Posts by wiredotter14

@TNG we should probably just slaughter > at this point if we haven't already. IMO, anything priced higher than those cheap RX 480 4GB cards should come bundled with a better monitor.

crimsonstag84 said:How is the GTX 1060 overkill when it averages 10% faster than the NVIDIA GTX 1060 in DX11 games, and usually slightly slower in DX12 games? 😬 Or are you just talking about the 6GB VRAM? It’s definitely not overkill for 1080p.

An overclocked CPU (~4.3GHz), a GTX 1070, and a WQHD IPS monitor—you can pull that together for under $1,000.

It's overkill in terms of RAM and price, and that 10% boost isn't actually necessary for Full HD. You pay extra for that RAM and that tiny performance bump, but you don't see much impact at Full HD. Basically, if the goal is strictly 1080p, I think the NVIDIA GTX 1060 3GB is a way better value.
Personally, if I were aiming for 1440p, I'd probably grab the GTX 1060 because the 6GB version is priced really well compared to the 8GB NVIDIA GTX 1060, but 1080p is a different story.
BTW, in DX12 games, from what I've seen, there isn't any massive advantage for AMD, though who knows if that'll change. Vulkan game though 😁

I agree with the second part 😉 regarding spending $1,000 to jump to a higher tier. An overclocked Intel i7 won't significantly bottleneck a GTX 1070 at 1440p. Of course, at 1080p, you'd deal with a much larger CPU bottleneck on a 144Hz screen.

Raymond Anderson14 said:1080p gaming.. max settings.. I agree this card is still decent.. but I can't get any smooth gameplay without it stuttering for a few seconds or hitting some FPS drops that drive me crazy. Looking for a quality card, preferably NVIDIA, and a CPU.. since I don't really know if they'll be compatible with my current setup/motherboard, which is why I'm asking here. 🙂 Thanks

Have you overclocked the processor? Which games are giving you those FPS drops? Drivers up to date? What kind of FPS are we talking about? Maybe certain settings in specific games are just choking the GPU.

The Intel i7 is a very capable processor, and it'll perform even better in DirectX 12 and Vulkan games. Plus, the Intel FX bottleneck shrinks at higher resolutions, and it should be enough to run most modern titles at 60FPS.

You could upgrade the GPU to max out 1080p—maybe an NVIDIA GTX 1050, a GTX 1060, or a NVIDIA GTX 970 if you find a good deal.
But if you actually have $1,000 on hand, just buy a better monitor. Dumping $1,000 into a 1080p build that's already decent is just madness.

P.S. all GPUs are compatible with basically any motherboard from the last 7 years.

You could grab one of these three:



Each of these is great for the price—you get what you pay for—but the last one would be the sweet spot for you because you don't realistically need anything stronger for 1080p. The NVIDIA GTX 1060 3GB is also a solid value, and you don't need more than 4GB of VRAM for 1080p.
The GTX 1060 is total overkill.

Raymond Anderson14, first things first: what’s the end goal here? What kind of monitor are we actually talking about?
If you're sticking with a 1080p 60Hz screen, you could drop some cash on an NVIDIA GTX 1050 or maybe an NVIDIA GTX 970, but honestly, it's not much of an upgrade. You won't feel much difference. Anything beyond that is complete overkill for 1080p. Now, if you're planning to jump to a 1080p 144Hz setup or move up to 1440p, then yeah, a real upgrade makes sense—but you've gotta factor in the cost of the new monitor plus upgrading the whole rig.

That CPU and GPU combo is perfectly fine for 1080p. Actually, if you overclock that processor, it might even handle a beefier card for 1440p gaming, like an NVIDIA GTX 1060 or even a NVIDIA GTX 1070. You'll run into some bottlenecking, sure, but future titles will likely lessen the impact of older CPUs. Of course, that depends on whether you actually have the budget for a decent CPU overhaul. Moving to a non-overclocked i5 isn't much of an upgrade at all.

P.S. Don't bother messing with the RAM. You aren't going to see any real benefit from more capacity or faster speeds. Plus, if you move to Skylake, you'll be forced onto DDR4, which is just more money out of your pocket. In your situation, I'd actually consider sticking with a DDR3 board for Skylake since your current RAM is actually decent.

It really depends on what kind of alternative you're looking at—basically, how much cash you're willing to sink into a printer upfront.

The thing is, if you're willing to spend a little more initially, you can snag a solid printer with (extremely) cheap ink costs.

But looking at the standard setup: if third-party inks run you about 40-$17, then the cost per page ends up being roughly $0.03/page. It’s manageable, but definitely not "cheap."
So, if using a Cissom system cuts your ink costs by practically 90%, you're saving $30 for every 1,000 pages printed. If the cost for the Cissom kit plus the initial ink is somewhere around 300-$167, you’d likely break even after maybe 5,000 pages compared to using decent, mid-range replacement inks.

That said, I'd be way more cautious with those systems regarding how often they actually get used. I'm not entirely sure how much of a headache they are to clean out if they sit idle for too long, whereas with standard cartridges, you basically solve half those issues just by swapping them out.

Robert Rodriguez2 said:What even is a Cissom system? How do you install it and what’s the damage to my wallet? 😁

Something like this

darkowl72👍

Honestly, this HP Envy doesn't have such terrible reviews
http://moj-toner.com/printeri-shop/prodaja/epson-xp-225
https://www.amazon.com/Epson-Expre.../dp/B00NAWLQKI

Ink costs are peanuts
http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=0&q=xp-225

You could save maybe 30-$13, and from what I've seen, cheap printing just makes you want to print more 😁

It really just depends on your budget and what you're looking for.

https://www.amazon.com/zalman-mid-tower-case-z3-plus/dp/B00M9S9U3E

This one is a solid choice—it actually comes with four fans pre-installed.

