What's your latest tech purchase?

RJARRRPCGP · Jan 23, 2022

seth1911 said:
No purchase but ill get in march a P6T6 WS Revolution from a friend with a Xeon X5660
3x 16 Lanes
2x 8 Lanes
1x 4 Lanes

View attachment 233496

I got that one on eBay, IIRC, in 2019 and like the P6T Deluxe that I had, it's incompatible with Radeon RX!

Also, unlike the P6T Deluxe, I had brand new RAM-related BSODs with the same RAM and settings! Windows 7 unexpectedly gave me a "BAD_POOL_HEADER" BSOD when installing Windows 7, real early on! Then later on, I was hoping I fixed it by trying another combination of RAM, but Windows 7 Windows Update failed with a "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA" BSOD! (0x00000050)

It lead to me using only 6 GB of triple-channel RAM for a while and then I eventually decided to squirt a lot of isopropyl alcohol into the RAM slots!

I still have yet to see a RAM-related BSOD with that 12 GB Corsair Vengeance triple-channel kit.

Don't be surprised if the BIOS magically loses settings if you have later than the following video cards installed:

Nvidia:

Later than GTX 980 series (Maxwell)

AMD:

Later than Radeon R9 series, most likely.

It's confirmed to work OK with a GeForce GTX 970. (Maxwell)

lexluthermiester · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
I still need to do lots of tests on it, but so far it does perform better than my GTX 1070.

It should perform much better. And good grief was that a score!!

Deleted member 202104 · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
Oh man, have I something special today.

Walked into my local Goodwill when I saw an unassuming black box priced at $129.49 sitting on the checkout counter.

I'm sure you can tell what it is, an external GPU box. Specifically, a Razer Core X.

So the first thing I did was ask if I could open it up, to which the cashier said yes.

And inside, I found...

...an MSI RX 5700XT! Absolutely unbelievable deal in this day and age.

Now, at this point, I was wondering if it was dead. When I got home, I put it into my testing system. After scaring me a bit with a black screen, it finally fired up and started working!

I still need to do lots of tests on it, but so far it does perform better than my GTX 1070.

Now I'm wondering why someone would just donate this to Goodwill. My current theory is that maybe the external enclosure died (currently trying to test it with my dad since he has a compatible laptop) and the previous owner wasn't tech-savvy. Or maybe the previous owner died and their family was getting rid of their stuff.

Nonetheless, I can't believe I'd find a deal this insane in the current market.

Now I just need Arctic Accelleros to go down in price since the stock cooler is a bit on the loud side.

That's an amazing deal! That card is currently selling repeatedly on ebay for between $700-$800.

INSTG8R · Jan 23, 2022

stinger608 said:
Crap! I have, yet to give a curved monitor a try.........Now I want to!

For 34” UW it really just makes sense tho mines 1000R vs that one at 1500R. My previous 27” was curved it didn’t make sense…

sam_86314 · Jan 23, 2022

lexluthermiester said:
It should perform much better. And good grief was that a score!!

It is performing better.

However, one major sticking point I have is how fricking loud it is under load. Maybe I spoiled myself with the Arctic Accelero on my 1070, but I can't stand how this card sounds.

I gotta figure out how to get the VRAM and VRM heatsinks off of my 1070 so I can put that cooler on this card. Sadly, it looks like all of the GPU coolers you could get (Accelero, Morpheus) are all discontinued now.

Also it looks like it suffers from the crappy/undersized thermal pad issue. I haven't removed the cooler yet, but the memory stays in the mid-to-high 90s at all times when under load. Also the hotspot temperature is kind of scary (105C to 110C), but from what I've heard it's normal?

phanbuey · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
It is performing better.

However, one major sticking point I have is how fricking loud it is under load. Maybe I spoiled myself with the Arctic Accelero on my 1070, but I can't stand how this card sounds.

I gotta figure out how to get the VRAM and VRM heatsinks off of my 1070 so I can put that cooler on this card. Sadly, it looks like all of the GPU coolers you could get (Accelero, Morpheus) are all discontinued now.

Also it looks like it suffers from the crappy/undersized thermal pad issue. I haven't removed the cooler yet, but the memory stays in the mid-to-high 90s at all times when under load. Also the hotspot temperature is kind of scary (105C to 110C), but from what I've heard it's normal?

Sounds like it might be time for an undervolt and a repaste.

RJARRRPCGP · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
Also the hotspot temperature is kind of scary (105C to 110C), but from what I've heard it's normal?

