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Fraggiebaby

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I'm getting that urge to build a new system again.  I love the process of research, shopping, integration, and the satisfaction of building my own computer from scratch.  It has been extra tough this year however with supply disruptions and the ridiculous pricing situation, especially in the GPU segment of the market. 

I'd really like to go for a new top-end build to replace my main desktop system.  16/32 core Ryzen 9 5950X, 32GB 4Ghz RAM, top-end x570(s)-chipset mobo - though I really like the BIOS and features of my Crosshair Hero VI in my current desktop so maybe I'd keep that even though it's "only" an x470 chipset.

Unfortunately all that would probably cost $3k even before adding a GPU!  A top Nvidia card is going to at least double that so that's simply not happening.  Even AMD's 6900 XT is around $1.6k US.  Less insane but still not anything approaching reasonable in terms of price/performance.  Not sure about the lifetime of such a system either with the DDR5 switch probably happening to the mainstream over the next year or two.  It'd be pretty stupid to spend upwards of $4k on a new system unless I can reasonably expect several years of service out of it.

Maybe I'll just upgrade my system(s).  My SFF "deskmini" build would need a BIOS upgrade but a 5600G Ryzen 5 should be a drop-in replacement for the 3400G I've got in there now.  Or maybe even an 8-core Ryzen 7 5700G.  I should be able to upgrade to slightly faster (~20%) memory too, now that memory prices have come down a tiny bit.  It looks like I need to get in there and do some PM anyway if the layer of dust is any indication. 

My main system could probably benefit from a similar upgrade to memory and CPU.  It still has a 1st-gen 2700X CPU and 3400Mhz RAM (OCed to 3600) in there.  Something like a 5800X would be a drop-in replacement and almost double the processing performance.  The motherboard AM4 socket can take anything up to that top-end 5950X.  Memory options are a bit more limited speed-wise, but it'll still accept up to 4Ghz.  A few $$$ on a CPU/memory upgrade might tide me over until the DDR5 changeover requires a new motherboard.

 

IMG_1674.thumb.jpg.d4b8903cf29bf841621f8ba807cc3cd4.jpg

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  • 5 months later...

Nvidia's latest 1630.  OMG.. what are they thinking?  This "new" GFX card doesn't even beat Nvidia's own ancient 1050Ti from 2016 in price, gfx performance, or power consumption!  The only thing the new card has going for it is hardware decode support for some of the more recent video codecs like VP8 and H.265 .  But even that is really stretching it.  (I mean, even that old 1050 had support for H.265 HEVC 4:2:0.  The 1630 just adds HEVC up to 4:4:4 12bit.)  The chip is also using the ancient "Turing" architecture so it doesn't have other modern features like DLSS or ray-tracing support. 

Maybe Nvidia is just trying to make Intel's ARC look good.  :D

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  • 1 month later...

I'm really interested in seeing what AMD has to say regarding the launch of their Ryzen "zen 4" 7000-series CPUs tomorrow.  My current system is a ~5yo 2700X system with an even older RX 480 GPU.  It is a nice build that has served me well through the covid years but I'm looking forward to planning a new build based on more modern motherboards and CPUs with DDR5, PCIe 5.0, 5nm process advancements, etc.  Maybe even (finally!) a new GPU.  It will be good to hear something other than rumors and vague release dates for a change.  Some real information to base a real build on.

My only concern is what the price & availability will be like.  I expect that a new CPU, motherboard, RAM, and GPU will be .. expensive.  I just hope it won't be pawning-off-internal-organs expensive.  :)  If necessary I can probably move my RX480 and M.2 over to a new system to spread out the cost over time.  The switch to the A5 socket and DDR5 (only) will be a bit of a hurdle to overcome however. 

