Posts by steelfalcon71

wiredotter14 said:Nobody, just buy an AIO liquid cooler and call it a day, everything will be fine back in Canada.

I don't recall ever suggesting that was an option, so thanks, but nope.

swiftridge40 said:No, man, try optimizing consumption in the BIOS, lowering the voltage—I don't know if you're experienced enough with BIOS settings, so just report back with the temps.

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...600K+Undervolt

None of that is going to solve anything because we aren't talking about hitting a comfortable 25°C here; instead, this AIO is basically flying off the mount because temperatures are hitting 45-50°C. There is absolutely no point in me tweaking things just to shave off a couple of degrees.
Furthermore, these newer processors run significantly hotter than previous generations, meaning they inherently demand much more serious cooling solutions from the jump.

I mentioned the AIO, but obviously, one has to actually use Google to compare specs and realize what's happening...

I put together a new build a few months back, and honestly, I’m losing my mind over the AIO I installed.

At idle, the CPU sits around 35-40°C, which is perfectly fine. But the moment I launch anything—even just a torrent client—it jumps to 55°C. If I fire up a game, we’re instantly hitting the 80°C mark, and the fan noise sounds like a freaking tank division rolling through my room.

Beyond being catastrophically loud, the cooling behavior is erratic; it runs for a bit, the temps drop, then it throttles down, only to spike again and send the RPMs into overdrive. These constant oscillations in volume and speed are incredibly grating.

For context, I'm running a Corsair iCUE H150i paired with an Intel Core i5-13600K. I’ve used liquid cooling before and never dealt with this kind of instability or deafening noise. I’ve tried every profile available—Silent, Balanced, Custom—but nothing changes; it stays just as loud. I’ve exhausted all the obvious fixes. My current plan is to just sell this unit and buy a replacement to end the headache.

I’m also considering picking up a contact frame. I assume that might help stabilize temperatures and naturally lower the required RPM?
https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/prod...el-by-der8auer

Though, I am a bit uncertain about how many stability issues the 13th gen is facing compared to what happened with the 12th gen.
Any ideas?
The case is a Corsair Obsidian Series 500 D RGB, so I have the option to switch to a 360mm front mount if needed.

wanderingbison9 said:Look, this isn't some mindless error; it’s strictly following European Union regulations. We aren't exactly looking to break the law here... but it does raise a question: what happens if a shop mistakenly charges only the German tax rate of 19%? Is there a chance the customer gets some sort of "notice" from the IRS later down the line? Or, if a notice is issued, does it hit the buyer or the seller? Take the situation with Mailboxde, for example—since the address is in Germany, they charge 19%, and Mailboxde isn't responsible for handling any tax obligations once they forward the package to the US. Who actually ends up getting screwed in that scenario?

You can apply that same logic to pretty much anything, including digital goods. To answer your question, I've personally never run into an issue where I paid foreign VAT and then had to settle a difference because someone decided I owed more. Since everyone stays under that 25% threshold, it hasn't been an issue for me. Whether it's physical products or digital downloads, I've been buying stuff regularly since we joined the union.

Benjamin Sanders76 said:Check this out here:
I was originally eyeing the 3080 Ti, but since the price tag was practically identical to the 4070 Ti, I just pulled the trigger on the latter once I saw it...
Forget about ordering from Germany; by the time you factor in customs and fees, it all evens out. Besides, I noticed that at AMD.US they have them cheaper by about $800, maybe up to $367
But I couldn't find anything for $900 anywhere locally...☕
P.S.: They start the build today. 🙂

There’s no customs duty involved. When both countries are part of the same trade bloc, it's seamless. I order everything from abroad constantly. The only issue is when you deal with those incompetent shops that try to overcharge you 25% VAT instead of the standard 19%, and then you realize it's better to just skip them. That's really it.

If you're buying stuff locally at our domestic prices, are you actually crazy, or just throwing money straight into a furnace?

I'm having a bit of a dilemma trying to decide between two specific paths here;
The RTX 4070 Ti versus the RTX 3090. On one hand, the 4070 Ti is more power-efficient, roughly 10% faster, and I could pick up a brand new unit from Best Buy for about $1,050. On the other hand, there's a used RTX 3090 available with about 10 months of warranty left, which offers double the VRAM and would set me back only $875.

My CPU, chassis dimensions, and PSU capacity aren't factors in this equation. My primary objective is pure gaming performance—specifically, I want a card that can sustain high-end settings at 3440x1440p resolution for as many years as possible.

