PC Build Advice/Review II: 3090 or Bust.

[Krandor]

The original version yes, the one you'd buy nowadays no longer randomly catches on fire.

[Melena]

And it took the government intervening and forcing them to recall it to get them to fix it lol.

[Krandor]

Actually taking a glance I really like the Fractal Design Mood case. The cloth cover is a cool aesthetic.

[Cyn]

I have used several NZXT cases, but I'm currently using an H9 Flow and it's by far the most builder-friendly design I've ever come across. It's a shame about them turning to shit, but this case should last me at least until the idiot with his tariffs goes away.

[Yabby]

About a year ago, we decided to cut the cord on cable. We didn’t use it much—mostly for background noise—so it felt unnecessary. However, we quickly discovered that our 1.2 TB monthly data cap couldn’t keep up with our streaming habits, especially when downloading modern games that can hit 100 GB or more. I already had a modest Plex server, but I started seriously building up my library. What began as a way to have background entertainment has now become a full replacement for Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Peacock, Disney+, and other streaming services.

We were frustrated by having to juggle subscriptions across platforms, especially since the data cap often meant we couldn’t stream what we wanted, when we wanted. Paying for multiple services felt pointless when we couldn’t even enjoy half the content we were paying for.

Eventually, the need outgrew my backup drives. I decided to take the plunge and invest in a Synology NAS, building my first storage pool. I went from 16 TB to about 64 TB, accelerating the upgrade because of potential tariffs—figuring it was better to act now than pay more later.

I still can’t believe streaming services haven’t pressured ISPs to address these restrictive data caps. With a 4K TV, blowing through 1 TB in a week is entirely possible. Combine that with the frustration of tracking what’s available, where it’s streaming, and when to subscribe or cancel, and it all becomes too much to manage.

Now, with some tools to “sail the high seas” and a few others for automating downloads, everything just shows up neatly in one place—Plex—without the hassle of hunting things down.

I genuinely want to support the creators behind these shows and movies, but the system has become too frustrating. We still subscribe to platforms for shows we love to show support, but beyond that, they’ve effectively pushed us into finding alternative solutions.

[Outlaw]

Data caps in this day and age are stupid. I'm so glad my ISP is unlimited. I know what you mean. Between having a couple 4k tv's, PC and sometimes console gaming and multiple other devices connected to the internet it adds up QUICK! Once upon a time I had Comcast because it was the only choice and it was terrible. The dark ages of the internet.

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk

[Madeline]

Netflix had it right for about a year before everyone realized "hey we can split up and be our own cable company, lole" and it went back to shit.

That short period showed me convenience will move me away from piracy. But alas, they can't do fuck all correctly so I've got a nice little Plex server and now it's too late. Never looking back.

Greedy bastards. Take a look at Steam. I haven't pirated PC games in years because I love having one click access to everything AND I don't have to host it.

In related news, my friend is almost done designing an enclosure for a 96TB capacity RPi server that I'll be hosting so this is gonna be fun. I fucking love Raspberry Pis. And the used SAS market.

[Melena]

I'm just curious as to how you're using so much data? We are 99.9% streaming for video (I have an antenna for football games), PC games are digital, and some console digital games as well, and my biggest month was only 657gb for the year.

[Krandor]

I checked and I've done about 3TB this month (ATT Fiber with no data cap, though I can definitely tell they've been throttling me in the afternoon/evening the last week or so).

Generally speaking if I'm not using my computer I've usually got some torrents running to keep filling out my server.

[Yabby]

I'm just curious as to how you're using so much data? We are 99.9% streaming for video (I have an antenna for football games), PC games are digital, and some console digital games as well, and my biggest month was only 657gb for the year.

Do you have a 4K TV with Dolby Atmos? Recently, I hosted a get-together with some friends who brought their kids, and we set up Disney+ for them. Over the course of the day, they watched three movies. Out of curiosity, I checked the data usage for that period, and it was around 80-90 GB—in about 6 hours.

