tech-deals-discussion

[fair moon]

in US byo is cheaper. lemme take a look at canada

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/mrmdsp

[tacit mantle]

thank you

i also heard that u need a windows key or something if you build them

is there a way to get that for free or cheap

[fair moon]

the 8gb of vram on the 5060 and 9060xt 8gb is really starting to be an issue

[tacit mantle]

why?

[fair moon]

more and more games are using more than 8gb vram

[thin bolt]

It’s not an issue if you play older games, but newer games, yeah.

[tacit mantle]

👍

[stoic crest]

and if you don't max it out

[high radish]

I recently tried 5060ti 8gb on BF6 . at QHD , Low settings giving you over 100fps . but jumping to medium setting giving you like 50fps . probably duo vram leak so yeah 8gb is being trash recently

[vague pine]

@high radish with inflated ram prices, that ram is priced at $300 rn as well

[stoic crest]

1440p imo is too high for 8 gigs anyway

[high radish]

yeah . so 700$ for those is good deal grabbed one without thinking

[stoic crest]

1080p however is still doable

[high radish]

at 1080p BF6 eats over 6gb vram too . yeah its not leaking but it's almost there

[stoic crest]

sounds like that's just about enough for the game to run smoothly

[high radish]

yeah thing is BF6 is one of well optimized game nowadays . I guess regular UE5 games will cause problems . actually I'll test it at Stalker 2 which is heavy UE5 game

yeah as I expected . at 1080P , Stalker 2 easily passing 8gb

EU5 moment

in empty areas Vram usage dropping to like 5-6gb . but in populated areas it easts over8gb

[pallid geyser]

Ram is insane man what the hell

Couple months ago they were basically giving it away lol

[high radish]

yeah I almost never bought ram kits .I got them free from newegg

[vague pine]

@high radish or anyone looking in here, would this mobo that comes with free ram, paired with a ultra 7 265kf be a decent deal. total comes out to $350 in the cart

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-z890-aorus-elite-wifi7-atx-motherboards-intel-intel-z890-lga-1851/p/N82E16813145527

https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-ultra-7-265kf-arrow-lake-lga-1851-desktop-cpu-processor/p/N82E16819118507

mind you this would be for someone upgrading from a ryzen 5 3600

[high radish]

yeah . only 16gb ram but free ram is free ram

newegg is weird lol. newegg giving away rams when ram prices inflated

[vague pine]

actual black friday deal frfr

what if Newegg bought up all the ram which caused the prices to go so high just so they can give it away for free

i just realized the cpu comes with a aio

[high radish]

Thanks to newegg , I don't have to pay inflated prices for ram . Actually I don't have to pay for rams

[vague pine]

bros about to flip them sticks

[high radish]

Mo Free Rams

[bold willow]

I need help finding a MacBook usb c hub

Should have charging, hdmi, and some other ports at minimum

Something high quality cause our current one is super sensitive

[thin bolt]

Gimme gimme

[delicate lake]

https://tenor.com/view/rizz-rizz-face-shrek-shrek-meme-funny-gif-11681866407721108377

[fair moon]

ok so this message didn't load on my phone but the "free or cheap" one did and I thought you are asking about getting the pc parts for free or cheap lmao

[cedar hedge]

What is the best prebuilt I can buy under 1k on these good Black Friday sales

[uncut plume]

The one I posted from the doorbuster deal will be $650 tomorrow morning btw.

[tacit mantle]

i thought it was against the rules and you were just avoiding it lol

[fair moon]

slightly against the rules yeah

you can do a quick google search, or dm me

[tacit mantle]

also im following the build you gave me and i found a deal for a 350$ usd 9060xt 16gb after tax

should i buy it?

and i found this combo https://www.canadacomputers.com/en/amd-desktop-processors/282370/amd-r5-7600x3d-cpu-gigabyte-b650-eagle-ax-wifi-motherboard-wd-black-sn850x-1tb-m-2-ssd.html

[fair moon]

yeah that $330 9060xt is excellent

[fair moon]

that's nice. Gets you an x3d cpu which are great for gaming

if there's a bundle with ram that might be good since ram is crazy rn. Otherwise that bundle is good

[tacit mantle]

alright

is it worth it to buy ram off marketplace or craigslist or should i just try and find it discounted

[fair moon]

used ram is fine

[tacit mantle]

alright

[fair moon]

not sure how much used ddr5 is out there though

[tacit mantle]

i found someone selling a $195 1x32gb

is it any different from a 2x16

[fair moon]

single stick is a little worse than dual channel. Not sure quite how much

[tacit mantle]

does it matter too much on the CAS latency

[fair moon]

try to keep it at or below cl32

ideally ~6000cl30

[tacit mantle]

alright

[earnest storm]

for ddr5 the differnece isnt huge

[fair moon]

yep, hence the "a little worse"

[earnest storm]

and honestly

look more for the voltage stuff is at

since you can manually tune

to save money

[cunning flame]

4070 ti super for $600 isn't bad at all

Nvidia 9070 xt basically. marginally weaker but you get the same vram and all the Nvidia goodies

[cunning flame]

ddr5 bw is so high that CL matters even less than ddr4, which already barely mattered

[cunning flame]

~ 1/2 the bandwidth

[cursive sage]

If they were the same price what would you comp?

[cunning flame]

4070 ti super. the 10% raster difference is measurable, sure, but not really noticeable. the considerably better upscaling on the other hand is quite noticeable. plus it's more efficient

only thing 9070 xt really has in its favour imo is better OC uplift. OC to OC the gap should widen a bit, but still not anything tremendously world shaking

saying this having owned both

[kindred portal]

GPUs i want include

7900XTX
4090
4070 ti super

and B770 (COPEIUM)

I'm a simle guy

[tacit mantle]

so i can buy ddr5 cl38 and it wont matter much?

cus its margins cheaper

[cunning flame]

in terms of what matters, there are a handful of secondaries that matter most, then a couple of the primaries, and the. CL. CL matters practically the least to actual performance

[tacit mantle]

👍

[brittle lagoon]

CL is just useful as a general sign of what the rest of the timings are, it's not useful on its own

[tacit mantle]

👍

[cunning flame]

the funny thing is motherboard (at least on Intel where board partners have more freedom than just building a UI around an AGESA blackbox) will determine subtimings more robustly/comprehensively than an XMP/EXPO preset. so your board will often determine memory performance as much or more than the specifics of relatively similar kits

[tardy trellis]

The deals for Black Friday, once a new stage unlocks will the current deals go away, or will there just be more stuff on sale?

[fallen idol]

The doorbuster deals have a time limit I’m pretty sure but they’ll most likely sell out before then.

[tardy trellis]

Will it say doorbuster vs Black Friday?

[prime shadow]

Doorbuster sales are gone very fast, sometimes within a minute or less for some parts. You have to be very very very quick.

[fallen idol]

For the 7800x3d deal I posted in #tech-deals you now get a free AIO as well!

[wise plover]

Got any sweet nvme deals for early black friday yet?

[tacit mantle]

I need help quickly, is this a good deal? 700$ USD

https://www.newegg.ca/stormcraft-sirius-gaming-desktop-pc-amd-radeon-rx-9060-xt-amd-ryzen-5-8400f-32gb-ddr5-1tb-nvme-ssd-si8400fcb-96an1/p/N82E16883420029

[fair moon]

I'm seeing $950

At $950, heck no. At $700, maybe?

The 8gb vram is gonna limit you to 1080p in newer games, and the 8400f is a good bit slower than a 9600 or 7600

[pallid geyser]

What does it mean “batch with small flex issue” when referring to a mouse? #tech-deals message

[vague pine]

During the first few batches when they were making the la-1, there was a bit of side flex when you squeezed the mouse somewhat moderately instead of it being stiff

id show it but dont know where my mouse is

if you hold your mouse fairly lightly even in intense situations, its more than fine. if you are someone that grips their mouse a decent amount, then i would not recommend it

[kindred portal]

hi

[fair moon]

@cloud bramble trim your links dog

[kindred portal]

wrong guy

💀

also

when do i cut it

[fair moon]

Starting with ref=

Or just after the ?

[lament ivy]

@kindred portal this GPU is not an XT

[kindred portal]

MY B

SORRY

😭

[earnest storm]

@kindred portal that huge combo is 610

[kindred portal]

it says 659 for me

[earnest storm]

If you put it in cart it’s 610

[kindred portal]

oh

thanks

Newegg seems to be making alot of core ultra case mobo ram and aio deals so be on the look out

they had one for the 285K

anyways

sleep

now

bye

[tacit mantle]

canadian

[fair moon]

700 cad yeah that's good

[tacit mantle]

999 cad and 700$ usd i mean

do you think ill be able to upgrade the cpu?

