Tech Gaming Hardware discussion (& Hardware Sales) thread

[Slobodan]

View attachment 996579


And a great throwback to the roast of Linus a few years ago:

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[JaviBrewski]

i know @Madmick and @jefferz wont steer me wrong with the question im gonna ask.

looking to upgrade my rig. as of right now the only thing i THINK needs upgrading is my gpu. but would love to have you guys give me a heads up or steer me in the right direction.

CPU: Ryzen 7 1700x
GPU: RX 580 8GB
RAM: Vengeance LPX 2x8 16GB 3200MHz DDR4
MOBO: Rog Strix B350F Gaming

ive been thinking of going with either a 6600xt or 3060ti. im an amd guy so for whatever reason and blind brand loyalty im leaning more towards the 6600xt tho everything ive read screams go for the 3060ti

 

[JBSchroeds]

i know @Madmick and @jefferz wont steer me wrong with the question im gonna ask.

looking to upgrade my rig. as of right now the only thing i THINK needs upgrading is my gpu. but would love to have you guys give me a heads up or steer me in the right direction.

CPU: Ryzen 7 1700x
GPU: RX 580 8GB
RAM: Vengeance LPX 2x8 16GB 3200MHz DDR4
MOBO: Rog Strix B350F Gaming

ive been thinking of going with either a 6600xt or 3060ti. im an amd guy so for whatever reason and blind brand loyalty im leaning more towards the 6600xt tho everything ive read screams go for the 3060ti

I had a 1600 and went to a 5600 and the improvement in CPU intensive tasks was REALLY noticeable. I'm not knowledgeable enough to say what to pair with what, but my gut says even current mid-range cards are going to outstrip your first-gen ryzen. It looks like a BIOS update will get you support for ryzen 5000 chips [LINK], so you might want to look into that. A brand new 5600x is around $165 and would be a notable step up.

 

[JaviBrewski]

I had a 1600 and went to a 5600 and the improvement in CPU intensive tasks was REALLY noticeable. I'm not knowledgeable enough to say what to pair with what, but my gut says even current mid-range cards are going to outstrip your first-gen ryzen. It looks like a BIOS update will get you support for ryzen 5000 chips [LINK], so you might want to look into that. A brand new 5600x is around $165 and would be a notable step up.

Thanks. Just updated the bios on my mobo. Looks like the 5600x is going for 149 on amazon from amd. 49% discount i cant beat that.

 

[jefferz]

Thanks. Just updated the bios on my mobo. Looks like the 5600x is going for 149 on amazon from amd. 49% discount i cant beat that.

The 5600 is $131. The fps is minimal, you're talking 3-5 fps. Personally, I'd get the 5600 and put that $18 savings towards an aftermarket tower cooler like this. That's unless you already have an aftermarket cooler. I believe the 1600 came with the Wraith Stealth cooler, and the 5600 has the same cooler. The Wraith Stealth is good enough for the 5600, but I'd like it to run just a little bit cooler.

What resolution are you looking to play and what games? If you want to play 1440p or 4k on new titles, step up to the 6700xt, which is the same price as the 3060ti.
Either choice is good, they go back and forth in charts. If I was going to buy one at that $330 mark, I'd go with the 3060ti. It has a better feature set.
AMD cards tend to go on sale more often. If you found a 6700xt for sub $300, I'd go with the AMD.

 

[JaviBrewski]

The 5600 is $131. The fps is minimal, you're talking 3-5 fps. Personally, I'd get the 5600 and put that $18 savings towards an aftermarket tower cooler like this. That's unless you already have an aftermarket cooler. I believe the 1600 came with the Wraith Stealth cooler, and the 5600 has the same cooler. The Wraith Stealth is good enough for the 5600, but I'd like it to run just a little bit cooler.

What resolution are you looking to play and what games? If you want to play 1440p or 4k on new titles, step up to the 6700xt, which is the same price as the 3060ti.
Either choice is good, they go back and forth in charts. If I was going to buy one at that $330 mark, I'd go with the 3060ti. It has a better feature set.
AMD cards tend to go on sale more often. If you found a 6700xt for sub $300, I'd go with the AMD.

The 1700x didnt come with a tower cooler. I had fo get the Hyper Evo 212. So i already have a cooler.

So the consensus is new cpu and gpu. Ill modtly be playing 1080p or 1440p. Gotta check to see what my monitor can handle tbh

 

[jefferz]

The 1700x didnt come with a tower cooler. I had fo get the Hyper Evo 212. So i already have a cooler.

