Gaming PCs Thread...time for a sticky / running thread?

[RobDickinson]

you dont need a 570 unless you want the pcie 4 stuff I think?

[Steven_RW]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I'm not sure what you use it for but you can always run a simple USB hub your desk? My mobo has tonnes of USB options but the hub on the desk is really handy for items that I regularly remove. Or just as an extender.


RW

[RobDickinson]

Also for some bizarre reason Destiny 2 wont run on the new zens? Which happens to be one of the games im playing

[Miserablegit]

Apologies if i should have started another thread.

I've had my current gaming pc since 2014 - I added a larger ssd and replaced the psu with a corsair modular
This is the original spec:

NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Large Tower Case – White/Black/Gunmetal color
750W FSP Quiet Power Supply - Silver 80 PLUS [NOW REPLACED WITH CORSAIR MODULAR]
MSI X99S GAMING 7 Intel X99 Socket 2011-3 Motherboard
Intel® Core™ i7 5820K Haswell-E CPU Unlocked 6 Core Socket 2011-3 Processor
Corsair H80i Hydro Series Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
16GB (4x4GB) Quad Channel DDR4 2133 MHz Memory
4GB NVIDIA GTX 980 Gaming GPU, 2048 Cores, DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI
120GB SSD - Patriot Blaze Solid State Drive w/ MS windows 7 professional pre-installed [NOW REPLACED CORSAIR 480GB]

2TB SATA III 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, 8ms Hard Drive
24x DVD Writer (read/write CD & DVD) [ADDED PANASONIC BLU RAY]
Soundblaster z
High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Microsoft Windows® 7 Professional 64 bit w/SP1- inc DVD & Licence [Still happy on win7 but office machine is on win 10]

Very happy with it- run Oculus and a 144hz three-screen monitor set up for flight sims and occasional Far cry

Now I need a new pc for the office as my all-in-one is creaking. Would like to spend "as little as possible"
Using some man-maths I was thinking of using it as justification to upgrade the main pc and re-using parts for the new pc.

Was looking at getting a GTX1660 Ti to replace the GTX980 in the main machine
Was looking at getting a Ryzen 5 motherboard to plug the old GTX into
Had considered a bare-bones mobo/processor/psu but then go to thinking is there an alternative?

Does anyone have some inspiration please
many thanks

[MissChief]

Miserablegit said:

Apologies if i should have started another thread.

I've had my current gaming pc since 2014 - I added a larger ssd and replaced the psu with a corsair modular
This is the original spec:

NZXT Phantom Enthusiast Large Tower Case – White/Black/Gunmetal color
750W FSP Quiet Power Supply - Silver 80 PLUS [NOW REPLACED WITH CORSAIR MODULAR]
MSI X99S GAMING 7 Intel X99 Socket 2011-3 Motherboard
Intel® Core™ i7 5820K Haswell-E CPU Unlocked 6 Core Socket 2011-3 Processor
Corsair H80i Hydro Series Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
16GB (4x4GB) Quad Channel DDR4 2133 MHz Memory
4GB NVIDIA GTX 980 Gaming GPU, 2048 Cores, DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI
120GB SSD - Patriot Blaze Solid State Drive w/ MS windows 7 professional pre-installed [NOW REPLACED CORSAIR 480GB]

2TB SATA III 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, 8ms Hard Drive
24x DVD Writer (read/write CD & DVD) [ADDED PANASONIC BLU RAY]
Soundblaster z
High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Microsoft Windows® 7 Professional 64 bit w/SP1- inc DVD & Licence [Still happy on win7 but office machine is on win 10]

Very happy with it- run Oculus and a 144hz three-screen monitor set up for flight sims and occasional Far cry

Now I need a new pc for the office as my all-in-one is creaking. Would like to spend "as little as possible"
Using some man-maths I was thinking of using it as justification to upgrade the main pc and re-using parts for the new pc.

Was looking at getting a GTX1660 Ti to replace the GTX980 in the main machine
Was looking at getting a Ryzen 5 motherboard to plug the old GTX into
Had considered a bare-bones mobo/processor/psu but then go to thinking is there an alternative?

Does anyone have some inspiration please
many thanks


TBH your machine isn't that far behind. Unless you have a definite need for an upgrade only a Ryzen 3 is likely to be an improvement. You have an i7 which you could OC a little and pick up a new graphics card. The 1660ti isn't a huge jump over the 980 though, only a 10-20% improvement. You'd need to go 1080 or 2060 to see a significant improvement.

[Miserablegit]

Ok many thanks - I’ve been out of the PC research loop for a while.

By the sounds of it I should leave it alone and then build the work pc around one of the amd Ryzen with built in graphics so when i can justify a more expensive graphics card in the main one I can donate the 980 to the work machine.

Now to look at cases - would be nice if I could hide the pc in a piece of furniture........although the super yacht case is a tad OTT


https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian-li-pc-y6b-odys...