I'd appreciate your insights and the reasoning behind them. Thanks!

Ronald Bishop58 said:I'm looking for some solid recommendations for a GPU that won't break the bank, ideally under $1500.

My motherboard is this https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard...ev-10-11-12#kf

I've got a standard mid-tower case.

Thanks in advance.

What really matters here is which CPU you're planning to pair with the new GPU. The motherboard isn't actually that significant in this equation...

wiredotter14 said:I’ll honestly lose my mind if they drop a 4070 with only 8GB of VRAM. My guess is it’ll just be a slightly underclocked or stripped-down version of the 4070 Ti 12GB—basically what the 4080 12GB should have been. So, unfortunately, we're definitely looking at 10GB being on the table.

It’s essentially the same silicon.

It’s practically an official confirmation at this point that the 12GB RTX 4080 is actually just the new RTX 4070 Ti. This was leaked by a guy who hasn't missed a single prediction yet.

As for the standard 4070, I haven't the slightest clue what the specs will look like.

Sam Diaz2 said:Hold on, you’re offering this guy used gear—a CPU from 2017—yet you claim you wouldn't touch used parts yourself? And his combo with a 5000 series processor is only $100 more expensive. 🤔

@rustytrucker37/">@@rustytrucker37, we can both agree it's a budget build and it looks fine, but I don't get why you wouldn't just pick a case you actually like and a future-proof power supply, then just swap out the Motherboard+CPU+RAM in a few years if you need to.

Otherwise, your specs are solid and the prices are fair.

You read it perfectly fine, so what exactly did you miss? There's no issue here; I simply stated my position. The guy is looking for used parts to save money...

When you compare Hydro Series H150i Pro 360 🤣
The motherboard is better too, as is the PSU, and if the CPU is strictly for gaming—it's basically the same shit...

Is he really going to notice a slightly lower power bill or a handful of FPS difference with a Ryzen?


The only place I was off is that the case is a mini tower, so it won't fit the radiator. Plus, I'd never go with something like that; I'd stick to a mid tower because component sizes and temps always trend upward.

As for "future-proofing" and the order of upgrades, you're wrong there too—you'll upgrade the GPU first, then everything else you listed.

At the end of the day, let the guy buy whatever makes him happy, but please, let's not mix facts with fiction.

☕

rustytrucker37 said:Look, I’m not some IT specialist, so you might be asking the wrong guy here.
By the way, if I have the choice to go for a faster, better, more future-proof option, why wouldn't I?

You're buying used gear that isn't even high-end to begin with. There's no such thing as "future-proofing" in that scenario because you aren't planning an upgrade; you're just going to sell it or toss it eventually to buy something new anyway.

But fine, whatever works for you.

Personally, I would never touch used hardware unless it came with at least a 6-12 month warranty. If there's no warranty, that's fine, but then the price absolutely has to be rock bottom.

And regarding this whole "future-proof" concept—if you actually sit down, look at the data, and track where tech is heading, it makes much more sense to buy budget-friendly components more frequently. It's far more logical than dropping a fortune on some massive powerhouse and thinking you've "future-proofed" yourself. This industry moves so fast that trying to outrun it with one expensive build is just throwing money down the drain.

urbanheron4 said:Well, you’d actually see a decent gain with that Western Digital Black SN850. On PCIe 3.0, your speeds are capped at roughly 3500 MB/s, whereas this one can hit up to 7000 MB/s.
It makes very little difference for a GPU; benchmarks usually show only about a 5% gap compared to cards that support PCIe 4.0.

However, I suspect a used SSD could be a major headache. It all comes down to usage history, since these drives have a finite write endurance. Even if a 500 GB model has a limit of 300 TB—which sounds massive—you never truly know what kind of abuse it took. It would be wise to have the seller pull up CrystalDiskInfo so you can check the remaining life percentage.

He was running a Chia farm on that drive. 😛
You can burn through 300TB just like that. 🤣

rustytrucker37 said:Thanks for the offer, but I'm moving on to newer tech—specifically PCIe 4.0.

Fair enough, but what exactly are you gaining from that jump? I mean, I get that SSD data transfer speeds increase, but since most games aren't even utilizing DirectStorage yet, does it actually move the needle? What’s the tangible benefit here? Just asking so I can wrap my head around the actual utility of it. 🤔

I just finished putting together my new rig—though calling it an "upgrade" feels like a massive understatement.

