Gaming Building a gaming PC

Dante

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Scan told me about 2 weeks ago that I was 17th in the queue. Haven't heard a peep from them since.

Think it's 18 days off being 6 months since ordering now...
I ordered the 5900x with rtx 3800 pre build from them back in January. But cancelled after a couple of weeks in order to build my own. It did cost me a little more, but I'd rather have a PC than not.
 

SmashedHombre

Memberus Anonymous & Legendus
Joined
Mar 29, 2004
Messages
31,844
I think I'm gonna buy pre-built as I'm done with this price gouging. I've got 3 pcs I'm looking at atm, which of the below do you think is best value for money? All brand new builds. I'm leaning towards the 2070S simply because it's enough for the kinda games I usually play, but the 3070 build seems a decent price considering what the cards are going for and would be more future proof. My last build was nearly 4 years ago, which is generally what I aim for.

RTX 2070Super
Intel Kaby Lake i7 7700K
NZXT Kraken X62 280ML Cooler
16GB G.Skill Ripjaws V Red Edition
Asus ROG Maximus IX Hero 4x DDR4 4133Mhz
512 GB NVMe SSD Storage
1TB HDD
EVGA Supernova G2 650W 92+ Gold
Phanteks Eclipse P300A Case

3060Ti
Intel Core i5 10400F
MSI H410M PRO
Nocturna Fan
Adata XPG 16GB Ram
500GB SSD
Cooler Master 650W 88+
Lian Li Mid Tower RGB

RTX 3070
Ryzen 5 5600x
Gigabyte B450M
Nocturna Fan
16GB Gskill 3200MHZ
500GB SSD
Cooler Master 750W 88+
Metalic Gear Neo Mid Tower
 

seaNNN

my posts are shite but my gobbles are alright
Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
565
I think I'm gonna buy pre-built as I'm done with this price gouging. I've got 3 pcs I'm looking at atm, which of the below do you think is best value for money? All brand new builds. I'm leaning towards the 2070S simply because it's enough for the kinda games I usually play, but the 3070 build seems a decent price considering what the cards are going for and would be more future proof. My last build was nearly 4 years ago, which is generally what I aim for.

RTX 2070Super
Intel Kaby Lake i7 7700K
NZXT Kraken X62 280ML Cooler
16GB G.Skill Ripjaws V Red Edition
Asus ROG Maximus IX Hero 4x DDR4 4133Mhz
512 GB NVMe SSD Storage
1TB HDD
EVGA Supernova G2 650W 92+ Gold
Phanteks Eclipse P300A Case

3060Ti
Intel Core i5 10400F
MSI H410M PRO
Nocturna Fan
Adata XPG 16GB Ram
500GB SSD
Cooler Master 650W 88+
Lian Li Mid Tower RGB

RTX 3070
Ryzen 5 5600x
Gigabyte B450M
Nocturna Fan
16GB Gskill 3200MHZ
500GB SSD
Cooler Master 750W 88+
Metalic Gear Neo Mid Tower
Number 3 hands down
 

Hamnat

Full Member
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Feb 18, 2012
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I went with the Noctua NH-D15S air cooler, despite being offered a decent deal on on AIO. I don't regret it for a second.

It's near enough silent, and only performs marginally worse than an AIO or even a custom loop. But in terms of maintenance, it's more than worth it, imo.

With a decent air cooler, you never have to worry about catastrophic failures or yearly drainages. You just build it once and never have to mess about again.

Here's a review for the prior version (the NH-D15):
This is exactly why I picked air cooling. I debated hard about it but I just didn't want to be bothered with the maintenance and its already extremely quiet.
 

Fortitude

TV/Monitor Expert
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Inside right
I ordered the 5900x with rtx 3800 pre build from them back in January. But cancelled after a couple of weeks in order to build my own. It did cost me a little more, but I'd rather have a PC than not.
Managed to get a Suprim some time back - knew waiting for scan and this card was going to take an eon. I put it out there it could take this long some months ago, but that was somewhat in jest. Without an update, it mightn't even be March that this thing arrives in. Scan have offered no apology nor exchange to another card they've had come through in all these months.

It's been an eye-opening experience as I never thought scan would be so poor with their customer relations. Always seen them as an expensive but A1 company before this.
 

Slevs

likes to play with penises
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I went with a prebuilt cause that was the only way I was getting a 3070 with a normal price. I got a MSI 3070 Suprim X

Welcome home

 

Igor Drefljak

Definitely Russian
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
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The Wastelands
I don't regret doing custom watercooling at all.
It was expensive, no doubt, but for me this is all about fun and it looks great.

3080 running heaven for 5 hours didn't break 55c and the 5950x running prime95 flickers between 52-54 with the odd spike.