[earnest storm]

It’s on am5 so yes

But the 8gb gpu is very meh

Don’t buy it

Do NOT buy it

100% a scam

😭

[earnest storm]

Intel mobo in description

Very sketch

[tacit mantle]

i already boguht it

i guess ill have to wait and see

in the parts area it says its a Prime B650M-A AX6

[earnest storm]

Where

M

Prolly a typo then

[tacit mantle]

hopefully

do you know what the difference is with a “ai powered” gaming pc?

[earnest storm]

Marketing bs

[tacit mantle]

alright

[fair moon]

For the laptops it just means the chip has an npu. For desktops I don't think it means anything

[fair moon]

$700 isn't too bad but the 8gb gpu is rough

Plus the 8400f has half the l3 cache of a 7600, which puts it in between that and a 5600x

[tacit mantle]

i just needed something better than my current pc really 😭

its running a 1660 super and ddr4 16gb ram

[earnest storm]

What cpu

[fair moon]

What cpu?

[tacit mantle]

i7-10700F

[fair moon]

Honestly I'd probably just upgrade your gpu

[tacit mantle]

it was like a mini pc sort of thing though

i dont think i could

[fair moon]

Send the PC if you can

[tacit mantle]

https://ca.msi.com/Desktop/MPG-Trident-3-10th/Specification

it was this but with a 1660 super

bought it for like 800 usd in 2020

[fair moon]

Ah

So it would have to be a single fan gpu

[tacit mantle]

yeah

[burnt prawn]

Y’all think ram prices will go down soon?

[earnest storm]

Hopefully

Hynix is doing 6x the regular production

[brittle lagoon]

It'll take about a year for any changes to kick in from today

Main thing to watch for is if demand drops

[high radish]

As long as Newegg giving free rams I'm okay

[opal flume]

The ram:

https://tenor.com/view/goat-ram-punching-bag-revenge-angry-gif-15432826

[fair moon]

Lol they changed the 20% cashback to 1 purchase

https://www.paypal.com/us/campaign/5-bnpl-offer-terms

[pallid geyser]

Frick

Wonder if they’ll honor it for those who made multiple purchases prior to this

[cursive sage]

They will

[civic sun]

seems this went up to 900usd now

[delicate lake]

Not surprising

That best buy 9070 went out of stock so whatever

[high radish]

Coupons bringing it down

BFEFE37 and REAVES2

80$ and 150$

[lament ivy]

Wait, if you buy $1000 worth of comp parts in one purchase you get 20% off?

[pallid geyser]

Yes

If yall see any kickbutt deals on nvme’s ping me pls, 2tb+ would like a 4tb

Just missed 4tb kingston @ $148

[uncut plume]

That's some good times from a year or two ago kind of pricing.

[fair moon]

PayPal has an offer where using pay in 4 gets you 20% off a purchase, up to $250 back

[ocean quartz]

where can i find this at

[fair moon]

Paypal

[ocean quartz]

where in paypal

i see it in offers but nothing about up to 250 back

i applied the promotion and now it says on my purchase i can pay in 4, on the offer itself it had said youll get 20 percent off but in the cart it doesnt show that

[pallid geyser]

It’s only on pay in 4

[near igloo]

Fix the price?

[lament ivy]

So then, yes is the answer? Wtf am i doing with my life

[fair moon]

Yes, if you use PayPal pay in 4

[fair moon]

@delicate lake if you're just getting a second monitor check acer refurb on ebay. I've seen 1440p panels as low as $115

I have had them come with debris under the screen before but it's hard to see, not too big of a deal for a secondary

Or you can return it if it's bad enough

[delicate lake]

Yeah I see one for $110 but I need 24 inch

[fallen idol]

There is also the Innocn 25G2S

or the mini led version 25M2S

both 24.5”

1440p

240hz

[delicate lake]

Yeah i have the 25g2

I like 25 inch but I have had a 1080p 24 inch secondary for a while, so I want to keep it at 24

Plus they are basically the same price

[fallen idol]

I see

[fallen idol]

How is it?

I got the Mini Led version coming in soon

[delicate lake]

It’s not bad

It has a slow refresh rate so I have overdrive on level 2 out of 3

I get some ghosting but it is hard to see, only in specific scenarios at certain frame rates. Pretty uncommon for me to see it

I am sure the mini led is faster though

I may get it and give this to me brother

[plain sphinx]

any good inkjet printer deals out there?

[fair moon]

This maybe? I know Brother makes good laser printers

https://www.brother-usa.com/products/mfcj1215w

[pallid geyser]

Man Black Friday is trash

[fair moon]

9am PT

Noon Eastern

[fallen idol]

The 5060 froom woot is actually $260.

The max limit is $40 off.

unless that’s a different deal

[lament ivy]

That was such a bullshit lie for $99 lol

Had my whole family refreshing it never showed even for a second lol

[high radish]

It was msi inspiration and it's oos now

[fallen idol]

ah I see

[earnest storm]

Even then it’s a bad deal which is crazy 😭

[lament ivy]

Where do you see on that combo deal with the AIO included?

When I click shows just mobo/cpu/ram

@high radish

[high radish]

aio comes gift with cpu

[lament ivy]

How do you make sure it’s included though? May not be applicable with this combo?
When you pick a normal CPU it says in the deal what AIO it comes with

[high radish]

yeah . and I ordered one kit

[lament ivy]

?

[high radish]

I mean bundle . I ordered it . when you add it to cart it adding aio too

[lament ivy]

Well never mind just sold out it seems lol

Guess you got the last one lol

[high radish]

yeah it went oos in few minutes I think

it was in stock like 2 days ago too I think. maybe it will restock

[lament ivy]

If you see it again post it, if it’s comes with AIO I will return my microcenter order and grab it

[burnt prawn]

For the B650m mobo, what affordable cpu would y’all use? Working on a budget atm 😭

[burnt prawn]

And the gpu is a 1080ti… this will be upgraded sometime soon 😭

[thin bolt]

7500f

Or just 7600x

Cheapest possibleoption in the 7500-7700x line

[burnt prawn]

Sweet thanks

[bold willow]

Any good deals on stationary usb c (MacBook) docs?

Hopefully under $50

Preferably one that the MacBook can sit on top of

[misty river]

Hey guys, looking for opinion on this doorbuster deal for this prebuilt:
https://www.newegg.com/doorbuster

Do you guys think this is worth the price for gaming (1080p/1440p, fornite/minecraft/marvelrivals)? Trying to buy something for a family member this christmas.

[thin bolt]

Not good

[misty river]

dammit, any prebuilt recs? Lol

[uncut plume]

It's not bad or anything but $800 is the normal sale price for a 5060 prebuilt. That one is am5 isntead of a 14400f or something but it's not a good am5 cpu. Those prices are probably going to be increasing soon with ram costing $150 more now so 5060 builds might be moving up toward $1000 soon. There were some $600 and $650 ones on doorbuster earlier that you missed out on, down at those prices a 5060 looks a lot better. Can you find something better than that doorbuster one for $800 or less? Probably not.
If you don't get it and have a costco card this could be a good fallback option https://www.costco.com/p/-/cyberpowerpc-gamer-xtreme-gaming-desktop-intel-core-ultra-5-225f-nvidia-geforce-rtx-5060-windows-11-home-32gb-ram-2tb-ssd/4000375234?langId=-1

[misty river]

Mad funny you suggest that because I was going to ask people here about this exact one, but I thought the discussions here have to be limited to newegg lol. So you also think this is a good prebuilt as well (at least for the price range)? I was researching across reddit and I have seen this mentioned a few times with positive feedback, but have not pulled the trigger yet because of potentially better deals.

[uncut plume]

#tech-deals has people linking to amazon, b&h and hp so I'd assume it's fine.

The cost of building your own has gone up over $200 in the last couple months because of ram and ssd prices. If you're in the <$1000 range prebuilts can actually be reasonable again.

At least until they run out of stock/reserves and start raising prices.

[misty river]

ok got it, my budget is like $800ish so it seems like prebuilts with the ram already accounted for might be the way to go for me....would you do the same in my case?

[uncut plume]

If I wasn't as familiar with prices, inconsiderate of wasting my own time, comfortable troubleshooting and buying used stuff then probably.

[balmy lake]

Battlefield 6 for ps5 and xbox for $35 New at GameStop, right now

https://www.gamestop.com/video-games/products/battlefield-6/20024280.html

[flint gyro]

whats a good used deal for a 3080ti right now i got a fe for $400 off of ebay

[shut lava]

<@&500086265496993802> we got spam

[cursive sage]

https://tenor.com/view/indiana-jones-unsure-thinking-let-me-think-should-i-get-this-one-gif-16685505

[flat junco]

https://tenor.com/view/star-wars-admiral-ackbar-its-a-trap-meme-gif-8125029

[high radish]

[pallid geyser]

$300 5070 tomorrow I think

All 3 of them again

[fallen idol]

I wonder what the 9070 xt doorbuster price will be

[high radish]

With this one you have better chance at least lol . That gpu is going to bots did anyone order combo kit like this before? Does they coming with boxes or they're oem ?

