OS Neutral Your Computer For Gaming

[Macalicious2011]

I see these days motherboards can cost several hundred alone, then a couple of grand for the GPU, cases again a few hundred. Top end PC kit these days certainly isn’t cheap. Plus if I built one these days I’d water cool everything I could.

You can spend a fortune on a PC today but you don’t have to. The majority of popular games are developed for the lowest common denominator. Even a £500-800 PC is sufficient for enjoying popular FPS at decent frame rates. I have a 4070ti super and rarely bother with things like ray tracing or playing games at Ultra. Very high settings produce sufficient eye candy at 4k.

There are countless of videos on YouTube of super powerful computers but some of them are by YouTubers who borrow components from manufacturers.

 

[Pezimak]

You can spend a fortune on a PC today but you don’t have to. The majority of popular games are developed for the lowest common denominator. Even a £500-800 PC is sufficient for enjoying popular FPS at decent frame rates. I have a 4070ti super and rarely bother with things like ray tracing or playing games at Ultra. Very high settings produce sufficient eye candy at 4k.

There are countless of videos on YouTube of super powerful computers but some of them are by YouTubers who borrow components from manufacturers.

True, but personally I’d spend a fortune on building one lol. Not that I would these days. If I won the lottery maybe. but compared to when I was into custom PC’s high end component prices are now a lot more even accounting for inflation.

 

[Queen6]

True, but personally I’d spend a fortune on building one lol. Not that I would these days. If I won the lottery maybe. but compared to when I was not custom PC’s high end component prices are a lot more even accounting for inflation.

Kind of the opposite here as long as they do what I need, play the games I like, I just keep on to them. When they dont, they dont. Then they get replaced. No interest in feeding the beast, I just like to play...

Is mostly a numbers trip, my favourite games would likely run on a toaster. TBH I like the challenge to get something to do what it was never intended to do, on something it was never intended to run on LOL...

Q-6

 

[Huntn]

You can spend a fortune on a PC today but you don’t have to. The majority of popular games are developed for the lowest common denominator. Even a £500-800 PC is sufficient for enjoying popular FPS at decent frame rates. I have a 4070ti super and rarely bother with things like ray tracing or playing games at Ultra. Very high settings produce sufficient eye candy at 4k.

There are countless of videos on YouTube of super powerful computers but some of them are by YouTubers who borrow components from manufacturers.

I basically rebuilt my computer for $700.

 

[rm5]

Alright, I've had my Legion for a few days now, here are my thoughts:

• I had to disable hibernation, because it would glitch out, causing the computer to not wake up from sleep. I'd have to force it off and on again. Disabling it fixed this issue though. Also, I feel hibernation isn't too important, especially since I save my work often.
• It is MUCH heavier than my previous M1 MacBook Air, so it's a bit annoying using on my lap, but it's fine.
• Also, the battery doesn't last nearly as long. I've been able to get about 7 hours max out of the battery.
• The RGB keyboard is very nice.
• It can function both as a "thin-and-light laptop" and as a gaming computer, which is great. When unplugged and not under any heavy load, the fans are off. It only runs off integrated graphics, and the CPU is downclocked. This is very convenient for web browsing and such. And when I need the power, I can plug it in and set it to Custom mode, which ramps the fans all the way up, overclocks the GPU, and sets the power settings to their highest.
• AMD's specs page shows that the CPU can boost up to 5.1 GHz, but I've only ever seen it go up to about 4.6.

Overall, I think this is a great laptop! I do miss my MacBook though.

 

[dmccloud]

American or British colours? Why do you have so much ram?

Yes. Actually the color selection was more because I'm an Atlanta Braves fan. As for the RAM, I use that machine for gaming, photo/video editing (when I need the dual monitor setup), web development, and media encoding. There are also a pair of PCIE 1X cards with multiple USB-A and USB-C inputs I can connect peripherals to such as external storage, cameras, an audio control deck, a Stream Deck, etc.

 

[dmccloud]

You can spend a fortune on a PC today but you don’t have to. The majority of popular games are developed for the lowest common denominator. Even a £500-800 PC is sufficient for enjoying popular FPS at decent frame rates. I have a 4070ti super and rarely bother with things like ray tracing or playing games at Ultra. Very high settings produce sufficient eye candy at 4k.

There are countless of videos on YouTube of super powerful computers but some of them are by YouTubers who borrow components from manufacturers.

