PC Building Guide and Discussion #13

[britdevil]

A friend is upgrading to 3080 (yeah he got one...) and has offered me his 2080 Super for £400 ($681 CAD, £518 USD).

Is this worth it? Should I wait for 3070, although likely to be much more expensive. Big Navi?

I have a AMD Ryzen 5 3600x, 16GB 3600 mhz RAM and p1 nvme SSD, with a lowly GTX 960. Have been waiting for the 3070 to upgrade... I've been out of the PC gaming loop since 2016...

 

[sigma six]

I'm not in the race but have seen lots of anguish over not being able to buy a 30x0 like right this damn minute. Can always get around that by paying double from the scalpers on eBay I suppose.

 

[sigma six]

A friend is upgrading to 3080 (yeah he got one...) and has offered me his 2080 Super for £400 ($681 CAD, £518 USD).

Is this worth it? Should I wait for 3070, although likely to be much more expensive. Big Navi?

I have a AMD Ryzen 5 3600x, 16GB 3600 mhz RAM and p1 nvme SSD, with a lowly GTX 960. Have been waiting for the 3070 to upgrade... I've been out of the PC gaming loop since 2016...

2080 is a fine card and would be a massive upgrade but I'd let the dust settle and get the newest card you can afford.

 

[britdevil]

2080 is a fine card and would be a massive upgrade but I'd let the dust settle and get the newest card you can afford.

This is kind of where I am at.

But... I've only very recently spent a lot on all those other components and I have upgraded to a 144hz 24" ips panel. My budget is probably £400 top anyway...

 

[Deadpool8812]

Looking for a gaming keyboard...~$100

Any suggestions?

 

[Theosis]

I'm looking to give my current PC to my son and build my own. So far this is what I've got [URL]https://pcpartpicker.com/user/theosis/saved/#view=XXWmrH[/URL]

I'm at a loss at what PSU and Case to get though. Any comments or help on the other parts would be appreciated as well.

(I put the MSI 3080 Trio there, since that's the card I was able to grab from Amazon.ca, although has not yet shipped. Also the monitor I put is the one I already have)

 

[Osprey]

I'm looking to give my current PC to my son and build my own. So far this is what I've got https://pcpartpicker.com/user/theosis/saved/2pNsLk

I'm at a loss at what PSU and Case to get though. Any comments or help on the other parts would be appreciated as well.

(I put the MSI 3080 Trio there, since that's the card I was able to grab from Amazon.ca, although has not yet shipped. Also the monitor I put is the one I already have)

FYI, your part list is private.

For PSU, you should probably get at least a 750W, since you have a 3080 on the way.

For case, it mostly depends on what your taste, needs and budget are, though one designed for good airflow would probably be prudent, since the 3080 will appreciate it. Something like the Corsair 275R Airflow would do nicely, I imagine:

https://www.amazon.ca/Corsair-Airflow-Tempered-Mid-Tower-Gaming/dp/B07VNB23RZ

I have the Corsair 200R, basically the earlier version of that case, and really like it.

 

[Theosis]

FYI, your part list is private.

For PSU, you should probably get at least a 750W, since you have a 3080 on the way.

For case, it mostly depends on what your taste, needs and budget are, though one designed for good airflow would probably be prudent, since the 3080 will appreciate it. Something like the Corsair 275R Airflow would do nicely, I imagine:

https://www.amazon.ca/Corsair-Airflow-Tempered-Mid-Tower-Gaming/dp/B07VNB23RZ

I have the Corsair 200R, basically the earlier version of that case, and really like it.

My bad, try now.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/theosis/saved/#view=XXWmrH

 

[Puck]

That ASUS ROG Maximus mobo is expensive and sweet. Might be nit-picky on my part for a case but I'd opt at least for a newer model with a USB 3.x front panel connector ports. The newer cases have it, the older ones don't (some just have USB 2.0). THat Asus mobo has an available USB 3.2 Gen 2 front panel connector port, be a shame not to use it. Most cases just have USB 3.1 ports though, you might be losing some bandwidth there unfortunately (from 3.2), not sure. But it's better than just 2.0. Also a good indicator on the model age of the PC case, if it has front panel USB 3.x or not.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Looking for a gaming keyboard...~$100

Any suggestions?

A bit of a strange recommendation, perhaps, but for my money? Go for a Keychron in your chosen style.

I picked up a K1 a little while ago, and it's by far the best keyboard I've ever owned.


