PC PC Building, Maintenance, and Games Discussion

[Drew a Penalty]

Please use this thread for catchall discussion about building and maintaining PCs, new PC releases, and any other general discussion pertaining to that system. 

[Cash or Czech]

my new favorite channel

 

Microcenter has a coupon for $50 off the lowest price for CPUs. So the $239 AMD Ryzen 5600X is now $189, vs $299 MSRP. Deals for the AMD Ryzen 5800X, Intel i7 12700K, and Intel i9 12900K as well. Going to microcenter this weekend to pick up the upgrade.

At the same time, I've been looking into small form factor cases and Fractal decides to release basically the perfect one for me: Fractal Torrent Nano. Have the graphics card already, will be gifting my wife my old system with a spare GPU.

 

Y'all don't know how much I'll be talking to myself in this thread and loving it 

[Morphinity 2.0]

So which one are you getting? The 5600X?

[Cash or Czech]

2 hours ago, Morphinity said:

So which one are you getting? The 5600X?

 

Yeah, I don't do a ton of work that requires more than 6 cores, nothing like Photoshop or video editing. Even if I wanted to start streaming, the 5600X is more than capable. If you like real time strategy games like Civ 6 or Age of Empires, 8 cores (Ryzen 5800X, Intel 12700K) actually does improve performance as it makes the AI calculate their turns faster. But I'm more of a shooter/MMO player, and I play in 1440p so my graphics card does the heavy lifting

Edited February 16, 2022 by Cash or Czech

[siddious]

Good luck. I was going to rebuild my comp a few months ago but decided to go with a prebuilt because prices on things like CPU’s and graphics cards were insane if they were available at all. Hopefully It’s better for you. 

[Morphinity 2.0]

41 minutes ago, siddious said:

Good luck. I was going to rebuild my comp a few months ago but decided to go with a prebuilt because prices on things like CPU’s and graphics cards were insane if they were available at all. Hopefully It’s better for you. 

CPU prices are better than they have ever been really. It's the GPUs that are out of sight. 

[Morphinity 2.0]

1 hour ago, Cash or Czech said:

 

Yeah, I don't do a ton of work that requires more than 6 cores, nothing like Photoshop or video editing. Even if I wanted to start streaming, the 5600X is more than capable. If you like real time strategy games like Civ 6 or Age of Empires, 8 cores (Ryzen 5800X, Intel 12700K) actually does improve performance as it makes the AI calculate their turns faster. But I'm more of a shooter/MMO player, and I play in 1440p so my graphics card does the heavy lifting

Right. I am still an Intel boi, even though I toyed with going to AMD for my last build. Ended up going with a i7 9700k which I got for $200 back in late 2020, which was a good deal at the time.

[siddious]

14 minutes ago, Morphinity said:

CPU prices are better than they have ever been really. It's the GPUs that are out of sight. 

You may be right, I may be remembering that incorrectly but either way I decided it was easier to just get a pre built as my current comp was about to bite the dust. Shame too because I enjoy building them the 2 or so times I’ve done it in my life 

[Karan]

4 hours ago, Cash or Czech said:

my new favorite channel

 

Microcenter has a coupon for $50 off the lowest price for CPUs. So the $239 AMD Ryzen 5600X is now $189, vs $299 MSRP. Deals for the AMD Ryzen 5800X, Intel i7 12700K, and Intel i9 12900K as well. Going to microcenter this weekend to pick up the upgrade.

At the same time, I've been looking into small form factor cases and Fractal decides to release basically the perfect one for me: Fractal Torrent Nano. Have the graphics card already, will be gifting my wife my old system with a spare GPU.

 

Y'all don't know how much I'll be talking to myself in this thread and loving it 

 

I had the 5600X on my list for an upcoming PC build for the longest time, but after looking at the gaming/utility benchmarks of the i5-12600K, honestly it's a no brainer to go with that one. Even at the 5600X's reduced price point. 

I love Fractal's cases and the new Torrent line-up is awesome. Apparently on the noisy side though. So unless you plan to be running the machine at load often, and in a hot environment, you'd be better off going with the Define 7 which is the one I've got on my list, as I really want something quiet, but with the option of additional cooling if needed (it comes with a swappable top cover and a front door). 

 

Other than that, the biggest hold back really is overly inflated GPU prices and shortages as others have pointed out  I still can't stomach myself to spend $400-$500 over MSRP for a top end card like a 3080 or 6800 XT. I'll probably just wait until the fall with the RTX 4000s and AMD's 7000 series coming out, the current gen cards should be available a bit more freely.

