Help me build my PC 2020 Catch All

fangblackbone wrote:
What upgrade would you suggest in the $300/400EUR price range?

Ballpark estimates:
The 1660 Super is a 15% bump from the 980
The 5600XT beats the 1660 super by about 15%
the 2060 is 7-8% better than a 5600xt
The 5700 edges out the 2060 by a similar margin
The 2060 super is %10 faster than the 5700

Thanks! That helps a lot!

I'll probably try and stick to Nvidia since I fear switching to AMD might cause some issues with the drivers if I don't want to make a clean Windows install.

So it's going to be either a 2060 or 2060 super if I can find one that fits within my budget. Might go for the Super and then upgrade CPU, motherboard and RAM in a year. If I go with a Ryzen 4 then this setup might last through the next console generation when I do another GPU upgrade in 2-3 years.

MEATER wrote:

I'll probably try and stick to Nvidia since I fear switching to AMD might cause some issues with the drivers if I don't want to make a clean Windows install.

DDU will cleanly and completely remove any trace of your old display driver. It's exactly what you should run if you change to a different brand of GPU. There's zero reason you would need to do a clean Windows install.

You can go NVIDIA if you want, but worries about cleaning out the old driver shouldn't be part of the reason. That's a solved problem with DDU.

I'll second that. You only need new system device drivers. Take the system down, remove the old drivers, boot with Win10 generic driver, then install the manufacturer drivers and reboot. Pretty sure that is the proper method.

I recently went AMD to Nvidia, and I didn't even bother with DDU. Hell, I didn't even uninstall the Radeon software until after it was booted and running with the Nvidia software installed. Zero issues experienced for me.

I love my EVGA 2060 Super gpu. It's been worth every penny and I haven't really tested the ray tracing apects of the card.

MEATER wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:
What upgrade would you suggest in the $300/400EUR price range?

Ballpark estimates:
The 1660 Super is a 15% bump from the 980
The 5600XT beats the 1660 super by about 15%
the 2060 is 7-8% better than a 5600xt
The 5700 edges out the 2060 by a similar margin
The 2060 super is %10 faster than the 5700

Thanks! That helps a lot!

I'll probably try and stick to Nvidia since I fear switching to AMD might cause some issues with the drivers if I don't want to make a clean Windows install.

So it's going to be either a 2060 or 2060 super if I can find one that fits within my budget. Might go for the Super and then upgrade CPU, motherboard and RAM in a year. If I go with a Ryzen 4 then this setup might last through the next console generation when I do another GPU upgrade in 2-3 years.

The computer I just built has no magnetic drives in it. All solid state, and 2 of them are NVMe.

NSMike wrote:

The computer I just built has no magnetic drives in it. All solid state, and 2 of them are NVMe.

This is the way.

This is the way.

I have spoken!

Carlbear95 wrote:
Vargen wrote:
Carlbear95 wrote:

I've been trying out the Xbox one controller, and there is a real upwards drift. Nothing horrible, but its enough where certain games it makes menus go crazy. Its a Day One controller so could be that its old.. generally speaking are Xbone controllers pretty good on a PC?

I tried calibration, and that doesn't seem to fix it... which is disappointing.

Try expanding the "dead zone" in the middle of the stick. I've found that lots of games will register the slightest stick movement as a command to flip to the next menu item, and tweaking that setting usually fixes it. Whenever I'm configuring JoyToKey for my wife that's one of the bits I have to fiddle with the most.

At least the native xbox controller app and standard win10 controller config doesn't have a dead zone adjustment. Certain games do, but if it doesn't, then its drift city. I just picked up Super Mega Baseball 3 and its definitely fidly. Nothing that can't be managed (its not that often you just leave the stick neutral) but really noticeable in menus.

Of course in these times where gaming is king and manufacturing is slow, its pretty hard to find xbox controllers.

Hmm. I'm pretty sure Steam's controller configuration will let you mess with the dead zone. I'd try that.

I'm helping my brother and nephew put together a PC for my nephew right now via video chat! So fun. They managed to get some great parts for a fantastic budget PC.

Do we have a thread/catch-all for putting a NAS together/setting one up? That's my summer project for this year, and I usually know my stuff for tech; but I'm so lost trying to find resources to begin looking through in order to put a list of things I need together.

Why not just get a Synology that performs at the level you need, with the media you need? Easy to config, reliable, and scalable. Take a look at the DS918+; you can stuff in 4 SSDs, it's got a ton of optional apps for various tasks, and if you can handle Windows, you can manage it successfully.

Of course there are smaller ones, and larger ones, and ones designed for disks or just backup, all sorts of variants. They have a selector tool that helps you pick out just the one you need.

So I am super pissed!
I bought a cpu cooler that says it works with intel and AMD (FX, AM2, AM3, AM4).
I open it up and it comes with a bracket for intel but not AM4.
And I have already removed the stock cooler so I have to swipe the thermal paste from the after market cooler to use to put the stock cooler back on.
Okay, fine. Except now I have to lower the clocks on my CPU and it still idles at 65 degrees. (it was idling at 87 before I lowered the clocks)
I am so PISSED, grrrrr

Gonna have to figure out how to go to a local computer store to either get some new thermal paste and/or new cooler.

Newegg is charging $11 for return shipping for a $25 part. f*cking forget it

fangblackbone wrote:

So I am super pissed!
I bought a cpu cooler that says it works with intel and AMD (FX, AM2, AM3, AM4).
I open it up and it comes with a bracket for intel but not AM4.
And I have already removed the stock cooler so I have to swipe the thermal paste from the after market cooler to use to put the stock cooler back on.
Okay, fine. Except now I have to lower the clocks on my CPU and it still idles at 65 degrees. (it was idling at 87 before I lowered the clocks)
I am so PISSED, grrrrr :(

From what I've read, some of these will send you the bracket for AM4 for free. Good luck! This sucks.

