New PC advice

[Vae]

As is the case every so many years I turn to fellow Freddy's for a little guidance in the right direction. I'm no longer a huge PC gamer but my current setup is now very much showing it's age so I think it's time to bite the bullet and look to replace it. In the past I've always built my own setup but I'm getting to the age/point where I'd consider paying the extra for a pre-built to save me the hassle.

Current setup is:
Bought 2017
GIGABYTE GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 AMD Ryzen CPU AM4 Socket DDR4 PCIe Gen3 USB 3.1 GB LAN Micro ATX
AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Desktop CPU-AM4(Quad Core,3.5GHz -3.7GHz Turbo,65W)
G.SKILL F4-3200C14D-16GFX 16 GB (8 GB x 2) Flare X Series DDR4 3200 MHz PC4-25600 CL14 Dual Channel Memory Kit - Black
Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB 2.5 inch Solid State Drive
Bought 2016
Corsair Builder Series CXM 750W Modular 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX/EPS PSU
Bought 2013
Sapphire 11200-07-20G Graphics Card (2GB, HD7850, GDDR5) (from 2013)
1 TB HDD

From browsing recommendation lists this seems to be a reasonable recommendation but I'd appreciate any advice
Acer-Predator-Orion-3000-Gaming

 

[ECA]

Your cpu is old but you don't need to spend a lot of money.

Just update your motherboard bios and drop in a new cpu:


View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Ryzen-5600X-Processor-Cache/dp/B09VCHR1VH

PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 Fighter 10GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Order PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 Fighter 10GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

For £500 , will get you more perf than that £1k prebuilt.

 

[caLLous]

And give it a month or whatever until the Ryzen 7000 comes out and the older AM4 chips (Ryzen 5000) will probably be even cheaper.

 

[ECA]

And give it a month or whatever until the Ryzen 7000 comes out and the older AM4 chips (Ryzen 5000) will probably be even cheaper.

I got a 5600 for £135 a few weeks back, you can order them for around that on aliexpress.

 

[caLLous]

I got a 5600 for £135 a few weeks back, you can order them for around that on aliexpress.

True, I saw a 5900x at something like a 40% reduction on Amazon a couple of weeks ago. As a consequence of AM5 coming out though I'd anticipate a permanent reduction of AM4 board/CPU prices.

 

[Vae]

Thanks ECA, Callous. I hadn't realised that my motherboard would still be relevant 5 years later - I'm not used to that! I've updated the bios and am eyeing up the 5600X (only about £7 more than the 5600 on Amazon) but you might be right that it makes sense to wait a few weeks (looks like announcement on Ryzen 7000 is today and release on 15 Sept). I think the gfx card is the real issue so seems like the suggested Radeon 6700 is the best current upgrade, although the price increased by £30 this morning

Is Aliexpress a reliable source for purchasing from - I've always thought that it is a bit dodgy.

 

[BloodOmen]

Your cpu is old but you don't need to spend a lot of money.

Just update your motherboard bios and drop in a new cpu:


View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Ryzen-5600X-Processor-Cache/dp/B09VCHR1VH

PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 Fighter 10GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Order PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 Fighter 10GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

For £500 , will get you more perf than that £1k prebuilt.

Wouldn't even bother with a 6700 tbh, 6600 XT for around £350 would likely last just as long. As for Chip - Agree, if you're not comfortable with overclocking i'd get a 5600x... if you are comfortable with overclocking i'd just get a 5600 and overclock it. MSI Tomahawk B550 is a nice mobo too ( assuming you don't mind board updating too...)

 

[ECA]

Wouldn't even bother with a 6700 tbh, 6600 XT for around £350 would likely last just as long. As for Chip - Agree, if you're not comfortable with overclocking i'd get a 5600x... if you are comfortable with overclocking i'd just get a 5600 and overclock it. MSI Tomahawk B550 is a nice mobo too ( assuming you don't mind board updating too...)

The 6700 i linked is cheaper than a 6600xt at 350

 

[BloodOmen]

The 6700 i linked is cheaper than a 6600xt at 350

Ah thats fair enough then hard to keep track of gpu prices atm since crypto is crashing glad to see them falling tbh. I bought my 6600 XT a few months back, was still £350 then, other cards were £400-600+

 

[Vae]

Ok further trouble-shooting advice needed!

Installed the Radeon 6700 and connected the 6 pin and 6+2 pin power connectors (same cable which it seems is not ideal but apparently should still work). When I power the system on I get a long beep and then 2 (possibly 3 depending on how you count the long beep) short beeps from the AMI bios indicating no graphics card detected. The fans on the card spin initially then stop after the bios beeps. I don’t get anything on screen at any point but the old graphics card still works fine when I switch it back in so definitely something to do with switching in the new card.

