Help me build my PC 2017 Catch All

Also try all the other outputs on the card, especially the displayport if your monitor can accommodate it.

Probably not helpful, but a troubleshooting idea to be aware of:

Every now and then, my monitor just goes black and refuses to display video. I end up thinking the cable is bad, or the video card or output is bad.

The problem is actually entirely in the monitor, and the "fix" is to switch the overclocking profile of the panel. It supports 144hz (the standard panel rate) as well as 165hz (the overclock mode).

I used to think it was just 165hz mode that was failing and needing to be reset to 144hz, but the last time it actually was in 144hz mode, and switching it to 165hz fixed everything. (Note that as soon as I do this switch to fix the problem, I can switch it right back to what it was before. It's just some nonsense that gets the panel unstuck from a stuck state.)

I doubt this is McChuck's problem, but sharing the story for everyone else's future reference. If you just can't get video output on a certain monitor, and that monitor has an option for changing the panel's frequency, try toggling it.

Speaking of monitors though, McChuck, you said you tried the card in a different PC, but you didn't specify if that included trying it on a different monitor. Have you definitely narrowed the issue down to the video card itself?

Sorry, here are some more details. The PC it was connected to my monitor via Display Port. The PC I swapped it to is connected to my TV via HDMI. Different cables, different outputs, and different displays.

I took the TV PC's video card and put it in the machine the broken one was in. Works perfectly.

Thanks for the second opinions, y'all. Good to know I'm likely not missing something.

Gumbie wrote:

Guru's got a couple cards up for sale if you're interested

https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/...

Nice! I'll check them out.

That does sound pretty dead. You've swapped every failure point (power supply, output port, monitor, cable, and driving motherboard), such that only the card is left as the suspect.

Check your warranty term; if you're still within the limit, they might upgrade you to a 10-series if they don't have any 970s sitting around. If you're out of warranty, they might be willing to fix it for a reasonable price. Depending on what resolution you're running, this might still be viable; a 970 drives 1080p quite well, still, although it's on the weak side for 1440p or 1600p. (it can drive those resolutions, but usually at like medium settings.) If the fee is reasonable, it could potentially be worth it, as graphic cards in general haven't come down as much as I was expecting after the Bitcoin craze ended.

Otherwise, yep, probably time for a new one.

And if you go the route to chuck it, PM me. I'll pay shipping. I've been teaching myself how to do component level repairs and troubleshooting so I've been hitting up thrift stores and watching dumpsters for junk to practice on.

My last project was a 47" LG LED TV that was sitting against a dumpster and it's working now and running an Xbox One that had a dirty optical drive that my parents gave up on (they wanted to upgrade it anyway). This would be a way bigger challenge to figure out than those, but at least it takes up less space.

PurEvil wrote:

And if you go the route to chuck it, PM me. I'll pay shipping. I've been teaching myself how to do component level repairs and troubleshooting so I've been hitting up thrift stores and watching dumpsters for junk to practice on.

My last project was a 47" LG LED TV that was sitting against a dumpster and it's working now and running an Xbox One that had a dirty optical drive that my parents gave up on (they wanted to upgrade it anyway). This would be a way bigger challenge to figure out than those, but at least it takes up less space.

Pretty great being able to do so much with a multimeter and some soldering knowledge, isn't it?

LouZiffer wrote:

Pretty great being able to do so much with a multimeter and some soldering knowledge, isn't it?

No doubt. I've only done a small amount of soldering in my life and most of it was 35 years ago. The Internet came to my rescue 2 years ago when I was having an issue with my TV in the living room. I wrote about it here:

How to fix your LG Plasma Blotchiness

Easy Peesy Nice and Easy!

-BEP

It's empowering in a very low risk way. I start with junk, and either I succeed and get something for free/cheap, along with the experience of fixing it... or I toss it and look for the next project. I probably should have gone into something like engineering, considering I'm doing this because I think it's fun.

Malor wrote:

That does sound pretty dead. You've swapped every failure point (power supply, output port, monitor, cable, and driving motherboard), such that only the card is left as the suspect.

Check your warranty term; if you're still within the limit, they might upgrade you to a 10-series if they don't have any 970s sitting around. If you're out of warranty, they might be willing to fix it for a reasonable price. Depending on what resolution you're running, this might still be viable; a 970 drives 1080p quite well, still, although it's on the weak side for 1440p or 1600p. (it can drive those resolutions, but usually at like medium settings.) If the fee is reasonable, it could potentially be worth it, as graphic cards in general haven't come down as much as I was expecting after the Bitcoin craze ended.

Otherwise, yep, probably time for a new one.

