PC Pc Gaming/building thread

[blackshadow]

I'm never buying a non hot-swap/backplane desktop chassis ever again.

Careful or you’ll end up as a laptop guy…

 

[sataris]

Careful or you’ll end up as a laptop guy…

We can no longer be lovers.

 

[blackshadow]

We can no longer be lovers.

 

[dwwaino]

Anyone looking at upgrading in the next 12 months? And what are looking at? Ryzen 9000 is going to be pretty uninspiring for our more gaming use cases and even if the X3D stuff turns out to be a monster the 7800x3d will still probably be the best value for any high end builds. The 800 motherboards equally boring except it might be worth seeing if there are any more b850e options over b650e if you want to future proof your board for an extra generation just in case graphics cards requiring the bandwidth of pcie 5.0 ever becomes a thing.

I really want to air cool next time but the more I learn how 7000 works I think I might stick with AIO. We'll see. I have an unplanned bathroom renovation happening shortly so there might not be any new toys for me anyway lol.

 

[Xtreme]

Purchased another new laptop last week on a whim (2024 version of the ASUS TUF A15 - essentially the same laptop as the 2021 model that I own, just updated grunt in the machine).

I've already semi upgraded it a week later - purchased a new ram kit going from 16 to 64 (just because lol).
And have added a secondary SSD (4tb).

I'll replace the O/S SSD with another 4TB ssd in the next little while (maybe 3ish months time ? gotta let the wallet recover haha).

 

[dwwaino]

Purchased another new laptop last week on a whim (2024 version of the ASUS TUF A15 - essentially the same laptop as the 2021 model that I own, just updated grunt in the machine).

I've already semi upgraded it a week later - purchased a new ram kit going from 16 to 64 (just because lol).
And have added a secondary SSD (4tb).

I'll replace the O/S SSD with another 4TB ssd in the next little while (maybe 3ish months time ? gotta let the wallet recover haha).

The A15 TUF is actually a pretty decent line of laptops IMO. They always have actual gamer specs, priced affordably and have good sales. I got one years ago just for VSTs and guitar amp sims as well as some light programming and it is really good. I'll happily buy another in the future when I need to.

 

[dwwaino]

I did a thing. So now we know how underwhelming Ryzen 9000 is and I've seen on a lot of communities that those on Zen 3/equivalent or older who were waiting for Zen 5 have decided to either just grab a 5800/5700x3d or build into 7800x3d. I've listened to American Home Shopping man (PC Builder Channel on YouTube) that the current 7800x3d price is the best it's going to be for quite a while and will probably be in high demand. Even more so as the 9000x3d CPUs will likely launch at a higher price because it's easier to reduce a price later on.

I figured if 7800x3d will be popular then so will 2x16gb 6000mhz cl30 memory. An EXPO ready Trident Z5 kit was on sale at Scorptec as well as the 7800x3d (actually regular price everywhere else) so I grabbed both and they can sit in my draw for 6 months.

 

[Xtreme]

The A15 TUF is actually a pretty decent line of laptops IMO. They always have actual gamer specs, priced affordably and have good sales.

Indeed, I've been having lots of fun mucking around with it so far. Even though the leap in technology isn't that big (Ryzen™ 9 8945H vs Ryzen 7 5800 and 4070 vs 3070). Seeing the difference in time it takes to encode videos and having more power in games.. it's just wild.

My next goal is to FINALLY implement my plan of a new pc.

I've moaned about it on here the dream of a mini pc (almost a media pc even though they're not in fashion these days lol) - but being unable to fully commit to it.

I might just satisfy the urge temporarily with a NUC device.

 

[Ry009]

Getting backpay from work in a few weeks and in the market to get a handheld, and throwing up between a Rog Ally X and Legion Go. They're all first or 1.5 gen devices - so all have their flaws and +.

Ironically - hearing some of the stories about warranties online about Asus is making me a think about not getting the Rog Ally. If it was a few generations in, would consider it.

 

[dwwaino]

Getting backpay from work in a few weeks and in the market to get a handheld, and throwing up between a Rog Ally X and Legion Go. They're all first or 1.5 gen devices - so all have their flaws and +.

Ironically - hearing some of the stories about warranties online about Asus is making me a think about not getting the Rog Ally. If it was a few generations in, would consider it.

I can't vouch for any of them but I read the other day that Valve are developing a SteamOS for the Ally. That might be something to consider too.

