frokes

So the we redid the GFs setup, new cable managment, repaste the CPU cooler with noctua paste, cleaned out the case, the usual and now it has started to randomly show artifacts on screen. So far the worst artifacting has been when she's playing Guild Wars 2 (10 year old game but notoriously CPU heavy) to such an extent that the PC even crashes all together, no bluescreen just black screen sound continues and then the entire PC resets without complaint. It even showed up today while she was watching some streams which really has me confused since the system should really not be under any significant load (given the specs) at that point. Most commonly the artifacts appear as black, white or yellow bars across the entire screen (horisontally) at random heights with random thicknesses, either last for a split second or hang around for a second or two and then dissappear. I did run some stresstests and heavy loads to see if I could force the issue but so far no dice, Radeon Control Center Thingie, blender, fur mark, prime 95, prime 95 + fur mark all ran without issue (well a bit toasty but given the case that's expected...). Also updated the graphics drivers with a fresh install and went throught the bios to look for any OCs, didn't find any and turned off XMP just to make sure. Still got artifacting... I've been using Nvidia cards in all my rigs and only seen this kind of behaviour when running overclocks that are just about to fail or on overall dead cards but this is neither. So yeah anyone got any ideas? Specs: CPU : Ryzen 7 3700X GPU : Radeon RX 5700XT Motherboard : Aorus b450 Pro wifi Case : Some Fractal Design that GN Steve does not like Age : 2 years but GPU was a handdown from her brother Cheers for any and all tips and ideas!

Oh right, I was thinking of 60%... hmm

Wouldn't that be a real mess though? I mean, I want this to be an improvement to functionality and QoL not a solution to getting mechanical switches into my life.

Sure but then I'd probably rather stick to what I have. Also TKL isn't an option I need F keys

Not really, PSUs tend to survive atleast one upgrade cycle if not even 2 or three so investing in a psu with headroom is never wrong in my oppinion. My corsair HX850 that I bougt for my GTX660Ti build was still kicking strong when I got my RTX2070. Also a higher powered PSU won't wear as much because you are using less of it's capacity

Wow, ok thank you! Would I have to order a custom PCB to get hotswap or are there sockets that one can solder by hand?

Check the compatibility of your motherboard, most B450 motherboards support 3000 series ryzen so you might not need to upgrade. Instead I'd go for an even bigger PSU as a 600W won't be enough if you ever upgrade to a rtx3000 or even most rtx2000 card. Any 750w psu from the forum's tier list would probably be great! https://linustechtips.com/topic/1116640-psucultists-psu-tier-list/?tab=comments#comment-12990669

So I've been looking around more and more for a new keyboard to replace my trusty old MS Sidewinder 6X (going strongish for 13 years now!). Problem is; there are very few keyboards out there with a lefty numpad configuration and media keys. Even less have macro keys and also let you move your numpad to whatever side you want or detach it all together, to be honest I have not found a single one. I know the trend goes towards smaller and smaller keyboards with less and less keys. However, I spend quite a few of my wake hours in 3d-modeling and CAD software and being able to navigate all views (numpad) in Blender with my pinky is something I always miss when I'm not using my own workstation. Also macrokeys are nice to have, atleast 4 or 5. As someone who is quite at home with both metal and work-working I therefore thought I'd make my own, then I can have whatever features I want! I have access to both a lasercutter, cnc router, mills etc. so manufacture is not an issue. Keyboard hardware like, keys, switches, pcbs, etc. don't appear to be an issue either but what I've been unable to find is if there is firmware and drivers that can handle this? Could I cram all of this onto a single controller or would I have to use a second for maybe the numpad or so? Would windows know what to do with all this stuff or would I have to write some kind of key stroke translator? To recap, my main points of interest are: - Lefty/ambi numpad, preferably detachable - Media keys (volume knob, play, skip) - Macros minimum 4 but 6 would be nice - dedicated button to open a calculator (it's nice, trust me) - Backlight (non issue as far as I can tell) I'm planning on trying out a few different switches that a friend of mine has but I'm open to any suggestions that would help with keeping the cost down. What do you think? Is this worth pursuing or should I just hope that my 6X never dies?

No worries! Good luck with the build!

stay away from A-series motherboards, the money you save on them is not worth the decrease in component quality. Any B450 should be fine as you won't need the features of b550 for the r5 3600, if you plan on upgrading to 5000-series cpu getting a x470 board might be worth it. I noticed that your PSU isn't on the PSU-tier list so you might want to have a look at that too. (

What is your goal with the OC? What capacity and speed are the sticks? I've had mixed results with Corsair LPX in particular on B450 so it might not even be reasonable to go for any form of ambitious OC.

something like this could be a good start (PSU and CASE are just something random decent stuff) https://pcpartpicker.com/user/frokes/saved/#view=pCwHGX

I mean yeah it works but that motherboard is overkill and you still only have 2x4gb of ram. I'd aim for 2x8gb ram on some kind of x470 board as most of them have compatibility with 5000-series ryzen too so going for a b550 is not really neccessary even if you plan on upgrading. Finally I'd invest all the saved money into a decent 80+ gold PSU (check the forum PSU-tier list!) and a decent case with good airflow and layout. If you don't already have one, investing in a modern ssd isn't a bad idea either

Only used Noctua so I have no clue but it's probably overkill for your application and it would be $60 you could spend on something else like PSU, RAM or a better cpu

yeah but you also have too look at motherboard prices for amd vs intel. I'm not fully up to date on either prices so you have to do your own digging though. Either way I'd probably still take the amd to get those juicy threads but I do quite a bit of productive work and not just gaming...

alright! Imo going for an amd system makes more sense in that case as you can save yourself the admitedly fancy but expensive noctua cooler and just run the box cooler. Something like a asus prime B450-A with a ryzen 3 3100/3300 or ryzen 5 3600 (non X non XT!) should probably end up cheaper though your local prices might be very different to mine. Also try to go for more than 8gb ram or 1x8gb instad of 2x4 so you can upgrade better in the future

also what is your budget?

well the newest parts should probably give you the most performance (hehehe except 11th gen....) but what about the rest of your system? do you have good enough cooling? is 500w enough for a gpu and a power guzzeling 11th gen i5? have you considered amd 3000-series?

I'd say upgrading from a 2c/4t core in 2021 is totally reasonable if you have the budget.

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looks like half crappy backlighting to me. I have the same on one of my screens

Hate to bring bad news but getting a gpu right now for $120 is though....especially if you want to run ms flight sim at decent fps. Maybe try looking for a 900-series card (gtx 960 or gtx 970) but otherwise id agree that the 1050ti is probably your best bet.

As a non linux wizard I have really been enjoying unRaid. I personally use it as a NAS with the added bonus of being accessable over VPN when I'm on the go or on vacation and so far I've not had any problems. I'm sure it would work fine for off-site backups, unless you want to run something more fancy than parity disks. The main benefit IMO is that the web interface is actually quite nice and you can get tons of functionality with community apps and plugins.

I would have gone with a "b" series instead as they are simply made with higher quality but other than that it looks fine.

I think Steve from GN did some tests on the Hydro H75 but I can't find that video right now. My guess would be that you might see a small improvement but personally I'd go for a aircooler instead if you really worry about temps and don't want to spend huge amounts of money. Then again the r5 3600 are just fine with the stock cooler even if they don't look as cool and it might be slightly louder than either AIO or towercooler.