The computer and electronics super geek thread

[pengbuzz]

22 hours ago, azrael said:

At some point, I would rather start fresh and reinstall Windows.

Right; at some point, all the repairs, patching and errors here and there accrue. Better just to do an entirely new install with everything done fresh and image that/ back it up. That way, you have a fresh slate just the way you want, without the hidden damage from the previous install.

[David Hingtgen]

Thinking about upgrading CPU while I'm at it.  Would very much like to keep my DDR4 RAM if at all possible.   So just new mobo+CPU.   Currently have a Ryzen 5 3600. 

Or is DDR4 old enough that it limits mobo options too much?  DDR5 had/has a very slow adoption rate.   

Looking for just a cheap upgrade, not "a giant leap in ability".   Might even do CPU-only.  Checking around, it seems the last BIOS update for my mobo will allow the Ryzen 5600 series, but not officially the 5700/5800----but reddit says the 5800 actually works fine.   

[azrael]

3 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

Thinking about upgrading CPU while I'm at it.  Would very much like to keep my DDR4 RAM if at all possible.   So just new mobo+CPU.   Currently have a Ryzen 5 3600. 

Or is DDR4 old enough that it limits mobo options too much?  DDR5 had/has a very slow adoption rate.   

Looking for just a cheap upgrade, not "a giant leap in ability".   Might even do CPU-only.  Checking around, it seems the last BIOS update for my mobo will allow the Ryzen 5600 series, but not officially the 5700/5800----but reddit says the 5800 actually works fine.   

DDR4 is essentially a "dead-end" (it still exists but you're not going to get far with that) since no modern CPU uses it anymore. If your mobo supports the 5700X3D, I'd get that (if you are leaning toward gaming). I wouldn't spend for the 5800X (I still have one since I side-graded to the 5800X3D). If you are looking at the 5800X, get the 5700X3D. It's better for gaming and could probably get you farther, assuming the mobo supports it. Otherwise, I would go for the 5700X. The 5700X is just a lower bin'd 5800X. The specs are exactly the same but has a TDP of 65W vs the 5800X's 105W. Since this is the last bit of mileage you are going to get with DDR4, I'd wouldn't spend THAT much. If you really don't want to spend, a 5600X will do.

[David Hingtgen]

None of the CPU's seem like they'd be THAT big an improvement, so I'm currently leaning towards the 5600X, or MAYBE the 5700X "as cheap as can be reliably had from aliexpress"

[TangledThorns]

3 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

None of the CPU's seem like they'd be THAT big an improvement, so I'm currently leaning towards the 5600X, or MAYBE the 5700X "as cheap as can be reliably had from aliexpress"

 

Try the used market like Criaigslist or Facebook Marketplace to save some $$. I see 5800X3D's selling for $300 to $350 which I think is a tad high. I'll be buying used PC parts for my son's complete build later this year.    

[David Hingtgen]

5 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

 

Try the used market like Criaigslist or Facebook Marketplace to save some $$. I see 5800X3D's selling for $300 to $350 which I think is a tad high. I'll be buying used PC parts for my son's complete build later this year.    

Yeah, I'm thinking half of that, budget-wise.  Anything $200 or more is better spent on a GPU at this point.  Paying a premium for "the very best an old mobo can handle" is a bit of a waste.  

[azrael]

$300-$350 is WAY too high for a 5800X3D in 2025. Like I said, if you want 3D V-cache from the 5000-series in 2025, get the 5700X3D. Otherwise, the 5600X, 5700X/5800X are your best choices for a AM4.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

I am having a huge problem. The end of windows 10 support. I really hate 11.  But I need a new pc.  My i7-2600 it just not good enough anymore. But with the GPU scarcity I am in a bit of  a bind.  I still have time but I starting to get concerned.  Unfortunately, I have no Microcenter in my state. 

 

I am really starting to loathe Microsoft. 

