Gaming Building a gaming PC

Adamsk7

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Nice build, didn't know there where 3060Ti gpus. My 2060 super is already good enough for me so your setup should definitely be a a good value in terms of the performance you're getting.
Thanks, yeah it should see me through a good few years - it felt quite a risky build considering it took me the best part of half a year to source the components and it was my first build in a long time. There’s plenty to go wrong there, not only in user error but also maybe a DOA part I couldn’t test. Glad it’s worked out.

The 2060 super should keep you going for a fair while. Think the 3060Ti is 2070 Super range - I did want a 3070 but they were even harder to get!
 

Adamsk7

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Nice!

I am super pumped right now.

It'll be a little bottlenecked by my i5-8400 but who cares not me nope! Now, to change my first ever GPU...

Edit: There's like 30 available right now at the place i got it.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/gigabyte-g...ress-graphics-card-gv-n3070gaming-oc-8gd.html
https://www.awd-it.co.uk/gigabyte-g...xpress-graphics-card-gv-n3070aorus-m-8gd.html
That’s a beast! Congrats. Those MSI cards are bloody huge - looking at mine in my case, I’m pretty sure the 3060Ti Gaming Trio that I did have on preorder at one point before the Gigabyte was available would have gone over the hard drive bay!
 

iluvoursolskjær

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That’s a beast! Congrats. Those MSI cards are bloody huge - looking at mine in my case, I’m pretty sure the 3060Ti Gaming Trio that I did have on preorder at one point before the Gigabyte was available would have gone over the hard drive bay!
Thanks bro! You're right it is pretty heavy duty but fortunately when I knew very little about pc gaming and ordered my pre built pc I got one that came in a big masterbox lite 5 case. The motherboard is a bit small though and I'm having to remove the wireless pci express adapter but thank god I can move my Wi-Fi router to where the desk is situated for the ethernet cable while I find an alternative.
 

Redlambs

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Nice!

I am super pumped right now.

It'll be a little bottlenecked by my i5-8400 but who cares not me nope! Now, to change my first ever GPU...

Edit: There's like 30 available right now at the place i got it.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/gigabyte-g...ress-graphics-card-gv-n3070gaming-oc-8gd.html
https://www.awd-it.co.uk/gigabyte-g...xpress-graphics-card-gv-n3070aorus-m-8gd.html
I have an i7 4770k with an Aorus 3070 (with the little tamagochi screen :lol:) and the bottleneck isn't severe at all. You can fine tune each game to minimalise it further.

Good buy! Shouldn't have much issue installing it, hopefully you have a crowbar to bend the shit out of your case ;)
 

Bojan11

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Managed to get away from BoTW DLC @Fortitude. Cable management could be better is a understatement, but all the RGB distract people away from that. I installed a new AIO cooler with the card and that was a bitch to install. One of the case fans is not working, but I just need cable for that. Those 3070 cards above are nothing compared to the size of the 3090. Might get a riser cable, so I can move the card and will help with the cable management. I underestimated the size of the card until it was in my hands.

Just tried Doom Eternal practice arena, Halo Reach and some Gears Hive. Got the mod support for Outer Worlds because it doesn’t properly support Ultrawide, which is shit.

Anyway here are some pics. Let me know what you think. That goes for you too @esmufc07 as you apparently a PC gamer now too. And yes I can add a picture of Elvis on the AIO OLED, but I’m not going to because I don’t like looking at pigs.


 

iluvoursolskjær

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I have an i7 4770k with an Aorus 3070 (with the little tamagochi screen :lol:) and the bottleneck isn't severe at all. You can fine tune each game to minimalise it further.

