(PCGT VI) It's not just about hardware

Bought a Windows 7 key off Winckle for £25 10 years ago and it's still going strong.

Winckle got his for £8.00 btw

Kezzer wrote:Winckle got his for £8.00 btw

Thanks for the responses, I'll see what happens when I transfer to the new system and if it moans I'll worry about it then!

I think I need to refresh my system. Is the non-moneybags option likely to be a 3060? I was thinking about putting something like that in with a Ryzen 5.

Mobo/CPU/Card for around £600 would be nice. I think I can keep the rest of my stuff for the time being and swap out my SATA 3 SSD for an M.2 at some point.

My monitor is only 1440p 60Hz, so I don't think I need the most whizz-bang card out there. Every time I start thinking about getting a 120/144Hz screen I go down a slippery slope which ends in a 3090.

3060 will probably be the one for you. I would wait for the reviews as the announcement will probably be end of October when AMD do theirs for RDNA2.

I'm actually reconsidering my purchase of a 3080 at all now. I'll be sticking with my 1440/165 monitor so I'm thinking about a 3070, especially if they're talking about a 16gb version. With the money I save I can get one of those fancy PCIe SSDs

The PCIe SSDs are really great for general system use, I love mine, and they're well worth getting, but fwiw it doesn't have that big an impact on game loading times imo if it's specifically a gaming PC. I put my games on an external SSD (which is limited to "SATA SSD" speeds because I have USB 3.1 not 3.2) and it's about the same.

There's some suggestion that the next gen consoles using the same / similar technology might result in games loaded on NVMe drives to actually see an improvement over SSDs.

Might see what the prices of the 3080 20GB end up being before making a decision either way as I don't think the Founders Editions of these cards are now going to be widely available at all.

Karl_ wrote:The PCIe SSDs are really great for general system use, I love mine, and they're well worth getting, but fwiw it doesn't have that big an impact on game loading times imo if it's specifically a gaming PC. I put my games on an external SSD (which is limited to "SATA SSD" speeds because I have USB 3.1 not 3.2) and it's about the same.

I have basically no knowledge of SSD standards these days but the new motherboard I currently have sitting in my cupboard supports the M.2 drives which are apparently super fast. They're also surprisingly cheap, just over 130 euros for 1tb.

I think I'm going to go ahead and grab a Zen 3 CPU when the launch as I'd planned (assuming AMD don't pull an Nvidia) and maybe wait until the new year for that GPU upgrade. If they release a 16gb 3070 I really don't think I need a 3080.

Xeno wrote:3060 will probably be the one for you. I would wait for the reviews as the announcement will probably be end of October when AMD do theirs for RDNA2.

Thanks. Will do. I’m also waiting for the next Ryzen refresh. It would be nice to put something 8 core in there to match the new consoles, but don’t really want to spend more than 3600 money.

Tafdolphin wrote:
Karl_ wrote:The PCIe SSDs are really great for general system use, I love mine, and they're well worth getting, but fwiw it doesn't have that big an impact on game loading times imo if it's specifically a gaming PC. I put my games on an external SSD (which is limited to "SATA SSD" speeds because I have USB 3.1 not 3.2) and it's about the same.

I have basically no knowledge of SSD standards these days but the new motherboard I currently have sitting in my cupboard supports the M.2 drives which are apparently super fast. They're also surprisingly cheap, just over 130 euros for 1tb.

I think I'm going to go ahead and grab a Zen 3 CPU when the launch as I'd planned (assuming AMD don't pull an Nvidia) and maybe wait until the new year for that GPU upgrade. If they release a 16gb 3070 I really don't think I need a 3080.

Just try to make sure they are NVME and not SATA. I have a few adata ones and they do seem solid and cheaper than Samsungs offering.

Xeno wrote:
Tafdolphin wrote:
Karl_ wrote:The PCIe SSDs are really great for general system use, I love mine, and they're well worth getting, but fwiw it doesn't have that big an impact on game loading times imo if it's specifically a gaming PC. I put my games on an external SSD (which is limited to "SATA SSD" speeds because I have USB 3.1 not 3.2) and it's about the same.

I have basically no knowledge of SSD standards these days but the new motherboard I currently have sitting in my cupboard supports the M.2 drives which are apparently super fast. They're also surprisingly cheap, just over 130 euros for 1tb.

I think I'm going to go ahead and grab a Zen 3 CPU when the launch as I'd planned (assuming AMD don't pull an Nvidia) and maybe wait until the new year for that GPU upgrade. If they release a 16gb 3070 I really don't think I need a 3080.

Just try to make sure they are NVME and not SATA. I have a few adata ones and they do seem solid and cheaper than Samsungs offering.

Yeah it would be the ADATA XS8200 Pro, which seems to be the clear winner of multiple Best SSD in 2020 awards.

twitter.com/IOInteractive/status/1308026278512132096

Missed out on this back in the day.

I'm flip/flopping on what motherboard to get for my next PC upgrade now. I'm pretty much set on going down the Ryzen path now, it just seems like the best "bang for buck" option, but I'm not sure what the best option is for a specific board to use.

I know the current X570 and B550 boards will support the new Zen 3 chips when they come out but it's hard to know if it is worth putting down the extra cash to get the X570 range board or stick with a decent looking B550. Anyone know if there is a compelling case for going for the X570 boards?

The X range seems to quickly get into ridiculous prices and I'm not paying over £200 for a bloody motherboard!

Jenuall wrote:I'm flip/flopping on what motherboard to get for my next PC upgrade now. I'm pretty much set on going down the Ryzen path now, it just seems like the best "bang for buck" option, but I'm not sure what the best option is for a specific board to use.

I know the current X570 and B550 boards will support the new Zen 3 chips when they come out but it's hard to know if it is worth putting down the extra cash to get the X570 range board or stick with a decent looking B550. Anyone know if there is a compelling case for going for the X570 boards?

The X range seems to quickly get into ridiculous prices and I'm not paying over £200 for a bloody motherboard!

I grabbed the MSI x570 Tomahawk because I am not at all secure in my masculinity. lol

It generally hovers around the £200 mark and I bought it simply for future-proofing really, it's the AMD newest chipset out there having only released this year, plus there are benchmarks out there that show a good motherboard, especially the x570 series, can help overall performance. Also, pretty much every review has it as the best AMD motherboard for those not willing to drop a ridiculous amount of cash on one.

Also, overclocking. Mainly overclocking.

I probably overspent to be honest, but at least I know I've a decent bit of kit that'll last me for ages.

EDIT: Also worth noting, AMD recently confirmed the Zen 3 will support the older 450 motherboard chipsets too.

The Tomahawk is one of the contenders in my current watch list! I think I'll probably end up going for a slightly cheaper X570 variant, I'm a big fan of MSI stuff so might go with something like MSI X570-A Pro or MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS which come in at more like £150.

EDIT: Yeah I've been looking at the full range from B450 up, there's basically too much choice! :fp:

I find the Buildzoid videos on Gamers nexus really helpful. He has a lot of knowlege on mainboards.

Nice, I'll give that a watch

They break it down to price ranges as well. They will probably do an updated one when the Zen 3 chips are out.

(PCGT VI) It's not just about hardware

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