Gaming Building a gaming PC

Balljy

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scan gave up on getting that TUF to me and instead offered a replacement card from a selection they said they had small quantities of. The difference paid would be at today's market values and not the MSRP of the card at the time I purchased my TUF! If you didn't like it, tough: stay in the queue and wait for the TUF forever more. Suffice it to say I paid the difference and the card was literally with me the next day.

scan have made a hefty penny doing this as there's going to be boatloads of TUF and Strix pre-orderers who will opt out of the waiting process because there's no end in sight to the due dates.

So after almost 7 months, the issue has been resolved. I'm half saddened as I was genuinely curious to know just how long this would have taken to conclude the organic way. If you're at the back-end of the TUF or Strix queue, I reckon it could go through for a full year loop!
Good that it's finally sorted for you. It's a joke that Scan made you pay the difference through no fault of your own and after sticking in their queue for months though.

I keep an eye on the OC forums and there's still people like a 1,000 in a queue that's not moving and I doubt some will ever see their GPU's.

Which card did you get from them as the substitute?
 

Fortitude

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Good that it's finally sorted for you. It's a joke that Scan made you pay the difference through no fault of your own and after sticking in their queue for months though.

I keep an eye on the OC forums and there's still people like a 1,000 in a queue that's not moving and I doubt some will ever see their GPU's.

Which card did you get from them as the substitute?
I think my excitement in getting it sorted took over from my rational brain as I should have argued that they either make my outstanding card the current MSRP value and have me then pay the difference, or charge me the original MSRP of the card I got in accordance to what they listed it for. Big faux pas on my end, and I'm sure others made sure one or the other happened before agreeing to the alternative card.

I agree with you that many who are holding out will either wait an eon to get a card or they'll give up some months down the line and accept an alt. eventually. I think one way or another the situations will be resolved but will come down to how much people *really* want what they originally ordered and how long they are then prepared to wait.

I got a Suprim X; but I ended up paying £240 on top for the privilege, which is replacing my initial joy with annoyance.
 

Dante

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Finally! Overclockers had a bunch of 6800xt's about an hour ago so copped a Red Dragon. Bit dear, but after selling the 3070 my cost should average out to MSRP.

No more discord.
Fantastic card. I bought one a few months ago but had to return it after some fan issues. Assuming yours works (which I'm sure it will), you should lots of headroom for overclocking.
 

iluvoursolskjær

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Fantastic card. I bought one a few months ago but had to return it after some fan issues. Assuming yours works (which I'm sure it will), you should lots of headroom for overclocking.
Ah thats great to know! Couldn't really find out much about it online, the XT variant anyway. My monitor - though g sync compatible - is freesync and considering what you posted about AMD cards performing better with older CPU's I'm super happy, assuming everything works tomorrow :D
 

Simbo

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Looking at buying a full new system with a 30 card in of some sort from Scan or wherever.

Is the wait likely to be weeks or months?
 

SmashedHombre

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Decided to go for a Razer 15 with the 3070 - the QHD model. Just over 1250 GBP brand new. Would have preferred a proper rig but still a decent enough price in today's market. A laptop makes better sense given how much I travel around anyway, and as it's a laptop I can get reimbursed from work. Looking forward to really putting it through its paces and playing some 15 year old RPGs in 165Hz.
 

Vidic_In_Moscow

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Unbelievable how long term this shortage of GPU's is turning into. Still have hopes of copping a ASUS 3080 by Summer but doesn't look too promising.
 

iluvoursolskjær

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Have had the Red Dragon for a minute now and though there were some glitchy stuff in the beginning, they seem to have disappeared by themselves somehow :confused:

During the first couple weeks my PC would turn on on the second attempt more often than not which was super weird. What I mean by that is I'd press the power button, fans would run all lights turn on but display wouldn't receive signal. If I tap the power button everything shuts off immediately, but the second time everything would run as normal. Never happened to me before changing GPU. Another annoying thing was that if I have any game running and switch to youtube, the video would flicker quite aggressively from the moment I hover the mouse anywhere on it. Radeon software would randomly crash, seemed like my PC wasn't taking the switch too well :nervous:

Over the last week however it just randomly occurred to me that those things stopped happening. Now I don't know what's changed, but I'll take it? Can see why many people moan about AMD software and drivers though.