Good buy! Shouldn't have much issue installing it, hopefully you have a crowbar to bend the shit out of your case ;)
The closest thing I've ever had to a pet :lol:

Yeah I read somewhere it's bottlenecked to 9% [no Idea how they come to these numbers of course] so it's not terrible really, I'll be sure to mess around with the tuning as you mentioned, though I'm happy enough just to be above 40 frames on Cyberpunk atm :D

Believe it or not there's still enough space for another SSD and fan beside it :lol:
 

iluvoursolskjær

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Managed to get away from BoTW DLC @Fortitude. Cable management could be better is a understatement, but all the RGB distract people away from that. I installed a new AIO cooler with the card and that was a bitch to install. One of the case fans is not working, but I just need cable for that. Those 3070 cards above are nothing compared to the size of the 3090. Might get a riser cable, so I can move the card and will help with the cable management. I underestimated the size of the card until it was in my hands.

Just tried Doom Eternal practice arena, Halo Reach and some Gears Hive. Got the mod support for Outer Worlds because it doesn’t properly support Ultrawide, which is shit.

Anyway here are some pics. Let me know what you think. That goes for you too @esmufc07 as you apparently a PC gamer now too. And yes I can add a picture of Elvis on the AIO OLED, but I’m not going to because I don’t like looking at pigs.


very pretty. cables galore though!
 

mazhar13

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Out of curiosity, what do you guys recommend for 144 Hz 1440p (16:9) IPS monitors? I've looked at a bunch and have the following in my shortlist:
  • LG 32GK650F-B
  • LG 32GK850F-B
  • LG 27GL83A-B
  • LG 27GL850-B
  • ViewSonic VX2768-2KPC-MHD
I'm still undecided on which one of those to get, but I'm looking to get one now that I've secured a 3070.
 

Bojan11

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Out of curiosity, what do you guys recommend for 144 Hz 1440p (16:9) IPS monitors? I've looked at a bunch and have the following in my shortlist:
  • LG 32GK650F-B
  • LG 32GK850F-B
  • LG 27GL83A-B
  • LG 27GL850-B
  • ViewSonic VX2768-2KPC-MHD
I'm still undecided on which one of those to get, but I'm looking to get one now that I've secured a 3070.
GL850 is good, but the HDR isn’t great on it. You can say that about a lot of monitors though including the ones in the higher price range. Have a look at the Dell S3220GDF.

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/dell/s3220dgf

Securing a monitor probably will be tricky too. I had a look for GL850 and there’s none in stock. Which is pretty much the case for a lot of PC stuff.
 

mazhar13

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GL850 is good, but the HDR isn’t great on it. You can say that about a lot of monitors though including the ones in the higher price range. Have a look at the Dell S3220GDF.

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/dell/s3220dgf

Securing a monitor probably will be tricky too. I had a look for GL850 and there’s none in stock. Which is pretty much the case for a lot of PC stuff.
From what I can see, the GL850 is available in Amazon Canada for 500 CAD. The only monitor that's not available in Canada (for me) is last one (ViewSonic VX2768).

Thanks for the Dell recommendation. However, from what I've read and heard from a friend, VA displays tend to have ghosting issues in higher frequencies (though from what I read about the first two LG monitors, the ghosting is apparently almost nonexistent). Would you say that this is typically the case with VA displays? Other than that, the Dell monitor does seem pretty sweet.

With that said, I forgot to mention my budget. Ideally, I'd like to not go above 500 CAD, but I'm okay with going up to 600 CAD at most (if the monitor is way better than the rest). With that said, I'm sure that the European market is likely to be different, so feel free to provide further recommendations and advice (if any) without having to worry about either availability or price.
 

esmufc07

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Managed to get away from BoTW DLC @Fortitude. Cable management could be better is a understatement, but all the RGB distract people away from that. I installed a new AIO cooler with the card and that was a bitch to install. One of the case fans is not working, but I just need cable for that. Those 3070 cards above are nothing compared to the size of the 3090. Might get a riser cable, so I can move the card and will help with the cable management. I underestimated the size of the card until it was in my hands.

Just tried Doom Eternal practice arena, Halo Reach and some Gears Hive. Got the mod support for Outer Worlds because it doesn’t properly support Ultrawide, which is shit.

Anyway here are some pics. Let me know what you think. That goes for you too @esmufc07 as you apparently a PC gamer now too. And yes I can add a picture of Elvis on the AIO OLED, but I’m not going to because I don’t like looking at pigs.


Looks great mate. How much all in?
 