 

[Supersuns]

Not sure if this is the correct thread for it but recently purchased a AYN Odin 2, handheld emulator, can run everything up until and including PS2 and Gamecube with absolutely 0 sweat. Highly recommended if anyone is looking into some retro gaming. This thing is a monster.

 

[dav3]

Getting backpay from work in a few weeks and in the market to get a handheld, and throwing up between a Rog Ally X and Legion Go. They're all first or 1.5 gen devices - so all have their flaws and +.

Ironically - hearing some of the stories about warranties online about Asus is making me a think about not getting the Rog Ally. If it was a few generations in, would consider it.

Without trying to sound like one of "those people" Australian consumer law should help, you can put it on the retailer to sort it out.

 

[dav3]

Anyone looking at upgrading in the next 12 months? And what are looking at? Ryzen 9000 is going to be pretty uninspiring for our more gaming use cases and even if the X3D stuff turns out to be a monster the 7800x3d will still probably be the best value for any high end builds. The 800 motherboards equally boring except it might be worth seeing if there are any more b850e options over b650e if you want to future proof your board for an extra generation just in case graphics cards requiring the bandwidth of pcie 5.0 ever becomes a thing.

I really want to air cool next time but the more I learn how 7000 works I think I might stick with AIO. We'll see. I have an unplanned bathroom renovation happening shortly so there might not be any new toys for me anyway lol.

Might look at a 5080 when they get announced, maybe a motherboard too if there's an AM4 board with PCIe 5.0, and most likely a power supply (1000W+)

 

[dwwaino]

Might look at a 5080 when they get announced, maybe a motherboard too if there's an AM4 board with PCIe 5.0, and most likely a power supply (1000W+)

Months ago I'd have said the AM4 platform is dead but AMD are still releasing new CPUs for it and I wouldn't be surprised if some more motherboards come as well. AM4 and especially Zen 3 is surely hall of fame worthy. I'm a bit relieved too because when I was helping my bro in law build his first PC recently he was partly interested in the upgrade potential. So I was trying to help him build on AM4 with a budget while trying not to discourage him that the 9000 series was just around the corner on the different socket. Now that 9000 looks like it's going to be targetting more workstation and productivity, and new Zen 3 CPUs are releasing I feel so much better. He's already looking at future upgrades so I might get him onto a 5800x3d or something and try and flog my 4080 off to him at a family discount when I upgrade myself.

With my CPU and RAM sorted I pretty much know where I'm going with the rest of it so I can just sit on my shopping list until the prices are good. I've found the case I want so I'm just going to wait until it goes on sale. M.2 storage will probably go on sale during Black Friday sales so I'll wait until then. Then I'm going to wait until probably a 5080 like you which sounds like it is being pushed back to early next year.

 

[HirdyLannister]

Not sure if this is the correct thread for it but recently purchased a AYN Odin 2, handheld emulator, can run everything up until and including PS2 and Gamecube with absolutely 0 sweat. Highly recommended if anyone is looking into some retro gaming. This thing is a monster.
View attachment 2085319

Is it touch screen? How you use chrome etc

 

[Supersuns]

Is it touch screen? How you use chrome etc

It is touch screen as well. It's pretty much an Android tablet with controllers on the end. Powerful as hell tho

 

[blackshadow]

Months ago I'd have said the AM4 platform is dead but AMD are still releasing new CPUs for it and I wouldn't be surprised if some more motherboards come as well. AM4 and especially Zen 3 is surely hall of fame worthy. I'm a bit relieved too because when I was helping my bro in law build his first PC recently he was partly interested in the upgrade potential. So I was trying to help him build on AM4 with a budget while trying not to discourage him that the 9000 series was just around the corner on the different socket. Now that 9000 looks like it's going to be targetting more workstation and productivity, and new Zen 3 CPUs are releasing I feel so much better. He's already looking at future upgrades so I might get him onto a 5800x3d or something and try and flog my 4080 off to him at a family discount when I upgrade myself.

With my CPU and RAM sorted I pretty much know where I'm going with the rest of it so I can just sit on my shopping list until the prices are good. I've found the case I want so I'm just going to wait until it goes on sale. M.2 storage will probably go on sale during Black Friday sales so I'll wait until then. Then I'm going to wait until probably a 5080 like you which sounds like it is being pushed back to early next year.

Which case?

