Wife wants to play Diablo 4 but only has a HD 6850

Badcop1124 said:
So I’m pretty sure I’m sticking with the i12600KF combos along with the RX 6800s.
Although an RX 6950XT for $600…

But I think I need new PSUs as one member suggested.
Anyone have suggestions?

Once again this community is amazing! Thank you all, for all of the help and guidance!
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Personally any spend beyond the 6800 would have to be a 7900xt or 7900xtx to feel a difference for me worth spending money on. At 1440p tho both of those would be wasted power unless you were wanting to step up the resolution and refresh rate, or push very high refresh rates on fps esports games at 1080/1440. But then we’d be recommending a different cpu so… stick with the 6800.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
These days IME the IO shield is usually attached to the board, so you don't have to worry about that as much. It's mostly just checking the pins (and looking for any obvious scrapes near the standoffs), which you can just pull out the box at the store and then open it up and look yourself. I've done it and they don't really say anything about it since it's open box to begin with.

The X670E Carbon Wifi that I'm using in my main build is one that I got open box for less than half the price (200 vs 430). It was missing accessories, but for that discount I didn't care. I also got my friend a working B650 Tomahawk for half price. Did a memtest, twice, passed both times.

But I don't see any deals of that caliber at his local store, so... Honestly might as well just choose the cheapest new board if they don't wanna fuss with it. It's a tiny savings. That's assuming they want to bother rebuying. The 5800X3D is tempting and a great chip but all in all still unnecessary.
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Most cheaper boards still don't have attached I/O shields. Aldo earlier this year I brought a open box 7800x3D and they wouldn't let me open it and check it til after I brought it. They did let me do it after purchasing it. Before they did let me examine open box items before purchase.
 
vegeta535 said:
Most cheaper boards still don't have attached I/O shields. Aldo earlier this year I brought an open box 7800x3D and they wouldn't let me open it and check it til after I brought it. They did let me do it after purchasing it. Before they did let me examine open box items before purchase.
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The motherboard boxes have no seal, you can check the pins at any point you’d like. If it’s am5, the cpu doesn’t have pins. I can see how they wouldn’t let people inspect pins on CPU’s not paid for tho for the ones that have pins, until after you’ve paid.
 
Badcop1124 said:
Thanks I followed this advice stuck with the 12600KF combo and 6800 SWFT 319.

Anyone want to advise me on thermal paste? The stuff I have laying around is at least 10 years old.
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These days I'd ditch the Arctic Silver. The NT-H1 is a great paste. If it still looks good (not all separated, or something), then use that.

My go-to these days tends to be Arctic MX-4, MX-6, NT-H1, NT-H2. I'm not a fan of Kryonaut. It's expensive and really is meant for extreme benching vs daily longterm use (imo).
 
Dreamerbydesign said:
Personally any spend beyond the 6800 would have to be a 7900xt or 7900xtx to feel a difference for me worth spending money on. At 1440p tho both of those would be wasted power unless you were wanting to step up the resolution and refresh rate, or push very high refresh rates on fps esports games at 1080/1440. But then we’d be recommending a different cpu so… stick with the 6800.
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If spending above a 6800/XT, and especially within 7900XT/XTX territory, I would at least start looking at Nvidia instead. DLSS and other software features at that point start mattering. Especially if looking to play in the 1440p space, where DLSS does really well for longevity. 4070 Super/ Ti Super aren't terrible deals and have enough VRAM. Of course the 50 series is on the horizon.

For 7900XTX, a 4080 Super can be had for about $50 more, and at that point I would consider opting for it.
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#c=567,548&sort=price

Similarly, 7900XT vs 4070 Ti Super:
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#sort=price&c=566,547

1716328333339.png


Performance wise AMD is only a tiny bit faster, and that's mostly raster-only and doesn't include DLSS vs FSR and other such things.