That may have been the cause of GTA V getting terminated unexpectedly on me, but it didn't happen until I had played GTA V for a while, with my PNY GeForce GTX 960 that I was using in 2018. PNY claims it was factory OC'ed, and then I saw that the GPU fan RPM was too low, but stupid me, didn't check the GPU fan RPM and just kept relaunching GTA V and noticing it happening sooner and sooner, it was looking like!
Then one day, saw that it was at or around 80C easily! I don't even know if I was doing much with it at the time of that GPU temp reading!

I had the eVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, which I bought on November 5, 2016, IIRC, but by 2018, I was afraid to use it, because of a recall from eVGA, where adding thermal pads, were required!
Now, I have added thermal pads to it already. After I lost my RX 5600 XT, I checked out my eVGA GeForce 1060 SC 3 GB from 2016 and saw that there were thermal pads omitted!
Major components were not getting the needed thermal transfer to the heatsink!

The thick thermal pads from the RX 5600 XT, were thick enough for the gaps on the GeForce GTX 1060.

R-T-B · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
Or maybe the previous owner died and their family was getting rid of their stuff.

That was my first sad, morbid thought. Very possible. Either way good luck you had finding it!

sam_86314 · Jan 23, 2022

phanbuey said:
Sounds like it might be time for an undervolt and a repaste.

I'm currently running it at 1000mV and 1900MHz. Lost a whopping two frames per second in Unigine Valley over stock, so this is fine.

I'll likely repaste it at some point, though I've heard that these MSI 5700 XTs also have woefully inadequate thermal pads on the memory modules, so I might need to replace those too.

AusWolf · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
It is performing better.

However, one major sticking point I have is how fricking loud it is under load. Maybe I spoiled myself with the Arctic Accelero on my 1070, but I can't stand how this card sounds.

I gotta figure out how to get the VRAM and VRM heatsinks off of my 1070 so I can put that cooler on this card. Sadly, it looks like all of the GPU coolers you could get (Accelero, Morpheus) are all discontinued now.

Also it looks like it suffers from the crappy/undersized thermal pad issue. I haven't removed the cooler yet, but the memory stays in the mid-to-high 90s at all times when under load. Also the hotspot temperature is kind of scary (105C to 110C), but from what I've heard it's normal?

I wouldn't really say it's normal - I just can't, despite having heard the same. Although, the Asus Rog Strix 5700 XT that I had suffered from the same thing. High hotspot temp, high memory temp, loud cooler... Welcome to the world of the 5700 XT, I'm afraid. :ohwell:

Whatever you do, the cooler mount on these cards is crap.

It might be worth a repaste to see if you can bring the hotspot down a bit. If it stays under 100 °C, I'd be happy (especially for 130 bucks, congrats!).

Mussels · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
Oh man, have I something special today.

Walked into my local Goodwill when I saw an unassuming black box priced at $129.49 sitting on the checkout counter.

I'm sure you can tell what it is, an external GPU box. Specifically, a Razer Core X.

So the first thing I did was ask if I could open it up, to which the cashier said yes.

And inside, I found...

...an MSI RX 5700XT! Absolutely unbelievable deal in this day and age.

Now, at this point, I was wondering if it was dead. When I got home, I put it into my testing system. After scaring me a bit with a black screen, it finally fired up and started working!

I still need to do lots of tests on it, but so far it does perform better than my GTX 1070.

Now I'm wondering why someone would just donate this to Goodwill. My current theory is that maybe the external enclosure died (currently trying to test it with my dad since he has a compatible laptop) and the previous owner wasn't tech-savvy. Or maybe the previous owner died and their family was getting rid of their stuff.

Nonetheless, I can't believe I'd find a deal this insane in the current market.

Now I just need Arctic Accelleros to go down in price since the stock cooler is a bit on the loud side.

The owner may have passed away, and unknown leftovers got sent to goodwill

I think a common tweak is better thermal pads and four washers on the back to increase the mounting pressure

seth1911 · Jan 23, 2022

I did now search over 2 hours for a sys for a friend of me max budget 350€, no way atm is everything too high:

Sys 1:
I3 10100F 80€
H410 Board 62€
16GB RAM 60€
-----------------
202€ + GT 1030 110€ = 312€

Sys 2 IGP:
I5 11500 189€ / 12500 211€
B560 Board 90€ / B660 100€
16GB RAM 65€ -----
-----------------
354€ / 376€

Sys 3 IGP:
Renoir 4650G 200€
B450 Board 71€
16GB RAM 65€
-----------------
336€

I told em if he want a sys now, he should take the Renoir Sys

Splinterdog · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
Oh man, have I something special today.