[pallid geyser]

Still waiting on a good ssd deal but THEY ALL SUCK

[high radish]

Lol SSD prices going up . Good luck with finding good deal

[tardy trellis]

Chances that I’m able to snag that 5070 on door buster?

Low

Very low?

[high radish]

it's like 0.00000001

[cunning flame]

$350 ish or less

normal pricing is $350-400

which is wild to me bc you can get new 4070's for that but whateva

($400 at least)

[wise plover]

Literally sold out instantly

[high radish]

sold out before I can see doorbuster price lmao

[wise plover]

The instant my screen finally said $699 buy now it also said sold out

🤖

Bots saved me $700

[high radish]

yeah it sux . it's not worth even try

[earnest storm]

@kindred portal all sold out except a bad deal…

[kindred portal]

which one

they were all in stock when i posted it lmao

the XT for 500 ain't half bad

[earnest storm]

You can get a 9070xt for the same price apparently

[kindred portal]

where

[ashen rune]

anyone think the 9800x3d will drop below $450? Thinking about grabbing one and the price has been pretty consistent

[kindred portal]

Source

https://www.newegg.com/asrock-challenger-rx9070xt-cl-16g-radeon-rx-9070-xt-16gb-graphics-card-triple-fans/p/N82E16814930145?Item=N82E16814930145

here's this

[sick spade]

Only way is if you purchase a 9800x3D refurbished, used or manage to acquire a coupon otherwise I do not see a way to acquire one new for less than $450 in the foreseeable future.

I guess bundles would make the CPU itself less then $450 but that'd require spending more than $450 for the CPU+board or whatever combo bundle you find.

[lament ivy]

Microcenter did a mobo combo for me 2 weeks ago if you are near one and need mobo too

[ashen rune]

good to know, thats what I figured

[balmy lake]

Its not much below. But it is $429 at MC today.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/687907/amd-ryzen-7-9800x3d-granite-ridge-am5-470ghz-8-core-boxed-processor-heatsink-not-included

[hybrid stone]

Be sure to check your local Walmart!

[normal tiger]

Not a bad deal $99 for hp omen and two of them for $178

[earnest storm]

Wow… it’s overpriced…

[hybrid stone]

That’s for 2 kits at 140$ each. But yes, I agree 😂

[earnest storm]

Oh

[delicate lake]

Oh 140 is good considering the market

Great even

[bold willow]

how dare you downvote the $40 fishtank case

[thin bolt]

It comes with no fans
That’s usually an extra $20 for decent fans

[earnest storm]

Montech xr:

[bold willow]

we need fans?

usually i just run it under cold water

[thin bolt]

[torpid night]

I genuinely don't understand the downvotes
#tech-deals message

[hybrid stone]

I agree but gotta remember people are all in there for different reasons. A builder might see that and be interested, but a personal user would rather spend the extra 20-60$ on a more quality option with fans. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

[torpid night]

$20-$60 could go towards fans tbh. That is, if the XPG fits your needs

It's a $40 case. How could you complain?

If you compare it to other $40 options, you'll find that your downvote is the most Reddit thing you've done

[bold willow]

Motor defending me 😭

[delicate lake]

[torpid night]

Rare for me to defend a green role. Feel privileged

[bold willow]

I’m a dark green role

[gilded zodiac]

i think this is a good deal personally

depends on your needs, exactly like @hybrid stone says

[torpid night]

That's what I'm saying lmao

I don't think it should be downvoted at all tbh

You can have your thoughts on a fish tank case, but $40 is a steal for a case like that imo

[bold willow]

Perfect for your raspberry pi

[earnest storm]

You can get a barely more expensive fish tank case with fans

[balmy lake]

You can also get a much more expensive fish tank case with NO fans… 🤷‍♂️

[thin bolt]

Criticism is fair on both sides

[uncut plume]

I thought it looked pretty good for a budget case. Nicer than a zalman t3 or a q300l or other crap that's that cheap.

[earnest storm]

Just because

There’s a worse thing

Doesn’t make a bad thing good

[balmy lake]

It’s not a worse thing tho. I’m super happy with my expensive case that had no fans. Partly because i had plenty of fans on hand already to put in it. I just don’t think it’s best to base the value of a case on whether or not it has fans, of all things.

[earnest storm]

Well

They add more value

So the case is bad value for like 99% of ppl when month xr exists

Or just any fish tank case with fans

It’s just bad value

Sooo…

[delicate lake]

Do the fans suck though

They are probably noisy

[uncut plume]

The xr isn't very good either. $40 for that and $25 for some thermalright fans would be better imo. Lian li v100r also a good option in the budget fishtank range.

[cursive sage]

i wonder if i should look into this to see what type of RAM it is

https://tenor.com/view/indiana-jones-unsure-thinking-let-me-think-should-i-get-this-one-gif-16685505

[brittle lagoon]

just get a picture of the back side and look up the rev code

[vague pine]

am i seeing this right? mobo + ram and free cooler and router?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails?ItemList=Combo.4848431

[earnest storm]

The ram is like

Basically ewaste

36-44-44-96 @1.4v

😭

[vague pine]

in this ram economy 🗿

[earnest storm]

Eh

It’s a decent deal

Also

[earnest storm]

Where is the free router

[vague pine]

is it not a free router in there for free gift ofer with combo?

[earnest storm]

No

That’s an AIO

[vague pine]

[earnest storm]

O

[vague pine]

probably not a good router but free is free

[earnest storm]

I didn’t see it when I put it in cart

OH

I thought you were talking about
The one in #tech-deals

[vague pine]

🗿

[earnest storm]

Eh

[vague pine]

this ram economy needs to drop

better timings for you and still makes up like 90% of the bundle price

https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-trident-z5-neo-rgb-series-32gb-ddr5-6000-cas-latency-cl30-desktop-memory-black/p/N82E16820374427

[earnest storm]

[steady nimbus]

I am open to suggestions for alternatives that treat pricing as mid-range to identify an optimal cost/performance.

[slow cove]

do you need help with that?

like what are you trying to buy

[lament ivy]

It’s been rough, I bought most of the main pieces for a new build, but the RAM/m.2 2tb hard drives are so damn expensive I’m going over budget. Been waiting all Black Friday/cyber Monday to try and get something

[lament ivy]

It’s a 9800x3d, 9070xt and b650e-e by the way, don’t want to cheap out too much, but $600 for good ram and 2tb is crazy

[hybrid stone]

Because of the ram prices, it’s not a bad idea to go with a 7600X/7600X3D bundle for AM5 entry point and save the higher end CPU for later. Don’t really need it for a 9070XT, anyway.

2TB SSDs can still be found daily for 100-130$

[lament ivy]

Appreciate it, but can’t return. I saw the Samsung 2tb pro as a decent one(but still not even that great) for $170-180 I believe was best as a “shell shocker”

[high radish]

2tb ssds comes down under 150 frequently . as for ram , it's difficult situation

only possible way to grab cheap ram is from newegg combos recently

[hybrid stone]

Before the recent hike, 90-110$ was commonplace for budget 2TB drives

And yeah you paid more but paid for a name brand so if for a personal rig, it’s fine.

[high radish]

even good 2tb ones could be found under 100$ back then . like hynix p41 whihc have dram

I still holding on with rams I got free from newegg lol as soon as newegg stops giving rams away with mobos I'm cooked too lol

[lament ivy]

Yeah going to keep my open for something decent that I can combo or something, even if it’s a 1tb for now if I really have to, but preferably not.

[slow cove]

or from people who dont know what they got on fb market

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/500102940078505984/1444792842491789402/admgh0.gif

[uncut plume]

$180+ you're into gen 5 pricing.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/WD-Blue-SN5000-NVMe-SSD-nbsp-2TB-WDBS3F0020BNC-WRWM/13553973014 You can still find a few reasonable deals. This is a midrange hmb drive for $125 and for gaming and general use you won't notice a difference.

[high radish]

FB marketplace is dry in my area sadly

[lament ivy]

Is that a decent drive though? Haven’t used used WD since the old days and still prob worth the $40-$50 for the nicer ones long term?