Computer is absolutely silent with the most demanding programmes .
Value for money, it's not worth it at all :lol: but I can think of much worse people spend their money on
 

SmashedHombre

Memberus Anonymous & Legendus
Joined
Mar 29, 2004
Messages
31,844
Number 3 hands down
Yeah, decided to go for number 3 only for it to have already been sold. Still thinking about the 2070S build, but they have another 3070 available:

Intel Core i7 6700K
G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 - 16GB
Asus Z170 Pro Gaming •
INNO3D GEFORCE RTX 3070 ICHILL X3 - 8GB GDDR6 |
250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD
1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
750W Corsair RM Series
Cooler Master TD500 Mesh

Asking £1050. Older motherboard and cpu and smaller SSD, but considering the price 3070s are going for it's almost worth it for that alone.
 

Badunk

Shares his caf joinday with Dante
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Oct 22, 2010
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Occupied Merseyside
Just bought a pre-built from Awd-it this morning. Ideally wanted a 3600 with a 3070 but got an i5 10400F instead. Beggars can't be choosers in this climate.
 

seaNNN

my posts are shite but my gobbles are alright
Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
565
Yeah, decided to go for number 3 only for it to have already been sold. Still thinking about the 2070S build, but they have another 3070 available:

Intel Core i7 6700K
G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 - 16GB
Asus Z170 Pro Gaming •
INNO3D GEFORCE RTX 3070 ICHILL X3 - 8GB GDDR6 |
250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD
1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
750W Corsair RM Series
Cooler Master TD500 Mesh

Asking £1050. Older motherboard and cpu and smaller SSD, but considering the price 3070s are going for it's almost worth it for that alone.
I’d steer clear personally I just replaced my 6700k with a 5900x and the difference is night and day the 6700k is really showing it’s age. You can get a good prebuilt for not much more seen a few on hotukdeals.
 

SmashedHombre

Memberus Anonymous & Legendus
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Messages
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I’d steer clear personally I just replaced my 6700k with a 5900x and the difference is night and day the 6700k is really showing it’s age. You can get a good prebuilt for not much more seen a few on hotukdeals.
Yeah I opted against it. I'd rather wait a while. My 1080 still has a bit of life left in it. Unfortunately, where I am, you can't get Ryzen cpus whatsoever. 3070s and 3080s are completely sold out now too, which means prebuilt or grab a 6900 xt or 3060 and try and source a cpu from overseas. The 6900 xt for 850 GBP was tempting for a while, but it's overkill for the kind of games I play. I was hoping to be able to build a new rig for in the region of 1.1k. Willing to wait til the end of the year, but I don't see these prices returning to normal for a long time.
 

VidaRed

Unimaginative FC
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Aug 23, 2007
Messages
29,612
Due to the unavailability of gpu's i haven't been able to put together my desktop pc :mad:.

So if the entire nvidia 3000 series and amd 6000 series is out of stock what's the best stopgap gpu that is available and isn't expensive and yet is sufficient to get the job done in low to medium settings at 1440p ?
 

tinfish

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Due to the unavailability of gpu's i haven't been able to put together my desktop pc :mad:.

So if the entire nvidia 3000 series and amd 6000 series is out of stock what's the best stopgap gpu that is available and isn't expensive and yet is sufficient to get the job done in low to medium settings at 1440p ?
try going for a 1070/1080 if possible. some people do let it go on the cheap without realising.
 

Turnip

likes to be spanked with games consoles
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So GPU stock is still a nightmare? Follow a discord with community alerts and keep an eye on it. I saw people saying Scan was stocking up so I just hopped over and got one easily. In fact my bank blocked the transaction twice so actually had to buy it 3 times before actually getting one, so there was more than enough time. I also kept refreshing CCL's site and managed to get a few in my basket there too (which the bank also blocked). If you keep at it you can get one without giving in to scalpers.

I went with the Noctua NH-D15S air cooler, despite being offered a decent deal on on AIO. I don't regret it for a second.

It's near enough silent, and only performs marginally worse than an AIO or even a custom loop. But in terms of maintenance, it's more than worth it, imo.

With a decent air cooler, you never have to worry about catastrophic failures or yearly drainages. You just build it once and never have to mess about again.

Here's a review for the prior version (the NH-D15):
Do AIO water coolers still require maintenance? I assumed they were more of a plug and play sort of deal. I guess there's always the positibility to go wrong, but if they were destroying systems regularly there would have been a shit storm by now.
 

SmashedHombre

Memberus Anonymous & Legendus
Joined
Mar 29, 2004
Messages
31,844
What are the chances of the 6700 XT actually being available for MSRP? It releases the day after my payday, which is dangerous.
 

