PC Building Guide and Discussion #12

[Commander Clueless]

From all the benches I've seen the 2080 is basically a 1080ti with raytracing.

And a price premium but less VRAM. But pretty much, yeah.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Extremely interested in this, but I'm so f***ing unsure of the company's warranty.

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Mini Graphics Card ZT-P10810G-10P B&H

$630 free shipping and no tax for a 1080 Ti.

 

[SniperHF]

but I'm so ****ing unsure of the company's warranty.

I usually don't worry about this. Playing the odds, you won't need it . Failure rates are usually between half a percent and 3%, some generations are higher for whatever reason but not too much higher.
If we're talking hard drives or PSUs I might weigh it more heavily.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Think it's worth that price than at $630 instead of paying the $800+ for the 2080?

 

[SniperHF]

Think it's worth that price than at $630 instead of paying the $800+ for the 2080?

Just looking around at what's actually available, yeah if you're buying now I'd easily get the 1080 ti over it. Even though people say it's pretty similar performance wise it is slower. IMO 8% slower is a bit too big a number for people to say it's the same performance as is sometimes mentioned.

BUT 8% isn't worth $220.

Newegg does have a Gigabyte 2080 for $789 which seems like the cheapest one in stock at the moment.


Also this one might be interesting, seems similarly priced to the Zotac.
MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti DirectX 12 GTX 1080 Ti DUKE 11G OC 11GB 352-Bit GDDR5X PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com

It's not a mini size though if you needed that.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

And the MSI one would actually get it down to $630. I would have to pay for tax though... unless I ship it to my new apartment in New York which doesn't have tax... AHA!

 

[Commander Clueless]

Just looking around at what's actually available, yeah if you're buying now I'd easily get the 1080 ti over it. Even though people say it's pretty similar performance wise it is slower. IMO 8% slower is a bit too big a number for people to say it's the same performance as is sometimes mentioned.

BUT 8% isn't worth $220.

Newegg does have a Gigabyte 2080 for $789 which seems like the cheapest one in stock at the moment.


Also this one might be interesting, seems similarly priced to the Zotac.
MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti DirectX 12 GTX 1080 Ti DUKE 11G OC 11GB 352-Bit GDDR5X PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com

It's not a mini size though if you needed that.

I agree in general, although I think in real world game benchmarks you will sometimes see the 1080 Ti top the 2080.

They aren't identical, but I think "trades blows" is pretty fair.


In terms of raw power, the 2080 wins cleanly...although there is a cost, and with no ray tracing available yet, it's impossible to say how it performs or how well it will take off this generation.


I really do hope the RTX stuff is as revolutionary as NVIDIA thinks it is. I'd love to pick it up when it matures (and hopefully doesn't cost so much).

 

[Commander Clueless]

I don't know if everyone saw this or not, but if you have ordered from NCIX in the past:

NCIX Database Servers Containing Unencrypted User Data Cause Yet Another Data Breach



Hard to believe that a year ago I thought they were a good company with a crappy website...

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

It seems that a ton of GTX 1080 Ti (used) are going for under $600. Do you think it's worth going after these or do you think I should go for a new one? Also, EVGA warranties are tied to the products, not the user.

gtx 1080 ti | eBay

 

[God King Fudge]

Hey everyone. I recently came into a bit of extra cash and figured I'd start upgrading some pieces on my machine. I bought 8GB of DDR4 2400 RAM and I bought a Gigabyte GA-B250M mobo.

I'm currently using an AMD and will be swapping to an older Intel G4560 to use for a month until I can move up to an i5 that I'm looking at.

Will there be any issues with the mobo/ram when moving to the i5? I saw that Newegg has LGA1151 socket mobos and LGA1151 (300 series) mobos and I don't know if I'll need a specific one to move into the i series.

 

[Commander Clueless]

It seems that a ton of GTX 1080 Ti (used) are going for under $600. Do you think it's worth going after these or do you think I should go for a new one? Also, EVGA warranties are tied to the products, not the user.

gtx 1080 ti | eBay

I think it's definitely the best value option right now, but I do wonder if the prices will shift once the 2070 and 2060 are launched.

