PC Building V4 - "ok SSDs got cheap, now do RAM next" - Hardware & Software

So I ended up finally replacing my motherboard/cpu/ram and holy shit it was so painless. I was expecting at least one thing to stop working since I have like 8 usbs plugged in on top of having a network and extra usb cards installed.

Thank you. Would a Cryorig H7 work at least better than what I'm using now?

Yes, the H7 has a huuuge finstack, will perform very well. You can probably even "upgrade" it later by putting a second fan on it, or replacing the stock fan with an even better one (Like a Noctua A12x25 or Gentle Typhoon).

I wonder if you could fit a NF-P14R on it, I don't see why not. I had to replace the NF-P14 and NF-A12 off my NH-D14 since they started making a little noise due to old age. I ordered two NF-P14R's for $15 each, they're really neat fans being a full 140mm in a 120mm pattern. There's some other 140mm fans in a 120mm mount pattern but they're all similarly priced anyways. http://www.relaxedtech.com/reviews/noctua/redux-fans/noctua-redux-fan.jpg

Speaking of Noctua Reduxes, I bought an NF-S12B for a case exhaust fan and it's excellent. Dead quiet and moves a good amount of air. Would highly recommend. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61MLCIHeCwL._SL1264_.jpg

did you install the ryzen power profile? the min idle clocks are 90% so that would influence idle temps but it changes other aspects as well, i think adjusting it can stop xfr from working Gaming

I haven't. Should I?

If you're on the latest Windows update it shouldn't really matter, you can use Balanced just fine.

I've been using High Performance because I've heard bad things about Balanced causing hitching by throttling down below base for a few milliseconds at a time.

When did you hear this? I believe 1709 fixed any of that. The CPU itself operates on a much faster internal clock and previous profiles didn't allow for that.

What monitor would you guys recommend? Mostly do gaming & watching shows, but have been on the same monitor for almost 10 years now (1600x1200 res ftw). Looking to buy at least two for my setup, and I plan on buying at least a nvidia 2070 when it comes out.

I have a question for anyone willing to help: I am torn between building a current gen system or just settle for an HP z820 Dual Xeon system that has 128GB of ram installed, and just throw in a 1080. What would the pros and cons be? Link to the Workstation: HP Z820 Enterprise Workstation 16

I have the ViewSonic XG2402. Highly recommended as long as you don't care too much about contrast.

having that much ram is literally burning money adding more cores doesn't give more performance especially from xeons

word

That Z820 is an awful deal for a gaming pc, it's not even a DDR4 platform. Maybe if it was still new in box. If you go for a lower end system with way less ram then you can fill it full of ram at like $15 for a 8gb stick. You need to be doing X58/X79 on a budget though since that's their strong point. Older hardware is great but overpaying for used hardware defeats the entire purpose of buying used over new. Overclocking is also a really big strength but only certain cpus are unlocked with the X79 platform and you actually need a X58 or X79 motherboard and not oem/workstation boards. There is ThrottleStop and SetFSB but like that's a serious rabbit hole and if you really want serious performance you have to do sketchy mods to motherboard components to increase voltages. I just scooped a 1080 for $300 and it'll get here in a few days that's going into my X5675 X58 LGA1366 setup. I can try and benchmark a few things without my massive overclock if you would like me to. I'm sure no one else here is going to use a 1080 with anything as old and slow as my system can be. Workstations are cool and the higher end ones are usually stupid overbuilt. Some of the HP's like the Z400 use a atx motherboard, although the rest of the wiring is messed with. I'm not sure I'd recommend X58 unless you're committed to a $150 motherboard that's 8+ years old with absolutely no modern features or UEFI. That means no sata 3, usb 3 or pci-e 3. Sata 3 raid cards are like $20 and a usb 3 card with a front panel port is like $15 but you'll need space for add in cards. I bought mine new so I figure I'll run it until it pops, the only reason I'd even buy more is because I have a few spare LGA1366 cpus laying around. I'd really just recommend getting a Ryzen or Threadripper even, maybe X99 probably in a package deal if you want to go that way since I've seen a ton of them for sale. With anything older than these you're going to be missing out on m.2 and other modern features. Coffee lake would probably be fine as well. Another option if you just want to be different is later model Mac Pros from before it became a trash can, the atheistic is really neat and they're extremely overbuilt with tons of aluminum and interesting design choices. The upgrades for them aren't very cheap and you have to delid soldered xeons for them if you want to use a dual socket cpu tray and swap the lower end cpus out.

The only issue is that it's freesync and I will not be buying any AMD cards (afaik new ones won't be coming for quite some time; 144hz isn't a must for me, and while TN is an upgrade for me since my panel is tft I remember being told IPS is the best. Otherwise this looks nice.

G-sync is crazy expensive due to Nvidia charging a licensing fee and requiring extra hardware so it's generally not worth the price if you're on a budget. Hell, I have an AMD card and I don't even have Freesync enabled. It's really not a huge deal or a game-changer. No type of panel is objectively better, they're good at different things. IPS can have excellent color accuracy and contrast but generally has worse motion blur and response time, and is also very expensive. TN is cheap and has the best performance, but the worst color. VA is a comfortable middle ground.

Also, speaking from experience, if you want the absolute best for gaming, but still need color accuracy for work or hobbies... I'd probably just get two monitors. The highest-quality TN panel you can find as your primary/gaming display, and a wide-gamut IPS panel as your secondary one.

TFT is sort of how the LCD is made rather than the type. You probably have a TN.

Buy complete new PC now or wait 2 weeks for new Nvidias to pop up? I am aiming for a 1060

Could be months before the 2060 is released.

Unless you plan to get an 1180 and manage to order it on launch, you're not going to see a 1160 until the holiday season. The rumors are also that stock will be limited and that the 10 series will be sold alongside the 11 series. Or whatever the hell Nvidia is rumored to be planning to do to replace AMD as the market leader for having an entirely impossible to understand naming scheme.

At least wait until SIGGRAPH is over.

I'm wondering just how much getting a better case then buying more and better fans then using the improved thermals to overclock would boost performance for me. I'm using an i5-7600k and GTX 970 but it's inside a crappy old micro-atx case that looks like someone took a hammer to it, all packed tight with barely any airflow and runs extremely hot at load. I don't have a lot of money to throw around and I'm barely inside upgrade territory. The one thing I will definitely be doing is buying a 2nd stick of 8GB RAM, I originally thought I'd hold off until later, and now it is later and I don't want to carry on holding off.

Hey - aside from checking the QVL, DIMM/SODIMM, ECC vs Non-ECC , what else do I have to keep in mind when shopping for RAM?

Clearance between the CPU cooler and RAM heatsinks.

So I am planning a full rebuild in the coming months and I am trying to look for a invertible case (because my apartment outlet layout is dumb and the computer has to be to the left of me). I am planning on going with some RGB and I would prefer to actually see it from time to time instead of it blasting it against a wall. The only two I have seen so far are the Cosmos C700P and be quiet's Dark Base series cases. It would have been nice to get something from CaseLabs but oh well. My current computer will end up being more of a sever while I finish up school so I can't just use that case right now. The only other issue is buying the stuff and if I make the trip down to Chicago to buy stuff in person (or most of it) or do it all online.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076K93FC4

Frequenc and CAS latency (CL). Higher frequency is better, lower CL is better.