Massive Spanner

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Managed to get away from BoTW DLC @Fortitude. Cable management could be better is a understatement, but all the RGB distract people away from that. I installed a new AIO cooler with the card and that was a bitch to install. One of the case fans is not working, but I just need cable for that. Those 3070 cards above are nothing compared to the size of the 3090. Might get a riser cable, so I can move the card and will help with the cable management. I underestimated the size of the card until it was in my hands.

Just tried Doom Eternal practice arena, Halo Reach and some Gears Hive. Got the mod support for Outer Worlds because it doesn’t properly support Ultrawide, which is shit.

Anyway here are some pics. Let me know what you think. That goes for you too @esmufc07 as you apparently a PC gamer now too. And yes I can add a picture of Elvis on the AIO OLED, but I’m not going to because I don’t like looking at pigs.


What's with the cable management you sick feck?
 

Fortitude

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Managed to get away from BoTW DLC @Fortitude. Cable management could be better is a understatement, but all the RGB distract people away from that. I installed a new AIO cooler with the card and that was a bitch to install. One of the case fans is not working, but I just need cable for that. Those 3070 cards above are nothing compared to the size of the 3090. Might get a riser cable, so I can move the card and will help with the cable management. I underestimated the size of the card until it was in my hands.

Just tried Doom Eternal practice arena, Halo Reach and some Gears Hive. Got the mod support for Outer Worlds because it doesn’t properly support Ultrawide, which is shit.

Anyway here are some pics. Let me know what you think. That goes for you too @esmufc07 as you apparently a PC gamer now too. And yes I can add a picture of Elvis on the AIO OLED, but I’m not going to because I don’t like looking at pigs.


Very nice. Glad you're up and running; was waiting on your report about performance; did you attempt any OC tweaking or are factory out the box for now?

The cabling needs work, but can obviously be done in your own time. re. the size of these cards; I know they're monstrously enormous and the weight of them is absolutely ridiculous. A prime candidate for bending or breaking connect points if not housed correctly from the outset!

I did wonder about UltraWide support, but thought those issues are maybe a thing of the past in terms of getting fully optimised. Is that something you're going to encounter with any kind of frequency or is it mostly a non-issue these days?
 

Bojan11

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Looks great mate. How much all in?
Monitor and GPU alone are worth more than 10 digital PS5s. So I will let you guess from there.


From what I can see, the GL850 is available in Amazon Canada for 500 CAD. The only monitor that's not available in Canada (for me) is last one (ViewSonic VX2768).

Thanks for the Dell recommendation. However, from what I've read and heard from a friend, VA displays tend to have ghosting issues in higher frequencies (though from what I read about the first two LG monitors, the ghosting is apparently almost nonexistent). Would you say that this is typically the case with VA displays? Other than that, the Dell monitor does seem pretty sweet.

With that said, I forgot to mention my budget. Ideally, I'd like to not go above 500 CAD, but I'm okay with going up to 600 CAD at most (if the monitor is way better than the rest). With that said, I'm sure that the European market is likely to be different, so feel free to provide further recommendations and advice (if any) without having to worry about either availability or price.
Yeah the Dell monitor will probably have ghosting. Samsung G7 would be a better VA panel as that pretty much doesn’t have ghosting and has fast response times, I think it’s 1ms. The only issue with that is the build qualities on G7 and G9 are like Russian roulette. @Igor Drefljak has a G9 and I think he’s happy with it.

The Dell S2721DGF is another one you should add to the list as it is rated best 1440p monitor on digital foundry and uses the same panel as the GL850, but has a higher refresh rate of 165hz compared to 144hz on the LG. Not a big difference, but if you choosing the LG then have a look at how much the Dell is. If the Dell is cheaper then go for that.

Another two which use the same panels are AG273QZ/HP OMEN X 27, which are 1440p and 240hz. The acer is £470 on Amazon. It is a TN panel, so the screen quality won’t be as good as the above IPS panels, but the refresh rate will be a lot better. So depends what type of game are you going to play. If it’s single player games then the LG and Dell would be better suited. If it’s fast paced multiplayer games then the Acer and HP are for you.