[Drew a Penalty]

1 hour ago, siddious said:

Good luck. I was going to rebuild my comp a few months ago but decided to go with a prebuilt because prices on things like CPU’s and graphics cards were insane if they were available at all. Hopefully It’s better for you. 

I went prebuilt for this exact reason back in December. Wasn’t cheap but it saved me from all of the hassle. I also know fuckall about building so I’d 100% have fucked something up.

 

I’ve barely used it to game. I should.

[Cash or Czech]

1 hour ago, Morphinity said:

Right. I am still an Intel boi, even though I toyed with going to AMD for my last build. Ended up going with a i7 9700k which I got for $200 back in late 2020, which was a good deal at the time.

 

The latest generation of Intel is really, really nice. They did a phenomenal job with Alder Lake. 

 

1 hour ago, Karan said:

 

I had the 5600X on my list for an upcoming PC build for the longest time, but after looking at the gaming/utility benchmarks of the i5-12600K, honestly it's a no brainer to go with that one. Even at the 5600X's reduced price point. 

I love Fractal's cases and the new Torrent line-up is awesome. Apparently on the noisy side though. So unless you plan to be running the machine at load often, and in a hot environment, you'd be better off going with the Define 7 which is the one I've got on my list, as I really want something quiet, but with the option of additional cooling if needed (it comes with a swappable top cover and a front door). 

 

Other than that, the biggest hold back really is overly inflated GPU prices and shortages as others have pointed out  I still can't stomach myself to spend $400-$500 over MSRP for a top end card like a 3080 or 6800 XT. I'll probably just wait until the fall with the RTX 4000s and AMD's 7000 series coming out, the current gen cards should be available a bit more freely.

 

There's a few reasons I'm going with the 5600X over the 12600K. Price is one. $189 for AMD or $249 for Intel is a pretty big gap. The second is motherboard and RAM availability. 600-series motherboards for Intel are still a little shoddy in terms of availability especially at smaller sizes ($400+ for either option at Microcenter). And DDR5 RAM? Forget about it LOL. It's as bad a market as graphics cards apparently.

 

I will definitely check out the Define 7. I was planning on swapping the fans and doing a setup entirely of be quiet! 120s and a be quiet! air cooler. It's not going to run too hot, and I do love the airflow. If the Define 7 has an airflow front panel as well, that might do the trick. Not seeing a ton of availability in the states but I'm probably looking in the wrong place.

 

And you summed it up. GPUs suck to buy right now. Even used, they're going over MSRP. I'm not happy with the 3070 I have, but it was what they had in stock at MSRP in the Fall of 2020 and I took it. I'd love either a slimmer or smaller graphics card. I'd even trade down to a 3060Ti at this point. 

[Karan]

48 minutes ago, Cash or Czech said:

 

The latest generation of Intel is really, really nice. They did a phenomenal job with Alder Lake. 

 

 

There's a few reasons I'm going with the 5600X over the 12600K. Price is one. $189 for AMD or $249 for Intel is a pretty big gap. The second is motherboard and RAM availability. 600-series motherboards for Intel are still a little shoddy in terms of availability especially at smaller sizes ($400+ for either option at Microcenter). And DDR5 RAM? Forget about it LOL. It's as bad a market as graphics cards apparently.

 

I will definitely check out the Define 7. I was planning on swapping the fans and doing a setup entirely of be quiet! 120s and a be quiet! air cooler. It's not going to run too hot, and I do love the airflow. If the Define 7 has an airflow front panel as well, that might do the trick. Not seeing a ton of availability in the states but I'm probably looking in the wrong place.

 

And you summed it up. GPUs suck to buy right now. Even used, they're going over MSRP. I'm not happy with the 3070 I have, but it was what they had in stock at MSRP in the Fall of 2020 and I took it. I'd love either a slimmer or smaller graphics card. I'd even trade down to a 3060Ti at this point. 

 

Yeah that's a substantial price gap for sure at this mid-range CPU market. Over here the 5600X and 12600K are just $10 apart so it would be a no brainer to go with the latter due to the impressive strides made in the Alder Lake architecture. 

Choosing a suitable Z690 motherboard for the 12600K was bit of a headache for sure. In the end I landed on a MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 version (around $225). The DDR5 versions are wayyy too overpriced right now, not to mention DDR5 RAM itself is ridiculous inflated and on short supply. 

