Posts by wiredotter14

Do you actually need a GPU that beefy for that kind of work?

Being a professional costs $200.

A business doesn't actually need a Pro license unless they specifically require those extra features (mostly networking stuff, etc.)

Yeah, if it's a private license, you can snag one for peanuts—just a few bucks.

There's a GT 1030 with DP + HDMI, but you've gotta watch out because most of them don't have that combo.

For example:

https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/Ge.../Specification

Best Buy actually has it in stock, though they put up the wrong picture.

You could also go with an RX 550. It usually comes with HDMI+DP+DVI and it's way cheaper than something like a GTX 1050. Honestly, I don't think you'll notice any difference for CAD work.

Adam Williams2 said:So that monitor from Amazon.com is meant for that specific build 😁

Yeah, everything in this setup is pretty well balanced.

BTW, you can grab a Windows key for a few bucks on eBay so you don't have to deal with the headache of cracking Windows.

They'll email it to you, then you just enter it during installation.
If it doesn't activate automatically, just call Microsoft US and they'll unlock it over the phone.

Are you buying this for a business—like, do you need a Windows license for a company or just for personal use?

Dropbox plus one year (1TB)

$59 (instead of $99)

https://goo.gl/eipFTJ

The other side of the coin is that in most games, you can barely tell the difference between high and ultra settings.

You grab a high refresh rate monitor if you're playing fast-paced stuff—it’s mostly worth it for those competitive shooters. But if someone actually cares about frame rates, you can usually push more demanding titles toward 100FPS without forcing ultra settings (provided you're running something like a GTX 1070 or better).

Adam Williams2 said:Barely kept up with all of you here, let alone had the energy to agree or play nice. 😁

I have to hand it to you guys—your explanations are solid. Nobody’s tried to steer me wrong yet, though I might end up pestering you with questions down the road. 😁 👍

Haha, no big deal. We're just here because we love the hobby and like helping out.

Samuel Castillo49 said:Motherboards are incredibly fragile. Honestly, buying used is just asking for trouble—especially when you're picking up some ancient, worn-out piece of junk with zero warranty. It could die on you at any second. If you're just gaming, a cheap CPU like a Ryzen 5 1600X paired with 8GB of budget RAM is plenty for most people. That lets you dump almost your entire budget into a solid GPU and a decent monitor instead. Personally, I think people obsessing over 144Hz these days is a mistake. When you're on a tight budget, chasing high refresh rates means sacrificing way more important components.

Yeah, there’s a reason why you see way more CPUs than motherboards flooding the secondhand market. It makes sense.
Plus, those motherboards in that segment are a nightmare to troubleshoot.

The prices on the Ryzen 5 1600/2600 are actually decent. You could honestly call them cheap. They’re sitting at or even below what those old i5 quad-cores used to cost a few years back. But this is a 6-core/12-thread setup, which makes it way more future-proof than any i5—at least anything released after Sandy Bridge.

Regarding 144Hz—you don't even need to bother running at 144Hz if you're stuck using a monitor like that.
For fast-paced games, FPS matters way more than resolution or ultra settings. You can barely tell the difference between high and ultra most of the time, but jumping from 60fps to 100fps? That’s a massive, noticeable difference when things are moving fast.

Of course, it all comes down to the individual.

Look, if you're sticking to a "standard" size—say, anything up to 24"—then going with 1080p and a higher refresh rate is just common sense.

ruggedeagle40 said:Look, I'm typing on a 34" right now, and trust me—anything bigger than a 27" is just overkill. :P

👍

A 32", or 31.5" if you want to be precise, feels just right. Especially for work.
Having that extra distance makes it easier on the eyes.

If you're looking at used gear for gaming, the only thing that makes sense is an older i7 or some Xeon equivalents.
But here’s the catch: finding a working motherboard usually makes it way too expensive. You end up with an i7 3770 and a board costing $500, when you could grab a Ryzen 2600 and a motherboard for $667—plus you actually get a warranty and everything.
Honestly, those 8-core Xeons are usually worse for gaming than a standard 4-core or 6-core chip from the same era anyway.

Old workstations are only worth it if you need them for pro work and you're broke.

bluepuma9, you should probably start a separate thread for this. This guy just wants a PC for his kids; he isn't going to mess around building a rig out of old enterprise parts, let alone trying to overclock them.

First off, when someone buys a pre-built rig with a warranty, they aren't looking to overclock or mess around, so that suggestion is useless.

Second, even if we play along with this hypothetical idea of mixing old workstation parts for gaming, we still end up with garbage.

Basically, the best overclocked Xeons hit maybe a 3.80 GHz boost, and that's on a 6-core setup.
Quad-core chips are pointless anyway.

You get similar results from a Ryzen 2600, which actually has the edge with better IPC and SMT.

