(PCGT VI) It's not just about hardware

Has the trend for stupid lighting finally died?

So I've finally bitten the bullet and picked up a 3080. Now I just need to put the rest of the computer together around it...

I've nabbed a Ryzen 9 5950X for video/CAD work too. The intention is that this'll be a proper CAD/rendering powerhouse (he says...) But I'm really struggling to figure out what I need with a motherboard. I've been looking down the PCpartpicker page for boards that are AM4 and X570 to match up with the processor, but outside of that I'm really not sure what I need to be checking out for A lot of the reviews on PCpartpicker seem to be from an overclocking perspective, and I'm not sure that's anything I really want to be mucking about with yet, so is it safe to just nab a decent budget board if it seems like it's got the holes I need, or are there more awkward compatibility things I need to be aware of?

This one's got the most good reviews on PCpartpicker, but it's a bit expensive considering it's just a mobo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TPPJ5JZ?tag=pcp0f-21&linkCode=ogi&th=1

The state of some of them with the RGB lighting Definitely don't need any of that. My case has a solid side.

I see the 3080ti is currently available. Shame about the price.

Frank wrote:So I've finally bitten the bullet and picked up a 3080. Now I just need to put the rest of the computer together around it...

I've nabbed a Ryzen 9 5950X for video/CAD work too. The intention is that this'll be a proper CAD/rendering powerhouse (he says...) But I'm really struggling to figure out what I need with a motherboard. I've been looking down the PCpartpicker page for boards that are AM4 and X570 to match up with the processor, but outside of that I'm really not sure what I need to be checking out for A lot of the reviews on PCpartpicker seem to be from an overclocking perspective, and I'm not sure that's anything I really want to be mucking about with yet, so is it safe to just nab a decent budget board if it seems like it's got the holes I need, or are there more awkward compatibility things I need to be aware of?

This one's got the most good reviews on PCpartpicker, but it's a bit expensive considering it's just a mobo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TPPJ5JZ?tag=pcp0f-21&linkCode=ogi&th=1

The state of some of them with the RGB lighting Definitely don't need any of that. My case has a solid side.

Just my 2 cents. I don’t know alot about cad stuff but will you be using much data transfer, E.g. to and from SSDs and NVMe drives? If so the most important thing (with no overclocking) is PCIE 4.0 or gen 4. B450 boards don’t have this, but B550 does and X570 have more. There are some good B550s that beat a number of the x570s.

From an ease perspective, stick to NVMe drives. I dont like SSDs for the 2 extra wires, but they are a little cheaper for big volumes.

I picked up a board from Amazon used like new recently and it was awesome (B550 ROG strix gaming E wifi for £130).

My recommendations, (if you want lots of PCIE 4.0) b550 aorus master (can be expensive) but has loads of PCIE 4.0 lanes that can be used together without reducing the bandwidth from 16, to 8, to 4 as you use more.

MSI and ASUS ROG strix do good boards too.

Also, with the 5950x there are a lot of cores and current and voltage to pump in. Avoid the x570 gaming edge, terrible power stages and overheats the VRMs.

So with a big chip in there, you’ll need to go higher end to get the most out of it and no overheat the VRMs.

Frank wrote:So I've finally bitten the bullet and picked up a 3080. Now I just need to put the rest of the computer together around it...

I've nabbed a Ryzen 9 5950X for video/CAD work too. The intention is that this'll be a proper CAD/rendering powerhouse (he says...) But I'm really struggling to figure out what I need with a motherboard. I've been looking down the PCpartpicker page for boards that are AM4 and X570 to match up with the processor, but outside of that I'm really not sure what I need to be checking out for A lot of the reviews on PCpartpicker seem to be from an overclocking perspective, and I'm not sure that's anything I really want to be mucking about with yet, so is it safe to just nab a decent budget board if it seems like it's got the holes I need, or are there more awkward compatibility things I need to be aware of?

This one's got the most good reviews on PCpartpicker, but it's a bit expensive considering it's just a mobo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TPPJ5JZ?tag=pcp0f-21&linkCode=ogi&th=1

The state of some of them with the RGB lighting Definitely don't need any of that. My case has a solid side.

How big of an upgrade do you expect the finished machine to be over a PS5/XSX?
Do you think it'll manage RT at 60FPS which seems beyond both at the moment?

Peter Crisp wrote:

Frank wrote:So I've finally bitten the bullet and picked up a 3080. Now I just need to put the rest of the computer together around it...

