PC Building Guide and Discussion #13

[SniperHF]

I've seen quite a few who just enable XMP on their boards and ran at the advertised 3600 mhz with CAS 16 but that doesn't mean I'll get the same. The board is an MSI x570 pro carbon by the way.

Yeah a lot of people don't even think of it as a conventional OC anymore because it's so brainless these days. And it does work in the vast majority of cases, but Ryzens are a little more finicky than Intels and older AMD CPUs when it comes to RAM.

The 3700 has the same memory spec as the 3600.

 

[PK Cronin]

I'd still want to try it on the system in question. The power draw for your old parts could be different, might not cause your PSU to fail.

It's almost certainly the PSU or the motherboard.

I've figured it out but need to figure out if there's a way to fix it. Should've tested it earlier but didn't because of how everything went down.

Initially, when I got my first successful boot I had two RAM sticks installed. so I assumed they weren't the issue. Today I removed one of them and tested it, everything loaded. Then I added the GPU and the case fans, it worked. Installed the second stick of RAM again, boot loop. I tried all the different slots and it won't work if there are two sticks in. I've switched the sticks around and have used each independently of each other to rule out a bad stick, and each works. When I put in two RAM sticks next to each other (incorrectly) the BIOS loads up but there's a warning telling me I have them in the wrong spot. I power down, shift them back to where they need to be and I get stuck in the boot loop again. So it's something with the motherboard's ability to read the dual memory but I'm not sure what setting I need to change in order to get it to work (if there is one).

Slightly happy, slightly annoyed right now. At least my computer is functional with just the one stick at 16GB's but I really want 32GB's if I can.

 

[SniperHF]

When I put in two RAM sticks next to each other (incorrectly) the BIOS loads up but there's a warning telling me I have them in the wrong spot. I power down, shift them back to where they need to be and I get stuck in the boot loop again

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's pretty weird.
What's the exact message on screen?


You said you tried different combinations, have you tried using them in the second bank? Or the B bank.
So usually it would be like:
CPU
Stick 1 (A)
Blank (B)
Stick 2 (A)
Blank (B)

But try:
CPU
Blank (A)
Stick 1 (B)
Blank(A)
Stick 2 (B)


You might look and see if tehre's a BIOS update available, now that you can get it booted up. A lot of BIOS updates are explicitly for RAM compatibility issues.

 

[PK Cronin]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's pretty weird.
What's the exact message on screen?


You said you tried different combinations, have you tried using them in the second bank? Or the B bank.
So usually it would be like:
CPU
Stick 1 (A)
Blank (B)
Stick 2 (A)
Blank (B)

But try:
CPU
Blank (A)
Stick 1 (B)
Blank(A)
Stick 2 (B)


You might look and see if tehre's a BIOS update available, now that you can get it booted up. A lot of BIOS updates are explicitly for RAM compatibility issues.

I tried both of those combinations, and the message I get only happens if I do:

Stick 1 (A)
Stick 2 (B)
Blank (A)
Blank (B)

Haven't tried the inverse, but I suspect I'd get the same message. I'll have to try it again and see exactly what it said, but it was something about optimal performance how the sticks shouldn't be placed next to each other. Going to see if there's a BIOS update now. Posting this from the PC I've been trying to fix, so that's good.

 

[SniperHF]

Haven't tried the inverse, but I suspect I'd get the same message. I'll have to try it again and see exactly what it said, but it was something about optimal performance how the sticks shouldn't be placed next to each other. Going to see if there's a BIOS update now. Posting this from the PC I've been trying to fix, so that's good.

When it's doing that, you should be getting all 32GB. What it's saying is you aren't getting dual channel speeds.
Is there a way to like press f2 to continue or something? You should be able to continue to boot that way.

 

[PK Cronin]

When it's doing that, you should be getting all 32GB. What it's saying is you aren't getting dual channel speeds.
Is there a way to like press f2 to continue or something? You should be able to continue to boot that way.

I think there was a way to proceed but I didn't bother because I wanted it set up properly. How much of a difference does it make? I have no idea.

 

[SniperHF]

I think there was a way to proceed but I didn't bother because I wanted it set up properly. How much of a difference does it make? I have no idea.