So the consensus is new cpu and gpu. Ill modtly be playing 1080p or 1440p. Gotta check to see what my monitor can handle tbh

I'd upgrade the CPU first, that should give you a good performance boost. If it's still not meeting your expectations, then look at getting a new GPU.

 

[Madmick]

Finally, for the first time in ages, feels like, an extraordinarily useful tech article comes across my feed. Bravo, Tom's Hardware.
Swiss Retailer Stats Reveal Which GPU Brand Has the Highest Failure Rates

Even the best graphics cards can fail sometimes. Digitec Galaxus AG (via TechEpiphany), one of the largest Swiss online IT providers, openly shares its statistics on which graphics card vendor has the highest failure rates and the time it takes to process a warranty claim.

It's important to remember that the collected data is limited to Digitec Galaxus AG's sales. Therefore, the data does not portray the number of cases globally. For obvious reasons, Digitec Galaxus AG doesn't fully divulge the total amount of units sold. Sadly, that also means we don't have the whole panorama for the charts. For example, a lower value of failure rates doesn't necessarily mean the brand is better than the competition if it only represents a small portion of the global sales. According to Digitec Galaxus AG, the compiled information corresponds to brands that have sold at least 300 units over the last two years. The company also didn't specify whether the data is based solely on gaming graphics cards or also included professional graphics cards.

Gigabyte needs to get its shit together. 1 out of 53 units failing with an average 17-day claim processing window is unacceptable. And a whopping 1 out of 40 units failing for Sapphire, long esteemed as one of the best aftermarket manufacturers of AMD cards, doesn't reflect well on their brand, either. Meanwhile, Gainward deserves some serious love. Perhaps one of the most overlooked brands according to this data.

 

[Madmick]

The 1700x didnt come with a tower cooler. I had fo get the Hyper Evo 212. So i already have a cooler.

So the consensus is new cpu and gpu. Ill modtly be playing 1080p or 1440p. Gotta check to see what my monitor can handle tbh

As I recall you're a discerningly thrifty gamer, so I think the forum is steering you well towards a 5600/5600X without having to overhaul the entire core build (motherboard, RAM, etc.).

Per GPUs, the RX 7800 XT just dropped this week with an MSRP of $499. You might consider waiting on that if you don't think it too pricey. Units should be available shortly. Do not consider the RX 7700 XT, it's a terrible value drop for only $50 less. Otherwise, the aforementioned RTX 3060 Ti or RX 6700 XT cards that were recommended to you are the way to go if you step down ~$175. The RTX 3060 or RX 7600 if you step down ~$75 below that.

 

[JBSchroeds]

Finally, for the first time in ages, feels like, an extraordinarily useful tech article comes across my feed. Bravo, Tom's Hardware.
Swiss Retailer Stats Reveal Which GPU Brand Has the Highest Failure Rates

Gigabyte needs to get its shit together. 1 out of 53 units failing with an average 17-day claim processing window is unacceptable. And a whopping 1 out of 40 units failing for Sapphire, long esteemed as one of the best aftermarket manufacturers of AMD cards, doesn't reflect well on their brand, either. Meanwhile, Gainward deserves some serious love. Perhaps one of the most overlooked brands according to this data.

I've never heard of Palit or Gainward, a quick search suggests they are primarily in the euro market. I'm disappointed to see those failure rates on Sapphire, I've bought a couple cards from them and never had trouble but it sounds like I might have gotten lucky. MSI being middle of the pack surprises me, after my last monitor died in less than two years I'll never purchase one of their products again.

 

[My Spot]

That's disappointing, I've always been told that Sapphire is/was to Radeon what EVGA was to Geforce.

 

[Madmick]

I've never heard of Palit or Gainward, a quick search suggests they are primarily in the euro market. I'm disappointed to see those failure rates on Sapphire, I've bought a couple cards from them and never had trouble but it sounds like I might have gotten lucky. MSI being middle of the pack surprises me, after my last monitor died in less than two years I'll never purchase one of their products again.

MSI's stock has never been higher in the motherboard department since GN ran that hit piece on Asus's irresponsibility regarding automated clocks on the latest CPUs. Their AMD-socketed Tomahawks were hands down the best value for years across all motherboards, but the word got out, and now they're possibly even a bit overpriced due to demand.

I try not to judge a brand too harshly based on a single failure. As you can see, there's a lottery. It could be any of them. Consider there's a guy out there somewhere who bought his first Gainward GPU ever, and it shit the bed on him one month outside its warranty. To my knowledge MSI monitors don't suffer a peculiarly high failure or dead pixel rate.

 

[JBSchroeds]

MSI's stock has never been higher in the motherboard department since GN ran that hit piece on Asus's irresponsibility regarding automated clocks on the latest CPUs. Their AMD-socketed Tomahawks were hands down the best value for years across all motherboards, but the word got out, and now they're possibly even a bit overpriced due to demand.