If you do buy it now, though, I don't think you will regret it. It's a beast of a card and if RTX takes off, you can upgrade next gen.

Hey everyone. I recently came into a bit of extra cash and figured I'd start upgrading some pieces on my machine. I bought 8GB of DDR4 2400 RAM and I bought a Gigabyte GA-B250M mobo.

I'm currently using an AMD and will be swapping to an older Intel G4560 to use for a month until I can move up to an i5 that I'm looking at.

Will there be any issues with the mobo/ram when moving to the i5? I saw that Newegg has LGA1151 socket mobos and LGA1151 (300 series) mobos and I don't know if I'll need a specific one to move into the i series.

As long as the i5 is 6th or 7th generation, there won't be a problem. The 300 series is for 8th (and presumably 9th) generation.

As a note, the B250 chipset won't let you overclock if you were thinking of buying a 'K' processor.

Also, I could be wrong, but I think if you do want to run that RAM at 2400MHz instead of 2133MHz, you will need a 7th generation processor.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I basically want a brand new, top of the line GPU for when Cyberpunk comes out. That's all.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I basically want a brand new, top of the line GPU for when Cyberpunk comes out. That's all.

You've got time to play the patient man's game. Heck, it might not come out until 2020, and there might be an RTX 3080 available by then.

This might help with the decision, despite the ALL CAPS TITLE:

 

[SniperHF]

I don't know if everyone saw this or not, but if you have ordered from NCIX in the past:

NCIX Database Servers Containing Unencrypted User Data Cause Yet Another Data Breach



Hard to believe that a year ago I thought they were a good company with a crappy website...

Newegg got hacked recently as well. I got caught up in it cause I bought a UPS last month. New credit card for me.

Hey everyone. I recently came into a bit of extra cash and figured I'd start upgrading some pieces on my machine. I bought 8GB of DDR4 2400 RAM and I bought a Gigabyte GA-B250M mobo.

I'm currently using an AMD and will be swapping to an older Intel G4560 to use for a month until I can move up to an i5 that I'm looking at.

Will there be any issues with the mobo/ram when moving to the i5? I saw that Newegg has LGA1151 socket mobos and LGA1151 (300 series) mobos and I don't know if I'll need a specific one to move into the i series.

Mind what Commander said about the generations of CPUs. The 2xx motherboards are only for 6xxx and 7xxx i5/i7 processors.
They are plenty capable even if they aren't the latest release.

Is the purpose of the system gaming or something else?
If gaming what video card do you have?

Also, I could be wrong, but I think if you do want to run that RAM at 2400MHz instead of 2133MHz, you will need a 7th generation processor.

Sometimes you can "overclock" via XMP to get the higher speed even on B/H Series boards. But it has to be specific combos. IE Kaby Lake + 200 series board. Skylake + 2xx series won't do it. Kaby + 1xx board wouldn't do it. TBH you wouldn't miss those 267mhz much anyway though

 

[God King Fudge]

Newegg got hacked recently as well. I got caught up in it cause I bought a UPS last month. New credit card for me.



Mind what Commander said about the generations of CPUs. The 2xx motherboards are only for 6xxx and 7xxx i5/i7 processors.
They are plenty capable even if they aren't the latest release.

Is the purpose of the system gaming or something else?
If gaming what video card do you have?

I was looking into an i5 but honestly, looking at prices I think I'll wait an extra pay cycle and just pick up an i7-7700. Not interested in the overclocking stuff, but I have a 1060 6GB. I honestly do fine with most games just on the back of the 1060, but I have a real weak CPU and RAM right now and I definitely feel it holding me back at times.

Purpose is gaming, but nothing major. I don't really care about max settings at 4k or anything like that. Just getting better performance.

I also need opinions on two other things that I'm looking into if you kind folks don't mind.

1) AIO liquid CPU coolers? Some well reviewed ones pretty cheap. Worth it? Overkill if you're not OC? Better to do a non stock CPU fan?

