I've got a desktop PC and not afraid to admit it thread

[RizzoTheRat]

Spent the morning putting my new PC together. In hindsight I'm wondering if I should have put the cooler on the other way round with the fan pulling instead of pushing, as currently the fan blocks one of the unused memory slots so I'll have to turn it round of I ever decide I want more than 16Gb

[TomScrut]

captain_cynic said:

A fair few games still aren't even using more than 3 GB (the old 32 bit limit).

But there are heaps of reasons for using a lot of RAM, databases, GIS/Image processing, virtualisation to name a few.

I've only got a meagre 16 GB in my gaming PC, but it's enough to run a VM lab if need be.

My smallest virtual host at work runs 256 GB and 4 CPU (16 cores). Newest server has 1.5TB and 2 CPU (20 cores) and is 1/8 of the size of the former (blade vs 2U rackmount).

Yeah a lot of people (especially on Facebook) seem to think gaming is the most intense thing you can do with a PC! I saw a workstation laptop advertised with 128GB of RAM, people saying how pointless it was because games don't use that much. Granted even most workstations (especially portable ones) won't need 128GB but my work laptop has 32GB and it has almost filled it before on CAD work, let alone FEA (which I don't do often). Very rare it fills it and I preferred the top end CPU to the extra RAM on that. In case you're interested it is the following:

HP ZBook 17 G5
Xeon E-2186M
Quadro P3200
32GB of 2400 RAM
500GB NVME SSD
1080p screen

Tonnes faster than my 5 year old desktop it replaced!

I think RAM is probably the most important component where it needs to be picked for the purpose of the PC, if you haven't enough, the PC is practically useless. Everything else things just don't happen as quickly, in a linear manner compared to how much it was under specified, with RAM things grind to a halt.

Our server at work for example I think has more cores than the servers you're talking about but a lot less RAM, as they are just running remote desktops on VMs for normal office work, so other than Windows server and a lot of Office instances it's not too bad on RAM but needs CPUs for responsiveness.

[Jinx]

TomScrut said:

Yeah a lot of people (especially on Facebook) seem to think gaming is the most intense thing you can do with a PC! I saw a workstation laptop advertised with 128GB of RAM, people saying how pointless it was because games don't use that much. Granted even most workstations (especially portable ones) won't need 128GB but my work laptop has 32GB and it has almost filled it before on CAD work, let alone FEA (which I don't do often). Very rare it fills it and I preferred the top end CPU to the extra RAM on that. In case you're interested it is the following:

HP ZBook 17 G5
Xeon E-2186M
Quadro P3200
32GB of 2400 RAM
500GB NVME SSD
1080p screen

Tonnes faster than my 5 year old desktop it replaced!

I think RAM is probably the most important component where it needs to be picked for the purpose of the PC, if you haven't enough, the PC is practically useless. Everything else things just don't happen as quickly, in a linear manner compared to how much it was under specified, with RAM things grind to a halt.

Our server at work for example I think has more cores than the servers you're talking about but a lot less RAM, as they are just running remote desktops on VMs for normal office work, so other than Windows server and a lot of Office instances it's not too bad on RAM but needs CPUs for responsiveness.

I need more RAM but I'm waiting for prices to drop (SQL server is happy to eat all you have and you only know you don't have enough when the damn thing slows to a crawl and starts hitting the page file/swap feil whatever MS is calling it these days). Not aiming for 128GB but need 32 and want 64.
4x16GB sticks are a little pricey at the moment.

[Zod]

Just Cause 3 puts up a warning on my son's PC that it might not work perfectly because it does not have sufficient RAM. It has 8GB! It works fine.

[designforlife]

Just got my new work PC in...it's not too shabby.

i7-8700 @ 3.2ghz
32gb RAM
Nvidia QUadro P4000
500gb SSD

Boots up in about 3 seconds flat, and Solidworks is running like a dream.

Not quite as exciting as my PC gaming days, but it's a pleasure to work on.

[TomScrut]

Zod said:

Just Cause 3 puts up a warning on my son's PC that it might not work perfectly because it does not have sufficient RAM. It has 8GB! It works fine.

