Random Hardware topics

[BeardyHat]

I may need some help. I'm thinking about giving the PC I just made to my wife and building a new one for myself that has two GPUs, possibly an Nvidia one for AI and an AMD one for playing games (both at the same time).

HOWEVER. after researching it, it would be a whole lot easier to just get an OP Nvidia card, like a 5080 TI or just losing my mind and getting the 5090. If the 5080 had 24 GB of VRAM as it should have, it would be the perfect solution. If the 5090 were selling for the $2000 that Nvidia said it would, it would be the perfect solution. But neither of these things exist, so my only real option looks like waiting for a 5080 TI or Super if I don't go the two GPU route.

The problem with the 2 GPU route is that one or both will be hamstrung and not run as quickly as they would if they were the only GPU, at least not on any of the motherboards that I've looked at.

Also, having that setup is more likely to cause constant headaches, and I like things simple.

I experimented with this a little bit on my new laptop, having the integrated RTX GPU and then also plugging in my eGPU with Radeon 6650 XT. It actually worked with very little trouble, especially with applications and games that allowed me to select my preferred GPU.

That said, I only experimented with it briefly, just to see how it would work.

Also, I get this feeling constantly. It's fun to always be looking towards the next thing and researching it. I'm already considering another hardware purchase that I don't need. I haven't even sold the other hardware I'm trying to get rid of yet...

I feel like I'm in Star Wars.

I'm not usually attracted to cosmetics in PC builds, but this one has got me going. Definitely wouldn't mind having it at home.

 

[Colif]

Laptops are slightly different but I don't think you will find any that have an AMD CPU & a Nvidia GPU. Most of them actually still only have one GPU, they also just use the graphics cores in the CPU for some things. They are designed to switch between the two devices depending on the task.

Probably is a way to do it on desktop or a way to set the AI to only use one card.

 

[Colif]

I'm not usually attracted to cosmetics in PC builds, but this one has got me going. Definitely wouldn't mind having it at home.

i wouldn't mind it either. I am building it at a friends house as I don't have the space here to construct it. Downside is its taking longer than it would have it I were just doing it myself but he makes more PC than I do so he offered to help. Another set of eyes for anything I might miss. He works all day, and we only get a few hours each night. It should be finished tonight, just need to put drivers on it and run a few tests now. Then I bring it home tomorrow and throw my GPU in.

I wasn't in that much of a rush, I had things I had to do before I could swap. Like fix my Microsoft logon or make sure I can plug my current speakers into new PC via spdif or make sure I have a list of programs I want to install again. Getting windows back to normal takes longer than building the PC ever does. After 5 years on win 11, I am sure I will miss some things.

Cosmetics? do you mean the colour or the rgb? Or just what things look like in general?

Board only had very limited rgb on it compared to my current one. I did notice that the shade of blue on motherboard and cooler seems to match. Might try to match that on my GPU when I put it in. Ram is on rainbow puke defaults so I will swap that as well.

Case has no RGB fans. I didn't choose it for its looks... focus was on cooling, I would have got same case if it had RGB fans. It had the best case thermals of any case released last year. A lot of cases coming out this year are in answer to it

Though I did choose its color as I wanted to be able to see into the case. Kind of pointless having a window if you can't see inside it
Only way I can see inside my current PC is with lighting on. Its like a black hole. My last two cases seem to be able to suck light out of the room - below is my last PC, not current.

Really the biggest difference between my two last two cases is the tint on the glass. Current is dark tint so I have always been fighting against the glass itself to see inside. New case has no tint which is really what I would have preferred all along. Last case bought in 2020 when there really wasn't a lot of choices available.

New case is a combo of my last two.

1. Silverstone FT02 has bottom intakes and blows air up over parts and exhausts out of top
2. Fractal Design Meshify S2 has front intakes and blows air through case and exhausts out the back.

Antec Flux Pro does both.