Full System or Video Card to my GF

E

Eradan

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
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I've had the rig in my signature for a few years now. Still running fine although the frequent increase in temp/AIO fan speed noise is somewhat annoying. From what I've read that typical of the Vermeer chips. I wonder if the new Intel stuff does the same. I prefer things to be as quiet as possible.

My GF is on an older Dell Optiplex with an i7 7700. 16GB DDR, a slow AF NVME Hynix SSD, and an EVGA 1050 ti that I dropped in because it didn't require additional power.

We play WoW together. I'm at 1440p with everything cranked. She's at 1080p with everything turned up. She has commented on how much better the game looks on my system but I also have this 32" QHD "HDR" Dell monitor and she's using a 27" Dell 60HZ 1080p that's okay but nothing fancy. She notes brightness and color saturation on mine stands out.

I guess I could just get her a better monitor. 1080p at 27 and certainly 32 inches is not ideal. She doesn't use the PC for much else...browsing. She will likely play other games in the near future...Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed franchise. Which leads to upgrading her to something better. Or passing my signature system to her and building something for myself.

I'm reacclimating to the current market. I know we have new RTX cards coming over the next few weeks and the 7800 XT is really recent. I'm not locked into any particular camp...red v blue, red v green. I don't care...I just want the best performance for the best price. I haven't really been able to tap into RT much because my 3060 ti ain't exactly great there. I do have it enabled in WoW: Dragonflight but not sure it makes a huge difference. I think I can live without it. I still need to look at DLSS vs FSR.

So has anyone else been in a similar situation? Build myself something new? Or put together a modern, modest PC that performs well, doesn't cost a fortune, and maybe just pass along my 3060 ti and upgrade my existing rig to a 4070 Super or 7800XT.

Thanks for reading.

Just want to add...I have an another 32GB of GSkill RAM in the box to upgrade my system to 64GB when I had a Hyper-V test lab setup for my last job. Also have a decent 1TB Inland NVME SSD on the shelf if I build her something new. Also have a number of Lian Li cases. Would really just need a CPU, mobo, and PSU to get her going. And a new monitor. :)
 
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Just some ideas:

Usually i would suggest getting yourself something new since she likes your old setup well enough to cosider it an upgrade.
Both will get a serotonin rush.

The following is also a cheap good idea for her new rig.
But it needs special ram:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swYn3WvdvFw

Intel and Nvidia simply means less quirks. So that´s what i would consider for the missus.

The Asus Livemixer boards appeal to ladies, so that´s what i would look at.

Maybe even hunt down a better, but used gpu for yourself?

There are cheap 32 inch 16/9 and 34 inch 21/9 LG IPS monitors with 2560*1080 resolution out there that "pop" enough and don´t overburden the gpu.
(Ladies love ultrawides if they have expereinced one themselfes. On paper they don´t get the appeal that much)
Buy used ! The Ergo line has a big second hand following.

That´s about all the brainfarts i can muster at the moment.

Good luck and enjoy !
 
If you can afford it, my recommendation is a completely new system to retire that 7th-Gen Intel system. You see, Intel itself can, and will, terminate all support and driver updates for older parts. The 7th-Gen CPUs' support will end completely, outside of archived drivers, this coming March. And once Intel pulls driver support and updates for it, there will be no further security fixes ever for it. And Dell, in this case, will be left holding the bag. Whether you get this new build for yourself and pass your own current build to your GF or simply getting your GF a new but slightly lesser performing build (relative to your own current build) is up to you.

And whatever you do, I do not recommend simply passing down your current RTX 3060 Ti down to that i7-7700 system as the GPU will then become heavily bottlenecked by the CPU, especially at the 1080p resolution that your GF currently plays at.
 
Get her a new monitor asap. It'll go a long way and we spend all our time staring at it. 1440p min. It'll be great for browsing and other content. Not great at 1080p gaming as you mentioned, but, it'll drive the point home that system upgrade is advisable. Because her current system is in a Dell Optiplex you may need to go platform next so you have the space and power to upgrade the GPU. The Optiplex system may not easily support a 30 series or similar due to power and space constraints.
 
I vote upgrade the GPU and probably a better monitor.

I'm gaming on something similar to hers, a modified Optiplex 5070 with a i7 8700 and a 5600 XT.
 
wareyore said:
Because her current system is in a Dell Optiplex you may need to go platform next so you have the space and power to upgrade the GPU. The Optiplex system may not easily support a 30 series or similar due to power and space constraints.
Click to expand...
I concur. Most Optiplexes have a 250-300W or less PSU, and hunting around on eBay for a higher wattage model with at least one 6 or 8-pin PCIe connector was fruitless. One more for recommending that OP give her what he has currently and upgrade.
 
I did use a SATA to PCIe adapter to power my 5600XT and while it DID work, I was fully aware I was pushing the limit of the 260W power supply. To make matters worse the SATA power connectors come off the other board and NOT directly from the power supply.

I ended up modding the case slightly to fit a standard mini ITX power supply to solve that problem.
 
pendragon1 said:
this is the way (y)
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I had alot of fun with this build. It's a pretty clean setup too. Ended up drilling out the rivets and removing all the drive brackets from the case and opening up some extra air flow coming through the front of the case. My current problem now is that the Dell firmware's fan speed management sucks. You have 3 speeds to choose from for CPU and case fans; 0 RPM, 50% or 100%.
 
I could pick up a used H270 mobo and a new power supply and move everything into a new case. Drop my 3060 ti in and a faster SSD. 1440 display. I think the 7700 and 3060 ti can co-exist reasonably well at that resolution. And then just get a new video card for my 5900x system. These 6950 XT cards at $550 and $599 are calling to me but I'll probably go 7800 XT or 4070 Super.

Another option....pickup a new CPU and motherboard for $200 ish...13100 or 12400 and a $100 motherboard. Need to research how much better this would be over the 7700 for browsing, WoW, and a couple older games.

Thanks for the replies, all.
 
Stugots said:
I had alot of fun with this build. It's a pretty clean setup too. Ended up drilling out the rivets and removing all the drive brackets from the case and opening up some extra air flow coming through the front of the case. My current problem now is that the Dell firmware's fan speed management sucks. You have 3 speeds to choose from for CPU and case fans; 0 RPM, 50% or 100%.
Click to expand...
only way around that that ive found is a usb controlled powered fan controller and disable fan warnings in bios, if you can.
 
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