The last one I would recommend is the most expensive out of the lot and more if you want to play games in 4K, which is the GN950. It was something I was considering before I decided on a Ultra wide monitor because screen quality wise it is pretty amazing. LG have been doing a good job with their TVS and now the monitors seem to be up there with the best.

Very nice. Glad you're up and running; was waiting on your report about performance; did you attempt any OC tweaking or are factory out the box for now?

The cabling needs work, but can obviously be done in your own time. re. the size of these cards; I know they're monstrously enormous and the weight of them is absolutely ridiculous. A prime candidate for bending or breaking connect points if not housed correctly from the outset!

I did wonder about UltraWide support, but thought those issues are maybe a thing of the past in terms of getting fully optimised. Is that something you're going to encounter with any kind of frequency or is it mostly a non-issue these days?
I left it as factory settings because it took me a while with the AIO cooler to install. So I just wanted to play.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...tj0E3x_fsExmypGTiQnM7YJtQD7KMcRRoCdrAQAvD_BwE

I will probably get one of these in the future, so I can move the GPU, which will allow space. At the moment it’s fine and temperatures are good, so not in a rush yet.

Outer Worlds is a 2019 game, so it’s disappointing if you want to play at 1440p ultrawide there’s no official support. The mod support fixed it. I was surprised as I was expecting Alan Wake to be played with borders because that’s from 2010. But not something that’s come out recently. Once I finished the BoTW DLC, I want to try Cyberpunk, but don’t want to feel short changed when there’s a better version in 6 months. Even having a 3000 series card doesn’t escape you from some of the issues. It’s probably that, Horizon or Outer worlds.

Did you get your TV? Just mentioning as LG are unveiling some new TVs next week. I don’t think there will be a big difference from 2020 models. But with every year like Plasmas back in the day you would expect the burn in issues to be improved with each new model.
 

Bojan11

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Yikes.

I would like one in the future so if/when I make the leap I’ll let you build one for me.
Would be happy to.

You leave your card with me and don’t worry about a thing.

May I ask, why the sudden interest in building a PC? You are a Sony and Apple fanboy. Why do you want to jump from macs to PC?
 

esmufc07

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Would be happy to.

You leave your card with me and don’t worry about a thing.

May I ask, why the sudden interest in building a PC? You are a Sony and Apple fanboy. Why do you want to jump from macs to PC?
I just like the idea of a PC set up one day. I used to play PC mainly in the early 00’s (Morrowind was a favourite).

Think I’d be crap with a keyboard and mouse now though.
 

mazhar13

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Yeah the Dell monitor will probably have ghosting. Samsung G7 would be a better VA panel as that pretty much doesn’t have ghosting and has fast response times, I think it’s 1ms. The only issue with that is the build qualities on G7 and G9 are like Russian roulette. @Igor Drefljak has a G9 and I think he’s happy with it.

The Dell S2721DGF is another one you should add to the list as it is rated best 1440p monitor on digital foundry and uses the same panel as the GL850, but has a higher refresh rate of 165hz compared to 144hz on the LG. Not a big difference, but if you choosing the LG then have a look at how much the Dell is. If the Dell is cheaper then go for that.

Another two which use the same panels are AG273QZ/HP OMEN X 27, which are 1440p and 240hz. The acer is £470 on Amazon. It is a TN panel, so the screen quality won’t be as good as the above IPS panels, but the refresh rate will be a lot better. So depends what type of game are you going to play. If it’s single player games then the LG and Dell would be better suited. If it’s fast paced multiplayer games then the Acer and HP are for you.

The last one I would recommend is the most expensive out of the lot and more if you want to play games in 4K, which is the GN950. It was something I was considering before I decided on a Ultra wide monitor because screen quality wise it is pretty amazing. LG have been doing a good job with their TVS and now the monitors seem to be up there with the best.
Thanks for the suggestions. This should help me in expanding my horizons beyond just LG, ASUS, and ViewSonic.