 

I personally liked the Define 7 as it comes with 3 x 140mm fans, a top panel that can be swapped out for a vented one, and a solid front door that can be opened during heavy duty usage to get more airflow to the 2 x 140mm front intake fans through the grill, which based on testing dropped case temperatures by 10C. Plus it has sound deadening panels which was a big deal for me as keeping overall case noise down was a big factor for me. 

 

I've been tempted a few times over the last couple months to buy a 3080/6800 XT at scalper pricing (around $1,400 at the moment), but I feel like I would be majorly regretting it in 6 months time when the next-gen nVidia and AMD GPUs launch and the current gen prices come back closer to MSRP. So I'll probably play the waiting game until Black Friday before doing my system build.

[Morphinity 2.0]

Those cards just aren't worth that kind of money, especially when you consider the implementation of real-time ray tracing is kinda meh for a huge performance hit. DLSS is really the killer app for the RTX cards, but not every game has it.

[Karan]

Just now, Morphinity said:

Those cards just aren't worth that kind of money, especially when you consider the implementation of real-time ray tracing is kinda meh for a huge performance hit. DLSS is really the killer app for the RTX cards, but not every game has it.

 

True, real world implementation of ray-tracing is far from where it needs to be. I figure it'll be at least 2-3 more generations of graphics cards where we can have a good assortment of games with real-time ray tracing that's actually playable at 4K/60. It's really just a gimmick at the moment, which is why the 6800 XT has very much been high up on my wish list. But the supply issues and brutal price scalping means you're paying as much for the GPU as the entire rest of your system combined  

[Cash or Czech]

1 hour ago, Karan said:

 

Yeah that's a substantial price gap for sure at this mid-range CPU market. Over here the 5600X and 12600K are just $10 apart so it would be a no brainer to go with the latter due to the impressive strides made in the Alder Lake architecture. 

Choosing a suitable Z690 motherboard for the 12600K was bit of a headache for sure. In the end I landed on a MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 version (around $225). The DDR5 versions are wayyy too overpriced right now, not to mention DDR5 RAM itself is ridiculous inflated and on short supply. 

 

I personally liked the Define 7 as it comes with 3 x 140mm fans, a top panel that can be swapped out for a vented one, and a solid front door that can be opened during heavy duty usage to get more airflow to the 2 x 140mm front intake fans through the grill, which based on testing dropped case temperatures by 10C. Plus it has sound deadening panels which was a big deal for me as keeping overall case noise down was a big factor for me. 

 

I've been tempted a few times over the last couple months to buy a 3080/6800 XT at scalper pricing (around $1,400 at the moment), but I feel like I would be majorly regretting it in 6 months time when the next-gen nVidia and AMD GPUs launch and the current gen prices come back closer to MSRP. So I'll probably play the waiting game until Black Friday before doing my system build.

 

Just do the galaxy brain move and get a prebuilt for the GPU, and then sell everything else. What GPU are you rocking now?

 

The fans are huge, that's always a shortcoming with most cases. My current rig in the Corsair 4000D came with 2 120s I think? I ended up spending a stupid amount on 6 RGB fans. And as a newly-30 year old, I can do the non-RGB build as an "angry, get off my lawn" kinda guy now. 

[Karan]

6 minutes ago, Cash or Czech said:

 

Just do the galaxy brain move and get a prebuilt for the GPU, and then sell everything else. What GPU are you rocking now?

 

The fans are huge, that's always a shortcoming with most cases. My current rig in the Corsair 4000D came with 2 120s I think? I ended up spending a stupid amount on 6 RGB fans. And as a newly-30 year old, I can do the non-RGB build as an "angry, get off my lawn" kinda guy now. 

 

Yeah that's definitely an option for sure, and minimize the pain on buying a standalone GPU.

At least you have a 3070, I'm still running a 1060 6GB from like 2017. Although my PC gaming usage has dropped drastically since I got the Xbox Series X. Which is why I haven't been in too big of a rush to complete my new build in the current GPU climate. 

 

The regular Fractical Torrent comes with giant 2 x 180mm front intake fans and 3 x 140mm bottom intake! That was probably the review I saw, with regards to all the sound it makes. The Torrent Compact or Nano should be much quieter. I guess it all depends on your usage though. Heavy duty gaming in a warm environment will have those smaller fans running at max RPM, rather than the bigger fans at lower.

[Cash or Czech]

1 hour ago, Karan said:

 

Yeah that's definitely an option for sure, and minimize the pain on buying a standalone GPU.

