PC Sherdog PC Build/Buy Thread, v6: My Power Supply Burned Down My House

[GtehMVP]

Hey guys, has anyone ever used their laptops with a portable power station. I

I'm thinking about getting the bluetti EB70S (716Wh), or the eb55 (537 Wh)

My laptop has poor battery life. My battery is 86 Wh capacity, but the charger pulls 240 Volts from AC (if I'm explaining that right)

I want a good power station for my incoming Steam Deck (and all kinds of devices) for the van/camping, but mainly to be able to make my laptop last longer for movies.

If I plug my laptop into the 537 Wh power station, do I divide 537 by 86 to get amount of hours I can expect from the power station for my laptop? Or do I divide 537 for the voltage (240) it pulls from AC?

This is the only area I've been having difficulty in understanding these power stations.

 

[snowbro]

There are a boatload of cards available at my local memory expresses today. Looks like it's super easy to get my hands on a gpu now. Am I missing something? I don't keep up with the times but I have a feeling there's a new 4000 series about to drop???? Anyone have any insights or opinions/predictions?

I'm on the fence at the moment. I passed on a 3060 for $360 US a few weeks back. That card (MSI Ventus 2x) is $383 now. If I go up to 3060ti its $540 for the cheapest card which is a MSI Ventus 2X also. its a significant increase in price. 470 to 700 CAD where I'm located.

I sold my last machine which had an Asus KO 3060 and 5600x and I was running 1080p 144hz in almost everything. 125 in Call of Duty Rebirth max graphics.

I kinda want 1440p but not sure if its worth the upgrade to 3060ti to get it plus the extra monitor cost when I can get the 3060 build for significantly cheaper. I also kind want 1080p 29" ultrawide but not sure if the 3060 will cut it or if it's worth the headache tweaking games to ultrawide.

I do a lot of settlement building in Fallout so ultrawide should be fun.

The cheapest 3070 I can get is also a MSI Ventus 2X for 661 USD or 860 Cad.

I think the MSI Ventus 2X is a bad card probably. Heard it has a plastic backplate....

 

[My Spot]

There are a boatload of cards available at my local memory expresses today. Looks like it's super easy to get my hands on a gpu now. Am I missing something? I don't keep up with the times but I have a feeling there's a new 4000 series about to drop???? Anyone have any insights or opinions/predictions?

I'm on the fence at the moment. I passed on a 3060 for $360 US a few weeks back. That card (MSI Ventus 2x) is $383 now. If I go up to 3060ti its $540 for the cheapest card which is a MSI Ventus 2X also. its a significant increase in price. 470 to 700 CAD where I'm located.

I sold my last machine which had an Asus KO 3060 and 5600x and I was running 1080p 144hz in almost everything. 125 in Call of Duty Rebirth max graphics.

I kinda want 1440p but not sure if its worth the upgrade to 3060ti to get it plus the extra monitor cost when I can get the 3060 build for significantly cheaper. I also kind want 1080p 29" ultrawide but not sure if the 3060 will cut it or if it's worth the headache tweaking games to ultrawide.

I do a lot of settlement building in Fallout so ultrawide should be fun.

The cheapest 3070 I can get is also a MSI Ventus 2X for 661 USD or 860 Cad.

I think the MSI Ventus 2X is a bad card probably. Heard it has a plastic backplate....

You passed on a 3060 that was only $30 above MSRP?
It's good for 1440p too.

 

[jefferz]

Holy shit. Hell hath frozen over.

NVIDIA Releases Open-Source GPU Kernel Modules
NVIDIA is now publishing Linux GPU kernel modules as open source with dual GPL/MIT license, starting with the R515 driver release. You can find the source code for these kernel modules in the NVIDIA Open GPU Kernel Modules repo on GitHub.
This release is a significant step toward improving the experience of using NVIDIA GPUs in Linux, for tighter integration with the OS and for developers to debug, integrate, and contribute back. For Linux distribution providers, the open-source modules increase ease of use. They also improve the out-of-the-box user experience to sign and distribute the NVIDIA GPU driver. Canonical and SUSE are able to immediately package the open kernel modules with Ubuntu and SUSE Linux Enterprise Distributions.
Developers can trace into code paths and see how kernel event scheduling is interacting with their workload for faster root cause debugging. In addition, enterprise software developers can now integrate the driver seamlessly into the customized Linux kernel configured for their project.
This will further help improve NVIDIA GPU driver quality and security with input and reviews from the Linux end-user community.
With each new driver release, NVIDIA publishes a snapshot of the source code on GitHub. Community submitted patches are reviewed and if approved, integrated into a future driver release.

 

[snowbro]

You passed on a 3060 that was only $30 above MSRP?
It's good for 1440p too.

