Help me build my PC 2017 Catch All

I see a 4gb card for $170 as well: https://www.amazon.com/XFX-1386Mhz-B...

I am planning on building a new pc in the next few months. My goal is to be somewhat future proofed and 4K capable. Is an i5 9600 going to bottleneck a rtx2080? Is the 2080 even worth it or should I grab a 2070?

I’d like to keep spending in the $1500-$1700, I could go higher if needed but would need a really compelling reason.

With all the RTX hate I have also considered waiting but my GTX 970M is starting to really show its age.

Thoughts?

Aggie-SWO wrote:

I am planning on building a new pc in the next few months. My goal is to be somewhat future proofed and 4K capable. Is an i5 9600 going to bottleneck a rtx2080? Is the 2080 even worth it or should I grab a 2070?

I’d like to keep spending in the $1500-$1700, I could go higher if needed but would need a really compelling reason.

With all the RTX hate I have also considered waiting but my GTX 970M is starting to really show its age.

Thoughts?

Watch the Digital Foundry video on Metro Exodus. I thought the ray tracing thing was bleh, but how they use it for lighting is a giant step.

Yeah, that video impressed the hell out of me, and for the first time since I had to cancel my order last fall I somewhat regretted it. But, it definitely got me very excited to build a new computer sometime in the near future.

I would save my money and get a 1660Ti or a Vega 56 now after the price break.. For $250 you get a strong 1440P card that will last you for a few years until the real next gen GPU's come out.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Watch the Digital Foundry video on Metro Exodus. I thought the ray tracing thing was bleh, but how they use it for lighting is a giant step.

The lighting demonstrations in that video definitely have me intrigued by the 2080, though I can see the logic behind Gamguru’s thoughts as well.

I will have to give it some more thought but if the stock market keeps treating me as well as it did today I won’t mind splurging for the RTX2080.

Anyone used a Fractal Design Define S Mid-Tower case? I'm staring one down with dollar signs in my eyes. It looks great and I like that there's no drive cage.

Hmm, I have a fractal case I think, but mine has a drive cage. I assume you're going to go with M.2 drives then?

Dakuna wrote:

Hmm, I have a fractal case I think, but mine has a drive cage. I assume you're going to go with M.2 drives then?

Nope. One conventional HDD, one SSD most likely. Here's a picture of their mounting doodad:

IMAGE(https://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/item/11/352/11-352-054/hero3_062216.jpg)

Neat!

What would be the best video card I could get for under $100 these days (used is fine)? My nephew's birthday is coming up and I am looking to add one to the $500 build I did for him for Christmas to replace the Ryzen 2400G graphics he is using right now.

You will definitely get more for that price by going used.

Looking at eBay, I think the best option in that range is an RX 470 or 480 or 570.

They're head-and-shoulders above a 1050ti, which is the NVIDIA card you'll find used in that price range. You won't find a 1060 below $100.

RX 470s you can find below $100 plenty, RX 480s a little harder but they're there too.

Thanks Legion. I wonder with the used AMD cards from that generation how much do I need to watch out for mining and modded bioses and things like that?

If I remember right, the 570 is one to be cautious for something like that. I believe that was one where you could hack the bios to essentially make it a 580 for a while after launch, no?

LeapingGnome wrote:

Thanks Legion. I wonder with the used AMD cards from that generation how much do I need to watch out for mining and modded bioses and things like that?

It's fair to assume any sort of RX series you see on ebay is probably an ex-mining card.. typically they are undervolted and run in a decent airflow environment. That's not to say they won't have more wear and tear but I wouldnt automatically assume its more than your typical used gaming GPU.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Thanks Legion. I wonder with the used AMD cards from that generation how much do I need to watch out for mining and modded bioses and things like that?

Ask the seller if the card was used in mining or if it had a BIOS modification, and if the answer is no, consider it for purchase.

When you receive the card, compare the BIOS version reported in GPU-Z versus known values for the card. Also compare the core and memory clocks against the values the card is supposed to have. If something looks fishy, you can use eBay's tools to get refunded for a misrepresented item.

