Posts by wiredotter14

Adam Williams2 said:one guy went with a 2600 and another picked the 1600 and there wasn't much difference, so that's why I'm asking 😁

So if I grab the 2600, I don't need the Cooler Master Hyper 212, right? Since that's a CPU cooler and this one comes with its own? Did I get that right? Or is it still worth buying the extra one? Is it even necessary? 🤷

You got it.

The stock cooler included with the processor will be perfectly fine.

If you're planning on overclocking, then yeah, grab a better cooler. But if you aren't messing with that, you won't notice any real difference.

If you're aiming for 1440p, Intel is basically a non-starter unless you're stepping up to at least a 1080Ti.

Peter Green said:Better to grab a better GPU than an extra 8GB of RAM.
99% of games nowadays don't need more than that, and the ones that do are just unoptimized garbage you should boycott anyway because developers decided to chase a paycheck instead of actually doing their jobs properly. 😁

You don't need a beefy GPU for 1080p.
I run Fortnite at 1440p around 75FPS using the same card, almost all Epic Games settings.
Better to invest in components where you'll actually feel the difference—parts that won't need replacing constantly. A 500GB SSD is a much smarter move for daily life, and it's only a few bucks more. You can actually install stuff on it, whereas on a 240GB drive, macOS takes up a huge chunk and you're left with zero breathing room.

Whatever GPU you pick, it's going to be obsolete first. That's just how hardware works. You swap the GPU in a year or two if you have to. In three years, a card in the same tier will be way cheaper, but the rest of the platform stays relevant.

BTW, people rarely upgrade monitors, so better to spend on a decent screen now rather than cheaping out just to get a GPU that's total overkill for your resolution.

Robert Rodriguez2 said:Adam Williams2, just take crimsonstag84's build and swap the 240GB SSD for a 500GB one, and that's it. Nothing stronger or more expensive is needed for kids. Later on, when they grow up and want to play something serious on the same board, they can just upgrade the CPU and GPU without touching anything else.

👍👍👍

Your login and password work on any Amazon site.
If you're picking up a new GPU from Amazon, they cover the two-year merchant warranty, though anything beyond that is up to the manufacturer.

Used gear is a different story. It’s rarely "used" directly from Amazon unless it’s an Amazon Warehouse deal.

Adam Williams2 said:So if I just grab the best parts mentioned in this thread

https://prnt.sc/ljibwe

once I get to $2933, and excluding the network card and monitor 😁

how much of a beast would this build be? Is this actually top-tier stuff? 🤷 😬

Solid build.

I'd definitely squeeze in a 500GB SSD, though. No point settling for 240GB at these prices.

This one comes with a 5-year warranty.

https://www.bestbuy.com/product...sd1&code=88298

If you need to save cash, drop the RAM to 8GB.

Also, the GTX1070Ti is a decent pick for the money, but honestly, the whole setup works fine even with a weaker card.

No need. A GTX 1070 is plenty.

Besides, it looks like those RTX cards are dying out there. I don't know if the 2070 is part of the issue, but why take the risk when it isn't even needed for this Conferencier? And let's be real, Raytracing RTX 2070 is barely used anyway.

If your signal is even slightly weak, honestly, just go with a Powerline setup instead of fighting with WiFi.

It’s a massive deal if you're playing games online.



One unit plugs into an outlet near your router, and the others go wherever you actually need the connection.

For example:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=TP-LINK+AV600

Yeah, it costs a bit more, but it gives you Ethernet anywhere in the house. You can even toss in a Wireless Access Point if a specific room needs better WiFi.

Speaking from experience, it's worth every penny. Dealing with crappy WiFi is just a fast track to a nervous breakdown.

If you're picking up a WiFi adapter, pay attention to how far away you actually are.

And for heaven's sake, stay away from those tiny little things where the antenna is just tucked inside the USB stick itself. No external antenna, no hope.

Regarding GPUs, the RX 580, GTX 1070, and GTX 1070 Ti are all solid picks. You get what you pay for.

