Depends on what sites you visit, but generally the priority should be to have (at least) 16GB of RAM. A somewhat new dual core CPU is sufficient. I run one browser with about 20 tabs open in addition to half a dozen other programs on a laptop with a Core i5 6300U and the CPU isn't even breaking swea...

You don't need much power for your current components. A 400W PSU should be plenty for that. If you want a PSU that will continue to serve you even after a future upgrade you might consider going for a 500W rating (if you get a more power hungry video card). Out of the ones listed I'd go for one fro...

... I haven't had good luck with the cheaper... ... one of them would randomly reboot the PC and I think another just died. There are a couple of factors to consider: 1. What's the output waveform from the UPS? Many UPS deliver a saw-tooth instead of pure sine. That's good for efficiency and produc...

Anyone made the leap recently from air --> liquid or vice-versa? And if so, what made you finally pick one or the other? Here's my story: There were several reasons: 1. I've been wanting to do it for about 15 years, but not thought I could motivate it financially. (Still can't, but at least I found...

I wasn't sure if I want to use the motherboard heatsink for SSD or the Corsair one. But since I was not able to move the screws for mounting the heatsink to SSD slot one (which is the only one for PCIE4), I'm currently using the original one. Had to improvise by using one of the crews so I could fi...

Why not just put some adhesive tape along the edges?
Half of the (tape) width on the aluminium plate and then angled up on the side of the fans. Even if it isn't a perfect seal it should provide enough flow resistance to basically eliminate the leakage.

DJTurboToJo wrote: ↑

Fri May 01, 2020 1:37 pm

... When I put all the pieces together I forgot to attach the 12V ATX (8pin). ...

I think it's safe to say that we've all been there...

Those power connectors are what feed the CPU, so why didn't you think of checking it at the first sign of problem?

... There is better memory than what i suggested... but becomes very expensive for marginal gain, also its not that easy to find 3600CL16 64gb, ... From the tests and reviews I've seen the performance gains of faster memory really start dropping off at speeds above 3.0 GHz At the same time the cost...

Vampirtc wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 28, 2020 7:12 am

In all honesty i5-2500k with 12GB RAM still fits my requirments.

So a Ryzen 5 3400G should be more than enough to cover your needs for years to come then...?

Gives you money to spare now and spend on even better (and cheaper) hardware later, when you can make use of it.

I've recently gone to water cooling.
Will write a long commentary on it.

- what do you think about x570 boards, how can you make it silent? It's not like back then. In the old days there were 4cm high speed fans that were running constantly to keep the temperature at bay during regular use. Now the fan is bigger and semi passive, only used sparingly if/when the chip is ...

... the 'future proof' argument in favor of amd doesn't factor in much for me in this case, because am4 is almost EOL and it's unlikely photoshop suddenly starts scaling with more cores. ... The "EOL" argument is moot since Intel's current offerings are about four years past that point already and ...

I would wait for Z490, ... and 10 core is coming, maybe could be worth it to you... As I stated before: Why upgrade to the 2016 standard, at an overprice? The desired lifetime of the computer is the main reason to stay clear of these Skylake(++++...) CPUs. If I understand correctly, motherboard has...

I agree with Steve. For a gaming computer you first need to define what graphic performance you need and then pick parts to reach that objective. (And of course the more performance you want/need, the more expensive it will be.) Your current pick is about good enough for 1080p at ~60 fps with high s...

... should I go with a safer route by picking a semi passive power supply. Is 450W enough? 450W should be plenty, until you get a much more powerful video card to run VR. I can't say if semi passive PSU is better. As for CPU I think 3700X or i9700k would work well as well and keep things a little l...

DJTurboToJo wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 08, 2020 9:57 am

So you're using M.2 SATA on one of the M.2 slots, right? Isn't this then capped by SATAIII limit...?

No. That SSD's read/write speed is below the SATA3 transfer speed (as is most budget SSDs).

As for motherboard I'm currently running an MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus , which is very similar to the ... Edge WiFi but without the WiFi. These MSI boards have gotten a lot of criticism for poor VMR efficiency and cooling, but it's good enough unless you overclock. Notice that most X570 boards require...

I'd like to vent my opinion in these matters: 1. What you need to replace: CPU, graphics, motherboard, RAM. 2. What you should also replace: The older (smaller) HDDs. The PSU might be considered for a replacement as well, to make the computer less noisy. I agree with the others that AMD is the way t...

One key question that hasn't been addressed is what background noise there are in the room.
It make a huge difference if you're living in a rural area and use passive ventilation in your home or if you live at a busy city street with a/c and forced ventilation.

As I see it there are currently three major types of liquid cooling, listed below, and a new product should bring some sort of improvement to any one of these. 1. Heatpipe. Fixed format cooling where the heat is transfered a fairly short distance from hotspot to cooling fins. Cheap and efficient. 2....

I think this isn't a simple yes/no question. As long as the heated air from the video card is sufficiently cool there shouldn't be any problems. For that air to be cool enough a good combo of low power video card an high fan speed. No 250+W video card rigged for quiet running will fulfil that prereq...

CA_Steve wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 02, 2020 12:06 pm

... Ryzen 2xxx instead of 3xxx ...? ...

There's a bit of a price difference to take into account. With a Ryzen 5 3600 at the same or higher price than Ryzen 7 2700X the latter might be a better option for highly multithreaded tasks (at that price point).

Start out by using what you have! Is there a problem? More exactly what is that problem? If too much fan noise, reduce the fan speed and/or adjust the fan curves. Do take all fans into consideration. By speeding up a relatively quiet fan you might be able to slow a noisier down while maintaining acc...

If the rest of the computer is as old as the graphics card my recommendations, short of getting a new computer, would be to: First open the computer and blow it clean from dust. (I assume the problem is "high temperatures" and dust buildup is likely the problem.) If cleaning isn't sufficient, get a ...

I agree with the futility in broad "hunting" for information.
What does work is to have one or a few trusted reviewers and keep an eye out on what news they present. Then, if you find something interesting, you can try to find other opinions on the same product.

Just before Christmas I fanally got around to install my water cooling, and there are some lessons I've learned. 1. Some pumps are noisier than other. I originaly bought a DC-LT and it was far from quiet. It's not very powerful either, so even before installing it I got a D5 755 instead. That's moun...

silenceorgtfo wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 17, 2020 7:13 am

From what i've read, MSI and GB fans are on idle unless needed. ...

I can confirm this. "Needed" is if you either have two PCIe 4 NVMe SSDs in SATA 0 and shift loads of data or if your computer case is really hot inside.
The chipset on my MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus stay well below 40C with the fan off.

Your suggested cooling solution should be fine unless there's a graphics card that also need some air.
With a graphics card the primary concern should be to make sure there's a steady flow of cool air in the lower region of the case.

If you upgrade the exhaust fan you could expect some affects: Sucking cool air away from the graphics card the GPU should run hotter and its fan run noisier. I'd suggest you first try to simply turn off the exhaust fan completely and study the overall effects. My son also has a Define C case, and th...

I'm all for Ryzen CPUs. Steve's comment on TDP is possibly true for the high end models. I run an R5 3600X which has an official TDP of 95W and it's using a solid 70W at full load. As for AMD's GPUs they aren't very power efficient when running at their regular factory overclocked speed. If frequenc...