Have to rebuild my computer.

[Rockin Robbins]

Rebuilding my computer.

My Gigabyte motherboard took a dump. So, since I build my own computers I never have to buy a new one again!

Out will go the Gigabyte GA-970UD3, Athlon X3 455 and 16 GB of ddr3 memory.

Looks like in will go an MSI B350 Gaming Pro Carbon, Ryzen 3 1200 processor and 16 GB of DDR4 memory--$378.97 from Newegg. I'll be checking Amazon prices before the order if final. Later I'll be replacing my EVGA GTS 250 with a GTX 1050ti graphics card and I should be good to go.

I believe in getting yesterday's killer components at a sizable discount rather that paying three times more to be an unpaid beta tester for the trendiest products. I picked all the components for Linux compatibility and it looks great.

Wish me luck. Surprises lurk when you build new stuff...... Not all the surprises are necessarily good.

[propbeanie]

... like things fitting inside the existing case... - happened to me once with a build, when the hard drive cage was too close to the cooler for the chipset, and the RAM slots sat behind the power supply. Talk about "tweaking" things... I was close to taking a hammer to it... - my previous motherboard had been 1 1/4" shorter, and was an "odd" size, compared to most others.

Good luck with the build RR. I love doing that. Do you have plans for your old video card? cpu? ram? I might be tempted to take them off of your hands for a small fee... me paying you, of course... - unless you think it might have been a power surge that took out your mother board??

[BarracudaUAK]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

...

I believe in getting yesterday's killer components at a sizable discount rather that paying three times more to be an unpaid beta tester for the trendiest products. I picked all the components for Linux compatibility and it looks great.

Wish me luck. Surprises lurk when you build new stuff...... Not all the surprises are necessarily good.

Even though I looked at the new stuff, I'm waiting on it to get passed the "testing" phase...

I usually buy things that are 2nd on the list, i.e. a HD2600XT instead of a HD2900XT. or a HD4850, instead of a HD4870...

Most recently I went with a R7 370X instead of a R9, but this was primarily due to budget. Later I upgraded to a R9 380 (R9 285, Tonga) as the cards had been out for a few years at that point. And it allowed me to use the "old" driver until the "new" drivers were functional.


The fastest cards at the time were $400-600, I usually ended up spending about $150-200 for the cards (although, I go the 2600 on sale for $50... ).


Processors I usually bought the same way... I got a 5600x2 when I was planning on a 6000x2 (budget concerns, 2.8ghz and 3.0ghz respectively), the fastest at the time was 3.2ghz, I think...


Other than that I go "bottom of the barrel". Such as a Sound Blaster 16, been around forever, and reliable too. Everything worked on it... So it was worth the, usually, $20.
(I had other Sound Blaster cards, never a 16, but based on the SB16... the 16 was the best example I could think of at the moment.)

Although this is getting more difficult recently...

Motherboards are now either:
"Base" models with nothing really good for a game machine.
'Mid-range' variations with none of the frills, but none of the really good parts either.
Or they are the "high-end" boards with the "good stuff", but also all of the junk that I don't need or -more importantly- don't want, such as WIFI.

So you end up with 4 (or more) versions of the same board, one each from Gigabyte, ASUS, Asrock, MSI, etc.

Threadrippers were available before the "initial" batch (based on info I've read various places) of Ryzen 7 were gone. So I'm considering a Ryzen 7 now, but I'm also watching the Threadripper closely as well... a price drop usually (but not always) signifies a new run of cards/boards/chips.

So I'm watching, and waiting.


Good to know that you found what you were looking for RR.


Barracuda

[Rockin Robbins]

@propbeanie: I'll test out the video card when I get my new components. I'll not be getting the GTX 1050 ti card right away unless the GTS 250 is toast. I don't think it's been affected.

I have 16 GB of DDR3 RAM in the computer and about 12 GB not in the computer. I'll test that too to see what's good.

I don't have another AM3 motherboard to verify the CPU.

I looked up my purchase and my GA 970-UD3 motherboard, CPU and memory were purchased in 2012. They've had a good run. After five years I was still happy with performance.

@BarracudaUAK: Watch out with the Threadrippers. They are really designed for extreme multithread video editing and similar use. For games Threadrippers aren't as great. They're respectable, just not as good as you might believe looking at all those cores. Game mode turns off half of the cores just for starters.

If your primary reason for the computer is gaming, stepping down a notch or two from Threadripper could cut your cost in half without any cost at all in gaming performance. And that's always a good thing!

[BarracudaUAK]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

...

@BarracudaUAK: Watch out with the Threadrippers. They are really designed for extreme multithread video editing and similar use. For games Threadrippers aren't as great. They're respectable, just not as good as you might believe looking at all those cores. Game mode turns off half of the cores just for starters.

If your primary reason for the computer is gaming, stepping down a notch or two from Threadripper could cut your cost in half without any cost at all in gaming performance. And that's always a good thing!

I know, I've been keeping a close eye on several benchmark/reviews (in particular Linux based) for a while...