The motherboard socket is x16 PCI 3.0 whereas the card is PCI 4.0 but I believe it should still work.
Power supply is a Corsair750M so should be able to provide sufficient power.

Am I being stupid and missing something obvious or is there some incompatibility?

 

[Vae]

Hmm further investigation indicates that daisy chaining of the 2 connectors on one cable might be an issue so I’ve ordered an extra cable but any other suggestions also welcome!

 

[ECA]

Could be power, make sure your new cables ( tbh you should have some spares in the psu box if you didnt plug them all in initially ) are correct for your psu, you can't mix brands modular cables and sometimes even cross generation from the same make can be an issue.

pcie is backwards compatible so that isn't an issue.

I would check cables are fully in on both ends, and use DDU to uninstall drivers before putting the new card in.

Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) download version 18.0.8.1

Download Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) - Remove AMD/NVIDIA/INTEL Graphics Drivers Cleanly - DDU is a driver removal utility that helps you completely uninstall AMD/NVIDIA graphics card drivers and packages from your system, leaving no leftovers behind, including registry keys, folders, files...

www.guru3d.com

After that i'd be test on another pc or a friends pc - not always an option I know, other than that you might be on an rma.

One nice thing about upcoming r7000 series is they all have a ( shitty ) igpu on them so diagnosing edge cases like this becomes a lot less frustrating.

 

[BloodOmen]

Were it not for the no graphics card detected message I'd have said ram personally, usually PC's beep like hell on startup when its a ram issue.

 

[gunner440]

Do you game much nowadays? A 500gb SSD is cutting it very fine I think.

 

[DaGaffer]

OK. Can I build a decent gaming PC for €2000? Excluding peripherals?

I've tried a few pc builder tools and I think I can, but I'm probably missing stuff in areas like cooling and power which seem to have moved on quite a bit since the last time I built a pc, which was in....2008!

 

[Scouse]

OK. Can I build a decent gaming PC for €2000? Excluding peripherals?

I've tried a few pc builder tools and I think I can, but I'm probably missing stuff in areas like cooling and power which seem to have moved on quite a bit since the last time I built a pc, which was in....2008!

Depends on what resolution / fps you want to run the AAA titles as a minimum.

I looked at top-end GFX cards recently. They were LULWAT prices.

But I always started with that. I want 4k 120fps. But I put together a 1080Ti and i7-8700k combo a few years back and it's still alreet. (Games are hobbled by consoles anyway - so only a few things push - but ray tracing would be nice).

 

[old.Osy]

View: https://twitter.com/JayzTwoCents/status/1569014840005640193

 

[Scouse]

@DaGaffer

8Pack Supernova - AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X @ 4.8GHz DDR5 Extreme Overcl | OcUK

Order now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[ECA]

OK. Can I build a decent gaming PC for €2000? Excluding peripherals?

I've tried a few pc builder tools and I think I can, but I'm probably missing stuff in areas like cooling and power which seem to have moved on quite a bit since the last time I built a pc, which was in....2008!

Easily, but you're better off waiting at least a few weeks.
AMDs AM5 ( new gen platform with next 4-5 years of support ) is launching in 2-3 weeks. ( sept 27 on sale ).

New graphics cards are due end of year... /early next year, but you could buy something solid midrange ( 6700 for £330 ), and then upgrade the gpu when the new cards are finally available.

I think the nvidia announcement is sept 20th for the 4000 series.

 

[BloodOmen]

Easily, but you're better off waiting at least a few weeks.
AMDs AM5 ( new gen platform with next 4-5 years of support ) is launching in 2-3 weeks. ( sept 27 on sale ).

New graphics cards are due end of year... /early next year, but you could buy something solid midrange ( 6700 for £330 ), and then upgrade the gpu when the new cards are finally available.

I think the nvidia announcement is sept 20th for the 4000 series.

Going to be a nightmare getting hold of 4000 series tbh, GPU prices may be down thanks to crypto shitting its pants but scalpers will still be all over the pre-order pages with order bots.

 

[ECA]

Going to be a nightmare getting hold of 4000 series tbh, GPU prices may be down thanks to crypto shitting its pants but scalpers will still be all over the pre-order pages with order bots.

Nvidia/amd put their orders in with the fabs for these years ago, they're locked in to oversupply because they assumed crypto demand would still be there.
Nvidia even talked about it on earnings call that they're trying to artificially constrain supply to keep prices up... but at some point you need to sell the cards, so we'll see.

 

[Wij]

that they're trying to artificially constrain supply to keep prices up

Cunts gonna cunt :/

 

[DaGaffer]

Easily, but you're better off waiting at least a few weeks.
AMDs AM5 ( new gen platform with next 4-5 years of support ) is launching in 2-3 weeks. ( sept 27 on sale ).

New graphics cards are due end of year... /early next year, but you could buy something solid midrange ( 6700 for £330 ), and then upgrade the gpu when the new cards are finally available.

