PC Building Guide and Discussion #14

[93LEAFS]

I’m making the jump into PC gaming. There are so many games that look like a blast that you just can’t play on consoles. My knowledge on these things is basically zero but I was curious if anyone knows the best place to buy pre-built? I would prefer to skip the hassle so I can focus on getting a monitor and desk going. Any help is appreciated.

Honestly, I'd avoid pre-builts and build youself. It should take an afternoon.

But, if I was opposed to building myself, I would personally recommend paying the premium and going to a respected local builder. Seeing your in Vegas, I'm sure there is somewhere that is held in decent regard and does it. If you are deadset on ordering online I'd avoid OEM's (Alienware/Dell, HP, etc), but I'd strongly encourage building yourself (I was in your boat 2 years ago, and did it myself) or find local support.

 

[The Nuge]

I’m making the jump into PC gaming. There are so many games that look like a blast that you just can’t play on consoles. My knowledge on these things is basically zero but I was curious if anyone knows the best place to buy pre-built? I would prefer to skip the hassle so I can focus on getting a monitor and desk going. Any help is appreciated.

LTT’s done 3 secret shopper series that are probably right up your alley to watch if you don’t really know where to start with what you need, and want to go the prebuilt route

 

[John Price]

lol nba 2k24 is 10 dollars this week

 

[Osprey]

It's about time. A couple of years ago, I switched back to Nvidia after about 10 years with AMD and was shocked that Nvidia was still using the same control panel that I remembered. For once, Nvidia is playing catch up to AMD.

Download NVIDIA App

The essential companion for PC gamers and creators.

www.nvidia.com

 

[aleshemsky83]

It's about time. A couple of years ago, I switched back to Nvidia after about 10 years with AMD and was shocked that the Nvidia was still using the same control panel that I remembered. For once, Nvidia is actually play catch up to AMD.

Download NVIDIA App

The essential companion for PC gamers and creators.

www.nvidia.com

I'll have to try it out but tbh I prefer the simplicity of the control panel. At least Geforce Experience doesn't require a login anymore.

 

[Osprey]

I'll have to try it out but tbh I prefer the simplicity of the control panel. At least Geforce Experience doesn't require a login anymore.

I sort of do, too, but it's slow. The new app is much more responsive and doesn't require you to click Apply to make changes. It's also simpler to have all settings and software features in one app. For now, you can still launch the control panel, though. The new app replaces GeForce Experience, not the control panel.

 

[aleshemsky83]

This is one of the strangest things ive seen. I cant find any online drivers for this device.

MSI HERALD-BE NCM865 WI-FI 7 - MSI-US Official Store

FASTER SPEED, LESS DELAY - the MSI MSI HERALD-BE NCM865 WI-FI 7, a combination of 320 MHz channels and Multi-Link Operation (MLO), Wi-Fi 7 boasts 5 times the network capacity of Wi-Fi 6. Enjoy gaming, streaming, and web meetings throughout your home.

us-store.msi.com

It comes with a cd but I removed my CD drive ages ago. I may have to reattach my cd drive just to install drivers for this thing.

edit: I just realized this wifi card came out 5 days ago, which maybe explains why windows isnt seeing anything and the msi website doesnt even have drivers for it. I stumbled upon it at memoryexpress and had no idea it was that new. Guess the CD is my only option

 

[Osprey]

That seems like a pretty big fail on MSI's part, distributing drivers on CD when not even the website has them, in 2024.

I recommend buying an external, USB-attached CD/DVD drive. They're cheap (only $15-20), but come in very handy now and then, especially when working with laptops.

 

[aleshemsky83]

That seems like a pretty big fail on MSI's part, distributing drivers on CD when not even the website has them, in 2024.

I recommend buying an external, USB-attached CD/DVD drive. They're cheap (only $15-20), but come in very handy now and then, especially when working with laptops.

The funny part that I’m just realizing now as I put my disc drive back in, is MSI included a mounting screw in the box for the disc drive that they know you need. I was wondering was that was for.

edit: nothings installing. fortunately I actually do own dvds and CDs to test whether the drive works, and it does, it works fine. Gonna have to do some digging, though its hard to with such a new product.

edit2: I had no idea about this but windows 10 has no support for wifi7 devices. Maybe theres native support in windows 11 and thats the source of my problems. The only reason im not on windows 11 is because when i last upgraded my PC crashed every 5 minutes. Gonna have to see if I can sort this out without upgrading to 11 (though that might not even solve it)

edit3: I successfully installed the drivers and nothing, I will now be isntalling windows 11, lets see.

edit4: Why am I going through this headache I'm just going to return it and get the wifi 6 antenna.

edit: I just upgraded to windows 11, and that was literally it. The drivers werent appearing on the disc at all, I upgraded to windows 11 and the drivers appeared on the disc and installed immediately. I'm actually surprised. I assumed that it would just install and support wifi 6 on windows 10 but no. You cant use wifi7 devices on windows 10 period, unless what I experienced was just a bug, but I dont think so.

