What Have You Done Today - (Computer Version)

[ProjectWHaT]

My friend recently upgraded to a RTX 2060 Super so I bought his old GTX 1060 which replaced my old GTX 760.

 

[JohnBM01]

Recently, I decided to give Unreal Engine 4 another chance. I removed it previously because it ran rather slow to me and that it was not as reliable to work with. I gave it another chance because I wanted to try to use to develop content I have in mind. I got problems, though. Each time I tried to launch Unreal Engine 4, I keep getting errors that prevent me from using it. So I may have to be at a point where I'll have to leave it to would-be content owners to import my material to Unreal Engine themselves rather than me pre-make material ready to be imported into Unreal Engine. I even contemplated trying to have more patience learning Unity3D and developing material I can possibly offer to the general audience.

Eventually, I will mostly either use Godot Game Engine or even go through the tough task of making my own game engines. I guess my intent is to develop characters and vehicles that I want to bring to life and eventually offer these products to the world. I am also trying to improve my 3D modeling techniques to take on interesting projects. Part of this is to get back into making 3D material in Blender, despite using Wings3D for ease of use.

 

[Danoff]

My friend recently upgraded to a RTX 2060 Super so I bought his old GTX 1060 which replaced my old GTX 760.

Nice case. Can you explain what that enclosure is in the top right? Some sort of ram housing?

 

[Rallywagon]

Nice case. Can you explain what that enclosure is in the top right? Some sort of ram housing?

The housing on the top right is for 5.25" drives like DVD or Blu-ray ROM drives.

 

[Danoff]

The housing on the top right is for 5.25" drives like DVD or Blu-ray ROM drives.

Ok, well...

It says corsair on it, and there were some weird tabs and slots on the side, I couldn't see any ram in the ram slots (although now I think I see one), so I thought maybe it was some sort of separate ram enclosure that I'd never seen before. I mean who needs a 5.25" drive anymore?

 

[Rallywagon]

Ok, well...

It says corsair on it, and there were some weird tabs and slots on the side, I couldn't see any ram in the ram slots (although now I think I see one), so I thought maybe it was some sort of separate ram enclosure that I'd never seen before. I mean who needs a 5.25" drive anymore?

Nah, although, intel is trying to create weird modular computer components... again...

 

[ProjectWHaT]

Nice case. Can you explain what that enclosure is in the top right? Some sort of ram housing?

Thanks, yes it's for DVD drives and stuff. I built it back in 2014 and I needed it for something at the time. There's only one stick of RAM. At the moment, I don't really need to upgrade anything as I don't have as much time to play as much as before but I do plan to get more.

 

[JohnBM01]

I have downloaded the new Microsoft Edge (Chromium Edge) today. I still have the MS Edge Beta browser, but I now have updated my Microsoft Edge since the browser was released on January 15 (my birthday!) this year. I'll share my thoughts on this new Edge in the thread in this forum about what browser you use.

 

[Darla Starch]

Clean install of Crusader Kings II/re-install of the Game of Thrones mod for it.

 

[gnomefromnome]

upgraded the RAM in mah laptop

before


after
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2ij9Nps]

What I learned:

this Dell has a ridiculous amount of procedures to get to the RAM sticks. Remove disc drive and keyboard (easy enough). Remove 7 screws under said keyboard. flip over and remove 1300 screws to remove the ENTIRE back panel. It's really 13 screws but still. C'mon, add an easy to remove access panel that takes 4-6 screws and be done with it.

Plus the DVD drive isn't reading discs...but I really haven't used it. Maybe this weekend I'll troubleshoot the darn thing. Until then I'll access the drive in my PC if need be lol[/url]

 

[TJ13]

Just cloned the HD to SD.
Much faster than a HD.

Not quite getting full Sata 3 speeds as I found out that my Mobo is Sata 2.

Edit:
If anyone has any suggestions for an AM3+ Mobo that supports SATA 3 on the low end Let me know. Prefer new if possible.