[uncut plume]

WD is good, it's sandisk now though, they sold their ssd division. The sn5000 would be more like a 990 evo (non plus, the plus is faster like an sn7100) than a 990 pro. Sn850x would have been the analogous one for a 990 pro as a high end gen 4 with dram cache built in or like a crucial t500. If you're just doing gaming then a midrange hmb drive like that is fine. If you're going to be doing frequent heavy writes or recording to it or using it for something high intensity where you care about the best responsiveness possible like video editing then getting a nicer one with dram is more worthwhile.
The market just sucks currently. Seagte firecuda 530r at $160 for 2tb isn't too bad for a higher end gen 4.

[hybrid stone]

Damn imma have to hit you up next month. I just finished up this build but I’m going to be sad when my pre boom ram is gone. But even if the kit ran me 180$, I’m still in good shape.

[lament ivy]

Is that ram still available or that was pre boom?

[hybrid stone]

Pre boom. But I did get lucky with 2x Fury Kits for 150$ each from Walmart the other night.

[bold willow]

I kinda need a laptop. My gaming one isn't doing so hot, well actually its too hot.

Any recommendations?

<$350 USD in USA

One choice is a refurbished M1, but what would a windows alternative be?

Something with good specs but heavier focus on typing, weight, and battery life.

[normal tiger]

are you looking for everyday usage?

I currently have a macbook air M1 since the yr it was released in 2020, and it's running awesome. I use it for everyday things as you mentioned. Occasionally play minecraft and league of legends on it lol

[bold willow]

No games at all. Purely school work and maybe some lightweight design work.

[normal tiger]

m1 did fine for me, i did some light coding on it too. others might have better opinions on here tho, that's just my experience. Been keeping my macbook for 5 yrs and still strong

[bold willow]

I already know it would work fine, just wondering about a windows alternative

[normal tiger]

Are you okay with refurbished? Acer has refurbished ones for around $300 on ebay

[ashen rune]

If anyone works at Best Buy or has a friend who does: most RAM with employee discount is still incredibly cheap, given the current conditions. I don't think they have updated their internal costs yet to reflect the market. I just got a 64gb Corsair kit currently price around $900 for $400. Won't last long though, I'm sure they will correct this

[bold willow]

This seems decent https://www.bestbuy.com/product/lenovo-ideapad-slim-3x-copilot-pc-15-3-2k-touchscreen-laptop-snapdragon-x-x1-26-100-2025-16gb-memory-256gb-ssd-luna-grey/JJGSH82JL5/sku/6619147/openbox?condition=excellent

[fair moon]

If ARM works for the programs you need, it's an excellent option

Kinda like windows' version of apple silicon (not quite as good but way better efficiency than x86)

@bold willow if you can stretch your budget there's this with an oled screen, double the storage, and faster processor

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/hp-omnibook-5-copilot-pc-14-2k-oled-touch-screen-laptop-snapdragon-x-plus-2025-16gb-memory-512gb-ssd-glacier-silver/JJGH2Y8G5F

[bold willow]

smaller screen + $150 more

idk

[fair moon]

They're both great value

[bold willow]

yeah i guess

just depends on how much i wanna spend

[fair moon]

Same resolution, so sitting the 14" about 2 inches closer to you gives the same PPD

[hybrid stone]

You can’t really beat the Mac at that price.

Life long windows user but my M4 air is the best tech device I’ve ever had.

If you need windows for gaming, you’re looking at 600-800$ for anything halfway worth it.

[bold willow]

No gaming at all

Literally will never game on it

[thin bolt]

Mac

[hybrid stone]

Yeah it’s Mac hands down then. No windows can compete from 350-900$ IMO. Build quality, keyboard, battery, screen, portability, it has it all.

[bold willow]

2020 M1 > 2025 Snapdragon with 16GB ram?

[fair moon]

I think the snapdragon wins vs m1

Might be the X Elite that does, not the base X

https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare/qualcomm-snapdragon-x-elite-vs-apple-m1

https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare/qualcomm-snapdragon-x-x1-26-100-vs-apple-m1

https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare/qualcomm-snapdragon-x-plus-x1p-66-100-vs-apple-m1

[uncut plume]

I know two people who picked up a snapdragon windows laptop. Neither of them kept it. One went to an m4 and one went for a gaming laptop.

[fair moon]

Doesn't mean much without context

Gaming laptop is a completely different thing

M4 is also gonna be more expensive

[uncut plume]

I'd also be on the refurb m1 plan.

[bold willow]

Hm

M1 MacBook Air Excellent Refurbished with 90%+ battery is $390

Is that really much better than the snapdragon tho?

It’s $60 more for half the ram, 5 years older, smaller screen, half the storage.

[bold willow]

Also I believe hardware support ends after 7 years.

[normal tiger]

i'd still go for macbook, hardware lasts longer and budget windows laptops tend to become much slower quickly over the course of a few yrs versus macbooks. I know friends that still use old macbooks that work well from 2011. It also easily connects to my iphone and ipads too

at the end of the day, it's your preference of OS and what you want

[hybrid stone]

Is it possible to even add 150$ to the budget? I ask because that gets you into an M2 and possibly 16GB which makes a pretty good difference especially for longevity. But, I think at your price the 8GB is more than acceptable and Mac does better with less ram.

Also might get you an M1 Pro. Amazon Refurb is a quick option but id also post on r/appleswap and r/hardwareswap

[thin bolt]

https://ebay.us/m/pRwTBe

2080tis are now $200~

[fair moon]

Personally I would not spend more for 8gb M1 vs 16gb snapdragon X

If you can stretch the budget to a 16GB M2 then that's almost certainly better than windows arm

Macos does do better with 8gb compared to windows but it don't think it's 'effectively' 16gb. Probably more like 10-12ish?

[strange anvil]

Is this a good price for a laptop?

[fair moon]

Seems pretty decent to me

[pulsar fable]

On the topic of micro center. Either of these good? I already got 128GB ddr5 spare from the office. Its a long story

[fair moon]

If you already have ram those are both excellent

[pulsar fable]

Thinking of making it a Minecraft/Gaming server as well, so I'm not sure if the x3d would be worth the extra $80

[fair moon]

To my knowledge x3d doesn't help with servers

Is there a 7700x bundle? The extra cores could maybe be worth it

[pulsar fable]

Gimme a sec

Both a 7700x and 9700x

[pulsar fable]

I figured but thought I'd show both anyway

[fair moon]

Vanilla MC servers prefer single core performance so wouldn't see much of a difference. But I think there are plugins that allow servers to utilize multicore more. Also if you're running multiple servers ie mc server and Plex/streaming I think 8 cores could be worth it

[pulsar fable]

It'd be only one game or Minecraft instance at a time, but you do bring up a good point about plex

[fair moon]

Hmm, looks like this was only made for 1.19 and hasn't been updated since

https://modrinth.com/mod/mcmtfabric

[strange anvil]

Thanks for the 2nd opinion on the laptop Stevie. Im looking for a new laptop and my old one is a 2020 model (battery is slowly going, worsening touchpad, sound systems failing in ways ive never seen), so i might need a new one for "lite" gaming and university

[pulsar fable]

Yeah my friends and I have been on ultramodded 1.20.1 or cobblemon 1.21, so we wouldn't benefit from that

[strange anvil]

As such, i wanted a lighter model that consumes less power (so I was wondering igpu vs dedicated)

[fair moon]

For light gaming I think the Ryzen integrated are pretty solid

[strange anvil]

That's what i was thinking. The minimum research ive seen shows that the 8845hs is better or equal to most mid-range newer cpus (Ai 5 and 7 series, think 340-365) so that's what I was gunning for

[fair moon]

https://youtu.be/qb2Y8bbrj8o?si=tcTKcrL-LyYWsYV0

[hybrid stone]

Of the current bundles, I’d go with the 7600X3D for a gaming machine. But the overall best choice is the 7800X3D if it’s still 380$

7600X3D otherwise, 7600X only if you want to come in as cheap as possible.

[pulsar fable]

I mean, it is that price, but this computer's main purpose is to be a Minecraft server with the RAM I got left over from my office, and I don't think the jump from a 7600x to a 7800x3d won't improve performance of a server that much

[hybrid stone]

Yeah if it’s not a gaming rig, I’d just go with a 7700X then. X3D will just have a bit better resale value as time goes on.

[pulsar fable]

Resale? Any computer I have becomes a side project, or I give it to a brother or a friend when I retire it
Edit: i should mention that I have a 5700x3d in my gaming PC, so I wouldn't gain too much of a benefit going to the 7600x3d

[fair moon]

bros got the am4 main rig and am5 MC server 😭

[pulsar fable]

Forgot to post their Intel offerings

[pulsar fable]

That is a fair criticism. Counterpoint, I went from a 2700x to a 5700x3d when it was only $140 on aliexpress last year

[fair moon]

oh i mean 5700x3d is a creat cpu

[pulsar fable]

And the 5700x3d still punches above its weight in gaming

[fair moon]

just thought it was funny that the MC server was getting the new hardware lol

[pulsar fable]

O got it 👍

[fair moon]

I also have one in my main rig so definitely not biased

[fair moon]

even if you aren't reselling, an 8 core might be worth it for longevity

But I think the 7600x bundle is better value

[pulsar fable]

The 265kf is a not nonsignificant bit better. But for $110? Not sure if its worth the jump

[fair moon]

am5 has better single thread though

[pulsar fable]

Good catch. Looking at this on the passenger seat,missed that

[fair moon]

out of curiosity, how'd you get the ram?