2) Monitor. I have a nice little curved monitor my wife bought me for xmas last year. Picture is real nice, but it's 60hz and nothing overly fancy. I like using two monitors and I have a friend that keeps telling me I need to get a 144hz+ monitor and it will change my life. Worth looking into? I don't really do any multiplayer gaming outside of Overwatch and maybe like Smite or something.

 

[Hammettf2b]

When installing a new ssd (not for booting purposes just extra space) do I need to do anything in the bios or is it just plug it in and it will work?

 

[SniperHF]

When installing a new ssd (not for booting purposes just extra space) do I need to do anything in the bios or is it just plug it in and it will work?

Should be good to go. Plug n play.
If it's a SATA drive, you might double check if you have all SATA 3 ports or a mix of SATA 2 and 3. That way you don't plug it into a slower SATA 2 port on accident.
On most anything post Haswell I think it's all SATA 3 though.

 

[Hammettf2b]

Should be good to go. Plug n play.
If it's a SATA drive, you might double check if you have all SATA 3 ports or a mix of SATA 2 and 3. That way you don't plug it into a slower SATA 2 port on accident.
On most anything post Haswell I think it's all SATA 3 though.

Awesome, thank you. I'll have to double check on the SATA ports. MSI - H110M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (H110M Gaming) - PCPartPicker that is the motherboard I have

 

[SniperHF]

I was looking into an i5 but honestly, looking at prices I think I'll wait an extra pay cycle and just pick up an i7-7700. Not interested in the overclocking stuff, but I have a 1060 6GB. I honestly do fine with most games just on the back of the 1060, but I have a real weak CPU and RAM right now and I definitely feel it holding me back at times.

Purpose is gaming, but nothing major. I don't really care about max settings at 4k or anything like that. Just getting better performance.

I was actually going to suggest just that. Mainly because the G4560 is surprisingly capable at gaming and an i5 isn't really as big an upgrade as you'd think. But an i7 would set your system up to be pretty solid for several years.

But since you're using a 1060 it's quite likely the G4560 isn't holding you back all that much either. Though it probably will in the future.

However for the 144hz refresh rate it definitely is a bottleneck.

Intel Pentium G4560: Kaby Lake's Real Gift
You'll see on overwatch with a 1060 it bottlenecks you by about 20 FPS on the average

I also need opinions on two other things that I'm looking into if you kind folks don't mind.

1) AIO liquid CPU coolers? Some well reviewed ones pretty cheap. Worth it? Overkill if you're not OC? Better to do a non stock CPU fan?

Stock speeds, I wouldn't bother. An air cooler in the $30-$40 range will out perform the stock cooling quite a bit if you want to keep the heat down. But even the stock will work.
You could always try the stock and see if it's acceptable first.

2) Monitor. I have a nice little curved monitor my wife bought me for xmas last year. Picture is real nice, but it's 60hz and nothing overly fancy. I like using two monitors and I have a friend that keeps telling me I need to get a 144hz+ monitor and it will change my life. Worth looking into? I don't really do any multiplayer gaming outside of Overwatch and maybe like Smite or something.

IMO you upgrade your monitor to a 144hz and you're looking at going to a 1070 ti. At least for newer higher end games @ high+ settings.

Even for overwatch to get full use of a 144hz monitor (at ultra settings) you'd need a video card upgrade.
Overwatch game review: benchmarks with 21 graphics cards

You'd still get some significant benefit of a 144hz though, if you average around 100 like the chart says. But of course you could lower settings to high/medium.

 

[God King Fudge]

I was actually going to suggest just that. Mainly because the G4560 is surprisingly capable at gaming and an i5 isn't really as big an upgrade as you'd think. But an i7 would set your system up to be pretty solid for several years.

But since you're using a 1060 it's quite likely the G4560 isn't holding you back all that much either. Though it probably will in the future.

However for the 144hz refresh rate it definitely is a bottleneck.

Intel Pentium G4560: Kaby Lake's Real Gift
You'll see on overwatch with a 1060 it bottlenecks you by about 20 FPS on the average



Stock speeds, I wouldn't bother. An air cooler in the $30-$40 range will out perform the stock cooling quite a bit if you want to keep the heat down. But even the stock will work.
You could always try the stock and see if it's acceptable first.