When I started, I should have mentioned what my existing setup was. Currently, I have two monitors:
  • ASUS VG248QE (1080p, 144 Hz, TN)
  • BenQ GL2460HM (1080p, 60 Hz, TN)
I want to basically get a new, bigger monitor with a bigger resolution and at least 144 Hz to get the most out of my new 3070. I'll start off with your suggestions and see if I can find some other good options.
 

Fortitude

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Monitor and GPU alone are worth more than 10 digital PS5s. So I will let you guess from there.




Yeah the Dell monitor will probably have ghosting. Samsung G7 would be a better VA panel as that pretty much doesn’t have ghosting and has fast response times, I think it’s 1ms. The only issue with that is the build qualities on G7 and G9 are like Russian roulette. @Igor Drefljak has a G9 and I think he’s happy with it.

The Dell S2721DGF is another one you should add to the list as it is rated best 1440p monitor on digital foundry and uses the same panel as the GL850, but has a higher refresh rate of 165hz compared to 144hz on the LG. Not a big difference, but if you choosing the LG then have a look at how much the Dell is. If the Dell is cheaper then go for that.

Another two which use the same panels are AG273QZ/HP OMEN X 27, which are 1440p and 240hz. The acer is £470 on Amazon. It is a TN panel, so the screen quality won’t be as good as the above IPS panels, but the refresh rate will be a lot better. So depends what type of game are you going to play. If it’s single player games then the LG and Dell would be better suited. If it’s fast paced multiplayer games then the Acer and HP are for you.

The last one I would recommend is the most expensive out of the lot and more if you want to play games in 4K, which is the GN950. It was something I was considering before I decided on a Ultra wide monitor because screen quality wise it is pretty amazing. LG have been doing a good job with their TVS and now the monitors seem to be up there with the best.



I left it as factory settings because it took me a while with the AIO cooler to install. So I just wanted to play.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...tj0E3x_fsExmypGTiQnM7YJtQD7KMcRRoCdrAQAvD_BwE

I will probably get one of these in the future, so I can move the GPU, which will allow space. At the moment it’s fine and temperatures are good, so not in a rush yet.

Outer Worlds is a 2019 game, so it’s disappointing if you want to play at 1440p ultrawide there’s no official support. The mod support fixed it. I was surprised as I was expecting Alan Wake to be played with borders because that’s from 2010. But not something that’s come out recently. Once I finished the BoTW DLC, I want to try Cyberpunk, but don’t want to feel short changed when there’s a better version in 6 months. Even having a 3000 series card doesn’t escape you from some of the issues. It’s probably that, Horizon or Outer worlds.

Did you get your TV? Just mentioning as LG are unveiling some new TVs next week. I don’t think there will be a big difference from 2020 models. But with every year like Plasmas back in the day you would expect the burn in issues to be improved with each new model.
I guess you'll find out along the way how many games are optimised for such a wide screen - no site has a list or head's up?

How does it feel having the extra real estate, btw? I've never played a game on a monitor of that sort; can't really imagine what it's like having an almost panoramic view.

Yeah, TV's mounted downstairs; OH is putting it through every screen burn stage test after ignoring pretty much everything I've asked her to be mindful of - her latest one is putting it on Radio 1 with a static image of that Adele woman DJ right in the middle of the screen for God knows how long before I come in the room and ask how long that's been there for. Some channels don't gel with the auto failsafe 30 second screensaver, and she's managed to find 3 of them already... She's also playing Switch games like Harvest Moon etc, where the images barely change from one thing to another... it won't be long now to see whether the TV will get fecked or survive.

I don't think I'll be in for another panel for a few years yet unless there are some massive developments. I'm not particularly chuffed with the size of the panel downstairs, but that's not a prompt for me to upsize anytime soon, rather, to take note of for the next go round in a few years.
 