Gaming itself is/was always fine. As I'm CPU bound on the setup anyway I didn't really mess with the core clock speed but changed the memory timings to fast and overclocked frequency +112. Undervolted by 110mV it barely goes above 220watts of power with +15% limit on full load and fan speeds of about 42% keeping max GPU temp low 70C's and junction temp of low 80s. Nice. Other than in RDR2 online [in the st denis area when I'm doing some mad movements on a busy street I occasionally get stutters] I'm not really feeling my slow CPU which is great! Was worried that'd be more an issue than it is.

/diary
 

Simbo

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Ordered a full build from Scan as they’ve always been very good in my experience.

Gave a generic 4-8 weeks eta on a 3080 card but I don’t put much faith in that so getting a 3070. They can do either 3070 or 3090 in 4 weeks which is their standard build time atm. I’m sure their 3XS systems get priority.
 

Massive Spanner

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Ordered a full build from Scan as they’ve always been very good in my experience.

Gave a generic 4-8 weeks eta on a 3080 card but I don’t put much faith in that so getting a 3070. They can do either 3070 or 3090 in 4 weeks which is their standard build time atm. I’m sure their 3XS systems get priority.
@Fortitude
 

Igor Drefljak

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My MSI card I ordered from Overclockers has been stuck at just over 200 for about 3 months :lol:

I don't actually need it as I built my computer months ago, but I'm leaving it as it's just funny seeing how damn slow the process is
 

Paxi

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Guys and gals, anyone want a FUT team. It's incomplete but top tier anyway. Worth a few million coins. I just switched to PS5 so this is just sitting there.
 

VidaRed

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Am i right in assuming that the samsung odyssey g7 is the best gaming monitor currently ?

Its a va panel aswell :eek:
 

Balljy

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Am i right in assuming that the samsung odyssey g7 is the best gaming monitor currently ?

Its a va panel aswell :eek:
The G7 is one of the best around. VA panels are always the one to go for, they're better for contrast and colour uniformity, but worse when viewing from the side. IPS panels are only better if you /others are constantly viewing from angles.
 

VidaRed

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The G7 is one of the best around. VA panels are always the one to go for, they're better for contrast and colour uniformity, but worse when viewing for angles.
I don't care about angles, i'll be sitting infront of it and i cant be arsed if others cant view it from the side, infact i'd put that down as a pro instead of a con!

Its not the fastest but is near the top with better contrast and colours and is 240hz at 1440p. The only doubtful area is the curved screen.
 

Balljy

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I don't care about angles, i'll be sitting infront of it and i cant be arsed if others cant view it from the side, infact i'd put that down as a pro instead of a con!

Its not the fastest but is near the top with better contrast and colours and is 240hz at 1440p. The only doubtful area is the curved screen.
If you're not worried about angles the G7 is probably the best available right now. The curve is either a positive or a negative though so that could be the deciding factor for you.

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/samsung/odyssey-g7-lc32g75t
 

Bosws87

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The Dell Alienware ones are some of the top ones available to, i've got the 240hz 1080p one.

No desire to try and push 240hz at 1440p even with a 3080.
 

Bobski

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Starting to think that it will be mid 2022 before I can get a decent GPU, or even a 2 year old, mid tier card. Have been looking to upgrade on an old 970 for 2 years now, but the limited stock and stupid prices are making me think I may as well wait and go for a full system build.
 

VidaRed

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Whats the consensus on sweet spot for ram in amd ?

16gb v 32gb
3200mhz cl14 v 3600mhz cl16 (official amd site says ryzen supports upto 3200mhz)
single channel v dual channel v quad channel
single rank v dual rank
 

VidaRed

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Upon further investigation it appears 2 dual rank 3600mhz cl14/16 is the way forward since motherboards either support quad or dual channel (even if they have 4 slots). If its the former then it can handle 4 sticks provided its capped at 3000mhz while in the latter it can handle upto 4000mhz or more.