At least you have a 3070, I'm still running a 1060 6GB from like 2017. Although my PC gaming usage has dropped drastically since I got the Xbox Series X. Which is why I haven't been in too big of a rush to complete my new build in the current GPU climate. 

 

The regular Fractical Torrent comes with giant 2 x 180mm front intake fans and 3 x 140mm bottom intake! That was probably the review I saw, with regards to all the sound it makes. The Torrent Compact or Nano should be much quieter. I guess it all depends on your usage though. Heavy duty gaming in a warm environment will have those smaller fans running at max RPM, rather than the bigger fans at lower.

My wife makes fun of me. I want the mITX build, a 65% keyboard (I’m all in on the custom mechanical keyboard train), but a bigger desk. She’s like, you’re gonna be this big man with a tiny little keyboard and honestly now I just wanna drive her nuts with it LOL

 

Here’s a review of the Nano btw: 

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Cash or Czech

[LindG1000]

2 hours ago, Cash or Czech said:

 

Just do the galaxy brain move and get a prebuilt for the GPU, and then sell everything else. What GPU are you rocking now?

 

The fans are huge, that's always a shortcoming with most cases. My current rig in the Corsair 4000D came with 2 120s I think? I ended up spending a stupid amount on 6 RGB fans. And as a newly-30 year old, I can do the non-RGB build as an "angry, get off my lawn" kinda guy now. 

I've seriously considered doing this given the batshit prices of GPUs right now. Not sure it's worth the effort though.

[Cash or Czech]

12 hours ago, G1000 said:

I've seriously considered doing this given the batshit prices of GPUs right now. Not sure it's worth the effort though.

 

There's a ton of GPU-less PCs on eBay, FB Marketplace, and elsewhere so yeah it'd be a tough sell. Only other thing I can think of is give the other system to a wife/child so you don't have to share, or throw your old graphics card in and sell it as a full system.

[LindG1000]

1 hour ago, Cash or Czech said:

 

There's a ton of GPU-less PCs on eBay, FB Marketplace, and elsewhere so yeah it'd be a tough sell. Only other thing I can think of is give the other system to a wife/child so you don't have to share, or throw your old graphics card in and sell it as a full system.

My old graphics card is a 1060ti, so I'm not really sure if it makes sense to do that. 

 

Honestly just waiting for the prices/supply chain to calm down a little and hoping my card doesn't burn out, since my little dude is far too young and my wife straight up does not care to game.

 

The "side caveat" so to speak is that I'm running some components that are quite old; I'm on a 9 year old power supply (I bought it upmarket), an 8 year old SSD and a few other components that aren't showing signs of wear or risk, but it'd be handy to have spares around. It doesn't justify the cost of the full build, but if I could get a prebuilt with a 30 series RTX at a reasonable cost when the other components are considered, I'd probably accept it.

[Karan]

On 2/17/2022 at 6:33 AM, Cash or Czech said:

 

There's a ton of GPU-less PCs on eBay, FB Marketplace, and elsewhere so yeah it'd be a tough sell. Only other thing I can think of is give the other system to a wife/child so you don't have to share, or throw your old graphics card in and sell it as a full system.

 

Yeah it would be a tough sell and quite honestly if you buy a pre-packed desktop like a Dell Alienware, the other components are frankly low quality crap from 10 years ago and wouldn't get you much. So effectively you're paying their bloated $2-3K price just to get a GPU and then getting peanuts back for the rest of it. 

[Karan]

 

 

 

By the way, if any of you are still using Newegg for any new or open box items, I would simply say...don't. Not until they clean up their shady business practices. I used them a fair bit in the past, and even got stuck with some DOA parts, which I thought at the time was just a one-off. But turns out they've been screwing tons of other people with these shady practices and finally got unlucky by selling a broken motherboard to Steve of Gamers Nexus. Take a look, definitely worth a watch.

 

 

 

 

[siddious]

Good to know. I have used them quite a bit in the past though I tend to stay away from open box items as a general rule 

[Cash or Czech]

I swear by Microcenter for the most part. It's like the mecca of PC enthusiasts. 10/10 would recommend if you live within an hour of one. Such an amazing experience.

[Karan]

5 minutes ago, Cash or Czech said:

I swear by Microcenter for the most part. It's like the mecca of PC enthusiasts. 10/10 would recommend if you live within an hour of one. Such an amazing experience.

 

Always heard good things about Microcentre. I'm so envious of you guys in the US that have one near you haha I guess our Canadian equivalent would be Memory Express, but on a much smaller scale.