Your AMD Ultimate Tech Upgrade

[QuantumSingularity]

Well i was snooping around YT and rewatch (again) the episode with Adam and got me thinking - if you guys were a part of the LMG and won a tech upgrade from AMD, what would that look like? I'll go first and it will look something like this (going off with lowest prices i can find):

 

AsRock X570 Steel Legend - $149.99; Really love that series of AsRock motherboards and since id like to stay with my 5800X3D, it's the X570 one i chose.

PowerColor RX 7900 XTX Liquid Devil - $1399.99; Simply the best and cooler 7900XTX there is. 

TEAMGROUP T-Force Xtreem ARGB 3600MHz CL14 32GB (2x16GB) -$169.99; Best memory for 5800X3D.

2x WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X - $395.58; No more mechanical drives for me, thenks.

EK-Quantum Velocity D-RGB - AMD Ryzen Edition - $179.99; 5800X3D is a hot boy and needs good cooling; That's probably the best CPU waterblock.

EKWB EK-Quantum Kinetic FLT 360 Pump/Reservoir Combo - $299.99; Love these flat reservoirs .

EKWB EK-Quantum Surface P360M Radiator - $162.99; part of the EKWB theme

3x ARCTIC BioniX P120 - $44.97; extremely impressed by the silent performance of those boys. Absolutely amazing stuff, especially for the price.

Fanatec Podium Wheel Base DD1 + CSL Elite Steering Wheel WRC + ClubSport Pedals V3 + Podium Advanced Paddle Module - $2173.48; sim-racers gotta sim race and that's my dream setup.

Total of: $4976.97

 

For the remaining $23.03 i'd probably get tubing and fittings. But that's what i would go for. There are some minor stuff i'd get after that, but that is the main thing. 

So how about you? What system would you build with $5000 from AMD?

 

P.S

Btw - when is the next episode of the AMD Ultimate Tech Upgrade supposed to air?

[Bismut]

Probably a custom case, good PSU and some SSDs, I like my computer as is and don't want more high-end components with huge power draw. Also an e-bike or so? It still counts as tech, I guess.

[SorryBella]

18 minutes ago, QuantumSingularity said:

what would that look like

G-Wolves HSK Plus, Wooting UwU, AW2425H by Alienware, and an 8TB HDD. Leech the ppy!

[Somerandomtechyboi]

7800x3d + whatevers the cheapest board that has postcode and eclk for oc + cheapest 6400c32 ddr5 (ill be tuning it anyways) + cheapest dram gen3 2tb ssd + 7900xtx + used 1000-1200w platinum psu (maybe a used hxi axi andyson etc.) + evc2sx

 

Case wise id just cannibalize some old case turn it into a testbench

 

Cooling wise cannibalize an ac unit and make a phase change system for subzero under load (obviously delid ihs), or maybe just reserve the subzero for the i/o die so itll run like -30c constantly (higher fclk capability) and run water directly over the ccd alongside gpu watercooling with a waterloop consisting of a massive car radiator instead of puny ass pc rads. Wont bother with ram cooling aside from a fan cause the slow high 6000s low 7000s speeds wont neccesitate any subzero

 

Tools for both case and cooling will also use a part of the budget

 

Gpu wise course ill hook an evc2sx onto it for more control over powerlimit and voltages, if i wanna clock the balls off it and have it draw 600w+ i can and i will just because sped

 

 

rest of the unused money idk problably just gonna make a buncha testbenches and buy a buncha soldering equipment or something (definitely parts for a bga rework station)

[cmndr]

5800x3D so I can check the box of having SOMETHING from AMD

7900XTX ???
65" Samsung QD Oled (unless the 77" version drops in price by around half). Sony variant preferred (virtual center channel when paired with their AVR which only does a very small bit of high frequency sound to help center the image when running a phantom center)
MAYBE a Sony STR-AZ7000ES or similar, if budget permits. 

 

Realistically I have "good enough" of everything right now. Any potential upgrades would require some notable price drops to justify their purchase. 

[IkeaGnome]

Assuming we'd have to go with an AMD part, I'd do this.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($599.00 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus ROG CROSSHAIR X670E HERO ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($659.80 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory  ($299.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1558.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-12 12:24 EDT-0400

I'd be swapping from ridiculous parts anyways, and it's more of a "side grade", but I'd like to do a monoblock build at some point.

EK-Momentum 2, $300.

ViperWing F16 cockpit. https://viperwing.com/f-16-flight-simulator/ Last I heard, they were about $2800. Extra $342 would be for shipping

Any potential left over would be for a cheap monitor so it's not 100% a VR only rig when trying to set things up. 

[QuantumSingularity]

That cockpit looks INSANE. Exactly the thing i didn't need to see right now. Now i want one so bad...