But OP it's important to stick to your budget and aims. Don't go into a splurge frenzy. Get what you need for what you're aiming to do. The 6800 is fine for that.


vegeta535 said:
Most cheaper boards still don't have attached I/O shields. Aldo earlier this year I brought a open box 7800x3D and they wouldn't let me open it and check it til after I brought it. They did let me do it after purchasing it. Before they did let me examine open box items before purchase.
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Well, the 7800X3D doesn't really have any pins as Dreamer said. The most you could do is just make sure they didn't drive a knife into the contacts or something. I was sitting there in the middle of the store opening up a motherboard box on a stack of products and advisors were walking by just not saying anything. Afterward I went and bought it, no issues. News to me that motherboards are coming without I/O baked in, still. I guess I just don't hit that sort of budget frequently.
 
Badcop1124 said:
Wife just told me she'd like to get the Dell Alienware AW3423DW
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FYI, this monitor from MSI is the same panel; but, has updated features like HDMI 2.1, 4k downscaling, passive cooling, extra features for OLED care. And MSI put out a firmware a couple of months ago, which makes the EOTF curve pretty accurate.

MAG 341CQP QD-OLED

TFT central recently reviewed it on their youtube channel, and have named it the best monitor featuring this panel.


12600k is a fine CPU. I built one for some kids and I loved using it for a month, before I gave it to them with my seal of approval.
 
At this price point, I would just get a ROG Ally and dock it. I've been playing D4 on it this whole week and it looks and runs fantastic, even on a 150" 1080p projector.

She also gets the benefit of playing anywhere, too.
 
Zepher said:
All you need is a large open wall, or a pull down screen and one of those new laser short-throw projectors that sit right in front of the wall.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...a90120_equivision_ultra_ls800b_projector.html
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I had a 3 tube CRT DATA projector in my small bedroom 25 years ago, paid $1,000 for a nearly new $16,000 unit.
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I own one, but I only have enough wall room for 100" or so :) . Haven't decided between using it (4k ust) or getting a regular 85" TV since I don't have much light control in the room.
 
GoldenTiger said:
I own one, but I only have enough wall room for 100" or so :) . Haven't decided between using it (4k ust) or getting a regular 85" TV since I don't have much light control in the room.
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Personally, I'd get the TV in your situation.
 
Zepher said:
All you need is a large open wall, or a pull down screen and one of those new laser short-throw projectors that sit right in front of the wall.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...a90120_equivision_ultra_ls800b_projector.html
View attachment 655411
View attachment 655410

I had a 3 tube CRT DATA projector in my small bedroom 25 years ago, paid $1,000 for a nearly new $16,000 unit.
View attachment 655407
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I have looked into those, but you can get a native 4k projector these days for around 5k, rather than bothering with a short throw one at 1080 for 3k. At the sizes these projector displays get to, 4k actually does help, too.

That said I've just opted to have a 42" LG OLED on my desk and honestly that does well enough. It's reasonably immersive. I just use my 1080p BenQ projector when people are over. I think my screen is around 170-180+", I just shine it at the wall lol. Need to paint it using that projector background paint so it reflects light better.

Anyway, I don't see why they would bother with an ROG Ally unless they had a specific purpose for it. If they're not planning to use it while on the go at all, then it's just wasted money.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
I have looked into those, but you can get a native 4k projector these days for around 5k, rather than bothering with a short throw one at 1080 for 3k. At the sizes these projector displays get to, 4k actually does help, too.

That said I've just opted to have a 42" LG OLED on my desk and honestly that does well enough. It's reasonably immersive. I just use my 1080p BenQ projector when people are over. I think my screen is around 170-180+", I just shine it at the wall lol. Need to paint it using that projector background paint so it reflects light better.

Anyway, I don't see why they would bother with an ROG Ally unless they had a specific purpose for it. If they're not planning to use it while on the go at all, then it's just wasted money.
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I know in my use case, I use my Ally all the time at home. I travel with it, too... However, there's benefit for me being able to walk around the house and game anywhere I want. I'm not chained to a desk, but if I want I can fire it up on the big screen, or connect to my 4k hi-refresh monitor with my XG Mobile... It's now my most used device, ever.

In my experience, even confined to the house it's not wasted money... In fact, with my kids, I'm usually racking out at the end of the day and just reach over and play a bit on the Ally before I pass out.
 