Yes I did lol, I mean I can get the same one now for only $20 more. I want 1440p at 144 hz though. I feel if I was getting 125 frames on a better 3060 card that i would be getting like 70 frames on 1440p? Whatchu thinkin? I heard the 3060 ti is almost as good as a 3070. I think 3060 ti would be perfect for 1440p 16:9 or 1080p 21:9.

 

[My Spot]

Yes I did lol, I mean I can get the same one now for only $20 more. I want 1440p at 144 hz though. I feel if I was getting 125 frames on a better 3060 card that i would be getting like 70 frames on 1440p? Whatchu thinkin? I heard the 3060 ti is almost as good as a 3070. I think 3060 ti would be perfect for 1440p 16:9 or 1080p 21:9.

 

[Blayt7hh]

I belive it. My local brick n motar has been lowering them every single week for the last 4 weeks. Went earlier in the week and they had a handful of open box 6600/6600XTs that where under MSRP. 3060 for the first time ever was under $400. Multiple 3070tis for 13% over MSRP. Had 2 6700XTs that where only 9% over MSRP.

Prices are dropping fast.
I don't think the used market will have a huge impact to be honest.

New PC owners won't risk it (no warranty, limited places to buy, reputation for the used market isn't great)

More enthuasist people like us will logically skip it because we were active in the community summer of 2014 and summer of 2018 so we all saw first hand the backlash that happened the last 2 times used crypto cards flooded the markets (bricked and artificating cards being send out by the hundreds of thousands).

Now that mining is winding down now the manufactuers have to target and entice actual real gamers value/price wise. Alot of price brackets aren't appealing to current rtx 2000/AMD 5000 series or higher users

EX: Someone owns an almost 3.5 year old RTX 2060. There's absolutely no current incentive to upgrade. The 6600 and 3060 are what maybe 15% faster and more expense ?

There’s definitely posters in this thread that don’t have a lot of experience and come to it for advice

 

[Blayt7hh]

Yes I did lol, I mean I can get the same one now for only $20 more. I want 1440p at 144 hz though. I feel if I was getting 125 frames on a better 3060 card that i would be getting like 70 frames on 1440p? Whatchu thinkin? I heard the 3060 ti is almost as good as a 3070. I think 3060 ti would be perfect for 1440p 16:9 or 1080p 21:9.

Remember to that that 13 game average is made up of demanding games cranked up. Most games you will probably do better than that average

 

[560ti]

There’s definitely posters in this thread that don’t have a lot of experience and come to it for advice

Yeah like I said it will have some impact but I don't think it will be huge. If anything I think the biggest impact will be brackets that don't have any new cards in (ex: 1070/1080/2060 going sub 250 used, no new cards in that bracket).

Remember to that that 13 game average is made up of demanding games cranked up. Most games you will probably do better than that average

Depends. Most of those websites use esports titles which crank up the average or they use previous gpu generation era games that way they don't have to retest all of the old cards. The chart he posted for example of those 13 games most are from 2018 to 2019 (so where talking 3 or 4 years old at this point)

Don't get me wrong it will give you a decent baseline but if you're buying this card to run 2022 and 2023 games then I wouldn't count on getting similar FPS on similar settings

 

[snowbro]

Yeah like I said it will have some impact but I don't think it will be huge. If anything I think the biggest impact will be brackets that don't have any new cards in (ex: 1070/1080/2060 going sub 250 used, no new cards in that bracket).

Depends. Most of those websites use esports titles which crank up the average or they use previous gpu generation era games that way they don't have to retest all of the old cards. The chart he posted for example of those 13 games most are from 2018 to 2019 (so where talking 3 or 4 years old at this point)

Don't get me wrong it will give you a decent baseline but if you're buying this card to run 2022 and 2023 games then I wouldn't count on getting similar FPS on similar settings

From what I've been seeing lately. Even a 3080 is having trouble pushing 144 frames at 1440p. Maybe I should just stick to a 3060 and 1080p .

I know it's not a big deal to everyone but 144 Hz is so smooth I can't do 60 frames anymore. Despite fallout being locked to 60 to 75 fps. I love me some online fps like Overwatch and COD.

 

[My Spot]

From what I've been seeing lately. Even a 3080 is having trouble pushing 144 frames at 1440p. Maybe I should just stick to a 3060 and 1080p .

I know it's not a big deal to everyone but 144 Hz is so smooth I can't do 60 frames anymore. Despite fallout being locked to 60 to 75 fps. I love me some online fps like Overwatch and COD.

Get 2x 3090s and SLI them.

 

[Madmick]

From what I've been seeing lately. Even a 3080 is having trouble pushing 144 frames at 1440p. Maybe I should just stick to a 3060 and 1080p .

I know it's not a big deal to everyone but 144 Hz is so smooth I can't do 60 frames anymore. Despite fallout being locked to 60 to 75 fps. I love me some online fps like Overwatch and COD.