[mikeszekely]

7 minutes ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I am having a huge problem. The end of windows 10 support. I really hate 11.  But I need a new pc.  My i7-2600 it just not good enough anymore. But with the GPU scarcity I am in a bit of  a bind.  I still have time but I starting to get concerned.  Unfortunately, I have no Microcenter in my state. 

 

I am really starting to loathe Microsoft. 

I personally don't get the hate for Windows 11. I upgraded for auto HDR and direct storage, and once I got a 32:9 monitor I came to really appreciate the centered task bar. 

That said, if Windows 11 is really a no-go for you, maybe Steam OS? Valve is starting to make it available to system builders. I'm my experience with the Steam Deck it has a surprisingly usable desktop mode, and I had no trouble running the bulk of the games in my Steam library. 

[TangledThorns]

11 minutes ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I am having a huge problem. The end of windows 10 support. I really hate 11.  But I need a new pc.  My i7-2600 it just not good enough anymore. But with the GPU scarcity I am in a bit of  a bind.  I still have time but I starting to get concerned.  Unfortunately, I have no Microcenter in my state. 

 

I am really starting to loathe Microsoft. 

 

Yeah, Win10 is still good imo but its EOL is why I'm building a new PCs with Win11 for me and my children this year. For my children's PCs the parts will mostly be hand me downs from my current rig or used parts. Only part will be new will be the case so it'll look like a new PC to them.

Edited March 25 by TangledThorns

[azrael]

30 minutes ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I am having a huge problem. The end of windows 10 support. I really hate 11.  But I need a new pc.  My i7-2600 it just not good enough anymore. But with the GPU scarcity I am in a bit of  a bind.  I still have time but I starting to get concerned.  Unfortunately, I have no Microcenter in my state.

Consider using the iGPU or stepping down a GPU generation until the current GPU troubles pass? Seeing that you are coming from a i7-2600 (which is way past Microsoft's supported CPU reqs for Windows 11), even modern iGPUs could handle a majority of tasks. If you want to do some gaming without the dedicated GPU, consider the Ryzen 5 8600G or Ryzen 7 8700G. The 8700G comes with the Radeon 780M, which is surprisingly capable of 1080p gaming for an iGPU. 

The other choice is to look for a previous gen GPU. RTX 3060/4060s or RX 7600XTs are still being sold at, relatively, decent prices.

 

43 minutes ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I am really starting to loathe Microsoft. 

 Have you thought about Macs? 😅 😝

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

I personally don't get the hate for Windows 11. I upgraded for auto HDR and direct storage, and once I got a 32:9 monitor I came to really appreciate the centered task bar. 

That said, if Windows 11 is really a no-go for you, maybe Steam OS? Valve is starting to make it available to system builders. I'm my experience with the Steam Deck it has a surprisingly usable desktop mode, and I had no trouble running the bulk of the games in my Steam library. 

 

1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

 

Yeah, Win10 is still good imo but its EOL is why I'm building a new PCs with Win11 for me and my children this year. For my children's PCs the parts will mostly be hand me downs from my current rig or used parts. Only part will be new will be the case so it'll look like a new PC to them.

 

30 minutes ago, azrael said:

Consider using the iGPU or stepping down a GPU generation until the current GPU troubles pass? Seeing that you are coming from a i7-2600 (which is way past Microsoft's supported CPU reqs for Windows 11), even modern iGPUs could handle a majority of tasks. If you want to do some gaming without the dedicated GPU, consider the Ryzen 5 8600G or Ryzen 7 8700G. The 8700G comes with the Radeon 780M, which is surprisingly capable of 1080p gaming for an iGPU. 

The other choice is to look for a previous gen GPU. RTX 3060/4060s or RX 7600XTs are still being sold at, relatively, decent prices.

 

 Have you thought about Macs? 😅 😝

If I have to use 11 i will.  I am just not a fan of it.