 

[dav3]

Months ago I'd have said the AM4 platform is dead but AMD are still releasing new CPUs for it and I wouldn't be surprised if some more motherboards come as well. AM4 and especially Zen 3 is surely hall of fame worthy. I'm a bit relieved too because when I was helping my bro in law build his first PC recently he was partly interested in the upgrade potential. So I was trying to help him build on AM4 with a budget while trying not to discourage him that the 9000 series was just around the corner on the different socket. Now that 9000 looks like it's going to be targetting more workstation and productivity, and new Zen 3 CPUs are releasing I feel so much better. He's already looking at future upgrades so I might get him onto a 5800x3d or something and try and flog my 4080 off to him at a family discount when I upgrade myself.

With my CPU and RAM sorted I pretty much know where I'm going with the rest of it so I can just sit on my shopping list until the prices are good. I've found the case I want so I'm just going to wait until it goes on sale. M.2 storage will probably go on sale during Black Friday sales so I'll wait until then. Then I'm going to wait until probably a 5080 like you which sounds like it is being pushed back to early next year.

PCIe5 would only be on the cards to take more advantage of the GPU, even without that performance should be solid on a 5800x3D. They might still be pushing AM4 but I'm not sure they'll shoehorn PCIe5 into a modified chipset and convince manufacturers to add it to their range.

 

[dwwaino]

Which case?

NZXT H7 Flow got a 2024 revision that's partially dual chamber.

Actually had a hard time finding something I that I liked and considered just reusing my H710. The trends at the moment are front to back air flow (we can thank Gamers Nexus for that I guess) or dual chamber fish tanks. Then when I was looking through the ones I had shortlisted on Scorptec I saw the H7 Flow got a revision and it's exactly what I was after.

 

[dwwaino]

PCIe5 would only be on the cards to take more advantage of the GPU, even without that performance should be solid on a 5800x3D. They might still be pushing AM4 but I'm not sure they'll shoehorn PCIe5 into a modified chipset and convince manufacturers to add it to their range.

b550 and x570 are still in production and in demand and with new Zen 3 CPUs I don't think I'd be surprised to at least see some revisions. You're right about the pcie stuff though. Pcie 4 GPUs aren't even saturating pcie 3 so I doubt that if 5000 are pcie 5 they will be bottlenecked what so ever by a pcie 4 slot. Even the pcie 5 SSDs are a waste of money at the moment. I like the b650e/coming b850e stuff due to the improved VRMs, passive cooling, M.2 support and overall quality improvement but coming with a mandatory pcie 5 slot is a nice to have bonus. Though I won't lose any sleep if I only end up with a non-e with no pcie 5 support even if that's what the RTX 5000 GPUs are.

 

[blackshadow]

NZXT H7 Flow got a 2024 revision that's partially dual chamber.

Actually had a hard time finding something I that I liked and considered just reusing my H710. The trends at the moment are front to back air flow (we can thank Gamers Nexus for that I guess) or dual chamber fish tanks. Then when I was looking through the ones I had shortlisted on Scorptec I saw the H7 Flow got a revision and it's exactly what I was after.

Cool.

I'm loving my dual chamber fish tank (Lian Li Dynamic Mini) with a boatload of fans but if I was going to so a build in the near future I think I'd go for a stealth build something like a Be Quiet Dark Base 701. I like the idea of a black monolith with just a hint of lighting.

 

[dwwaino]

Cool.

I'm loving my dual chamber fish tank (Lian Li Dynamic Mini) with a boatload of fans but if I was going to so a build in the near future I think I'd go for a stealth build something like a Be Quiet Dark Base 701. I like the idea of a black monolith with just a hint of lighting.

I like the fish tanks too but more when I see custom loops, heaps of gear/customisation and lighting. Just not really for what I want to do though. Then heaps of other stuff at the moment are front to back air flow cases with no top fan support, small mid towers where everything is cramped or behemoth "XL" cases. When I saw the updated H7 Flow flipped the PSU mount to vertical to a quasi dual chamber opening up some cooling options it went straight to the top of my list.

I'm doing a similar build style to what you want to do, mostly stealth with a hint of lighting. This H7 comes with 3x120 black fans which I'll move to the bottom and will chuck 3x140 nzxt duos (the ones with the ring RGB) in the front for the only lighting. Then black custom cabling etc.

I'm hoping ASRock do another black Taichi when the b850e motherboards come out because that would be perfect for a stealth build. Otherwise might have to overpay for an MSI Carbon or something.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Anyone looking at upgrading in the next 12 months?