Hold on for a second...
It was not obvious at all and the instructions do not show it.
The bracket might be adjustable. I think there are tabs that the screws go into that can be moved to fit my motherboard.
I just need to go find a friggen store that sells thermal paste today.
Wish me luck!

Most any neighborhood computer place will have thermal paste. Look for the ones that support businesses.

mikeohara wrote:

Do we have a thread/catch-all for putting a NAS together/setting one up? That's my summer project for this year, and I usually know my stuff for tech; but I'm so lost trying to find resources to begin looking through in order to put a list of things I need together.

There are probably better communities out there for stuff like this, but many of us have done this and can offer help/recommendations. Robear's Synology recommendation is a good one. They make first class devices. If you want to do something a bit more DIY I understand though as that is what I did.

Funny story: turns out the bios was reset to default values including a lower cpu and ram clock speed. After returning everything back to its optimum and spending a little time tweaking Division 2 it runs fine.

Looks like I can hold out on that upgrade for another couple of months!

So, it turns out that I am an idiot. (who knew? okay well, you guys did lol)
My mobo came with the clip on brackets. I just removed them because the stock AMD cooler didn't use them.
I thought they were protection for shipping or something, duh.

So hopefully within a few hours I should be back in business and much less nervous and frustrated. (There is nothing quite like watching your brand new cpu reach 96 degrees and run at 87 with just basic web browsing-no youtube or anything)

Buy yourself a tube of Arctic Silver and have it on hand. You could probably build 50 or 60 PCs with a single tube.

Lol, as you were typing that, I was doing exactly that.

So, the clamp system on the new cooler is a pain with it sliding all over the top of the cpu. It seemed just short enough to never hook.
So I wiped the grease off again and used artic silver on the stock cooler and now we are in business.
It still climbs to 85 degrees when turboing during a blender render. But it idles at 38 and during WoW it never gets higher than 62. That is the biggest difference because I think before it was hitting 78 degrees in WoW.

Also, it is noticeably quicker to cooldown. When I exit WoW it drops to 50 almost immediately before settling at 40ish in the next 15 seconds.

So I am happy

If you're using Arctic Silver, a few full heatup/cooldown cycles can improve those temps slightly.

85C is still a little hotter than I personally like, I strongly prefer staying under 80C if possible.

fangblackbone wrote:

So, the clamp system on the new cooler is a pain with it sliding all over the top of the cpu. It seemed just short enough to never hook.

So, as someone who just built a Ryzen PC, this sounds awfully familiar.

You've mounted the clips upside-down.

They came out of the box that way. But, when "I" cool down, I may take a look at it again.
This is the device:
https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master...
edit: Oh, do you mean the tabs are supposed to face inwards?

NSMike wrote:

Buy yourself a tube of Arctic Silver and have it on hand. You could probably build 50 or 60 PCs with a single tube.

Does the stuff "expire"? That's a good point, but if you're just building home PC's once every 3-5 years, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to buy a new one, basically wasting 98% of the one I bought 5 years ago.

I think its about time I reapply my thermal paste as my temps appear to be inching higher and its been just over 2 years now. I have a small tube of arctic silver that has to be at least 8 years old. I know the stuff is cheap so its more about the waste of tossing something that's 95% full and all the packagig that comes with getting a new tube.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/oXrx2IR.jpg)

No, they should be the way they are in the picture. The metal clamps in the cooler attach to those "lips" on the outside.

Carlbear95 wrote:
NSMike wrote:

Buy yourself a tube of Arctic Silver and have it on hand. You could probably build 50 or 60 PCs with a single tube.

Does the stuff "expire"? That's a good point, but if you're just building home PC's once every 3-5 years, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to buy a new one, basically wasting 98% of the one I bought 5 years ago.

I think its about time I reapply my thermal paste as my temps appear to be inching higher and its been just over 2 years now. I have a small tube of arctic silver that has to be at least 8 years old. I know the stuff is cheap so its more about the waste of tossing something that's 95% full and all the packagig that comes with getting a new tube.

I used to think that Arctic Silver was permanent, but I read awhile back that, while it's oil-based and doesn't degrade quickly, it can dry out after about ten years. In an airtight tube, I think it might last indefinitely.

As long as you had the cap on tight and the consistency seems normal, an old tube should be fine. Your ten-year countdown starts when it leaves the tube.

fangblackbone wrote:

It still climbs to 85 degrees when turboing during a blender render. But it idles at 38 and during WoW it never gets higher than 62. That is the biggest difference because I think before it was hitting 78 degrees in WoW.

85 degrees is warm, but the T20 is a 2-heatpipe, 90mm fan budget cooler, so nobody should expect top of class cooling from it, or for it to match up against its big brother Hyper 212 with double the heatpipes and 2-3x the max airflow. I'm assuming the T20 was just a "better than the stock Wraith Stealth cooler" kind of purchase, and that's what these numbers are. (The 3600 can hit the throttle temp on a Stealth in a torture test).

One thing I would check is your CPU fan profile. If it's set to a conservative or "quiet" profile, it might not be ramping up to 100% when it reaches the 80s, it might be reserving that for closer to the throttle point. If it's not spinning at 100% at that temperature, I'd personally be inclined to tweak it so that it does, but that comes down to preferences of temperature vs. noise.