Are there any tech/review sites these days that aren't shoveling incomprehensible ChatGPT garbage over the transom? I'm looking at building a mid-range gaming PC for my kids but the sites I used to go to are either garbage or just straight advertisements.
Desktop Computers
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Burnem Wizfyre
Log Wizard
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I know jack shit about computers and graphics cards these days, last time I cared Wrath of the Lich King was the newest expansion in WoW. Built my man cave up in the new house and after putting movie theater seats and a 75 inch QLED it’s time to get a non expensive sub 1k gaming computer and and I have a 50 inch 4K tv that I just replaced. Looking for suggestions that would let me play D4 maybe that Harry Potter game as well and would I need to buy a monitor or would that tv work. I’ve been looking around Amazon and Best Buy but I really don’t know what I’m looking at to be honest so links would be appreciated, also feel free to tell me to go fuck my self and do the research myself.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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1k prebuilt or diy? also at 1k you'll be gaming at 1080p, 1440p is at least another 300-500
since you haven't gamed for so long, imo get a new mouse and keyboard to start with for now
partpicker has a decent diy 1k
if you do prebuilt expect lesser quality +200$ on top
Burnem Wizfyre
Log Wizard
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I haven’t put together a computer since the turn of the century prebuilt is going to have to be the way to go.
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If you have even half a brain it's really not hard. Watch 1 youtube video you'll have it.
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Fucker
Log Wizard
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$1k gets you fuck all these days.
In terms of pre-builts, avoid Dell, HP and all the big names...they all build complete trash. I haven't bought from Maingear, but big tech tubers review them and find them to be acceptable.
Skip GPU from Intel and AMD. Get ya self an NVIDIA RTX unit.
In terms of screens, add another $5-700 for a good one. Ping Mist on this...she's the resident panel expert.
Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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Hekotat
FoH nuclear response team
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This is the problem I'm having. The internet is now so corporate and clean that I can't find any good websites to dig up information. I miss the days when you could find good obscure websites with great information. Now it's curated results that seem to be based of advertising results.
I miss websites like hardcop. Now the best info I can find seems to be sponsored YouTube reviews which I'd rather not sit through.
Lambourne
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Anandtech is still decent when you want to learn some of the inner workings of new CPUs, techpowerup.com is pretty nice for finding specs on cards and has links to reviews.
Guru3d has a lot of copy-paste text in their reviews but they do add an infrared shot of the cooler and have a really large selection of cards in their reviews benchmarks, so if you want to see how your old 970 compares to a 4090 at 4k you can see that. Pretty active forum there as well.
As far as nvidia cards go, within a series they're all the same board just with a different cooler design and maybe a 2-3% overclock. Not like the olden days where each brand had its own card and component choices. You can spend weeks reading reviews but which brand you go for doesn't really matter all that much. Never go for an expensive 4070 version over a 4070ti etc.
Some example links
www.techpowerup.com
www.guru3d.com
Guru3d has a lot of copy-paste text in their reviews but they do add an infrared shot of the cooler and have a really large selection of cards in their reviews benchmarks, so if you want to see how your old 970 compares to a 4090 at 4k you can see that. Pretty active forum there as well.
As far as nvidia cards go, within a series they're all the same board just with a different cooler design and maybe a 2-3% overclock. Not like the olden days where each brand had its own card and component choices. You can spend weeks reading reviews but which brand you go for doesn't really matter all that much. Never go for an expensive 4070 version over a 4070ti etc.
Some example links
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Specs
NVIDIA AD104, 2475 MHz, 5888 Cores, 184 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 12288 MB GDDR6X, 1313 MHz, 192 bit
Galax GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX White review
GALAX dropped a GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and submitted their EX White model. The 8GB VRAM-based card stands out for its unique white design and aesthetic appeal.... The Witcher III Wild Hunt
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Daidraco
Avatar of War Slayer
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PC Partpicker list is kind of garbage if you're going from it 1 for 1. As its missing the case cost, and even on the low end it needs a fan or two, so a couple good fans will run you an extra 50 bucks, but if you're careful with your case selection then you may get some with that. Some paste for another 5 bucks. Then depending on where you go, most of those websites have Uncle Sam on their back and you'll have your sales tax to go. Even though my PC only cost ~3640 on PC Partpicker, it was probably closer to 3850+. So be aware of that shit.
We're a bunch of computer geeks, at least in some capacity, here. So people are naturally going to lose their mind when you can get more speed for 40-100 bucks more. But then all of a sudden you fly by the price point you want and you all of a sudden have a $1500 PC instead of a $1000 PC. For example, my neighbor has a 2070 Super and he plays everything I play. Games obviously look better and have better FPS, but that card isnt garbage and could probably find one for 150 bucks somewhere. I just steer away from that conversation because you'll always have some jack leg coming in with "Herp derp, you can get <insert card here> for 100 bucks more! Why not get that? herp derp"
We're a bunch of computer geeks, at least in some capacity, here. So people are naturally going to lose their mind when you can get more speed for 40-100 bucks more. But then all of a sudden you fly by the price point you want and you all of a sudden have a $1500 PC instead of a $1000 PC. For example, my neighbor has a 2070 Super and he plays everything I play. Games obviously look better and have better FPS, but that card isnt garbage and could probably find one for 150 bucks somewhere. I just steer away from that conversation because you'll always have some jack leg coming in with "Herp derp, you can get <insert card here> for 100 bucks more! Why not get that? herp derp"
Jovec
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Some Youtube reviewers are pretty decent. I look at Gamer's Nexus and Hardware Unboxed for relevant benchmark numbers AND relative positioning/scaling within the product stack. Almost all CPU reviews they do will use a 3090/4090 GPU so for example....