Edit:
Credits to Mirsad Redzovic, he commented this on GN's YouTube's video:

Apparently, it's not the "4x8GB" that helps the Zen3. It's that using full "4-Ranks" (256-Bits of memory bandwitdh) will be optimal because of the memory cycles. It's something about allowing more cycle to start while more are finishing. Ram sticks have ranks. Most if not all 8GB sticks are Single Rank. Which means if you remove the heat spreader, you will have all of the IC's on one side of the PCB. 1 stick of 8 chips on one side will requires 64-Bits of bandwidth. (single rank) Using 2 sticks of Single Ranked RAM sticks will use 128-Bits of memory bandwidth. When you use 4 sticks of SIngle Ranked RAM sticks, you'll fully utilize the 256-Bit bandwidth. More than that will overload/strain most CPU's memory controllers and you'll reach diminishing returns on CPU performance for trying to double your RAM. You may also limit your OC capabilities.

The "Sweet Spot" is 4 ranks of memory. This CAN BE HAD with 2 sticks of RAM, as long as both sticks are Dual-Ranked (meaning there are chips on both sides of the PCB). This is typically found in 16GB sticks. This is why people going for 32GB system memory may be in luck and reap these benefits with 2 sticks of 16GB Dual Ranked sticks. That will be a total of 4-Ranks (256-Bits).

Upon searching what kind of config would be best for a Zen3 system seeking 64gb of memory, I have stumbled upon the fact that the Crucial Ballistix MAX 16GB sticks are SINGLE RANKED. (Micron chips). Not only that, but they come in 4000mhz CL18 @ 1.35v. Which would be a GREAT candidate for people trying to reach the 2Ghz infinity fabric. The beauty of this ram is that you can buy 4 sticks of 16GB dimms, and be running only 4 Ranks and reap all the performance benefits while not overloading the CPU memory controller. This way you can achieve 64GB of ram for those that require it. I was watching some reviews on this memory and left some useful feedback for some. I have pasted it below for people seeking this type of information: Regarding the Crucial Ballistix MAX 4000Mhz 32GB (2x16GB kit) If anyone is wondering why this ram is so expensive compared to other 32gb kits... Each 16gb module is single ranked. Totaling 2 ranks. That means that the memory IC chips are all on one side. 8 chips. Each chip size is 2gb. Each rank requires 64-bits of bandwidth. These are Micron Chips. Micron is one of the only companies that does this in the performance market.

Samsung B-Die chips are limited to 1gb IC's which means if you were to get a 16gb module with Samsung B-Die or other competitors, they would have 8 chips on "each" side to equal the 16gb ram capacity, meaning they are dual ranked, using 128-bits per module. AMD platforms do NOT like more than 4 ranks of memory (256-bits). So lets say you want 64gb of ram. Getting 4 of these sticks would equal 4 ranks of memory (256-bits), which in Daisy Chain memory topology, can actually perform better than just two sticks of single rank memory (using only 128-bits). If you wanted 64gb of ram in 4 ram slots and you went with Samsung B-Die IC's or non-Micron, you'd get 16gb modules with memory IC's on both sides of all 4 dimms which equals 8 ranks since each dimm is dual ranked (512-bits). This could overload your CPU's Memory Controller, limiting your OC to your CPU AND your Memory. I suggest really doing research on finding the best ram for your AMD platform if that's what you have. Intel isn't AS sensitive to this, but it still is to a point.

There is a fine balance with AMD's Zen2 currently. It's somewhere around 16 cas latency and 3800Mhz Ram with a 1900Mhz infinity fabric. These 4000Mhz dimms are great because if Zen3 can overclock their infinity fabric to 2ghz, you can run a 1:1 with this ram. The advantage to this is: A higher infinity fabric will equal great performance boosts across the board on AMD (gaming, computing etc...). When you run 3200mhz ram, your infinity fabric is 1600mhz (same frequency as the ram before DDR). If you run 3600mhz Ram, your infinity fabric gets cut in half since it will not go to 1800mhz unless you force it and possibly adjust voltage for stability. So now you see why if Zen3 allows a 2000mhz infinity fabric, this 4000mhz ram would be quite the sweet spot as you could run a 1:1 divider.

