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

[SniperHF]

I kind of expect that they will live on in overpiced Ebay listings too. But then again, that was normal, even pre-mining days.

Now that mining certain alt coins is (or at least was 3-4 months ago) profitable on even previously useless GPU series like the GTX 9xx's, the used card market is bonkers. It pushed up the prices on lower end cards like the RX 560 because the market flooded there.

 

[Kestrel]

Now that mining certain alt coins is (or at least was 3-4 months ago) profitable on even previously useless GPU series like the GTX 9xx's, the used card market is bonkers. It pushed up the prices on lower end cards like the RX 560 because the market flooded there.

Yeah, it's just nuts. Although I haven't cashed in yet, my RX 560, at today's prices, has probably earned back close to $60 so far. Not anything I would run out and buy another RX 560 over - but it makes me feel a lot less ripped off for having had to pay $200 for it in the first place.

 

[Bocephus86]

Really wish I bit the bullet on my 1080ti while holding onto my 1060 instead of flipping that to a (former) coworker for 140; did all of that before the prices sky rocketed (right around Thanksgiving). Still not the worst as I got my 1080 before the price hike and I haven't seen it get closer than 200 away from what I got it for, but still.

Anyway, I'm back with a question:

My gf has (had?) an old SD card for her Canon camera that she used to take cake pictures with; it started throwing an error stating "Card cannot be access; please reinsert or reformat" - seems like the card may have broken. It is not being recognized by any of our PCs with SD card readers (including her PC, which she used to use with it all the time).

Is there any possible option to retrieve/try to save any of her files? I've never really used an SD before; I did order a (fairly) cheap USB based SD card reader to just rule out our internal readers (figured it can't hurt to have either way).

We've had bad storage luck in this house, with my work disk failing 2 weeks ago and her losing quite a few pictures she took the day of the error - really makes you think that a monthly back up process is just not good enough haha.

 

[SniperHF]

My gf has (had?) an old SD card for her Canon camera that she used to take cake pictures with; it started throwing an error stating "Card cannot be access; please reinsert or reformat" - seems like the card may have broken. It is not being recognized by any of our PCs with SD card readers (including her PC, which she used to use with it all the time).

Is there any possible option to retrieve/try to save any of her files? I've never really used an SD before; I did order a (fairly) cheap USB based SD card reader to just rule out our internal readers (figured it can't hurt to have either way).

If a card reader won't do it I think you're hosed.
Flash memory can eventually just outright stop working with enough write/erase cycles.

Maybe there's some sort of specialist recovery company out there similar to the ones for HDDs, if it's important enough. But if such a thing exists you'll pay out the nose.

 

[Bocephus86]

If a card reader won't do it I think you're hosed.
Flash memory can eventually just outright stop working with enough write/erase cycles.

Maybe there's some sort of specialist recovery company out there similar to the ones for HDDs, if it's important enough. But if such a thing exists you'll pay out the nose.

This was my fear. Honestly, it's not worth more then me poking around with it - she lost some pictures of one of her cakes (still has some on her iPhone). She took some pre-party pictures of the client & family that bought the cake as a courtesy to them (they had real pictures later) so she wanted to see if she could send them over but she can just say the card crapped out.

Appreciate the feedback; spent an hour messing around today and getting neither PC to even acknowledge the card (not even a beep) gave me a feeling.

 

[SeidoN]

finally replaced my OG (falling apart) Steelseries Rival with a Rival 600 today.

oh. my. god is it good

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Wish companies would make more and better ambidextrous gaming mice. I absolutely love my Logitech G900, but there aren't many like this. I'd say at least 75% of all gaming mice are right handed.

Yes, I'm a lefty who plays with right handed mouse buttons and I use arrow keys when playing games.

 

[SeidoN]

getting the shape of an ambidextrous mouse right can be tough. im not surprised companies go after the bigger market

that said, my brother has to use an ambi mouse and he really likes his Sensei 310. slightly cheaper option than a G900 (which i also heard good things about)

 

[Kestrel]

I tried getting a left handed mouse for my dad once - not even a gaming mouse, just a basic lefty - of course what had been branded a left handed mouse (with pictures that made it hard to know the exact shape) arrived as just a cheap, purely ambidextrous mouse. Which is nice enough, but not what you're looking for when you buy a lefty!

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I have a Deathadder lefthanded but dear f***ing lord. Not only is meant for people with much bigger hands, but the mouse is really heavy.

Also, the G900 is about double the price of the Sensei 310 .

The G900 is 107 grams, while the Deathadder Left Handed is 148 grams. Yeah, heavy f***ing mouse.

 

[SeidoN]

148g is nuts. my old Rival was 127g and even that is heavy. I was worried the Rival 600 would feel too light now but its just right, aiming is much easier

Also, the G900 is about double the price of the Sensei 310 .