[pulsar fable]

Company didn't have conputers for AutoCAD and solid works, so they thought putting more ram in regular office PCs would do

[fair moon]

lol

[pulsar fable]

Turns out an i5 with more RAM doesn't fix the problem

They finally got new computers when me and a few younger employees kept asking lol

Now the office PCs don't need the extra ram, and since no one else needs it I asked for some

[fair moon]

I've used solidworks on my laptop 5825U/Vega 8 and it was fine, but that was also for a simple part

[pulsar fable]

Lol yes that's the exact CPU that was in them

[strange anvil]

Alright, my current laptop is a hp with 5500u, 16gb ram, and 256gb storage. So an upgrade would be useful, but not nessesary

[fair moon]

you'd see a pretty massive gpu performance increase, but for general use the 5500U is pretty decent

[strange anvil]

I agree. For now, I'm going to use my old laptop and work arounds (usb-c to 3.5mm for sound as an example) and continuing eyeing the market to see if I see a deal too good to pass up. The rep at micro center also tried to point my way to a similar laptop: 14in instead of 16in, about the samw price, with an Intel 256v and go out of his way to not acknowledge amd so I'm going to mull on all my options and deals as they show up...

I worry for the future laptop market but my money sense tells me I have a functioning* laptop currently, so I shall wait

[bold willow]

I guess I'm going to pick an M1 macbook.

[fair moon]

How much?

$480 gets snapdragon X plus with 16gb ram

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/hp-omnibook-5-copilot-pc-14-2k-oled-touch-screen-laptop-snapdragon-x-plus-2025-16gb-memory-512gb-ssd-glacier-silver/JJGH2Y8G5F

[tiny heron]

This is actually wild

[neat night]

I am not able to get the TikTok coupon

How are you guys getting it to appear?

[tiny heron]

Not sure it just appeared for me

[neat night]

I've been checking it daily and it never appears for me for some reason

[tiny heron]

Maybe try making new account.

[fair moon]

Does TikTok take Paypal? Imagine that deal plus the 20% cashback

[delicate lake]

That offer ended

[fair moon]

Ah

[cursive sage]

https://tenor.com/view/defeat-gif-26742422

that was a good deal too

[delicate lake]

Yeah it ended close to a week ago

[uncut plume]

I think they messed up their pricing on the different sized models.

[fair moon]

Looks like the 4TB version is QLC just fyi

[uncut plume]

If I was going to get one it would just be a games drive. I don't have any use for it though and I don't like scalping.

[fair moon]

They're claiming it has better performance though
https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/western-digital/product/internal-drives/wd-blue-nvme-ssd/data-sheet-wd-blue-sn5000-nvme-ssd.pdf

[fair moon]

For a game drive the qlc is probably fine. Hard to beat that price too

[uncut plume]

I don't like qlc boot drives either. Hmb is fine but not qlc.

[fair moon]

Hmb is different than nand type

It's a sort of replacement for dram cache

[uncut plume]

I know, people just hate on dramless too.

Still stuck in the sata mindset.

[fair moon]

Yeah for NVMe hmb is solid. Tbh even a qlc with hmb is probably ok as a boot drive if it's from a reputable manufacturer

Dramless qlc SATA boot drive though...

I put a Samsung 860 QVO in my old laptop... Not a fun experience

[uncut plume]

If they were cheap enough and/or people didn't fill it up to 99%, let it get wrecked by page file and updates then wonder why it's failing.

[fair moon]

...wait the qvo has dram

If it sucked that bad I don't even wanna imagine what dramless woulda been like

[bold willow]

damn i should have gotten the m4 when it was $750 for BF

cause its $400 for a refurbished M1 lol

[high radish]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DFYZCPYW?ref=fed_asin_title&th=1 Gigabyte X870 Eagle Wifi7 for 136$ if you have Amazon Business account

[strange anvil]

Here we go. I finally found the listing for both. Of these two, which is better (assuming they're any good)

[fair moon]

The core ultra will lean more into power efficiency but the Ryzen will be more powerful I think

[strange anvil]

My only metric for power / battery is will it last the length of a 3 hour lecture running a browser, calculator and word documentation?

If the 8845 can manage that id lean more towards the amd option, but that may also be my unjustified worries for Intel integrated graphics:/

[fair moon]

Oh looks like Intel might have better singlecore

Allegedly the arc 140V is better than the Radeon 780M as well

[strange anvil]

Ive read, for the graphics, the 140v is better single core while the 780m us better multicore... same with the cpus. It really gives me something to think of price to performance

[fair moon]

Singlecore/multicore doesn't apply to graphics

[strange anvil]

...i may be a little stupid and tired

[fair moon]

No worries

[strange anvil]

But yeah, ive been looking at these laptops and their performances because, thankfully, most other statistics are near constant for this price point: 16gb ddr5 memory, 14-16in monitor, 1080p (and 16x10 equivalent), 1tb sdd. That being said, I'm thinking a little more about a possible touch screen because that might help me with note taking (graphs, writing, productivity).

[bold willow]

While I might get the M1, another choice for me might be to buy a keyboard for my S9+

Anyone know good brands for tablet keyboards

Some of these are $100+ and others are $8

[fallen idol]

You also get 35% off your first order up too $100

For Amazon Business

[hybrid stone]

I gotta look into Amazon business. Any cons compared to consumer prime? Order a LOT there for builds but I’m not an LLC or Anything

[fallen idol]

prices are sometimes worse and delivery times then normal prime. You don't need a registered business tho and you'll have the option to buy bulk and negotiate prices.

A thing I noticed though is that if you buy bulk it will most likely come from 3rd party company instead of Amazon

So take that as you will

[high radish]

sometimes you getting better price than regular amazon . sometimes you don.t . i mean its something good to have

[high radish]

that's good . I have business account for long so I can't use it lol

[fallen idol]

Once I saw that I finally used mine haha.

Got 2 7600x for $140 ea

brand new

[normal tiger]

For unregistered businesses, will amazon still ask for documents for verification

[vestal merlin]

This a deal?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails?ItemList=Combo.4848369

[hybrid stone]

In the current market it’s fine if you want an easy buy and it’s for personal use. But similar stuff can be had for 100-150$ open box or second hand

[vestal merlin]

that;s fair, ty

[fallen idol]

Nah

You just have put what you will be using it for.

[bold willow]

Are any of the laptops here under $500 better than a M1 MacBook? https://www.costco.com/laptops.html?refine=item_program_eligibility-InWarehouse%257C%257Citem_program_eligibility-ShipIt%257C%257Citem_location_pricing_salePrice-%255B200%2520TO%2520500%255D%257C%257CStorage_Drive_Type_attr-SSD%257C%257CMemory__RAM__attr-16%2520GB

[bold willow]

All of them are 16GB ram, most are 1TB ssd

[fair moon]

Assuming by "better" you mean same usecase as a MacBook, nah

Base snapdragon X is a little worse than m1

If you wait for a sale might be able to get an oled laptop with snapdragon X Plus from best buy

[bold willow]

Yeah I saw those before wish I took one

Im not really doing anything intensive on the laptop

[hybrid stone]

just cant let the macbook win huh lol. Just try one out and see if you like it!

[fair moon]

Issue is the M1 Mac was 8gb base model so I imagine most of the refurbs are 8gb

[tawdry dragon]

8gb isn't horrible, but it's very low in this day and age

on my main rig I am almost using up all of my 32gb of ram at some points

[earnest storm]

@normal tiger just got that 7100x thanks

[bold willow]

Really close to choosing it but I prefer windows OS, 8gb is low, and it’s not new.

Also it’s 13”

[hybrid stone]

All fair critiques. 13” was a pro for me once I got my hands on it after trying the 15” but I see some scenarios or use cases the bigger size is nice.

Any cheap laptop will come with a con or several.

No more room in the budget?

[bold willow]

If there was more room in the budget I would get a M4

[bold willow]

I said M4 and then they bring down the price to $725

[bold willow]

Now lets say i threw in $200 and now have a roughly $700 budget, would the M4 win absolutely or is there a good windows alternative?

