The PC Build Thread

[horticulturist]

So not a build per se, but need some help.
My dad just retired and needs to buy himself a laptop.

He was going to buy the cheapest Celeron which I've convinced him is a bad idea.
I've been out of the buying market for some time now, don't know what's good.

Don't have a budget, but I would imagine cheaper the better, is there anything better than this:

Takealot

www.takealot.com

I figure 8gb ram and SSD will future proof vs the other models with 5400rpm and 4gb ram.

This will be for light office work, excel/web browsing etc but I wouldn't wish the 5400rpm bottleneck on anyone.

Definitely the way to go if buying an entry level today. SSD + 8GB and Radeon graphics makes this a nice little powerhouse for the price range though, I would definitely not consider the HP 255 range of laptops. Absolutely terrible build quality and I can practically guarantee that the hinges are going to break in few years apart from other little cracks and breaks in the outer casing.

Have a look at the following Asus. Very similar specs but with a much sturdier frame and build quality.

Takealot

www.takealot.com

 

[i.got~issues]

So not a build per se, but need some help.
My dad just retired and needs to buy himself a laptop.

He was going to buy the cheapest Celeron which I've convinced him is a bad idea.
I've been out of the buying market for some time now, don't know what's good.

Don't have a budget, but I would imagine cheaper the better, is there anything better than this:

Takealot

www.takealot.com

I figure 8gb ram and SSD will future proof vs the other models with 5400rpm and 4gb ram.

This will be for light office work, excel/web browsing etc but I wouldn't wish the 5400rpm bottleneck on anyone.

Here... perhaps this?

Search results for: 'asus x515 i3 1115g4 8gb ram 256gb ssd storage laptop blue' - Incredible Connection

Incredible Connection is a brand of JD Consumer Electronics and Appliances. We have the widest range of leading national and international brands and work hard at supplying products that, while pushing the technology boundaries, make a practical difference in any home or business environment.

www.incredible.co.za

 

[nazmo]

So my 5950x was hitting 90 degrees, especially on basic AMD boost thing. I was stubborn on my initial build and specced air. (phantek twin tower thing).

This week I took the plunge and had them install a cooler master ml360l v2. I wasnt comfortable with running max temps on my renders constantly considering I do 3d Rendering.

Temps dropped by probably 15 degrees on load (hard to say as it stopped at 90 degrees. but on boost its now under 80 degrees. My Cinebench also went up from 26200 to 28111 as it maintained full clock speed with still 11 degrees headroom.

 

[airborne]

So my 5950x was hitting 90 degrees, especially on basic AMD boost thing. I was stubborn on my initial build and specced air. (phantek twin tower thing).

This week I took the plunge and had them install a cooler master ml360l v2. I wasnt comfortable with running max temps on my renders constantly considering I do 3d Rendering.

Temps dropped by probably 15 degrees on load (hard to say as it stopped at 90 degrees. but on boost its now under 80 degrees. My Cinebench also went up from 26200 to 28111 as it maintained full clock speed with still 11 degrees headroom.

View attachment 1239988

Which Phantek cooler were you using?

A Noctua NH-D15 would have done the trick but no one seems to have stock in Sa currently, around R2200 to import one from Amazon.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

So, for all the experts on this thread, have had my PC for a while, looking to upgrade to a WQHD monitor but the thought of running games in non-native resolution annoys me. The problem is I fear that any Graphics upgrade would be hamstrung by my old CPU.

Stats are the following...

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4 Ghz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
GIGABYTE Z77X-UD3H
16 GB Ram

Would I be wasting my time looking at a RTX-3060 with that CPU?

I would say yes.

 

[nazmo]

Which Phantek cooler were you using?

A Noctua NH-D15 would have done the trick but no one seems to have stock in Sa currently, around R2200 to import one from Amazon.

I have to check. Has two big fans. Needs a big case. R2200 is that AIO with installation lol.

 

[Gtx Gaming]

I think wootware sells scythe or something air cooler it's extremely good as well for 1000 bucks, but has no rgb

 

[_kabal_]

So my 5950x was hitting 90 degrees, especially on basic AMD boost thing. I was stubborn on my initial build and specced air. (phantek twin tower thing).

This week I took the plunge and had them install a cooler master ml360l v2. I wasnt comfortable with running max temps on my renders constantly considering I do 3d Rendering.

Temps dropped by probably 15 degrees on load (hard to say as it stopped at 90 degrees. but on boost its now under 80 degrees. My Cinebench also went up from 26200 to 28111 as it maintained full clock speed with still 11 degrees headroom.

View attachment 1239988

Big open cases are sexy

What config your running there btw? 3 intakes, 1 exhaust and rad as exhaust?

 

[nazmo]

Big open cases are sexy

What config your running there btw? 3 intakes, 1 exhaust and rad as exhaust?

3 fans pulling in through the AIO and 2 ontop extracting, one at the back extracting

 

[Kiemo]

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 G1 Gaming Graphics Card - 6GB

 

[Kiemo]

B360M Pro4 MB
HyperX fury 16GB CL15 2x8GB DDR4 2400hrz RAM
Intel i7-8700 @ 3.20ghz CPU

 

[_kabal_]

3 fans pulling in through the AIO and 2 ontop extracting, one at the back extracting

I should learn to read and look properly. No idea why I thought your rad was on top

 

[airborne]

3 fans pulling in through the AIO and 2 ontop extracting, one at the back extracting

Wouldn't it make more sense to have the rad fans blowing over the rad and put of the case, as you have it now the 3 intake fans are sucking in air that has been heated by the rad, when you should have the intakes sucking in cool air.

Seems a popular location is the rad at the top of the case with the fans below blowing out, that also has the advantage of the heat rising off the rad naturally rising out of the case.

