AncientPistol

I am planning to build a mid range gaming pc (12400F+3060). I want to use mATX motherboard and ATX PSU because going small form factor gets expensive, but would still like to keep the pc reasonably small. Any recommendations for small, budget friendly cases that works well with air cooling?

I don't care about RGB or TG side panels. Looks don't matter as long as the performance and reliability is good.

1 hour ago, 8tg said:

I still wonder how people do these types of things to their computers.

Like, accidents happen and all but damn, did you toss the thing into the driveway and run it over a few times?

College + a lot of traveling and loaning it to my friends

I have an old MSI gaming laptop with GTX 1060 and 8th gen i7 processor that was abused a lot during its lifetime and now has a broken body, screen, fan, battery and keyboard. Even though it isn't really a portable device anymore the guts of the system (CPU, GPU, memory, main board, storage) are still in working condition, any way I can DIY it into a "desktop" by strapping a desktop cooler on it or something?

I tried to look for some guides on youtube doing something similar but couldn't find anything useful. I have an AMD stock cooler lying around that I'm not using in my pc but I can't figure out how to mount that to the laptop motherboard since it doesn't have the appropriate mounting holes or a backplate.

I am looking to get a 2TB SSD as a game drive for my PC. Since it will be exclusively used for storing games and movies/shows I was looking for something cheap that performs better than a hard drive. On Newegg the cheapest 2TB SATA drive I found was a crucial drive for $140 while a WD Blue NVME SSD is available for $150.

Are there no cheaper options or should I look at other websites?

4 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

The P14s generate more static pressure, which is better for radiators.  The F14s have steeper blades to move air more quickly, which is better for airfllow.  The PWM is speed controller for the motor, but most motherboards can do this by altering voltage output so it's not as useful for airflow fans, as you'll usually have them at a set, constant speed, whereas radiator fans will constantly adjust speed as heat changes so the PWM is more useful.

 

I would buy the F14's without the PWM if I wanted o just save money, but there is no harm in getting the PWM one's if you think you'll use it.

Is it a good idea to set the case fans at a constant RPM or should I make them follow a fan curve based on CPU temp?

4 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

Yeah its a fine case, people get up in arms about the wierdest things with cases tbh.

 

Check amazon for 5 packs of fans.  Arctic F14s are a great value and work really well for the money (and just in general).

 

https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-F14-Pack-Computer-ACFAN00233A/dp/B08S6MKRVN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3F8RGHLPWYYHX&keywords=arctic+f14+5+pack&qid=1648107699&sprefix=arctic+f14+5+pack%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1

 

The 5 pack is only a dollar more than getting 3 individual ones, so you'll have a couple on deck incase you derp out and break one.

Should I go with 3 pin fans or PWM? Also which is better F14 or P14?

8 hours ago, 4PcBuilder said:

I like everything about that except that the case kinda sux at that budget and 32gb would be recommended for triple a gaming, also there are better. 3070 ti models for 60 bucks cheaper.

The GPU is just a placeholder, I'll buy it from microcenter. RAM I also agree I should up to 32GB. What about the case though? If it looks good and allows enough airflow to cool everything then it should be fine right? I'll buy a couple case fans for the front and set the back and top included fans to exhaust that should be plenty airflow.

9 hours ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

Do you live near a microcenter?  Also, the F has no iGPu, which isn't a big deal most of the time, but in the times where iit helps it REALLY help.  Take it from someone with a 1st gen ryzen, how much of a pain in the ass troubleshooting video issues is without an iGPU, as opposed to by boyfriends computer that has always been a breeze for me to work on.

 

No one overclocks anymore anyway, but the boost freq is gonna be higher.

 

Also, that $40 saved on a CPU that will objectively game better and be easier to potentially troubleshoot with could be half of the journey to better GPU. $40 here, $30 there, next thing you know you have a 3080 or 6900xt instead of a 3070, and now every game is gonna be a stable 170fps on that 1440p monitor.

I've been using Ryzen 3700X for couple years and haven't had to troubleshoot any video issues. If I don't tinker with stuff and use everything mostly at stock settings I guess lack of iGPU shouldn't be an issue.