No, the 3080 isn't having trouble pushing 144 frames at 1440p. Besides, you're not looking at it the right way.

First, as has already been mentioned, game websites specifically only test the latest juggernaut GPU-stressing titles for their reviews specifically so gamers have an idea how well the GPUs perform under the greatest duress. Second, more importantly, they do so at the highest settings. If you want to hit a higher framerate, just turn down the graphic settings. You can run custom Ultra-type settings for many games, especially if you edit files, that will bring a 3080 to its knees even on 1080p. Third, this is what VRR is for. If you want higher framerates without tearing just get the appropriate Freesync or GSync monitor and turn it on so that even in the most demanding titles you get 100fps, or 80fps, whatever it is, almost never >60fps.

As you can see below, in their most recent benchmark, Techpowerup showed the reference 3080 averaging 129fps even on these more demanding titles.
Techpowerup: Sapphire Radeon RX 6950 XT Nitro+ Pure Review (May 10, 2022)

You can also see this Techspot article to see how it fared in 50 titles:
Techspot: GeForce RTX 3080 vs. Radeon RX 6800 XT (March 9th, 2022)
50 Game Benchmark

 

[KidBaize]

How do you guys have your colour space settings, RGB Full (0-255) or Limited (16-235)?

Just built a new PC and I made the mistake of looking up all those settings I never understood before, like colour spaces. Fuck me. Two days later and it's got me recalibrating all my devices.

The general rule as I understand it:
- PC/console + monitor, use RGB Full for both devices.
- PC/console + TV, use RGB Limited for both devices.

This will allow you to see proper shades of black and white. I think my setup was wrong before and I had crushed blacks with lost shadow detail and oversaturated whites. Now there is probably less pop but a more accurate image.

 

[560ti]

From what I've been seeing lately. Even a 3080 is having trouble pushing 144 frames at 1440p. Maybe I should just stick to a 3060 and 1080p .

I know it's not a big deal to everyone but 144 Hz is so smooth I can't do 60 frames anymore. Despite fallout being locked to 60 to 75 fps. I love me some online fps like Overwatch and COD.

To keep everything consistent those review sites will use absolute max settings to test the games which isn't a true indication of real world performance (very few people truely run max settings on games)

Most games have a handful of settings that either are poorly optimized or offer little eyecandy for the performance hit.

That's why performance reviews/guides are important. Most games for example you can do the settings to where you get 90% of the eyecandy but at 30-40% higher frames then running it at 100% eyecandy.

 

[snowbro]

To keep everything consistent those review sites will use absolute max settings to test the games which isn't a true indication of real world performance (very few people truely run max settings on games)

Most games have a handful of settings that either are poorly optimized or offer little eyecandy for the performance hit.

That's why performance reviews/guides are important. Most games for example you can do the settings to where you get 90% of the eyecandy but at 30-40% higher frames then running it at 100% eyecandy.

But I want all the candy. Lol jk. Thanks

 

[560ti]

But I want all the candy. Lol jk. Thanks

It help that the games were high FPS really matters are majority older esports games that are easy to run or their games where competitive players intentionally turn down the graphical settings regardless so it's moot in regards to max settings.

 

[snowbro]

It help that the games were high FPS really matters are majority older esports games that are easy to run or their games where competitive players intentionally turn down the graphical settings regardless so it's moot in regards to max settings.

Good point. I was looking at COD settings comparisons and I really shouldn't be playing on max graphics it seems.

 

[snowbro]

I can get a 6600xt for $360 USD. I'm worried about ray tracing? lol , what do u guys think of that instead? Also I'm glad this thread's got some more activity, I lurk in these PC threads 99% of the time and just read everything. I'm thinking I might wait until Starfield comes out before I build a new machine then i can get 4000 series?

 

[KidBaize]

I can get a 6600xt for $360 USD. I'm worried about ray tracing? lol , what do u guys think of that instead? Also I'm glad this thread's got some more activity, I lurk in these PC threads 99% of the time and just read everything. I'm thinking I might wait until Starfield comes out before I build a new machine then i can get 4000 series?

That's what I got. I really wanted a 3070 but it's just too expensive for the amount of gaming I do. So far the 6600xt has been great but you're right about the ray tracing.

 

[Slobodan]

I can get a 6600xt for $360 USD. I'm worried about ray tracing? lol , what do u guys think of that instead? Also I'm glad this thread's got some more activity, I lurk in these PC threads 99% of the time and just read everything. I'm thinking I might wait until Starfield comes out before I build a new machine then i can get 4000 series?

That's what I got. I really wanted a 3070 but it's just too expensive for the amount of gaming I do. So far the 6600xt has been great but you're right about the ray tracing.

FSR 2.0 might negate that disadvantage a little bit, I have a 6800XT myself but apart from Control I haven't tried any other ray tracing games.