Posts by wiredotter14

Is this the model featuring that "new" keyboard design?

I'm not really a PC person, but let’s be honest: the keyboards on the old Dell XPS 13 and Dell XPS 13 models were easily the best in their class. Every time I used one, the typing feel and the trackpad were just spot on. My experience comes from using an older Dell XPS from around 2014, a Dell XPS 13 from 2013-14, and one of those early AirBnB-style portable laptops. Honestly, most of the older laptops I've touched had incredible keyboards. Great keystroke feedback.

Then I went to the store to try out the keyboard on the latest Dell XPS, and man, I was floored by how pathetic it felt. There's almost zero key travel; they just feel clicky. It feels like the keyboard is a millimeter thick—something you'd find on a cheap $200 budget laptop, not a high-end Dell XPS. The keystroke feedback is basically nonexistent.

Kimberly Gomez34 said:Where did you even get that idea?

They used a 1600X paired with a V64 LC (which sits right there between an RTX 2070—slightly weaker—and an RTX 2060—slightly stronger), so obviously, they didn't test it with anything more powerful. Regardless, there's zero loss at 144Hz.

In this section they show the 2xxx series running with a GTX 1080Ti; you see a tiny dip in minimum FPS when using standard RAM, but it still stays well above 144Hz. At the end of the day, they aren't even looking at the 1080Ti/RTX 2080 performance levels anyway.

Then look at Fortnite at the 10:20 mark in the same video; there is absolutely no loss in FPS, even with the GTX 1080Ti at 1080p/144Hz.

Basically, my point is that for the types of games people actually buy 144Hz monitors for, they usually aren't CPU-bound, and honestly, most of them can run at over 100 FPS even on a potato PC.

👍👍

Thought the CPU would bottleneck before the GPU.

The New Guy, Windows somehow activated itself on that used PC. No clue why.

Windows is free to download; you just need a key to activate it.

Grab the OS from the Microsoft site. Download this media creation tool to make an installation drive using a USB stick (at least 8GB) or a DVD.

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10

Even if you don't activate it after installing, about 95% of the functions still work—you'll just have a permanent watermark stuck in the bottom right corner.

You can pick up an activation key on eBay for about $5.
Just enter it during setup, or later on if you skipped the code during installation.

Yeah, my bad. I miscounted.

Still, I think it’s a solid deal, provided you actually get the original receipt and a valid warranty.

Zachary Nguyen2 said:He's deep in the red.

Timothy Kim60 said:When he remembered 5 to 12

With stuff like this, it's just a matter of time before things blow up.

Claims he bought them between July and October 2017, then hit the jackpot. Back then, those cards paid for themselves in 2-3 months. Plus, he probably ran them through a business to dodge sales tax.

He’s down to his last few now; who knows when he started selling.

I don't buy the part about them running for two weeks, but it doesn't really matter. Anyone with a massive rig was definitely flashing the BIOS and locking them at 0.85V. At most, you'd wear out a fan, and there's still a warranty on that, so......

Someone's offloading a mining rig with plenty of warranty left 😁😁😁

https://www.craigslist.org/fo/graphics-cards/ad-27456557

1) I can't find a motherboard anywhere that actually has both SATA III and DDR2 support.

2) Having two lanes just means double the theoretical bandwidth; it doesn't mean your SSD is suddenly going to hit the absolute limit of SATA III.

In the real world, you might see maybe a 20% bump in performance during peak transfer speeds, but honestly, most of the time it won't matter because drives rarely run at max speed anyway.

The 2700X isn't worth it for gaming. You'll end up seeing basically the same performance as the 2600(X) but you're paying $333 more
.
If you've actually got the cash for a 2700X and you're chasing high FPS gaming, you might be better off just grabbing an i5 8600K.

Right now, the 1600X or 2600 are total best-buys. Getting 6 cores and 12 threads for under $200
is a steal.

silentcobra3 said:I mostly stick to AAA titles, though my main rotation is usually Rocket League, Fortnite, and Dota 2. That said, I definitely want to drop some heavy hitters on there every now and then.

For Gaming, I’m looking at 144Hz at 1080p. Honestly, I don't see much point in pushing for anything higher than that right now.

So, if I decide to go with an NVIDIA RTX 2070, should I just start with 8GB of RAM and put those $167 extra bucks toward a beefier CPU instead? If I go that route, which CPU would actually be worth the upgrade?

Yeah, I'd save on RAM now and dump more into the CPU.

You've got two paths.

1) i5 8400
It's slightly faster than the Ryzen 5 1600 and 2600 in a lot of games.
Costs about $567 (it's 1800 at Walmart, find it elsewhere).
Pair it with a B360 motherboard.

