j0hnsmith

Wow didn't expect this much feedback from you guys. Appreciate the input. I'll try and answer each of your questions as best as I can: @Zando_ When you said "If OP is sure they're just running out of GPU at this point, a 3080/4070 should be fine", I'm pretty sure that's the case. I recently played Forza Motorsport and I guess not achieving the average 60 fps kinda bugged me and is making me think of the GPU upgrade. My rig had no issues running FH5, because the recommended specs I knew I was able to handle. Even after toning down the settings in the game, it just seems to peak at 60 fps. This is what is making me lean towards a GPU update. @Dukesilver27- You do bring up an important point that does concern me. What I worry about the most is that the CPU bottleneck could be so bad that it could cause stuttering in future games. The only way to determine if it's gonna be a real issue is to try the upgrade and see if it's noticeable in gaming. If not, all good. But if it is, then I have no choice but to return it and consider building a new rig. @robotxbot Yeah I know I can get a preowned one on eBay which will be much cheaper. However, due to the boom in mining, I really just don't wanna take a chance on getting a card that has massive wear and tear on it. Sellers will have no problem lying to you saying it's usable just to get rid of it. I would just have more peace of mind if I get it new. Also, NVIDIA is just a personal preference of mine. I always had a bad taste in mouth when I went cheap and bought an ATI card on my very first computer many years ago. After many driver updates, it would never resolve the intermittent flickering issue I had. Obviously, I know times have changed and I'm sure AMD cards are nice and all. But I just personally prefer NVIDIA for gaming which I don't mind paying a premium for it. I have the same philosophy with CPU's. I have a strong preference for Intel in gaming. @thrasher_565 Yeah that was the plan once I get my new card. From your comment though, it sounds like the 980 Ti's are still a hot commodity. @Somerandomtechyboi Wow that's some good info on OC'ing. To be perfectly honest, I'm trash when it comes to doing it myself. Just very tediious. I actually cheated and just Googled my CPU and overclocking. I came across a website and just copied their settings. And for the most part, it has worked well. I'm currently using a Corsair liquid cooler with a push pull configuration using Noctua fans. But I will keep it in mind to try and push it to its limit. I did come across another YT video that benchmarked the 990X in 2023. He noted after his testing there was a diminishing return once it gets clocked over 4.5 GHz. When I heard that and noticed mine was right at that threshold, I thought that my setup was good enough. @-rascal- I'm in the US. Just to note. For now, I only plan to game on 1080p. Maybe if I can find a 1440p monitor on sale for the holidays, I may consider scooping one up.

Yeah that's what I kinda figured. Thanks for the input.

All, I plan on breathing life one last time for my Asus Sabertooth X58 (LGA 1366). Currently running dual 980 TI's SLI which have treated me well for some time. I know the board is over a decade old but don't feel like doing a new build as my CPU is the 990x OC 4.40 GHz. For the most part, it plays games great with the exception for AVX. I recently came across a YT video of a user who had the same mobo rockin' the RTX 3080. His benchmarks looked really good for modern games, but this was done 2 years ago. Current prices for the card are still expensive. The lowest I could find was on eBay for around $729. Anyways, I just helped a buddy of mine build his new PC. His video card is the 4070 which I believe he got for around $500-$600. I'm aware of the limitations of my PCI express on my mobo at 2.0. Both these cards are PCI Express Gen 4. My question is wouldn't I be better off just grabbing the 4070 instead of overpaying for an outdated 3080 card, since they're both running at the same speed at PCI Express Gen 4.0?

Just wanted to give a quick update. Good news bad news. Good news my friend was able to build everything and got it to post. Great. But bad news was we were unable to install a Windows OS, whether it be 11 or 10. We tried multiple setups using USB and an external DVD drive, 2 different NVME SSD's, and exhausted all M2 slots on the board. I advised to contact Asus support as it appears to be an issue with a BIOS setting or that it needed a bios update. First tech did everything that we have already done and advised flashing to latest bios. So we did. But the issue persists where Windows installation would crash. My friend call back, and now he's on hold. They said it'll take 1-2 days for the next level technician. Frustrated that we been working on this for 2 days, he's decided to return the motherboard. I'm looking for suggestions on a replacement. I'm debating among these three: 1) MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI 2) Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX 3) ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-H After reading reviews on all 3, I'm kinda leaning towards #3. #1 and #2 users have complained of whining sounds. Overall, the Asus ROG seems to be a solid choice. Suggestions are welcomed. Thanks.

Forgot to mention trying to keep the budget around the $2k range if possible.

@Dedayog, Thanks for the input. Curious keeping all the parts the same except for the mobo, psu, and gpu like you suggested, what would you suggest? My buddy just wants to make sure the mobo has built in WiFi.

Budget (including currency): Around $2,000 USD Country: US Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: video editing programs like adobe premier or similar. Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): No existing parts, peripherals used are printer and external HD for backups, unable to fetch specs from old desktop, planning to buy as soon as possible, just wants decent refresh rate middle of the pack. Hello, My buddy is planning on building a new PC. A friend of his recommended the following: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BzHq4M I pretty much concur on the CPU, RAM, video card, and SSD. Just wanted to throw this out if any one else has a better suggestion. Thanks.

