PC Building Guide and Discussion #11 (everything is expensive...)

[Kestrel]

So over the next month or two I'm thinking of purchasing parts to build my own.

I don't need mouse/monitor/keyboard. I would like it to be capable of running VR stuff if I decide to get a Vive or Occulus Rift.

My budget would be around $2500 up to a max of $3000.

I don't mind something prebuilt if you guys think its really good value.

I'm going to start looking this weekend at stuff online.

Pay attention to video card prices - video cards are very inflated in price right now, but every now and then, there is something that is only a little over MSRP - but not for long. An i5 or or r5 depending on if you want Intel or AMD should be really good bang for the buck - Ryzen 2000 stuff is supposed to be out reasonably soon - April was the last I heard - so it might be worth waiting to see if that's the case if you aren't in a hurry.

 

[mouser]

So over the next month or two I'm thinking of purchasing parts to build my own.

I don't need mouse/monitor/keyboard. I would like it to be capable of running VR stuff if I decide to get a Vive or Occulus Rift.

My budget would be around $2500 up to a max of $3000.

I don't mind something prebuilt if you guys think its really good value.

I'm going to start looking this weekend at stuff online.

Given the inflated video card prices, if you're building soon I'd suggest looking at the available GPU/motherboard bundles. Many manufactures are offering more reasonable prices on bundles if you need the motherboard. And they tend to be in stock much longer then the GPU's on their own.

 

[Knave]

Pay attention to video card prices - video cards are very inflated in price right now, but every now and then, there is something that is only a little over MSRP - but not for long. An i5 or or r5 depending on if you want Intel or AMD should be really good bang for the buck - Ryzen 2000 stuff is supposed to be out reasonably soon - April was the last I heard - so it might be worth waiting to see if that's the case if you aren't in a hurry.

Yeah no major rush here.

 

[Kestrel]

Yeah no major rush here.

I just did a little quick look, and it appears that April is still expected to be when Ryzen 2 is released - likely giving you one of two options - the higher performing Ryzen 2/2000 at a decent price, or possibly cheap original Ryzen processors. Who knows, Intel might do something price-wise to compete as well.

 

[Kestrel]

Given the inflated video card prices, if you're building soon I'd suggest looking at the available GPU/motherboard bundles. Many manufactures are offering more reasonable prices on bundles if you need the motherboard. And they tend to be in stock much longer then the GPU's on their own.

@Daxi another thought along these lines - if you go AMD, a processor like the Ryzen 5 2400g might be a good compromise. It would in no way be a graphical powerhouse, but if you were okay with light to moderate gaming (ie, no maxed out AAA titles), it could hold you over until you find a price you like on a video card. Intel processors can do the same to a lesser extent, but they definitely won't match the Ryzen APUs for video power.

 

[Knave]

Yeah I'm totally illiterate on PC builds and hardware. When I get home tonight I'll try to locate some "computer hardware for dummies" manual.

The only real requirements I have would be "can run VR device" and "can be upgraded moving forward".

 

[Kestrel]

Yeah I'm totally illiterate on PC builds and hardware. When I get home tonight I'll try to locate some "computer hardware for dummies" manual.

The only real requirements I have would be "can run VR device" and "can be upgraded moving forward".

The APU's couldn't do VR, but my expectation if you bought one would be that it just gives you a computer that is usable, including light gaming, until you find the video card you want - so it definitely wouldn't be the end product.

 

[Knave]

The APU's couldn't do VR, but my expectation if you bought one would be that it just gives you a computer that is usable, including light gaming, until you find the video card you want - so it definitely wouldn't be the end product.

Is there any hope graphics cards will come down in price over the next year or would I be hoping to spot a deal?

 

[Kestrel]

Is there any hope graphics cards will come down in price over the next year or would I be hoping to spot a deal?

That's a tough one to say - but - and someone can correct me if they feel I am wrong - it seems that mining is somewhat cyclical. I saw one source say that Nvidia told them it wouldn't be until toward the end of this year that things would normalize, but over the past couple of days, I saw an RX 580 and a 1070ti sitting at not much more than MSRP for several hours/close to a day - that wouldn't have happened a month ago.

