PC Build Advice/Review II: 5090 or Bust.

[Andalusian girls]

that's what the girls say but it's just locker room talk

[Jaybar]

I successfully re-built my PC and quite happy with it (except now I need to obtain AM4 brackets for my Phanteks CPU cooler since the AM3 pack doesn't fit this board). The only problem is I lost my Windows product key and Microsoft will not let me activate it without using it, despite it being registered to my account. I'm not sure what I did with it, but I'm willing to buy a new product key. Are there any recommended retailers or websites to purchase digital licenses? I was using Windows Home Pro 64bit.

[Bardicrune]

I successfully re-built my PC and quite happy with it (except now I need to obtain AM4 brackets for my Phanteks CPU cooler since the AM3 pack doesn't fit this board). The only problem is I lost my Windows product key and Microsoft will not let me activate it without using it, despite it being registered to my account. I'm not sure what I did with it, but I'm willing to buy a new product key. Are there any recommended retailers or websites to purchase digital licenses? I was using Windows Home Pro 64bit.

If you want cheap, you could try either G2A or Kinguin. I've bought a few keys from both. It's almost as risky buying the key on Amazon these days because of the likelihood of purchasing from a shady 3rd party vendor.

[Nitsuki]

If you want cheap, you could try either G2A or Kinguin. I've bought a few keys from both. It's almost as risky buying the key on Amazon these days because of the likelihood of purchasing from a shady 3rd party vendor.

Since i’m in the market for a windows 10 key myself for my 2nd PC/arcade-in-box, is G2A still viable? I recall there was a shady incident that they stole multiple keys and got a major lawsuit. Otherwise, can i use the same windows key i have (MSDN student account from windows 7 upgraded to win 10) on 2 PCs? Or are these keys single license?

[Salodin]

I've used kinguin for a windows key with great success. If I ever needed a other one I'm going straight there.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[Jaybar]

Since i’m in the market for a windows 10 key myself for my 2nd PC/arcade-in-box, is G2A still viable? I recall there was a shady incident that they stole multiple keys and got a major lawsuit. Otherwise, can i use the same windows key i have (MSDN student account from windows 7 upgraded to win 10) on 2 PCs? Or are these keys single license?

Keys are registered to a single device, but can be transfered (this was my plan B but apparently the key I wrote down was not correct)

I've used kinguin for a windows key with great success. If I ever needed a other one I'm going straight there.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

I'll look into this, thanks.

[Boyiee]

Okay the G15 is pretty sweet. 9479 Time spy with 9631 GPU score out of the box without anything but windows updates. 20-28% jump in performance for a 18% change in price. It also feels more solid but that 3.64lb 14" is going to be missed I'm sure.

[Nitsuki]

Keys are registered to a single device, but can be transfered (this was my plan B but apparently the key I wrote down was not correct)

Great to know, thanks. I’ll look into Kinguin

[Jefe]

Thanks for the info lads. So far so good, sold 2 on ebay (with tons of feedback score) and posted the rest on fb's marketplace. There's so much demand that you don't have to risk selling to noob accounts. Jesus, what a time to sell my bags.

[Gredival]

Repasted my 3080 last night with Noctua and put in some .5mm thermal pads to connect the Dell cooling fin for the memory with the heatsink. I could swear the card is now 50% louder after I did that, but temps looked fine (maxing out at 83C at 2000 MHz) so I toyed with an underclock. So far I have game tested stability at 1835MHz at 825mV with temps around 77C. Is this somewhat in line with what others are getting?

I'm not concerned with pressing the card to 1900~2000 since this gets me 200+ stable on Dota with ultra and 200+ on Overwatch with epic.

[Prothescar]

Holy crap that's really hot for Ampere. Dell really cheaped out

[Gredival]

On Reddit it was hard to keep track of what was or was not reasonable. Most people were in the 70 - 80 range, but some people with makers such as Gigabyte were reporting 85 and I saw a few FE people hitting 80. I expect mine to be a little hot since the Dell card is literally the shortest 3080 out there. But I swear the fan was not nearly this loud before I screwed around with anything.

[Gredival]

I'm actually only getting 60 GPU / 62 memory / 82 hotspot on Dota as compared to Overwatch

[Gustave]

Finally finished this build. 5950x/3090FE. 120-125 Mhs with memory around 78. I think I can get that up to 130.

[Celeras]

End of an era today boys. Had to do some fiddling to get my MBR converted to GPT for REBAR. In and out of my recovery drive/bootable usb. So much so that I FINALLY got sick of crawling to the back of my tower to plug shit in....

... which I had to do because my case is still a HAF932 and the front panel connections are like 15+ years old lmao. Rest in peace, you magnificently tanky bastard. P500a on the way.

[Gredival]

I still got a HAF 932 sitting around. Just nothing to put in it.

[Melena]

So I'm planning on redoing my 7 year old computer later in the year. Any chance there will be a dent in the CPU/GPU shortage as I don't want to have to pay an arm and a leg for parts, or is this expected to drag into 2022?

[Nitsuki]

So I'm planning on redoing my 7 year old computer later in the year. Any chance there will be a dent in the CPU/GPU shortage as I don't want to have to pay an arm and a leg for parts, or is this expected to drag into 2022?

I’m expecting this to drag to 2022, i literally bought a case and m2 ssd and rebuilt my 7 year old PC. It’s going to be hooked up to my tv for just an emulation box until i build myself an arcade cab, or buy myself a Sega Blast City candy cab.

[Krandor]

This sounds counterintuitive given the long standing financials associated with gaming laptops, but if you "need" a new computer in 2021 it honestly might be worth looking at the newer model laptops.

The prices are still pretty in line with the historical prices for other gaming laptops of the last few years while we're seeing GPUs spike up to astronomical levels. Availability is still an issue, but not to the degree we're seeing with desktop GPUs

[Prothescar]

On Reddit it was hard to keep track of what was or was not reasonable. Most people were in the 70 - 80 range, but some people with makers such as Gigabyte were reporting 85 and I saw a few FE people hitting 80. I expect mine to be a little hot since the Dell card is literally the shortest 3080 out there. But I swear the fan was not nearly this loud before I screwed around with anything.

Late response sorry. I guess I wasn't comparing fairly because I forgot the 3080 typically doesn't have as beefy a cooler as the 3090. My 3090FE for example has yet to break 62C (however the bios on FE is aggressive, starts throttling around 60 anyway). 3080s run a bit hotter on average so your Temps are probably fine.

So I'm planning on redoing my 7 year old computer later in the year. Any chance there will be a dent in the CPU/GPU shortage as I don't want to have to pay an arm and a leg for parts, or is this expected to drag into 2022?

It sucks to say but buy pre-built. Try to get from somewhere that doesn't use OEM gpu coolers but even then, you'll be playing much closer to msrp than building yourself right now.

_____

Thinking about watercooling my 3090. Price for a 360mm rad, tubing, couplings, pump/res, and block is around $600 when only doing the GPU. Need to decide if that's worth it to me (probably eventually).