[bold willow]

Ooo bestbuy certified excellent refurbished M1 for $370 https://www.bestbuy.com/product/apple-refurbished-macbook-air-13-3-2020-m1-cpu--3-20ghz-a2337-8gb-ram-128gb-ssd-silver/JC7GSTSHQ3

nvm seller has 3.5 star rating

Should I worry about 80% vs 90% battry health in refurbished macbooks?

[fair moon]

Um

80 isn't really refurbished lol

Even 90 is a little weird

I would expect them to have done a replacement and it be 95+

[bold willow]

hm

Yeah all these ebay listings are like >80% or >90% battery

so im guessing that means they probably didnt refurbish much if they didnt even replace the battery

[fair moon]

Could be the screen was broken and they replaced that. But tbh if I was getting a refurb phone or laptop I'd want a fresh battery

90 is probably alright

But could look at used listings too

[bold willow]

bro these online news articles for laptops are horrid. i3 / ryzen 3 laptops for $500 recommended as #1 budget laptop

lol

[fair moon]

Yeah cause guess who's paying for those articles to be written

[bold willow]

Acer

How is the Ryzen AI 7 350 compare to M1?

i never heard these amd "AI" cpus

and all the websites that compare cpus doesnt seem too realistic

like i dont think the amd cpu is 10x better than an m1

Cause i saw this on techdeals https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Omnibook-5-16-inch-Windows-Laptop-AMD-Ryzen-7-AI-PC-16GB-RAM-512GB-SSD-Glacier-Silver/13943258180

[near igloo]

$29.99 - CoolerMaster 360mm Elite RGB AIO
https://a.co/d/bgaAvUF Is a good AIO?

[bold willow]

An air cooler would probably out perform it, but if you want the AIO for its aesthetic its a good price.

[fair moon]

Yeah the Ryzen ai and Intel equivalents are gonna smoke the M1 and snapdragon but they use more power

[bold willow]

It says 14 hours of video playing

Sooooo thats longer than 1 hour on my gaming laptop

[fair moon]

Yeah they still have pretty good battery life

[bold willow]

what type of charger does this use

i literally dont see a circle charging port and theres only 1 usb c

what does it use lol

[fair moon]

Also idk if video playback is the best metric bc if it's a local video that's a lot less intensive than streaming

[bold willow]

oooo it uses usb c

[fair moon]

There's 2 usbc on the right side

[bold willow]

yeah it charges with usb c

i hate those circle ports

cause then i only have 1 specific charger for it

hmmm honestly it might be better deal for this $500 laptop

but then the m4 is $250 away...

I feel like every time i make a financial decision involving tech i screw up

[earnest storm]

@fallen idol that deal is like… not really a deal… and the ram is 1.4v 6000 cl36….

[uncut plume]

You can get the 64gb version for $650 https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails?ItemList=Combo.4848665

[earnest storm]

And a kit of ram rn is like 260 and an AIO is 30$ like in the deal above… so that mobo isn’t worth that

[earnest storm]

At least that’s better

Ram is also very very meh but

[uncut plume]

Most people don't do custom oc on ram.

[earnest storm]

Still

[uncut plume]

Corsair also puts 1.4 on pretty much anything beyond base spec kits.

[earnest storm]

Yup

And it’s best to avoid them

[uncut plume]

If you think running past xmp is that important I'd expect to see you hating on gskill too for the naked pmics.

[high radish]

lots of people still can't accept that any ram is good ram nowadays lol

being picky in this condition sounds funny tho

[earnest storm]

Oh no I agree

I’m just saying the deal that was sent isn’t a deal

[fallen idol]

more of a deal then buying just the kit for $400

[earnest storm]

It’s not worth 400$

You can get similar or better specs for 260

Lmao

[fallen idol]

I know but it's what they have it listed at

[earnest storm]

That doesn’t matter?

At all?

[high radish]

recently we seen better combos but ram shortage getting worse tho . so if you planning to build , grabbing one of combo from either newegg or MC is best way to get ram cheaper . soon we will not have them either lmao

[uncut plume]

Microcenter doesn't bundle ram anymore afaik. It's a $300 add on.

[high radish]

F

[uncut plume]

There are a few klevv kits on amazon for like $270 with a month out delivery time. That's the best I've seen recently.

[high radish]

few weeks ago I got lots of gift rams from newegg with mobo orders. then now they bundling it . soon they will gone too lol

[uncut plume]

We're back to 2021 ddr5 prices now.

[high radish]

lol yeah . and we have worse ddr4 prices back then ddr4 prices were good at least

[uncut plume]

Newegg will likely keep doing the mobo bundles. Just to move expensive mobos and drive traffic.

Last ddr4 I bought was $70 for a 2x8, that was also a few years ago. End of 2022 I paid $180 for a 2x16 ddr5, about a year later I paid $75 for a 2x16 ddr5.

[earnest storm]

Why is the non ewaste ram 270

[uncut plume]

The time of $40-50 ddr4 32gb kits and 80-90 ddr5 kits will be missed.

[earnest storm]

Or 290 for any decent kit

[high radish]

I almost were not paying for rams lol . got lots of kits from newegg either for free or in combo for very cheap only few kits from newegg left for me lol soon I will have to increase prices if I can't find more cheapo rams

[fallen idol]

I mean any good ram now is $300 minimum plus a motherboard with similar features to the one in combo is at least $150 if not more. So $450 with no AIO or free games.

[earnest storm]

270

And 150 yeah

So it’s 420 without an AIO, which is 30, so it’s 450 plus a sucky game

It’s a fine combo, but it’s not a deal per say

Also 240mm aio

[fallen idol]

$20 more for a better cooler & a additional sucky game

[uncut plume]

The star wars game is with the motherboard regardless. Lots of z890 and b860 on newegg will have it.

[high radish]

Here's AMD combo as well . https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails?ItemList=Combo.4848703.

I bought this combo for 430$ few days ago tho . Prices getting worse

[earnest storm]

Worse cooler… and a like bad game

[earnest storm]

Honestly not too bad, it’s x870e which isn’t cheap and it’s a good one, ram same boat as other one, aio also same boat as other one

[high radish]

Yeah I bought this combo with icue h115i for 430$ which was much better deal

But that's what all we have for now . Actually there was better combo but with z790 earlier today and it's gone now too

[lament ivy]

The cooler master all day shows for $50 for me. How do you get the $30 deal?

[bold willow]

I can buy it for you but i charge $20 for being a middleman

[lament ivy]

Or you could just say what the issue is unless it's sold out?

Checked early this morning though

[opal flume]

There is or was a coupon for $20 off

[lament ivy]

Got it, well if someone can message me that code if for some reason they didnt want to post it here...much appreciated lol

[opal flume]

It was the type of coupon that was listed on the actual page on Amazon in the price section

[bold willow]

It is not on sale anymore for me either, when these coupons appear they will usually just be listed on the Amazon page with a little checkbox to claim.

[strange anvil]

Is this a good deal for the steelseries 7p?

[bold willow]

id say its decent

looks like its normally around $140

I don't know if the headphones are good themselves, but the price is lower.

[strange anvil]

Well, my current headphones are a half decade old g432... so I'm hoping an improvement

And my only other frame of reference is a g435... so

[bold willow]

5 year old headphone technology isn’t old but like after being used I kinda understand

I’m enjoying my $30 hyperX cloud II wireless headphones so I’m not an expert

[strange anvil]

Understandable. My 432 is wearing down, specifically on the cuffs and connector. My hope with this set is to not have fake rubber to flake off (and hopefully better sound quality of some amount)

[thin bolt]

I’ve been using RIG 400s for years so I can’t comment

[bold willow]

Is the psu deal I posted actually a good deal?

[uncut plume]

It's pretty typical for there to be something decent at 850W a bit below $100.

[earnest storm]

eh

not really

century II is still 83$

and that psu SUCKS for anything but a 12v connector gpu

only has 2 pcie connections

i would just get a century II

[tawdry dragon]

Actually they include a 12v high power connector to 2x8pin pcie

So 4 pcie

[earnest storm]

Yeah I’d much rather pay an extra 3$ on a century II and avoid that

[tawdry dragon]

I have the 1000w similar model and I prefer it honestly

Century 2 is B-tier right?

[earnest storm]

A

A- for the 850w, A for the 1050/1200

Also the 10$ discount is from a rebate… so just get a century II atp

[hybrid stone]

It’s a pretty premium unit that comes with fantastic cables. Great price if it matches your build plans IMO

[earnest storm]

It’s decent at best, esp considering century II exists and the MSI psu is only 2 8 pin pcie

[hybrid stone]

Yeah I hate when PSUs do that especially at that tier and price. Makes pairing with 30 series cards harder.

But I love when PSUs come with sleeved cables which the GS does.

[earnest storm]

It’s a good gpu for 12v gpus, bad otherwise

[uncut plume]

It has 3

[bold willow]

It does?! I didn’t even know.