Now, factor in that my wife and I telework extensively (she’s 100% remote), with countless Teams and Zoom meetings, along with our regular viewing habits (everything streams in 4K by default), casual web surfing, YouTube, gaming, and more. When nearly everything you do for work and leisure depends on the internet, the data usage adds up fast.

One month, knowing we’d exceed our limit (most ISPs offer a one-time grace period), we decided to use the internet as we pleased. By the end of the month, we hit around 3TB.

[Madeline]

2 4k TVs + perma seeding on PTs will eat data really quick. I also install a lot of games.

[Melena]

Do you have a 4K TV with Dolby Atmos? Recently, I hosted a get-together with some friends who brought their kids, and we set up Disney+ for them. Over the course of the day, they watched three movies. Out of curiosity, I checked the data usage for that period, and it was around 80-90 GB—in about 6 hours.

Now, factor in that my wife and I telework extensively (she’s 100% remote), with countless Teams and Zoom meetings, along with our regular viewing habits (everything streams in 4K by default), casual web surfing, YouTube, gaming, and more. When nearly everything you do for work and leisure depends on the internet, the data usage adds up fast.

One month, knowing we’d exceed our limit (most ISPs offer a one-time grace period), we decided to use the internet as we pleased. By the end of the month, we hit around 3TB.

I do, though I haven't upgraded Netflix to the 4k version. I know Hulu + streams in 4k if the video has an option.

[Yabby]

Yeah, with data caps becoming more restrictive, it’s almost better not to upgrade Netflix. On the other hand, Disney+ consistently streams in the highest quality video and audio by default, which ends up consuming more data per hour than any other streaming service I use.

[Andalusian girls]

fiber dropped in my city not too long ago and blessed us with unlimited data plans mashallah. like Kran i'm in the terabytes a month stage.

[Yabby]

Every time I see an ISP trot out the tired line, *"The majority of our users don't exceed their data caps,"* it makes me want to scream. Oh, really? You think it's a coincidence that most users stay under the cap when you aggressively enforce it, flood their inboxes with warning emails as they approach the limit, and threaten additional fees for repeated overages? Gee, I wonder why people might be hesitant to use more data...

Don't even get me into my lack of backup solutions because I can't afford to sync my home datacenter with a cloud service.

[Ayn]

Hi friends.

Debating on a PC upgrade. Last time I upgraded was around this time back in 2019. Pretty sure my PC can still run most of what I'd care to throw at it, so not even sure if it's worth upgrading just yet. What I'm currently running:

Ryzen 3700X
16 GB RAM (GSkill Trident DDR3200)
Nvidia RTX 2060
Gigabyte 570 Aorus Mobo.
Corsair 650W Power Supply.

Probably don't need a new case because I'm using this:

https://www.newegg.com/gray-phanteks...82E16811854044

What I'm trying to figure out if I upgrade is..

What CPU? 5700X3D vs 7800X3D? Which cooler to go with it?
What GPU? Thinking 4070 Super
Which motherboard to upgrade?
Any particular RAM?

I figure PSU is fine; don't need to upgrade SSD either, honestly.

[Melena]

So typed up a huge thing and it didn't send.

You might be better with a 7x or 9x as the 5x series is pretty much end of life. For coolers, you can probably get away with a peerless assassin cooler. No need to go AIO unless you really really want to.

4070super will be more then enough for you, but it may be discontinued soon with the 5x series coming out from Nvidia in the next couple of months. 4090 has already been discontinued and as such jumped a few hundred in price.

[Salodin]

Ram is so much more important nowadays. I'd say 32gb system ram minimum, and 12gb video ram minimum. Whatever you need to get there.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[Ayn]

Good tips! I'd heard about the 5000 series. Thinking maybe I at least snag a video card.

Any recs on motherboards in terms of parameters.

[Gryffes]

Good tips! I'd heard about the 5000 series. Thinking maybe I at least snag a video card.

Any recs on motherboards in terms of parameters.

For value upgrades, a 5700x3d or 5800x3d and pair with the new intel B580 card. If your at 1080p/1440p you really don't need to do much else unless you want a beefier gpu.