GR ~ PC Hardware thread

[Deef]

Whoa, ok, just got things finally running.

Switched the screen off 60Hz, on to 144Hz.

I have literally done nothing but move the mouse cursor around. This is smooth. Holy crap. This is like moving paper around smooth. Moving windows, even moreso. Going back to 60Hz and moving a window is like wtf is this rubbish. 144Hz is where it is at.

[lestat]

I know the feeling. Massive WTF moment.

[Rorschach]

It's a pretty big difference, probably more than Freesync or Gsync. You just need a strong GPU to push those high frames.

[lestat]

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/amd-ve ... 0-fps.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Last week there was an AMD event in Sonoma, the world press was there. At the event many topics have been shown including working samples of AMD VEGA. Marc Sauter from Golem.de today posted a photo that he probably should not have released.

The photo shows a working VEGA setup in a demo room running Doom at ultra quality settings in an Ultra HD resolution, I know this was a demo room because I have attended this event as well. The photo is as Golem.de explains is Doom running at 4K Ultra. The card is outting an FPS of 68 fps, with the "Vulkan" API enabled and what probably is a very early unoptimized engineering sample.



A couple of things pop out, first off is the hardware device ID is revealed 687F:C1 and the second thing just has to be the graphics memory amount as the screenshot clearly is showing 8GB of HBM2 memory, with an estimated memory bandwidth of 512 GB/s.

Back to the hardware ID, 687F:C1 anyone remember this post on AOTS? Go have a peek at the screenshots, courtesy of Golem.de

"A Vega 10 has 8 GiByte HBM2 is unoptimized at GTX-1080 level"

A GeForce GTX 1080 overclocked at over 1,900 MHz is there about 10 per cent slower. Note, however, that first, no Vega-optimized driver was used, but simply a Fiji driver with a little additional debugging work.

Vega looking pretty good here, nvidia will have to release a 1080 Ti after all unless volta is ready.

[lestat]

Damn a Ryzen 3.4 wrecks a 6900k in handbrake, 10% faster.

AMD live stream for the new zen cpus is one now, it looks like a winner. AMD matched intel IPC but they're doing it with significant less power Ryzen(95W), 6900k(140W).

[lestat]

http://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-zen-cpu-b ... -official/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rorschach]

Damn, small part regrets going for Skylake. That said, this should hopefully see Intel drop their prices a bit on their higher level CPUs

[PhoneMonkey]

If Ryzen is priced right I might finally retire my trusty old i5-750. But this could also make a great Hyper-V whitebox for people who run home labs.

[lestat]

It's great AMD is back in the game, but I'm still a little concerned about clock speeds and overclocking. Intel parts can be overclocked to 4~4.6Ghz which give them an advantage in single threaded performance. AMD is still very cagey right now on where the clocks top out on the chip.

For gaming you might still be better off with a 6700/7700k running at 4.5~4.7ghz or a 6 core 6800k at 4.3~4.4, If the Ryzen tops out at 4Ghz clocks for instance.

[PhoneMonkey]

For a lot of people it'll boil down to perf/$. If at max clocks either side you can get 80% performance of a 6900K at 50% of the price it'll be a no brainer for most.

[pilonv1]

That's the biggest issue now, there's not even a comparable performance per $ product from AMD. Would love things to get back to their 5850/5970 days when they had a good product.

[Raven]

Hey guys, mind taking a look at my proposed buid?

Anything I've chosen you wouldn't recommend?

Do you think a single GPU can drive the monitor ok?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($457.00 @ Shopping Express)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H115i 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($167.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($219.00 @ Shopping Express)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($168.00 @ Umart)
Storage: Samsung 960 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GAMING X 8G Video Card ($939.00 @ Shopping Express)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Case ($139.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($129.00 @ Umart)
Monitor: Asus ROG SWIFT PG348Q 34.0" 3440x1440 100Hz Monitor ($1695.00 @ Shopping Express)
Keyboard: Corsair K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE Wired Gaming Keyboard ($195.00 @ Scorptec)
Mouse: Logitech G900 CHAOS SPECTRUM Wireless Optical Mouse ($159.00 @ Shopping Express)
Total: $4267.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-15 20:48 AEDT+1100

[Rorschach]

That is a pretty elite build. Love SSD drives but I'd probably go for large platter drives for games and get a better case. Like the Luxe or Enthoo Evolv ATX. Otherwise if you have the cash go for it

[unfnknblvbl]

Damn, small part regrets going for Skylake.