I have the A850GL

[hybrid stone]

But is that 3 individual cables or is one pig tailed

[uncut plume]

Probably a pig tail. It's fine though. It's not like it's some crappy old multi rail or using 22awg aluminum wires like you used to see on some cheap crap.

Looks like the pig tail one plugs into a 12vhpwr on the PSU side so not even a real pig tail split where wires are shared.

[thin bolt]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/15371260951

$499 5070?

[stoic crest]

nice

[earnest storm]

Not terrible

[cursive sage]

I swear I’ve seen it below $500 a lot, but MSRP is still fine

[delicate lake]

That’s still below

[uncut plume]

There have been ones for like $480 occasionally like the shadow 2x (which is probably the worst cooler on a 5070) but msrp was $550.

A decent pny one for the same price as microcenter is not a bad deal.

[sonic grail]

Yo, microcenter has a xfx rx 7900 xt 20GB for 530$ right now. Is that a good deal?

[lament ingot]

yea they usually like 600

[delicate lake]

I would still get the 9070 because there are some on newegg for that price give or take $10 while having better fsr 4 and rt performance

it is a smidge faster overall actually while using less power

[uncut plume]

I would also take a 9070 or 9070xt in that price range.

[delicate lake]

yuh

plus better video encoding

tbh rdna 4 killed rdna 3

i wouldnt even consider it

[fair moon]

Does rdna 3 even have fsr4?

[fallen idol]

if the game is supported but it’s not as good as the 9000 series.

[bold willow]

day after i buy my laptop (Ryzen AI 7 350) for $500 and this comes out for $520 https://www.ebay.com/itm/256696171093?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM

lol 32gb ram + Ultra 9

is this even better idk

refurbished but still kinda crazy specs

[delicate lake]

not officially but it can run it

with a very heavy performance hit

[fair moon]

Ah

[delicate lake]

quality is like 5% faster than native

[fair moon]

So not worth it unless maybe if the game has terrible TAA

[earnest storm]

#tech-deals holy

[delicate lake]

p much yea

[bold willow]

idk if i should swap out the laptop i just got or not

[earnest storm]

whats your current one

[bold willow]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Omnibook-5-16-inch-Windows-Laptop-AMD-Ryzen-7-AI-PC-16GB-RAM-512GB-SSD-Glacier-Silver/13943258180

Like i do kinda prefer having a new laptop over refurbished

[earnest storm]

i mean

do you NEED the better stuff

[bold willow]

no

[earnest storm]

then dont

[bold willow]

i dont even need the performance of 16gb of ram tbf

[earnest storm]

dont waste moeny like that

[bold willow]

well id be able tro return the omnibook

i bought it yesterday

is it a HUGE difference

[earnest storm]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276709583737?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM also an insane deal

[sonic grail]

Mann, should I hop on these laptop deals? I do want to upgrade my laptop for work. I haven't checked costco yet tho idk how their deals is right now.

[earnest storm]

I’d do it sooner rather than later

[stoic crest]

later also means you could miss out

[sonic grail]

Ahh ok I'll go to costco as soon as I finish my training

Is this laptop good in terms of specs? I'm not really familiar with laptop specs

[mortal blaze]

@high radish how do you know RAM is pos?

Oos

Asus B850 Max + 16GB ddr5 ram for 160$
https://www.newegg.com/asus-b850-max-gaming-wifi-w-atx-motherboard-amd-b850-am5/p/N82E16813119742
Edit : Ram went OOS

I don't buy it if don't coming with ram 😂

Explain pls @high radish

[high radish]

it came back omg

[high radish]

it was oos but it came back looks like

[mortal blaze]

Uh ok

Thanks bro

[earnest storm]

Yes

[bold willow]

Good specs

I checked my costco recently, nothing spectacular in laptops other than the $750 macbook m4, but now bestbuy and amazon have it too with a $25 gc.

[fallen idol]

You can also go with the Asus Tuf Gaming B850M-E WiFi free ram too for $160.

[sonic grail]

Just checked it rn too, felt like the refurbished ones are definitely the best choice. Do you think refurbished will be alright compared to new laptops?

Trying to figure out which one to get too between 16 in and 14 in. I think 14 has more battery life so I'm swinging towards it but Idk whether the downgrade is worth it from the better cpu and 16 gb extra ram

[earnest storm]

get the better one if you can afford it

[bold willow]

Honestly the 32gb ram one was $450 during BF

So it’s not the lowest

[hybrid stone]

Woah MC brought back ram bundles. From the looks of it- @200$ for 32GB kits 100$ for 16GB stick and the 7600X3D is only with a 16GB stick now -_-

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/bundle-and-save.aspx

[pale wharf]

Is there any way to enable the purchase of products with shipping?

[hybrid stone]

No unless someone gets them for you then ships them to you

[sonic grail]

Dangg for new?

[sonic grail]

How do you look at price history to find that?

[bold willow]

i dont know if it was new or not, someone just told me it was $450 during BF

[sonic grail]

Is 9070xt worth 560? I think 9070 is 500rn before tax for me

Idk how much of a difference it will make in terms of performance. But I wanted to use it to play games at 1440p and maybe connect it to the TV and use it like a console

(Still trying to figure out if it is possible and how to do it tho)

[uncut plume]

It's like 15% while using 100W more power.

Even if you're not interested in custom tuning or undervolting I'd still get the xt for that price gap though.

[sonic grail]

Dang 100w seems like a lot

Is undervolting it like making it run on less power?

[uncut plume]

Yeah. You can play around with undervolting or just lowering the power limit slider and get most of them to run a lot more efficient than stock.

[sonic grail]

Gotchaa, if I get to like 9070 level of power do you think the difference in performance will be any better?

Or if I get it to that low would I just be better getting the 9070

The price seems really good for 9070xt but just worried it will be really hot in a sff build

[uncut plume]

Should be. It's still got more cores, 64 compute units instead of 56.
The levels you can hit stable when it comes to undervolting or playing with clocks will vary one card to the next and there is some degree of silicon lottery or luck of the draw involved. Just turning down the power limit slider and letting the gpu boost how it wants to is easy though.

[sonic grail]

🫡

Gotcha thank you. I never really messed with my 590 so this is all new to me haha.

[high radish]

9070xt itself cooling good . Even cheapest models staying cool enough. I had Prime one staying under 60C lol

[sonic grail]

Ohh I did think about that. That's good to know I might go for the 9070 xt now haha. Cooling is definitely one of the more important features I want.

[high radish]

yeah despite it pulls 300w it staying cool somehow lol

[delicate lake]

I already explained this

300w is 300w regardless of the die temp

That just means the cooler is pulling that energy away from the die effectively

Which is good, but that is still a lot of heat

My 9070 is pulling 245w

I might put it down to 220, which is the reference spec anyway

[sonic grail]

Oh man I'm so sad should have just pulled the trigger on the motherboard/16 gb ram bundle. 😭 Never going to be able to get ram now

[high radish]

they came back in stock few times so maybe you'll catch it next time . if there will be next time ofc

[sonic grail]

🫡 Will keep checking 🥲

Thank you for finding all these deals, I remember seeing your finds years ago when I was helping my friend look for pc parts

[high radish]

[sonic grail]

I need to do more research on small cases. I was hestiating because I'm trying to build sff and didn't want to just get the ram and have to sell motherboard because I need itx 😭

Trying to find small sandwich cases with matx now

[high radish]

only combo left for now https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails?ItemList=Combo.4849089

X870E + 32GB 6400MHZ CL32

[sonic grail]

🥲 ahh motherboard so big

Wow that's a pretty good deal tho huh 32gb ram

[high radish]

yeah just were checking for ram combo . you should had grab that b850m

[high radish]

yeah ram is decent tho . 6400mhc cl32 hynix die . that aio is trash I think but yeah it is what it is

[sonic grail]

Oh warpig do you know where I can research about ddr5 ram?

This all pretty new to me but I heard some mhc is no good for amd

And something about cl40~ is pretty bad

Also what is a good aio?

Oh nvm I thought you meant io shield woops

[high radish]

lower cl is better ofc . but some rams have decent OC potential . if you just want to run on xmp/expo , 6000mhz cl36 or 6400mhz cl38 is alright . if you're lucky to find one , 6000mhz cl30 or 6400mhz cl32 is much better

[sonic grail]

Gotcha, so lower cl is better for OC?