The Pc i use now was a cheap dell refurb. But now I can afford a decent rig.  I do not feel like compromising this time.  I was set on the 5070ti. But then the 9070xt came out and I realized I want that.  I really have to do something by early September. 

 

1 possibility  is to take my radeon 6700 hd and put it in my new pc until I can get a new video card. 

I will not buy a mac.

[azrael]

4 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

The Pc i use now was a cheap dell refurb. But now I can afford a decent rig.  I do not feel like compromising this time.  I was set on the 5070ti. But then the 9070xt came out and I realized I want that.  I really have to do something by early September. 

Probably should have led with that...

Keep in mind Windows 10 will not stop working after October, it just won't receive any more updates. So you don't need to rush out and buy parts before September. That being said, we'll probably see deals start coming out around July-September when Back-to-School-deals start coming up. Buying a GPU will be a "No" until at least summer. Supplies are too limited and price gouging is rampant at time of this post. You could start piecing a new computer but I would wait till deals start popping up. You may be forced to keep that 6700 HD in your system way past due date if the market doesn't cool..

[pengbuzz]

5 minutes ago, azrael said:

Probably should have led with that...

Keep in mind Windows 10 will not stop working after October, it just won't receive any more updates. So you don't need to rush out and buy parts before September. That being said, we'll probably see deals start coming out around July-September when Back-to-School-deals start coming up. Buying a GPU will be a "No" until at least summer. Supplies are too limited and price gouging is rampant at time of this post. You could start piecing a new computer but I would wait till deals start popping up. You may be forced to keep that 6700 HD in your system way past due date if the market doesn't cool..

Well, I'm using Win10 Pro on a Dell 3020 SFF (Intel Core i5 4590 @ 3.30GH) with 16Gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce ( Gigabyte) GT1030 (2GBVRAM) and an 223GB SSD. Looks like I'm not doing much to upgrade to anything for the next 3 millennia. 

Sad to say: Win 11 isn't in my future anytime soon.

Edited March 26 by pengbuzz

[David Hingtgen]

I'm still glad I bought my 3060 when I did---things have only gotten worse overall with newer stuff/prices, and the 3060 is only SLIGHTLY cheaper now than when I bought mine, despite it being older now.  

That said, I am tempted by the 4060 Ti 16GB...

[TangledThorns]

I used Win11 for work and its fine for me. I think as long as its not like Win8 I'll be OK with it. OMFG those stupid tiles. Win8 is one Microsoft OS that I'm glad I skipped.

[TangledThorns]

I've been following Trackalacker like it was a stock ticker yesterday and though I wanted a 5070 Ti I decided to splurge on a MSI GeForce RTX 5080 16G SHADOW 3X OC for $1249 from their website. Still above my planned budget but I've always had mid-range cards so what the heck, lol.

That being said supply seems to be improving, not great, but still improving. So scalpers can get f'd!

Now I'm waiting on MSI to release their new MAG 850M mobo so can start on my next complete build soon!!

 

 

[davidwhangchoi]

That's a decent price in the current market, only about $250 mark up ain't too bad.

I posted a 5070 card that was open for 12 hours, the market is starting to cool for nvidia cards. ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 cards now sit on shelves as gamers reject $3,719 price

 

[azrael]

2 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

I posted a 5070 card that was open for 12 hours, the market is starting to cool for nvidia cards. ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 cards now sit on shelves as gamers reject $3,719 price

Not really. A former top comment in that thread stated the cards were sold by the next day. Someone bought them (and probably made its way to eBay).

8 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

That being said supply seems to be improving, not great, but still improving. So scalpers can get f'd!

Keep in mind some people are not willing to pay what are fairly ridiculous prices for these cards, so the sticker shock maybe holding back some purchases til later (or switching to the RX 9070XT). Me? Since Nvidia isn't forthcoming about if the manufacturing defect is truly solved (they say they solved it but didn't give us a date of manufacturing when it was solved), I'm still skeptical of cards filtering out to retailers. And with the Geforce 572.83 drivers still producing black screens with 50-series cards, I'm still not sold that the issues have been all worked out. Maybe cards produced after the 5060/5060Tis come out?