But honestly, you could probably go with something cheaper and less ventilated. Your build isn't exactly a power hog.

I can't give you an immediate answer on specific models in that price bracket. The whole ink situation shifts with every new generation, so you really have to weigh the printer cost against the ink prices and check the feedback on Amazon. Honestly, reviews don't tell you much about actual long-term running costs.

Otherwise, if you can swing it, I’d recommend grabbing a slightly higher-end model that more people can share. Given the volume you mentioned, it’s just not worth overinvesting in a cheap unit.
For example, at my office, we use two identical Brother printers. Each one was an $500, and on that first one, we printed maybe 40-50k pages—just brother to brother—and it still works fine. (And that's just counting official paperwork; people were printing college study guides on top of that.)
Keep in mind, the black ink costs $8.25 and lasts for about 2,500 pages of text. It's an OfficeJet, and you can still find new ones on eBay; it's one of those rare series that uses ink without any annoying chips.

If you're looking to spend more than $333, you could probably pick up something much more solid with lower printing costs.
Also, I think sharing an inkjet is a smart move because the main reason they die is disuse—especially when people only ever print in black and white and the color nozzles clog up.

P.s. typing this on my phone, autocorrect is driving me crazy.

The HP Envy 5000 used to be a huge hit because the ink is dirt cheap, but you can only find it at the local Best Buy.
The newer models are out, but the ink costs a bit more. Check Amazon.
It’s not like you're printing a novel here, so spending 40-$17 on ink isn't going to break the bank.
As for reliability? Honestly, if that $167 machine breaks, you better make sure it's covered under that 24-month warranty. You aren't buying a Mercedes for this kind of money.

Robert Rodriguez2, how many pages are we looking at per year? There are printers in this price range that take third-party ink, but the selection is pretty lousy. You really need to run the numbers on what the ink costs would be for at least the first year.

If you can stretch your budget a bit $33, this build would be killer

post the pics

If staying under $1667 is the goal, grab a cheap GTX 1050 Ti instead. It’s an insane value for anything under $667

edit: found it on CNN

It depends on what you're playing. If it's newer titles that actually utilize multiple cores, you won't run into much trouble.
But honestly, in some games, you’re already hitting a bottleneck.

Something like this should work for you.
https://www.newegg.com/p/amd-ati-gpu/8...+470&results=8
Or maybe
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/graphics-card/product/
Have you tried overclocking the CPU yet?

AMD put way more effort into their reference cards compared to the Nvidia GTX1060, and yet here we are—they're power throttling and basically impossible to find.
So much for the big promise that AMD reference cards would set the benchmark for quality and pricing. It just didn't happen. Meanwhile, Nvidia managed to flood the market with custom cards almost immediately, making them way easier to track down than anything from AMD.
Either AMD is dealing with massive yield issues and capacity bottlenecks, or they completely botched their relationships with AIB partners. Honestly, seeing those AMD exclusive AIBi involved makes me think it's a perfect storm of early power delivery failures combined with terrible availability.

Did you actually plug the PCIe power connector into the card?

Look, man, just grab any card under 50W and slap an Accelero S1 on it. If you aren't pushing it too hard, you might even get away with a beefier card.

Timothy Kim60 said:The deal is they were pricing it $360 based on what the 4GB version used to cost (back when you couldn't even find it). $360 is the actual price for the 2GB model—no debate there. At that price point, it's a total no-brainer.

@Adam Barrett7

Those prices for the GTX 1070 are fake, honestly. Probably some kind of scam.

I think it was this specific product; they downgraded it to 2GB, but the URL clearly shows it was originally 4GB. That one is out of stock, but this one says it's available for exactly $360.
https://www.downtown-electronics.com/sapphire-rx-46...mi-dp-dvi.aspx

BTW, this whole fake GTX 1070 thing feels off. Usually, that kind of crap is sold on eBay or through an Amazon account run by someone in China. These two sellers are based in Germany and actually have established feedback and sales history.

At the end of the day, Amazon has solid customer support.

goldenpanther said:I'm fighting for one of the $333 options, then he immediately tries to push some 2500 😁 version on me.

So what's the point if it's not better than 4GB, especially when it costs 100-$67 more?

Look, he put a price around 200 bucks because it's actually a decent deal.
If the card were any stronger, those 2GB would matter, but here? Slim chance you'll hit a bottleneck with that extra VRAM. For context, the GTX 950—which performs pretty much the same—never really struggled with 2GB.
Sure, there might be some games where an RX 460 can run, but needs more than 2GB. But given your CPU paired with that RX 460, it’s a balanced build; it probably won't have the muscle to actually utilize much more than 2GB anyway.

Timothy Kim60 said:Gigabyte doesn't have a 6-pin. I'd go with the one that has a pin—more headroom, more stability.

BTW, grab the 2GB version. They don't have it Downtown, and that price might just be a mistake. The only place with a fair price on the 4GB model is at Newegg.

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Since this one is the OC model, I'm assuming it has the 6-pin?
It says it's available for order, so you should probably call and ask.

goldenpanther said:it's basically the same everywhere then, maybe $1220-$1300 for the 4GB model

$405 Downtown vs. $437 over at the tech campus, but yeah, you're looking at roughly the same ballpark

Is this the same item?
It shows a 3-year warranty and costs $360, but looks identical to that first 2GB card

https://www.comcast.com/evga-gtx-1050-ti-dp-dvi.aspx

edit: the link in my previous post for the 2GB card is dead; this one from the current post is actually available to order