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What did you do this week (and weekend)?
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
I finally ordered my first gaming computer today! I only play GTAV and a little Rocket League, but I'm hoping this will be fine for a while. I don't know shit about hardware. Ultimately, this build will be my media centre, NAS, gaming system, etc.
The Build
Anybody got a good recommendation for a KVM? I don't need the monitors to switch over, but I will need my keyboard and trackpad to.
Outside of that, Lent is over so I can go back to eating junk food, which I don't really have a desire for. I really did miss the Ritter Sport White Cinnamon Crisp, though.
Build looks good. I almost got the Meshify 2 for my last build too, but opted for a Corsair 4000D instead since I wanted to give all Corsair a try this time, and RGB the hell out of everything using iCUE. And it looks great with the Vengeance RGB ram, iCUE H150i cooler, and iCUE fans. :)
Are you looking for a hardware KVM or software? Because software KVMs are usually more than adequate if you don't care about screen swapping, IMO. I've used Synergy recently when I needed to share my KB+M (and trackpad) between my primary PC and some laptops, and it worked fine. It supports Windows, Linux, Mac, and RPi.
And there is also Multiplicity KVM too, which has a few more advanced features, but it's Windows only and I can't vouch for it anymore since I last used it a long time ago.
I've been using Barrier for years since the Synergy guys can't get their shit together. I'm gonna get a hardware one so I can slap scroll lock twice to hop over.
I've seen people recommend Barrier before, but Ive never actually used it myself, and don't know much of the backstory behind its creation. What's wrong with the Synergy devs?
basically, synergy promised a new version — 3, i think. they sold a bunch of licenses and all that and then pulled it because it was too buggy. then they let go a few folks and tried to hire new devs. it seemed like nobody who could code was working there. anyway, barrier took their code and improved in it a little and has it out for free. it’s the older Synergy that you’re probably using right now, but maintained.
Huh, TIL. I didn't know about that.
But it looks like it was Synergy 2 they had the issues with though, and they did issue refunds for it so it's not as bad as I was expecting. Apparently Synergy 3 is currently in Beta now, but I haven't checked it out yet.
Out of curiosity, I ran your build through pcpartpicker and it highlighted a potential issue with it:
So just be aware, if you're building it yourself, that you may need to update the BIOS first before your mobo will work with your CPU. If it's a prebuilt that should already be done for you though.
I've got Memory Express building it, actually. Its only $50 for them to do it, too. I assume they know, but I'll double check.
A buddy did this build up. Does it seem alright?
Yeah, those parts are all good bang for your buck.
My only suggestion would be to get a Gen 4 M.2 drive to throw your OS on, since your mobo has a slot for one, and they make a huge difference.
Edit: Just make sure to plug the M.2 into the 4.0 slot, which on your mobo is the one under the heat shield located above the PCIe 16x slot, and not the 3.0 slot below. I initially made the mistake of using the wrong slot in my old build, and it took me a while to figure out why my M.2 was under-performing so much. :P
And my only real quibble is the Micro-ATX in a mid tower, since IMO they tend to look a bit small and out of proportion in one, and if you have the space you might as well get a standard ATX board for the extra PCIe and SATA ports for upgradability later. But that's pretty minor, all things considered.
holy crap. Good call re: the storage. What would be a good ATX board? I've got a lot of time since the case is on backorder. The only reason I'm getting this one is because it can take a lot of HDDs and doesn't have tempered glass.
There are so many good motherboards out there, and with such varied specs, that it's kinda hard to recommend one without knowing more about your requirements, preferences, and budget. But the B550-A Pro is basically the ATX version of the board you already picked, with an addition PCIe 16x, 2 more SATA ports, and 1 more Type-C, but no WIFI/Bluetooth. If that's a deal-breaker for you, the MAG B550 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI is the next step up from that at MSI, has 2.5G LAN, and even more up-to-date bluetooth and WIFI than your original pick. If you don't care about WIFI/Bluetooth but want Dual Ethernet instead (great for NAS/Media PCs), then there is the original MAG B550 TOMAHAWK.