Is ram oc worth it? I never really tried it with my ddr4

[high radish]

lower CL at same speed means lower latency so basically few more fps I mean 6000mhc cl30 is better than 6000mhz cl36 . also 6000mhz cl30 and 6400mhz cl32 have same latency but 6000mhz cl30 is faster than 6400mhz cl38 . its litte bit confusing but you know , AMD doesn't faster ram hungry so any of them would be alright . just stay away from things over 40cl unless you don't want to get into tuning

[high radish]

at ddr5 , kinda yes . depends which die it have . samsung chips is trash for OCing . Hynix chips are alright . again if you lucky to find one , Hynix A die rams OCing very well and giving you reasonable gain

I running my 2x32gb 6000mhz kit at 6400mhz and lowered timings little bit . nothing fancy but still it's benefit lol

[sonic grail]

🫡 Thank you for the tips

[sonic grail]

Warpig! Can I ask you about some microcenter bundles?

[high radish]

sure. I don't follow microcenter bundles because I'm too lazy to drive to microcenter but I can have a look \

[sonic grail]

Found these 2! https://www.microcenter.com/product/5007201/amd-ryzen-5-7600x,-asus-b650e-e-tuf-gaming-wifi-am5,-gskill-16gb-ddr5-6000,-computer-build-bundle

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5007088/amd-ryzen-5-7600x,-asus-b650e-max-gaming-wifi,-gskill-16gb-ddr5-6000,-computer-build-bundle

There's like a $30 difference between the 2 I'm not sure why it looks very similar

But I was thinking of pairing it with a 9070xt or 9070 do you think it will be good?

[high radish]

problem with 1st one is , it'ssingle stick 16gb ram

[sonic grail]

Ohh

[high radish]

and with 2nd one as well lol

[sonic grail]

😭

That's the catch huh

https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?fq=category:Computer+Build+Bundles|775

[high radish]

yeah . mobo is good on both

[sonic grail]

What about other ones?

[high radish]

but single 16gb ram is almost useless

[sonic grail]

I don't want to spend too much but I think I'm fine with like $500 if it's motherboard, cpu, and ram

[high radish]

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5006968/amd-ryzen-7-7700x,-gigabyte-b650-gaming-x-ax-v2,-gskill-flare-x5-series-32gb-ddr5-6000-kit,-computer-build-bundle

this one seems good actually

[sonic grail]

Noo but I wanted matx 😭

[high radish]

oh

[sonic grail]

Everything is against me to build sff 🥲

[high radish]

lol . just bad timing to build

[earnest storm]

If you want to build in sff you can use a atx mobo

You’ll just have to overpay on the case

[sonic grail]

Ohh fr?

[earnest storm]

Sunny Side Up meshify is an ssf case with atx mobo support

[delicate lake]

Yeah some can take matx

Some can even take atx power supplies natively

[sonic grail]

Researching rn 🫡

[earnest storm]

But you’ll need an sfx psu and the case is hard to find

[high radish]

I never built sff stuff so I don't know case prices etc lol

[delicate lake]

The holy grail is on discount rn https://pcpartpicker.com/product/TsTZxr/corsair-sf750-2024-750-w-80-platinum-certified-fully-modular-sfx-power-supply-cp-9020284

[high radish]

I only building mid or full tower builds

[earnest storm]

Uh

160 is insane

[delicate lake]

So is the build quality

[high radish]

[earnest storm]

V850 is 140

Better wattage and cheaper

[delicate lake]

Extremely quiet fan, good sleeved cables, great components

[sonic grail]

Meshify looks pretty good but it's a little too tall for my liking 😭

[delicate lake]

It will not complain about running at 100% believe it or not

[earnest storm]

Well then you’re gonna overpay for stuff

😭

[delicate lake]

Shit fan and also sus layout

[sonic grail]

I understand

[delicate lake]

750 would be safer

But for 750 the corsair sweeps

[earnest storm]

Fan isn’t a huge factor

[sonic grail]

Honestly velka 3, dan a4 sfx is my dream but I wanted a 9070

[earnest storm]

It’s a factor, nothing deal breaking

Get the v850 if you want an sfx psu rn

[sonic grail]

Agh I got decision fatigue

[earnest storm]

Hold up let’s start from scratch

What’s your budget

[high radish]

grab a combo from MC and build mid tower pc thats simple

[sonic grail]

~1k ish ideally but I know ram and ssd is rought rn so I'm fine with ~1.5k

[sonic grail]

My last resort

[high radish]

only real issue is ram right now . mobos and cpu is pretty cheap and easy to find

[earnest storm]

And you want small and cheap correct?

[sonic grail]

Yeah the smaller the better

[earnest storm]

What abt a3 Matx

From lian li

[sonic grail]

Lemme see

[high radish]

I bet ebay will float with mobos which newegg bundled

let me check

kinda yeah . it started already

[sonic grail]

Looks good is there any smaller cases for matx?

[earnest storm]

not really

[sonic grail]

Or is that generally how small they get

[earnest storm]

25l is pretty small

[sonic grail]

Aw man ok I'm ok with settling with that size I guess

[sonic grail]

[earnest storm]

i mean

theres smaller

but theres a LOT of compromises

[high radish]

they're already on ebay

[sonic grail]

That was lowkey what I was planning to do, buy the bundle and sell the motherboard but I had a feeling everyone was gonna do the same

[earnest storm]

which of the a3 do you want

[cursive sage]

Why is this PSU the holy grail

[high radish]

I can bet my life he got it from newegg and sold ram seperately

[sonic grail]

Wait quok would you be free to talk about my build in 40 minutes?

[earnest storm]

mesh/no wood, mesh/wood, glass/wood

[sonic grail]

I'm lowkey falling behind in my training 😭 on teams rn

[earnest storm]

the list is basically done, just answer this and i can just give you the list then

[sonic grail]

I have no preferences tbh but I would prefer good airflow, wood looks nice too

Glass is nice if good airflow but I don't mind not having it

[acoustic trout]

Yeah I bought that ASUS b850m and RAM combo but I actually plan on using

[delicate lake]

Very high quality components, good protections, very quiet fan, good cables

[sonic grail]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYKJKSmihNY

[earnest storm]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kvXNXR here

[sonic grail]

I really like something like this

[delicate lake]

Good in every aspect

[earnest storm]

wait

you can probably have an atx psu in this

[cursive sage]

I looked at the list, it’s an A+

$159 is crazy though for 750W

[delicate lake]

Shiny snake l400 can take atx

[delicate lake]

Because it fits in your hand while also being really quiet

The typical compromise is tough cables and a loud fan

[earnest storm]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/VBXNXR here if you can go a tiny bit over 1500

[cursive sage]

I found an A-tier 850W PSU for considerably less

I wonder what the differences are

[earnest storm]

yeah the v850 is the better choice for rn

[delicate lake]

My evga gm was the loudest thing in the pc until I got the sf750

[sonic grail]

Wait quok can I replace motherboard, cpu, and ram with one of the bundles from microcenter?

[cursive sage]

V850?

[earnest storm]

uh

[sonic grail]

They have some matx bundles

[earnest storm]

i dont think they have matx mobo anymore

[high radish]

only if this bundle came back...

[earnest storm]

eh 2x8 at this budget sucks

[sonic grail]

Oh wait I'm dumb

E does not mean matx right?

[earnest storm]

yes

[high radish]

still would be better than paying 300$ for ram for me

[earnest storm]

theres no matx mobo for any bundle rn

[sonic grail]

😭 Warpig

Don't remind me

[earnest storm]

https://us-store.msi.com/Motherboards/AMD-Platform-Motherboard/AMD-B650/PRO-B650M-A-WIFI-7700 so i just used this

[high radish]

yeah kinda nice price for mobo and cpu

[earnest storm]

super high quality mobo too, plus free cpu cooler

[high radish]

but main problem exist...

[sonic grail]

I'm thinking of building some parts from hardwareswap too to save a bit of money, do you think it would be fine?

[earnest storm]

i mean

maybe?

idk what that is

[sonic grail]

They have like people buying and selling pc parts via like paypal and local cash apparently

[earnest storm]

eh

if you wanna risk it sure

[cursive sage]

The motherboard has to be mATX right?

[sonic grail]

🫡

[earnest storm]

yes

itx works too

[high radish]

honestly , I'd try to catch mobo/ram combo for awhile in this case. mobo prices won't get high anyways since mobo sales dropped

[earnest storm]

make sure its not 2x8

[delicate lake]

The thermaltake toughpower sfx is a good alternative to the sf750

Cheaper but the cables are worse

[earnest storm]

hes not getting an sfx psu

[delicate lake]

Oh ok

[cursive sage]

The case works with ATX PSUs right?

[earnest storm]

yes

century II ftw

[cursive sage]

https://www.newegg.com/msi-atx12v-850-w-up-to-90-power-supplies-black-mpg-a850gs-pcie5/p/N82E16817701031

A-tier btw

[earnest storm]

what about it

[cursive sage]

$80

[earnest storm]

century II is 83$

and isnt bad for AMD cards

[cursive sage]

I mean they’re both good