I just recently helped my buddy replace a bad mobo that was having recurring BSOD's during YouTubing and POST issues. After replacing the board, applying Artic Silver 5 thermal paste, throwing a fresh Win 10 image, and optimizing it, it runs extremely snappy. However, we're starting to game on it now. Since the board was bought used, it's just a matter of time until it dies again. Listed below is a link to the mobo specs: https://www.hardware-corner.net/desktop-models/Dell-OptiPlex-9020-SFF/ It appears the slot is PCI Express x16 Gen 1 but not 100% sure. Anyways, I did a quick search and came across the following link listed below on recommended video cards in 2022: https://leaguefeed.net/best-pci-express-x16-graphic-cards/ I feel that the MSI GAMING GeForce GT 710 is the best value as I don't want to spend a lot. It's also a compact card which should fit fine as the case is very small, hence SFF. Just wanted opinions on this choice. Do you feel this is adequate enough, or do you guys recommend something better? Please advise. Thanks!

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry to resurrect this thread again. Seems like my buddy is adding game development to the list as well. I don't know too much about the performance on Ryzen for this type of workload. I've always chose Intel for my builds. Even though I pay a premium for those cpu's, it just gives me peace of mind. Anyways, chime in on whether you think Ryzen is still a good cpu for game development. Thanks!

Budget (including currency): under $3000 (USD) Country: US Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Any video production program (i.e Adobe Premier, Sony Vegas, etc) and overall gaming Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): https://pcpartpicker.com/list/w2Bcxc Hello all, Been out of the building scene for a minute. Have a buddy of mine that's trying to build his PC. Primary uses for it are video production and gaming. He talked to another buddy of his and he constructed an outdated budget list shown below: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/w2Bcxc Lately, I've been hearing really positive things on Ryzen on the gaming front. Don't know too much on its performance on video production applications. Also, not a fan on Radeon cards. I personally prefer NVIDIA, but he can always upgrade it in the future. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

Appreciate the input. At first, I had my eye on Coinbase due to its ease of use. But the Mt. Gox platform hack kinda concerned me on an article that I read here: https://www.thebalance.com/best-bitcoin-wallets-4160642 I honestly don't know when that happened, but I'm sure their current platform is more secure now. Judging from your response, it sounded like you would have gone with Blockchain first if it was supported in Canada. Also, do you still use Coinbase now and have had no issues so far? I'm guessing that choosing between Blockchain or Coinbase I can't really go wrong.

Hello, I'm currently doing research on the best overall Bitcoin wallet. For now, this is primarily for currency purposes. Currently, I don't have an interest in investing in crypto. I've done some international investments and wish to use Bitcoin to cashout, since the fee is free. Other methods have somewhat pretty high withdrawal fees. After talking to their customer support, they noted their primary customer base use Blockchain, Cash app or Coinbase. After looking at some threads here, a senior member recommended Blockchain.info which I'm leaning towards. But before I commit, just wanted to ask questions to verify the process: 1) I assume this is the process for cashout: a) convert USD to BTC b) provide Bitcoin wallet address to merchant c) merchant transfers BTC to my Bitcoin wallet d) convert BTC to USD using exchange; in this case, I'm assuming I'll do it under Blockchain since I plan on getting wallet there? e) deposit to bank 2) I assume Blockchain.info and Blockchain.com are the same thing? I welcome any additional feedback. Thanks for the help.

UPDATE #2: Looks like I found a good workaround. First, I used a free "outer" VPN (decided for OpenVPN, but suggestions are welcomed for something else) to do initial connection from Tmobile. I check that the "outer" VPN public IP is confirmed, and I test for dns leak which obviously fails. Second, after tethering it to my computer, I then run "inner" VPN PIA on the computer. I refresh the pages and verify that public IP is now coming from the "inner" VPN and dns leak passes. I was concerned that speeds would be affected running a VPN within a VPN. But so far, they're great! This setup, in my eyes, seems safe. The "outer" VPN is essentially the TMobile connection and should be capable of being sniffed, while the "inner" VPN is secure and private. Not the most elegant solution but it works. Any comments/suggestions are welcomed. Thanks for all the inputs.

UPDATE #1: Well decided to download a free VPN from the app store to test. Got VPN - Super Unlimited Proxy. Good news is that I was able to get connected to TMobile with no flapping, ran speed tests and had great speeds, and went to https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/whats-my-ip/ and verified that the public IP address has changed. Bad news is I went to http://dnsleak.com/ and confirmed it was leaking. I'm not surprised as it's free but gave me an assessment of my situation. So it appears for now, I'm to assume TMobile is doing nothing in terms of blocking/throttling any VPN connections and it's looking to be an app issue? It appears I'm afraid that either I'll have to update my IOS to the latest firmware or perhaps venture out into looking for another reputable VPN app to pay for.

I would if I could. At the main screen, there's 3 horizontal bars at top left corner which I believe accesses the settings. However, every time I touch it, the whole app freezes up and I have to close/reopen it. I talked to PIA about it a while back when first setting it up, because I wanted to verify all settings. But even they couldn't figure it out. I didn't bother messing with it anymore, because I would always, upon VPN connection, access a browser and check that my public IP is indeed coming from the VPN server and that there are no DNS leaks. As long as I can confirm that, I felt safe. But I believe this is due to me choosing to stay on IOS version 9.3.3. I don't wish to upgrade, since I depend on a lot of apps to work from that firmware. Hopefully PIA or TMobile will have a solution.