Walked into my local Goodwill when I saw an unassuming black box priced at $129.49 sitting on the checkout counter.

I'm sure you can tell what it is, an external GPU box. Specifically, a Razer Core X.

So the first thing I did was ask if I could open it up, to which the cashier said yes.

And inside, I found...

...an MSI RX 5700XT! Absolutely unbelievable deal in this day and age.

Now, at this point, I was wondering if it was dead. When I got home, I put it into my testing system. After scaring me a bit with a black screen, it finally fired up and started working!

I still need to do lots of tests on it, but so far it does perform better than my GTX 1070.

Now I'm wondering why someone would just donate this to Goodwill. My current theory is that maybe the external enclosure died (currently trying to test it with my dad since he has a compatible laptop) and the previous owner wasn't tech-savvy. Or maybe the previous owner died and their family was getting rid of their stuff.

Nonetheless, I can't believe I'd find a deal this insane in the current market.

Now I just need Arctic Accelleros to go down in price since the stock cooler is a bit on the loud side.

That's one heck of a lucky find. Used 5700 XTs ate rarer than hen's teeth and even rarer at that price.
Good for you!

RJARRRPCGP · Jan 23, 2022

Oh, FYI, I didn't get that 12 GB triple-channel kit until very late-2020.

The unexpected RAM-related BSODs were with 6 GB of Elpida triple channel RAM+Corsair 2 GB sticks and pretty much the same with the same 6 GB+4 GB sticks.
That was rock-stable with the P6T Deluxe! (previous motherboard)

Splinterdog said:
Used 5700 XTs ate rarer than hen's teeth and even rarer at that price.

Yep, it will be like getting a used Titan in 2018! :mad:

jormungand · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
It is performing better.

However, one major sticking point I have is how fricking loud it is under load. Maybe I spoiled myself with the Arctic Accelero on my 1070, but I can't stand how this card sounds.

I gotta figure out how to get the VRAM and VRM heatsinks off of my 1070 so I can put that cooler on this card. Sadly, it looks like all of the GPU coolers you could get (Accelero, Morpheus) are all discontinued now.

Also it looks like it suffers from the crappy/undersized thermal pad issue. I haven't removed the cooler yet, but the memory stays in the mid-to-high 90s at all times when under load. Also the hotspot temperature is kind of scary (105C to 110C), but from what I've heard it's normal?

doesnt look like the same cooler design but maybe this is related
I watched this vid on the launch and came to my mind once you mentioned the temps.
even though what a deal you got there. the 5700 xt its a damn good card and for that price a killer deal, try everything you can
to cool it and put it to work safely.

seth1911 · Jan 23, 2022

16GB 2133 DDR3 and a few coolers for the Board, the Board have ony 3+2 Phase Design so it need some VRM coolers.
for my future BF4/BF1 Setup, A8 6600K @ 5 GHz, 16GB RAM, HD 5830 = 60 FPS even on BF1 in 1440x900 window/Medium

I had the same board in use for my A10 6800K @ 5.2 GHz the VRM without coolers wents up to 105°C, but with coolers they chill on full load by 78°C

Splinterdog · Jan 23, 2022

AusWolf said:
I wouldn't really say it's normal - I just can't, despite having heard the same. Although, the Asus Rog Strix 5700 XT that I had suffered from the same thing. High hotspot temp, high memory temp, loud cooler... Welcome to the world of the 5700 XT, I'm afraid. Whatever you do, the cooler mount on these cards is crap.

It might be worth a repaste to see if you can bring the hotspot down a bit. If it stays under 100 °C, I'd be happy (especially for 130 bucks, congrats!).

Here's my idle temp on Rog Strix RX 5700 XT. There was a cooler mounting problem with a batch of these cards, but luckily mine wasn't one of them.

outpt · Jan 23, 2022

khemist said:
Fnatic Streak65 LP and XTRFY M4 wireless.

That just looks awesomely good

lexluthermiester · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
However, one major sticking point I have is how fricking loud it is under load.

Might need to be cleaned and repasted. Just a thought. To me, noise isn't a big deal. I grew up with VERY noisy PC's, so noise just doesn't bother me.

Here's an example. This is the hard drive noise that was typical in retro PCs. Then you add fan noise on top of that. And I had 4 of those Bigfoot drives in an IDE RAID5 config. Even the noisiest PC's these days are dead silent by comparison.