At least for some.  Tbh I'm ok with it.  Unlike Intel's socket-of-the week program forcing upgrades AMD gave us a nice run with the A4 socket over the past few years.  Hopefully AMD will show a similar commitment to the A5.  If I can count on another 5 years of service then I don't mind paying a bit more where it counts.  For the A4 I took a chance and splurged for an ASUS Crosshair VII Hero MB.  That turned out to be a good choice.  I've upgraded the RAM twice, the M.2 once and though I didn't take advantage of it (mostly due to covid pricing and availability) I could have taken that initial Ryzen 7 2700X all the way to a 16/32-core Ryzen 9 5950X.  Thanks AMD and ASUS.  Even with a 10% overclock the system has been rock-solid, cool, and quiet for several years now.  I'd certainly be happy if I can position myself similarly with a new A5 mb for the next 5 years.

 

 

 

Edited by efaardvark
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Ah, computer rebuilds, definitely a touchy subject in the Animedragon's weyr. 

My current machine was built when Windows 7 came out, so it's well overdue for replacement.

After spending hours reading reviews and spec sheets I decided on a Gigabyte B560 board. My current machine has a Gigabyte board and so have other machines I've built and I've always found them good quality and reliable.   Until this time! First motherboard didn't work and was sent back, the supplier declared it faulty and gave me a refund as they didn't have any in stock to replace it with.  I purchased a replacement from another supplier and that went back last week as it didn't work either, I'm still waiting for their verdict on it.  If they decide it's faulty I'll not buy another Gigabyte board, Asus do a nice looking B560 board that meets my modest requirements.

On the plus side I'm getting quite adept at changing motherboards, although having to put the old board back in twice wasn't quite in my original plan.

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Well, pricing wasn't as bad as I feared, though neither was it as good as I hoped.  At some point Intel has to get their act together and compete on both price and performance at the same time.  I like the Ryzen product line, and I appreciate what AMD has done to keep both Intel and Nvidia in check.  At the same time I have no doubt that AMD would have done the same had they been in Intel's position, and indeed AMD's price-points have been creeping up.  We need both companies to have strong products without vendor lock-in.

Anyway, I do like the announcement in general.  I find my eye drawn to the 7700X in particular.  I can hardly wait to see benchmarks.  Hopefully the X670 motherboard to put it and the DDR5 memory in won't break my budget.

 

@Animedragon.. I've used Gigabyte before & didn't find them intolerable.  Sounds like they've gone downhill since I last tried them.  I do like ASUS better, though they are a bit more expensive, especially if you go for their ROG line which can get kind of ridiculous at the top end.  Their TUF line is also decent however, and more affordable.  It tends to have fewer features, but it seems to do a good job of delivering the essentials while also keeping the price somewhat reasonable.  If you don't mind not having a liquid nitrogen setting in the BIOS then you should be fine with TUF.  :D

 

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4 hours ago, efaardvark said:

Well, pricing wasn't as bad as I feared, though neither was it as good as I hoped.  At some point Intel has to get their act together and compete on both price and performance at the same time.  I like the Ryzen product line, and I appreciate what AMD has done to keep both Intel and Nvidia in check.  At the same time I have no doubt that AMD would have done the same had they been in Intel's position, and indeed AMD's price-points have been creeping up.  We need both companies to have strong products without vendor lock-in.

Anyway, I do like the announcement in general.  I find my eye drawn to the 7700X in particular.  I can hardly wait to see benchmarks.  Hopefully the X670 motherboard to put it and the DDR5 memory in won't break my budget.

 

@Animedragon.. I've used Gigabyte before & didn't find them intolerable.  Sounds like they've gone downhill since I last tried them.  I do like ASUS better, though they are a bit more expensive, especially if you go for their ROG line which can get kind of ridiculous at the top end.  Their TUF line is also decent however, and more affordable.  It tends to have fewer features, but it seems to do a good job of delivering the essentials while also keeping the price somewhat reasonable.  If you don't mind not having a liquid nitrogen setting in the BIOS then you should be fine with TUF.  :D

 

It's often the case that prices aren't as good as you hoped but not as bad as you feared. I think we need both Intel and AMD, a bit of healthy competition is good for us users. I think you're right about Intel having to get their act together, I've seen a couple of reviewers saying that Intel are almost becoming the "bargain basement" of the CPU/chipset market.