3%? Thereabouts.
AMD Zen 2 Memory Performance Scaling with Ryzen 9 3900X
(granted it's an AMD test but I'd bet the numbers are similar for Intel, or even smaller since AMD is more memory sensitive)

3200 Single channel vs 3200.

Keep in mind with a single stick you are already running single channel anyway. So there's no harm in using your 32GB in single channel.


There's obviously still something wrong though. What's your motherboard model?

 

[PK Cronin]

3%? Thereabouts.
AMD Zen 2 Memory Performance Scaling with Ryzen 9 3900X
(granted it's an AMD test but I'd bet the numbers are similar for Intel, or even smaller since AMD is more memory sensitive)

3200 Single channel vs 3200.

Keep in mind with a single stick you are already running single channel anyway. So there's no harm in using your 32GB in single channel.


There's obviously still something wrong though. What's your motherboard model?

Gigabyte z390 M Gaming. I'll test it and see if it works now. I don't care much about 3% when we're talking about 32GB. Probably not worth my time to keep digging if it'll work with it.

Edit: It lets me boot with single channel only. Here's the message though, it's just an instruction.

 

[SniperHF]

I'll test it and see if it works now. I don't care much about 3%

I'd actually consider calling/emailing the motherboard manufacturer's support. It's possibly a compatibility issue with your particular set of RAM. I'd also check what BIOS version you are running compared to the latest on the website:
Z390 M GAMING (rev. 1.0) | Motherboard - GIGABYTE U.S.A.

It losing it's f***ing mind in dual channel but not single is very strange.

 

[Osprey]

I've figured it out but need to figure out if there's a way to fix it. Should've tested it earlier but didn't because of how everything went down.

Initially, when I got my first successful boot I had two RAM sticks installed. so I assumed they weren't the issue. Today I removed one of them and tested it, everything loaded.

I'm glad that my suggestion worked. I'd be more glad if it worked for the person that I actually suggested it to to troubleshoot his problem, instead of the person whose problem stumped me, but hey!

 

[TMTMTM83]

Long time lurker looking for advice. I'm looking to buy two desktop computers for light gaming for the girlfriend and I. We're currently both running old office desktop and looking to upgrade to something that can games more adequately.

She is mainly into games such as The Sims and Civilisation while i'm more of a card game type (Magic the Gathering Online, Magic Arena, Hearthstone) as well as sports simulators (OOTP).

Any chance any of you would have some recommendations ? Budget of 1000$ max per PC.

 

[guinness]

Long time lurker looking for advice. I'm looking to buy two desktop computers for light gaming for the girlfriend and I. We're currently both running old office desktop and looking to upgrade to something that can games more adequately.

She is mainly into games such as The Sims and Civilisation while i'm more of a card game type (Magic the Gathering Online, Magic Arena, Hearthstone) as well as sports simulators (OOTP).

Any chance any of you would have some recommendations ? Budget of 1000$ max per PC.

$1000 each, including monitors? Also US or Canadian?

Those games aren't that demanding, and depending on other uses, you can either put more money into CPU, storage, RAM vs GPU or visa versa. At the moment, I would see what deals are showing up on Slickdeals.

 

[TMTMTM83]

$1000 each, including monitors? Also US or Canadian?

Those games aren't that demanding, and depending on other uses, you can either put more money into CPU, storage, RAM vs GPU or visa versa. At the moment, I would see what deals are showing up on Slickdeals.

Sorry, CAD$. No need for monitors at this time. I'll have a look at slickdeals, thanks !

 

[sigma six]

Yeah a lot of people don't even think of it as a conventional OC anymore because it's so brainless these days. And it does work in the vast majority of cases, but Ryzens are a little more finicky than Intels and older AMD CPUs when it comes to RAM.

The 3700 has the same memory spec as the 3600.

Update: It's the processor. Removing one stick did seem to reduce the BSOD instances but playing a game kept crashing to desktop and finally the PC just stopped booting.
The debug LED on my motherboard that corresponds to the cpu is shining like an angry red eye.