Old Xeons might make sense for professional work if the price is right.
But they’re facing brutal competition from modern mainstream platforms (Ryzen 7, Intel i7/i9) that deliver performance comparable to a 10-core Xeon. In my view, the only reason to touch that generation is if you absolutely need more PCIe lanes or memory channels than what today's mainstream platforms offer.

Unless you specifically need all that extra bandwidth, just go with a Ryzen 7—or if you've got the cash, grab a Threadripper.

P.S.

You tossed that 400 USD figure out pretty casually. I'm genuinely curious: what kind of workstation can you actually get for 400 USD, and which specific CPU are you talking about?

bluepuma9 said:I’d suggest going used...

You can find 4 or 6-core Xeon systems (Ivy Bridge) on eBay that run just as fast as Zen for maybe 400 USD more. All you'll need is a GPU and eventually a drive, whether it's an SSD or an HDD.
I say Xeon because, unlike those old i7 chips, you actually have the option to drop in an 8 or 10+ core CPU later if games ever actually demand that many cores. Plus, Xeons are built to last longer.

Good grief. 🤣🤣🤣 🤦🤦🤦

Are you talking about the LGA1356 platform where those Xeons sit under 3GHz and get crushed in gaming by any modern entry-level processor?

Not to mention the platform is unreliable, there's zero warranty, and basically no real upgrade path. And here we are, watching someone buy a pre-built from a retail store where they'll just have it assembled for them.

EDIT:

400 USD more?

That's getting pretty close to the price of a brand-new, modern platform with a full warranty and everything.

Adam Williams2 said:Oh right, just like 😁

How much better is this memory than the other option? Or is it the exact same thing but costs $100 more just because it has RGB?

It's identical. It just costs $100 more because of the lights.

Sure, you could set up a RAID so you have two drives acting as clones.
But let's be real—that’s not a bulletproof safety net. If you spill coffee over both or some thief breaks in and grabs the whole rig, you’re still screwed.

Are you talking about Microsoft OneDrive?

It's a solid move, pretty much like Google Drive, maybe even better depending on how you look at it.
You just install it on your PC, and you've got a local folder syncing perfectly with a mirrored folder in the Cloud.
Definitely a step up from relying solely on physical hardware.

BTW, if you're with T-Mobile, they actually offer a Cloud storage option that gives you 1TB too.

Aha, you're going after one of those RGB coolers, aren't you?

I'm guessing this one?

https://www.amazon.com/product-link-placeholder

Adam Williams2 said:not really, look at

https://prnt.sc/ljnxlb

it's just like the Spectra build, I just bumped up the SSD specs. If I beef it up with the cooler, the price climbs even higher—add a monitor and I'm basically paying for the high-end chassis alone. Whatever. Saving $300 isn't nothing. $100 😁

👍 👍 👍 👍

optimal

btw, it's not $100, it's 189 for the cooler

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/...28a&code=11568

Peter Green said:If you start this way, you'll just end up paying more for a worse rig. 😁

🤔

?

Adam Williams2 said:Mostly, swapping out the cooler would just be overkill for that series, wouldn't it? 😁

So, you're looking at that guy's point—okay. They’ll give you a deal if you buy the whole rig from them. But what happens if I just pick out individual components? Does anyone actually honor a warranty on a custom build like that? If I go my own way, am I basically throwing my warranty out the window? How does that actually work? 🤷

Look, there’s no harm in upgrading. A better cooler would give the processor more breathing room to hit higher clock speeds during heavy loads—especially once summer hits and things start heating up. Plus, the one being suggested wouldn't be nearly as loud.
You might notice it in some of those heavy CPU-intensive titles. Fortnite isn't exactly pushing the limits that hard.

I'd personally go with a better cooler.

Not necessarily.
If you aren't using your PC for pro stuff—like heavy video editing or anything like that—the difference is going to be pretty negligible. It only really matters in a few specific cases.

Adam Williams2 said:I’m just trying to sound like someone who actually knows how to overclock here.😬

So, basically, if I grab an extra cooler, what's the deal? Does it mount onto the current one, or does the old one have to go?🤷

If you buy it all from one place, they'll usually put it together for free—assuming you're shopping at Google or something similar, right? So don't sweat the assembly.
https://www.google.com/search?q=computer+parts

The second cooler replaces the stock one. With Intel chips, the mounting process is pretty much identical to the stock setup.

With something like a Ryzen 5, you won't really lose much performance without overclocking anyway. The 2000 series handles clock speeds way better out of the box than the 1000 series did.

P.S.

The cooler coming with the Ryzen 5 is actually a step down from the one paired with the 1600.
You won't notice much difference in gaming on the Ryzen 5, especially if you aren't overclocking, but let's be real—the F-117 Nighthawk included here isn't anything to write home about.
Bottom line: in most scenarios, there won't be a massive difference. But in specific cases—like if your room is running hot—you might feel it, and that stock cooler could get pretty loud.