Player Red

Full Member
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May 23, 2009
Messages
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UK
So GPU stock is still a nightmare? Follow a discord with community alerts and keep an eye on it. I saw people saying Scan was stocking up so I just hopped over and got one easily. In fact my bank blocked the transaction twice so actually had to buy it 3 times before actually getting one, so there was more than enough time. I also kept refreshing CCL's site and managed to get a few in my basket there too (which the bank also blocked). If you keep at it you can get one without giving in to scalpers.


Do AIO water coolers still require maintenance? I assumed they were more of a plug and play sort of deal. I guess there's always the positibility to go wrong, but if they were destroying systems regularly there would have been a shit storm by now.
Any chance of a link to this discord?
 

Dante

Average bang
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Do AIO water coolers still require maintenance? I assumed they were more of a plug and play sort of deal. I guess there's always the positibility to go wrong, but if they were destroying systems regularly there would have been a shit storm by now.
Bad choice of words from me.

The thing is that I run my PC 24/7, so I'm more worried than most users about random corrosion, leaks and pump failures. With that in mind, I was factoring in things like spot checks and refits.

AIOs are certainly a lot less maintenance than custom loops. But the point I was hoping to get across (and obviously failed) is that air coolers have no complicated moving parts to worry about. I guess for the majority of people, it won't be a concern either way. But for me, it was a big consideration because I need my system to meet much higher standards of reliability.
 
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Player Red

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I've managed to buy a couple of high end cards using those.
Cheers. I want a 3060 but may have to settle for some form of placeholder.

Edit: Those don't seem to be active invitations or something.
 

Dante

Average bang
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My wit's end
Cheers. I want a 3060 but may have to settle for some form of placeholder.

Edit: Those don't seem to be active invitations or something.
Not sure what that means. For what it's worth, I was able to join without taking any special steps.
 

Santos J

Full Member
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Messages
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Not sure what that means. For what it's worth, I was able to join without taking any special steps.
Invite links to servers expire after a certain amount of time, you'd need to get a fresh one.
 

Beachryan

More helpful with spreadsheets than Phurry
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
11,551
Looking for any advice: my computer has recently been really loud - fan noise - so as my case fans were >5 years old, I installed two new ones. Powered back up, loud again. Read the entire internet on my MB (Asus x570 Plus) having a super loud PCH fan and how this was a big problem. Got frustrated, looked for PCH fan etc.

Then stuck my head inside and swore it was acutally my front case fan. So I unplugged it. It was.

My PC is happily at 40-50C in 'normal' mode. I still have a GPU/CPU/rear case fan. And it's running almost silent.

If you were me, would you just leave the front fan off? The fan is weird anyway, I have plastic right in front of it so not sure what it would be achieving.

Thanks for any tips!
 

Balljy

Full Member
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Messages
3,303
Looking for any advice: my computer has recently been really loud - fan noise - so as my case fans were >5 years old, I installed two new ones. Powered back up, loud again. Read the entire internet on my MB (Asus x570 Plus) having a super loud PCH fan and how this was a big problem. Got frustrated, looked for PCH fan etc.

Then stuck my head inside and swore it was acutally my front case fan. So I unplugged it. It was.

My PC is happily at 40-50C in 'normal' mode. I still have a GPU/CPU/rear case fan. And it's running almost silent.

If you were me, would you just leave the front fan off? The fan is weird anyway, I have plastic right in front of it so not sure what it would be achieving.

Thanks for any tips!
Do you know if the fan is ramping up and down or is it a constant loud noise? If it's the former it may be a sign that it's struggling to supply the air to keep the CPU temperature below its set threshold (30% for 35 degrees, 50% for 45 degrees etc). If that's the case and the CPU has been a while it may be that the thermal paste needs replacing on the CPU so it's beginning to run hotter. You can also set the thresholds to make it run slower at different temperatures in the BIOS normally for a quieter system.

If it's the only intake fan I'd be a bit loathe to remove it as you need air for the exhaust fan to work with.
 

Brownie85

Mes que un muppet!
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Guys, looking for some advice... my gaming PC is just over a year or so old now (well, mostly, some is older like the GPU) but i'm seriously interested in upgrading to the Ryzen 9 5950x.

Currently, i'm running a Core i9 10900k, 32GB Ram and i'm wondering if there will be any point in upgrading to the Ryzen? GPU will be done later on in the year (Currently on the 2080Ti, so not an urgent upgrade by any means). What do people suggest? Stay put as is, or wait until it's more readily available and do the upgrade?
 

balaks

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Guys, looking for some advice... my gaming PC is just over a year or so old now (well, mostly, some is older like the GPU) but i'm seriously interested in upgrading to the Ryzen 9 5950x.

