The 'Build Me A PC' Thread

[Tale]

There were lots of cheap deals here on 2080 ti and 2080 Super cards just as the 3080 released. Pretty much half-price. Starting to regret not jumping on one of those... they've sold out too, or been bumped back up to original price.

[eldaec]

My 3080 FE arrived today. It is so pretty.

[Trippy]

AMD RX 6000 aka "Big Navi" stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHpgu-cTjyM
https://www.amd.com/en/graphics/amd-radeon-rx-6000-series

Looks competitive on paper on performance, price and power so NVIDIA may actually have some competition again.

[Jeff Kelly]

I’ve spent an absolutely unholy amount of money on my Corona project which is a dual radiator everything watercooled  Ryzen 3900X PC (still with a 2070 Super) over the last six months and now I have no energy to play anything on it.

[schild]

AMD RX 6000 aka "Big Navi" stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHpgu-cTjyM
https://www.amd.com/en/graphics/amd-radeon-rx-6000-series

Looks competitive on paper on performance, price and power so NVIDIA may actually have some competition again.

until the drivers install trump as president and give you cancer, somehow

[Jeff Kelly]

I remember a time when you could actually buy new hardware after it was released. Not like now where companies “release” new stuff which isn’t available anywhere for the next six months

[Sky]

until the drivers install trump as president and give you cancer, somehow

I'm tempted to get a Zen/Navi build going, since consoles will be working on earlier versions of those platforms, but....yeah. I have a hard time setting aside my superior experience with intel/nvidia builds over the years.

And in general the benches I've seen all put heavy multicore synthetics and development software as the killer apps for AMD, when they get to gaming performance, it's generally in the same ballpark.

Drivers matter.

+1 to Jeff K on the paper launches. I was planning to build a new PC and now I'm content to hammer refresh for a PS5 and wait until next year.

[Chimpy]

AMD drivers are fine.

I have been running ATI/AMD cards for a number of years and haven't had a driver horrorshow.

And the new Zen3 AMD CPUs are better even in single threaded performance than Intel (and they absolutely crush them in multi-threaded performance).

[Mosesandstick]

I've got a (Sapphire) Radeon 5700 that constantly crashes, but I might just have a bad egg. I think based on the volume of everyone else's complaints on the AMD 5xxx series, it seems like AMD has issues getting them to run smoothly.

[eldaec]

The gaming Cpu performance looks roughly price equivalent between amd and Intel right now. At least on UK pricing.

Which is obv great news and a huge step up.

I'm sceptical about how the gpu will turn out. Even assuming they've closed the raw rasterised power gap, nvidia have dug themselves with proprietary features that game devs tend to support and nvidia still seem to be ahead on rtx performance.

[Sky]

I'm sceptical about how the gpu will turn out. Even assuming they've closed the raw rasterised power gap, nvidia have dug themselves with proprietary features that game devs tend to support and nvidia still seem to be ahead on rtx performance.

I figured the zen/navi consoles would alter the landscape significantly in favor of AMD by the end of this console gen, if not sooner.

[Trippy]

That didn't happen with the current gen consoles the PS4 and Xbox One which all have AMD GPUs.

[Jeff Kelly]

I reiterate my point from earlier.

Manufacturers should stop doing overhyped global launches if they don’t have stock available to match the demand..
Also maybe don’t give review samples to every idiot with a YouTube channel.

It’s actually gotten so ridiculous that normal people can’t buy shit and yet there’s YouTubers out there who have several 3080/3090 just to fuck around with.

From RTX 3000 to the current console launches and now the new Radeons pretty much every launch has been an absolute dumpster fire.

[Sky]

It's not just the low stock, though. It's vastly worse because of the bots, notification plugins, etc. It's literally impossible for the average joe to buy these new tech items. And it's not going to change any time soon. It's crazy frustrating, and I'm someone who is generally ok with waiting to buy stuff later. Walmart just announced the PS5 restock tomorrow and I can't wait to watch their website buckle under the traffic again. No stock reservation for carts, either, which adds nicely to the frustration for the customer.