Here’s a tip: if you grab everything as a bundle, I’ll drop the total price down to $375;

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G6
Intel Core i5-8600K LGA 1151
Intel Core i5-8600K Corsair Hydro Series H150i Pro 360
ASUS ROG Z370

Quote : USER95

urbanheron4 said:I truly believe that anything beyond 12GB is overkill for a resolution like that.

If a game has extra VRAM to work with, it’ll load more assets, but that doesn't mean it actually needs them. Honestly, I doubt you'd see any noticeable difference in Frames Per Second between 12GB and 16GB at that resolution.

If you aren't interested in paying for overpriced bullshit, you really ought to hold out for the mid-range cards from both Nvidia and Intel. My thinking is that once those hit the market, we might actually see prices stabilize to something resembling reality. But then again, nothing in this industry is ever a sure thing.

Based on this information, the RTX 4070 would be my ideal choice, provided it comes equipped with 12GB of VRAM. I plan on holding off for a bit to haggle on the price, especially since the official specifications haven't been released just yet. I'm also hoping that while I wait, the market for used hardware might see a slight dip in pricing. Thanks.

Hey, I’ve finished most of my upgrade path, leaving just the GPU as the final purchase.
Right now, I have an RTX 3060 Ti and an RTX 3070 sitting at home, and frankly, neither is cutting it for me.

It’s a multi-layered issue. My setup uses a 1440P Ultrawide monitor connected via a Dell at 120Hz.
https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/e7df113a

Nvidia isn't the right move for me currently because almost every game I play demands significantly more VRAM if I want to crank the settings up to my liking.

Intel offers more VRAM, but even then, it's still not enough. Plus, I lose G-Sync functionality when I try to use it, and I'm dealing with driver-related crashes—something I don't experience at all with Nvidia in those same titles.

I don't technically have a strict budget, but I refuse to pay for overpriced bullshit. I watched the RTX 4000 series launch livestream, saw the prices, and thought "forget that." Yesterday, I followed the Intel 13th Gen release which had much better pricing, but even then, the RTX 4080 will likely sit around $1,100-$1,200 on the US market.
I'm also getting zero benefit from G-Sync, though I'm not entirely sure if that's a massive loss for my specific usage or not. 🤦

For now, I'm eyeing used RTX 3090s, as I don't want to sink more than that into a card. $1833Otherwise, I might just wait to see how things shake out, especially since that slightly downgraded RTX 4080 will probably be rebranded as a 4070 at a new price point.

To be honest, I'm at a total loss on what to do next. Fortunately, there's no immediate pressure since I can still limp along with what I currently have. So, I'm just waiting and weighing my options to find the absolute best price-to-performance pick. It’s a shame there isn't an RTX 3070 Ti or a 3080 with, say, 16GB or 20GB of VRAM available. 👎

I don't see any reason to go for a Z-series motherboard. Overclocking a beast like this is totally unnecessary. You’re basically paying a premium just to get minimal FPS gains while dealing with higher temps...

I’m planning an upgrade for my rig soon, and I’ve already locked in the Intel Core i5-13600KF for the CPU. However, I’m still torn on which motherboard will best support it.

I’ve been weighing these two options for a while now:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard...DDR4-rev-10#kf
or
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B660M-MORTAR-DDR4

A lot of people emphasize how critical the VRM quality is when pairing it with a 13600KF to ensure the chip actually gets the power it needs. From what I can tell, both of these should handle the load without breaking a sweat.

That said, I would truly appreciate it if someone could walk me through the reasoning behind choosing one over the other. Furthermore, if there is a third option out there, please feel free to suggest it—just kindly explain why that specific board stands out compared to these two. Thanks a lot!

Terry Collins9 said:Look, I know prices used to be absolute garbage compared to now! Just two months ago, I snagged a new RX 570 8GB for about $600, and now you can't even find one for 600 bucks, let alone anything under $1000 on eBay. I know how to read price charts; I'm not an idiot.

Setting the money aside, I want to focus on the technical side of things.

Basically, I need to know if I can run 5, maybe even 6 GPUs on an MSI Pro B365 or an MSI MAG B460 Tomahawk without running into technical nightmares—like the motherboard overheating, cards interfering with each other, or just total chaos.