Vengance_01 said:
This thread escalated quickly :)
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Not really. This is the only way the thread could have gone. At least up until your post. The TV and projector stuff is definitely way out there. The OP had a good run with the system in question but it's well past the point of replacement for gaming and any upgrade would be "too much" for the rest of the system to get proper use out of it. With prices on quite a few items right now it's almost a no-brainer to do a larger upgrade for not much money and have something which won't need to be replaced for quite a few years. Unless you literally don't have the money on hand.
 
stupid thought from me, why are we seeing threads of ancient hardware recently? like don't get me wrong. Happy to help people point them in the right way.

But really, shouldn't there just be a 'If your PC is from earlier than 2016, here is your starting point' guide?
 
Sindalis said:
But really, shouldn't there just be a 'If your PC is from earlier than 2016, here is your starting point' guide?
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Huh? That would be difficult. I've still got an AMD FX gaming system. This stuff all still works, upgrade options are more difficult and vary case by case. You don't need to replace everything, but things like the rx 6600 only running on pcie 8x introduces possibility of bottle neck on pcie3 systems. These questions basically need to asked.
 
travm said:
Huh? That would be difficult. I've still got an AMD FX gaming system. This stuff all still works, upgrade options are more difficult and vary case by case. You don't need to replace everything, but things like the rx 6600 only running on pcie 8x introduces possibility of bottle neck on pcie3 systems. These questions basically need to asked.
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that is a very specific question, but true. This is for people looking to run specifically new things, not legacy games or programs.

My point being. If your on something prior to Skylake, there is no 'but' there is 'just do a full upgrade'. There is no reason to ask. Move on. Anything else is a waste of time.

If your on FX, its prior to 2016, No, no upgrade is a good idea. Start clean.

If your on Skylake or Skylake+ (that is, 6th through 11th gen), Yeah. There are options here. Still might be worth it if your on LESS THAN an i7. if your on anything less than an i7 for anything below say... what. 9th gen? Full upgrade.

No point, too few cores to matter. And even if you had them. You should be on SSD's and ideally nVME, which started started in Skylake. so again. less than 2016, don't bother asking. Start over.

Here are your starter options for a new computer. Have fun.
 
Sindalis said:
If your on FX, its prior to 2016, No, no upgrade is a good idea. Start clean.
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Not everyone can just drop 1k on a new system.

9/10 double your ram and pick up a new GPU is all you need to run whatever.

If I have $300... I can, upgrade or I can buy a new cpu and GPU and look at them on my shelf.
 
Thanks for all the input and info!

Work and adulting got in my way of building the new PC. Finally got it put together and installed the new BIOS. All went well until I was installing Windows. Wouldn’t activate on the new hardware.
Had a Tech Net membership waaayyy back when so retail key of Win7 Ultimate upgraded to Win10 Pro. Changed hardware in the past no issue. But I can’t get it to activate. Called M$ and in the end was told even though it was a retail key it’s tied to my other mobo.
Not happy about this. New “retail” version is $200 is it really a retail key if I can’t move it from new build to new build?

I looked at the hand held options (Steam Deck, Rally) at first but decided against it.
 
CAD4466HK said:
These two links are from legit retailers since people shit themselves when you use a grey market link.

https://mrkeyshop.com/en/windows-10/24-windows-10-professional-32-64-bit-microsoft-product-key

https://www.keycense.com/windows-10-professional-windows

And Windows 10 binds itself to your hardware which is why you couldn't transfer it.
CAD4466HK said:
These two links are from legit retailers since people shit themselves when you use a grey market link.

https://mrkeyshop.com/en/windows-10/24-windows-10-professional-32-64-bit-microsoft-product-key

https://www.keycense.com/windows-10-professional-windows

And Windows 10 binds itself to your hardware which is why you couldn't transfer it.
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Thanks!
The directions say install from the M$ ISO. I used the M$ Media Creation Tool to install, can I just use the key to activate?
 