[IkeaGnome]

11 minutes ago, QuantumSingularity said:

That cockpit looks INSANE. Exactly the thing i didn't need to see right now. Now i want one so bad...

The only three things that have stopped me from putting money aside for something like that are space in the house, I have a room it could go in, but the wife and I are talking about a kid in the next year. I could have it in the garage, but in winter that garage is a pain to keep heated. Well insulated, and detached from the house but it's massive and heat always finds a way out. Third is that it's 1000% a want and no where near a need. I'd do something in the living room if I could find plans for one on wheels that would "easily" fold up to go into a spare closet we have. 
Really, it wouldn't need to be massive, but I play almost exclusively in VR, so the more MFDs and buttons I can get in the proper place the easier it gets. Right now I run a x56 set up and anything that isn't bound to the throttle or joystick just gets used in game with a VR controller. 

[NoBrakes58]

I'd spend most of my money on things that aren't the computer itself. (Also, all prices here USD).

A 7950X and accompanying MoBo of some description would be a performance upgrade, maybe give myself a matching RAM upgrade to something DDR5, but otherwise I'm running a 3090 FE, have plenty of PSU headroom, and my case/fans/AIO/storage are all still perfectly fine. So figure no more than $1500 total there at retail (if I'm fine with doing only two DIMMs which... well... I've never run four in my life so why start now?).

 

Next biggest expense would be a high end ultrawide like a Samsung Odyssey G9 (I want to burn my retinas) for another $1500 or so.

 

Furniture-wise, I'm also set. I've got a large desk and just bought a refurb Steelcase Amia chair.

 

Even on peripherals, I just got fed up with Razer's RMA process (I sent in a broken keyboard and received a broken keyboard; it's been 6-7 weeks since this saga started and I'm just over it) and bought a G915 and G502 Lightspeed. I've got a Schiit stack powering ATH-M50x cans for headphones and Razer Nomo Chroma speakers which are... fine, I guess? Also running a TrackIR and I've got a Quest 2 (and several accessories for that) for anything that benefits from head-tracking or VR. So pretty much set on peripherals except for a couple upgrade ideas:

• Replace my Yeti X with a dynamic mic (Shure MV7 for $250) and maybe spend another $100 or so on a longer/better arm.
• Logitech PowerPlay mat (goes on sale for ~$100 often enough, but $120 MSRP).
• Some sort of light bar (possibly) for the monitor. Lots of options there, but BenQ Screenbar Halo for $170, if I'm spending AMD's money.

So where am I now, $3400 or so? Okay. A few options I could go to to eat up some more budget:

• Dedicated stream encoding PC. Could probably get something fit for purpose for <$1000. Maybe even spend some money on a cheap greenscreen backdrop.
• Shelving. Ikea KALLAX or maybe EKENABBEN. I'm a board gamer, so a bit more storage space would be welcome. Really a sliding scale here, but that's probably <$250.
• Okay, the Razer speakers really are only just fine (they truly aren't awful, though) so maybe I'd spend some money on something a bit more serious (probably <$300 for the pair; maybe make it $500 and say that also includes stands and some acoustic paneling).
• Get a DI box for guitar recording. Don't need a mess of bells and whistles; maybe an IK Multimedia AXE I/O Solo ($300).

And some extra stupid ideas if I get really desperate:

• I know making Linus paint isn't allowed, but can I make AMD buy a can and just do it myself? (<$100 for a gallon can of paint, rollers, drop cloths, etc.)
• Just to be stupid: Hit up eBay for a copy of Steel Battalion plus controller ($400-600 range).

[SteveGrabowski0]

13 hours ago, Bismut said:

Probably a custom case, good PSU and some SSDs, I like my computer as is and don't want more high-end components with huge power draw. Also an e-bike or so? It still counts as tech, I guess.

Agreed. I'd still ask for a 7900 XTX but probably give it to my brother because I'm pretty happy with my 6700 XT and don't want something with really high power draw with summer right around the corner since I live in Texas and our summer last year was the worst ever recorded in my area. I would definitely take the upgrade to say a Ryzen 7 7700X and DDR5 though and give my brother my i5-12400F, which would still be a massive upgrade over his i5-9600k.

[Bismut]

2 hours ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

since I live in Texas and our summer last year was the worst ever recorded in my area.

Do you have aircon? RIP if not, coming from someone that perishes at over 40°C (105°F I think?)

[SteveGrabowski0]

6 hours ago, Bismut said:

Do you have aircon? RIP if not, coming from someone that perishes at over 40°C (105°F I think?)

Yeah I have AC but last summer when it seemed like we were 103F every day (39.4C) I could barely keep my house below 85F (29.4C) at times; eg when it would get up to say 109F (42.8C) I'd have the AC running 24/7 and it would be 85F in the house. Was horrible because our typical summer temperatures even in the worst part of summer average maybe 97F (36.1C) and 101F (3.8C) is usually considered a pretty hot day out here.