To late to return any of these parts to Newegg thanks to me being a procrastinator, so hopefully AMD executes the RMA process in tidy fashion. What a miserable experience this has been, lol.

 

[guinness]

Sorry, CAD$. No need for monitors at this time. I'll have a look at slickdeals, thanks !

Boo...urns.

Unfortunately, I pretty sure slickdeals is US centric, but they lead you done the path of model #'s, but other posters may know a Slickdeals like site up north.

I like Amazon and Costco as well, but I have only brought from the US, or browsed the Amazon JP and UK sites.

In any case, I don't think this time of year probably is a bad time to buy something.

 

[aleshemsky83]

For a thousand bucks probably an 8400/9400 1660 super/ti build is where you'll end up.

 

[Caeldan]

Pc part picker works well for us north of the border.


System Builder

Would be a sample no research build for ~950

 

[McDNicks17]

A fin on one of my RTX 2060's fans randomly broke and, needless to say, it was rattling like crazy. I took it out and I'm just running with one fan for now.

Any recommendations on a place to buy a replacement fan?

I found the same fan on Ebay(although it's for an Inno3D and mine is a Zotac, don't know if that matters?), but it's $65 USD. I'm guessing just any fan with the correct specs would work though, right? Appears to be a 92mm.

 

[SniperHF]

I found the same fan on Ebay, but it's $65 USD. I'm guessing just any fan with the correct specs would work though, right? Appears to be a 92mm.

Long as the holes match up and the plug is the same I don't see why not. Might not perform exactly the same but it should be fine.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I decided to go with an HTPC-style gaming build after all. I'll let my beefier (but older) PC duke it out with the new slim and trim box for usage king.

Here's the new build:

System Builder

 

[Commander Clueless]

I decided to go with an HTPC-style gaming build after all. I'll let my beefier (but older) gaming system duke it out with the new slim and trim box for usage king.

Here's the new build:

System Builder

RAM compatibility remains an interesting potential problem. I look forward to the battle that is to come...

 

[McDNicks17]

My fan issue turned into a bit of an adventure haha.

I've basically never tinkered inside one of my computer's before, but thought swapping out a fan shouldn't be too hard. I found the fan on the manufacturer's website using the model number, it said it was 92mm, searched all over the place, couldn't find any 92s. Found a set of 88mms on Amazon with the correct hookup, figured that should probably work.

They get here today. First thing I find is the hookup between the two fans is actually different than pictured on Amazon, so I'll have to swap both fans rather than just the broken one. Took me a bit to get the old fan unplugged since it was cramped under the heat sink, but I got it out and the new one plugged in. Now the best part. My dumbass didn't actually physically measure the old fans. I just took the manufacturer's word for it. Turns out they're 85mm fans. The new 88mms don't even come close to fitting in the plastic shroud haha.

I ended up just leaving the shroud off and got it up and running. Looks pretty ugly, but my GPU actually runs a little cooler now haha.

 

[SniperHF]

I ended up just leaving the shroud off and got it up and running. Looks pretty ugly, but my GPU actually runs a little cooler now haha.

Ain't nothin' wrong with that.

If you wanna get really into it you can buy a whole aftermarket heatsink/fan solution. TBH at a certain point that would be more cost effective than just fixing the old ones.

Bit scarier to rip apart the card though if you aren't familiar

 

[aleshemsky83]

Steep discounts on Ryzen chips at memory Express for the Canadians looking.

 

[Kelly]

I know this is a building thread, so I apologize in advance -- but I have a laptop question.

I travel for work a lot, so decided it would be best for me to buy myself a gaming laptop, I've bought the Lenovo y545 it has a Intel Core i7-9750H, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (4GB), a SSD, and another 1tb extra stored plus 16GB of DDR4 RAM. It's a good laptop for gaming and will be able to keep up with my needs.

Only issue I have with the laptop is the battery life, it has a 52.5Wh 3 Cell Li-Polymer battery, expected life is ~5 hours but while gaming its maybe 2 at best.

So my question is what do you guys recommend for a fix? I don't think I'm able to buy a bigger battery, so what about battery banks? Whats the best one and how much more life will that give?

Thanks in advance