But for 1080p? I think the RX 580 is plenty. It’ll push most stuff to around 100 FPS and should hold up for a few more years.

I’d definitely opt for a 500GB SSD if it isn't already part of the Conferencier. SSD prices are decent right now. A 500GB drive gives you just enough room to keep most games on the SSD instead of an HDD, which is pretty much mandatory these days.
If budget is the main concern, 8GB of RAM will do the job.

gentlecyclist16 said:Cloud storage?

Take Google, for example—they give you 15GB for free. As far as security goes, you're way more likely to have a thumb drive or a DVD die on you than have Google suddenly go bankrupt.
The rest of them (ranked roughly by reputation) offer different amounts: Microsoft gives 5GB, Dropbox gives 2GB, Box gives 50GB, MediaFire gives 18GB, Mega gives 50GB, and so on.

If you've got documents that absolutely nobody else should see, just encrypt them first using something like AxCrypt, or toss them into a TrueCrypt or VeraCrypt container.

Yeah, 15GB is free. If you run over that limit, you can just make two accounts (or however many you want).

100GB costs about $2 a month, 1TB is around $10 a month.

You can also encrypt and compress everything with 7-Zip.
It supports AES 256 encryption; you just set a password when you create the zip file.

Adam Williams2 said:Look, life taught me that everyone's going to brag about their own ride. You have to be skeptical of everything. I take what they say with a grain of salt and try to fact-check it myself. Since I can't always verify things here, just because someone's opinion differs doesn't mean they're being malicious or rude. 😉

We're just talking, dissecting stuff. I've heard plenty of people claim Intel is better for gaming. Can someone explain why that reputation exists? Is it just old news that stuck around, even if it isn't true anymore?

Even some guy mentioned he wouldn't pick that monitor, preferring an IPS panel instead. So what? Who should I listen to? For me, the monitor is for gaming, not watching movies. Honestly, before this little debate, I hadn't given monitors much thought. I just want something big, looks good, and won't break the bank. 😁

Exactly. That's just how life works. People don't always have bad intentions.

Intel held the crown for years—basically from 2008 until about a year and a half ago—because AMD didn't have anything worth noting.
Nowadays, AMD is more than competitive.
Intel still holds the edge with their top-tier gaming chips, like the 8600K or 8700K, which outperform the best AMD offerings in pure gaming.

But the real story is the mid-range. Intel offers the Intel Core i5-8400 (6-core), which lacks Hyper-threading. Meanwhile, for similar cash, AMD was offering the AMD Ryzen 5 1600, and now the AMD Ryzen 2600, both of which feature Simultaneous Multithreading (the same as Hyper-threading) and are also 6-core.
So, there was a window where the Intel Core i5-8400 and AMD Ryzen 1600/2600 cost about the same. The Ryzen gave you more bang for your buck in productivity, while gaming performance stayed roughly neck-and-neck.
But since then, Intel prices have spiked. Now the AMD Ryzen 2600 is under $500, while the Intel Core i5-8400 is over $667. In that segment, the choice is a total no-brainer; you're paying $167 more for Intel just to stay in the same class.

If you move up to the high-end, Intel stays competitive because their prices haven't climbed as aggressively, and AMD lacks a direct rival for something like the 8700K.

As for the monitor: unless you're looking for a bigger screen or higher resolution, just stick with what the group recommended.

Building a rig for Fortnite means picking hardware capable of pushing way more than just 60Hz at 1080p.

It’s a total no-brainer to grab a monitor with at least 100Hz, or maybe even step up to a larger 1440p screen.

But if you want smooth gameplay, you need that high refresh rate.

A 23-24" screen isn't exactly a home theater for the whole family anyway—they probably have a big TV in the living room for that. Choosing an IPS 60Hz panel over a VA 144Hz one just to avoid tilting the screen when four people try to watch a movie on a tiny display makes zero sense to me.