Edit: to add to this, I have definitely seen mining profitability go down the past couple of days - that could be a blip, but I am wondering if this, combined with the aforementioned video cards, could signal that something is up.

 

[mouser]

I've been keeping an eagle eye on EVGA cards recently. They seem to be sticking in stock longer now then they were just a few weeks ago. Is that because demand is slowing, or production was increased? Who knows. Have also seen some questions about how much PUBG is driving high end graphic card sales, especially in Asia.

My most likely target is a GTX 1070 at $470-490. Which is roughly $100 above where it was a year ago, but at least able to justify that bump. My instinct right now is we aren't going to see a dramatic price drop/clear out of old high end models from AMD and Nvidia when the new cards are announced/start stocking. Best case is probably getting prices around where they were at the start of December.

Mining profitability on Ethereum has been diving month by month. Obviously the miners will switch to other coins, but Ethereum seems to have been one of the sweet spots.

 

[Kestrel]

I've been keeping an eagle eye on EVGA cards recently. They seem to be sticking in stock longer now then they were just a few weeks ago. Is that because demand is slowing, or production was increased? Who knows. Have also seen some questions about how much PUBG is driving high end graphic card sales, especially in Asia.

My most likely target is a GTX 1070 at $470-490. Which is roughly $100 above where it was a year ago, but at least able to justify that bump. My instinct right now is we aren't going to see a dramatic price drop/clear out of old high end models from AMD and Nvidia when the new cards are announced/start stocking. Best case is probably getting prices around where they were at the start of December.

Mining profitability on Ethereum has been diving month by month. Obviously the miners will switch to other coins, but Ethereum seems to have been one of the sweet spots.

The major place I could see getting cheap cards from - MAYBE - is from miners selling off their older cards. Which of course is buyer beware.

 

[mouser]

The major place I could see getting cheap cards from - MAYBE - is from miners selling off their older cards. Which of course is buyer beware.

I wouldn't want to touch that. Expect they've been running at 100% 24x7 since day 1.

 

[Kestrel]

I wouldn't want to touch that. Expect they've been running at 100% 24x7 since day 1.

Depending on the price, I might still give it a try. A lot of them are undervolted to control heat.

 

[Knave]

Alright home after spending 20+ minutes scraping ice off my car. Thanks for the advice @Kestrel and @mouser. I guess I'll wait it out for those new CPU releases by AMD and in the mean time I'll try to figure out some basic computer hardware and compatibility. I think I'm leaning towards eating the extra cost on a GPU (graphics card?) assuming the prices aren't crazy because I don't really see cryptocurrencies and the desire for them among their users/investors disappearing within the next year or two.

 

[Kestrel]

Alright home after spending 20+ minutes scraping ice off my car. Thanks for the advice @Kestrel and @mouser. I guess I'll wait it out for those new CPU releases by AMD and in the mean time I'll try to figure out some basic computer hardware and compatibility. I think I'm leaning towards eating the extra cost on a GPU (graphics card?) assuming the prices aren't crazy because I don't really see cryptocurrencies and the desire for them among their users/investors disappearing within the next year or two.

Some of the price inflation on video cards IS pretty insane - but if you do a little price watching, you might be able to catch a less than faint-worthy price, and still do a solid VR machine within your budget. It looks like you're in Canada - I suggest watching the forums on www.redflagdeals.com. SUPPOSEDLY if you go to some of the retailers in person, they may have some cards at not hugely inflated prices in stock, that they aren't reporting on their websites, but your mileage may vary.

 

[Kelly]

Having another issue and was wondering if one of you would be kind enough to help.

I'm trying to install a clean operating system on a brand new 1TB seagate barracuda HDD on my dads desktop. His old one stopped working and just told me to do a clean install on a new one.

So I've taken the old one out and replaced it with the new HDD, plugged in the power and sata cables and tried booting from his windows 7 disc to install and the harddrive wasn't being seen at all, opened the bios and it wasn't being seen there either. I brought it home hooked it up to my PC, and it isn't being seen in my bios or in disc management.