Though stock for tech in general is really spotty right now. I'm trying to source some new surveillance stuff and half of it is sold out (or sketchy 3rd party storefronts) from my authorized vendors.

The 'influencers' all getting theirs is a particularly dicky move, so many YT channels with hardware people can't buy and just smug tf about it. "Oh, I"ll just dremel this open, I have another one on the way..."

[Jeff Kelly]

What pisses me off the most it that you can’t preorder/wait list for stuff. It’s simply marked as ‚out of stock‘.

They should all take a look at how Apple handles this. Their servers can actually handle the insane rush of people preordering the latest Apple gadget. They have quick checkout procedures and give shipping estimates for your order that are pretty accurate. They also let you order out of stock/backordered items and ship them out on a first come first serve basis.

I don’t need stuff on launch day but right now I can’t even order a Ryzen 5900X under the condition of „just register my order and ship it when it’s available“. Almost no shop offers that option they just delist items that are out of stock.

Means I have to regularly check a bunch of shops to see if they have any new stock a ailable instead of just not having to think about it and getting it automatically whenever the supply shortage is over.

[Sky]

There's also this:

[Jeff Kelly]

Yeah. I hope the get stuck with the scalped items and that no one buys that.

Official launch of the PS5 in Germany is tomorrow and I expect it to be an absolute chaos

[Hawkbit]

My kid wants a gaming/streaming PC and wants to build it with me. I haven't updated mine in seven years (shame on me). Anyone have any current builds they're working on that I can use as a baseline? I tend to stick to Intel and Nvidia. I know the 3070 line has been hard to come by.

[Trippy]

What's the budget? And is he going to need audio/video equipment for the streaming part?

[Hawkbit]

We're thinking $2000, max $2500. WA tax is 10%, so parts should be right around 2k total to account for tax.

She has speakers, mouse and mic. I have a decent handle on the camera and lighting options. She wants two monitors, but she might not be getting two depending on how this shakes out. So I think we need:

Monitor (2 preferred)
Case (extra fans maybe)
MB
CPU (aftermarket fan maybe)
RAM
SSD (2TB min on entire rig)
GPU (hoping for 3070, but may have to dip back into 2000 series to get this thing built)
PSU
Keyboard
Camera

She's not a bleeding edge gamer, but she plays a lot and because she's nearly 16 this is likely the last rig we will be buying her. I thought about doing a NZXT build for her, but she is legitimately interested in building it herself. I'm hoping to provide some guidance on parts along the way.

thanks for any advice.

[Chimpy]

If she wants to stream, a Ryzen will be better bang for your buck. (hell, Ryzens are better across the board than Intel now but they are definitely way better for streaming because they have more cores)

[Trippy]

Here's a first pass with dual monitors at $2232.51 or $2455.76 w/tax: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8CKtCz

Didn't research the motherboard (picked a relatively cheap Z390 ASUS board) or the video card (picked whatever EVGA was in approx. price range) and the CPU cooler setup may or may not work with the RAM and motherboard layout but this should give you an idea what to look for. Power supply is bigger than is needed for spec'd 2060 Super card in case she wants to go with something like a 3080 in the future. Can also save a bit of money on the powers supply if willing to go with something other than Seasonic and/or Platinum. There are also cheaper CPU cooler setups available but I'm only really familiar with the Noctua coolers. Could also save ~$150 by going with 2 of the cheaper monitors.

Edit: oops you need a camera too, added Logitech C920s HD Pro Webcam but that'll take you over the $2500 budget ($2288.55 not including tax or shipping) and it's missing a keyboard

[Hawkbit]

Thanks Trippy. That's a really good starting build. The 2060 should be pretty great for her and maybe when 3070s are more available I can get her one and take her 2060 for my next build.

I appreciate the solid start. Thank you!

[Trippy]

You can drop down to a 750 W power supply or even slightly smaller if you don't care about upgrading to a 3080 in the future and save a few bucks. 650W is the recommended power supply for the 3070 but something smaller may work depending on the other components. The 3080's recommended size is 750W which I padded to 850W.