IMO you upgrade your monitor to a 144hz and you're looking at going to a 1070 ti. At least for newer higher end games @ high+ settings.

Even for overwatch to get full use of a 144hz monitor (at ultra settings) you'd need a video card upgrade.
Overwatch game review: benchmarks with 21 graphics cards

You'd still get some significant benefit of a 144hz though, if you average around 100 like the chart says. But of course you could lower settings to high/medium.

Awesome input, I really appreciate you letting me pick your brain. I don't honestly think I game enough anymore to really care about upgrading to a 144hz, especially since I don't plan on upgrading my 1060 for quite awhile. I don't have any issues with my monitor as is. Any recommendations on an air cooler?

Also: since I was kind of looking into the AIO cooler and a monitor, would I be better served returning that mobo and upgrading it, or would I benefit more from getting the i7 sooner?

My options will be either stick with that mobo and get the i7 in a few weeks, or upgrade the mobo from my selection and ride with the (what I just discovered is a g4600 and not the 4560) CPU that I have for a few months.

 

[SniperHF]

My options will be either stick with that mobo and get the i7 in a few weeks, or upgrade the mobo from my selection and ride with the (what I just discovered is a g4600 and not the 4560) CPU that I have for a few months.

If you aren't going to be overclocking, I think the motherboard you have will be fine.

G4600 and 4560 are basically the same FWIW.

If you aren't getting a monitor, the benefits of the i7 are going to be lesser.

From one of the benchmarks I linked earlier.
Overwatch was
Minimum 129FPS Average 155 - G4560
Minimum 138FPS Average 181 - i7

But since we're talking 60 hz this is basically a distinction without a difference.



But in a more "serious" game like Battlefield 1:
Minimum 63FPS Average 82- G4560
Minimum 83FPS Average 92 - i7

So you're still over the magic 60 FPS number even with the Pentium. But BF1 is 2 years old now. So this is going to rapidly change as more games come out if you play them.



So IMO the main reason to get an i7 would be to have it for future needs not necessarily for what you're doing right now.

 

[God King Fudge]

If you aren't going to be overclocking, I think the motherboard you have will be fine.

G4600 and 4560 are basically the same FWIW.

If you aren't getting a monitor, the benefits of the i7 are going to be lesser.

From one of the benchmarks I linked earlier.
Overwatch was
Minimum 129FPS Average 155 - G4560
Minimum 138FPS Average 181 - i7

But since we're talking 60 hz this is basically a distinction without a difference.



But in a more "serious" game like Battlefield 1:
Minimum 63FPS Average 82- G4560
Minimum 83FPS Average 92 - i7

So you're still over the magic 60 FPS number even with the Pentium. But BF1 is 2 years old now. So this is going to rapidly change as more games come out if you play them.



So IMO the main reason to get an i7 would be to have it for future needs not necessarily for what you're doing right now.

Hey sniper, I just finished building up the new parts and I'm having a major issue. When I power up, fans light up, gpu lights up, Mobo lights up and then it just shuts down. Once the fan stops spinning it turns back on but the lights will shut off for a half second like it's losing power repeatedly until I unplug it. I've unplugged everything but the atx power and the CPU fan and it still does it. Bad Mobo?

I just used the PC before I shut it off to install. 725W PSU so I can't imagine it's too weak?

 

[Cizin]

Did you check to see if your motherboard was running the most recent firmware before changing out the CPU? I've run into that as an issue before.

 

[SniperHF]

Hey sniper, I just finished building up the new parts and I'm having a major issue. When I power up, fans light up, gpu lights up, Mobo lights up and then it just shuts down. Once the fan stops spinning it turns back on but the lights will shut off for a half second like it's losing power repeatedly until I unplug it. I've unplugged everything but the atx power and the CPU fan and it still does it. Bad Mobo?

I just used the PC before I shut it off to install. 725W PSU so I can't imagine it's too weak?

With the i7 or the Pentium?

 

[God King Fudge]

With the i7 or the Pentium?

Pentium. I hooked the old board back up and everything ran fine