Gaming Building a gaming PC

The Cat

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Put a SSD into my PC this week - am trying to futureproof it bit by bit - what a difference I've never had one before.
 

Slevs

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How do I sign up for the discords that auto-notify you if the GPU is back in stock? I can buy the card from newegg's UAE site so I'm going to try that seeing as though its a hopeless case here.
 

SmashedHombre

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What are people's opinions on the 2080Ti? I've heard it compares favorably to the 3070 but that it runs quite loud and hot? Is it worth an investment now for modern gaming?
 

mazhar13

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What are people's opinions on the 2080Ti? I've heard it compares favorably to the 3070 but that it runs quite loud and hot? Is it worth an investment now for modern gaming?
It has more VRAM, but that's it in terms of the specs. I suggest you get whatever's available at a reasonable price whether it's a 2080Ti or a 3070. The 3070 will have more support and should be better with DLSS and Ray Tracing, so if you want, you can go with that over the 2080Ti.
 

SmashedHombre

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It has more VRAM, but that's it in terms of the specs. I suggest you get whatever's available at a reasonable price whether it's a 2080Ti or a 3070. The 3070 will have more support and should be better with DLSS and Ray Tracing, so if you want, you can go with that over the 2080Ti.
So I'm looking at the 3070 for £575, 3060 Ti for £520 and 2080 Ti for £480. At £100 more is the 3070 worth it considering I'm operating on a bit of a budget.
 

mazhar13

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So I'm looking at the 3070 for £575, 3060 Ti for £520 and 2080 Ti for £480. At £100 more is the 3070 worth it considering I'm operating on a bit of a budget.
The choice will depend on what you want out of your GPU. If you want better Ray Tracing and DLSS as well as longer support, you'd go for the 3070. As a result, I think that the 3070 will last longer than the 2080Ti, and I recommend spending the extra 95 Pounds to get more longevity out of your GPU.
 

Dante

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I've just ordered a prebuilt with a 5900X and RTX3080. Don't expect to receive it for a couple of months, but at least I'm near the front of the queue.
So I cancelled my 5900X/RTX 3080 prebuild order and decided to build my own custom PC instead.

I went with:

CPU: 5800X
GPU: AMD 6800XT
Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
MB: MSI B550M Tomahawk
Memory: 2x8GB Corsair 3600MHz
Drive 1: 2TB NVMe (PCIe x 4)
Drive 2: 4TB SATA 3
PSU: Corsair RM850
WIFI 6 PCIe card

I ended up building it on a test bench rather than a proper case. But I bought a glass-top side table and the test bench fits perfectly on the shelf. Looks pretty classy imo.

It's currently sitting under a wall-mounted TV as an HTPC. I'm just a bit worried about screen burn to use it as my main machine at the moment. But Samsung and LG are supposedly releasing their new Mini-LED TVs this year which will eliminate screen burn as an issue. If I can get one of those, I'm hoping to use it for everything (including work).

It's been lightening fast so far. Also silent and runs surprisingly cool. A Prime95 stress test only got to a brief 82 degrees spike over the course of an hour (and mostly stayed below 70 degrees). I've been very happy with it so far (if you couldn't already tell).
 
Last edited:

Bosws87

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So I cancelled my 5900X/RTX 3080 prebuild order and decided to build my own custom PC instead.

I went with:

CPU: 5800X
GPU: AMD 6800XT
Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
MB: MSI B550M Tomahawk
Memory: 2x8GB Corsair 3600MHz
Drive 1: 2TB NVMe (PCIe x 4)
Drive 2: 4TB SATA 3
PSU: Corsair RM850
WIFI 6 PCIe card

I ended up building it on a test bench rather than a proper case. But I bought a glass-top side table and the test bench fits perfectly on the shelf. Looks pretty classy imo.

It's currently sitting under a wall-mounted TV as an HTPC. I'm just a bit worried about screen burn to use it as my main machine at the moment. But Samsung and LG are supposedly releasing their new Mini-LED TVs this year which will eliminate screen burn as an issue. If I can get one of those, I'm hoping to use it for everything (including work).

It's been lightening fast so far. Also silent and runs surprisingly cool. A Prime95 stress test only got to a brief 82 degrees spike over the course of an hour (and mostly stayed below 70 degrees). I've been very happy with it so far (if you couldn't already tell).
AMD GPU any particular reason?
 

Dante

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It has more VRAM, but that's it in terms of the specs. I suggest you get whatever's available at a reasonable price whether it's a 2080Ti or a 3070. The 3070 will have more support and should be better with DLSS and Ray Tracing, so if you want, you can go with that over the 2080Ti.
Yep, VRAM is most important for longevity.

Ray Tracing is nice and all. But by the time game developers start using it as an industry standard, the current gen of cards will have already been left behind. A the moment, I only consider it to be a demo feature to show off to your mates. For playable frame rates, rasterisation performance is what matters.

If it comes down to a 3070 or a 2080TI on a budget (and presumably with playability over a number years as a major concern), I'd go with the 2080TI. It's a close one, though.
 