Mostly, though, I think the fears are a bit overblown. I get why people are afraid of ex-mining cards being sold surreptitiously. But in my experience, modified mining cards being sold off tend to go in the complete opposite direction: they advertise their mods and the hash rates the card was able to achieve, and sell to people who still want to use them in mining but aren't savvy enough to perform mods themselves. The Bitcoin boom may be over, but mining is still a thing.

A used GPU is going to have wear and tear regardless, that's the risk you take on for performance that dwarfs what you can get on the new market at that price point (sub-$100 gets you a GT 1030 or RX 550, which barely qualifies as an upgrade from the 2400G's integrated GPU.)

If you want to sacrifice some performance for a lower-risk proposition, then you can consider a GTX 1050ti instead. There's much less chance they were run heavily in a mining rig (or any other capacity really), and they'll get you a lot more performance than a GT 1030, but they fall way short of what those Polaris-based AMD cards can do.

LeapingGnome wrote:

What would be the best video card I could get for under $100 these days (used is fine)? My nephew's birthday is coming up and I am looking to add one to the $500 build I did for him for Christmas to replace the Ryzen 2400G graphics he is using right now.

LeapingGnome, I posted a GTX680 I'm selling in the trading thread, since I just upgraded a little while ago. Hasn't been used for mining!

I got it on here a few years ago. Let me know if you're interested.

cartoonin wrote:

I will be upgrading from my workhorse 970 GTX to another not-bleeding edge, but can run-most-things-pretty gpu. I want to keep it under $450 if at all possible and will stay firmly in 1080p land for now. Recommendations?

Per Rock Paper Shotgun's GPU guide, the GTX 1660Ti is their pick for 1080p, and comes in at $280.

I'm about to buy all the things and am dithering on using OutletPC as a vendor. Some moderate internet searches landed me on some iffy experiences but ain't that the way of these things? They're probably a known carcinogen.

Have any of you had successful purchasing experiences with OutletPC?

I've used Newegg happily almost since they started up. Never needed to look elsewhere...

Not directly, but I've ordered once from Amazon and once from Jet things that were sold by OutletPC through those sites.

The Jet stuff came OK. The Amazon order got cancelled.

I usually disable OutletPC from my PCPartPicker vendor list.

I'm doing Newegg for most things but getting a Windows key is cheapest from OutletPC. I overlooked that for just like $0.50 more I can get it from Amazon and not worry about it. For all I know I'd get a used code from OPC and then have to hash crap out in 30 emails.

Are you still in Ohio? Microcenter is usually pretty competitive and you can pick it up in person. They don't show up in pcpartpicker vendors for whatever reason.

Yeah I’m 30 minutes from one. I haven’t done any serious price research with them but I did pick up my CPU and motherboard there a couple weeks ago.

Believe it or not but I’ve used Best Buy for most of my recent upgrade purchases. They match Amazon and New Egg, and a couple of times beat them. But the main reason is easy drop off returns. Also if you’re a rewards member you get 10% off a purchase for your birthday, which I applied on my RTX 2060.

Thoughts on my parts list? I bought this 1 tb M2 SSD drive already as it was on sale for $124 and I had a $25 amazon gift card to use.

If you're not planning to overclock that CPU, the one you chose comes with a stock cooler (wraith prism) that's pretty decent. Other than that, I have a very similar setup with the exact same RAM, and my motherboard defaulted it down to 2133MHz. You just have to set it to a profile to bump it up to 3200, it's pretty easy.

Rainsmercy wrote:

Thoughts on my parts list? I bought this 1 tb M2 SSD drive already as it was on sale for $124 and I had a $25 amazon gift card to use.

Love that case. So easy to work in.

PurEvil wrote:

If you're not planning to overclock that CPU, the one you chose comes with a stock cooler (wraith prism) that's pretty decent.

And if you *are* planning to overclock, an AIO with a 240mm or 280mm radiator would be vastly preferable. Certainly have the right case for mounting a bigger radiator.

The only thing I worry about with that case is I have 2 cats and 2 dogs who shed to some degree.