I try not to judge a brand too harshly based on a single failure. As you can see, there's a lottery. It could be any of them. Consider there's a guy out there somewhere who bought his first Gainward GPU ever, and it shit the bed on him one month outside its warranty. To my knowledge MSI monitors don't suffer a peculiarly high failure or dead pixel rate.

I also had a pair of HD6950s from MSI and both of them had fan failures after a couple years. Like you say, luck of the draw, but they are zero-for-three for me and I won't trust them on a fourth.

EDIT: Oh shit, I just remembered! That motherboard that died on me last year was ALSO an MSI product. Motherfuckers are 0-for-4 with two outright failures of critical components.

 

[Madmick]

I also had a pair of HD6950s from MSI and both of them had fan failures after a couple years. Like you say, luck of the draw, but they are zero-for-three for me and I won't trust them on a fourth.

Fair.

 

[avenue94]

Finally, for the first time in ages, feels like, an extraordinarily useful tech article comes across my feed. Bravo, Tom's Hardware.

I'm curious on the sample sizes cuz euro retailers don't usually move huge amounts of stock compared to what a US retailer does. Still better than nothing.

 

[Slobodan]

Finally, for the first time in ages, feels like, an extraordinarily useful tech article comes across my feed. Bravo, Tom's Hardware.
Swiss Retailer Stats Reveal Which GPU Brand Has the Highest Failure Rates

Gigabyte needs to get its shit together. 1 out of 53 units failing with an average 17-day claim processing window is unacceptable. And a whopping 1 out of 40 units failing for Sapphire, long esteemed as one of the best aftermarket manufacturers of AMD cards, doesn't reflect well on their brand, either. Meanwhile, Gainward deserves some serious love. Perhaps one of the most overlooked brands according to this data.

I'd always see people put Sapphire on the top for AMD's 3 exclusive brands (Sapphire, XFX and PowerColor) so this is a bit surprising. A bit surprised to see PowerColor on the top for AMD, and the 6 day turnaround for the warranty process is pretty good. I'm glad I went with them.

I had get my Gigabyte AB350 Gaming 3 motherboard repaired under warranty back in 2017. PC wouldn't boot, took it to the retailer I bough it from, they sent it to the Gigabyte and it was repaired but they never told me what the problem was, what part of the motherboard was repaired.

 

[jefferz]

MSI's stock has never been higher in the motherboard department since GN ran that hit piece on Asus's irresponsibility regarding automated clocks on the latest CPUs. Their AMD-socketed Tomahawks were hands down the best value for years across all motherboards, but the word got out, and now they're possibly even a bit overpriced due to demand.

I try not to judge a brand too harshly based on a single failure. As you can see, there's a lottery. It could be any of them. Consider there's a guy out there somewhere who bought his first Gainward GPU ever, and it shit the bed on him one month outside its warranty. To my knowledge MSI monitors don't suffer a peculiarly high failure or dead pixel rate.

I don't have anything against MSI's products, it's their customer service. During the last GPU shortage, I had a RX470 fail.
I followed the RMA process, then after they had the card, they offered a cash price for it. It was something like $50-75, not enough to buy a replacement card during the crypto shortage. I had to refuse the cash offer a couple of times, and demand a repaired card.
If they had just offered the cash once, and then offered to fix it, that wouldn't have been so bad. But I had to refuse their cash offer multiple times. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

Finally, for the first time in ages, feels like, an extraordinarily useful tech article comes across my feed. Bravo, Tom's Hardware.
Swiss Retailer Stats Reveal Which GPU Brand Has the Highest Failure Rates

Gigabyte needs to get its shit together. 1 out of 53 units failing with an average 17-day claim processing window is unacceptable. And a whopping 1 out of 40 units failing for Sapphire, long esteemed as one of the best aftermarket manufacturers of AMD cards, doesn't reflect well on their brand, either. Meanwhile, Gainward deserves some serious love. Perhaps one of the most overlooked brands according to this data.

Hmmm, when I bought my PC the builder gave me a PNY video card. I feel a bit surprised that it's one of the more reliable ones, that's a nice pleasant surprise.

 

[My Spot]

I wish Diamond and Quantum 3D still made video cards.

 

[jefferz]

Hmmm, when I bought my PC the builder gave me a PNY video card. I feel a bit surprised that it's one of the more reliable ones, that's a nice pleasant surprise.

Here's another shocker, PNY is an American company. PNY used to make a lot of OEM stuff for Dell and HP, no clue if they still do.