Adamsk7

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Really stupid question - I managed to get a Windows boot USB from my Mac (which was a bloody pain in itself) and went to install it on my new build. When I do, I see “Drive 0, drive 1, drive 2”
Now ideally, as I’m a bit lazy and I’ve just completed my first successful build in 10 yrs (and it works), I’d like to know which is my NVMe and which are my two normal SSDs and install on the NVMe drive. Is there a way to tell that doesn’t involve me unplugging the two SSDs? I know you’re all gonna say no but worth a try! :lol:
 

Balljy

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I guess you'll find out along the way how many games are optimised for such a wide screen - no site has a list or head's up?

How does it feel having the extra real estate, btw? I've never played a game on a monitor of that sort; can't really imagine what it's like having an almost panoramic view.

Yeah, TV's mounted downstairs; OH is putting it through every screen burn stage test after ignoring pretty much everything I've asked her to be mindful of - her latest one is putting it on Radio 1 with a static image of that Adele woman DJ right in the middle of the screen for God knows how long before I come in the room and ask how long that's been there for. Some channels don't gel with the auto failsafe 30 second screensaver, and she's managed to find 3 of them already... She's also playing Switch games like Harvest Moon etc, where the images barely change from one thing to another... it won't be long now to see whether the TV will get fecked or survive.

I don't think I'll be in for another panel for a few years yet unless there are some massive developments. I'm not particularly chuffed with the size of the panel downstairs, but that's not a prompt for me to upsize anytime soon, rather, to take note of for the next go round in a few years.
Micro LED is what I'm hopeful for. It's a few years off being affordable and 1 to 2 years away from the first commercial sets so may fit nicely into an upgrade.
 

Igor Drefljak

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Yeah the Dell monitor will probably have ghosting. Samsung G7 would be a better VA panel as that pretty much doesn’t have ghosting and has fast response times, I think it’s 1ms. The only issue with that is the build qualities on G7 and G9 are like Russian roulette. @Igor Drefljak has a G9 and I think he’s happy with it.
I actually cannot make a fair comment on the G9 yet :lol:
Been boxed up since day 1. Tested for around 20mins and put away.

Renovating a small box room in my house, so until then, my G9, 3080 and 5950x are all sat in boxes sleeping

I was only planning on using a 5900x but I ordered a 5950x as backup in case the 5900 didn't come in stock.
After a lot of messing around from a company, and major delays in delivering they refunded it, then somehow still managed to deliver it.

Thank you very much :drool:
 

Turnip

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Well I finally finished my Ryzen 5 5600X & RTX 3070 build and it's amazing. I can't believe how fast it is with an NVME SSD and the 144hz monitor is amazing, it's not even just the gaming side, the general usage just feels so good, I can't even believe the little effects I'm noticing and smoothness. Will definitely post some pics when I've finished messing with the RGB goodness. Now just waiting 7 hours for my shitty internet to download Cyberpunk.
 

mazhar13

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Well I finally finished my Ryzen 5 5600X & RTX 3070 build and it's amazing. I can't believe how fast it is with an NVME SSD and the 144hz monitor is amazing, it's not even just the gaming side, the general usage just feels so good, I can't even believe the little effects I'm noticing and smoothness. Will definitely post some pics when I've finished messing with the RGB goodness. Now just waiting 7 hours for my shitty internet to download Cyberpunk.
What monitor(s) are you using to take advantage of your setup? I'm looking for a new monitor to make the most of almost the exact same setup as yours.
 

Turnip

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What monitor(s) are you using to take advantage of your setup? I'm looking for a new monitor to make the most of almost the exact same setup as yours.
I got a Gigabyte G27q. This was probably the most stressful choice of the setup for me, I was googling reviews of every monitor in that price range, sometimes reviews for monitors are impossible to come by too which doesn't help. Turns out there are a lot of things to think about with monitors when you start looking at in depth reviews.

I chose this one because it was the only 144hz 1440p 27" in this price range (£300ish) that didn't have any noticable drawbacks. Most have problems with colour contrast or ghosting or horrible support designs, whereas this didn't seem to have any common complaints.

I've been using a shitty old Benq 1080p monitor for the last 9 years and even worse ones than that at work so my opinion is worthless, but this monitor looks amazing to me. The colours look great, no dark spots, I haven't noticed any ghosting, there is a little backlight bleed but I've only noticed it when you first boot/turn the monitor on so I'm not fussed. The general concensus is its one of the best gaming monitors you can get at around this price and I'd probably agree with my very limited time with it.
 