So, the number of PCI slots really matters here; that determines how many GPUs you can actually mine with on that specific motherboard. If I had to guess, the sweet spot would be around 8 units. It should function normally because the power isn't coming through the PCI slot itself, but via risers and direct cables to the GPU.

Whatever you do, don't plug those risers into anything other than dedicated PCI-e 6/8-pin connectors. Using SATA or Molex is asking for trouble. Check out the data here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7AO...U&index=2&t=6s

You'll also notice there's a rule of thumb to add 20%, though some people push it to 25%. What does that mean in practice? Say you have 5x RTX 3070s and they are all the exact same model;
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-spec...antom-gs.b8223

The TDP is 220W, which means 220W x 5 = 1100W, plus another 100W for the rest of the system. So, 1200W * 1.25 = 1500W. This implies that if you want to be 100% safe, you should aim for a 1500W power supply for that setup. In reality, it won't pull that much constantly, but that headroom is your safety net to prevent components from frying or tripping the circuit.

Then you have the people who use overclocking settings to drop each RTX 3070 down to about 135W. That brings the total to 675W for the cards plus 100W for the system. Those folks grab a 1000W unit and think they're golden. But the second those OC settings reset to default, the cards spike back to max draw, the rig overloads, and everything goes south.

You have to watch a lot of variables and do your homework before you start building. For instance, a basic rule: if you're using two PSUs with a splitter, the risers and the GPUs must be powered by the same PSU. You cannot mix and match power sources like that, or you'll run into issues...

The most common headache is that most power supplies simply lack the wattage or don't have enough 6-8 pin cables to handle all the GPUs.

Terry Collins9 said:Hey there.
I have some extra cash on hand, so I am planning to put together a mining rig.
I am primarily concerned with component compatibility and potential bottlenecks within these two specific configurations. After running through the numbers myself, I have narrowed it down to two possible setups:

1.
Motherboard: MSI Pro B365 or MSI MAG B460 Tomahawk — I could probably opt for something roughly $100$50 cheaper, but I operate under the assumption that higher cost equates to better quality.
CPU: Intel Celeron G5900

2.
Motherboard: MSI H110 Mining
CPU: Intel Pentium Gold G5420

Power supply for both scenarios: EVGA SuperNOVA 850G (from what I can gather, the main difference with the Aorus version is having two fewer cables and slightly shorter lengths).
I assume 850W is sufficient for 4 GPUs; if I decide to scale up later, I will simply purchase an additional PSU.

RAM: the cheapest 8GB stick available.
SSD: a basic 128 GB drive.

Any suggestions, advice, or thoughts? Best regards.

MSI Pro B365 or an ASUS board for 6 GPUs.
MSI MAG B460 Tomahawk for 5 GPUs.
MSI H110 Mining for 13 GPUs.

If you aren't planning on using a dedicated mining OS or Linux and want to run Windows 10 instead, you won't be able to run more than 10 GPUs on a single board from the same brand. This means if you go with the MSI H110 Mining to hit all 13 slots, you'll need a mix of Nvidia and AMD GPUs.

Match your motherboard choice to the number of graphics cards you intend to buy or invest in. Generally speaking, more slots at a lower price point is the smarter play.

You absolutely have to calculate the maximum TDP alongside your overclocking settings; that is how you determine your power requirements. It is very easy to miscalculate here... When selecting a power supply, wattage is important, but having as many 6+2 pin PCI-e cables as possible is even more critical.

There are quite a few variables to manage if you want the whole system to remain stable.

Aaron Evans2 said:Hey everyone. I’m constantly hitting walls with questions because I’m definitely not an expert when it comes to modern computer hardware. I know prices have spiked across the board lately, but I’m torn between picking up an i3-9100f or an i3-10100f versus going with one of those Core i9 1200/1300/2xxx/3xxx options. Also, which motherboard would actually be able to squeeze the most performance out of whichever processor you guys recommend?

Look, what kind of GPU were you planning to throw into this build if it's actually meant for gaming? Because honestly, the CPUs aren't even the main issue here, and their prices haven't really jumped nearly as much as people claim.

Zachary Nguyen2 said:I honestly think it all boils down to the crypto market. If prices stay steady or start climbing again, gamers are going to be out of luck because miners will just sweep up every single card on the shelf.

I'm not even sure what kind of GPU you can realistically find within that budget range.

Saying it's all because of miners is a massive oversimplification; it’s easy to point fingers there, but there are way more moving parts to this than people realize.