2)
A slightly better or similar AM4 board and a Ryzen 2600.

The 2600 is only $50 more expensive than the 1600, so with a similar motherboard, you'll have more cash left over (you're closer to $2833), and if you take the difference from $117 and put it into the motherboard, you'll have a much better foundation for later.

I’d go that route because the upgrade path is way better; they're dropping those new Ryzen chips on the 7nm process this year that will work on existing boards.
You can easily overclock a Ryzen 5 2600 to 4.0 GHz (can go higher, but 4.0 is basically always stable).
On average, it's a bit slower than the i5 8400 in games, but once you move away from stuff like Overwatch where both CPUs hit over 150FPS, the gap isn't huge—maybe 5%.
Plus, the 2600 has more "breathing room" than the 8400 since it has 12 threads.

Check this review; I'd be happy with those FPS numbers compared to the i5 8400.



Something like this.

1 * Inno3D RTX2070 Twin X2 8192 mb
Part number: INO-N20702-08D6-1160 - $1351

1 * ASUS VG248QE Ultimate gaming 144 Hz
Part number: 0225142 - $546

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor (6C/12T, 3.9GHz, 19MB, 65W, AM4) box, Wraith Stealth
Part number: YD2600BBAFBOX - $453

1 * G.Skill Aegis 8GB DDR4 3000MHz CL16 RAM
Part number: F4-3000C16S-8GISB - $166

1 * MSI B450M Mortar, AM4, DDR4, U3, m.2, mATX
Part number: msi-b450m-mortar - $290

Total: $2807 (cash price)

Might not look like a massive leap, but I'm telling you, you'll be GPU bottlenecked in most AAA titles if you push max settings, and in Fortnite etc., you'll be hitting 120+ FPS regardless.

P.S.

Check other shops for card prices; Best Buy adds a heavy markup for credit card payments.

crimsonstag84 said:Honestly, the NVIDIA RTX 2070 isn't really worth it when you compare it to the NVIDIA RTX 2060. I'm guessing you're running at 1080p on a 144Hz monitor? If so, the AMD Ryzen 5 1600X might struggle to actually push that NVIDIA RTX 2060/2070 to its full potential.

RAM prices will definitely keep dropping. Plus, some much faster AM4 Socket processors are hitting the market in about four months. When were you planning on pulling the trigger?

Depends on what they play!

If they're playing Overwatch, then yeah, the CPU is gonna be the bottleneck.
But if they go for AAA titles, the GPU will be the bottleneck most of the time, so pairing an NVIDIA RTX 2060 with a faster processor would actually drop performance.

It's the same clock speed. What you found is just the base clock, whereas the other one is the boost clock.

Depends on what you're playing.

Just checked Best Buy. If you're looking to drop an NVIDIA RTX 2070 in here, you're realistically looking at over $8,500 if you finance it—though the cash price shows up as $8,500.

If you aren't playing anything heavy on graphics—just competitive stuff like Overwatch or Fortnite—then save some money and grab a cheaper card.

But, if you're chasing 100+ FPS in AAA titles, then yeah, you need that NVIDIA RTX 2070. Problem is, once you buy that, there's nothing left in the budget for a decent CPU and whatnot.

Here's what I put together. Cash price hits $8,500, so with the cards included, it’ll probably push north of $9,000. Not sure off the top of my head.

You could go with 2x4GB sticks or just grab one stick of this Aegis and add the matching one later. Honestly, very few games are going to bottleneck you on RAM.

1 * Inno3D NVIDIA RTX 2070 Twin X2 8192MB
Part Number: INO-N20702-08D6-1160 - $1351

1 * GSkill Aegis 16GB (2x8) DDR4 3000MHz Memory
Part Number: F4-3000C16D-16GISB - $333

1 * ASUS VG248QE
Part Number: 0225142 - $546

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
Part Number: 0400345 - $400

1 * Asrock AB350M-PRO4, AM4 Socket
Part Number: ASR-AB350M-PRO4 - $209

Total: $2840

The difference is that second link from Future IT won't even open. 😁

But in the URL, both links say it's an RX 580 Nitro+ 4GB, so it’s the exact same card. It’s pretty common for shops to have two different links for the same item—maybe because of different suppliers or whatever.

Either way, this one is the better pick.

Not like we’re getting snow in the States, but this deal is absolutely insane. Someone should probably try to organize a group buy.
You're still getting about $20 worth of V-bucks for Fortnite 😁
https://www.alternate.de/Gainward/Ge...inward/1290201

$285 for a GTX1070

The Freezer 33 actually beats out the LC-CC-120, plus from what I've seen in reviews, it features a 0rpm mode.

crimsonstag84 said:That board is a bad call. The VRM cooling is non-existent. There are way better, more budget-friendly B450 options out there.

https://www.newegg.com/msi-b450-gaming-plus/p/

Go with an EVGA 600 W Gold power supply instead. It comes with a 5-year warranty and it’s actually decent quality.