 

[Rallywagon]

Welp, the time has come to upgrade the PC. I currently run an AMD 8350 black edition, ASUS m5a99fx mobo, an ASUS GTX1070 and 16GB cheap ram.
The CPU and RAM have become serious bottle necks. I get serious stutter issues trying to play wreckfest, and its become prone to locking up. Though that may be just because it needs a serious cleaning.
Regardless, the time has come. Right now I am doing just a "small" upgrade. Since we moved into a small apartment while we house hunt, I dont want to do my full, all out build. The plan is to bring it up to more current spec, and keep the form factor small. Micro ATX small. I have an ATX now with a full tower, it's just way to big for its spot. I'd also like to use it for a media server down the road. For now I have compiled the following parts list.
ASUS Prime B450 micro ATX mobo (I am partial to ASUS)
Ryzen 5 2600
Deepcoll Matrexx 30 micro ATX case
16 gigs of Vulcan z DDR4 RAM

I plan on reusing my PSU and GPU for the build, as well as my three storage drives. Think I might use the old board and proc for PFSense once we are moved.

Just cloned the HD to SD.
Much faster than a HD.

Not quite getting full Sata 3 speeds as I found out that my Mobo is Sata 2.

Edit:
If anyone has any suggestions for an AM3+ Mobo that supports SATA 3 on the low end Let me know. Prefer new if possible.

What do you mean by "low end"? If you mean $150ish, ASUS and ASrock both have good boards in this category that you can still find new. However, you have to understand that this chipset has been sunsetted. New boards havent been made for AM3 in a quite a few years. This means that the price is actually going up on these boards and procs. An 8350 black is selling for almost twice as much as I paid for it some 5 or so years ago. just hit up newegg and take a look at what they have to offer.

 

[Nexus]

@Rallywagon It might be worth looking at the Ryzen 5 1600AF, it's basically a lower-clocked 2600 for a cheaper price - https://www.techspot.com/review/1977-amd-ryzen-1600-af/

Might also be worth squeezing in slightly faster RAM, as well.

I re-applied the thermal paste on my RX 480, cause I suspect the original paste has dried up. I did a single run of Unigine Superposition and had the GPU temperature peak at 74°, with the fans peaking at ~2100RPM. With fresh paste and some dusting off, I did another run and had the temperatures peak at 66°, with the fans peaking at ~1950RPM.

I accidentally went slightly overboard with the thermal paste application, so temperatures might rise once it's settled in. Still though, I'm pretty happy with the results.

 

[TJ13]

What do you mean by "low end"? If you mean $150ish, ASUS and ASrock both have good boards in this category that you can still find new. However, you have to understand that this chipset has been sunsetted. New boards havent been made for AM3 in a quite a few years. This means that the price is actually going up on these boards and procs. An 8350 black is selling for almost twice as much as I paid for it some 5 or so years ago. just hit up newegg and take a look at what they have to offer.

If the thoughts are correct, I could just make the jump from am3+ to Am4 for about 350$
That's processor, mobo and 2x8GB ram.
Granted I would still have slightly less ram in than what I currently have (20) and the GPU at a 1050 ti. (Which I guess still works on older games but not newer (So thinking of a mini 1660 ti at a later time)

 

[Rallywagon]

If the thoughts are correct, I could just make the jump from am3+ to Am4 for about 350$
That's processor, mobo and 2x8GB ram.
Granted I would still have slightly less ram in than what I currently have (20) and the GPU at a 1050 ti. (Which I guess still works on older games but not newer (So thinking of a mini 1660 ti at a later time)

If that’s all you need, you can probably get away with spending about 250 honestly. I am looking at about 312 and I have a case and fan added to my list.

 

[TJ13]

If that’s all you need, you can probably get away with spending about 250 honestly. I am looking at about 312 and I have a case and fan added to my list.

Well I can get a B450M Max from MSI for 80, Ryzen 5 3600 for 180, and 2x8GB ram for about 75ish.
(Before tax of course)

 

[Rallywagon]

@Rallywagon It might be worth looking at the Ryzen 5 1600AF, it's basically a lower-clocked 2600 for a cheaper price - https://www.techspot.com/review/1977-amd-ryzen-1600-af/

Might also be worth squeezing in slightly faster RAM, as well.

I am reconsidering the proc, but... I think I am going to go with a 2600x instead. 20 bucks more to get over 4 GHz sounds good to me. I may look into different RAM, but, honestly, an extra 200 MHz isnt a make or break thing. Especially since right now, my RAM is a sluggish 800MHz....

 

[TJ13]

So if I get a Corsair vengeance LPX 2x8GB at 3200 MHz and want to add just one more and corsair doesn't have a vengeance LPX at 3200 for 1x8 any suggestions?

 

[Rallywagon]

So if I get a Corsair vengeance LPX 2x8GB at 3200 MHz and want to add just one more and corsair doesn't have a vengeance LPX at 3200 for 1x8 any suggestions?

