I'll have the right Bios ready on a USB fob in advance. That seems pretty simple.
I will be building this, but I'm going to try to involve him as much as possible and make a learning experience out of this. He wants to learn how to build a PC so he can upgrade it in the future, and it will take a lot longer to complete this way, but he'll get a lot more out of it.
He also wants to learn about creating a YouTube video, so I'm going to see if I can get their video camera ahead of time to see how to get the best results out of it.
The 4070 I'm looking at is 4.96" tall. and the Meshify C case is 8.35" wide, so I think accounting for the internal offset of the MB there is likely about an inch or more to spare.
Emh.. yeah it's a good idea to check that compatibility too, but I meant the length haha.
I quickly checked: Meshify C can handle 315mm with a front-fan and the 4070 Windforce is just 261mm.
I thought about that case too, that's why I remembered some potential issues.
To give an example that was around while I chose my current case:
The MSI 2080 Super Gaming X is 328mm.
But it shouldn't be any issue in the future to simply choose a card that fits.
Mhh, I checked the mobo and it has two nvme slots. I'd really recommend to put another nvme into the system. The speed difference is quite massive, but the costs are nearly identical here in Europe.
It could make a difference for loading times and while video editing - plus you don't have to route power+data cables (which could make for a good learning experience, but I really hate my harddrive cables every time I open the backside..)
I just did a quick test, since I have both drives from the list:
Samsung 870 evo (sata):
Samsung 970 evo plus (M.2 pci-e 3.0):
This keeps spiraling up.
now two NVMe drives and an Asus MB.
This MB will need drivers downloaded before the WiFi will work, but that's no biggie since I'll have an ethernet connection to the Internet for the installation, but it still may require a firmware upgrade
Look perfect!
May I ask why you chose the Asus mobo? No complaints, just wondering.
And I'll check that Crucial nvme, since some of the crucial have issues with massively dropping in speed like the BX sata series.
Others are great though.
Look perfect!
May I ask why you chose the Asus mobo? No complaints, just wondering.
And I'll check that Crucial nvme, since some of the crucial have issues with massively dropping in speed like the BX sata series.
Others are great though.
I removed the DDR4 memory. I have 16 Gb of faster DDR4 memory that I'll never use.
ASUS tends to work better with XMP profiles. I've never used an MSI motherboard, but I have been bitten by Gigabyte.
I've used Samsung SSD's for many years and never had an issue with them even for long term use.
I removed the DDR4 memory. I have 16 Gb of faster DDR4 memory that I'll never use.
ASUS tends to work better with XMP profiles. I've never used an MSI motherboard, but I have been bitten by Gigabyte.
I've used Samsung SSD's for many years and never had an issue with them even for long term use.
Nice!
Gigabyte is a bit hit & miss, I agree. My Z490 Gaming X and now B650 Gaming X are working very well, the AM5 board is even considered one of the best regarding RAM stability.
But I also had friends with GB Intel boards that weren't great..
MSI B550 boards shouldn't have any issues. I've built 3 PCs with their B550 Gaming Plus. No issues in 4 years.
Asus should be very solid too for B550 though and it looks better in my view.
They had some "issues" with tweaking some Defaults a bit too far with some premium boards and ofc. their premium safety function not protecting, but actively hindering the standard safeties from frying some 7800X3D CPUs.
But sh*t happens sometimes and overall, their boards are always a good choice, especially the mid-tier stuff.
Samsung SSDs are very good, I agree. Just make sure to update the firmware on any 980 Pro and 990 Pro. They probably ship already up-to-date, but there was some little scandal about SSDs killing themselves with specific firmware versions..
I've checked the Crucial P3 and sadly, you shouldn't get that one.
It's QLC and uses only SLC cache, no DRAM cache. Awful performance when close to being full or when writing big amounts.
And not great performance for applications.
Writing directly in "QLC mode" is very slow, since each storage cell has 4 layers (Quad Level Cell).
Each cell has Layer 1: 0 or 1, then the next layer with 0|1 for either the 0 or the 1 on layer 1 etc.
Which means QLC has 33% more storage than TLC, with the same amount of storage cells.
But it's very slow to write, since every 0 or 1 needs to first go throughout each layer.
When writing, the ssd controller writes in SLC mode, which is very fast, since it only writes onto the first layer of each cell.
This works fine on the Crucial P3, until the SLC Cache becomes full or the drive gets too full.
Then, it breaks down to
Not that big of an issue in day to day use, but there are other drives who barely cost more and don't have these issues due to either being just TLC, having a DRAM cache.
Tell us the exact model and I'll check
They started to introduce the feature to almost every board, when they figured out that they'd have unsold motherboards and too many CPUs to fit into a single BIOS.
If you'd upgrade from a Ryzen 1800X to 5600X, you'd have to flash the board to make it run with the 5600X, while it would become unusable with the 1800X.
Honestly, I don't think so. If the BIOS doesn't know the CPU, it'll simply show a CPU error and that's it.
The minimum BIOS version is from 31st December '23. I'd say it should work, but it might not..
Depending on your time frame:
AFAIK AMD sends out loaner CPUs, when initiating a support ticket and sending proof of purchase
Appreciate all the suggestions and help. I really want this to be a good experience for Jack! I think you've all helped make this a computer he'll enjoy putting together and using!
GPUs are going to be debatable.
The main question is whether the PC is going to be CPU limited and waste GPU horsepower.
A RX 6700-XT or 4060 for around $300 is a good value and the 4070 is a lot more $ for the extra 50%+ .
A 4060 Ti is about 37% less powerful than a 4070 and about a half step in cost.
A 3080 can be had for similar money, but the 4070 slightly bests it and uses less power.
I may be off, but he is looking to run MSFS on his PC driving a fast 2650x1440 display which supports DLSS 3 and other features Nvidia has support for and there is still more support for NVidia features in many games. He is also planning to edit videos which leverage Cuda cores for effects, and rendering.
DaVinci Resolve is a free and very powerful NLE that will heavily utilize the Cuda Cores. It eats up GPU horsepower compared to some other NLE's, but it is free with no subscription.
He may also want to broadcast gaming. This I'm guessing at and this system may be a bit under spec'd to do that well.
The 4070 may be a splurge on this system, but I think it will end up well utilized. I could possibly save them $200 on the GPU. FWIW, he does also have a Quest 2, but I'm not sure he is ever going to connect it to the PC. I have seen that there were some compatibility issues with this a while back, but they appear to have been resolved.
nm. grey market.
Was looking at a website that sells Windows 11 for $34, but it appears that they sell unused OEM activations keys that will likely never be used.
I don't think so, almost everything regarding that runs on the video encoding section of the GPU. So you only lose fps, when the GPU becomes power limited.
The CPU barely has to do anything apart from moving some data and managing the tasks.
I'm yet to see a game that uses 8 cores to 100%.
As long as it doesn't, there's basically no fps loss for running a background task.
nm. grey market.
Was looking at a website that sells Windows 11 for $34, but it appears that they sell unused OEM activations keys that will likely never be used.
Yep, that's how (I guess) most consumers get their keys.
I'm not sure about the US, but in the EU, Microsoft tried to stop this but the result was it becoming officially legal.
Worst thing that can happen is that one day his Windows complaints and then you put in another cheap key.
Never happened to anyone I know.
Just make sure that the store seems legit, has trustworthy reviews and mentions exactly what type of key it is.
I'm not saying it won't work. They are legit OEM keys that are unused. However they mention that while they give you a key, "if it doesn't work, they'll give you another". To me that sounds a bit shady.
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