 

[deesef]

Wouldn't it make more sense to have the rad fans blowing over the rad and put of the case, as you have it now the 3 intake fans are sucking in air that has been heated by the rad, when you should have the intakes sucking in cool air.

Seems a popular location is the rad at the top of the case with the fans below blowing out, that also has the advantage of the heat rising off the rad naturally rising out of the case.

Also has the disadvantage of liquid everywhere if something goes poof with the radiator...

 

[airborne]

Also has the disadvantage of liquid everywhere if something goes poof with the radiator...

From what I have read in the past the odds of a AIO leaking is very slim, their failure point is normally the pump giving out but I suppose it is something to consider.

 

[StrontiumDog]

Dying Light 2 has me toying with the idea of a pc upgrade.

Currently running an i7-4790 with 16GB DDR3 RAM and GTX 1080, the game is installed on an SSD and though I have a 27" 1080p gaming monitor I am currently using my 1440p gaming monitor but running the game in 1080p (I know this is silly but my living arrangements are temporary, sort of).

It won't make sense for me to change my gfx card now as its on loan to me for as long as I want it (i.e. its not mine to sell.

So I if I did a CPU and related components upgrade I'd go for an i5—12400 with 32GB DDR4 3600MHz RAM and maybe a B660 motherboard, need a new case and PSU (600W? not sure what size is needed offhand) everything else I have from my old setup or I have spares. I did a rough costing exercise, it will set me back 12 or 13k.

From a gaming perspective does this upgrade coupled with a GTX 1080 sound like a waste? I'd prefer to keep gaming in 1080p res, don't have delusions of grandeur of 1440p unless I'm getting a decent frame rate.

 

[UrBaN963]

Dying Light 2 has me toying with the idea of a pc upgrade.

Currently running an i7-4790 with 16GB DDR3 RAM and GTX 1080, the game is installed on an SSD and though I have a 27" 1080p gaming monitor I am currently using my 1440p gaming monitor but running the game in 1080p (I know this is silly but my living arrangements are temporary, sort of).

It won't make sense for me to change my gfx card now as its on loan to me for as long as I want it (i.e. its not mine to sell.

So I if I did a CPU and related components upgrade I'd go for an i5—12400 with 32GB DDR4 3600MHz RAM and maybe a B660 motherboard, need a new case and PSU (600W? not sure what size is needed offhand) everything else I have from my old setup or I have spares. I did a rough costing exercise, it will set me back 12 or 13k.

From a gaming perspective does this upgrade coupled with a GTX 1080 sound like a waste? I'd prefer to keep gaming in 1080p res, don't have delusions of grandeur of 1440p unless I'm getting a decent frame rate.

Not a waste at all.

1080p gaming is more CPU than GPU intensive, so you would see some decent gains. DDR4 is also a lot faster than DDR3, and the 12th gen Intels are the fastest for gaming. Would be a solid upgrade. I would go for a 750W PSu though. Newer GPUs are hungry, rather get something better now, if you are getting something new. That gives you headroom to play with when it comes to the GPU purchase. Also, make sure you get a case with decent airflow and a couple fans if it doesn't come with them.

 

[_kabal_]

Wouldn't it make more sense to have the rad fans blowing over the rad and put of the case, as you have it now the 3 intake fans are sucking in air that has been heated by the rad, when you should have the intakes sucking in cool air.

Seems a popular location is the rad at the top of the case with the fans below blowing out, that also has the advantage of the heat rising off the rad naturally rising out of the case.

Pretty “standard” to have your rad fans “pulling” air from outside - cold air -> rad -> hot air -> fans.

You’d need some extra long screws I guess if you wanted to go - cold air -> fans -> rad - or you would need to sandwich your chassis between fans and rad - cold air -> fans -> chassis -> rad -> hot air

But yeah. Seems tricky and you really just need to make sure you are moving enough air.
And then there is the whole exhaust vs intake for a rad - do I send GPU warmed air over my rad to cool the CPU, or do I send rad warmed air to cool my gpu.

I personally went for 2 front intakes - to feed the gpu with cold air; top mounted rad with 2 intakes - to cool my cpu with cold air; 1 rear exhaust to help get rid of the warm air that cannot escape itself (meshify C has a lot of “open” in the rear of the case)

Very happy with temps now, especially since going from 1 front intake to 2 front intakes

 

[nazmo]

All these questions haahahahaa. No doubt it makes sense to have cold air not passing through a rad. But honestly since my case effectively has 6 fans now in total instead of 3. And my cpu not getting saturater, all Temps are considerably down

 

[nazmo]

Dying Light 2 has me toying with the idea of a pc upgrade.

Currently running an i7-4790 with 16GB DDR3 RAM and GTX 1080, the game is installed on an SSD and though I have a 27" 1080p gaming monitor I am currently using my 1440p gaming monitor but running the game in 1080p (I know this is silly but my living arrangements are temporary, sort of).

It won't make sense for me to change my gfx card now as its on loan to me for as long as I want it (i.e. its not mine to sell.

So I if I did a CPU and related components upgrade I'd go for an i5—12400 with 32GB DDR4 3600MHz RAM and maybe a B660 motherboard, need a new case and PSU (600W? not sure what size is needed offhand) everything else I have from my old setup or I have spares. I did a rough costing exercise, it will set me back 12 or 13k.

From a gaming perspective does this upgrade coupled with a GTX 1080 sound like a waste? I'd prefer to keep gaming in 1080p res, don't have delusions of grandeur of 1440p unless I'm getting a decent frame rate.

I had a 3770k i7 with a 1080. I then went to an i5 9600k which was much newer. Also more cores and I definitely noticed an improvement with my 1080. And I played 1080p and then 1440p