PC Gaming Hardware discussion. Rigs, Upgrades, pics, and news.

[Zer0beaT]

I was asking about 17-10700k vs i9-9900k because when I was posting at the time I was trying to help my dad build a new PC as his is really old.

And then.....I bought the i9 for myself, I had no reason to want to buy the i9 and yet I did and feel really dumb about it.

It obviously didn't work because I neglected to do the research to find out that 9th gen intel chips require a bios update to work on a z370. When I found that out, I put the i5 back in and couldn't even get bios to post. Don't make me relive the entire day I spent trouble shooting, having to remove the heatsink over and over because it covers my RAM. Took the battery out of the motherboard to reset bios, tried to flash it, nothing.

Thankfully had the "backup" motherboard which was the RMA replacement for the first one that failed and now I'm up and running with the i5 again.

Anyway I'm kinda scared to put the i9 in now even though it should work now that I have the latest bios right?

I shouldn't have messed with a good thing basically. Dumb purchase by me.

 

[Zer0beaT]

In the first post you said an i7-10700 vs an i9900k. Given those two choices I would have picked the i7-10700.



Died? Why couldn't you just pop the old CPU back in and update the bios?



Lol, I had an ASROCK that failed (it started having cold boot issues). I believe it had something to do with my GPU that runs hot. It gets up to 87 degrees Celsius under load, at stock. That and the case is designed in a way that doesn't leave much space between the GPU and the power supply causing the board to get hot (even with extra fans added).

I replaced it with one of those durable brand motherboards. I also had to set a hard limit of 77 degrees on the GPU through NZXT since the software that came with the GPU wouldn't allow this.

I've had two Gigabyte motherboards and they both had issues where I had to reset the bios every so often in order to get the PC to work. And this was with two different GPUs and CPUs.

PC component failures are the worst, all the troubleshooting, but the motherboard failure has to be the worst one right? Not fun.

 

[Nervusbreakdown]

 

[Two Pennys Worth]

 

[Zer0beaT]

Damn, I really f***ed up my PC. I think I'm out of touch here. I used to be able to troubleshoot this stuff no problem.

I swear I have made no changes to my PC, and yet now when I reboot it takes a really long time and I don't see any option for bios POST. My MB is MSI so it's hit the delete button over and over and yet it will not post, but it boots to Windows, so that's cool. But wtf? I'm sure I'm missing something, being an idiot (that's obvious at this point) yet I can not figure out wtf is going on. I'm thinking the only thing left to do is backup my photos/music/videos etc and re-install windows. Something is not right and no search on the matter seems to work.

It's cool. I've had to do it before and I actually really enjoy "re-doing" my main drive with a fresh Windows install but it's a lot of work/time getting everything back where it was.

But I'm working so much lately I just can't be bothered to take the plunge. I have two days off though so maybe I'll consider it. I should never have messed with it in the first place.

edit: obviously if it's booting into windows things are working, I just mean I can't figure out how to get into BIOS and I've tried everything I can find searching, it's weird. I think a c: drive windows re-install is in order.

 

[Zer0beaT]

But really I just want a virtual hug and someone besides myself to tell me I'm a moron.

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Looks like it is on its way...finally...

 

[TeKPhaN]

Nice

 

[Zer0beaT]

Gonna quote myself to help anyone else that went down my road. IGD and PEG in BIOS, plug back into your motherboard and spam DEL. Also look at your windows power settings and put never for sleep. Oh my god, there's the BIOS option.

Did you guys know you can hold shift while hitting "restart" and go into Windows safe mode?

I guess I'll drop that i9 in pretty soon, but still really regret it of course.

Living Tribunal, damn. Keep us updated.

I got caught up in this whole Cyberpunk 2077 thing. I would have gone with the 10700. Lower tdp, good boost frequency etc.. With the k variants I think they are expecting you to water cool the CPU in order to get that extra performance.

But really I just want a virtual hug and someone besides myself to tell me I'm a moron.

No hugs though

 

[GeorgeSoros]

Damn, I really f***ed up my PC. I think I'm out of touch here. I used to be able to troubleshoot this stuff no problem.

I swear I have made no changes to my PC, and yet now when I reboot it takes a really long time and I don't see any option for bios POST. My MB is MSI so it's hit the delete button over and over and yet it will not post, but it boots to Windows, so that's cool. But wtf? I'm sure I'm missing something, being an idiot (that's obvious at this point) yet I can not figure out wtf is going on. I'm thinking the only thing left to do is backup my photos/music/videos etc and re-install windows. Something is not right and no search on the matter seems to work.

