PC Building Guide and Discussion #12

[garnetpalmetto]

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[Matias Maccete]

Good to see video card prices dropping again. I'm so glad I grabbed my 1070 before prices went batshit crazy.

 

[SniperHF]

After my 3770k crashed in Prime95 (at stock...) I found Ivy Bridge has a setting Sandy Bridge did not, "DRAM speed ratio mode"
Also my BCLK was slightly higher than 100 on automatic/stock settings which isn't terribly unusual but I forced it to 100 anyway.
I suspect the combination of those two settings was pushing my low voltage RAM too high for the voltage it runs.

When I forced everything to 100 it stopped crashing and seems fine. So I think it's just a weird quirk of my low voltage RAM and that's what was causing the crashes and if I just set it to 1.35 or 1.5 it would have probably run fine.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Really hoping we do in fact see the Polaris 30 refresh this year, but I admit I'm rooting for Navi to come out sooner rather than later....

AMD's North Star might arrive in time to top Christmas trees around the world | PC Perspective


I guess Radeon has given up on midrange Vega....

 

[Commander Clueless]

Side note, but my Acer Predator X34 is behaving oddly.

In some games running full screen at 100Hz drives the monitor batty. It'll blink on and off continuously.

I first noticed it running DOOM, which was fine in windowed mode with the same settings. Lately I've noticed it with Destiny 2 when alt-tabbing, which didn't happen before.

Civilization VI experienced a similar issue until I set it to run at 93Hz instead of 100...which was odd.

I'm worried it's a quality issue with the monitor, which would be disappointing. I don't really want to shell out more dough for a monitor if mine is dying on me....

I've tried swapping DP cables. I'll have to try swapping ports as well.

There's some speculation online it's related to a G-Sync issue, so I'll have to experiment with that, drivers, etc. Others speculate I'll have to reduce to 60Hz...which isn't the end of the world, mind you.

 

[Kestrel]

So, I just got my parents up to a 4K TV. The video card in their PC does NOT support 4K, so I'm starting to look at a new video card for them. In order for a Windows PC to run 4K Netflix without a supporting CPU, I believe it requires at minimum an Nvidia 1050 with 3GB of RAM - is that correct? If so, I think I might just look for a 1050 ti.

 

[guinness]

So, I just got my parents up to a 4K TV. The video card in their PC does NOT support 4K, so I'm starting to look at a new video card for them. In order for a Windows PC to run 4K Netflix without a supporting CPU, I believe it requires at minimum an Nvidia 1050 with 3GB of RAM - is that correct? If so, I think I might just look for a 1050 ti.

IMHO, I wouldn't bother with 4k Netflix. Unless the content has gotten extraordinarily better, it's slim pickings when I tried. 4k was mostly just limited to Netflix's original content.

Otherwise, a 1050 should work fine, also need Windows 10.

Or (although it gets trickier with HDR10/DV support), is something like a Roku, Fire TV, etc. Probably cost about as much as a 1050, unless you have to run through a PC. For HDR, you need the right HDMI cables though. I have a Roku Ultra, and Amazon Prime looks good in 4k. HDR is at times subtle, but I find a bigger difference with that, than I do with 1080p vs 4k. Netflix is the standard HD subscription, Prime is the outlier, as Amazon doesn't charge extra.

 

[SniperHF]

So my used 3770k is kind of a turd overclocking wise.

After solving the memory issues and it made it through 10 passes of memtest I moved on to the core clock. (well one never REALLY knows...)

I'm targeting 4.3ghz because at that speed is where it matches what my 2500k was doing single threaded performance wise. I keep adding voltage and it keeps crashing anyway. Not frequently but once a day or so. Yet it won't fail prime or IBT or the Intel diag tool so I just have to wait and see if it happens

Anywho the performance is pretty nice. Unfortunately I don't have a ton of 5+ threaded games to test it in.

	2500k @ 4.5ghz	3770k @ stock	3770k @ 4.3ghz	6700k @ Stock
Passmark	9017	10030	11367	11113
Single threaded	2426	2099	2385	2352
Kingdom Come
Min	46	55	55
Avg	53.9	60.35	61.5
Max	66	70	71
Witcher 3
Min	62	63	63
Avg	70.8	72	72
Max	82	85	85

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Assuming I can keep the thing stable at 4.3 anyway. I might just drop back to 4.2 where it was stable.
My test area on Kingdom Come isn't the worst area. If I tested it in Rattay the minimum FPS difference would be 20 vs 40. Interesting that it doesn't much care about how fast each thread is. The 3770k at stock vs 4.3 did the same. And Witcher 3 is purely GPU bound it seems.
Older games like Crysis and Metro that do like fast threads struggled more with the 3770k at stock.

The video card in their PC does NOT support 4K,

AMD adds Netflix 4K acceleration in latest driver release - Audio Visual - News - HEXUS.net
?

But I don't really know much about tvs or 4k. My tv is from like 2007.

Civilization VI experienced a similar issue until I set it to run at 93Hz instead of 100...which was odd.