I said slightly

 

[ILikeTurtles]

Looking for some advice. I talked to one of my buddies that has been a PC gamer for a while and he says this is a good deal. Note this is posted on Craigslist so I am already concerned of it being legit. Otherwise my buddy said it is a solid deal and I'd like to talk the guy down a bit because well why not. Any input would be a helpful as I am looking to make the jump to the master race. Thanks!


Entire PC gaming setup. Everything works, I built this in January of 2018. Bought everything for $2,000, asking $1500 OBO

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($200.00)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($75.00)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($185.00)
Storage: SanDisk - SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($75.00)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.00)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB SC2 Gaming iCX Video Card ($800.00)
Case: Phanteks - ECLIPSE P400 TEMPERED GLASS ATX Mid Tower Case ($60.00)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($67.00)
Wireless Network Adapter: Netgear - A6210-100PAS USB 3.0 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter ($40.01 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC - AG241QG 23.8" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor ($400.00)
Mouse: Corsair - M65 PRO RGB FPS Wired Optical Mouse ($50.00)
Total: $2000.01

 

[Kestrel]

Looking for some advice. I talked to one of my buddies that has been a PC gamer for a while and he says this is a good deal. Note this is posted on Craigslist so I am already concerned of it being legit. Otherwise my buddy said it is a solid deal and I'd like to talk the guy down a bit because well why not. Any input would be a helpful as I am looking to make the jump to the master race. Thanks!


Entire PC gaming setup. Everything works, I built this in January of 2018. Bought everything for $2,000, asking $1500 OBO

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($200.00)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($75.00)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($185.00)
Storage: SanDisk - SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($75.00)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.00)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB SC2 Gaming iCX Video Card ($800.00)
Case: Phanteks - ECLIPSE P400 TEMPERED GLASS ATX Mid Tower Case ($60.00)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($67.00)
Wireless Network Adapter: Netgear - A6210-100PAS USB 3.0 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter ($40.01 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC - AG241QG 23.8" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor ($400.00)
Mouse: Corsair - M65 PRO RGB FPS Wired Optical Mouse ($50.00)
Total: $2000.01

Must be US prices? I can't comment if that's the case - if it were CDN, that would all be reasonable.

 

[SniperHF]

Looking for some advice. I talked to one of my buddies that has been a PC gamer for a while and he says this is a good deal. Note this is posted on Craigslist so I am already concerned of it being legit. Otherwise my buddy said it is a solid deal and I'd like to talk the guy down a bit because well why not. Any input would be a helpful as I am looking to make the jump to the master race. Thanks!

USD or CAD?

Assuming USD, $1500 for that isn't too bad. Most the money is in the video card.

Used GTX 1080's go for around $500-700
RAM holds its value as well, so we'll call that $170.

CPUs normally hold their value but Ryzen's don't as much, in addition AMD is releasing new versions. So we'll call that $150.


Now we're outside the parts that hold value and are also harder to nail down in value.
Motherboard: maybe $40. It's a low end board to begin with.
Used low end SSD: maybe another $40
Used HDD: $30?


So we're up to $930 or so on the easier items to price out. ( I used the low figure on the 1080, you can see the completed listings on ebay)


Guessing on the rest:
PSU: $30
Case: $30
Wifi Card : $20
Mouse: $20


Monitor is the tough one. It's a nice monitor. Used displays? Don't seem to hold their value. I'll guess $200 tops.

So the in my head total: $1230


Now the question is, what do you get for $1500 new in store? Definitely not all that stuff So in terms of value for the money, it's there potentially even if you paid his asking price. I still wouldn't pay that though because parted out it's just not worth that much.

If I were buying it, I'd offer $1200 and would pay no more than $1350 on a counter offer. Reason: How many people out there are waiving a grand + at randos on craigslist to take used computers? Not that many.
He'll still be coming out ahead because if he parted all that crap out and ebayed it the fees would kill him even if he got higher prices than my estimates.

 

[ILikeTurtles]

Sorry yes all those prices are USD, and those were the prices in the posting so I assume that is what he paid at the time. I have asked around and $1200 seems to be what others are suggesting I pay. The price of the monitor new from Amazon is higher than that price listed and even though it is used not sure how much of an issue could arise since it was bought in January of this year. I have been using two AOC, lower model, for three years now at work and they have been great so far. Thanks for the help!

 

[kr580]

Ordered! Oh boy, I'll get 400 FPS in Minecraft!

Just giving a quick update. I can get like 800 FPS. Even better than I thought! Does it matter? No!

