Tech Gaming Hardware discussion (& Hardware Sales) thread

Jack Reacheround said:
Yep, I meant the i3. I was thinking that I’m seeing computers with i5s these days that are having enough trouble just running Windows 10. But yeah, I guess it makes sense that there are ranges of processors for each generation.

Shit, I might have to buy that.
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$599 for a desktop with a GTX 1660 Super is the lowest price at a major US retailer ever if your curious, so it's a good deal. That particular SKU at Best Buy is effectively a back-to-school thing, retailers always bring a few of those out every summer and then pull them in the Fall. HP is trying to get rid of its older GPU inventory, so this is likely the last year you'll see 1660 placements like this at Best Buy. They're also really struggling with SKU bloat right now.

If you missed that discount, I wouldn't worry too much, it's as close to a buyer's market as we've seen since 2020. There is still a lot of RTX 2060 and RTX 3050/60 stock floating around, and the discounts having been moving enough units to clear space for 40 series models. So you'll likely see deeper discounts pretty much the rest of the year.
 
avenue94 said:
$599 for a desktop with a GTX 1660 Super is the lowest price at a major US retailer ever if your curious, so it's a good deal. That particular SKU at Best Buy is effectively a back-to-school thing, retailers always bring a few of those out every summer and then pull them in the Fall. HP is trying to get rid of its older GPU inventory, so this is likely the last year you'll see 1660 placements like this at Best Buy. They're also really struggling with SKU bloat right now.

If you missed that discount, I wouldn't worry too much, it's as close to a buyer's market as we've seen since 2020. There is still a lot of RTX 2060 and RTX 3050/60 stock floating around, and the discounts having been moving enough units to clear space for 40 series models. So you'll likely see deeper discounts pretty much the rest of the year.
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Yea, I have to be honest. I’m not going to be able to junk on any deals anytime soon. My next purchase is a massage chair. After that, gaming PC.
 
Really cool designed M.2 SSD:
20-248-233-02.png



Sadly its grossly overpriced.
 
Someone is selling an EVGA Z690 Classified mobo on Craigslist here for only $185.

<{fry}>

A damn shame that the only mobos EVGA makes are stupidly expensive.
 
My Spot said:
"Trust me, bro" won't work this time. My i5 8400 (which was released in 2017) doesn't have trouble running Windows 10.
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I’m not saying every single build with an i5 will have that problem. And it may be that I overestimated the impact the processor is having. It may be there’s a bottleneck in motherboard of these specific models. Idk.
 
jefferz said:
What sort of dope are you smoking?
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Now that I think about it, the answer has been right there the whole time. It’s the motherboard. I wasn’t really thinking much and I just saw this same two models of computers that were struggling to even run Windows 10. And they both had i5s, while the computers that were not struggling had i7s.
I forgot about the other models with i5s that were running just fine. And the fact that the models that were struggling to run the OS have had numerous problems with their motherboards. It was right in front of me this entire time.
 
Question for you experts - when I google this question I get completely different answers, so would like your two cents. Is it worth upgrading your motherboard BIOS? It seems like some think if nothing is broken, don't bother. Apparently you can screw up your system totally if you do it wrong - and bricking a high end PC seems like a very expensive mistake.

Others seem to recommend to always have it up to date. My MOBO seems to have had 2 or 3 version updates since I bought it.

Also, is it possible that a motherboard will be able to support bigger and faster types of RAM because of BIOS updates? Right now my mobo will only support two sticks at 6000 MHz. I wonder if that might change over time and I could do 4 sticks at 60000 MHz. And is the BIOS flashback button something that will allow you to automatically restore your system to the BIOS version that was there when your PC was purchased?

Appreciate any thoughts you might have.
 
Unknown Pleasures said:
Question for you experts - when I google this question I get completely different answers, so would like your two cents. Is it worth upgrading your motherboard BIOS? It seems like some think if nothing is broken, don't bother. Apparently you can screw up your system totally if you do it wrong - and bricking a high end PC seems like a very expensive mistake.

Others seem to recommend to always have it up to date. My MOBO seems to have had 2 or 3 version updates since I bought it.

Also, is it possible that a motherboard will be able to support bigger and faster types of RAM because of BIOS updates? Right now my mobo will only support two sticks at 6000 MHz. I wonder if that might change over time and I could do 4 sticks at 60000 MHz. And is the BIOS flashback button something that will allow you to automatically restore your system to the BIOS version that was there when your PC was purchased?

Appreciate any thoughts you might have.
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If there isn't a specific feature with a high priority in a BIOS update then there is little reason to get it. The possibility of a brick is extremely remote, but since it is a possibility (imagine experiencing a temporary blackout in the middle of a BIOS update), if you don't have a specific reason for wanting the update, there's not really a reason to risk it.

The likelihood your motherboard added support for faster RAM with a BIOS update is unlikely, but the way to tell is to look up its manufacturer page, and usually somewhere in "Support" there are detailed notes for each BIOS version, and what the update added. Motherboards tend to support RAM speeds way, way, way above what is currently on the market when they release.