👍

Keep in mind that reviews usually base their ratings on some kind of MSRP.
Right now, this thing is $26 cheaper than the suggested retail price, which is why we’re giving it the thumbs up.

Bottom line: the Core i9 is the better call if you aren't planning on overclocking, especially when it comes to gaming performance. If you're going to overclock anyway, it doesn't really matter which one you pick.

The 2600X is definitely not worth that price!

That i5 isn't a bad choice for gaming, but you have to consider it lacks Hyper-Threading. Plus, that 1151 socket doesn't offer much of a future; your only real upgrade path is hunting down used chips from the same generation.
In 2019, a 6-core/6-thread CPU feels outdated when you've got the Ryzen 2600 on the table.

The Ryzen 2600 is a 6-core/12-thread CPU. It delivers solid performance—especially for the money—and the platform stays open for any Future upgrades you might need.
I added an extra cooler (Freezer 33) to the list. With that, you can easily overclock the Ryzen 2600 to around 4.0GHz, which pretty much wipes out most of the i5 9400's advantages.

Regarding the GPU, the RTX 2080 is really your only shot at 4K (you don't have the budget for a 2080Ti).

What crimsonstag84 put together is also fine, but personally, I'd lean toward Ryzen because of the upgrade potential and the fact that you're getting a multi-threaded 6-core CPU for less than Intel's "basic" 6-core.
It might not feel critical right now, but looking long-term, it’ll make a difference sooner or later—assuming you don't upgrade, and with Intel, you don't have many options anyway.

Here’s how I’d do it.

I'm picking Future because their pricing on CPUs and GPUs is solid, and it saves you the headache of hunting down individual parts.
You might find a slightly better deal elsewhere, especially if you're willing to piece it together from multiple shops.

1 * Palit GF RTX 2080 Dual, 8GB GDDR6
Password: pal-2080-dual-8gb - $1904

1 * GSkill Aegis 16GB (2x8) DDR4 3000MHz Memory
Password: F4-3000C16D-16GISB - $333

1 * Seagate Barracuda 2TB, 64MB, 7200rpm
Password: to-hdwd120uzsva - $173

1 * Samsung 870 EVO (512GB, M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D2, QLC) Retail Box Single Pack
Password: SSDPEKNW512G8X1 - $264

1 * MSI X470 GAMING PRO, D4, U3.1, m2, AM4
Password: msi-x470-g-pro - $385

1 * SAMA ARMOR 650W 80PLUS GOLD
Password: 0151336 - $166

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (6C/12T, 3.9GHz,19MB,65W,AM4) box, Wraith Stealth
Password: YD2600BBAFBOX - $453

1 * Cooler ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 33, socket 1151/1150/1155/1156/2011-v3/2011/AM4
Password: 050.903.341- - $66

1 * Zalman S3, 1x120mm, USB3.0
Password: ZAL-S3 - $83

1 * Akyga AW-12A-BK 12cm black System Fan
Password: AW-12A-BK - $10

Total: $3838

From what I can gather, this power supply is actually pretty decent.
500W would technically work, but there wasn't anything reliable at that price point. Of course, you could always opt for a more well-known brand.

I set this up so there are almost zero compromises.
16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 2TB HDD, RTX 2080.
The Ryzen 2600 is a no-brainer at this price; you'd have to gut everything else just to squeeze in an i7-8700K, which is way more expensive. $667

Down the road, if you move to a high refresh rate monitor and upgrade your GPU, you can swap out the CPU too—the motherboard supports newer generations with more cores.

Note:

Someone might be able to suggest a better motherboard; I'm no expert on which one is the absolute best pick.

If you want a flashier case or PSU, or if you need to trim the budget, you could drop down to a 256GB SATA SSD. You won't notice much difference.

For example:

https://www.future-it.com/crucial-bx5...0SSD1/product/

For the graphics card, maybe try
https://www.future-it.com/msi-video-c...%5F8G/product/

Check online reviews to see if there's any real difference (they both come with warranties).

👍

So, I'm guessing the build would center on an RTX 2080 and an Intel Core processor, keeping you just under budget. That RTX 2080Ti? Way too pricey.

You could probably cram an 8700K in there, but since you're gaming at 4K, having a beefier CPU won't matter much—your frame rates will be capped by the 60Hz monitor and the GPU anyway.

BTW, look for a monitor with G-Sync. Even Nvidia cards support it now.