If you're not dead set on MSI, there are lots more good boards out there in roughly the same price range, but it really depends on what's most important to you. More SATA? More 4.0 M.2? More USB 3.0/3.2 Type-A? More Type-C? Higher clockspeed or ECC RAM support? More internal I/O for USB, or RGB & fan control, etc? What about the BIOS, do you need/want better overclocking features, RAID, or hardware virtualization support? The list goes on and on, and every board has its own unique features and benefits/drawbacks. :P
There are even boards with both WIFI/Bluetooth and Dual Ethernet, like mine, but they tend to be a lot more expensive. If you don't care about that, the ones I mentioned, or even sticking to your original mATX pick, are all solid choices though. MSI makes good shit.
my god -- what a rabbit hole. I might switch it up for more SATA ports, but I don't really need it. Thanks for all this! There's so much to know.
I'll be excited to get rid of that Proliant I bought a while ago. Its too big for what it does.
NP. And yeah it's unfortunately a rather deep (and ever changing) rabbit hole, so I totally get why it must feel incredibly overwhelming for people new to PCs and PC building. I love it though, and so I have always tried to keep up with the latest hardware news, releases, and reviews. :)
Also, hah! Rack servers are serious overkill for the vast majority of home applications. I have a few data hoarder friends with them, but IMO even they got them more for vanity's sake than practicality, and they could/should have just used a mid or full tower build for their NAS/home lab instead. :P
As for changing motherboards, the primary reason I mentioned the idea to you was because you picked the mid tower case, and said you were building this comp to also function as a NAS/Media PC... so the 4 SATA ports on the mATX board might be a bit limiting for that use case. The RTX 3060 is also great bang for your buck, but it might struggle a few years down the line to keep playing games on higher settings. So if you end up upgrading to a beefier card in the future, it can be nice to have the extra PCIe 16x slot so you can keep both cards running at the same time. E.g. I have two GPUs (3070Ti + 1080Ti) in my system currently, which is what has allowed me to go a bit crazy with the amount of screens I use. :)
ok, I swapped out the mobo and storage today. Your setup is so dope. I might add another screen, but I need a different monitor stand. I really love the tilted one right in front of you. That would be so handy.
Playing stuff with anything but the lowest settings will be so weird. I run everything in GTA on the lowest possible settings at 720p on a 1080p screen.. hitting a steady 50fps. This is on a late 2013 MBP in bootcamp (LTSC etc) :)
What mobo and M.2 did you end up going with?
And if you're looking for a new monitor stand, I highly recommend VIVO (they also sell on Amazon). They're a bit expensive but by far the sturdiest and stablest I have found, due to their all metal frames, solid metal bases, and tight locking mechanisms. All mine are VIVO stands, and while they're a bit of a PITA to move since they're so damn heavy, it's much better to be too heavy instead of too light and constantly at risk of tipping over. :P
p.s. The ultra-wide monitor below my main 1440p one is actually just resting on a spare VIVO arm I had lying around. It's not actually attached to any stand. ;) But yeah, it's super convenient for having a browser open to look stuff up while playing games, or watching youtube while playing.
Lol, oof. I bet you're excited to finally get to play your games in 1080p (or above, if/when you get a new monitor), and with all the prettiness settings cranked up! Wait until you see some raytracing; It's glorious. :P
p.p.s. If you run into any problems with the build once it arrives, let me know and I can try to help you troubleshoot any issues.
I went with the B550-A Pro and (I think) a Kingston 1TB. I've got about two weeks for the case to come in, so I can make any changes needed, which is handy.
VIVO is great. I've got the dual pneumatic one and another single one with a tray for my laptop. Good idea laying the arm down. I need to shuffle some stuff around, but I might do something similar with an old 1080p monitor I've got. Right now I have a 25" 1440p (60hz) ahead of me and a 1080p (50-120hz) to my left and then my MBP screen on the right.
I can't wait. I also can't wait to not wait around for video to reencode. haha. I do a lot of stuff with ffmpeg and it always takes so long.
It'd be dope to have a monitor stand that was meant for being low down like that.
The reason I ask about the M.2 is because it's unfortunately not always made clear which are Gen 3 (PCIe 3.0) and which are Gen 4 (PCIe 4.0) drives. So I wanted to make sure you got the right one since the speed difference between the two is pretty significant; 4.0 has double the throughput. The B550-A Pro also has a 4.0 and a 3.0 M.2 slot, so as mentioned above, make sure the M.2 is in the correct one when you receive the PC. Also, the PCIe x16 slot on the top is 4.0 and the bottom is 3.0 so make sure your GPU is in the correct one too.