[QuantumSingularity]

20 hours ago, IkeaGnome said:

but the wife and I are talking about a kid in the next year. I could have it in the garage,

I'm not sure your wife will be very keen on having her kid in the garage. Although this certainly solves a lot of space issues.

[Bismut]

15 hours ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

I could barely keep my house below 85F (29.4C) at times

I'm happy if it stays below that, and I only have windows and the option to leave them wide open over night, hopefully cooling down the house enough to make it through the day.

[QuantumSingularity]

Why AC is such a rare thing in NA? I mean i've seen more than a few houses, mainly in the USA which do not have AC at all. That is just insane to me. Especially single story houses with just 4-6 rooms. Descent window AC units for cooling can be found for $600. 4 of those can keep that house at perfectly comfortable 21°C with no issues whatsoever. Of course there are more expensive options as well, but even for a 2 story house with 6 rooms on every floor, there are multi split systems which cost just $10-$15k. When you house is upwards of $500 000 my mind simply can't compute a missing AC system. I've always wondered why so many houses there miss what we take basically as a given feature here in Europe? Why is that?

[Bismut]

8 minutes ago, QuantumSingularity said:

I've always wondered why so many houses there miss what we take basically as a given feature here in Europe?

I have only ever heard it the other way around, that Europe does not have AC (I literally know no one that does, probably because it is at least 0.40€/kWh here). I always thought that we just have a more massive building style that can retain heat/cold better and therefore is somehow not suited for AC?

[QuantumSingularity]

Well i don't know a single person who DOESN'T have AC. Everywhere i went across Europe there is always some form of AC ventilation. Being it hidden and ducted or window units, there is always something. Even one of my friend's parents who live in Norway have an AC system in their house. 95% of the time it works on heating though, but occasionally they use it for cooling. 

What's more i still work as an AC technician and absolutely every single apartment and house i've been in already has AT LEAST 1, usually they are 1 per room. In the new buildings, we install them hidden in the walls or the ceiling so it's as sleek and invisible as possible, but there hasn't been a single building in that last 10 years which opened w/o AC system(s) in it. Apartments are 99.9% equipped and houses are like 98%. The only ones missing those are houses in the very remote countryside where people go just for the weekend, but even they are now starting to get equipped. More and more i travel 2 hours on dirt roads to get to a remote house which is completely off the grid, but the owners want air conditioning, so we install it for them. Idk what live would be w/o AC here at the seaside. In the summer 98% of the time we get 33-38°C with constant 90%+ humidity. 

[Guest]

I made some notes about this cuz I thought it'd be fun to think about. 

In the end it came down to:

1. Upgrade computer

2. Get some bits and bobs like batteries 

3. Buy an electric piano 

4. Buy a hecka lotta movie DVDs and music CDs. 

 

Since my thoughts on the hypothetical...

I have upgraded my PC and I am satisfied with it. But by obligation I could just get the Ryzen 7 5,000 series. I have the Ryzen 5600. 

I'd probably max out my RAM with another 32gb. 

*Maybe* get a newer motherboard... I'm fine with my b450. I updated the bios and it's fine. 

 

I'd probably buy a couple rechargeable batteries. 

 

I would skip the piano and maybe get a synth or two. 

 

Thus far I'm expecting a spent budget of 

$200 CPU 

$90 ram 

$100~ batteries 

$390. 

 

1~2 synth for $800~ each for the models I want. 

$1600 + $390

$1,990. 

 

So I'd basically have $3,000 to buy movie DVD and music CD.... But based on the prices, I can't see my spending more then $1,000 on those. 

$2,990 spent. $2,010 to go. 

 

Yamaha HS8 are cool. $500/pair

$2,490 spent. 

Maybe I'd buy some house garden equipment just for the convenience of having my own vegetables. Say... $500 in supplies? 

$2990. 

Scoop Linus' crew a few pack of chicken nuggets for $10 to round things out and cook up. 

 

$3,000 spent. $2,000 to go...

Some big music production desks are like $500 and look über useful. 

$3,500 spent. 

 

This is hard.... I own everything I want including a good pc, an air fryer, ....

Idk, I might just buy things to give away...

 

Maybe I'd setup a Nas and get some kind Ethernet cables. Say $1,000 in stuff if I get help and get some super good stuff. 

$4,500 spent. 

 

Now I guess I'd allow the remaining $500 to go to a fan of lmg to get a $500 value of computer upgrade stuff. Probably more if I don't get as much Nas and Ethernet stuff. 

Help one or two audience members get 1050s or something. 

Actually... Yeah, I'd buy a number of used graphics cards on eBay and have Linus give the used GPU away.