Get them in pairs... seriously though. I am not sure why they dont sell them as a single unit, but, you can run into issues using RAM of different makes (mind the word can. it will work, but, it might also cause the computer to crash randomly or the RAM to run at slower speeds). they do sell a 1x8gig, but that is clocked at 2400 MHz, which will force all of your RAM to run at that speed as well. the best bet is to just save up a few more bucks and spring for the pair.

 

[TJ13]

Get them in pairs... seriously though. I am not sure why they dont sell them as a single unit, but, you can run into issues using RAM of different makes (mind the word can. it will work, but, it might also cause the computer to crash randomly or the RAM to run at slower speeds). they do sell a 1x8gig, but that is clocked at 2400 MHz, which will force all of your RAM to run at that speed as well. the best bet is to just save up a few more bucks and spring for the pair.

So it's best just to stay at 16GB ram and then try do the same again later on?

 

[Rallywagon]

So it's best just to stay at 16GB ram and then try do the same again later on?

I did decide to change up to Ballistix sport 3200MHz. But yeah, I am going to stick with just 16gig for now. I may upgrade to 32 later, but chances arent good for that. Later will be a much bigger, much more expensive build than this is. This is jsut meant to last for the short time we will be in the apartment, then it will become a media server.

 

[TJ13]

Based on a bottle neck check.
With a Ryzen 5 3600 and a 1050 Ti will have a full bottleneck as the GPU will be too weak.
It's recommending me a 1080 Ti. (Yet the newer 1660s are still weak)

 

[Rallywagon]

Based on a bottle neck check.
With a Ryzen 5 3600 and a 1050 Ti will have a full bottleneck as the GPU will be too weak.
It's recommending me a 1080 Ti. (Yet the newer 1660s are still weak)

The 1080 ti is a far better card. The 1660 was built as a mid priced GPU meant to span the gap between 1060 and 2060.

 

[Rallywagon]

Ok. Parts ordered. I ended up going with the Ryzen 5 2600x and 16gig of G.Skill Aegis 3200. Everything else is the same as listed above. I think next I am going to buy a couple of new SSDs and wrap up the build.

 

[Nexus]

Based on a bottle neck check.
With a Ryzen 5 3600 and a 1050 Ti will have a full bottleneck as the GPU will be too weak.
It's recommending me a 1080 Ti. (Yet the newer 1660s are still weak)

There's always going to be a bottleneck. My 4th gen i5 is bottlenecking my RX 480, and if I were to upgrade my CPU, then my GPU would be the bottleneck.

It's only really a problem when your CPU is holding back your GPU, IMO. When your GPU isn't powerful enough for your needs, then that should be upgraded.

 

[sesselpupser]

I finally finished off getting my home network back to what it was before we moved by installing my old router in AP mode so we have a 5GHz band again and my Raspberry Pi VirtualHere USB server to connect a USB hub and lap keyboard to my PC without having the cable going across the floor.

Only problem is my TV is too small for the distance between it and the sofa so I can't really use the keyboard because I can't see anything, so the (very dumb) plan is to get a 65" TV and hope it fits on the wall...

 

[TJ13]

So I am just playing around with the gpu bottleneck calculator and my 1050 ti will be at 100%
1080 ti is at 9%
1660 ti is around 36%
2060 is at 17% (I am a bit shocked at this)

So I am thinking that even though right now my GPU will be a significant bottleneck I may go with a 2060 mini itx later on this year. (Depending on what Nvidia has to offer in the coming month or two)

 

[Nexus]

I installed my new RX 570 in my media server. Needed to do a bit of fiddling in the BIOS to get it detected, and I had to use a HDMI->DVI adaptor to get a signal (the generic Windows drivers didn't support HDMI), then install the latest drivers. After that, everything went smoothly.

Now, to test some games...

 

[Rallywagon]

And its built.



The build didnt go to bad. Everything fit well enough. I do have a few odds and ends to finish but it posted on the first shot.
Even better though, look at the size difference! Man, this thing fits so good next to my TV stand. AMD the sound! Less fans, and of a higher quality. My old tower at full steam sounded not unlike a hair dryer. I havent stressed the new machine yet, but at idle it is whisper quiet. I am not sure I'll ever be going back to a full tower again.

 

[TJ13]

I should have my Mobo, CPU, RAM Monday.
I should have it in progress on Tuesday as I have a consult for my lovely wisdom teeth Monday.
Then build the other one with the spare parts I have.

So doing 2 for 1 special.