I think the thing with games is it's so dependent on different factors. How much VRAM you have, what res and settings you're using and so on

[Zod]

TomScrut said:

Zod said:

Just Cause 3 puts up a warning on my son's PC that it might not work perfectly because it does not have sufficient RAM. It has 8GB! It works fine.

I think the thing with games is it's so dependent on different factors. How much VRAM you have, what res and settings you're using and so on

VRAM is the most limiting now and requirements have increased significantly over the last five years. On my younger son's PC, Far Cry 5 struggles, even at 1080p with medium settings, because his (my old) 680 GTX has "only" 2GB of VRAM. Even his elder brother's 980 GTX has to limit the settings, whereas my 1080 GTX runs it perfectly at 3440x1440 with everything maxed, but it still uses almost all the card's 8GB.

[TomScrut]

designforlife said:

Just got my new work PC in...it's not too shabby.

i7-8700 @ 3.2ghz
32gb RAM
Nvidia QUadro P4000
500gb SSD

Boots up in about 3 seconds flat, and Solidworks is running like a dream.

Not quite as exciting as my PC gaming days, but it's a pleasure to work on.

Nice machine!

The P4000 would be my card of choice in a desktop as the PX200s aren't out in desktop yet and they don't do 3000 series in desktop either. The 2000 series isn't enough IMO for what I do RAM wise, I think the 3000s are a good compromise. In the laptop it definitely wasn't worth the £400 odd they wanted to go to a P4000/4200, but would have been from a P2000 as it is the desktop.

[Jinx]

RizzoTheRat said:

Spent the morning putting my new PC together. In hindsight I'm wondering if I should have put the cooler on the other way round with the fan pulling instead of pushing, as currently the fan blocks one of the unused memory slots so I'll have to turn it round of I ever decide I want more than 16Gb

Have you booted it up yet Free Beta Keys for Overkill's walking dead are available on the alienware forum website (you don't need an alienware to get one)....

[Slushbox]

designforlife said:

Just got my new work PC in...it's not too shabby.

i7-8700 @ 3.2ghz
32gb RAM
Nvidia QUadro P4000
500gb SSD

Boots up in about 3 seconds flat, and Solidworks is running like a dream.

Not quite as exciting as my PC gaming days, but it's a pleasure to work on.

I bet. Even the 'modest' design-oriented PC's are great these days. I have the baby brother of yours with an i5-7400 3.5Ghz, and 16GB ram. Only a 1GB Quadro NVS315 in it, but a new Q4000 is £750.

InDesign doesn't seem to care. :-)

I have a couple of new white Iiyama 22" pivot/portrait/swivel height-adjustable monitors on the Quadro.Very nice to work on if you're an obsessive gamma nerd.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/iiyama-B2280HS-W1-ProLite...

[RizzoTheRat]

Jinx said:

Have you booted it up yet Free Beta Keys for Overkill's walking dead are available on the alienware forum website (you don't need an alienware to get one)....

Only got as far putting windows and the motherboard/graphics card drivers on so far. I'm away most of the next couple of weeks so won't really get a chance to use it until October

[skinnyman]

How do people stop the addictive nature of desktop/gaming PC's? I bought the following around 2.5yrs back:

i7 4790k
Gigabyte GA-Z97X gaming 3 motherboard
2x4GB corsair ram
GTX 970
120GB SSD
2TB Hard drive
500W EVGA PSU

Ran a few games, everything fine. Then I bought Total War Warhammer, a CPU intensive game (at times) and noticed high CPU temps, so I bought a Hyper 212x to solve that. Then a chap at work offered me a GTX1080FE, so I bought that, then I decided I'd like 16GB of ram to compliment the new GPU, so I did that. Then I bought a M.2 drive on black Friday (although I only get around half speed on my motherboard, as it only sort of supports it). Everything is now fine, but with the GPU being a Founders Edition card, it gets hot, so I've adjusted the fan curve to keep temps in check, but this gets noisy. So now I'm considering a AIO water cooler for the GPU, this would then allow me to overclock, however, if overclocking I'd probably need a new PSU, which then lead me to thinking I could get a new case at the same time.