Currently, i'm running a Core i9 10900k, 32GB Ram and i'm wondering if there will be any point in upgrading to the Ryzen? GPU will be done later on in the year (Currently on the 2080Ti, so not an urgent upgrade by any means). What do people suggest? Stay put as is, or wait until it's more readily available and do the upgrade?
Yearly updates are a bit unnecessary I'd say and you are unlikely to see a dramatic difference thats worth the money. Personally I upgrade usually every 5 years or so and that ensures I get best bang for my buck and can really feel the benefit of upgrading. Having said that my current rig is at least 6 years old and I cant see me upgrading in the next year.
 

Massive Spanner

Give Mason Mount a chance!
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There can't possibly be a game out there that would even benefit from a 5950x over a 10900k seeing as it's already such overkill?
 

Beachryan

More helpful with spreadsheets than Phurry
Joined
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Messages
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Do you know if the fan is ramping up and down or is it a constant loud noise? If it's the former it may be a sign that it's struggling to supply the air to keep the CPU temperature below its set threshold (30% for 35 degrees, 50% for 45 degrees etc). If that's the case and the CPU has been a while it may be that the thermal paste needs replacing on the CPU so it's beginning to run hotter. You can also set the thresholds to make it run slower at different temperatures in the BIOS normally for a quieter system.

If it's the only intake fan I'd be a bit loathe to remove it as you need air for the exhaust fan to work with.
Indeed, thanks for the note. I read up a bit and realised I'm an idiot - my old MB has the two fan power connections next ot each other, the new one has hte back fan next to the AIO pump, so I had the fan plugge dinto that. Oops :)

Silent again. Wasted money on 2 new fans too!
 

Bosws87

Full Member
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Jun 18, 2015
Messages
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Guys, looking for some advice... my gaming PC is just over a year or so old now (well, mostly, some is older like the GPU) but i'm seriously interested in upgrading to the Ryzen 9 5950x.

Currently, i'm running a Core i9 10900k, 32GB Ram and i'm wondering if there will be any point in upgrading to the Ryzen? GPU will be done later on in the year (Currently on the 2080Ti, so not an urgent upgrade by any means). What do people suggest? Stay put as is, or wait until it's more readily available and do the upgrade?
No point the only reason for upgrading a modern cpu with a newer one is if you were CPU bound in some games trying to push to match the refresh rate of your monitor.

Any games which you are looking at such high framerates would already reach that unless you own a 360hz monitor.
 

Dante

Average bang
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Brownie85

Mes que un muppet!
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There can't possibly be a game out there that would even benefit from a 5950x over a 10900k seeing as it's already such overkill?
I think one of the reasons i wanted to move over was the fact that my m.2 drive is a PCIe 4.0 and intel don't support them on their sockets. Petty reason to upgrade i know, but the speed increase would be immense (again so i believe, not 100% sure). So rather than go sub par, i'd literally future proof for a long time and go high end. To be fair, my fps is pretty impressive as is so i'd likely have no reason to upgrade.

On a different subject, would there even be much point in upgrading from the 2080Ti to say a 3070 or even 3080 (3090, whilst nice, is so so so expensive)
 

mazhar13

Kermit Inc. 2022
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On a different subject, would there even be much point in upgrading from the 2080Ti to say a 3070 or even 3080 (3090, whilst nice, is so so so expensive)
A 2080Ti has more VRAM than a 3070, so it would be fine for now and would last you until the next gen of GPUs. The 3080 is definitely much better than a 2080Ti, but I don't think it's worth the upgrade for now.
 

Brownie85

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A 2080Ti has more VRAM than a 3070, so it would be fine for now and would last you until the next gen of GPUs. The 3080 is definitely much better than a 2080Ti, but I don't think it's worth the upgrade for now.
I think i'll give it a miss for now. My main things at the moment are Flight Sims - MSFS2020, X-Plane, Prepar3d v4 etc.
I think they're more CPU intensive than GPU. My son tends to hammer stuff like Fortnite, Fallguys, Minecraft (very heavily modded), and i occasionally play Destiny 2, GTA and the sorts, so i think i'm good... i hope
 

Slevs

likes to play with penises
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How can I check my CPU wattage on full load (when gaming)?

Whenever my power goes out and the PC is idle or under very low load, the UPS is supplying enough power normally like any UPS.

However, when I'm gaming (presumably under full load), whenever the power goes out, the UPS can't even last a second before shutting off and causing my PC to shut off.

I need to know which size UPS I need to get based on how much power I'm drawing on full load, so how can I know what I'm drawing on full load?
 

Igor Drefljak

Definitely Russian
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How can I check my CPU wattage on full load (when gaming)?

Whenever my power goes out and the PC is idle or under very low load, the UPS is supplying enough power normally like any UPS.

However, when I'm gaming (presumably under full load), whenever the power goes out, the UPS can't even last a second before shutting off and causing my PC to shut off.

I need to know which size UPS I need to get based on how much power I'm drawing on full load, so how can I know what I'm drawing on full load?
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