Keychron | Wireless Mechanical Keyboards for Mac, Windows and phones

 

[Puck]

Are wireless mechanical keyboards good for gaming? Any latency issues that might frustrate an enthusiast gamer? It used to be an issue a few years back, not sure today. If not anymore, I might be interested too to cut down on the wiring on the desk.

 

[Osprey]

I picked up a K1 a little while ago, and it's by far the best keyboard I've ever owned.

I've been strongly considering the K1 (V4) for the last 3 or 4 months and just haven't pulled the trigger. I should... though the upcoming K3 is tempting, too. It's basically the K1, but with a slightly more compact form factor and is their first keyboard to be available with optical switches (though you can get it with Gateron low profile switches like the K1 uses, instead). I may wait and see how the reviews are of that in a few months and then decide between that and the K1. In the meantime, I need to use my fairly recent, cheap-o red switch keyboard more to decide for sure if I want to go for that type of switch again (but I am leaning that way).

Are wireless mechanical keyboards good for gaming? Any latency issues that might frustrate an enthusiast gamer? It used to be an issue a few years back, not sure today. If not anymore, I might be interested too to cut down on the wiring on the desk.

I can't answer that question, since I don't have one, but I do know that some wireless keyboards have the ability to work in both wired and wireless mode. The Keychron K1 has that (as well as Bluetooth 5.1), which is a big reason why I've been strongly considering it. If it turns out that I'm not happy with the latency in wireless mode, I can simply switch to wired mode, which I really don't mind at all because I've only ever used wired keyboards and mice. Having that kind of fall-back ability is really important to me in wireless accessories (not just for latency reasons, but also in case the battery runs out).

 

[Osprey]

JayzTwoCents did a video on potential bottlenecking for the 3070 and beyond using the RTX 2080 Ti as a sample.

Makes me wonder if I will be going for a 3060 after all, or looking into Ryzen 4000 a little harder than I thought I would (was planning on running the Ryzen 3600 for a few years )

I've already replied to this, but, just now, I was sitting on the toilet and pondering the important questions... like why Sony and MS are putting AMD's state of the art GPU (Big Navi) in their upcoming consoles and not their state of the art CPU (Zen 3), instead opting for the nearly 1.5-year-old Zen 2. The obvious answer occurred to me: because there must not be any benefit to it. Zen 2 must be fast enough to not really bottleneck a next-gen GPU, at least a mid-range one like the consoles will have and you and I will likely buy next. Who knows for sure, but the willingness of Sony and MS to go with Zen 2 seems like solid evidence that it's a good match for the upcoming GPUs.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Are wireless mechanical keyboards good for gaming? Any latency issues that might frustrate an enthusiast gamer? It used to be an issue a few years back, not sure today. If not anymore, I might be interested too to cut down on the wiring on the desk.

To be honest, I can't say. I haven't tried my Keychron in wireless mode yet


I will say I did try out a Razer Turret back in the day, and holy crap was it awful for latency....

I've been strongly considering the K1 (V4) for the last 3 or 4 months and just haven't pulled the trigger. I should... though the upcoming K3 is tempting, too. It's basically the K1, but with a slightly more compact form factor and is their first keyboard to be available with optical switches (though you can get it with Gateron low profile switches like the K1 uses, instead). I may wait and see how the reviews are of that in a few months and then decide between that and the K1. In the meantime, I need to use my fairly recent, cheap-o red switch keyboard more to decide for sure if I want to go for that type of switch again (but I am leaning that way).

The K3 does look pretty awesome.

I don't think you'll regret the K1 though. I got mine earlier this year in low profile red switches with a white backlight and it's fantastic.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I've already replied to this, but, just now, I was sitting on the toilet and pondering the important questions... like why Sony and MS are putting AMD's state of the art GPU (Big Navi) in their upcoming consoles and not their state of the art CPU (Zen 3), instead opting for the nearly 1.5-year-old Zen 2. The obvious answer occurred to me: because there must not be any benefit to it. Zen 2 must be fast enough to not really bottleneck a next-gen GPU, at least a mid-range one like the consoles will have and you and I will likely buy next.

A very good thought.

Another factor may be that the consoles are pushing more 4K than super high refresh rate 1080p. At higher resolutions, the CPU side is far less important.

As more of a casual gamer than a competitive one, I think my 3600 will be just fine with a potential 3060/3070 (or AMD equivalent) this year (or early next, as the case may be).

For anyone considering a 3080 and wanting to run high refresh 1080p monitors, you might want to consider a CPU upgrade to match.....

 

[Osprey]

I don't think you'll regret the K1 though. I got mine earlier this year in low profile red switches with a white backlight and it's fantastic.