Bojan11

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I guess you'll find out along the way how many games are optimised for such a wide screen - no site has a list or head's up?

How does it feel having the extra real estate, btw? I've never played a game on a monitor of that sort; can't really imagine what it's like having an almost panoramic view.

Yeah, TV's mounted downstairs; OH is putting it through every screen burn stage test after ignoring pretty much everything I've asked her to be mindful of - her latest one is putting it on Radio 1 with a static image of that Adele woman DJ right in the middle of the screen for God knows how long before I come in the room and ask how long that's been there for. Some channels don't gel with the auto failsafe 30 second screensaver, and she's managed to find 3 of them already... She's also playing Switch games like Harvest Moon etc, where the images barely change from one thing to another... it won't be long now to see whether the TV will get fecked or survive.

I don't think I'll be in for another panel for a few years yet unless there are some massive developments. I'm not particularly chuffed with the size of the panel downstairs, but that's not a prompt for me to upsize anytime soon, rather, to take note of for the next go round in a few years.
Coming from a big TV the screen size doesn’t wow me. But the detail and picture quality does, probably because I am sitting so close to the monitor compared to where I sit with the TV. I had Alienware AW2518H, which was no slouch in terms of performance and picture quality was amazing despite it being 1080p. I just wanted something bigger for single player games. Still got the Alienware and might use it to play multiplayer games as I prefer up to 27 inches for online games. Don’t think there’s a list, but most new games should support it. Even EA do and they pretty much one of the laziest developers especially when it comes to PC.

Upgrading my TV later this year as it’s been 4 years. Sony have announced a few TVs including the A90J, which is probably the one I am looking at along with the next LG OLED. I am probably heading towards LG because the performance and input lag is way better compared to Sony OLEDs. They are also cheaper because Sony have to pay LG for the panels, which factors in the cost of their TVs.
 

mazhar13

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I got a Gigabyte G27q. This was probably the most stressful choice of the setup for me, I was googling reviews of every monitor in that price range, sometimes reviews for monitors are impossible to come by too which doesn't help. Turns out there are a lot of things to think about with monitors when you start looking at in depth reviews.

I chose this one because it was the only 144hz 1440p 27" in this price range (£300ish) that didn't have any noticable drawbacks. Most have problems with colour contrast or ghosting or horrible support designs, whereas this didn't seem to have any common complaints.

I've been using a shitty old Benq 1080p monitor for the last 9 years and even worse ones than that at work so my opinion is worthless, but this monitor looks amazing to me. The colours look great, no dark spots, I haven't noticed any ghosting, there is a little backlight bleed but I've only noticed it when you first boot/turn the monitor on so I'm not fussed. The general concensus is its one of the best gaming monitors you can get at around this price and I'd probably agree with my very limited time with it.
Ooh, that's not a bad shout. Unfortunately, it's only 50 CAD cheaper than the LG 27GL83A, and I'm considering spending that 50 more to get that instead. Still, I'm looking for more good options.
 

Turnip

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Ok, so the build I just mentioned, something very weird just happened. I peeled the plastic layer off the window on the side of the case, and when I looekd back at my desk my keyboard and mouse lights had gone off and they weren't responsive at all. So I swapped a few things around and realised that all of the USB 2.0 ports have suddenly stopped working because when I plug them into one of the 3.0 ports they work fine. I'm guess static could have damaged something? But I assume with everything being plugged in properly that shouldn't be able to harm anything? HELP?!

Going to try shutting down for a few minutes and seeing if that helps at all. Guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight.
 

Bojan11

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Ok, so the build I just mentioned, something very weird just happened. I peeled the plastic layer off the window on the side of the case, and when I looekd back at my desk my keyboard and mouse lights had gone off and they weren't responsive at all. So I swapped a few things around and realised that all of the USB 2.0 ports have suddenly stopped working because when I plug them into one of the 3.0 ports they work fine. I'm guess static could have damaged something? But I assume with everything being plugged in properly that shouldn't be able to harm anything? HELP?!

