GR ~ PC Hardware thread

[pilonv1]

As I said earlier I just got two nvme drives so I'd just do a fresh install, but I'm far too lazy to do so. Like you I've put everything as far away from my system drive as I can but there's going to be some installs like Python and other programs I didn't put in the right spot initially and don't want to have to do it all again

[F for Fake]

Also I can't use Resizable Bar because the drive with my Windows installation is the wrong type

How did you know that was the issue? Is there some sort of tester available?
I'm trying to get it working myself (hadn't heard of it before this thread). I updated my BIOS and now the Resizable Bar option is there, but if I enable it I just keep booting directly into BIOS (no errors or messages though).
Surprised the option was there tbh. I've got a B350 model and apparently the minimum requirement is the 500 series.

[pilonv1]

Also I can't use Resizable Bar because the drive with my Windows installation is the wrong type

How did you know that was the issue? Is there some sort of tester available?
I'm trying to get it working myself (hadn't heard of it before this thread). I updated my BIOS and now the Resizable Bar option is there, but if I enable it I just keep booting directly into BIOS (no errors or messages though).

That's how you know. It only supports a certain type of hard drive format.

Apparently you can use this

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windo ... mbr-to-gpt

[unfnknblvbl]

That tool works a treat to convert from mbr to gpt, can confirm

[pilonv1]

I can't use that because I've got two recovery partitions on my drive and neither of them are active.

I might try an in place repair otherwise I'll reformat once I'm done with BG3

[Peppermint Lounge]

The positive BG3 buzz is getting to me.

[pilonv1]

I know you want to make a female rogue again

[unfnknblvbl]

I am BG3-curious. I've never played the first two games...

[Rorschach]

I'm going to give my current rig another year and then update all the internal main components - CPU, RAM, mobo and PSU. I'm contemplating whether to upgrate the GPU then as well but figure the 3080 will be an awesome card for 1440p for the next few years. I want to go balls to the wall though, by the very best at the time. My current system is my third and they are getting better each time in terms of raw power.

[Vince]

FINALLY, after years of looking around and saying I will build my PC the time has finally come! I ordered all my parts this morning for my new gaming PC! Ordered a 4070 with a 13700k. Very much looking forward to getting back into PC gaming and, maybe apart from the Switch, giving up on consoles for good. Considering Xbox and PS5 games almost all come to PC, why even bother with those consoles? Good times ahead!

[Mavy]

After watching the DF Immortals of Aveum video and hearing that it runs at 720p (FSR2.1 Ultra Performance mode) I'd tend to agree. Really feel like PS5/Xbox has been a real waste of money this gen.

I even checked the youtube quality settings on the video (before they mentioned the above) cause it looked so bad.

[Peppermint Lounge]

FINALLY, after years of looking around and saying I will build my PC the time has finally come! I ordered all my parts this morning for my new gaming PC! Ordered a 4070 with a 13700k. Very much looking forward to getting back into PC gaming and, maybe apart from the Switch, giving up on consoles for good. Considering Xbox and PS5 games almost all come to PC, why even bother with those consoles? Good times ahead!

Congrats mate. What monitor are you using?

[unfnknblvbl]

Really feel like PS5/Xbox has been a real waste of money this gen.

Ever since the PS360. Surely, the greatest console generation.

[Vince]

FINALLY, after years of looking around and saying I will build my PC the time has finally come! I ordered all my parts this morning for my new gaming PC! Ordered a 4070 with a 13700k. Very much looking forward to getting back into PC gaming and, maybe apart from the Switch, giving up on consoles for good. Considering Xbox and PS5 games almost all come to PC, why even bother with those consoles? Good times ahead!

Congrats mate. What monitor are you using?

Thanks! Haven’t picked up a monitor yet. Just using my 55 inch Sony 4K tv. Still looks great for gaming but am interested in a widescreen monitor of some kind.

[Peppermint Lounge]

This mid-tier GPU gen continues to confound. 7700xt appears to stomp 6700xt in the traditional generational way but 7800xt seems to be at around parity with 6800xt. That's because AMD say 7800xt is actually a follow-up for 6800 (non xt) despite the obvious naming convention mismatch which will lead any sound person to assume 7800xt follows on from 6800xt. Despite these shenanigans 7800xt as a value proposition vs 7700xt and Nvidia competition is earning positive reviews. So 7800xt with performance that barely improves on (and is more than occasionally beaten by) its obvious predecessor ends up being praised for offering the best bang for buck in its segment for now.

[unfnknblvbl]

I am so completely lost with what's happening right now. Nothing even remotely makes sense.

[pilonv1]

This mid-tier GPU gen continues to confound. 7700xt appears to stomp 6700xt in the traditional generational

why didn't I wait a month. They're still over $800 and I only paid $430 for my 6700XT so that's not too bad.

7800XT sounds ok for what it is given everything else. At least things are getting less worse.

[Peppermint Lounge]

It's all so confusing I went and bought a 7800XT to console myself. $879 for the Powercolor Hellhound + a copy of Starfield is not bad.

[pilonv1]

Cheapest 7700XT looks to be $779 and that's still $350 more for what looks to be 20-25% performance and I'm still only getting 12GB. At that price the 7800XT for $879 would be a no brainer.

Happy to stick with the 6700XT for now.

[pilonv1]

Feeling better about this now. It's not significantly better than the 6700X given the same VRAM, performance and power. It just looks good compared to the nVidia 4000 series options.

7800XT is the obvious way to go.