Look on the bright side: You got an $750ish GPU for $130ish! You made out like a bandit! Big time win for you! If the only downside is a bit more noise than you're used too, that's still a big win!

sam_86314 · Jan 23, 2022

So I finally took the cooler off of my new card, and yeah. The horror stories are true.

So I went through and rearranged the thermal pads and applied some MX-5.

I also ran to the hardware store and got four small nylon washers (my tech-related purchase?) for the washer mod. They're about 8mm wide, 1mm thick, and the hole is about 3mm wide.

Carefully screwed it all back together, ran Valley, and...

That's a result! Before all of this, the memory would get into the mid-90s, the hotspot was over 100c, and the GPU itself would be around 80-90C. All of this after undervolting and underclocking to 990mV and 1800MHz.

Now, with the same settings, the hotspot barely reached 80c, the overall temp was under 70c, and the memory stayed under 80c. The card was also much quieter, though still a bit noisy.

Might still want to get new thermal pads since the upper two ones are a joke, but I don't know. This made a much bigger difference than I expected.

All for only 61 cents worth of parts and about 5 minutes of work.

lexluthermiester · Jan 23, 2022

sam_86314 said:
All for only 61 cents worth of parts and about 5 minutes of work.

Well done!

Deleted member 24505 · Jan 24, 2022

Nice. the 5700xt really benefits form water cooling imo

Space Lynx · Jan 24, 2022

sam_86314 said:
So I finally took the cooler off of my new card, and yeah. The horror stories are true.

So I went through and rearranged the thermal pads and applied some MX-5.

I also ran to the hardware store and got four small nylon washers (my tech-related purchase?) for the washer mod. They're about 8mm wide, 1mm thick, and the hole is about 3mm wide.

Carefully screwed it all back together, ran Valley, and...

That's a result! Before all of this, the memory would get into the mid-90s, the hotspot was over 100c, and the GPU itself would be around 80-90C. All of this after undervolting and underclocking to 990mV and 1800MHz.

Now, with the same settings, the hotspot barely reached 80c, the overall temp was under 70c, and the memory stayed under 80c. The card was also much quieter, though still a bit noisy.

Might still want to get new thermal pads since the upper two ones are a joke, but I don't know. This made a much bigger difference than I expected.

All for only 61 cents worth of parts and about 5 minutes of work.

how did you know to do the washers? or was just experimenting to get some extra pressure?

phill · Jan 24, 2022

sam_86314 said:
Oh man, have I something special today.

Walked into my local Goodwill when I saw an unassuming black box priced at $129.49 sitting on the checkout counter.

I'm sure you can tell what it is, an external GPU box. Specifically, a Razer Core X.

So the first thing I did was ask if I could open it up, to which the cashier said yes.

And inside, I found...

...an MSI RX 5700XT! Absolutely unbelievable deal in this day and age.

Now, at this point, I was wondering if it was dead. When I got home, I put it into my testing system. After scaring me a bit with a black screen, it finally fired up and started working!

I still need to do lots of tests on it, but so far it does perform better than my GTX 1070.

Now I'm wondering why someone would just donate this to Goodwill. My current theory is that maybe the external enclosure died (currently trying to test it with my dad since he has a compatible laptop) and the previous owner wasn't tech-savvy. Or maybe the previous owner died and their family was getting rid of their stuff.

Nonetheless, I can't believe I'd find a deal this insane in the current market.

Now I just need Arctic Accelleros to go down in price since the stock cooler is a bit on the loud side.

sam_86314 said:
So I finally took the cooler off of my new card, and yeah. The horror stories are true.

So I went through and rearranged the thermal pads and applied some MX-5.

I also ran to the hardware store and got four small nylon washers (my tech-related purchase?) for the washer mod. They're about 8mm wide, 1mm thick, and the hole is about 3mm wide.

Carefully screwed it all back together, ran Valley, and...

That's a result! Before all of this, the memory would get into the mid-90s, the hotspot was over 100c, and the GPU itself would be around 80-90C. All of this after undervolting and underclocking to 990mV and 1800MHz.

Now, with the same settings, the hotspot barely reached 80c, the overall temp was under 70c, and the memory stayed under 80c. The card was also much quieter, though still a bit noisy.

Might still want to get new thermal pads since the upper two ones are a joke, but I don't know. This made a much bigger difference than I expected.

All for only 61 cents worth of parts and about 5 minutes of work.

That's an amazing find and such a bargain!!

So pleased someone has found a good deal on a GPU!!

Deleted member 202104 · Jan 24, 2022

lynx29 said:
how did you know to do the washers? or was just experimenting to get some extra pressure?

The Moderator Mollusc shared it a few posts above: