PC Tech Thread

Good advice all thanks.

I’m leaning towards replacing the existing one now.

I am pretty sure her work use MS office and she won’t like compatibility issues if using google docs etc.

What’s the deal with running office on a chrome book out of interest?

@aggi those refurbed eBay jobbies look ok ta.

Office on a Chromebook is either Google docs, Office online or the Office Android apps.

None are great.

Before I buy an RX 590 to replace my HD 7900, does anyone had anything 2nd hand that they're looking to shift?

OK, so I am starting over with my PC list, some of you will remember I asked a lot of about a custom PC before Christmas, but I managed to make do with my laptop and I didn't actually have time to do a lot of power hungry stuff over the last 6 months anyway, but I now really do need a super duper PC asap...

I have a pretty good idea what I want, 2 questions here:

Is there any real world disadvantage / incompatibility to use AMD CPU with Nvidia GPU? I know crossfire wouldn't be possible, but I have moved on from wanting to use 2 GPUs, so that wouldn't be a problem for a long time to come, if ever,

Initially, I had my heart set on the Intel i9 with a nice Nvidia card or to go AMD through and through...

However, the new AMD Ryzen 9 3900X is beautiful and cheaper... and after much research into graphics cards with 3D software, Nvidia is the way to go with the renderers I intend to use, so as much as I think AMD is good, I don't really have a choice with what brand of GPU to go with...

Also, I can't make head or tail of these motherboards...

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The X570 boards will fully support the PCI Express 4.0 that the Ryzen 9 uses.

The X470 won't.

There will be cheaper B570 Boards at some point if you are will to wait/not get all the nice goodies.

Is spending £200 a lot on a motherboard for the high end PC I want? My IT friend from work seems to think so...

I wouldn't say so. AMD support MB's better than Intel do.

It kind of depends on how much Bells and Whistles you want. High end boards are focused on Gamers and Kit hackers (Fan headers and LED lighting power).

If you are buying a Ryzen 9 then I'd get a MB to match it of else you rise bottlenecking it's full potential. However if you are putting it in a solid steel case/not water cooling/LED lighting get the cheapest one with the X570 North / Southbridge Chipset.

You could buy the 9 first, put it in your current AMD MB and then upgrade the MB later when you have the extra cash?

I re-did my list last night and I managed to bring the cost down from when I did it 6 months ago, so I have a bit of a buffer to go...

So Ryzen 9 with X570x motherboard... that's decided... next is cooler... I was reading up on the Ryzen last night and it gets seriously hot... are coolers pretty universal?

As I recall from previous AMD chips the included Wraith Spire cooler is well rated if you aren't over-clocking.

Check if it's included with your CPU.

I don't have any parts at all... so I can build in whichever way I want... I will have to have some built by sometimes in Aug though because a lot of the work I will be doing in the next 12 months very much depend on a super fast machine... my laptop just won't cut it anymore...

Amazon Prime Day is next week. There will be some good PC component deals on the table if you want to take advantage.

Oh yes it is!! Good point! Thanks.

This looks fun

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/deepcool-castle-360-aio-cooler-3x-120mm-argb-fan-pure-copper-plate-heatsink-aluminium-360mm-radiator

Would a GTX 1080 be of any interest?

Bit older, still easily outperforms the RX 590 from what I can tell. It's a Gigabyte G1 Gaming which seem to go for around £300 on ebay, but I'll be happy to let it go for £200.

GTX 1080

Im hoping i'll get my tax refund soon, once I do i'll PM you. Thank you

Is the price/performance ratio worth it with i9 now?

When I built my highh spec machine a few years ago I seem to remember that I would have been paying about £500 more than a decent i7 for about 5% gain in performance.

I don't know, I didn't bother looking at the i7 vs i9, as I have my eyes set on the AMD Ryzen series... seems more value for money...

Admittedly, the i9 still gives better single core performance than the Ryzen 3900x (£412 inc delivery from AMD directly), which is currently the best AMD has to offer until the 3950x comes out later this year, but that's like £700+ and I don't think us mere mortals would see any real benefit... maybe it will, but it ain't worth the extra £300...

I know most 3D stuff uses single core, but the multi cores performance the Ryzen gives simply blows the i9 out of the water making the slightly inferior single core performance worth the compromise. And imagine how much joy this would bring when working on a heavy video project!

Lovely mouse on Prime day deal...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Master-Wireless-Bluetooth-Windows/dp/B0761YL588/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=logitech+mouse&psr=PDAY&qid=1563219082&s=prime-day&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sr=1-1

My new graphics card has only 1 displayport out on it. I have just gotten 2x 144hz monitors. Is there any way of using both monitors at 144hz other than buying a new graphics card with multiple dp outs?

Feeling very dim right now

At work the standard solution for laptops recently has been Lenovo USB-C docks (Thinkpad T-series has been the standard-issue laptop for the last decade, now got HP Win10 convertibles being rolled out).

https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/accessories/acc100348

Supports 1 x 4k@30Hz or 2 x 1080p@60Hz.

With my Dell XPS15 (9550, about 3 years old) that has a 4k screen, I can run 2 1080p screens via this dock but it can't handle a third 1080p device plugged into the laptop's own HDMI port. I've got another USB3 dock that I could try but it only does DVI so I'd need to find another screen.

Pretty sure I'm up against my GPU's limit. (got an IntelHD 530 built in and an NVidia GTX960M but I don't think both can work at the same time. The Lenovo dock actually appears as a display adapter in device manager)

I actually googled it and read a newer/ more helpful page and I can do 144hz with hdmi 1.4, so I think I'll just have one with DP, one with HDMI and that should be fine.

It's desktop btw, but thanks for that dock link, think I might get one for my brother to use my older monitors.

Just following up on the gs110 switches.

Does anyone want one and if so what are they happy to pay?

HDMI KVM switches - are they much of muchness, or are there models I should avoid?

I keep looking at buying a NAS, then keep coming back to the massive tower sitting in my living room, which I want rid of, and has about 6x 3.5" bays. Any downside using this as a multimedia server & RAID storage if I fill it with new hard drives and stash it in the loft? I could use WOL to power it on, and I don't really need 'always on' storage as I wouldn't be doing anything with it most of the day, possibly if I ever get around to installing security cameras, but I can cross that bridge when I come to it. Is it any more of a fire risk having a PC unattended than a NAS?