The BIOS Flashback button allows you to install a different BIOS version directly from the motherboard itself. You don't even need RAM or a CPU installed. This could be the original BIOS, yes, or it could actually be a newer version, too. This was of particular concern to Ryzen users when the 2nd & 3rd gens launched, and remains so in some cases. The reason was you could use the newers CPUs on older motherboards that came out with the first gen of Ryzen, but those motherboards' original BIOS versions didn't offer support for the later 2nd/3rd gen CPUs because those later CPUs weren't even yet out when the motherboards first shipped. Some of those motherboards still on the shelves had the original BIOS versions. So a caveat for builders was they might buy a motherboard that couldn't boot with with a 2nd/3rd gen Ryzen processor. You'd need a 1st Gen Ryzen CPU in order to boot the system, then you could update the BIOS, and swap in a newer 2nd/3rd Gen CPU. Obviously, people didn't want to buy a 1st Gen CPU just to update the BIOS. But...if the motherboard had a BIOS flashback button, you could get around this. In that case, you'd use the flashback button to install a newer BIOS that supported 2nd/3rd gen CPUs, and voila. You were good to go.
 
Pretty interesting video



Madmick said:
If there isn't a specific feature with a high priority in a BIOS update then there is little reason to get it. The possibility of a brick is extremely remote, but since it is a possibility (imagine experiencing a temporary blackout in the middle of a BIOS update), if you don't have a specific reason for wanting the update, there's not really a reason to risk it.

The likelihood your motherboard added support for faster RAM with a BIOS update is unlikely, but the way to tell is to look up its manufacturer page, and usually somewhere in "Support" there are detailed notes for each BIOS version, and what the update added. Motherboards tend to support RAM speeds way, way, way above what is currently on the market when they release.

The BIOS Flashback button allows you to install a different BIOS version directly from the motherboard itself. You don't even need RAM or a CPU installed. This could be the original BIOS, yes, or it could actually be a newer version, too. This was of particular concern to Ryzen users when the 2nd & 3rd gens launched, and remains so in some cases. The reason was you could use the newers CPUs on older motherboards that came out with the first gen of Ryzen, but those motherboards' original BIOS versions didn't offer support for the later 2nd/3rd gen CPUs because those later CPUs weren't even yet out when the motherboards first shipped. Some of those motherboards still on the shelves had the original BIOS versions. So a caveat for builders was they might buy a motherboard that couldn't boot with with a 2nd/3rd gen Ryzen processor. You'd need a 1st Gen Ryzen CPU in order to boot the system, then you could update the BIOS, and swap in a newer 2nd/3rd Gen CPU. Obviously, people didn't want to buy a 1st Gen CPU just to update the BIOS. But...if the motherboard had a BIOS flashback button, you could get around this. In that case, you'd use the flashback button to install a newer BIOS that supported 2nd/3rd gen CPUs, and voila. You were good to go.
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Interestingly I believe when Ryzen 2000 (or maybe when 3000 came out) one way to get around this was to contact AMD and they would send people some shitty Athalon to they could update the BIOS and then send it back to them. I think this was for B350 or X370 boards.
 
Slobodan said:
Interestingly I believe when Ryzen 2000 (or maybe when 3000 came out) one way to get around this was to contact AMD and they would send people some shitty Athalon to they could update the BIOS and then send it back to them. I think this was for B350 or X370 boards.
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Yeah, that was an awesome policy. I wouldn't want to deal with the wait, but it was a cool workaround.
 
Jack Reacheround said:
Now that I think about it, the answer has been right there the whole time. It’s the motherboard. I wasn’t really thinking much and I just saw this same two models of computers that were struggling to even run Windows 10. And they both had i5s, while the computers that were not struggling had i7s.
I forgot about the other models with i5s that were running just fine. And the fact that the models that were struggling to run the OS have had numerous problems with their motherboards. It was right in front of me this entire time.
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So here’s where I always warn people away from prebuilts like the omen. The can be a good value on the surface but they’re usually cutting costs somewhere. They’ll do stuff like pack in shitty motherboards, shitty power supplies, poorly constructed cases, cheap fans, etc. pretty much any part that isn’t listed on the box is likely to be something poor in quality.

Sometimes it’s fine. You don’t need a $400 mobo after all. But I’ve seen enough off the shelf tear downs now that I wouldn’t feel comfortable recommending a prebuilt gaming computer.

If you are going to go that route though briefly glancing at the ones listed, get at least a 3060ti. The 1660 is not going to be an improvement over consoles.
 
@Jack Reacheround
Prebuilts are absolutely acceptable to buy, with high quality parts, if you select the appropriate product. To say otherwise is ignorant. It's not 2015, anymore.
 
Madmick said:
@Jack Reacheround
Prebuilts are absolutely acceptable to buy, with high quality parts, if you select the appropriate product. To say otherwise is ignorant. It's not 2015, anymore.
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So it would seem. I haven’t looked into it for years, but I just remember that you used to basically have to build it yourself. Which is always why I went with consoles. But I’m just tired of games underperforming on console.
 
Blayt7hh said:
So here’s where I always warn people away from prebuilts like the omen. The can be a good value on the surface but they’re usually cutting costs somewhere.
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Yeah, what I was referring to were basically pre-builds, not for gaming, but for work. I don’t want to divulge too much. But I will tell you this: If you knew the 3 year failure rate of the pre-builds a certain major computer manufacturer were offering for business use, you would say, “That is ridiculous. It can’t be that high.” Or you might say, “That isn’t even legal.”

You would be correct on the second part. But someone has to be willing to put together and file a class action against them. And nobody is willing to do it for reasons I can’t get into.
 
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