[davidwhangchoi]

18 minutes ago, azrael said:

Not really. A former top comment in that thread stated the cards were sold by the next day. Someone bought them (and probably made its way to eBay).

one dumb guy doesn't equate to the market slowing and cards being more available. He won't make a profit and will have to sit on those card or take a loss. Nvidia artificially manipulated demand by shorted supplies and paper launch. Probably not a lot of people wanted them in the first place but multiple paper launches and scalpers grabbing them to resell artificially pushed prices. 

Now that AMD has been successful, Nvidia is starting to release more cards. Resellers no longer are making a profit especially for the 5080 and 5070 ti's and no longer buying them up.

NVIDIA’s RTX 50 GPU Supply Sees Massive Improvement as Retailers & System Integrators Offer Better Availability;

Edited March 29 by davidwhangchoi

[TangledThorns]

42 minutes ago, azrael said:

Not really. A former top comment in that thread stated the cards were sold by the next day. Someone bought them (and probably made its way to eBay).

Keep in mind some people are not willing to pay what are fairly ridiculous prices for these cards, so the sticker shock maybe holding back some purchases til later (or switching to the RX 9070XT). Me? Since Nvidia isn't forthcoming about if the manufacturing defect is truly solved (they say they solved it but didn't give us a date of manufacturing when it was solved), I'm still skeptical of cards filtering out to retailers. And with the Geforce 572.83 drivers still producing black screens with 50-series cards, I'm still not sold that the issues have been all worked out. Maybe cards produced after the 5060/5060Tis come out?

 

Monitoring Trackalaker all day is not ideal but it beats getting in line at my local Microcenter at 2am, lol. Apparently some people are still doing that, ugh. For the last several years its been a painful time to be a gamer caused by pandemic chip shortage, crypto, and now AI. I'm concerned it'll get worse even with the RTX 60xx series with nVIdia and AMD is chasing wholesale AI bucks. 

But I hope I'm wrong.

 

[azrael]

1 hour ago, davidwhangchoi said:

one dumb guy doesn't equate to the market slowing and cards being more available. He won't make a profit and will have to sit on those card or take a loss.

Unless it's someone at a AI farm buying it up. A $4000 RTX 5090 is a steal compared to a RTX Pro 6000 at more than 2x the costs. Or the datacenter GPUs at nearly 10x the costs. Those folks at Deepseek AI proved one could create usable LLMs using cheaper components. Buying "cheaper" consumer GPUs over the expensive DC/enterprise versions is now the reality we face for the up-&-coming AI startups.

1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

I'm concerned it'll get worse even with the RTX 60xx series with nVIdia and AMD is chasing wholesale AI bucks.

Nvidia's datacenter revenue was nearly 90% of it's profits last year. AMD's datacenter revenue grew and is now close to half of their revenue for FY2024. They would be fools to not be chasing AI and datacenter bucks at this point. 

[davidwhangchoi]

30 minutes ago, azrael said:

Unless it's someone at a AI farm buying it up. A $4000 RTX 5090 is a steal compared to a RTX Pro 6000 at more than 2x the costs. Or the datacenter GPUs at nearly 10x the costs. Those folks at Deepseek AI proved one could create usable LLMs using cheaper components. Buying "cheaper" consumer GPUs over the expensive DC/enterprise versions is now the reality we face for the up-&-coming AI startups.

good point! AI is still in demand. 

[David Hingtgen]

If they manage to make Sharon Apple instead of Skynet...