That's the configuration that I would get, too. It's hard to find keyboards with gamer features like red switches and n-key rollover that don't also have RGB backlighting, futuristic key fonts and other "gamer" aesthetics. It's frustrating that keyboards tend to be either super gamer-y or super business-y, with little in between. I just want an unassuming, non-distracting, professional-looking keyboard that I can also game on. The K1 has basically everything that I want in a keyboard and nothing that I don't.

 

[Commander Clueless]

That's the configuration that I would get, too. It's hard to find keyboards with gamer features like red switches and n-key rollover that don't also have RGB backlighting, futuristic key fonts and other "gamer" aesthetics. It's frustrating that keyboards tend to be either super gamer-y or super business-y, with little in between. I just want an unassuming, non-distracting, professional-looking keyboard that I can also game on. The K1 has basically everything that I want in a keyboard and nothing that I don't.

The only really odd aesthetic choice is the orange Esc key cap. Other than that minor abnormality, it's perfect IMO.

 

[SniperHF]

Super irritating story but at least it has a happy ending.

So I'm working on this laptop that needs a new keyboard. Well it's not easily accessible you literally have to take the whole system board out and all the daughter boards + ribon cables + speakers to get to it.

Okay but if I fix it I have a perfectly good broadwell touch screen 2 in 1 laptop fixed.

So I take it all a part put the keyboard in put it back together..........oh f*** the little clippy that holds the keyboard ribon cable breaks......
Well that sucks but I can tape it I guess so I figure out exactly which position to put the broekn clip in, tape it down, put it all together. Doesn't work.

ARRRRRRG. So I take the whole f***ing thing apart again, re-route the ribon cable (my best guess is the ribon cable isn't going far enough in the terminal because the replacement isn't 1-1 to the OEM KB).
So I route the cable where it isn't supposed to go around the touch pad with some tape and bam it works. Super.

Screw everything back together and...........no power.......FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

So I figure I must have caused a short or something so I crack it open again, don't see anything obvious but I remove some of my tape just in case. Close the clamshell and it's working again, super.

Then I touch it and.......dies. Then I figure out I can push the little reset button with a paper clip to get it going again. But anytime I touch the bloody case or lid it dies again.
So something must be pushing on the little reset button when pressure is applied to the case.

I take some snips and cut off the little grommet thing that goes around the button and eureka no more dying.

Then I screw it all down tight and............dies again.............FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

I figure at this point the non OEM keyboard (can't exactly buy OEM keyboards easily for 5 year old laptops) sits a little weird and is pushing the board a bit into the case causing the button to hit when it wouldn't previously.

So I have to shim it with something so it can't possibly touch. I used 3 of those little rubber adhesive feet you put on the bottom of routers/switches if they aren't going in a rack. Now it can't possibly touch, screw it all back together. Laptop worky.


Also side note, screw how Acer puts their keyboards in..........

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Lenovo did that with their X240 and X250 line and it literally took me over to just replace a keyboard. f*** me it was bad. So, SO many thin cables you could easily mangle.

 

[Osprey]

The only really odd aesthetic choice is the orange Esc key cap. Other than that minor abnormality, it's perfect IMO.

You should've received a grey Esc key in the box. Oh, wait. You said that you bought it earlier this year, so you may have v3? I know that v4 comes with a grey Esc key because I asked Keychron support about it and one of the images on their website shows it (which I didn't look carefully enough at before asking):

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Man, being a lefty, I legit cannot work with something that is TKL.

 

[Knave]

Man, being a lefty, I legit cannot work with something that is TKL.

You have the mouse to the left of your keyboard?

 

[aleshemsky83]

A friend is upgrading to 3080 (yeah he got one...) and has offered me his 2080 Super for £400 ($681 CAD, £518 USD).

Is this worth it? Should I wait for 3070, although likely to be much more expensive. Big Navi?

I have a AMD Ryzen 5 3600x, 16GB 3600 mhz RAM and p1 nvme SSD, with a lowly GTX 960. Have been waiting for the 3070 to upgrade... I've been out of the PC gaming loop since 2016...

Ask him to lower the price, otherwise just buy a new card.

Edit: I misread that as 2060 super. That's a more than fair price. I'd buy it tbh.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

You have the mouse to the left of your keyboard?

I do. And I use arrow keys for basically any and all FPS games.

 

[Knave]

I do. And I use arrow keys for basically any and all FPS games.

How is that? I'm left handed and I've always done the typical right hand on the mouse, WASD position for left hand.