While looking around for a new motherboard I noticed the eye-watering prices for some boards that would have my credit card whimpering with fear. One thing about most of the new range of boards rather puzzles me and that's the appearance of headers to power LED disco lights, once the case is closed and the tower is under the desk who is going to see them?

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7 hours ago, Animedragon said:

One thing about most of the new range of boards rather puzzles me and that's the appearance of headers to power LED disco lights

I’m not the one to ask about that.  I don’t understand the fascination with blinkenlights either.  Do they make the computer faster or improve its performance or functionality in any way?  I always try to minimize their visibility as much as possible in my own builds, especially in certain locations like the entertainment room or the bedroom.  At best they’re distractions.  Lights in the bedroom tend to keep me awake so they’re probably even unhealthy there.

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  • 1 month later...

Just thought I'd check the pricing on some of the motherboards with the new AM5 socket.  Ouch.  I mean, early days and all that, and there are one or two AM5 MB in the $200-$300 range.  I really like the ASUS Crosshair Hero VII in my current desktop however so I thought I'd check out AM5 version.  $700!  Ouch.

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Came across a nice comparison of X670 vs X670E vs B650 vs B650E.  Looks like the X670E is a bit silly but the B650E is a really nice option if you don't want to pop for the (no doubt) pricey 670 chipsets, especially early on when PCI 5.0 will be mostly just a marketing buzzword since there will be extremely few cards that will take advantage of 5.0's bandwith.  Pricing of course makes a lot of difference and it seems like AMD gave the manufacturers a lot of discretion in which features to include.  That means a certain amount of buyer beware is in order, but it also means that there should be a good range of options and prices.  We'll see...

https://techedged.com/b650-vs-b650e-vs-x670-vs-x670e/

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  • 1 month later...

So I made a first stab at putting together an AM5 build over on pcpartpicker.  Surprisingly the price was less than $2k, even including a new monitor and GPU.  Get rid of those by recycling my just-purchased 6600XT gfx card and my old monitor and it drops the price to "only" $1k. 

I'll have to check to make sure but I should also be able to recycle my CPU cooler and power supply & save a few more $$$.  My power supply is fully modular and has the standard 2x8-pin PCI connectors.  So far AMD's GPUs are sticking to that standard so I should be good there.  AM5 cooler mounting hardware is compatible with AM4-era coolers as long as the cooler doesn't require a custom backplate since the AM5 backplate is not removable.  It has been a while but I'm pretty sure my cooler did not require a custom backplate.  (I think I would have remembered installing it if it did.)

I might have do a little shopping to see if I can check availability and match partpicker's quoted prices.  Overall prices are still a bit on the high side (IMHO) but tbh I was expecting less choice and much higher prices.  There might be some good deals in my price range to be had sooner than I'd expected.  I'm going to have to make a point of checking out the after-xmas sales.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looking for a good deal on a CPU upgrade for my current AM4-socket motherboard.  I've got enough memory and I just bought a new GPU so this will likely be my last upgrade before I move to an AM5-based system.  That build I'm planning for sometime next year so I don't want to spend a huge amount on upgrades at this point either.  I was hoping to get a black-friday deal on something below $200.

I'd love to be able to talk myself into a 12-core 5900 ($350) or a 16-core 5950 ($400) ryzen 9 but the truth is I don't need more than the 8 cores I've got in my 2700X and both of those are well beyond my price point.  I'm seeing prices of <$250 on an 8-core 5800X however, which is a bit closer to my price limit.  Maybe a 5800 (no "X") to save about 40 watts and a couple bucks.  Performance-wise either would be a nearly 2x increase in processor power from my 2700x.  I'm also considering a drop down to a 6-core 5600X at about $160.  I'd lose a couple cores but overall it'd still be a much more powerful CPU.

Not seeing any must-buy deals so far tho tbh.  Might wind up saving my $$ for that AM5 build after all.