[davidwhangchoi]

Using PC part picker, this is a good deal.

https://slickdeals.net/f/18238240-costco-msi-aegis-zs2-gaming-desktop-ryzen-9-9900x-rtx-5080-32gb-ram-2tb-ssd-2400-free-shipping?v=1&src=frontpage

[Costco] MSI Aegis ZS2 Gaming Desktop: Ryzen 9 9900X; RTX 5080; 32GB RAM; 2TB SSD $2400 + Free Shipping

• AMD Ryzen 9 9900X Processor (12-core)
• 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 6000MHz RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB Graphics Card
• 1x 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD
• Microsoft Windows 11 Home (64-bit)
• Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3
• 360mm Liquid Cooling
• 850W 80 Plus Gold Certified Power Supply
• MSI Mechanical Keyboard
• MSI Gaming Mouse

[mikeszekely]

19 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Using PC part picker, this is a good deal.

https://slickdeals.net/f/18238240-costco-msi-aegis-zs2-gaming-desktop-ryzen-9-9900x-rtx-5080-32gb-ram-2tb-ssd-2400-free-shipping?v=1&src=frontpage

[Costco] MSI Aegis ZS2 Gaming Desktop: Ryzen 9 9900X; RTX 5080; 32GB RAM; 2TB SSD $2400 + Free Shipping

• AMD Ryzen 9 9900X Processor (12-core)
• 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 6000MHz RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 16GB Graphics Card
• 1x 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD
• Microsoft Windows 11 Home (64-bit)
• Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3
• 360mm Liquid Cooling
• 850W 80 Plus Gold Certified Power Supply
• MSI Mechanical Keyboard
• MSI Gaming Mouse

Not a bad deal at all, given how hard it is to get an Nvidia GPU in the first place.  Don't you have to be a member, though?  There's no Costcos around here, so I'm not.

Meanwhile, I got a $200 Best Buy gift card from my credit card, and my wife gave me a $500 Best Buy gift card for my birthday.  They have a similarly-specced Asus G700 desktop (main difference is an Intel Core Ultra 7 U7-265KF instead of a Ryzen) for $200 more.  Even though the base price is a bit more I think the Intel CPU benchmarks slightly better, and with my gift cards I'll come out ahead so I might just get that.

[azrael]

9 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Don't you have to be a member, though?  There's no Costcos around here, so I'm not.

For this deal, no. But if you don't have a Costco membership, there is a 5% surcharge on all purchases. So this deal is $2400+5% for non-members.

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, azrael said:

For this deal, no. But if you don't have a Costco membership, there is a 5% surcharge on all purchases. So this deal is $2400+5% for non-members.

That'd narrow the gap between the MSI at Costco and the Asus at Best Buy to $80, so yeah, Asus it is.

[TangledThorns]

I thought about the Costco or pre-built PC route and there are some that are good deals but I'm a control freak and wanted a specific parts for my PC.

That being said my MSI RTX 5080 Shadow OC was delivered this week, thankfully it was bought before the recent price bump.

On a last note I have everything I need for my build except MSI's new 850 MAG Mortar mobo that should be released sometime this month.

 

Edited April 9 by TangledThorns

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

I thought about the Costco or pre-built PC route and there are some that are good deals but I'm a control freak and wanted a specific parts for my PC.

That being said my MSI RTX 5080 Shadow OC was delivered this week, thankfully it was bought before the recent price bump.

On a last note I have everything I need for my build except MSI's new 850 MAG Mortar mobo that should be released sometime this month.

 

Normally I'd agree 100%, but with the chaos that is GPU pricing (and to a lesser extent CPU) even before adding tariffs to the mix I gotta take what I can find. As is, my original plan was to buy a new laptop and replace my desktop later, but the laptop i'd been eyeing went up by $200 before even being released. Since I haven't even traveled in awhile I decided I'm better off upgrading my desktop now before things get worse, and putting off the laptop until things get better.

[TangledThorns]

52 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Normally I'd agree 100%, but with the chaos that is GPU pricing (and to a lesser extent CPU) even before adding tariffs to the mix I gotta take what I can find. As is, my original plan was to buy a new laptop and replace my desktop later, but the laptop i'd been eyeing went up by $200 before even being released. Since I haven't even traveled in awhile I decided I'm better off upgrading my desktop now before things get worse, and putting off the laptop until things get better.