About the CPU I'll go see the price at microcenter and if there is a big difference I guess I'll stick with 12600K

22 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

The advantage of the 12600k over the 12700f IMO, is that the core count is already so high on these CPUs, that paying an extra $100 for a 12-core over a 10-core isn't worth it, especially as the 2 cores you'd be paying the most for are going to be the 2 least used cores (read: those cores will never get used), while the higher clock speed are gonna eventually matter more for keeping games running at the refresh rate with a 170Hz monitor.  Also, since you're in the U.S., Try to get your MoBo and CPU at microcenter.  They often have the 12600k $30, and its regular price is still only $250 there.  They'll also give you a $20 discount on your motherboard if you buy it with your CPU. They'll have open box GPU's for a small discount at times, too.

The price difference between 12600K and 12700F is only $40 now, thats why I decided for the i7. Besides, since I don't want overclocking getting a non-K CPU is not an issue if the base specs are good.

Budget (including currency): USD 2200-2300 (Including monitor)

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming (AAA 1440p games and also eSports games like CSGO) 

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): 

Current tentative parts list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RYnXv3

My friend is building a gaming PC that can run AAA games at max settings and also get very high FPS in CSGO/Valorant. Does this list look good? Also monitor is not finalized, something with good refresh rate for gaming and good picture quality for movies (1440p + 27/32 inch).

I am planning to build a mid range small gaming PC (Intel 12400/AMD 5600X + RTX3060 tier). Looking at ITX motherboards, both Intel B660 and AMD B550 have very few options and are more expensive than mATX motherboards. I thought with less DIMM slots, PCIE slots, SATA ports etc. they should be cheaper. Is there some shortage going on right now for ITX boards or are they always expensive? I only need 1 PCIEx16, 1 M.2, 1 SATA and 2 DIMM slots, so building in ATX cases feels pointless since most of the case space and the motherboard features will go unused.

Also, for almost all categories the cheapest boards are usually Asrock. Are they reliable products or should I avoid them?

1 hour ago, brob said:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  ($279.98 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($89.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z690M-PLUS D4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($189.99 @ ASUS) 
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($114.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($83.00 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($64.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $907.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-02-14 11:21 EST-0500

I would like something smaller if possible, otherwise I won't be able to keep it on my desk, and I don't want to keep it on the floor.

30 minutes ago, Chris Pratt said:

What kind of programming are you doing?

Mostly Python programming like web apps etc. Video editing, Blender and CAD are for learning/fun so they don't have a definite domain. Basically I need 32 GB RAM and would benefit from more cores/threads on my CPU but I don't do professional work on it. For my studies I use my University's machines but I'm not allowed to do personal work/gaming on them.

Budget (including currency): USD 900-1000 (without GPU)

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Programming, video editing

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): 

I am planning to build a new PC for programming and some occasional video editing, blender and CAD work. I want the PC to be silent, and reasonably small. Because of the current GPU situation I am thinking of buying a processor with iGPU and then purchase an RTX 3060 later for gaming and accelerating some of my workflows. After buying the GPU I will mostly be playing FPS games and some AAA games at 1440p medium/high settings.

Most important thing for me is silent operation and second most important is small size. Don't care about looks/RGB, in fact I would prefer non-RGB wherever available. I want to keep the build under $1000 excluding the GPU. So far I am thinking of this: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2vtZLs

Would it make sense to go for last gen products if I can save some money and the performance difference is not too big? Also I don't know much about the Scythe CPU cooler or how quiet it is, but I didn't see many options in pc part picker. 

I have a 1080p 240Hz monitor for my PC. I am thinking about buying a 4K HDR monitor for media consumption and playing non-competitive games, but I want to keep playing games like CSGO on the old monitor. Is it possible to configure different games on different monitors?

Also, how does HDR work if only one monitor supports it? Can I keep one monitor in HDR mode and other in SDR?

20 minutes ago, AbydosOne said:

Try 192.168.29.99:32400

OMG I am so stupid

I got a Raspberry Pi 4 and setup pi hole on it using the LTT guide. The pi hole works perfectly and after I set my Pi as the DNS server in my router I am not getting ads on any devices.

Now I also wanted to setup a plex server on the pi. I followed this guide to install it. Plex seems to have installed correctly and there are a bunch of plex related processes running when I do `sudo ps -aux`, but when I go to 192.168.29.99/32400/web/ where I should find plex I get the page shown in the attached image.

Have I configured something incorrectly? The admin panel in the image links to the pi hole admin panel at 192.168.29.99/admin/

This is my first time working with a raspberry pi and I have very limited experience with linux

Hi all, 

I am thinking about buying a raspberry pi to make a plex server, something that can handle a 1x4K or 2x1080p streams without transcoding. I have a few questions:

1. What model and ram capacity would be good enough for my use case? Do I need to buy heatsinks/case with fans?
2. I have an old 2.5" HDD that I took out from my laptop when I upgraded it to an SSD. How do I use it for storing the data for the server? I am guessing the Pi won't be able to deliver enough power if I try to put it in a external enclosure and connect via USB
3. What other things I can do with the pi while it is working as a plex server?

Also if you can give links to some guides that would be helpful as I am a noobie in this department.

I recently purchased an HP Pavilion Aero 13 laptop. The issue I am having is that the display sometimes 'blinks' as in turns off and back on in a fraction of a second. When it turns on again everything is exactly where it was. This happens very infrequently, once or twice an hour on average and is not a big issue while using the device but I'm wondering if it means there is some bigger issue behind the problem.

All the drivers are up to date. Could this be a hardware issue?

Specs: Ryzen 5600U processor, integrated graphics, 16GB 3200 memory, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 OS.

My current MSI laptop is falling apart after ~4 years and is very cumbersome to carry around. I am looking to buy a small and light laptop for uni. Use case will be reading books, writing code/papers, watching videos etc. I run all my code on a remote machine so don't need it to be very powerful.

Requirements in order of importance - 

1. Small form factor (13in)
2. Good battery life
3. Good keyboard
4. Good build quality
5. Big trackpad
6. Bright display

Basic specs - 16GB RAM / 512 Storage

So far I am looking at Dell XPS 13 ($1370) and HP Envy ($720). The specs are similar but the price difference is huge, other than the dell one looking much nicer what other differences are there? Also, what other options would you suggest? I am trying to keep the total under $1k otherwise I would have probably already bought the dell. 

I have an MSI GL63 laptop, with intel 8750H processor and nvidia 1060 GPU. Recently the fan responsible for cooling the GPU became defective and makes loud rattling noises while providing basically no airflow or cooling. The fan has been damaged and needs to be replaced but the replacement fans are not in stock right now. Until I get those, I cant game but I want to use the laptop for other stuff like checking mail, browsing, excel etc.

So I want to completely disable the GPU fan as well as the GPU itself and run only on the integrated GPU for now. How do I make sure both of these things are completely disabled so that there is no risk of any further damage to any components?

I have a 2.5yr old MSI GL63 8RE laptop, it has two fans and one of them has started making a lot of rattling/scratching noise and spinning very slowly (400-500 rpm, usually spins at about 5k rpm). There is basically no airflow from it. I opened the back panel of the laptop and trying to spin the fan manually and it is providing a lot of resistance and not spinning freely.

One thing I did notice is that sometimes for a few moments it gets "unstuck" from whatever problem it is having and spins up to about 1-2k rpm and noise goes down. But that only happens for a second or two and then back to noisy rattling mode. Is there a DIY solution I can try or do I need to take it in to a service center?

11 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

I think you'd get more use out of an SSD for file/game storage, and then the RAM.  Prices are cheap and if you're anywhere near the 16GB used, grab some.  

 

The $70-80 for another 16GB can't be easily deployed since you already have a decent CPU (3700x).  

 

So yes, RAM and SSD.

For game SSD would you recommend SATA? I already have samsung 970 for boot drive.

5 minutes ago, william axton hylle said:

Well, that depends, what do you do on your computer?

Do you need 32gb of ram? or Will you need it?

Mostly gaming, and some video editing/blender for fun in my free time. 

My PC has G. Skill Trident Z RGB F4-3200C16D-16GTZR (16 GB) RAM. I watched a video saying due to less demand RAM prices are little lower at the moment and when I checked a my local retailer the price for another 16GB was about 30% lower than what I originally paid. Now there is no immediate need for more ram but I will want to upgrade at some point in the future and was wondering if now would be a good time when the prices are low and the exact model that I have in my PC is available for purchase.

So if have a couple questions - 

1. Should I buy the RAM now?

2. If I decide to wait a bit and the exact model is not available to purchase in the future, what problems can occur because of mixed ram? What should I consider while buying ram that is not the exact model that I already have?