Update:

I purchased a Windows 11 Pro key, retail, from the link above as posted by another member.
After breakfast I went to the computer, to install it. I already had a new install of Windows 10 Pro and was signed into my M$ account, but said it couldn’t activate due to hardware change. I used the Win11 Pro media creation tool to install Win11 Pro over the Win10. During the Win11 install I singed into M$ account. It asked if I wanted to install from a backup from Win10 pc, I selected set up as a new pc. I never put in the new key I just purchased and Win11 Pro says “activated with a digital key linked to your M$ account”.
This what I though the whole point of a retail key and now the “required” M$ account was.

The wife clicked through hers but paid M$ $200 for an activation key.
 
Badcop1124 said:
Update:

I purchased a Windows 11 Pro key, retail, from the link above as posted by another member.
After breakfast I went to the computer, to install it. I already had a new install of Windows 10 Pro and was signed into my M$ account, but said it couldn’t activate due to hardware change. I used the Win11 Pro media creation tool to install Win11 Pro over the Win10. During the Win11 install I singed into M$ account. It asked if I wanted to install from a backup from Win10 pc, I selected set up as a new pc. I never put in the new key I just purchased and Win11 Pro says “activated with a digital key linked to your M$ account”.
This what I though the whole point of a retail key and now the “required” M$ account was.

The wife clicked through hers but paid M$ $200 for an activation key.
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Wait, your wife actually paid 200$ for an activation key? Wtf that is so much money wasted. That's literally a GPU tier's worth, I think. Brand new Windows Pro from a retailer is less than that.

Microsoft's per motherboard clauses are bullshit. I have an education license from college, which is supposed to (by the terms within it) have unlimited activation, but they took away the means for me to reactivate it after mobo swap, in the menus. That was nonsense so I went to github and fixed it myself. It took 2 seconds and I never have to worry about it again. I've had zero issues.

OEM licenses have that stipulation, which is why they're cheap on the gray market, but some should not. Some of them by contract should have unlimited activations or a certain amount of them.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Wait, your wife actually paid 200$ for an activation key? Wtf that is so much money wasted. That's literally a GPU tier's worth, I think. Brand new Windows Pro from a retailer is less than that.

Microsoft's per motherboard clauses are bullshit. I have an education license from college, which is supposed to (by the terms within it) have unlimited activation, but they took away the means for me to reactivate it after mobo swap, in the menus. That was nonsense so I went to github and fixed it myself. It took 2 seconds and I never have to worry about it again. I've had zero issues.

OEM licenses have that stipulation, which is why they're cheap on the gray market, but some should not. Some of them by contract should have unlimited activations or a certain amount of them.
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Yup. Lesson learned. $263 (two Win11 keys) wasted because M$ convoluted activation process.
Says one thing on their site, another on the phone. My mistake for checking in here first.

All of this (above posts, especially post #1) and she is playing Diablo 3.

Not 4 but 3…c’est la vie.
Installing 4 today. Lol.
 
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Badcop1124 said:
Yup. Lesson learned. $263 (two Win11 keys) wasted because M$ convoluted activation process.
Says one thing on their site, another on the phone. My mistake for checking in here first.

All of this (above posts, especially post #1) and she is playing Diablo 3.

Not 4 but 3…c’est la vie.
Installing 4 today. Lol.
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https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/251518

are the minimum system requirements. Technically what she has now could run it, run it well? No. it does require a SSD though so if you don't have one of those you will need one anyway.

Win10 should be fine. But just a FYI You do realize though that nothing before 8th gen intel is supported by windows 11?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ed/windows-11-22h2-supported-intel-processors

Also to note, Win 10 EOL is next year.

Again, IMO, any money at this point would be better spent on looking for a full upgrade, but you don't have to go crazy on it.

Putting in a new CPU, mobo, and ram could be done for under 400 if you want to go to AM4 platform. Anything on AM5 would be a bit more expensive.

An example starter would be here, https://pcpartpicker.com/list/t67CWt said parts should be able to drop in her case and you could reuse the psu and cpu cooler.

After that it would be a GPU, their recommended is at least a 5700 xt, so if you wanted to go by their recommended specs its roughly anything around a GTX 1080ti or higher. 1080ti's can be found used for under ~200$ on ebay.
If you want something new, Something like a 6700 xt would be good. They are a great deal if you can find one at or under 300$

I'd recommend a nVME boot drive at least, but that would just be another 50 to 100$ for a 1 or 2tb drive respectfully
 
Buy Playstation 5. There has to be some $300 around you. Much better experience than a crappy PC.
 