It's cool. I've had to do it before and I actually really enjoy "re-doing" my main drive with a fresh Windows install but it's a lot of work/time getting everything back where it was.

But I'm working so much lately I just can't be bothered to take the plunge. I have two days off though so maybe I'll consider it. I should never have messed with it in the first place.

edit: obviously if it's booting into windows things are working, I just mean I can't figure out how to get into BIOS and I've tried everything I can find searching, it's weird. I think a c: drive windows re-install is in order.

Next time I would shutdown the PC, then flip the switch on the back of the power supply. Hold the power button for 20-30 seconds.

Then reset the bios. Look for clr cmos on your motherboard and you can reset it by holding the screw driver between the two pins. If you can't find a clr cmos on your mother board then you have to pop up out the CMOS battery and keep it out for a couple of minutes.

I'd also buy a computer safety wrist strap if you don't already have one.

I don't use the default boot sequence so after a bios reset I have to go in an change the boot priority, but that might not be an issue for you.

Gonna quote myself to help anyone else that went down my road. IGD and PEG in BIOS, plug back into your motherboard and spam DEL. Also look at your windows power settings and put never for sleep. Oh my god, there's the BIOS option.

Did you guys know you can hold shift while hitting "restart" and go into Windows safe mode?

I guess I'll drop that i9 in pretty soon, but still really regret it of course.

Living Tribunal, damn. Keep us updated.




No hugs though

Ok, so your bios just switched to your integrated graphics card. That's not a big deal.

With my own rig I had a old version of GPU Tweak II that didn't throttle the GPU properly and was causing the motherboard to get hot. So after a marathon run I would sometimes have the board malfunction a little (some of the USB ports might not work for a while) and I would occasionally have to do a full bios reset. I don't understand why heat would have an impact on the BIOS but it clearly did.

So I would look at your GPU temps to make sure it's not causing your MOBO to scream in pain.

 

[Zer0beaT]

Next time I would shutdown the PC, then flip the switch on the back of the power supply. Hold the power button for 20-30 seconds.

Then reset the bios. Look for clr cmos on your motherboard and you can reset it by holding the screw driver between the two pins. If you can't find a clr cmos on your mother board then you have to pop up out the CMOS battery and keep it out for a couple of minutes.

I'd also buy a computer safety wrist strap if you don't already have one.

I don't use the default boot sequence so after a bios reset I have to go in an change the boot priority, but that might not be an issue for you.



Ok, so your bios just switched to your integrated graphics card. That's not a big deal.

With my own rig I had a old version of GPU Tweak II that didn't throttle the GPU properly and was causing the motherboard to get hot. So after a marathon run I would sometimes have the board malfunction a little (some of the USB ports might not work for a while) and I would occasionally have to do a full bios reset. I don't understand why heat would have an impact on the BIOS but it clearly did.

So I would look at your GPU temps to make sure it's not causing your MOBO to scream in pain.

I got it all figured out finally. The i9 is in, it's working, temps are same as my 8400 at idle. I still regret buying the stupid thing, but happy everything is working now.

My PC is a monster now though, the 1070 ti is now the weak link. But I honestly wish I never bought the stupid i9 in the first place.

But not gonna lie, it's fun seeing the insane numbers this thing puts up (until it smokes my MB VRM)

 

[GeorgeSoros]

I got it all figured out finally. The i9 is in, it's working, temps are same as my 8400 at idle. I still regret buying the stupid thing, but happy everything is working now.

My PC is a monster now though, the 1070 ti is now the weak link. But I honestly wish I never bought the stupid i9 in the first place.

But not gonna lie, it's fun seeing the insane numbers this thing puts up (until it smokes my MB VRM)

Looks like you got a great deal on it at $337 (USD).

 

[Zer0beaT]

Looks like you got a great deal on it at $337 (USD).

Yeah, that's why I jumped on it. You have to wonder why they were clearing them out though, I jumped on it pretty quick and noticed they were still on deep discount a week later. I guess there's only so many people who are on the 1151 socket and 300 series MB, and it's already basically being treated like a legacy setup (I can tell by the software support not being around anymore)

Intel clearly wanted to move on from it and put it on clearance.

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Well it is arriving today. Going to do some benchmarking while at work. I'm fairly certain my 5 year old Corsair HXI1200w PSU is sufficient. This card guzzles down 409w and can spike up to 450-500w by itself so I've been told.