I've been meaning to check it. I imagine it's past since it's been 4 years or so, I think.

PurEvil wrote:

And if you go the route to chuck it, PM me. I'll pay shipping. I've been teaching myself how to do component level repairs and troubleshooting so I've been hitting up thrift stores and watching dumpsters for junk to practice on.

My last project was a 47" LG LED TV that was sitting against a dumpster and it's working now and running an Xbox One that had a dirty optical drive that my parents gave up on (they wanted to upgrade it anyway). This would be a way bigger challenge to figure out than those, but at least it takes up less space.

Will do!

It's time for me to build a new computer as my CFO has approved my budget. I'm upgrading from an Intel 2500k(over clocked to 4.4ish), 8 gigs of ram, and a Nvida 970. My current monitor is an ancient Dell SE198WFP (1440 x 900). I'm trying to keep the build around $2000, with the goal of doing 4k gaming, the GPU is a stand in for the Radeon 7.
Any thoughts?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterLiquid ML240L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - TUF X470-PLUS GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($127.84 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team - Night Hawk RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($134.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB Black Video Card ($698.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair - Crystal 460X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($98.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: LG - 27UD58-B 27.0" 3840x2160 60 Hz Monitor ($299.00 @ B&H)
Total: $1949.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-13 21:48 EST-0500

Wizkid - why pay $60 for a cooler instead of just using the included one? Are you planning to overclock?

I have never heard of that RAM brand (doesn't mean it is bad), I suggest just making sure it is on the compatibility list for your motherboard as some of them can be picky, especially if you might go to four sticks later.

Are you going to have a second hard drive for mass storage? Do you need wifi?

Personally I would bump the power supply up to at least 750 since you expect to have a power hungry top of the line AMD card, but I am conservative when it comes to power supplies.

If you have any educational connections you might be able to get Windows 10 for much cheaper.

Good point on the cooler, is the stock cooler good? How much difference will an aftermarket cooler make? I may consider just dropping it, and using the funds elsewhere.

I have a 800 gig HDD in the current rig if I need more space, but prices on SSD drives are getting so cheap I'll likely just pick some more up. Heck, it's cheap enough I was considering adding a second M2 SSD solely as an OS drive.

I don't need WiFi as I plan on using an Ethernet cable.

The current config has a 350W estimate, so I already have headroom for the PSU, but that's easy enough to bump up if needs be.

I'll have to double check on the RAM, I mostly picked it because it was cheap, and looked pretty.
Edit: I double checked and the RAM is listed as supported.

WizKid wrote:

Good point on the cooler, is the stock cooler good?

Plenty good, especially if you're running at stock clocks. There's no need for aftermarket cooling on AMD chips that aren't overclocked. They're not furnaces unlike a lot of Intel's recent CPUs.

Yeah, you should definitely give the Wraith Spire a chance. It's what I'm using and it's pretty good for a stock cooler. I looked up reviews when I was building my rig and they were all really positive for it.

With the RAM, I use Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB DDR4-3200 and they work great. Don't get me wrong, the memory you chose looks awesome, but it's hard for me to trust a name I've never heard of either. And mine are a little cheaper.

The PSU might be OK. I use an 850W but it's likely overkill for my system. I got it on a sale. There is an Antec 850W Bronze for $70 after rebate on Newegg. That'd only be $10 more for a lot more headroom.

Yeah just keep in mind the current estimate is for an NVidia card whereas the AMDs are around 100W hungrier last I remember seeing.

PurEvil wrote:

And if you go the route to chuck it, PM me. I'll pay shipping. I've been teaching myself how to do component level repairs and troubleshooting so I've been hitting up thrift stores and watching dumpsters for junk to practice on.

My last project was a 47" LG LED TV that was sitting against a dumpster and it's working now and running an Xbox One that had a dirty optical drive that my parents gave up on (they wanted to upgrade it anyway). This would be a way bigger challenge to figure out than those, but at least it takes up less space.

My brother-in-law has been making extra money doing this and selling them on Craig's List. I kind of want to give him my old LG which the HDMI ports went out on to see if he can fix it.

I continue to applaud AMD's commitment to developing towards Microsoft standard Direct API's rather than proprietary hardware and technology like Nvidia

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-vii-...

Newegg's running a sale on XFX-branded Radeon RX580s for $190*, and Nvidia 1060s have gone up to $275+ since I started watching them in November. I was originally planning to buy a 1060 once post-Christmas finances allowed, but that's getting less likely. I'm going to take a hard look at picking up a 580. I kind of wanted to save the 100W, but I have a 650W supply which should have no problem handling it. I'd be replacing a GTX 960 with 2GB of VRAM; it seems to be doing OK now but is running out of future. I don't need to drive more than 1080p for now.