Edited by efaardvark
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7 hours ago, efaardvark said:

I'd love to be able to talk myself into a 12-core 5900 ($350)

Talking yourself into buying an expensive piece of kit is relatively easy.

It's much more difficult to talk your wallet into agreeing with you. 😄

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have finally managed to rebuild and upgrade my main PC. It now has a Gigabyte B560 HD3 motherboard with an 11 generation Core i5 CPU and 64GB DDR4 RAM along with a NVIDA GeForce GT730 graphics card with 2GB GDDR5 memory. Not a particularly powerful machine when compared to some games machines, but then I don't play video games as I'm more interested in DTP, photo and video editing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I appear to have upset Microsoft 😲.  (Oh, dear what a pity, never mind! 🙂)

Every time I turn my main PC on I get a little message telling me that there is a problem with my Microsoft account, the "problem" is that I'm signing in using a local account. The reason I use a local account is because signing in with my Microsoft account breaks password protected file sharing so my other PCs can't access the main PCs transfer folder, signing in with a local account fixes this problem. 😄

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Depending on price I might be interested in one of the just-announced Ryzen 9 7900 CPUs.  12 core / 24 thread CPU at only 65 Watts is an interesting product to me.  My old 8/16 core 2700X specs at 105W so that would be getting a lot more processing power for 40% less electrical power.  My new GFX card took 20W more than my old one so it would be nice getting some of that back, and then some.  Alternatively I could take advantage of water cooling (I have an AIO on my 2700X kit) to overclock it a bit at the same power level.

Again, depending on price.  The new CPU is of course Zen 4 so I would need a new AM5 motherboard and new DDR5 RAM as part of the deal.  I'm planning on doing that eventually anyway so I wouldn't mind in the greater scheme of things but that's still a big up-front expense to get over.

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Upgrading computers is always great fun, my experiences usually go like this:

I like that new powerful CPU, ah, but I'll need a new motherboard to support it, oh and I'll need to replace the RAM because the RAM I've got isn't comparable with the new board, hang on I'll need a new graphics card because the new motherboard has a different slot and the old card won't fit....

And so it goes on and the price starts mounting up! ☹️ 😱

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13 hours ago, Animedragon said:

Upgrading computers is always great fun, my experiences usually go like this:

I like that new powerful CPU, ah, but I'll need a new motherboard to support it, oh and I'll need to replace the RAM because the RAM I've got isn't comparable with the new board, hang on I'll need a new graphics card because the new motherboard has a different slot and the old card won't fit....

And so it goes on and the price starts mounting up! ☹️ 😱

My brother is thinking about upgrading his rig soon. I believe he's mainly wanting to get a better GPU, but like you said, it will likely involve other components being upgraded too. Kinda sad in a way, because the RAM and CPU are both decent. Of course, he uses his PC mostly for audio production. He plays a few older games as well, but newer titles tend to have choppy frame rates when put on max settings.

If he ever does end up upgrading, the replaced components would make for a great Linux build to play around with.

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22 hours ago, Animedragon said:

Upgrading computers is always great fun, my experiences usually go like this:

I like that new powerful CPU, ah, but I'll need a new motherboard to support it, oh and I'll need to replace the RAM because the RAM I've got isn't comparable with the new board, hang on I'll need a new graphics card because the new motherboard has a different slot and the old card won't fit....

And so it goes on and the price starts mounting up! ☹️ 😱

 

I try to keep it to what I immediately need, plus a bit more for room for growth.  I also try to stick to modular parts and industry standards:  PCI is great.  Intel's CPU socket-of-the-month is.. not so great.  A path to the future is better than having the best of what's available today.  That way there's less chance of finding myself in a dead-end and when I finally reach the point where I actually need the performance of today's latest-and-greatest bit of kit I can pay a cheaper price for it and just slot it in to my existing rig.

I have to admit that I do occasionally get on pcpartpicker and play the "what if I won the lottery" thing however.   :D

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