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.

 

[Colif]

Fans aren't as quiet as I was hoping they would be.
I had been hoping they would be better. No one had reported any problems with them for months. Anyway, I couldn't order case without the fans installed so I had to take the risk.

Probably get these next week:
2 x Bequiet Silent Wings 4 120mm white
4 x Bequiet Silent Wings 4 140mm White

They cheaper than Noctua and also come in the right shades

If I use the credit I have, It costs me about $10. Going to make sure its applied this time. Have to ring them up day I order to make sure.

this can wait a while

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[Zed Clampet]

Fans aren't as quiet as I was hoping they would be.
I had been hoping they would be better. No one had reported any problems with them for months. Anyway, I couldn't order case without the fans installed so I had to take the risk.

Probably get these next week:
2 x Bequiet Silent Wings 4 120mm white
4 x Bequiet Silent Wings 4 140mm White

They cheaper than Noctua and also come in the right shades

If I use the credit I have, It costs me about $10. Going to make sure its applied this time. Have to ring them up day I order to make sure.

this can wait a while

UNIVERSAL 4- SLOTS VERTICAL GPU KIT (WITH GEN 4 RISER) - LIAN LI is a Leading Provider of PC Cases | Computer Cases

UNIVERSAL 4- SLOTS VERTICAL GPU KIT(with Gen 4 riser)- For Full Tower / ATX Mid-Tower Supports up to 4 slots GPU at vertical mounting position to show off in most of LIAN LI cases. Includes a PCIe 4.0 riser cable for seamless connectivity. AVAILABLE IN 2 COLORS White BUY NOW Black BUY NOW...

lian-li.com

My Noctua seem crazy loud, but I've been using laptops for over a decade, so I'm just not used to it.

 

[Colif]

My Noctua seem crazy loud,

Those are two words not normally associated with each other.
I have 3 Noctua in current case and I can't hear them.

What size is it? Is it exhaust? Have you set a fan curve?

i would buy Noctua but I can get all 6 Bequiet fans for less than 3 Noctua 140mm fans cost. Its not something I want to spend right now.

Just realised the credit I have is for fans. So I am at least spending it on what it was originally for. Sick of buying fans

 

[Zed Clampet]

Those are two words not normally associated with each other.
I have 3 Noctua in current case and I can't hear them.

What size is it? Is it exhaust? Have you set a fan curve?

i would buy Noctua but I can get all 6 Bequiet fans for less than 3 Noctua 140mm fans cost. Its not something I want to spend right now.

Just realised the credit I have is for fans. So I am at least spending it on what it was originally for. Sick of buying fans

Actually, I remembered after I posted this that I just have them running too fast all the time. I keep forgetting that I need to set that up.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Those are two words not normally associated with each other.
I have 3 Noctua in current case and I can't hear them.

What size is it? Is it exhaust? Have you set a fan curve?

i would buy Noctua but I can get all 6 Bequiet fans for less than 3 Noctua 140mm fans cost. Its not something I want to spend right now.

Just realised the credit I have is for fans. So I am at least spending it on what it was originally for. Sick of buying fans

Eh, they are still a lot louder than I'm used to, but that's because you can't normally hear laptop fans. Doesn't matter. I use my headphones anyway.

 

[Colif]

They shouldn't be.
What size are they?

I have 3 x 140mm Noctuas as intake, they only running at 328rpm. They don't need to be any faster as they dump plenty of air into PC. Running them over 400 and I can hear them at idle.
It can take time to get the right curves. Took me a few weeks.

I only ever hear my intake fans if CPU is over 70C as they ramp up then. I can hear something from PC but its not an obvious fan noise. I have 9 fans running in my system so its hard to say.

its still quiet enough that I can hear almost every other noise in the house.

New PC will have less fans running but only as I don't need to run GPU fans to aid in cooling. I will actually have more fans in the system though. 6 in case, 2 in cooler, 3 in GPU and 1 in PSU.

I saw a case earlier with 7 case fans and then they added a 360 AIO which had 3 more fans... it wasn't even a big case to start with.

6 intake fans in a water cooled system just feels like too much effort, the rad doesn't need that much air.