Nebulous Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 One of my cooling fans went out on my computer. Guess I should open it up and figure out how to fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animedragon Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 It should be a fairly easy fix if it's a standard case fan, which will probably just need replacing with a new one. If it's the PSU fan you can't fix it 'cos the PSU is riveted together and opening the PSU is not a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 Taking another look at the AM5 motherboards now that they're actually shipping and there's enough selection to start comparison shopping. They're still way expensive though. The AM5 version of my current PC's "crosshair hero" motherboard - barebones - is $1000US. Ouch. (And no, I didn't pay anywhere near that for my current MB. I don't know what happened between then and now. COVID pricing might explain some of it, but over 3x the price in only 3 years? Whatever. I'm not paying that kind of price unless it also washes and folds the laundry for me.) My favorite so far is the ASUS TUF gaming X670E-plus wifi 6E. The "TUF" line is 2 product stacks down from my "Hero" mobo and at ~$350 it isn't exactly what I would call cheap either but it does have some features that I consider extremely desirable such as a dual BIOS ("flashback") capability. It also does NOT have some other things that I'd like however such as a built-in POST-code readout, a feature that I've found handy several times while messing around with my ROG mobo doing things like overclocking and mucking with memory timings. The other option would be their Strix X670E-E Gaming WiFi product. It is closer in features-set than the TUF version to my Hero, but at $500 it is even worse price-wise. Still shopping.. and with one hand firmly on my wallet! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animedragon Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 Ouch! $1000 for a motherboard does sound expensive, and the sort of price tag that would have my wallet running away to hide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 (edited) Hardware Unboxed has a decent roundup of early AM5 /X670 motherboards. Looks like Gigabyte is currently the leader in terms of features & price. My preferred ASUS also has some nice offerings but has pretty much priced themselves out of my budget. Not interested in $500+ motherboards. To paraphrase Dirksen.. $500 for a motherboard, $300 for RAM, $800 for a GPU... next thing you know you're talking real money. Edited January 28, 2023 by efaardvark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animedragon Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 I've always liked Gigabyte motherboards, my current board and the previous one were Gigabyte, although I have had ASUS and Supermicro boards in the past. But ultimately the choice comes down to which board offers the features I want at a price I can afford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 (edited) AMD just announced X3D versions of some of their high-end Ryzen CPUs Ryzen 9 7950X3D - $699 Ryzen 9 7900X3D - $599 Ryzen 7 7800X3D - $449 These should be out by the end of this month for the Ryzen 9s and by mid April for the 7800X3D. It also looks like they've dropped the price of the 7600 by ~$100 when I wasn't looking, based on a quick window-shopping spree. It is now $230 on Amazon vs $320-ish last time I checked. The 7600 is currently my leading contender for CPU when/if I get around to building a new AM5-socket build sometime later this year so price drops there are appreciated. (Now if they could just do something about those GPU prices.) I'm also interested in these "X3D" versions of their Socket AM5 series CPUs however. Perhaps not so much at these prices but maybe they'll drop a bit by the time I start actually buying / building my rig. Edited February 5, 2023 by efaardvark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clayton Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 The computers became self aware in 1968. They just don't feel the need to tell us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animedragon Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 10 hours ago, Clayton said: The computers became self aware in 1968. They just don't feel the need to tell us. I'll agree with that. I've known for a long time that photocopiers are a sentient species. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clayton Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 And your phone really is screwing with you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 Hardware Unboxed had an interesting report on DDR5 memory and AMD's Memory Scaling on Zen 4/infinity fabric. It seems the memory timings are much more important than the memory clock rates. 5200Mhz@CL30 memory can handily beat (>15%) 6000Mhz@40. That much is not exactly news. Memory latency has been a big performance variable all along but it seems especially relevant to DDR5 and AMD's Zen 4 architecture. The surprising takeaway for me was that there's often significant gains to be had if you manually tweak the settings to dial it in for your particular hardware. For instance, out of the box there is often only ~5% difference in performance between CL40 and CL30 memory at a given clock rate! This is good news for those that like to mess with this stuff but also indicates that the DDR5 market is still in early days and buyer beware is definitely in play. Given the information available to the system (BIOS) from DDR5 memory this should not be an issue. BIOSs should be able to tune themselves optimally for any given stick of DDR5 memory, and there should not be much difference in performance from system to system or from vendor to vendor, all else being equal. At the very least buyers should make sure that they buy motherboards from companies with a track record of good support in terms of things like BIOS updates, especially if they're going for higher-end memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 (edited) Thought I'd update my pcpartpicker list for my - theoretical - DDR5 system. Still not real serious about it given pricing so this is definitely a WIP, but the prices do seem to be coming down so I revisit the topic from time to time. Note that I don't have a power supply or a case in this list since I intend to recycle my current (soundproofed) case which still suits me just fine. My PSU is still going strong as well, and PSUs like almost everything else PC these days are ridiculously expensive. (This exact PSU is currently over 2x what I paid for the one in the box next to my desk box.) Edited March 5, 2023 by efaardvark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 So the "budget" A620 chipset for AMD's AM5 chips has been released in the form of new motherboards from Asrock, MSI, etc. I've been waiting for this as it should help bring down prices. A620 motherboards aren't something that I would be in the market for personally but they should be fine for low-end (and especially low-power) uses that have been having a hard time getting to market because of the lack of low-priced components. Think of it as another sign that things are moving back towards a more typical price/performance structure, especially for the new AM5 platform. Not that there's anything wrong with the new chipset. A quick look at the specs would indicate that I could actually build a higher-performing