Not to mention, when overclocking your ram & cpu on Ryzen... the SOC voltage has to be increased, and often times once that's pushed passed 1.1v, you can be victim of having your PCI-E 4.0 down-spec itself to PCI-E 3.0. This can affect users which are trying to benefit from the max GPU performance from newer graphics cards, and most importantly... any users using new generation PCI-E 4.0 NVME drives such as Corsair's or Gigabyte's current offerings.

Hope this answers your question as to why this ram is expensive compared to other 32gb (2x16gb) kits. These sticks are single ranked and most if not all are dual ranked. Because of this, it allows you to not complicate all of the above mentioned since it can operate a 64GB setup with only 4-ranks @ 256bits that won't need a high SOC voltage, and allow a possible Infinity fabric overclock of 2GHz on the new Zen3 platform which means you can run a 1:1 divider between the memory and the fabric. (2000mhz D.D.R. "Double Data Rate" = 4000mhz ram).
 
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Castia

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My new motherboard arrived today from Scan....they sent me a used product and I’m pissed.

Spent most of the day in the phone and arranging collection to send it back, what an absolute mess it was the first and last time I ever order from Scan.

The box wasn’t sealed and the motherboard wasn’t even in the protective packaging im so annoyed with it all.

On the flip side my Ryzen 5 5600x and Lian Li cpu water cooler arrived from overclockers. I just need a GPU (sigh) power supply and Ram and my new build is complete, I’m close to spending daft money on a GPU if I can’t pick one up in the next few weeks.
 

Drawfull

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My new motherboard arrived today from Scan....they sent me a used product and I’m pissed.

Spent most of the day in the phone and arranging collection to send it back, what an absolute mess it was the first and last time I ever order from Scan.

The box wasn’t sealed and the motherboard wasn’t even in the protective packaging im so annoyed with it all.

On the flip side my Ryzen 5 5600x and Lian Li cpu water cooler arrived from overclockers. I just need a GPU (sigh) power supply and Ram and my new build is complete, I’m close to spending daft money on a GPU if I can’t pick one up in the next few weeks.
I've just spent silly money on a GPU (AMD, gave up on getting 30 series ages ago) as my 1080 died yesterday.

What motherboard / CPU have you gone for? I've ordered a new PSU too, but dithering about whether to upgrade the rest whilst I'm in feck it mode.
 

Castia

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I've just spent silly money on a GPU (AMD, gave up on getting 30 series ages ago) as my 1080 died yesterday.

What motherboard / CPU have you gone for? I've ordered a new PSU too, but dithering about whether to upgrade the rest whilst I'm in feck it mode.

I've got an AMD Ryzen 5600x and the motherboard I returned was a MSI B550 Tomahawk which i'll probably just reorder from Overclockers or Amazon.

It's all so disheartening though knowing the GPU situation, what GPU did you end up buying?

There are rtx 3060's in my area on Gumtree for £600 which is expensive considering its a 'lower' end card but the 3060ti and 3070's etc are around the 1k mark im not paying that and I just want it done.

I read yesterday that in a few weeks Nvidia will release the 30 series cards without the Crypto stuff attached so hopefully us gamers might stand a chance, ive set myself a deadline for the end of June if i cant get hold of one ill probably buy from a scalper.
 

Pexbo

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If Crypto goes into a bear run like it’s looking like it is, GPU availability should improve right?
 

Massive Spanner

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If Crypto goes into a bear run like it’s looking like it is, GPU availability should improve right?
There are still heavy chip storages regardless of crypto, and the fact that there's still loads of regular gamers mad to get a new card who haven't been able to.. it'll probably take quite a while to buy a 30xx close to RRP.
 

Pexbo

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There are still heavy chip storages regardless of crypto, and the fact that there's still loads of regular gamers mad to get a new card who haven't been able to.. it'll probably take quite a while to buy a 30xx close to RRP.
I’m thinking there could be a glut of old mining rig GPUs hitting the second hand market
 

Pexbo

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yeah and most of them will be completely f*cked by then won't they?
Apparently not. I read a while back that a GPU which runs constantly 24/7 for 1 year is likely to be in better condition than a gaming rig GPU which gets hammered in 4-6 hour periods each day as it’s the changing temperatures which is more damaging than constant peak temperatures which should by design be safe.
 