However, your comment is the same comment I heard before dual-core CPUs were the norm.
I mentioned, years ago, about wanting to get a Dual CPU motherboard, and the statement at the time was "games won't use the 2nd CPU because they aren't coded for it".
However: setting program affinity (on an old Dual-CPU or a dual-core CPU) to use CPU-0 for the game, and CPU-1 for everything else, you will end up with a net GAIN in the end.
I used to do this before the AMD patches that allowed games such as BF1942 to run with out the need to manually set program affinity...

I went to a local computer store when I built an AM3 Athlon II 2.8ghz for a family member, and told them I wanted a 4GB stick of DDR3... 1666hmz.

Store: "You don't need 4GB for games...."


They built a new FX-8350 before that AM3 got any upgrades...

Now a dual-core with 4GB won't run most games. Even if the game is OK with 4GB, the processor isn't enough...

So while current games may not make use of it, future games quite possibly will.
Also, the fact that I usually have multiple programs running at the same time will more than make up for it, with the Linux scheduler (wrong name, the program that evens the load on the CPU's Cores).

If I'm modding SH3/4, I usually have S3d open in a prefix, graphics/paint program running, 3d modeling program running, JSGME running to install the mod, then I have SH3/4 running to test changes.

If I'm modding Fallout 3/NV, then add Steam and the Fallout Mod Manager to that, in additional Wine Prefixes...

All the while, never affecting the speed of the game, and I don't have to close and re-open a program... So if I decide I don't like a change that I've made in an editor, it's as simple as "Ctrl-Z" to undo the change. Save>Import to game files>Refresh mod>start game (or maybe just reload the save file).

I appreciate the attempt to help me save a several hundred $$$, but I've been here before! (last "over-built" PC lasted me about 9 years.)


On the other side, some friends and I used to have a little "competition" to see, using Newegg or similar sites, who could build the least expensive PC to play a certain game.

Need for Speed Most Wanted (2005), Crysis, etc. The game that was the "benchmark" changed as time went on. Now it might be something like Overwatch... Kinda like build a running 4x4 or hot-rod for as little as possible. But it must do "X".

We put this constant "arm-chair building" to use on a few occasions when some elderly friends needed a PC on a fixed income. We spec'd the PC based on their needs, then built it within budget.

Also would build "money is no object" systems... On Newegg built a Dual-socket system, SCSI drives, RAID, High-end AGP Video card (Radeon 9000 series or earlier), etc....

Total: $30,000.

Later we doubled the specs for $10,000... after that the prices just kept falling.
No matter what we did, we couldn't get the prices up that high, things were just too cheap!
Which was great for our budgets.

Hmm, I think I know what I'll be doing later, Build the Cheapest PC possible.
Then challenge that group of friends again...

Again, good info, and always good for those that don't know.
I'm still not dropping $1,000 on a CPU...

Barracuda

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by BarracudaUAK

Again, good info, and always good for those that don't know.
I'm still not dropping $1,000 on a CPU...

Barracuda

The crazy thing is that compared to Intel, the $1000 CPU is an absolute bargain. You can't have all those cores hanging out there without somebody finding a way to use them........Hehehehehehehehe! No. Can't make myself spend $1000 for a CPU.

[CaptainCruise]

Originally Posted by BarracudaUAK

I went to a local computer store when I built an AM3 Athlon II 2.8ghz for a family member, and told them I wanted a 4GB stick of DDR3... 1666hmz.

Store: "You don't need 4GB for games...."

Barracuda

Amazing what these computer "experts" know. Maybe at the time you could get away with less RAM, but one thing you should never cut corners on when building a new rig is memory. Get as much as you can because it will eventually be needed and it will always help a game or application run better and more stable. And even more important....buy QUALITY RAM! Don't buy the half price marked down no name stuff because it never performs as well as the brand name stuff like Corsair, Kingston, G-Skill, etc. A lot of them have to dial back the timings just to keep the RAM running close to stable and not crashing your rig. Or they have to turn up the voltage powering the RAM to help it run stable with tighter RAM timings and the stuff ends up running HOT and cuts its life in half. Personally I usually buy Corsair most of the time. Great compatibility, stability and performance for the price.
I know trying to spend your money wisely and not buy the latest "bleeding edge" component is hard sometimes, but you have to balance that with buying quality and performance, not just low price. Remember....you always get what you pay for!! I had a blast building my own rigs and its a rush when you power that bad boy up for the first time!!



G'luck and have fun.
"CC"

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by CaptainCruise

Remember....you always get what you pay for!! I had a blast building my own rigs and its a rush when you power that bad boy up for the first time!!



G'luck and have fun.
"CC"

Well, I won't go along with "you always get what you pay for." I'll say you seldom get a lot more than you pay for and often get a lot less than you paid for. Finding great value is not always easy. But that 's why we build.

And there is no shot of endorphins like popping in the back panel bezel into a computer case, screwing down the motherboard, plugging in new RAM and all your peripheral cards, connecting the disk drives, keyboard, speakers, mouse, other various gizmos and firing up your new desktop computer for the first time.

Buy laptops and buy one every other year. Build a desktop and never buy a new computer again! Plus you have complete control of all components. It's a totally addictive process.