[Peppermint Lounge]

Per the HU review if it comes down in price it will become viable. 6700XT will comfortably do until next gen. I was on a roll with all my recent new gear and upon seeing the Hellhound + Starfield for $879 and it being my birthday month I thought I might as well top off my new build with a fresh GPU too.

[Deef]

I've been backtracking on my earlier decision to go cheap on the CPU side of things to complement my 4070, and sent back the 5600G I bought a while ago. Then I stopped bothering with parts buying for a while because I just couldn't be bothered with the rabbit hole. But now I have bothered.

I was strongly leaning into the i5-13600K, but now I think I'm pretty set on spending $150 more for the the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Its gaming performance (just) manages to out-pace the $400-more i9-13900K, which is pretty hard to ignore. The penalty is that the 7800X3D's performance in productivity tasks is a chunk below that of even the i5-13600K, but I can't see that not being worth it.

But the motherboards. God damn. I was a bit unhappy with the idea of putting $314 into a DDR5 z690 to go with the 13600K. Now I choose a Ryzen CPU only to discover that AM5 boards are like LGA1700 boards plus $100-150.

But I did find an ASUS ROG Strix B650E-F for $413, strangely. Backplate full of holes, it even has a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot for some reason, despite not being an X670. I'm having trouble understanding why such a price difference from an X670E.


In related news, yeah I see the 7800XT has appeared since I got my 4070 a few months back. Same price as the 4070 even now, with a little better raw performance. If I were starting fresh I'd be a little torn between the 2 but would probably go with the 7800XT. I'm not super bent by buyer's remorse though, especially since it wasn't around until a few months after I purchased the 4070... and I have 2 g-sync screens. But indeed, with the 3D Ryzens and the crappy Nvidia options, I've seen now how this really has been a time to just go all red.

[unfnknblvbl]

I don't even remotely understand what the deal is with motherboards at the moment. None of them are particularly appealing to me, thanks to triple-slot GPUs eating up all my expansion options. It feels very wrong to be paying a premium for a full-sized ATX motherboard with only three PCIe slots and four SATA ports.

[Peppermint Lounge]

I've been backtracking on my earlier decision to go cheap on the CPU side of things to complement my 4070, and sent back the 5600G I bought a while ago. Then I stopped bothering with parts buying for a while because I just couldn't be bothered with the rabbit hole. But now I have bothered.

I was strongly leaning into the i5-13600K, but now I think I'm pretty set on spending $150 more for the the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Its gaming performance (just) manages to out-pace the $400-more i9-13900K, which is pretty hard to ignore. The penalty is that the 7800X3D's performance in productivity tasks is a chunk below that of even the i5-13600K, but I can't see that not being worth it.

But the motherboards. God damn. I was a bit unhappy with the idea of putting $314 into a DDR5 z690 to go with the 13600K. Now I choose a Ryzen CPU only to discover that AM5 boards are like LGA1700 boards plus $100-150.

But I did find an ASUS ROG Strix B650E-F for $413, strangely. Backplate full of holes, it even has a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot for some reason, despite not being an X670. I'm having trouble understanding why such a price difference from an X670E.


In related news, yeah I see the 7800XT has appeared since I got my 4070 a few months back. Same price as the 4070 even now, with a little better raw performance. If I were starting fresh I'd be a little torn between the 2 but would probably go with the 7800XT. I'm not super bent by buyer's remorse though, especially since it wasn't around until a few months after I purchased the 4070... and I have 2 g-sync screens. But indeed, with the 3D Ryzens and the crappy Nvidia options, I've seen now how this really has been a time to just go all red.

I recently went team red with an X670e motherboard (Asrock Pro RS), 7700X and 7800XT. If you opt for X670e please take care buying RAM. X670e is super particular with RAM. Make sure any RAM kit purchased is clearly labelled AMD compatible. There are many instances of RAM causing POST issues for these boards. Even with a good/compatible kit you'll still be subjected to unusually long boot times (as in minutes long) while building due to the system calibrating EXPO/XMP profile timings.

[Deef]

Yeah, I have 2 kits in mind:

Some Lexar ARES RGB DDR5-6400 CL32 <-- No EXPO I believe. Hynix die apparently.
Or some Flare X5 DDR5-6000 CL32 <-- Has EXPO. Suggested by Buildzoid. Hynix or Samsung die.

Both the same price. I'm still learning about how much not having EXPO matters. Nothing official that says AMD with that 6400 kit, but one OzBargain commenter described his success with it on his 7700X. Meanwhile the seller (BPCTech) says it supports EXPO, as does their purchase page, but looking up this kit on the official Lexar site sees the EXPO feature explicitly absent. I'll ring BPCTech to ask why they're saying it has it.

As far as I'm aware, without EXPO I can a) still set up timings manually (and just rely on Buildzoid's low-effort timings), or b) not even care that much because the X3D Ryzens in particular have extremely little sensitivity to timings; only really affected by the clock rate.

But I'm still learning about that. Maybe it's too much uncertainty/hassle, in which case I'd go with the Flare kit. This has the added bonus of being in a local shop (PLE), and those guys are so good with returning stuff if you need... or want.

It's really not much of a muchness I know, but eh, if I can get a 6400 kit, I may as well.

I've decided I'm going to ditch PCIE 5.0 anything as I select a mobo. Not liking the cost it's adding, and I'm super unlikely to get anything meaningful out of it.


Edit --
Yeah ok, I'll ignore that no-EXPO kit. Rang and confirmed it's XMP only.
The Flare kit is explicitly listed as compatible for the B650 board I'm considering.