The whole thing just spirals!! Before I know it I'll be spending £2k+ on a whole new system, and I don't even game that much!

[HM-2]

Having not touched my system for a while, I spent a bit of time freshening it up over the Christmas holidays with some shiny new bits.

Intel i7 5820K processor, overclocked to 4.5GHz at 1.218v
MSI X99A MPOWER motherboard
NZXT Kracken X62 CPU cooler
16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 RAM, running at 2666MHz CL15
Corsair AX750 PSU
EVGA RTX2080 XC GPU, overclocked to 1900MHz boost clock and RAM at 14800MHz effective
Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe SSD with an EKWB passive heat sink
2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SATA SSDs

Currently residing in a modified Corsair C70 Vengeance case, with a smoked black acrylic side window, SavantsPC power supply shroud and a few other custom bits (braided PSU cables from Shakmods which i haven't yet fitted, braided SATA cables and fan extensions) and Corsair AF120 case fans with the shrouds sprayed yellow. Monitor is an Asus ROG Swift PG279Q, speakers are a pair of AudioEngine A2 desktop speakers driven from an AudioEngine D1 DAC. Mouse is a Corsair M65 (the older laser one, not the current RGB optical one) and keyboard a Filco Majestouch 2.




(sorry about the dust and awful contrast)

I've ordered a Phanteks Ethoo Evolv X case to replace the C70, with the intent of building a twin 360 radiator custom watercoooling loop (CPU and GPU, hard lined) in the new case.

Edited by HM-2 on Wednesday 2nd January 13:50

[bloomen]

skinnyman said:

The whole thing just spirals!! Before I know it I'll be spending £2k+ on a whole new system, and I don't even game that much!

I went for massive overkill when I built mine. I subsequently discovered it does 4k at 60hz just fine so mine's staying frozen in aspic until things are at least a couple of generations onwards.

[geeks]

Dell Precision T7500 still going well considering its many years old.

Twin Quad Xeons, 48Gb RAM, GTX1060, 2TB RAID and 250GB SSD. It will be relegated to full time labing at some stage this year as I going to head down the water cooled i7 route for gaming but it will be classed as frivolous and thus progress will be in the "Frivolous purchases" thread

oh and before CC gets in here with his "oh how cute, xyz blah blah blah" yes I am aware you have more threads etc

[RizzoTheRat]

Having actually started using the machine I built on the previous page, things have spiralled... Bought an Oculus Rift and a Thrustmaster HOTAS 4 in November and just bought a 4TB hard drive to go in as well. So far it's mainly been used for X4: Foundations, Beat Sabre, and with Plex as a media server to my Firestick. Just picked up a couple of new VR games in the sale (Superhot and Arizona Sunshine) so should occupy a few evenings for a while.

The main reason I went for the i5-8600k was for the fast single core speed needed by KSP, and I've not had a chance to play it since I built the PC

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Wednesday 2nd January 13:54

[130R]

I moved everything into a new case this afternoon. I managed to snap a pin off one of the USB3 headers as well (why are these cables so hard to remove!?) Luckily I had a spare header at the bottom of the board.

Specs are:

Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass Flow Edition
Asus Strix X99 Gaming mobo
i7-6900K @ 4.25 GHz
Asus 2080 Ti STRIX OC GAMING
32GB Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz RAM

[curlyks2]

Slushbox said:

There are three unused slots! Kindly add some more stuff. :-)

Done... another thing added...

[FukeLreeman]

8700k @ 4.8ghz
Founders edition 1080ti
16GB DDR4Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz RAM
Samsung 1TB NVME
Asus TUF MOBO
650W Corsair PSU
NZXT s340 case

2 x 4GB's in RAID 1 too for all my crap.

Paid £1k just before Christmas (all second hand bits)

Will be getting a 2080ti later in year, along with a new case though.

[dmsims]

FukeLreeman said:

2 x 4GB's in RAID 1 too for all my crap.

You won't get that much crap in there