I've nabbed a Ryzen 9 5950X for video/CAD work too. The intention is that this'll be a proper CAD/rendering powerhouse (he says...) But I'm really struggling to figure out what I need with a motherboard. I've been looking down the PCpartpicker page for boards that are AM4 and X570 to match up with the processor, but outside of that I'm really not sure what I need to be checking out for A lot of the reviews on PCpartpicker seem to be from an overclocking perspective, and I'm not sure that's anything I really want to be mucking about with yet, so is it safe to just nab a decent budget board if it seems like it's got the holes I need, or are there more awkward compatibility things I need to be aware of?

This one's got the most good reviews on PCpartpicker, but it's a bit expensive considering it's just a mobo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TPPJ5JZ?tag=pcp0f-21&linkCode=ogi&th=1

The state of some of them with the RGB lighting Definitely don't need any of that. My case has a solid side.

How big of an upgrade do you expect the finished machine to be over a PS5/XSX?
Do you think it'll manage RT at 60FPS which seems beyond both at the moment?

My 3070 and 5600x can do ray tracing at 60fps at 1440p with DLSS. Why would I want ray tracing though? I'd rather have 144fps.

Memento Mori wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:

Frank wrote:So I've finally bitten the bullet and picked up a 3080. Now I just need to put the rest of the computer together around it...

I've nabbed a Ryzen 9 5950X for video/CAD work too. The intention is that this'll be a proper CAD/rendering powerhouse (he says...) But I'm really struggling to figure out what I need with a motherboard. I've been looking down the PCpartpicker page for boards that are AM4 and X570 to match up with the processor, but outside of that I'm really not sure what I need to be checking out for A lot of the reviews on PCpartpicker seem to be from an overclocking perspective, and I'm not sure that's anything I really want to be mucking about with yet, so is it safe to just nab a decent budget board if it seems like it's got the holes I need, or are there more awkward compatibility things I need to be aware of?

This one's got the most good reviews on PCpartpicker, but it's a bit expensive considering it's just a mobo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TPPJ5JZ?tag=pcp0f-21&linkCode=ogi&th=1

The state of some of them with the RGB lighting Definitely don't need any of that. My case has a solid side.

How big of an upgrade do you expect the finished machine to be over a PS5/XSX?
Do you think it'll manage RT at 60FPS which seems beyond both at the moment?

My 3070 and 5600x can do ray tracing at 60fps at 1440p with DLSS. Why would I want ray tracing though? I'd rather have 144fps.

Love this. How about the choice? I do like 144, but I also like a bit of RT and metro exodus enhanced is stunning. Playing guardians of the galaxy at the minute at its great, looks nice too. I like the reflections.

DLSS is amazing, and needed. I find it blurry on anything other than quality.

Bertie wrote:

Memento Mori wrote:My 3070 and 5600x can do ray tracing at 60fps at 1440p with DLSS. Why would I want ray tracing though? I'd rather have 144fps.

Love this. How about the choice? I do like 144, but I also like a bit of RT and metro exodus enhanced is stunning. Playing guardians of the galaxy at the minute at its great, looks nice too. I like the reflections.

DLSS is amazing, and needed. I find it blurry on anything other than quality.

I'm just interested in how the extra horsepower is being used.

Bertie wrote:Also, with the 5950x there are a lot of cores and current and voltage to pump in. Avoid the x570 gaming edge, terrible power stages and overheats the VRMs.

So with a big chip in there, you’ll need to go higher end to get the most out of it and no overheat the VRMs.

Thanks for all this, Bertie! I've got a 2.5" SSD at the moment I'm hoping to chuck in for the time being while I put a few more quid aside for some NVMe storage. The one thing that's been making me lean towards the X570 motherboards was the mention about some mobos requiring BIOS updates before they can work with the processor, so you'd have to set the PC up with a CPU it knows to then swap it out for the new model, but I don't have any older AMD processors Is it easy to find out if I could just plug a 5950X into a B550 board without having to do anything fancy?

Wondering about the MSI X570 Tomahawk, since that seemed to be mentioned as having the best VRM performance for the price. Don't need the wi-fi, but onboard Bluetooth would be nice if it works consistently.

Peter Crisp wrote:How big of an upgrade do you expect the finished machine to be over a PS5/XSX?
Do you think it'll manage RT at 60FPS which seems beyond both at the moment?

I've genuinely got no idea about gaming performance at the moment The only PC game I play is Euro Truck Sim, which isn't exactly demanding. Might download a couple of Game Pass staples to compare the PC to the Series X, but I'll probably just end up ruining the Series X for myself.

Frank wrote:

Peter Crisp wrote:How big of an upgrade do you expect the finished machine to be over a PS5/XSX?
Do you think it'll manage RT at 60FPS which seems beyond both at the moment?