system for less money using an A620 chipset and a low-power version of one of AMD's 7000-series CPUs than I have in my current 2700X-based desktop system. I might even do that for the entertainment system in the front room. That's currently using a Ryzen 5 3400G "APU" (CPU with a built-in GPU) for its low-power features and small size since it gets the job done with no fan noise and a small case footprint. That system takes less than 100W even when running full-out and fits in a 155 x 155 x 80 mm footprint. Appropriate tool for the job and all that, but I want a bit more power in my desktop system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animechat Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 CPU: Intel i7 8700k GPU: Windforce OC 8GB GTX 1080 3x Fans Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus ELITE RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (2x16) Cooler: NZXT Kraken x62 280mm Storage: 512GB SSD (Intel 660p) x2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animedragon Posted May 10, 2023 Share Posted May 10, 2023 7 hours ago, animechat said: CPU: Intel i7 8700k GPU: Windforce OC 8GB GTX 1080 3x Fans Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus ELITE RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (2x16) Cooler: NZXT Kraken x62 280mm Storage: 512GB SSD (Intel 660p) x2 Looks a nice powerful machine. But a bit light on RAM and storage. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted May 10, 2023 Share Posted May 10, 2023 17 hours ago, Animedragon said: Looks a nice powerful machine. But a bit light on RAM and storage. I think the RAM is ok. That CPU/chipset doesn't support DDR5 memory so I'm sure the RAM is non-ECC. 32G is my limit for non-ECC memory in a system. That's already 32 billion (x8 bits) things to go wrong. No sense pushing one's luck. The GPU could use an upgrade, but with 8G the 1080 is still quite serviceable for HD resolutions and buying a new one would mean dealing with the ridiculous prices and power requirements for modern GPUs. A 1080 should be fine unless one wants to do any "4k" gaming. The card is only 180W too. A 2080 would be 250W and only give maybe a 20% performance boost. A 3080 would be "better" in terms of modern performance but at 320W and prices starting at over $800 that's basically a non-starter. (At least IMHO.) A GPU upgrade is just not feasible in today's market. @animechat.. I see you have a cooler for the CPU. It shouldn't be necessary for the 8700k's rated 3.7Ghz clock and 95W power draw but the chipset does support overclocking and that MB has a lot of fan support. Is it OCed? What's the frequency? (kenneth)(sorry ) Is the SSD mirrored or striped? The 660p is already supposed to be a pretty good performer. With two I'd be tempted to try stripes for the speed and full capacity. Especially since I have all my important stuff backed up on a net-mount from my NAS anyway. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 I'm hearing that DDR5-8000 and -8800 memory kits have been shown off at Computex 2023. Not shipping yet as far as I can tell tho, and no word on price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animedragon Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 5 hours ago, efaardvark said: no word on price. You know the old saying; "if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 (edited) 12 hours ago, Animedragon said: You know the old saying; "if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it" True. I’m not exactly a bleeding-edge kind of guy when it comes to actually purchasing computer-related bits of kit either. My current system is still using a 2nd generation ryzen 2700X and 3200mHz DDR4 memory for example. The memory in my system I've overclocked to 4K (though for power and stability reasons I'm currently running it at 3200) and the way DDR5 memory is clocked a DDR5 speed of 8K is somewhat comparable to my DDR4 memory’s 4K, at least in terms of some of the latency timings. I’ve been waiting for 8K DDR5 memory to come out because in my mind that’s the point at which the DDR5 memory becomes faster in all respects than the DDR4 memory that I currently have installed in my main system here. Now it is just a matter of getting that price down to something that won’t flatten my wallet too severely. Edited June 2, 2023 by efaardvark links 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 (edited) In other news, water-cooled GPUs also seem to be a thing at computex. Unfortunately. I tried water-cooling the CPU in my old FX-based system. It worked, but there are issues, including maintenance & reliability. To me it is the sort of thing you resort to when all else has failed. (Or if you just want bragging rights.. kind of like those people with 9Ghz CPUs cooled by by liquid nitrogen.) Ok, but for the real world we need better solutions. And look at the size of the heat sinks on the PCI 5.0 SSDs! Not happy if this is the direction the industry is going. Edited June 2, 2023 by efaardvark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animedragon Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 1 hour ago, efaardvark said: In other news, water-cooled GPUs also seem to be a thing at computex. Unfortunately. I tried water-cooling the CPU in my old FX-based system. It worked, but there are issues, including maintenance & reliability. To me it is the sort of thing you resort to when all else has failed. (Or if you just want bragging rights.. kind of like those people with 9Ghz CPUs cooled by by liquid nitrogen.) Ok, but for the real world we need better solutions. And look at the size of the heat sinks on the PCI 5.0 SSDs! Not happy if this is the direction the industry is going. The size of that heat sink is crazy. As GPU power, and heat, increases there soon won't be room inside the computer case for the heat sink ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 2 hours ago, Animedragon said: The size of that heat sink is crazy. As GPU power, and heat, increases there soon won't be room inside the computer case for the heat sink ! Even if it all fits in the case we'll also need a new air conditioner for the computer room! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animedragon Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 One of my friends showed me his new laptop yesterday, and complained that it didn't have a DVD drive, network port and that he needed more USB ports than the two the machine had. I resisted the temptation to ask him if he'd checked the machine's specifications before he bought it, he's not a 'tech person' so he probably picked it because it looked nice. It's a very nice ultra-thin lightweight portable laptop, but not really suitable as a desktop replacement which is what he really needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clayton Posted June 16, 2023 Share Posted June 16, 2023 Just wondering what makes people think a computer ruling the world would be a bad thing? Gods know humans suck at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efaardvark Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Sounds like Samsung and Micron are starting to announce GDDR7 and/or HBM3 memory. Hopefully that means better-performing GFX cards will be along shortly.. assuming it doesn't all get snagged by the AI crowd. And of course pricing would be another likely problem area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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