I bought into Vishera, with the understanding that Zen would be backwards compatible with AM3+ sockets, like they've done with previous generations

I guess it's just been too damn long since AM3/3+ came out to maintain that, though...

[flipswitch]

That is a pretty elite build. Love SSD drives but I'd probably go for large platter drives for games and get a better case. Like the Luxe or Enthoo Evolv ATX. Otherwise if you have the cash go for it

What do you reckon on the 4K monitor. Would a 1440p G sync be a better choice?

[Rorschach]

I think right now 1440p is the better option because the current generation of GPUs can barely make 4K work. A 1080 will chew up 1440p at ultra on almost all games but will top out around 40fps in 4K. Thinking next gen or the gen after will be when 4K will go standard. Also, 4K on a 27 inch screen isn't much fun. I think the next big thing will be HDR supported panels, they'll be stunning

[lestat]

Build looks good, the only thing I would bump would be the power supply, I think you really need a 750w minimum, 850w even better. With the power supply you need to think long term and really these power supplies run best when loaded at 50%. Most gaming PCs will draw between 300-400w on avg.

https://www.pccasegear.com/products/279 ... wer-supply" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[lestat]

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx- ... confirmed/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Confirmation nvidia will release a 1080Ti to go head to head with AMDs Vega.

Seems like it's going to be an even battle with recent Vega leaks, 1080Ti will be a cut down titan X, so looking around 20% over a 1080.

I guess the rumors of Volta coming early next year were wrong.

[Raven]

Really tempted now to wait for the 1080Ti... could be 6 months though

[pilonv1]

Probably will be north of $1300-1400

[Candy Arse]

I'm waiting for the 1080Ti. I expect that'll be where I overhaul my PC.

1080Ti
4K monitor
New CPU
At least a Terrabyte SSD

Bring it on.

[PhoneMonkey]

I'm just happy we'll finally have some competition. Even if Vega/Ryzen can't completely topple the other flagships, it should at least come close I reckon and bring down prices.

[Rorschach]

I'm about to do a rebuild tonight. RAM arrived yesterday and just downloading a new Windows ISO now. Future wise, looking in the short term to upgrading my gaming drive to an SSD. Plan to get a 1280 (or whatever it's called) and a 4K monitor Gsync when they start hitting 144Hz territory and 34 inches. That should be about 3 to 4 years from now

[Rorschach]

So, hardware swap completed. New Windows 10 Pro licence activated without an issue. Few small hiccups I have never previously encountered though:

- Didn't seat one of the RAM modules properly, only recognised 8 instead of 16 gig.
- ASUS ROG boards have a odd setup for waterpumps, kept dumping me into the BIOS saying the CPU fan was connected incorrectly. On my Gigabyte board there was the CPU header and CPU OPT header. ASUS has a third specifically for waterpumps. Swapped it around, sweet as.
- Mini panic attack, the installer wouldn't work on my SSD due to a partition with a legacy file table (I think). Had to play a mini game of whack-a-mole with each partition the last installation created. Once done, the actual install took no time at all.

Overall, very happy. Have a nice stable 15% overclock going on. Interior looks much nicer now. Have to invest in something completely useless like RGB lighting.

[lestat]

Cool, I think I'm going to go a 7700k in the new year, I have all this present money and my 2500k is a bit long in the tooth. Will be nice to have all the latest platform bells and whistles, predicting around 30% improvement min, more if I can the clocks to 5ghz which a lot of people are hitting on early retail units.