I've genuinely got no idea about gaming performance at the moment The only PC game I play is Euro Truck Sim, which isn't exactly demanding. Might download a couple of Game Pass staples to compare the PC to the Series X, but I'll probably just end up ruining the Series X for myself.

You'll definitely be able to run Euro Truck Sim with a 5950x and a 3080.

Frank wrote:

Bertie wrote:Also, with the 5950x there are a lot of cores and current and voltage to pump in. Avoid the x570 gaming edge, terrible power stages and overheats the VRMs.

So with a big chip in there, you’ll need to go higher end to get the most out of it and no overheat the VRMs.

Thanks for all this, Bertie! I've got a 2.5" SSD at the moment I'm hoping to chuck in for the time being while I put a few more quid aside for some NVMe storage. The one thing that's been making me lean towards the X570 motherboards was the mention about some mobos requiring BIOS updates before they can work with the processor, so you'd have to set the PC up with a CPU it knows to then swap it out for the new model, but I don't have any older AMD processors Is it easy to find out if I could just plug a 5950X into a B550 board without having to do anything fancy?

Wondering about the MSI X570 Tomahawk, since that seemed to be mentioned as having the best VRM performance for the price. Don't need the wi-fi, but onboard Bluetooth would be nice if it works consistently.

Peter Crisp wrote:How big of an upgrade do you expect the finished machine to be over a PS5/XSX?
Do you think it'll manage RT at 60FPS which seems beyond both at the moment?

I've genuinely got no idea about gaming performance at the moment The only PC game I play is Euro Truck Sim, which isn't exactly demanding. Might download a couple of Game Pass staples to compare the PC to the Series X, but I'll probably just end up ruining the Series X for myself.

VRM performance is important, more so for more cores you have. If you need lots of storage and nvmes, it again pushes you to x570.

However, you have nothing to worry about from bios updates. I was scared too, but I think it’s an old worry. I upgraded a b450 to a 5800x with a bios update, went fine if you watch a few videos and get the right bios. I’ve just swapped my motherboard from that b450 to a b550 and it needed a bios update without a CPU before build. There was a bios flashback button and with a USB you can update easily from cold.

In time, you’ll need to update the bios anyway, so I wouldn’t worry too much and pick a board (x570) purely on it being 5xxx ‘ready’.

twitter.com/Wario64/status/1514293619313704961

strawberry floating AMD GPUs man. The drivers were a pile of gooseberry fool a decade ago and they are a pile of gooseberry fool now.

Oh look, my PC keeps crashing when going to sleep because of Radeon Wattman, guess I should update the drivers. Great, now that I've updated the drivers the maximum res I can get is 1366x768 with a weird aspect ratio. strawberry floating donkeys. I'm going to just go buy a 3080 or something instead.

andretmzt wrote:strawberry floating AMD GPUs man. The drivers were a pile of gooseberry fool a decade ago and they are a pile of gooseberry fool now.

Oh look, my PC keeps crashing when going to sleep because of Radeon Wattman, guess I should update the drivers. Great, now that I've updated the drivers the maximum res I can get is 1366x768 with a weird aspect ratio. strawberry floating donkeys. I'm going to just go buy a 3080 or something instead.

Yep, absolute turd. I'm stuck using drivers from last October because anything I've tried released since just causes games to hard crash at random.

Just bought Shadow Tactics for £3.

How I didn't already know a Commandos style game set in feudal Japan existed, I'll never knew. But I'm excited to play it.

Zilnad wrote:Just bought Shadow Tactics for £3.

How I didn't already know a Commandos style game set in feudal Japan existed, I'll never knew. But I'm excited to play it.

its fun. check out desperados as well if you like that kinda game.

Yep, Shadow Tactics is brilliant. Desperados 3 was a good follow up for the most part, although I wasn't too keen on the direction they took one of the characters - basically turned it into a fantasy/magic game which felt completely at odds with the rest of it.

So my 8 year old PC is finally slowing down/crashing when playing games, video editing etc so splashing the cash and getting an all new build next week.

Baring in mind I'm on the PC over 10 hours a day with work/gaming etc and I want to give a go at streaming in the second half of this year I'm looking forward to having a fancy new machine to kick off the second half 2022.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700K (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z690-A GAMING WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
4TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE LCD Display RGB CPU Cooler
Extra Case Fans
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit
Capture/Streaming Cards
Elgato Game Capture 4K60 PRO MK.2 - PCIe Card
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]

I'm *way* off the pace on PC specs nowdays. A 10 Gb ("ten gigabyte!") graphics card . Last time I bought a PC* I stretched for a 64 MB Radeon 8500 LE . Anyway, your PC spec looks to be totes amaze, JC!

*2002.