It's weird that I've been running AMD processors since they made a 386/40 while Intel made only a 386/33, but I've been equally stuck on Nvidia for my graphics cards.

The RX580 comes with pick-two-of Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry 5, and The Division 2 but I'm not that interested in any of those so it's not a decision factor.

* Amazon has the same price; I do not know if it's a matching sale or a standard price.

The 1060 is better but it's not $85 better.

TheGameguru wrote:

I continue to applaud AMD's commitment to developing towards Microsoft standard Direct API's rather than proprietary hardware and technology like Nvidia

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-vii-...

Ray-tracing will follow the same trajectory of everything else Nvidia has tried.

1) It'll be like PhysX or HBAO+ or tessellated fur in that nobody who isn't being paid directly by Nvidia to shoehorn it into their games (usually poorly) will feel it's worth the effort so it'll languish in obscurity while people figure out how to achieve almost the same effect through software.

2) It'll be cool enough to be embraced as a big thing but again it won't take off until it can be done so that it doesn't horribly cripple the framerate and a card cheap enough to stick into consoles can do it.

Either way, I feel like their gamble has failed so often that I don't understand why they keep making it.

kuddles wrote:

Either way, I feel like their gamble has failed so often that I don't understand why they keep making it.

Because they keep making money selling more cards than AMD?

If nothing else, it's something to oh and ah about at press conferences until people realize most of the new stuff won't be relevant to actual games until it trickles down to the mid-range.

It's purely for messaging, not for usefulness.

The fact that they didn't get laughed out of the room when it was revealed that their big new feature turns your $1100 GPU into a 1080p 45fps affair shows that the messaging works.

The fact that it was brought up as a negative that AMD's new card didn't bring useless raytracing to the table shows that the messaging works.

*Legion* wrote:

The fact that it was brought up as a negative that AMD's new card didn't bring useless raytracing to the table shows that the messaging works.

It was brought up as a negative by a Nvidia executive so I don't think that counts.

Regardless, I feel like if these things were just tools being released openly, it would still give them the messaging because their name would be attached and for at least one or two generations their cards would be more efficient at using it, and way more games would be more inclined to use it.

*Legion* wrote:

It's purely for messaging, not for usefulness.

The fact that they didn't get laughed out of the room when it was revealed that their big new feature turns your $1100 GPU into a 1080p 45fps affair shows that the messaging works.

The fact that it was brought up as a negative that AMD's new card didn't bring useless raytracing to the table shows that the messaging works.

I'm not sure I've seen anyone really do that.

If you're referring to my comments, I've kinda-sorta said it might be mildly interesting to play with as a programmer, but I don't see it as even vaguely useful for gaming at the moment. It's waste of silicon space. Their cards could either be much cheaper or much faster, and the fact that AMD isn't making them look like slowpokes doesn't speak at all well of AMD.

Malor wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

It's purely for messaging, not for usefulness.

The fact that they didn't get laughed out of the room when it was revealed that their big new feature turns your $1100 GPU into a 1080p 45fps affair shows that the messaging works.

The fact that it was brought up as a negative that AMD's new card didn't bring useless raytracing to the table shows that the messaging works.

I'm not sure I've seen anyone really do that.

If you're referring to my comments, I've kinda-sorta said it might be mildly interesting to play with as a programmer, but I don't see it as even vaguely useful for gaming at the moment. It's waste of silicon space. Their cards could either be much cheaper or much faster, and the fact that AMD isn't making them look like slowpokes doesn't speak at all well of AMD.

I’m confused why you focus so much on specifics rather than results. If it holds up AMD will deliver a similar performance % increase over the Vega64 (with the 7) than what Nvidia did with the RTX over the GTX at basically the same price point as the Vega64 (unlike Nvidia). AMD has decided they no longer are interested in competing at the high end for whatever reason so here we are.

I really wish that I had $180 to toss on this right now...

ASRock Phantom Gaming D Radeon RX 580 8GB OC

Flash deal at Newegg. It's 29% off, then use code NEFPBC39, and then after the $20 MIR the card is effectively $164.99.

Good article over on Kotaku about FreeSync versus G-Sync. Think it breaks things down pretty well into layman's terms.

I'm shocked by just how tiny these M2 SSD drives are. This thing is smaller than my RAM, yet still holds a TB of data.

WizKid wrote:

I'm shocked by just how tiny these M2 SSD drives are. This thing is smaller than my RAM, yet still holds a TB of data.

I too was shocked by that. SO TINY.