 

[SniperHF]

Kingdom Come is making me want to update my CPU, but I think I'll resist since it's generally considered a performance turd and other new games don't have this problem

Just giving a quick update. I can get like 800 FPS. Even better than I thought! Does it matter? No!

If you put a frame cap on it you'll keep your computer cooler.
I have to do this sometimes since the room my system is in heats up easily.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

The fact that the new HDR G-sync monitor is $2K is making me so sad. I wanted one so f***ing badly, but nope...

 

[Commander Clueless]

The fact that the new HDR G-sync monitor is $2K is making me so sad. I wanted one so ****ing badly, but nope...

It does suck, but on the bright side we have time to be patient. HDR support is still a little spotty on PC from what I've heard.

 

[Kestrel]

Kingdom Come is making me want to update my CPU, but I think I'll resist since it's generally considered a performance turd and other new games don't have this problem



If you put a frame cap on it you'll keep your computer cooler.
I have to do this sometimes since the room my system is in heats up easily.

My system is a friggin furnace! I guess I shouldn't be surprised with 180w TDP on the CPU though. I'm not sure how much the video card adds to it when the system is idling (but display still running), but I'm sure it doesn't help. I guess I shouldn't complain though - the first system I built for myself was far worse - I could open my window in the winter, and as long as I was close to the back of the machine, I was a nice temperature

 

[SniperHF]

My system is a friggin furnace! I guess I shouldn't be surprised with 180w TDP on the CPU though. I'm not sure how much the video card adds to it when the system is idling (but display still running), but I'm sure it doesn't help. I guess I shouldn't complain though - the first system I built for myself was far worse - I could open my window in the winter, and as long as I was close to the back of the machine, I was a nice temperature

Video cards at idle these days run very cool. Mine actually idles lower than my CPU, though admittedly I'm on a bit of a crusty CPU at this point. I assume the newer ones idle lower.
Not quite idle, but just desktop level usage, my RX 480 with my new heatsink is 31C and my CPU is 36C.

My "old" 7950 used to idle in the 40's.

 

[SeidoN]

my RX480 idles at 50, but thats cause I havent changed the fan profile. the fans dont even spin till it hits 55 lol

I just repasted my 2500k and getting 35 idle and 55 load on a 4.4ghz with a pretty budgety cooler

im actually considering switching it out for an i7 2600k soon. price to swap them out after selling the i5 is pretty negligible, and im having trouble with games like BF1 where it maxes out my CPU and stutters, while my brothers 3770k runs at a pretty steady 60-70% usage and no stutters. my socket takes the 3770k too, but ive heard alot about the Ivybridge being hotter under OC than the Sandy

 

[SniperHF]

but thats cause I havent changed the fan profile.

Good point, I forgot I did do that
Not like you can hear the thing at 25% anyway. Maybe if you had no case fans and a passive cpu cooler.

im actually considering switching it out for an i7 2600k soon. price to swap them out after selling the i5 is pretty negligible, and im having trouble with games like BF1 where it maxes out my CPU and stutters, while my brothers 3770k runs at a pretty steady 60-70% usage and no stutters. my socket takes the 3770k too, but ive heard alot about the Ivybridge being hotter under OC than the Sandy

Good idea, maybe I could do that instead....

My board is actually Z77 so I could go for the 3770 even though I'm on Sandy right now..... hmmmmm

This would also give me PCIe 3.0 (Sandy only has 2.0)..... 2x hmmmmm

 

[SeidoN]

Good point, I forgot I did do that
Not like you can hear the thing at 25% anyway. Maybe if you had no case fans and a passive cpu cooler.




Good idea, maybe I could do that instead....

My board is actually Z77 so I could go for the 3770 even though I'm on Sandy right now..... hmmmmm

This would also give me PCIe 3.0 (Sandy only has 2.0)..... 2x hmmmmm

yeah I toyed with getting a 3770k for the better RAM support and PCIe 3.0, but really its a stopgap until I can afford to do a full new setup with modern CPU+Mobo+Ram. so I dont mind picking up a cheaper 2600k for now. on the used market in the UK, a 3770k is about 30-40% more than a 2600k

I dont know about Kingdom Come, but if its causing your CPU to sit at 100% constantly like BF1 does to mine, id check and see if the extra threads on the i7 makes as much difference as it does in BF1. even my youngest brothers FX-8350 runs BF1 MUCH smoother than me because of the extra cores and the gentler CPU usage

 

[SniperHF]

I dont know about Kingdom Come, but if its causing your CPU to sit at 100% constantly like BF1 does to mine, id check and see if the extra threads on the i7 makes as much difference as it does in BF1

Yeah it's basically the same thing, though not constantly. You walk into certain areas and the CPU gets slammed. Then you'll be fine for 5 minutes and it will do it again.
Basically anytime it has to load detail textures/objects as you get close.