EDIT:

Finally here!

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Thing is HUGE compared to my 2080ti....

Got it in and she is humming!

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Saw wattage go up to 650W at one point.....insane.

 

[eVo7]

Thing is HUGE compared to my 2080ti....

Got it in and she is humming!

Whatcha doin with that 2080 Ti?

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Whatcha doin with that 2080 Ti?

Selling it.

 

[Two Pennys Worth]

Saw wattage go up to 650W at one point.....insane.

Is the 3090 considered a dual GPU like the old 590/690 cards or is it one big monster GPU chip?

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Is the 3090 considered a dual GPU like the old 590/690 cards or is it one big monster GPU chip?

It is one big 'BFGPU' according to Nvidia. You could not run the GPU on anything lower than 850 watt PSU. It is ridiculously powerful and ridiculously power hungry. My Asus 2080ti only pulled at max like 320 watts out of the wall and that was at a heavy OC. This thing by itself....650 watts with a slight OC. The chip is just that power hungry. It's crazy.

 

[Two Pennys Worth]

It is one big 'BFGPU' according to Nvidia. You could not run the GPU on anything lower than 850 watt PSU. It is ridiculously powerful and ridiculously power hungry. My Asus 2080ti only pulled at max like 320 watts out of the wall and that was at a heavy OC. This thing by itself....650 watts with a slight OC. The chip is just that power hungry. It's crazy.

That’s insane. Enjoy.

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Also....probably not the best time to build a PC for like.....most of the year. GPU prices are skyrocketing due to the tariffs lapsing, bitcoin miners, and scalpers. I'm probably going to sell my 2080ti for ~ $1000 USD.

Hell a USED 2080ti is like $800-$1200 on AMAZON and EBAY.....nuts....but good time to sell. LOL.

 

[GeorgeSoros]

Anyway, the whole thing was REALLY stressful. I have a backup PC and it's ok, but can't do everything and I keep it barebones software wise. It's an old Core2Duo, 800mhz DDR2 ram, yeah.......it's nice to have a backup though lol.

I just got my first Ubuntu build up and running with spare parts. It should have drivers for the core 2 duo, but I think using your 8400 with your spare MOBO, and PSU would be worth it.

I have Ubuntu Budgie installed with the Mojave theme. Elementary OS would be my second choice, but I really don't like how they block the SNAP store.

I installed it using a USB ISO I made with Rufus.

Just go into the BIOS and select the USB drive as the primary boot drive. When installing you'll have the option to try it out on the USB. When you are ready to install you can either dual boot leaving Windows available or delete Windows (don't do any of this on your main rig). Make sure you check off the boxes to install third party software. You want as much initial software available as possible.

It's nice to have a second PC that's low maintenance. Microsoft will even allow you to download the Windows ISO directly if it detects you are visiting the site on a non-windows OS.

I would avoid the default Ubuntu flavor because it felt terrible coming over from Windows 10. Most Ubuntu flavors or forks aren't very intuitive for laymen.

For the most part the initial installation went smoothly, but I have a USB wifi-dongle that didn't work. The way the terminal works you can just look up solutions and cut and paste some commands to try and get things working, but ultimately I realized that the wifi-dongle support would probably break with each new update so I decided to order one that is confirmed to work with Linux.

You can check your hardware for compatibility issues beforehand here.

Anyway, I like the Ubuntu Budgie and Elmentary OS because they impress laymen. Most Ubuntu flavors are pretty bland and unintuitive (for the non-techies). The ones that try to copy Apple or Microsoft are the only ones that I would recommend. Ubuntu Budgie (not the default flavor), Elementary OS, Zorin OS, Chalet OS, or Lubuntu.

Zorin Lite is probably the best option for your Core2Duo since it's designed to work with older hardware.

Elementary OS and Linux Mint have some political issues with SNAP that complicates things for inexperienced users looking to add certain programs, but out of the box they are fine.

Also keep in mind that .exe files do not work on Ubuntu. Most programs are designed to work with Windows or Mac.

 

[karmakid]

Steam is getting expanded Xbox controller support

Support for trigger rumble and Elite paddles arrives in beta

www.theverge.com

 

[Zer0beaT]

Ok, I have another question.

I think my father is actually going to build an HTPC with a microITX board, and I'm just going to give him my I5-8400, and also donate a stick of my RAM with the possible intention of upgrading my RAM speed from 2666 to 3600.

