Recent content by martinch

I thought the entire Ryzen 7000-series include a (somewhat basic) iGPU for this use-case? (i.e. it's not very good at 3D stuff but fine for 2D stuff)

It's interesting to compare the US and European markets - we didn't really see the same depth of price cuts the US saw, and prices have been creeping back up for a while. I ended up purchasing a 3060 Ti about a month ago due to it looking like my 970 had failed, and it's already £60 (15%) more...

That's not the question to be asking. The question to ask is, "is it obvious when the latch is engaged or not engaged?" - if the answer is "no", then it's a design issue.

I might be able to test it in my parent's computer next week, if I can find the 8-pin GPU power connector that goes with their PSU. The PSU in my old PC was a Corsair AX760. When I built the new PC, I bought a Corsair RM750X for it. I did not use any of the cables from the old AX unit in it (I...

Hi all, I built a new PC a few months ago after it looked like the CPU/motherboard in my old Z97-based PC had failed ("no signal input" on monitor, switching between GPU and iGPU didn't make any difference). I used all new components except for the GPU (EVGA GTX 970 SC), which I carried over...

Maybe there's something of a regional pricing difference going on, or maybe it's the products I looked at, but I'm not seeing a big difference in price between them and the Intel B660 ones? The ASUS TUF B650M-PLUS is £250 inc VAT (about $230 plus tax), which is the same as what the TUF...

Honestly, usages vary. A PC with 8GB of RAM is absolutely fine for some users - I've yet to see my parents' PC go over 6GB RAM utilisation (and nil swap) even with multiple logged-in users, although it does run Linux Mint which is somewhat more memory-efficient than Windows (750MB used on...

My upgrade timeline is somewhat dependent upon how long my current card behaves for, which means it'll probably fail about a month before the new Radeons become available. 🤦‍♂️ On a more serious note, I do hope the new Radeon line is interesting, and causes the existing 30-series cards to drop a...

Yeah, I think you're right on that one - I don't see it changing any time soon. :( Very true. :) Thanks - sounds like it shouldn't be an issue. :) I've got sensitive hearing and the PC is on the desk next to me, but the noise from my GTX 970 - which is a EVGA "blower" design - is fine due to...

I think that may well be the correct answer, although I'm still suffering from "sticker shock" on all of them a bit*, especially as a lot of the games I play don't need much GPU power (Frostpunk, STALKER, Endzone, XCOM, Wasteland, Pillars of Eternity). * I paid £280 for my GTX 970, and am used...

Any particular reason for not Sapphire? (I thought they were one of the better AMD board manufacturers) The RX 6650 XT does seem to be great for rasterisation. :) The only thing I'm not 100% sold on is its raytracing performance (44fps in Metro Exodus benchmarks), although I suppose bumping...

Hi all, It's looking like I'll have to replace my GTX 970 in the near future. I'm using a 1440p 60Hz monitor and the only games I'm interested in where the GTX 970 is not fast enough are Metro Exodus (recommended: 2070 or 3070 for Enhanced) and the not-yet-released S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2...

The last two GPUs I purchased were EVGA ones, and the next one was going to be as well. I've never had to use their warranty process, but I'd been impressed having read reports from other owners. There again, I'm one of those who is willing to pay a little more for better customer service...

This is very true. A Core i5 is actually overkill for "average" home & office use (web browsing, e-mail, and a bit of MS Office) these days, and gaming has largely been GPU-limited for a fair while (although CPU utilisation will increase over time as a given system ages). There are a few...

As someone who has a preference for AMD due to various reasons, yes, 450W of power draw is too much. Personally, I have no interest in a GPU that draws more than ~200W of power (or a CPU which draws more than ~100W), irrespective of who makes it. :) (there again, I'd like to think I've been...