Random Thoughts.....What Are You Thinking?

They can recognize you!

When I saw the green gas, I quickly remembered you

it really just is the noise that bothers me, I've tried various fan control software with limited success. I can't sit at a desk for long periods any more so this is my setup. I have a good 240hz 4k monitor sitting unused atm in favor of this.

Steam Machine will absolutely be less power than you listed here.
If that's your system, I would recommend jumping to a 9800X3D and getting the best GPU you can afford. Used is certainly the way, but the system you listed is pretty dang new. Going to be hard to find newer components for used prices.

In regards to your fan noise complaint... This is the cost of using a system that pulls 600w under a load. It's possible to have a quiet powerful PC, but it's expensive. It will require either a custom water-cooling loop or a very gnarly case.

I had a full EKWB setup on my 7900k/980ti build from like 10 years ago. I absolutely loved it, but it was a lot of work to build and maintain. Ultimately when my GPU died and I would have had to redo all my hard lines to work with a new GPU with another $300 block... I said screw it. It was nice having a PC that was nearly always at ambient temp and barely made any noise.

Althor: My PC works fine and I don't play games that need max compute, my fans are just loud.

Nerds: Spend $1200 on hardware to upgrade your dumpster tier case

Cmon. If sound is the complaint, replace the fans and make sure your case has airflow. If not, consider upgrading the case. You don't need to buy new hardware if you don't need better performance.

Steam machine will likely be a good value for the cost, given the bulk manufacturing. It's not going to be better than what you have.

Small form factor PCs are a thing; the steam machine isn't the only option for something easier to conceal. I have an Origin Chronos v2 that fits into one cabinet of my media center. I cut out the rear panel of the cabinet for airflow and when I'm using it I leave the front open so it can pull cool air from the room and throw it back. It might not be hard to hide a full size tower, but consider air flow needs as well as visibility.

yeah I'm fine with downgrading power in terms of cpu/gpu, probably not using it anywhere near capacity now as is. I did look at some mini pc custom build sites, but will also look at just replacing the case. airflow should be ok, but it does not have any liquid cooling.

Steam machine base model is gonna be $1200 at this point.

Just dust the case and/or adjust the fan curves. They're loud cause it's dirty. It's not the specs.

Undervolt would work too.

Man, I dont know if it's what you need, but for multi-boxing FFXI mine is perfect. And only 200 bux.

If you value quiet then don't buy the high performance graphics cards. Should be obvious.

The x60 range for nvidia should be your target. 100-150w max draw.

Less power it draws the less cooling you need. Change fans to silent under 1k rpm good quality fans and you're done.

Leave the water cooling to the tinkerers.

got a link? and negan fell to the multi-boxing dark side oh no!

I just 2 box OCCASIONALLY!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNFNXXYN/ref=emc_bcc_2_i?th=1

Like I said, FFXI and VSCode all I use. I am excited tho for my next XD

thank you hadn't seen these yet

Personally I gave up on building PCs in favor of laptops long ago.

With the prices of memory and video cards today I would advising upgrading.

This. Look for last year's vid cards on clearance or refurbished.

Last years cards used cost more than they did when they were new lol

Imagine adding food to your plate and ending with 200g over what you usually can eat.

Then you have the habit of leaving the best part for last.

Then you feel full before reaching the "good" part...

Only a dog would make that mistake

Anyways, what happened yesterday? I heard another conspiracy was confirmed?

I bought a 3090 for $600 when the 4090 came out.
3090 now sell for $1200-1500.

...and we thought it couldn't get any worse during the crypto-mining era.

Turns out the earth was flat this whole time.

I second cleaning the PC. Dusted out my case a week or so ago and noticed that some tasks that previously made the fans ramp up audibly it now doesn't at all or way later.

If you have some sort of compressor for air blowing you don't need to disassemble much, just take the sides and all dust guards off. If you want to be cautious make sure the fans don't rotate as it produces current and cheap fans save money by leaving out protection measures.

Some people also do it with canned air although I don't know for how many appliances one can lasts.

Just make sure to do it outside.


Last I think it's fair to mention that, at least with a compressor, you'll most likely get condensed water into your PC. I've cleaned my machine several times that way and didn't have issues. Always made sure to spray a good bit on the side panels after I was done with the machine so I could make sure the water was evaporated before I plug the PC back in.
It's apparently indeed none conductive, as they teach in school, but it still feels sketchy.

Also I'm not sure on the second hand hardware comments. Sure it's cheaper but ever since the crypto mining hype I think used GPUs in particular are risky.

Even without the crypto hype there still is this "fix" for GPUs where once they already produce purple artifacts and cause crashing (the card being effectively on the brink of it's live time) you'd stuff it in the oven at a certain temperature and the card would work again. Unfortunately the fast majority of the time it only lasts for a couple of weeks or months before you get artifacts and crashing again.

How would you want to know someone didn't do that with his card before selling it on ebay?