Going to try shutting down for a few minutes and seeing if that helps at all. Guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight.
Have you checked device manager? Are the ports showing up there?
 

seaNNN

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What monitor(s) are you using to take advantage of your setup? I'm looking for a new monitor to make the most of almost the exact same setup as yours.
Have a look at the s2721dgf it’s a cracking monitor can’t fault mine.
 

Turnip

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Have you checked device manager? Are the ports showing up there?
I think so, I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at here...

Also, the thing reassuring me is that they seem to have at least some power, as plugging my USB extension into one of the broken ports lights the LED up, but nothing is recognised thats plugged in.
 
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Bojan11

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I think so, I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at here...

Also, the thing reassuring me is that they seem to have at least some power, as plugging my USB extension into one of the broken ports lights the LED up, but nothing is recognised thats plugged in.
Go to action on top of device manager and scan for hardware changes.
 

Turnip

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Go to action on top of device manager and scan for hardware changes.
I tried that and it didn't seem to actually do anything? What should that actually do? What do the exclamation points next to some of the ports mean? Weirdly these are the ports that seem to work.
 

Bojan11

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I tried that and it didn't seem to actually do anything? What should that actually do? What do the exclamation points next to some of the ports mean? Weirdly these are the ports that seem to work.
It should recognise any new devices.

If they showing exclamation Mark then it means it wasn’t installed right. Have you updated your drivers?
 

Turnip

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It should recognise any new devices.

If they showing exclamation Mark then it means it wasn’t installed right. Have you updated your drivers?
I did but it didn't make a difference, however something, and I'm not entirely sure what just did make a difference. I went into the BIOS to have a look around and noticed a few interesting things here:

It says "reset case open status - Disabled" and "Case open - Yes". Which is interesting because the case obviosuly wasn't open. I just exited without saving and booted into windows and everything is working fine again: USB ports work as expected, GPU lighting up, NZXT CAM sees the fans... I don't understand it at all, but it's as if it thinking the case was open disabled some things? Is this even possible? I don't think this case has sensors and even if it did why would it disable such random things?

More likely though is that now when I open device manager the yellow exclamation marks are gone, so maybe it was a driver issue, but how could that happen so suddenly? And why would a few reboots not fix it but entering the BIOS would?

I'm happy that nothing seems like it could be fried, but damned if I understand what just happened.
 

mazhar13

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Alright, everyone. In the end, I considered all of my options and went with the LG 27GL850-B in the end. It's $200 cheaper, and I'm not losing out on too much by getting it instead of the Dell S2721DGF.

Since the order will be fulfilled on January 20 on Amazon, I still have time to find something that's better value for money. If that Dell monitor goes on sale, too, I'll probably cancel my LG order and go with that instead.
 

Turnip

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In my BIOS I have the RAM speed set to its full 3600hz, but according to NZXT CAM I'm only seeing 1800hz. Am I misunderstanding something or doing something wrong?
 

hellhunter

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In my BIOS I have the RAM speed set to its full 3600hz, but according to NZXT CAM I'm only seeing 1800hz. Am I misunderstanding something or doing something wrong?
DDR RAM meaning double data rate, so you need to multiply by 2. Seems fine :) .
 

ArjenIsM3

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I got my (launch day order) MSI RTX3080 Gaming X Trio about two weeks ago. Runs a lot more quietly than my Zotac RTX3080 Trinity OC used to. Put that up for sale for the same price I paid for it (which was already above MSRP) and a local guy came to pick it up about an hour later. Could have got about €200-300 more for it if I wanted to but I hate that people (scalpers) are charging such a huge premium for these cards.
 

Turnip

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DDR RAM meaning double data rate, so you need to multiply by 2. Seems fine :) .
Ah cheers, I had no idea that's what that actually stood for, learn something new every day.

After my heart attack over my mobo last night, here's it all actually running properly...

I need another AER RBG fan to go in the top so that the daisy chain cables will reach and the back exhaust will light up.