You can also look for sales on components. When I built my gaming rig, AM5 had just been released, so the AM4 motherboards and CPUs all saw price cuts. Additionally, DDR5 was still more expensive than DDR4, so there was a cost savings there as well. I have also made small updates to the rig over time, which is much easier with a custom built rig because you don't run into some of the barriers a lot of prebuilt systems have.

 

[Macalicious2011]

 

[dmr727]

I have a 5800X3D paired to a 4070. It runs both Win11 and Linux (Arch), although I've been gradually spending more time in Linux as I'm discovering how well my Steam library plays under Proton.

It's connected to a Dell 4K monitor, but I generally game at 1440p, and since it's 60Hz I find that my rig is overkill for even the latest stuff. My next purchase will probably be a display with a higher refresh rate, so I'm happy to have a little extra oomph, though.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I only use my PC for ggaming through steam. Why should I consider Linux? Pros and cons?

Two months ago I thought placed my 4070 in with a 4070ti super. I have a 5800x3d.

 

[dmr727]

I only use my PC for ggaming through steam. Why should I consider Linux? Pros and cons?

If you're not unhappy with Windows, I wouldn't worry about it. I enjoy geeking out with Linux anyway, and I've been getting increasingly annoyed with Microsoft's attitude about ads and tracking, so I've been looking for reasons to switch.

But Windows remains the most performant and trouble free way to game on the PC. Linux has come a looong way, but there's still a tinkering component that you may not want to deal with.

 

[salamanderjuice]

These days I just use a Steam Deck for PC gaming. I have a "better" PC I could use but I prefer the handheld, mostly console-esque experience of the Steam Deck. If I want to play on a big screen I just dock it. I don't think I'll bother with a traditional PC in the future. Prettier graphics just ain't worth the extra hassle. I'm not a big mouse and keyboard person either, being left handed and left handed mouse user it's generally a PITA involving you to remap every key in every game, which adds up!

I find Linux is fine for the games I play too, but I'm not big into giant multiplayer titles with anti-cheat.

 

[diamond.g]

I have a 5800X3D paired to a 4070. It runs both Win11 and Linux (Arch), although I've been gradually spending more time in Linux as I'm discovering how well my Steam library plays under Proton.

It's connected to a Dell 4K monitor, but I generally game at 1440p, and since it's 60Hz I find that my rig is overkill for even the latest stuff. My next purchase will probably be a display with a higher refresh rate, so I'm happy to have a little extra oomph, though.

View attachment 2396476

Why not play in 4k and use DLSS to cover performance differences?

 

[Macalicious2011]

These days I just use a Steam Deck for PC gaming. I have a "better" PC I could use but I prefer the handheld, mostly console-esque experience of the Steam Deck. If I want to play on a big screen I just dock it. I don't think I'll bother with a traditional PC in the future. Prettier graphics just ain't worth the extra hassle. I'm not a big mouse and keyboard person either, being left handed and left handed mouse user it's generally a PITA involving you to remap every key in every game, which adds up!

I find Linux is fine for the games I play too, but I'm not big into giant multiplayer titles with anti-cheat.

I will likely buy a steam deck in 2 years once I have played GTA6 on my Xbox Series X and sold it.

Why not play in 4k and use DLSS to cover performance differences?

Correct. You can hit 60fps with DLSS and frame gen with that GPU and cpu combo. For role player games I don’t notice a difference between 4k native and 4k with dlss and FG.

 

[dmr727]

Why not play in 4k and use DLSS to cover performance differences?

That's a good question. It's possible some titles (like Starfield?) are doing that by default. I didn't really play with its settings. But on some of the older games I play (Skyrim, Fallout NV, etc...) I find that I actually prefer the softer edges from playing in 1440p. I know it sounds stupid, but 4K seems to really accentuate the age of the game to me.

 

[Howard2k]

I just assembled a PC for gaming. I was shooting for the higher end of a mid range gaming PC.

I went with an AMD 5700X3D and an AMD RX 7800 XT. 32GB of RAM (a bit of overkill perhaps) and 2 x 1TB SSDs, though one is a cheaper Alibaba SSD which I use for storage of low intensity or less frequently played games. The primary is a WD Black.

I'm only playing 1080p at the moment but will likely upgrade to 1440p in the near future, as well as refreshing that second slower SSD.

I was playing on PS5 and Xbox Series S. It's an outstanding upgrade. Starfield in particular is like a brand new game vs XBS version.

 

[Huntn]

I just assembled a PC for gaming. I was shooting for the higher end of a mid range gaming PC.