BTW, what does an iPhone have to do with monitors?
Phones have been using basically nothing but IPS or OLED/AMOLED for years now because they serve a completely different purpose than a computer monitor.

crimsonstag84 said:And obviously, everyone’s only ever heard of GeForce. That’s exactly the problem with how this market has been run for the last 10 years. 😬

The equivalent to RX 580 is the GTX 1060 6GB, which is $300-$133 more expensive. Honestly, doesn't make much sense right now IMO.

Monitor recommendation:

https://www.amazon.com/lcd-monitors/aoc...m_medium=click

Solid combo.

Fortnite should hit about 100FPS on an RX 580 at that resolution, which pairs perfectly with a FreeSync 144 Hz monitor.
Personally, I get around 65-70 FPS with an RX 580 at 1440p with most settings on Epic.

P.S.
If you want to save some cash, just go with 8GB of RAM instead of 16.
8GB is plenty fine for Fortnite—you won't notice a difference, and it's easy enough to just pop in another stick later.
I'd rather grab a slightly better 500GB SSD with a longer warranty, like a Crucial MX500 or a Samsung 860 EVO.

Fortnite runs a bit faster on Intel, but the Ryzen 2600 is a way better value right now and definitely won't be bottlenecking you.

Anyway, yeah, Fortnite updates constantly, but those updates usually bring optimizations along with driver support, so I wouldn't sweat it.

Timothy Kim60 said:It's the USA, obviously. The whole debate was about US Amazon sellers. A colleague already pointed that out, and you can see EVGA is directing people to US pages, while Sapphire mentions "each country," etc. It basically just depends on the manufacturer; you really have to ask. For instance, Sapphire and Gigabyte might just blow you off regarding that third year of warranty if the retailer doesn't cover it.

With drives, things are slightly better than with GPUs. Most brands are willing to help—except for Crucial.

Whatever. To me, that sounds like nothing more than an excuse to shorten the factory warranty. There's no other logic to it.
I haven't dealt with this personally yet. Usually, it’s either a straightforward 2 years—so no dilemma there—or a longer warranty tied directly to the product, provided you have a receipt from within the US.
Like with Corsair power supplies and stuff.
Then you have things like a Best Buy extended warranty they offer on TVs, but for a manufacturer to deny their own warranty? That's just pathetic.

I totally messed up on my search on Amazon.

Look, anyway, that's the manufacturer's warranty and it comes right with the product.

https://www.samsung.com/de/support/warranty/

I remember seeing Amazon list a 5-year warranty for that specific SSD a while back.

Usually, Amazon covers what they sell for 2 years, but obviously, the manufacturer's warranty can be longer. Things like power supplies, CPUs, RAM, etc.—pretty much everything has more than 2 years, regardless of whether you bought it through Amazon.

In the US, they'll just send you to an authorized service center or a local distributor.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...KR8XB7XF&psc=1

Samsung 860 EVO 500GB

$233 including US sales tax and shipping.

Not sure if it’s actually worth grabbing over the Crucial MX500 we have locally <$217, but it's cheaper than the usual price for an 860 EVO (around $283).

Bryan Taylor6 said:DDR4 costs twice as much as DDR3

and apparently that’s some kind of "benefit" for gaming

lots of RAM vs. little RAM

Not sure if the G2200 is even worth it. Your GPU is probably stronger than the Vega 8 anyway—and the Vega 8 wins on drivers and architecture alone. At 720p, the Vega 8 holds its own.

So you're telling me 8GB of new DDR3 goes for about $83?

Those updates should clear up those glitches.

Something’s eating your CPU—it can't be sitting at 41% if nothing's actually running.

It’s telling you your background CPU usage is sitting at 41%.

Personally, I’d aim for a 1440p 75Hz monitor, ideally with FreeSync and Vega support now that prices have actually stabilized. I reckon sticking with 8GB of RAM would keep everything within budget.
Going with 8 instead of 16 still makes zero difference in most scenarios.