[Samprimary]

is the 3060ti available like ... anywhere

i'm building bianca's gaming compooter and swapping over my existing graphics card but the world is out of replacement cards

[Trippy]

You could buy a prebuilt computer with a 3060 Ti in it

[Reg]

I still haven't found a game that I want to play that doesn't run just fine with my 970. At this point I'm thinking I'll just buy a whole new system with an upgraded graphics card when the 970 finally goes obsolete enough to notice. Hell, I don't know if one of unobtainium based cards will even run on my aging system.

[Hawkbit]

The entire market is ridiculous. Our build a few posts up got put on hold - the 3060ti looks like a perfect sweet spot card for us, but I'm not spending $800 on a 2060.

[Sky]

Welp, looks like 2021 is also going to be a bad time to build PCs while simultaneously making the secondary market of 2020 stock more attractive...what a shitshow (politics pre-dacted  ). The tariff exemption for gpus has apparently not been renewed and there is now a 25% tariff on them. Apologies for the verge link, but it's my sauce, so...

https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/7/22217206/nvidia-amd-gpu-trump-tax-china-tariff-exemption-expire

[Hawkbit]

Yeah I’m not sure what to tell my kid. I’m sorry? I just can’t justify the expense.

I sant quite understand why nvidia has to release four different models this gen when they can’t reliably supply any of them. On the flip side, my nvidia stock is banging.

[Sky]

Yeah I’m not sure what to tell my kid. I’m sorry? I just can’t justify the expense.

I sant quite understand why nvidia has to release four different models this gen when they can’t reliably supply any of them. On the flip side, my nvidia stock is banging.

Off the top of my head, binning. They have to have at least two or three skus to get the most out of the bins.

I still feel that (pre-tariff) supply is not the most pressing problem. Since I can't buy a PS5, either...and indeed, now I'm over release hype I may just wait for the pro version. Which also means a slew of games I won't be buying until then (heck, I wan't going to buy Cyberpunk until I had a new pc). This seems bad for the gaming economy, but I'm usually an outlier when it comes to purchasing, so probably not (and of course, it's perfectly fine for the manufacturers, since they don't care if bots, scalpers, or gamers buy up their products, so long as they fly off shelves).

[Hawkbit]

I know Sony is concerned about it. On a typical console launch they usually sell one console and one game at purchase. This gen they have sold one game for every three consoles purchased. They make money on the games, not the hardware - so the scalpers are really cutting into their launch momentum (and profit). It's really unfortunate - I mean, Sony is a big enough company to weather that storm. I can also imagine a scenario where this hurts the generation long term.

[Sky]

Good point, I even said as much about my personal situation, but hadn't extrapolated that out to millions of units.

[Trippy]

I know Sony is concerned about it. On a typical console launch they usually sell one console and one game at purchase. This gen they have sold one game for every three consoles purchased. They make money on the games, not the hardware - so the scalpers are really cutting into their launch momentum (and profit). It's really unfortunate - I mean, Sony is a big enough company to weather that storm. I can also imagine a scenario where this hurts the generation long term.

Those numbers, assuming you are getting them from that Bloomberg article in December, are misleading. The numbers* are just for the first four weeks in Japan and they (or more accurately Famistsu) were only counting physical copy sales (i.e. no digital downloads) and only for the top 3 games (Demon Soul's, Miles Morales and one other unnamed game). So yeah scalpers are likely hurting game sales but not to the extent those numbers imply.

* PS5 console sales first 4 weeks in Japan: 213.3K, Sales of top 3 games (physical copies) first 4 weeks: 62.6K

[slog]

I know Sony is concerned about it. On a typical console launch they usually sell one console and one game at purchase. This gen they have sold one game for every three consoles purchased. They make money on the games, not the hardware - so the scalpers are really cutting into their launch momentum (and profit). It's really unfortunate - I mean, Sony is a big enough company to weather that storm. I can also imagine a scenario where this hurts the generation long term.

Why didn't Sony just hold of release until they had enough units to make scalping useless?  Were they trying to protect Q4 profits?