Me!

Before Windows 10 support ends.

Current PC

i7-6700K, 16GB RAM, GTX 980 Ti (processor doesn't support Windows 11, motherboard doesn't support processors that do, etc etc etc)

Was an ABSOLUTE BEAST ... 9 years ago (ordered it on the 01/09/15, so less than two weeks away from it's 9th birthday!)

All I've done since then is add a second 2TB HDD, and a 500GB NVMe SSD to go with the 120GB SSD (for Windows) and 2TB HDD (for everything else) it came with. Current situation is OG 120GB SSD for Windows 10 and other non-gaming programs like Office. 500GB NVMe SSD was originally for Cyberpunk 2077, but since I finished it I only have the three Warhammer Total War games on there, one 2TB HDD is for Steam, and the other is for all other games (old school disc-based games that don't use Steam, and games I have on Origin, GOG, Ubisoft Connect etc).

Probably saved about half of what I intend to spend, and I intend to go all out again like I did 9 years ago. Have yet to start serious research, but hoping to buy a new system either EOFY sales next year, or around current PC's 10th birthday for the symmetry (but I am wary of the cost of components skyrocketing the closer we get to the end of Windows 10).

Currently contemplating one big arse 4k monitor, or three 1080p monitors for the immersion

Current monitor is a single 24 inch 1080p. Even the (dual) monitors I have at work shit all over it now. Hell, even my WORK PC shits all over my so-called gaming PC. They have ****ing 3080s inside them for some reason

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Another thing I thought of, and I have no idea if it's even possible, but to have one 4k monitor and 2 1080p monitors on each side. Ideally identical monitors, just different resolutions. Then if I want the immersion, I can run all three in 1080p resolution, or if the game doesn't support triple monitors, or the immersion isn't as important, or I just want pretty graphics, I can just run the single 4k monitor

Like I said I have yet to start serious research.

 

[dwwaino]

Me!

Before Windows 10 support ends.

Current PC

i7-6700K, 16GB RAM, GTX 980 Ti (processor doesn't support Windows 11, motherboard doesn't support processors that do, etc etc etc)

Was an ABSOLUTE BEAST ... 9 years ago (ordered it on the 01/09/15, so less than two weeks away from it's 9th birthday!)

All I've done since then is add a second 2TB HDD, and a 500GB NVMe SSD to go with the 120GB SSD (for Windows) and 2TB HDD (for everything else) it came with. Current situation is OG 120GB SSD for Windows 10 and other non-gaming programs like Office. 500GB NVMe SSD was originally for Cyberpunk 2077, but since I finished it I only have the three Warhammer Total War games on there, one 2TB HDD is for Steam, and the other is for all other games (old school disc-based games that don't use Steam, and games I have on Origin, GOG, Ubisoft Connect etc).

Probably saved about half of what I intend to spend, and I intend to go all out again like I did 9 years ago. Have yet to start serious research, but hoping to buy a new system either EOFY sales next year, or around current PC's 10th birthday for the symmetry (but I am wary of the cost of components skyrocketing the closer we get to the end of Windows 10).

Currently contemplating one big arse 4k monitor, or three 1080p monitors for the immersion

Current monitor is a single 24 inch 1080p. Even the (dual) monitors I have at work shit all over it now. Hell, even my WORK PC shits all over my so-called gaming PC. They have ****ing 3080s inside them for some reason

Man I used to have a 980. I bet you run into all sorts of vram issues with a lot of newer games now?

Another thing I thought of, and I have no idea if it's even possible, but to have one 4k monitor and 2 1080p monitors on each side. Ideally identical monitors, just different resolutions. Then if I want the immersion, I can run all three in 1080p resolution, or if the game doesn't support triple monitors, or the immersion isn't as important, or I just want pretty graphics, I can just run the single 4k monitor

Like I said I have yet to start serious research.

That can work smoothly because 4K is exactly twice the resolution where as 1440p doesn't scale down to 1080p as well. However if you wanted to still use 1080 monitors then you wouldn't want to go bigger than 27" (well I wouldn't, you might want to check it out first) because 1080 starts to look bad from 27. Then for 4K anything under 32" you might want to use Windows scaling because text at native 4K is tiny.

If I were to make a suggestion I'd look at a good 32" 4K or 34" ultra wide (3440*1440) for immersion then if you wanted another monitor for whatever it doesn't have to match.