I think the nvidia announcement is sept 20th for the 4000 series.

Looks like AM5 mobos are going to be mad money and stay that way for a while, and of course the nVidia announcement was pure madness.

I can go Intel (i7-12700F) and get DDR5 now and with an RTX3070 that might be future proof enough, and I can do it for €2100. Hmmmm...

 

[Scouse]

RTX3070 that might be future proof enough, and I can do it for €2100

What you running now? My 1080Ti is doing everything I need and it'd be a cool grand to double performance (which is usually my bar for "think about it"). And even then the think about it bit usually happens when the GFX card is £350, not a fucking grand.

 

[DaGaffer]

What you running now? My 1080Ti is doing everything I need and it'd be a cool grand to double performance (which is usually my bar for "think about it"). And even then the think about it bit usually happens when the GFX card is £350, not a fucking grand.

I'm effectively starting from scratch. I stopped playing PC games when my son was born (ten years ago!) and its only now I feel I have the free time to get back into it. I've got an old Lenovo gaming laptop that's on its last legs.

 

[caLLous]

Looks like AM5 mobos are going to be mad money and stay that way for a while, and of course the nVidia announcement was pure madness.

I can go Intel (i7-12700F) and get DDR5 now and with an RTX3070 that might be future proof enough, and I can do it for €2100. Hmmmm...

AMD has just reduced the prices of their 6000 cards, they're worth considering - Nvidia have DLSS and superior ray tracing but AMD's cards typically have more grunt and their FSR tech has come on in leaps and bounds since they launched it (especially in the last 6 months). Their 7000 cards are launching November 3rd and, while there are several reasons that they should be cheaper to manufacture (chiplet design, existing relationship with TSMC, lower power draw meaning less insane cooling requirements etc), whether those savings are passed onto the consumer in this climate is anybody's guess. If the cards are up to scratch and they price them sensibly they could do what they did to Intel with Ryzen back in the day and really take a bite out of Nvidia's market share.

The AM5 board prices that have leaked are indeed hilarious but those are mostly the all singing all dancing X670E chipset boards, there are bound to be cheaper options when the X670 and B650(E) boards see the light of day and, if you're starting from scratch, AMD commit to sticking with their sockets for ages so a board bought now will be good for longer than an equivalent Intel one, in terms of being able to drop a new CPU in in a few years. They only take DDR5 but if starting from scratch that's not an issue (and DDR5 is surprisingly cheap).

 

[DaGaffer]

AMD has just reduced the prices of their 6000 cards, they're worth considering - Nvidia have DLSS and superior ray tracing but AMD's cards typically have more grunt and their FSR tech has come on in leaps and bounds since they launched it (especially in the last 6 months). Their 7000 cards are launching November 3rd and, while there are several reasons that they should be cheaper to manufacture (chiplet design, existing relationship with TSMC, lower power draw meaning less insane cooling requirements etc), whether those savings are passed onto the consumer in this climate is anybody's guess. If the cards are up to scratch and they price them sensibly they could do what they did to Intel with Ryzen back in the day and really take a bite out of Nvidia's market share.

The AM5 board prices that have leaked are indeed hilarious but those are mostly the all singing all dancing X670E chipset boards, there are bound to be cheaper options when the X670 and B650(E) boards see the light of day and, if you're starting from scratch, AMD commit to sticking with their sockets for ages so a board bought now will be good for longer than an equivalent Intel one, in terms of being able to drop a new CPU in in a few years. They only take DDR5 but if starting from scratch that's not an issue (and DDR5 is surprisingly cheap).

Reading around over the last couple of days, I genuinely doubt there are going to be any affordable AM5 motherboards on the market until next year, and I'm not really prepared to wait six months for a new PC. But I will wait two, and it looks like there could be a bit of bonanza of perfectly decent kit this black Friday.

I also need to keep an eye on UK sites, because while its certainly still a total pain in the arse for me to order from Brexitopolis, the freefalling Pound might make it worth all the dicking around (i get deliveries to a friend in NI)

 

[caLLous]

Reading around over the last couple of days, I genuinely doubt there are going to be any affordable AM5 motherboards on the market until next year, and I'm not really prepared to wait six months for a new PC. But I will wait two, and it looks like there could be a bit of bonanza of perfectly decent kit this black Friday.

I also need to keep an eye on UK sites, because while its certainly still a total pain in the arse for me to order from Brexitopolis, the freefalling Pound might make it worth all the dicking around (i get deliveries to a friend in NI)

Worth it until they jack the GBP prices up to compensate. Logitech released a fancy direct drive steering wheel / pedals set at £1150 on September 21st and a couple of hours after Kwarteng's "fiscal event" they raised the price by £200. No other market saw such a rise, I wonder why...