CAD4466HK said:
These two links are from legit retailers since people shit themselves when you use a grey market link.

https://mrkeyshop.com/en/windows-10/24-windows-10-professional-32-64-bit-microsoft-product-key

https://www.keycense.com/windows-10-professional-windows

And Windows 10 binds itself to your hardware which is why you couldn't transfer it.
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$40 MS keys from a site, are not legit sites.....neither of those sites are legit.....not sure why you think they are..

Windows 11 ENT for $80 euro's..LOL SO not legit

Windows 11 Enterprise 64 Bit - Product Key​


€229.99 €79.99
 
I'm not scrolling through all of this but I'd love to see the outcome. Also, expecting a happy D4 playing spouse lol.
 
CAD4466HK said:
So unless you're paying $200-$300 for a key, it's all bogus and you're getting scammed right? Lol.
PT Barnum was right.
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Sites selling Ent. Windows keys are not legit. Windows Enterprise only comes by having an Enterprise Agreement with MS for one. This is why actual legit sellers of MS Windows / Server / Office - always have the same price for the products....

Sure the keys may work, but they are MSDN keys and other keys obtained via questionable methods.

I am not saying dont buy them, but you are giving money to criminals basically by buying from them, just do not claim they are a legit site, because they are not.

I still do not understand why people will spend crap tons on hardware and games, but god forbid you pay for the OS that lets you even use your computer...
 
MrGuvernment said:
Sites selling Ent. Windows keys are not legit. Windows Enterprise only comes by having an Enterprise Agreement with MS for one. This is why actual legit sellers of MS Windows / Server / Office - always have the same price for the products....

Sure the keys may work, but they are MSDN keys and other keys obtained via questionable methods.

I am not saying dont buy them, but you are giving money to criminals basically by buying from them, just do not claim they are a legit site, because they are not.

I still do not understand why people will spend crap tons on hardware and games, but god forbid you pay for the OS that lets you even use your computer...
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I understand your viewpoint, but this was a pro key and not enterprise.
The OP was complaining about having to spend $200 for a key, so I tried to steer him to a site I thought was good because of Trustpilot.

If I would of mentioned G2A or the like, 20 different members would of flamed me for mentioning them period.

I buy my keys for like $15 and still feel like I got ripped off.
To me if I buy 20 or more keys from the same place and they all work, it's legit as in you will get a working product, not that it came from a pirate.
If the key fails, its a scam and not legit in my eyes and many others that I know, including my clients. They could care less where it come from as long as it's a working key.

In the end, I was just trying to help a brother out. If they are not legit windows resellers then I stand corrected.
 
CAD4466HK said:
I understand your viewpoint, but this was a pro key and not enterprise.
The OP was complaining about having to spend $200 for a key, so I tried to steer him to a site I thought was good because of Trustpilot.

If I would of mentioned G2A or the like, 20 different members would of flamed me for mentioning them period.

I buy my keys for like $15 and still feel like I got ripped off.
To me if I buy 20 or more keys from the same place and they all work, it's legit as in you will get a working product, not that it came from a pirate.
If the key fails, its a scam and not legit in my eyes and many others that I know, including my clients. They could care less where it come from as long as it's a working key.

In the end, I was just trying to help a brother out. If they are not legit windows resellers then I stand corrected.
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Meh, I got one for my mom from G2A years ago, it's stored on her MS account and everything.
 
Have a friend playing D IV with our group( 1 of 3 or 4 people in the party) on an AMD 2600, 16gb ram, 1 tb Mx500 and a unknown amount of ram GTX 960 but it is either 2 or 4gb right? No high res textures though. Win 10.
Never complains, probably doesn't check frame rates but never mentioned stuttering or anything performance wise slowing him down, except of course when it slows us all down. I gave him a better video card, GTX 1660 Ti for free but he doesn't seem to worry about installing it it.

Like mentioned it will run on a toaster, well maybe a toaster oven.

Edit: he finally got home from work and said he plays at 1920 x 1080
 
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