Computer Parts Have Come Down

[Rez Exelon]

Unintended Consequences.


In order to get that graphics card to fit, I had to take out my remaining hard drive cages and just leave the drives hanging. Not something I wanted to have long term, so I ordered a new case that would let me fit everything except for one problem, I ordered the compact version instead of the full size, because I wasn't paying attention. Realizing this when I was looking at my shipment invoice a day later, I came to the further conclusion I was going to have to just deal with it as returning a computer case is expensive. So I ordered another M.2 drive which came in same day as the case. Problem solved, but it took another $400 on top of what I spent on the graphics card. Like I said, unintended consequences.

Case

Drive

Dang it... I've got two full size cases that could use homes

 

[Jason Freeland]

Dang it... I've got two full size cases that could use homes

It's a good thought, but I had some specific requirements in mind, mainly USB C front panel support and large slow fans to keep it quiet and cool. The case I bought came with two 180mm front fans and I added a Noctua 120mm in the back. The only thing that would have made it better is if I could have controlled them off a header on the graphics card, instead of the motherboard. Only cards I have seen that on are some really high end Asus (ie expensive) graphics cards.

Edit: I almost bought a new power supply too, as I need 5 PCIE power lines but only have four. Two for the CPU, Two for the graphics card and one for the sound blaster AE-9 sound card I run. I was able to reach the SB card with one of the secondary power outputs off one of the graphics card lines. I run the SB card since I am constantly switching between headphones and speakers and it has a switch to do so. I wore out a front panel headphone out port, unplugging and replugging the headphones in all the time. I will eventually have to bump the PSU up from 750 watts anyway.

 

[Rez Exelon]

It's a good thought, but I had some specific requirements in mind, mainly USB C front panel support and large slow fans to keep it quiet and cool. The case I bought came with two 180mm front fans and I added a Noctua 120mm in the back. The only thing that would have made it better is if I could have controlled them off a header on the graphics card, instead of the motherboard. Only cards I have seen that on are some really high end Asus (ie expensive) graphics cards.

Edit: I almost bought a new power supply too, as I need 5 PCIE power lines but only have four. Two for the CPU, Two for the graphics card and one for the sound blaster AE-9 sound card I run. I was able to reach the SB card with one of the secondary power outputs off one of the graphics card lines. I run the SB card since I am constantly switching between headphones and speakers and it has a switch to do so. I wore out a front panel headphone out port, unplugging and replugging the headphones in all the time. I will eventually have to bump the PSU up from 750 watts anyway.

I've been like halfway through a build for a year. Have a meshify compact 2 and a cooler master of some flavour laying around along with two different open frames. I really should finish the build but I need mobo/proc/GPU and at that rate it almost makes sense just to buy a prebuilt.

My current system is like 16 years old but was so overbuilt when I got done with it that it still runs all my stuff, including gaming at 4k/60 if I want, no sweat. So I just keep procrastinating on finishing the replacement setup.

 

[Jason Freeland]

I've been like halfway through a build for a year. Have a meshify compact 2 and a cooler master of some flavour laying around along with two different open frames. I really should finish the build but I need mobo/proc/GPU and at that rate it almost makes sense just to buy a prebuilt.

My current system is like 16 years old but was so overbuilt when I got done with it that it still runs all my stuff, including gaming at 4k/60 if I want, no sweat. So I just keep procrastinating on finishing the replacement setup.

Looked at the Meshify line and decided to go with the Torrent. My previous case was a Define R6 if that tells you how fond I am of Fractal Designs. Lots of stuff coming out in the next few months from both AMD and Intel ( I think Nvidia has put 4000 series on the back burner for now). Might want to finish it soon.

 

[Rez Exelon]

Looked at the Meshify line and decided to go with the Torrent. My previous case was a Define R6 if that tells you how fond I am of Fractal Designs. Lots of stuff coming out in the next few months from both AMD and Intel ( I think Nvidia has put 4000 series on the back burner for now). Might want to finish it soon.

Thanks to a few discount codes I can probably grab an Alienware r10 with a 3080 for around 1g which is great. But in that lineup the r13 has sooooo much better thermal management and yet I don't wanna pony up for it since it's not really a need. Hence the reason I keep getting hung up.

I mean logically I know I should upgrade since this PC will die eventually, but I've kinda like riding it for now too. It'd probably just get converted to a dedicated nvr/file server role anyways.

 

[Jason Freeland]

Thanks to a few discount codes I can probably grab an Alienware r10 with a 3080 for around 1g which is great. But in that lineup the r13 has sooooo much better thermal management and yet I don't wanna pony up for it since it's not really a need. Hence the reason I keep getting hung up.

I mean logically I know I should upgrade since this PC will die eventually, but I've kinda like riding it for now too. It'd probably just get converted to a dedicated nvr/file server role anyways.

 

[Jason Freeland]

Thanks to a few discount codes I can probably grab an Alienware r10 with a 3080 for around 1g which is great. But in that lineup the r13 has sooooo much better thermal management and yet I don't wanna pony up for it since it's not really a need. Hence the reason I keep getting hung up.

I mean logically I know I should upgrade since this PC will die eventually, but I've kinda like riding it for now too. It'd probably just get converted to a dedicated nvr/file server role anyways.

I have to think back to the one time I personally bought a pre built, prior to that all my computers were Christmas/Birthday presents. I spent more time trying to troubleshoot that computer, it was not long after Win 95 came out and the thing would randomly crash constantly. I kept the CAB files for Win 95, on a Syquest EZ135 SCSI drive, so I could easily reinstall Windows once a month. It was that bad. Come to find out, they had installed one standard simm and one registered simm, so it was crashing every time it hit higher memory requirements. Never again will I buy a system someone else builds, I just don't trust them even from Alienware.

 

[Rez Exelon]

Nothing says credible quite like the video being sponsored by a competitor. While it's true that there's issues with all pre-builts, it's also true that there's lots of issues with self-builts as well. For the money the R13/14 appear to be pretty dang good builds as long as one is down with that aesthetic. Considering that my pricing would be around $1200 delivered if I went that route it's especially good. Basically $300 more than the 3080 that's in it.

The other option I've kicked around is the Intel NUC extreme boxes. the 12th gen looks pretty fantastic with it's biggest bit of awesome being the incredibly tiny size.

What sucks is that I've just got a pile of components already waiting on homes:
SN850 2TB M.2
4TB SATA
32GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 3600/DDR4
650W PSU

I think in total I paid like, $50 for those, the cases and the tech frames. So from a cost perspective it'd be sweet to use them to keep the total down. On the R13 I could buy it with low spec mem/hdd for instance and drop the SN850, a PNY 500GB and the Corsair in place.

The NUC I couldn't use as much since it uses SODIMM IIRC and I'd have to get a GPU which alone nearly doubles the cost.

Thankfully I don't have a need to get anything right away Lots of ways to go.

 

[Tanis143]

I run the SB card since I am constantly switching between headphones and speakers and it has a switch to do so. I wore out a front panel headphone out port, unplugging and replugging the headphones in all the time. I will eventually have to bump the PSU up from 750 watts anyway.

Why use a switch when you can click your sound icon and switch between sources that way? I have the choice on my current setup between my usb headphones, the internal speaker on my laptop or the speaker ports on my docking station.

 

[Jason Freeland]

Why use a switch when you can click your sound icon and switch between sources that way? I have the choice on my current setup between my usb headphones, the internal speaker on my laptop or the speaker ports on my docking station.

Not as easy as all that when you use wired headphones (non usb). With the AE-9, I just hold in the volume dial and it switches back and forth. Yeah I pay for the convenience, but the older I get, the more willing I am to pay it.

Edit: I used to have an Asus Xonar that worked great (software switch), but they stopped updating the drivers and it wasn't supported in windows 10 without some workarounds. Besides, I like having better headphone amps than MB based sound can provide.