Well it is considered an overclock right? You could have just gotten the short end of the monitor version of chip lottery

 

[Dick Sledge]

I bought a Cryorig H7 a few days back to upgrade my cpu cooling. Today I see on slickdeals that it's on sale at newegg where I bought it. After a lengthy online chat with support they're refunding me the difference.

 

[SniperHF]

Cryorig H7

What are you replacing?
Are you gonna add a pull fan? Probably worth trying it as it is first but I usually like to have the pull fan even if it's just a weak one.. Helps it cool down faster when you're done.

 

[Dick Sledge]

What are you replacing?
Are you gonna add a pull fan? Probably worth trying it as it is first but I usually like to have the pull fan even if it's just a weak one.. Helps it cool down faster when you're done.

Currently I have the low profile cooler master h116.

I upgraded because I replaced my case as well. While it's better in nearly every way, it's lacking in airflow.

Plus if I ever decide to overclock to even to 4.5 I believe it's just a better idea to have a better cooler than not.

Pull fan as in a 2nd fan on the opposite side of the heatsink?

 

[SniperHF]

Pull fan as in a 2nd fan on the opposite side of the heatsink?

Yep. Most tower coolers like that one include a second fan bracket (you have to buy your own fan though) and you can attach one on the other side. The fan should face the same direction as the front fan to "pull" air away from the sink.

They aren't needed but help sometimes.

 

[Dick Sledge]

Yep. Most tower coolers like that one include a second fan bracket (you have to buy your own fan though) and you can attach one on the other side. The fan should face the same direction as the front fan to "pull" air away from the sink.

Makes sense. It does come with a second bracket. I actually thought about that as well. I want to make sure there's going to be enough room first. Although I'm sure there will be.

I'm currently waiting on 3 blue led fans as well for the front of the case.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Well it is considered an overclock right? You could have just gotten the short end of the monitor version of chip lottery

Very true, although disappointing since it has run very well for a couple years...

 

[Kestrel]

Thanks for the responses @guinness and @SniperHF - I was planning on getting a video card anyway - the new TV doesn't have a separate sound input, and the HTPC my parents are running uses an old HD 4670 - with DVI. I figure if I have to buy a video card anyway, I might as well get one that will allow 4K Netflix. I'm half tempted just to buy a motherboard, CPU, RAM, and wifi card instead... but that definitely is a little more money, and I'm a tightwad

 

[Kestrel]

So, I confirmed last night that my RX 480 does 4K Netflix last night... that means I could likely save money by going with an RX 560 instead of a 1050 ti (any 4GB 1050's I found were so expensive I might as well get the ti anyway). But... this computer is running on an old Core2Duo - I'm debating spending the extra money, and just getting a motherboard, CPU, and some RAM instead. It IS just an HTPC, but it wouldn't hurt to retire a CPU that old either.

 

[Commander Clueless]

So, I confirmed last night that my RX 480 does 4K Netflix last night... that means I could likely save money by going with an RX 560 instead of a 1050 ti (any 4GB 1050's I found were so expensive I might as well get the ti anyway). But... this computer is running on an old Core2Duo - I'm debating spending the extra money, and just getting a motherboard, CPU, and some RAM instead. It IS just an HTPC, but it wouldn't hurt to retire a CPU that old either.

So clearly Threadripper is in order.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Very true, although disappointing since it has run very well for a couple years...

My preference will be that my monitor holds out for another few years at least, but my backup plan is probably a QLED FreeSync monitor followed by hoping Radeon churns out some reasonably priced high end GPUs in the near future.

 

[Kestrel]

So clearly Threadripper is in order.

Don't tempt me, I'm already trying to tell myself that upgrading my 16 core machine to the new 32 core chip would be stupid

 

[Commander Clueless]

Don't tempt me, I'm already trying to tell myself that upgrading my 16 core machine to the new 32 core chip would be stupid

Stupid awesome!

 

[Kestrel]

Stupid awesome!

But then I'd have to get a next-gen motherboard so I'm using it to its fullest (I'm already not using all the features my current motherboard has), then I'd have to recycle the 16 core, because you just won't get its value in resale... so I'd have to dump it in my Plex server, then I'd have to take the i7 from the server, and give it to my dad, and then put his core2quad in his HTPC... and I'm right back where I started with an old, albeit better computer

 

[SniperHF]

Kestrel rn

 

[Kestrel]

Kestrel rn

View attachment 129581

You're suggesting I should just upgrade all the computers to Threadrippers, aren't you?

 

[flyingkiwi]

Do it, Kestrel.

I think I’m at my limit for upgrading this PC. In a year I’m probably going to do a working holiday in France so I’ll part out the system and come home a year later with parts via Hong Kong or somewhere.

 

[Kestrel]

I'm trying to hold out until the last year of the TR socket... with the intent of buying just a processor at that point... but I'm not sure how that will go. I've never really gone and sold old hardware other than selling a computer to a cousin on the cheap while it was still good - I'm sure I would feel like I'd need to pick up another TR board, even if I just got a used one, and repurpose the 16 core chip