[MissChief]

Miserablegit said:

Ok many thanks - I’ve been out of the PC research loop for a while.

By the sounds of it I should leave it alone and then build the work pc around one of the amd Ryzen with built in graphics so when i can justify a more expensive graphics card in the main one I can donate the 980 to the work machine.

Now to look at cases - would be nice if I could hide the pc in a piece of furniture........although the super yacht case is a tad OTT


https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian-li-pc-y6b-odys...

Pffft. you want one of these!!

[Miserablegit]

Ha- reading the bs in the description...it’s great at cooling because it’s got no sides - you’re better off sticking the motherboard on a table top if you don’t care whether it gets dusty!

Thanks for your help
Off to do more research

[Jinx]

Heads up - there's a sale going on at overclockers.

[Lazadude]

I'm debating replacing the 2600 in my VR machine with a 3700. Just waiting to see what the 3950X is like for pure silliness.

Mobo/RAM will stay the same though, so MITX B450 with some Bdie 3600.

[RobDickinson]

That's games of today.

I expect games in a few years to take advantage of more cores /threads.

Plus I do other things with my pc too..

[Art0ir]

RobDickinson said:

That's games of today.

I expect games in a few years to take advantage of more cores /threads.

Plus I do other things with my pc too..

They said the same when I bought my 3570k new...

[Jinx]

Art0ir said:

They said the same when I bought my 3570k new...

A lot of games are now able to take advantage of 6 threads - so I would not recommend any 4 thread parts these days as you will get stuttering and frame rate dips (ports form the current generation of consoles frequently use many threads as the clocks of the CPUs are low compared with PCs). A hyper threaded 4 core part is fine for most games though there are exceptions (latest RTS games are more thread heavy). 6 core 6 threads is ample at the moment (intel 8400 and above) but the next gen consoles (due next year) could make 8 threads the next "minimum" for smooth gaming. Developers aim for the middle of the tech and for many years intel kept this middle at 4 cores - 4 threads as they had no real competition from AMD. The current consoles and Ryzen has changed the landscape somewhat so the move to 6, 8 or even above number of threads may happen faster than previously.
Back to the question - unless you are streaming or you use your pc for work then the 3600 part is the best value/performance chip available. If you are a professional streamer (and too cheap to have a second streaming machine) - then the 8 core 3700 or above might be worthwhile.

[Lazadude]

I'm running a watercooled 1080ti without any noticeable cpu bottleneck issues with a 2600. Benchmarks seem to be GPU bound rather than CPU.

If you're running at pure cost points though, the cheapest would be to stay with whatever socketed mobo you have, since that saves you £100 instantly on needing a new motherboard.

Looking at the Silicon Lottery binning stats for them - https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/amd-ryzen-3000-cpus...

If the 3800X gets an all core of 4.3, that's not bad at all. I fully expect prices to fluctuate with the 3950 when its released.

[westtra]

So next part of my build is monitors. Currently plugged into a tv thats getting moved to another room.

So going by what I can see it’s a choice between either 4k resolution or high refresh rate on a 2k screen.

Whats the general consensus on whats the best way to go. I am not a pro gamer by any measure so the resolution over refresh is where I am leaning as an xbox will be plugged into the monitor so 4k appeals there.

But on the other hand high refresh for smoother picture etc. When playing racing games.

[Jinx]

westtra said:

So next part of my build is monitors. Currently plugged into a tv thats getting moved to another room.

So going by what I can see it’s a choice between either 4k resolution or high refresh rate on a 2k screen.

Whats the general consensus on whats the best way to go. I am not a pro gamer by any measure so the resolution over refresh is where I am leaning as an xbox will be plugged into the monitor so 4k appeals there.

But on the other hand high refresh for smoother picture etc. When playing racing games.

I still think the 1440p is the sweet spot (though I am tempted by the super wide 1440p monitors) as 4k can bring a 2080Ti to its knees at higher refresh rates. So I'm in the 1440p camp.

[Lazadude]

Theres 3 types of Monitor, IPS, VA, TN. These are "best" colour accuracy and slowest response (IPS), average both (VA) and "worst" colour accuracy but fastest response (TN).

The main choice is pick what features you want and what your use case is.

HDR? GSync? Refresh Rate? Monitor Size? Resolution? Aspect ratio (ultrawide?)?

And then dependant on budget, you can have more of your wants

Id recommend something at the 27inch / 1440p level unless you must have 4K.

[westtra]

So is this as good as it looks. IPS for colour with claimed 1ms response.

https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-27GL850

[RobDickinson]

westtra said:

So is this as good as it looks. IPS for colour with claimed 1ms response.

https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-27GL850

I'm not sure how thats much of an improvement on my 2011 27" dell?

[MissChief]

RobDickinson said:

westtra said:

So is this as good as it looks. IPS for colour with claimed 1ms response.

https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-27GL850

I'm not sure how thats much of an improvement on my 2011 27" dell?

I doubt your Dell has 1ms Grey to grey pixel response and as accurate colour?