Dante

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AMD GPU any particular reason?
Short answer: it's what I could find available.

For a longer answer, look at my post above about appreciation of VRAM and cynicism of Ray Tracing.

But even if I think RT is going to be mostly pointless this gen, the thing I'm really taking a gamble on is AMD's response to DLSS. Hopefully they'll have something up their sleeve, because that's a feature something I'd quite like to have. Maybe SAM can become useful too (though I'm not putting any hope on that).

All things considered, it was a bit of a coin toss between the 6800XT and 3080 for me. I'd have been happy with either.
 

mazhar13

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Yep, VRAM is most important for longevity.

Ray Tracing is nice and all. But by the time game developers start using it as an industry standard, the current gen of cards will have already been left behind. A the moment, I only consider it to be a demo feature to show off to your mates. For playable frame rates, rasterisation performance is what matters.

If it comes down to a 3070 or a 2080TI on a budget (and presumably with playability over a number years as a major concern), I'd go with the 2080TI. It's a close one, though.
Short answer: it's what I could find available.

For a longer answer, look at my post above about appreciation of VRAM and cynicism of Ray Tracing.

But even if I think RT is pointless this gen, the thing I'm really taking a gamble on is AMD's response to DLSS. Hopefully they'll have something up their sleeve, because that's a feature something I'd quite like to have.

Maybe SAM can become a thing too. Though I'm not putting any hope on that.

All things considered, it was a bit of a coin toss between the 6800XT and 3080 for me.
Ray Tracing is a bonus; the DLSS is the bigger thing for me. I'm also looking forward to AMD's response to that, but what Nvidia have done with DLSS is huge, and it'll be quite useful in the newer games. From what I've heard/read, the 30-series cards have improved DLSS significantly.

Effectively, for me, it's a trade-off between DLSS and VRAM. Whilst VRAM itself is pretty good, is it enough to trade off better DLSS for (not to mention driver and BIOS support)? For me, not necessarily. With a 2080Ti, one can last this gen and wait until the next gen, but with a 3070, I think that one can go beyond the next gen.
 

Bosws87

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Short answer: it's what I could find available.

For a longer answer, look at my post above about appreciation of VRAM and cynicism of Ray Tracing.

But even if I think RT is going to be mostly pointless this gen, the thing I'm really taking a gamble on is AMD's response to DLSS. Hopefully they'll have something up their sleeve, because that's a feature something I'd quite like to have. Maybe SAM can become useful too (though I'm not putting any hope on that).

All things considered, it was a bit of a coin toss between the 6800XT and 3080 for me. I'd have been happy with either.
I agree on the Ray Tracing that will be dropped pretty quickly in this console generation its not worth the performance hit.
 

Balljy

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Short answer: it's what I could find available.

For a longer answer, look at my post above about appreciation of VRAM and cynicism of Ray Tracing.

But even if I think RT is going to be mostly pointless this gen, the thing I'm really taking a gamble on is AMD's response to DLSS. Hopefully they'll have something up their sleeve, because that's a feature something I'd quite like to have. Maybe SAM can become useful too (though I'm not putting any hope on that).

All things considered, it was a bit of a coin toss between the 6800XT and 3080 for me. I'd have been happy with either.
The problem with AMD's response to DLSS is that there's no dedicated hardware for it unlike Nvidia. It may yet be good, but I struggle to think how they can compete on that when a good chunk of the Nvidia silicon is dedicated to it and AMD will have to use the rasterisation cores.
 

Dante

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The problem with AMD's response to DLSS is that there's no dedicated hardware for it unlike Nvidia. It may yet be good, but I struggle to think how they can compete on that when a good chunk of the Nvidia silicon is dedicated to it and AMD will have to use the rasterisation cores.
True.

Hopefully the impetus from Sony and Microsoft will push AMD to speed up development of Super Resolution on the RDNA2 architecture. It'd be a killer feature on consoles.

Actually, that's another reason you might want to go AMD. Console ports could potentially work better. Still early days, though.
 

Balljy

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True.

Hopefully the impetus from Sony and Microsoft will push AMD to speed up development of Super Resolution on the RDNA2 architecture. It'd be a killer feature on consoles.

Actually, that's another reason you might want to go AMD. Console ports could potentially work better. Still early days, though.
Yeah having AMD on the consoles may be an advantage to the 6xxx series. It's great to have AMD back round as a competitor and they definitely took the right decision going for pure rasterisation as it makes it a decision with benefits whichever manufacturer you go for.
 

iluvoursolskjær

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Well. So far so good.
It’s been on the wall 10mins and hasn’t fallen off!
Weighs a frickin ton already (20kg but still)

but does it work?? :lol:
Hopefully I’ve installed everything right. Just the tubes to bend now :nervous:

https://pasteboard.co/JNSJ0h5.jpg
I'll eventually do something like that down the line after abit more experience in building and modding, for sure. What are those components as I haven't seen anything like them in my short career, I know it's a 3080 and I see Strix?
 