 

[Smelling Salt]

What a rollercoaster

 

[Osprey]

If the card is using the Intel BE200 or BE202 chips, you might want to update to the latest drivers from Intel, last updated yesterday, since the ones on the disc are months old, no doubt.

Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE200 Downloads, Drivers and Software | Intel

Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE200 - Download supporting resources inclusive drivers, software, bios, and firmware updates.

www.intel.com

Also, the detailed description notes:

* All Intel® Wi-Fi 7 products support the 6GHz band for Wi-Fi. Usage of the 6GHz band relies on Microsoft Windows (Windows 11*) Operating System support. The products have limited functionality on Windows® 10.
* The Wi-Fi 7 features are not currently available because of pending OS (Windows 11*) support. As a result, after installing the drivers, the Intel® Wi-Fi 7 products function with Wi-Fi 6E capabilities on Windows 11*.

Apparently, even though you bought a "WiFi 7" adapter, you can't even use WiFi 7 yet. You'll get only WiFi 6E speeds until Microsoft updates Windows 11 later this year.

 

[aleshemsky83]

If the card is using the Intel BE200 or BE202 chips, you might want to update to the latest drivers from Intel, last updated yesterday, since the ones on the disc are months old, no doubt.

Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE200 Downloads, Drivers and Software | Intel

Intel® Wi-Fi 7 BE200 - Download supporting resources inclusive drivers, software, bios, and firmware updates.

www.intel.com

Also, the detailed description notes:

Apparently, even though you bought a "WiFi 7" adapter, you can't even use WiFi 7 yet. You'll get only WiFi 6E speeds until Microsoft updates Windows 11 (and, presumably, Intel releases newer drivers for it) later this year.

It’s actually Qualcomm which might explain why the driver situation is so bad. Getting good speeds now though tbh. About 500 down and 350 up. It’s gigabit internet so not maxing out but I’m pretty happy with those speeds

 

[93LEAFS]

Sounds like Horizon: Forbidden West's port was done really well. Seems the stuff Sony has Nixxes on is landing. The only real issue for one so far was Last of Us Part 2 which was done in house at Naughty Dog.

 

[aleshemsky83]

3 years and kingdom hearts games are still epic game store exclusive. Rumors are the exclusivity may be ending soon.

It's about time. A couple of years ago, I switched back to Nvidia after about 10 years with AMD and was shocked that Nvidia was still using the same control panel that I remembered. For once, Nvidia is playing catch up to AMD.

Download NVIDIA App

The essential companion for PC gamers and creators.

www.nvidia.com

Ive been testing this out for a few weeks and i just dont see how this replaces the control panel. Theres only a handful of settings brought over. DSR, Gsync, and thats it. Everything else is removed. They added auto-HDR and dynamic vibrance (I dont know what this is), I'm guessing this is going to be the new playground for driver level RTX features.

 

[Osprey]

Ive been testing this out for a few weeks and i just dont see how this replaces the control panel. Theres only a handful of settings brought over. DSR, Gsync, and thats it. Everything else is removed. They added auto-HDR and dynamic vibrance (I dont know what this is), I'm guessing this is going to be the new playground for driver level RTX features.

I read that some of the missing settings are legacy ones that didn't actually do anything anymore. Other missing settings will be added in time, reportedly. I assume that they want to get the app (which is still in beta) stable with the most important functionality before adding lesser used features and too many other bells and whistles. It'd be nice if, eventually, they add overclocking and undervolting to the app, like AMD has in their Adrenaline software.

Dynamic vibrance is a new "AI-powered filter" feature that you can enable for more vivid colors if you happen to like having a brighter, oversaturated look.

It doesn't appear any different than what you can already achieve with normal filters, so it seems like a fluff feature to promote "AI" to me, but some people may like it and use it.

 

[Turin]

Steam Deck arrives today. Any tips, games that work especially well? Links to emulators I definitely won't use?