So my question is, does that sort of RAM speed jump make much of a difference for me?

Just trying to figure out how to save my father some money on the build, but also don't want to shell out money for faster RAM if it doesn't really make much of a difference.

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Ok, I have another question.

I think my father is actually going to build an HTPC with a microITX board, and I'm just going to give him my I5-8400, and also donate a stick of my RAM with the possible intention of upgrading my RAM speed from 2666 to 3600.

So my question is, does that sort of RAM speed jump make much of a difference for me?

Just trying to figure out how to save my father some money on the build, but also don't want to shell out money for faster RAM if it doesn't really make much of a difference.

RAM speed does make a difference when it comes to CPU bound titles. It helps to boost your minimum 1% lows when it comes to the lowest milliseconds your CPU can prepare the frames for your GPU to display. 2666mhz vs 3600mhz will make a difference of ~ 4-8 frames depending upon the chipset. That said RYZEN CPUs tend to be more reliant on high RAM speeds as opposed to Intel CPUs so your mileage will be diminished even more if you are on an Intel chipset.

Generally speaking though, the newer the platform/CPU the faster you want your RAM clocked. The older the CPU the easier it is to get by with a slower speed. Memory timings are arguably a more important factor though.

 

[Zer0beaT]

Well, I finally put a GPU in thanks to Black Friday sales. $509 for this EVGA 1070ti was too hard to pass up (I'm in Canada btw, I'm sure they're way cheaper in the US) It works, fits and my system is nice and cool which was my big worry with my HTPC case. Temps are great and airflow does not seem a probelm.

Now to figure out what to play, but I really just want to play RDR2 on Xbox not gonna lie. I'd like to try out the Witcher 3 on my PC but feel like I just don't have time for that right now because of RD being all I want to play.

Any suggestions for games to try out and see what my system can do?

Also, first time using imgur, will it actually work........

Well, I think I'm a bit of a nerd (and worried about when temperatures and humidity skyrocket in my room when the summer comes)

I've put myself through a lot of bother buying an I9, sold the I5 for $100, have a Noctua NF-P12 redux arriving at some point today and I'm going to plop that on the BeQuiet Shadow LP and see what happens.

I decided to jot down what's happening on paper, fans at full bore and also on "balanced"

Hey, I'm bored and amazon.ca had the Noctua on at $17 canadian, I'm interested to find out how much difference it can make vs. the BeQuiet Pure Wings 2 that's on the heatsink in every different scenario. I'll update.

 

[Zer0beaT]

RAM speed does make a difference when it comes to CPU bound titles. It helps to boost your minimum 1% lows when it comes to the lowest milliseconds your CPU can prepare the frames for your GPU to display. 2666mhz vs 3600mhz will make a difference of ~ 4-8 frames depending upon the chipset. That said RYZEN CPUs tend to be more reliant on high RAM speeds as opposed to Intel CPUs so your mileage will be diminished even more if you are on an Intel chipset.

Generally speaking though, the newer the platform/CPU the faster you want your RAM clocked. The older the CPU the easier it is to get by with a slower speed. Memory timings are arguably a more important factor though.

I really appreciate you explaining this stuff to me.

When I bought the RAM for my computer I considered what it natively supported and felt that was the best option (and it pisses me off how cheap that RAM is now btw) so I went with 2666 at CL15. I could swap that out for 3600 at CL18....... those sound like a bunch of numbers though. If timings matter and to only 1-4%, I guess I was asking someone to tell me not to bother with that. I want to hear more about your 3090

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Switched cases:

From my Corsair 570X Crystal Case...to a brand new Corsair 4000D Airflow. Loving it. Also toned down the RGB because I'm getting old and irritable and I'm not at a European dance club in the '90s.

Had a beQuiet Dark Rock 4 sitting around from an earlier build and threw that on my i9-10900k @ 5.1ghz. Just wanted the test the thermal dissipation as compared to my Kraken 280mm CLC that was on previously. Temperatures with the Dark Rock 4 were actually a smidge LOWER. LOL. Think I might just go with high performance air coolers for a while:

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Bro...I had buyers remorse when I picked up my 2080ti for ~$1100 like a year ago. I still get somewhat annoyed. $1400 is just too much. These things need to start scaling better with the price to justify that amount. Like...for me to even consider that the 3090 needs to be 60-70% more powerful/better RT performance. If not no bueno.

This didn't age well....