurry and therefore kind of satisfied with your gaming experience. Wait, no harm done.

 

[Lirion]

There is no final hardware, everything will be significantly outperformed one day.
But if you are not in a hurry and therefore kind of satisfied with your gaming experience. Wait, no harm done.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'm not one of those who always wants to wait for the best because I'll wait forever then. But if the new cpus/GPUs are around the corner then I rather wait.

 

[Deleted member 35478]

Thoughts on this mobo with a 3700x? Also what ram would be best 3600mhz with a combo like this?

MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS Gaming Motherboard AMD AM4

https://www.newegg.com/msi-mpg-x570-gaming-plus/p/N82E16813144262?Item=N82E16813144262

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Thoughts on this mobo with a 3700x? Also what ram would be best 3600mhz with a combo like this?

MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS Gaming Motherboard AMD AM4

https://www.newegg.com/msi-mpg-x570-gaming-plus/p/N82E16813144262?Item=N82E16813144262

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Asus X570 Prime or X570 TUF are better, similar prices.

Pretty much all non-defective RAM is going to run 3600mhz if they are rated for 3600mhz. Buy whatever is cost efficient at the same latency: Vengance, Ripjaws V, Trident.

 

[Deleted member 35478]

Asus X570 Prime or X570 TUF are better, similar prices.

Pretty much all non-defective RAM is going to run 3600mhz if they are rated for 3600mhz. Buy whatever is cost efficient at the same latency: Vengance, Ripjaws V, Trident.

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Is there a reason why those are better? I just saw the number of reviews for the MSI MPG and seemed like overall positive.

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Is there a reason why those are better? I just saw the number of reviews for the MSI MPG and seemed like overall positive.

Click to shrink...

Top 5 Best X570 Motherboards

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedMerch: http://crowdmade.com/hardwareunboxedGigabyte X570 Aorus Elite: https://amzn.to/2Z3759IAs...

www.youtube.com

 

[Nida]

Is the news story about Nvidia having their new cards available in March bullshit?

 

[Beer Monkey]

I have the Gigabyte X570 AORUS PRO WiFi, a launch Ryzen 7 board, and have been really happy with it.

Also, yeah, Craigslist is weird. Great deals at times, though.

 

[Deleted member 35478]

Top 5 Best X570 Motherboards

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedMerch: http://crowdmade.com/hardwareunboxedGigabyte X570 Aorus Elite: https://amzn.to/2Z3759IAs...

www.youtube.com

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Awesome thanks. Guess there a non plus version of the Tuf, doesn't have WiFi/bluetooth and is $30 cheaper, so I may just go that route. Didn't see any other differences unless I missed something.

 

[Razgriz417]

Yeah not worth the risk there.

Anecdotal I know but: I bought a Windforce 2080 Super and the coil whine was absolutely off the carts, so I'm glad I was able to easily return it.

Click to shrink...

yeah I read alot of reviews about coil whine, scared me away from the deal. Saw theres an evga black for $460+ tax & AR so for $40 better to have the warranty safety net

 

[Nothing]

I was thinking along the same lines and picked up a Rx580 of ebay for just under £100.

Click to shrink...

Smart move. That should tide you over perfectly. Then you can get an upgraded RTX 3000 series this fall. :)

Is the news story about Nvidia having their new cards available in March bullshit?

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It helps to link your source when you say something like that.

but yeah anyways, NVIDIA might be ANNOUNCING 7nm Ampere GPUs at GTC 2020 in March.