...here is a Hardware Unboxed benchmark review between a 5800X and 5800XD on a 3090TI which has the X3D 9% faster over 41 games at 4K. Here they have a 4090 with the 5800X3D and 7800X3D and at 4K the 7800X3D is only about 4% faster. So using a 4090 with your existing 5800X might be leaving about 13% performance on the table versus using that 4090 with the best gaming CPU available today. The games matter too though - for many games, especially older ones, they are entirely GPU limited with a decent CPU. Newer games tend to show larger differences in performance. For example, while only 4% on average, that 5800X3D vs 7800X3D review had Hogwarts Legacy at a 22% difference. You can also look at the individual games to to see actual FPS, 1% lows, etc. A 22% difference in the 50-60FPS range is certainly more noticeable than a 22% difference at 150+FPS. Finally, here is their 4090 launch review, which shows the 4090 to be 59% faster than the 3090TI using a 5800X3D.
The 5800X won't give you full performance from the 4090, but it should give you enough and the biggest gains will come just from the 4090 itself. A 5800X3D can also easily let you skip 13thgen and Ryzen 7000.
...here is a Hardware Unboxed benchmark review between a 5800X and 5800XD on a 3090TI which has the X3D 9% faster over 41 games at 4K. Here they have a 4090 with the 5800X3D and 7800X3D and at 4K the 7800X3D is only about 4% faster. So using a 4090 with your existing 5800X might be leaving about 13% performance on the table versus using that 4090 with the best gaming CPU available today. The games matter too though - for many games, especially older ones, they are entirely GPU limited with a decent CPU. Newer games tend to show larger differences in performance. For example, while only 4% on average, that 5800X3D vs 7800X3D review had Hogwarts Legacy at a 22% difference. You can also look at the individual games to to see actual FPS, 1% lows, etc. A 22% difference in the 50-60FPS range is certainly more noticeable than a 22% difference at 150+FPS. Finally, here is their 4090 launch review, which shows the 4090 to be 59% faster than the 3090TI using a 5800X3D.
The 5800X won't give you full performance from the 4090, but it should give you enough and the biggest gains will come just from the 4090 itself. A 5800X3D can also easily let you skip 13thgen and Ryzen 7000.
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Hekotat
FoH nuclear response team
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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs With Updated 16-Pin Power Connector Pictured, Shipping To Gamers Now
NVIDIA Equips GeForce RTX 40 GPUs With New & Improved 16-Pin Connector, RTX 4090 FE With New Spec Pictured
NVIDIA and its AIBs already shipped the mainstream GeForce RTX 4070 and RTX 4060 Ti graphics cards with the new 16-Pin connectors and it looks like the first GeForce RTX 4090 and higher-end cards are now also shipping with this new and updated design.
A Redditor on the NVIDIA subreddit, prackprackprack, has shown that his recently purchased RTX 4090 Founders Edition graphics card features a newer 16-pin connector. This can be confirmed by looking at the 4 additional Sense Pins which are shorter compared to our sample provided by the company during the launch. This new and improved design is part of the upcoming 12V-2x6 power connector which will lead to better power delivery but this design should help mitigate the power burn-ups and melting issues faced by several users.
The shortened sense pins allow the card to restrict any power coming from the PSU to the GPU if the cable isn't fully inserted into the slot. In the previous design, if the 16-pin adapter or cable was not fully inserted, that would lead to irregular load balance among the pins, leading to really high temperatures and eventual melts.
So far, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has been the most affected graphics card by the 16-pin connector melting issues. It is likely that the combination of the older connector, user error, and higher wattage drawn by the graphics card has led to these issues.
Users who already have the cards are unlikely to get a replacement with the newer 16-pin connectors so they are still at the risk of burning up their cards since we just recently saw several reports of Cablemod's 90-degree power connectors burning up both the connector and GPU side. Since the RTX 4090 FE is getting the new design, we can also expect the same changes to be applied to NVIDIA's RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti GPUs too.
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Would appreciate if anyone could highlight some red flags in this build. Goals:
- Low power and low noise(usually go hand in hand).
- At least 12GB VRAM. I got 5+ years out of my 1060 6GB, I'd like to do the same here. I don't think 8GB VRAM is future proof.
- Ryzen X3D. Not really a requirement, but seems like the best budget gaming CPU while also being reasonable on the wattage.
I'm really annoyed at the current GPU market. There doesn't seem to be a "budget" option that is: current gen, 12GB VRAM, relatively low power consumption.
Denamian
Night Janitor
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Nothing jumps out at me there, but if you have a Microcenter near you, you might want to consider the Ryzen 5600X3D. It just launched as a Microcenter exclusive deal with AMD. They're made from salvaged 5800X3Ds.
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Thanks for the feedback.
I definitely would consider the 5600X3D and I have many microcenters near me. They are ironically all ~5 hours away in many directions.
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Denamian
Night Janitor
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Closest one to me is almost 150 miles away. It's annoying that any deals I'd get would be negated by the cost of gas.