 

Oh I don't disagree with pre-builts. You do you and find what suits you, lol.  Funny enough I was looking at a gaming laptop too but decided for a gaming PC as I would only bring my work laptop for business trips which I rarely do and my mobile phone for family trips as its supposed to be family time and not for gaming. 

 

For those still looking its crazy out there but still recommend using Trackalacker or other inventory tracking site to find a GPU that is in stock. Trackalacker was how I found my RTX 5080.

I advise people to exercise patience and hope things get sorted soon or you may end up overpaying by a lot or getting scammed.

Remember, its NEEDS vs WANTS. Do you really need that overpriced GPU? Take a breath, don't let FOMO get to you ✌️

 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

Remember, its NEEDS vs WANTS. Do you really need that overpriced GPU? Take a breath, don't let FOMO get to you ✌️

I mean, yeah, kinda?  Certainly not in the food/clothing/shelter sense, but my PC just isn't performing at the level I want anymore.  The Core i7-9700K is just too old; urban areas in games like any Assassin's Creed or Baldur's Gate III (when you actually get to the city) grind to a crawl as it tries to manage all the NPCs.  And while adding more RAM and upgrading from an RTX 2080 to an RTX 4070 helped keep things going for awhile, with mandatory ray tracing becoming a thing I'm turning down so many settings I might as well be playing on a console.

What it really comes down to is priorities.  Like I said, I wanted to upgrade my laptop, too, but I'm putting that off for the present to grab a desktop with an RTX 5080 instead of an RTX 5070 or 5070 TI.  I was also thinking about getting the Switch 2 at launch, but after the Nintendo Direct I'm going to hold off on that, too.

[davidwhangchoi]

14 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

That'd narrow the gap between the MSI at Costco and the Asus at Best Buy to $80, so yeah, Asus it is.

Hi Mike, Costco membership is $65 with a 20 dollar gift card that can be applied to your order if you get the membership through groupon.  if you decide the MSI is worth it to save you about $80. But since you have alot of gift cards that might be the better option depending on what you want. 

 

                 

[azrael]

12 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Hi Mike, Costco membership is $65 with a 20 dollar gift card that can be applied to your order if you get the membership through groupon. 

'Already mentioned he doesn't have a Costco near him. 'Doesn't make sense to buy a membership you will never be able to take advantage of. Trust me, there's more to Costco than a lone computer. Much much more.

11 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

What it really comes down to is priorities.  Like I said, I wanted to upgrade my laptop, too, but I'm putting that off for the present to grab a desktop with an RTX 5080 instead of an RTX 5070 or 5070 TI.  I was also thinking about getting the Switch 2 at launch, but after the Nintendo Direct I'm going to hold off on that, too.

I'm gonna agree with this. Seeing that Nintendo is delaying preorders on Switch 2s and now Razer is delaying/halting US laptop sales, I'd probably reconsider any laptop purchases unless I know it's actually coming at the price they announced. Unfortunately, current desktop hardware supplies are dwindling and any incoming new stock coming in will likely see price increases. I've been keeping an eye on some things in the pipeline and they all saw a price increase in the past week. 

[davidwhangchoi]

2 minutes ago, azrael said:

'Already mentioned he doesn't have a Costco near him. 'Doesn't make sense to buy a membership you will never be able to take advantage of. Trust me, there's more to Costco than a lone computer. Much much more.

It does make sense if this is the desktop of choice and a means to save 80 bucks. Costco has a great 2 year warranty, probably the best warranty out there in addition.

If course if he had a Costco near him, he can take advantage of the $5 chicken i get. It's just a better option than to pay the 5% of 2400 as a non member so i suggested it even if there's none near him.

Like I said, it's just another option but I think his Best Buy situation may be better. 

 

I've brought memberships i never used for something i wanted if it ended up making the bottom line cheaper for a product i want.