I went with an AMD 5700X3D and an AMD RX 7800 XT. 32GB of RAM (a bit of overkill perhaps) and 2 x 1TB SSDs, though one is a cheaper Alibaba SSD which I use for storage of low intensity or less frequently played games. The primary is a WD Black.

I'm only playing 1080p at the moment but will likely upgrade to 1440p in the near future, as well as refreshing that second slower SSD.

I was playing on PS5 and Xbox Series S. It's an outstanding upgrade. Starfield in particular is like a brand new game vs XBS version.View attachment 2399313

I can see fans on the right, what are the 2 stacked sideways squarish black objects with the bumps, sitting above the Radeon card? Is the power supply below?

 

[Huntn]

That's a good question. It's possible some titles (like Starfield?) are doing that by default. I didn't really play with its settings. But on some of the older games I play (Skyrim, Fallout NV, etc...) I find that I actually prefer the softer edges from playing in 1440p. I know it sounds stupid, but 4K seems to really accentuate the age of the game to me.

With a previous graphic card, I ran into a wall trying to run a 4k monitor with a game, it might have been Starfield, and honestly I don’t really notice any significant difference back on a 2k monitor.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I just assembled a PC for gaming. I was shooting for the higher end of a mid range gaming PC.

I went with an AMD 5700X3D and an AMD RX 7800 XT. 32GB of RAM (a bit of overkill perhaps) and 2 x 1TB SSDs, though one is a cheaper Alibaba SSD which I use for storage of low intensity or less frequently played games. The primary is a WD Black.

I'm only playing 1080p at the moment but will likely upgrade to 1440p in the near future, as well as refreshing that second slower SSD.

I was playing on PS5 and Xbox Series S. It's an outstanding upgrade. Starfield in particular is like a brand new game vs XBS version.View attachment 2399313

That's a well balanced system. It's similar to what I bought in Dec 2023: 5800x3d and 4070 and 16GB Ram. Your cpu is better value as it is considerably cheaper for a small performance drop in performance.

I echo your jump in performance and visual quality compared with my Series X. I play on an LG c1. Playing in 4k vs 1200-1400p dynamic feels like I have upgraded my TV.

Three months ago I upgraded from a 4070 to a 4070ti super. I expected to upgrade from 16gb to 32gb ram but haven't. No matter how much I try to convince myself all comparison videos for gaming show a tiny 3-5 fps which is not worth upgrading for yet.

 

[Howard2k]

I can see fans on the right, what are the 2 stacked sideways squarish black objects with the bumps, sitting above the Radeon card? Is the power supply below?

CPU Heatsink - Thermalright Peerless Assassin

 

[dmccloud]

I just assembled a PC for gaming. I was shooting for the higher end of a mid range gaming PC.

I went with an AMD 5700X3D and an AMD RX 7800 XT. 32GB of RAM (a bit of overkill perhaps) and 2 x 1TB SSDs, though one is a cheaper Alibaba SSD which I use for storage of low intensity or less frequently played games. The primary is a WD Black.

I'm only playing 1080p at the moment but will likely upgrade to 1440p in the near future, as well as refreshing that second slower SSD.

I was playing on PS5 and Xbox Series S. It's an outstanding upgrade. Starfield in particular is like a brand new game vs XBS version.View attachment 2399313

I would recommend getting some sort of anti-sag bracket for that GPU. That will keep the card and the PCIE x16 slot from being damaged over time.

 

[diamond.g]

I would recommend getting some sort of anti-sag bracket for that GPU. That will keep the card and the PCIE x16 slot from being damaged over time.

That was some of the reason I went with a vertical GPU mount in my O11.

 

[Howard2k]

I would recommend getting some sort of anti-sag bracket for that GPU. That will keep the card and the PCIE x16 slot from being damaged over time.

Thanks, I know it’s a reinforced slot but I’ll look into that. Excellent idea.

Edit: ordered.

 

[SnoFlo]

Ironically, I'm using an M3 Max MacBook Pro for gaming, mostly via Crossover. I don't game very much anymore so an investment in a gaming PC isn't necessary for me. I do have a Lenovo Thinkpad P53 which I kept for sentimental reasons (it accompanied me through hell and back working at a hospital during the pandemic). I use it to run Ultima V, VI, VII and stuff.

 

[Huntn]

I would recommend getting some sort of anti-sag bracket for that GPU. That will keep the card and the PCIE x16 slot from being damaged over time.

Besides being slotted in, the end of my GPU is connected to the back of the case on both sides with screws. Isn’t that enough to hold it? 🤔