Did we really get a dud HDD, or am I doing something wrong here? I always figured it was plug n play, and I'm 80% sure the HDD has been spinning, but it's hard to tell because these things are so damn quiet now.

 

[Kestrel]

Having another issue and was wondering if one of you would be kind enough to help.

I'm trying to install a clean operating system on a brand new 1TB seagate barracuda HDD on my dads desktop. His old one stopped working and just told me to do a clean install on a new one.

So I've taken the old one out and replaced it with the new HDD, plugged in the power and sata cables and tried booting from his windows 7 disc to install and the harddrive wasn't being seen at all, opened the bios and it wasn't being seen there either. I brought it home hooked it up to my PC, and it isn't being seen in my bios or in disc management.

Did we really get a dud HDD, or am I doing something wrong here? I always figured it was plug n play, and I'm 80% sure the HDD has been spinning, but it's hard to tell because these things are so damn quiet now.

If you are using cables and SATA port that you know work, then yeah, it sounds like it's the HDD if the BIOS on two computers can't see it. I've never had a dud HDD like that, but it does happen.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Rumor : NVIDIA GTX 2080, 2070 Ampere Cards Launching March 26-29 At GTC 2018

Rumor is that Ampere will be out late next month. f*** me I am going to be throwing money at this shit.

 

[mouser]

Rumor : NVIDIA GTX 2080, 2070 Ampere Cards Launching March 26-29 At GTC 2018

Rumor is that Ampere will be out late next month. **** me I am going to be throwing money at this ****.

Nvidia has been doing all they can to cast doubt on when the next gen is coming, but I'm inclined to believe it will be sooner then later even if GTC 2018 isn't correct. With GDDR6 in full production can't imagine Nvidia is going to wait too long to get that onboard.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I may actually pay for a founders edition. I'm serious.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Rumor : NVIDIA GTX 2080, 2070 Ampere Cards Launching March 26-29 At GTC 2018

Rumor is that Ampere will be out late next month. **** me I am going to be throwing money at this ****.

So the plan is sell my 1080 for a super high price, and then try to get in on Ampere at MSRP?

 

[Smoke]

Here is to hoping this mining crap crashes sooner rather than later.

It really put a damper on my upgrade plans.

 

[SniperHF]

Pretty funny how everyone is now looking to launch prices to be the affordable option

What a time.

I remember everyone getting bent out of shape over the 7970 raising the launch price of high end cards $50

 

[Kestrel]

I want the mining craze to last long enough that my current hardware can partially pay itself off... if it went to the tune of at least $1000 CDN, I would be happy with that. More than that, I won't complain either, but I do eventually want to be able to buy a solid card at a less than exorbitant price.

 

[Kestrel]

I'm starting to wonder about Seasonic. My 650w PSU can handle two EPS cables but comes with one, and extras are only available through expensive third parties - Threadripper NEEDS two cables. So... I give in, and order the 850w version of the same PSU. It comes with two cables. Perfect, right? Wrong!

I spend the time to pull the PSU cover from my case, disconnect and pull the old PSU, then install and connect the new PSU and reinstall the PSU cover. I flick on the PSU, and there's a brief flash from the motherboard. Nothing unusual so far. I hit the power button - nothing. I look and realize I missed plugging in the PCIe cable to my card, but I'm still suspicious - the computer should have at least tried to fire up. I plug it in, try again. Nothing.

After probably about an hour, I am able to figure out that no, my motherboard isn't dead - but half of one of the EPS cables is... probably wired incorrectly. The motherboard has one 8 pin EPS connection and one 4 pin EPS connection - if the bad half of the one cable is plugged into the 4 pin connector, or either side of the 8 pin connector, no-go - nothing. Plug the other side into the 4 pin connector, and the other cable into the 8 pin connector, everything is great again.

I think this may be my last ever purchase from Seasonic!

Edit: I don't think that half the EPS cable in question was just dead - the computer will still at least try to boot if it's short a connector - plugging in the 4 pin connector in question completely prevented the computer from doing son.