Igor Drefljak

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I'll eventually do something like that down the line after abit more experience in building and modding, for sure. What are those components as I haven't seen anything like them in my short career, I know it's a 3080 and I see Strix?
Strix is just a model of Asus.
The 3080 is under the new EK waterblock and the other big block is monoblock for cpu and motherboard cooling.

This is my first ever build like this. Dreading bending the pipes.
It's currently back in my living room and I just stare at it and wonder how the feck I'm gonna do it :lol:
 

20le_Solskjaer

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Can anyone recommend me a gaming monitor for the PS5? 27” with prefereably 2 HDMI ports? Ideally looking for something between £300-400.
 

SmashedHombre

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I've noticed that most of the 30 series are selling for more on eBay than I can get them for brand new in NZ. This, for example, is already at a price for $500 more than it would cost me in NZ with a day left to go on it. These NZ companies don't deliver abroad... Is it worth me buying the GPUs and becoming an international RTX dealer?
 

Alock1

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Can anyone recommend me a gaming monitor for the PS5? 27” with prefereably 2 HDMI ports? Ideally looking for something between £300-400.
I was coming to this thread with the same question. £250-350 1440p @ 144hz. Would appreciate any recommendations.
 

Igor Drefljak

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Can anyone recommend me a gaming monitor for the PS5? 27” with prefereably 2 HDMI ports? Ideally looking for something between £300-400.
I was coming to this thread with the same question. £250-350 1440p @ 144hz. Would appreciate any recommendations.

Does it need HDMI 2.1
Not sure what the requirements are for the console and reaching 120fps
But I used to have a Asus Rog PG278QR
Good monitor. Can be picked up for around 250-300 on ebay.
Only has one HDMI though (not 2.1 if it is required)
 

20le_Solskjaer

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Does it need HDMI 2.1
Not sure what the requirements are for the console and reaching 120fps
But I used to have a Asus Rog PG278QR
Good monitor. Can be picked up for around 250-300 on ebay.
Only has one HDMI though (not 2.1 if it is required)
HDMI 2.1 would be great but I don’t think here are many in that price range knocking about. Will check out the Asus Rog. Thanks
 

Igor Drefljak

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NinjaZombie

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GPU prices are insane right now. I'm feeling glad I only have a 1080p, albeit 144hz monitor to power right now.
 

Bosws87

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Ordered a 240hz monitor will be with me tomorrow, moving my 144hz to secondary monitor.

Looking forward to see how much difference you can feel.
 

iluvoursolskjær

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Next up: power supply. Overclocking GPU power limit the other day, all was good initially but today the whole PC crashed a couple times during games so I'm assuming it's cos the cheap 600w 80+Poo is struggling.

After looking around for a while settled on the Corsair RM750x so put the order through on SCAN at 6sh and within 15mins it was dispatched! Which would have been great if it weren't for that I found the Antec EA750G just after which'd save me 25quid. Ah well at least it's 25quid of fully modular cables and next morning delivery - is what I'm telling myself cos I just can't be arsed to return :wenger:
 

Igor Drefljak

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Next up: power supply. Overclocking GPU power limit the other day, all was good initially but today the whole PC crashed a couple times during games so I'm assuming it's cos the cheap 600w 80+Poo is struggling.

After looking around for a while settled on the Corsair RM750x so put the order through on SCAN at 6sh and within 15mins it was dispatched! Which would have been great if it weren't for that I found the Antec EA750G just after which'd save me 25quid. Ah well at least it's 25quid of fully modular cables and next morning delivery - is what I'm telling myself cos I just can't be arsed to return :wenger:
The EVGA is well worth the extra £25.

Fully modular, if somewhat is in view, looks so much nicer. Plus, EVGA make very good PSUs
 

iluvoursolskjær

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The EVGA is well worth the extra £25.

Fully modular, if somewhat is in view, looks so much nicer. Plus, EVGA make very good PSUs
Any EVGA's in particular or are they quite consistently great across the board? I spent more than an hour reading up about single/double rails, Japanese capacitors > Chinese, future proofing the motherboard connectors etc before I thought feck it and checked out with the Corsair. :D

Yeah my power supply area and cables aren't visible but just knowing how disgustingly bunched up everything is beneath the case floor made me lean towards wanting modular. Will be better in the future too should I decide to change case for something that does have it visible.
 

Igor Drefljak

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Any EVGA's in particular or are they quite consistently great across the board? I spent more than an hour reading up about single/double rails, Japanese capacitors > Chinese, future proofing the motherboard connectors etc before I thought feck it and checked out with the Corsair. :D

Yeah my power supply area and cables aren't visible but just knowing how disgustingly bunched up everything is beneath the case floor made me lean towards wanting modular. Will be better in the future too should I decide to change case for something that does have it visible.
I just think in general they're pretty decent.

I've heard of Antec but no idea how good they are as a company, and always read to buy branded PSUs as they're the most important part of a system.
My current one is a seasonic and that as a 12 year warranty :lol:
 

Slevs

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Companies here putting the 3070 back in stock at 1850 USD. I swear the world is going mad.