Massive Spanner

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Apparently not. I read a while back that a GPU which runs constantly 24/7 for 1 year is likely to be in better condition than a gaming rig GPU which gets hammered in 4-6 hour periods each day as it’s the changing temperatures which is more damaging than constant peak temperatures which should by design be safe.
I have no idea if that's correct or not but I'll take your word on it and hunt you down when my 2nd hand 3080 dies.
 

Drawfull

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I've got an AMD Ryzen 5600x and the motherboard I returned was a MSI B550 Tomahawk which i'll probably just reorder from Overclockers or Amazon.

It's all so disheartening though knowing the GPU situation, what GPU did you end up buying?

There are rtx 3060's in my area on Gumtree for £600 which is expensive considering its a 'lower' end card but the 3060ti and 3070's etc are around the 1k mark im not paying that and I just want it done.

I read yesterday that in a few weeks Nvidia will release the 30 series cards without the Crypto stuff attached so hopefully us gamers might stand a chance, ive set myself a deadline for the end of June if i cant get hold of one ill probably buy from a scalper.
Sapphire TOXIC 6900XT Extreme Edition since it was 16% off RRP and I could have it tomorrow. Obviously it's only discounted since the RRP is stupid to begin with, but I paid less than scalping money for 'lesser' AMD cards. I've convinced myself that good ray tracing performance and DLSS are not necessary :lol:

At the end of the day, I needed a card now else I wouldn't have gone for it - and I financed it too, so it's not too bad.

I've always been Intel, but now I've gone AMD GPU I was looking at the Ryzen chips / boards and the pair you've gone for look ideal (though processor is a bit more than I was hoping to spend). I'll have a proper read about them, thanks.
 

Bosws87

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I wouldn't go the with current new AMD cards as Ray Tracing is the flavour of the generation only gonna be held back especially at that price.
 

Drawfull

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I wouldn't go the with current new AMD cards as Ray Tracing is the flavour of the generation only gonna be held back especially at that price.
Definitely agree, but I needed a card immediately and didn't want 'less' than what I had before, on top of which, here I'm looking at 3.5k for a 3090, 2k for a 3070 used. And I only play VR really on PC. PS5 can do the big first party flat titles.
 

Bosws87

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Definitely agree, but I needed a card immediately and didn't want 'less' than what I had before, on top of which, here I'm looking at 3.5k for a 3090, 2k for a 3070 used. And I only play VR really on PC. PS5 can do the big first party flat titles.
Makes sense glad i got my 3080 system in January, didn't realise just how stupid it was going to become.

Costing more then my entire system just for the card, terrible.
 

Drawfull

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Makes sense glad i got my 3080 system in January, didn't realise just how stupid it was going to become.

Costing more then my entire system just for the card, terrible.
It's absolutely mad and now I'm in the same boat cost wise vs entire system. My son has been looking for months for 3080 or 90 and is still looking. He reckons that Scan are going to have stock in store at RRP in a few weeks but don't know where he's got that info from.
 

Balljy

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Apparently not. I read a while back that a GPU which runs constantly 24/7 for 1 year is likely to be in better condition than a gaming rig GPU which gets hammered in 4-6 hour periods each day as it’s the changing temperatures which is more damaging than constant peak temperatures which should by design be safe.
For a mining rig that's been used properly that will likely be the case. Also, a real miner will underclock the cards and run them cool as it's all about maximising electricity costs versus profit and a hot card doesn't do that.

The problem is that some mining cards will be from somebody who doesn't know that and it will be a card run at 86 degrees for the last 12 months which isn't entirely healthy.
 

Balljy

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Definitely agree, but I needed a card immediately and didn't want 'less' than what I had before, on top of which, here I'm looking at 3.5k for a 3090, 2k for a 3070 used. And I only play VR really on PC. PS5 can do the big first party flat titles.
Christ, is that really the case now? I got my 3080 for around £760, I'm so glad I bought it back in October / November :lol:
 

Bosws87

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Ray Tracing is snake oil for this generation.
Metro the new one is fantastic, but other then that be hard to disagree currently.

it’s definitely just a novelty on the consoles that’s for sure