BTW, if you ever find yourself in need of WIFI/Bluetooth for your comp, you can always just get yourself a PCIe card like the TP-Link Archer TXE75E, since that board also has two PCIe x1 expansion slots. Same goes for dual ethernet, since there are PCIe cards for that too.
And yeah, I looked for a stand that would work for that upturned position, but couldn't find one so settled on using the arm to prop it up. At some point I may make myself a wooden frame of some sort, but TBH it works perfectly fine as is so I don't see the point. Also, I'm lazy. :P
p.s. The B550-A Pro also has the same BIOS issue as your original mATX board. So hopefully Memory Express does the BIOS update for you, if it's required. Unless the board is old stock and has been sitting on a shelf for several years it shouldn't though. But if it does need updating, and they don't do it, it's not difficult to do yourself. You just need a USB stick and another computer with internet access to download the update onto the USB stick.
I ordered a decent wireless card, too. I'll double check the storage, but I'm 99% certain its 4.0. I can't wait to get this thing and be done with it.
This will be a good excuse to recable my desk.
Heh, complete opposite for me. I absolutely love tinkering with build ideas, and whenever I finally settle on a design, order the parts, and finish putting the new computer together for myself I am always a bit bummed out I can't keep going and immediately make another. I've often dreamed about starting a business putting custom computers together for people... but when places like Memory Express will do it for $50, it's kinda hard to see it as a viable business model. :(
And yeah, definitely take the opportunity to rewire, if you've found the excuse and the motivation. I recently de-cluttered my apartment, and rewired my computer and TV areas too, and it was well worth it.
there's a guy on either marketplace or craigslist that was offering to build 'for tips' --- you just say what you want to do with it and he tells you what to buy, you buy it, he builds it... all for the love of it. But yeah, for $50, its crazy cheap.
Your spaces are so clean. My desk always starts out so perfect and clean and then over time it moves to chaos. Where is our wireless electricity?
Thanks for all of your help with this. I can't say it enough. I'm usually all for buying old stuff and making it work, so this is exciting.
My desk usually eventually ends up a mess like that too. Those pics were taken after my most recent cleaning/decluttering/rewiring session, so that's why everything looks so pristine. I am trying to be better about not letting shit accumulate on my desk or around my apartment anymore though, but we shall see how long that lasts. :P
NP, glad to help. And LOL, I bet. I usually build a new computer for myself every 2-4 years, and have done that since I was about 12 years old (I'm over 40 now). But even with all those builds under my belt, and the ones I have put together for friends/family over the years, I still get excited whenever I spec out a new one, and the parts finally arrive. That anticipatory excitement/anxiety/fear, and the rush of relief you get when a new build successfully boots up for the first time, is one of the reasons building computers is so addicting. :)
ok, so I got everything and its great.. but this case, the 140mm fans sit behind the 120mm mounts, which causes a little harmonic resonance.
I think I'm going to go down to 120mm fans or switch the case, if that is an option. This case is HUGE. haha
Where are your 140mm fans mounted? Most mid-tower cases these days have fan slots that can fit 120mm or 140mm in front and back without issues, so that issue is actually a bit surprising to hear. The top mounts are typically designed more (or even exclusively) for 140mm though. And I think the Mesify 2 is no different. So if the 140mm are mounted front and back, I would try mounting them up top instead to see if that fixes the issue before you complete remove/replace them, or replace the case. And if they don't have the issue up top, then you can then just buy some 120mm fans to replace them in the front and back.
A full set of fans is always better for airflow anyways, so it's probably something I should have mentioned to begin with since I didn't see any extra fans in your parts list, and I think the Meshify 2 only comes with 3x140mm fans despite having room for more.
But IMO before you do that, you should probably check the fan orientation first, since that might be what's causing the harmonics issue in the first place, and I don't know if I would necessarily trust Memory Express to get that right. Airflow should usually be all intake at front, and all exhaust at top and back. You can check that by holding a piece of tissue paper in front of the fans to see if they're acting as intake or exhaust. If they're blowing wrong way you can just flip the fans around.
The fans also might be seated slightly misaligned, or not screwed in tight enough, and that's what's causing the issue, so you should check for that as well.
right now its got 1x 140mm on the rear and 2x in the front. I think I'm going to change to 3x 120mm on the front and maybe two more on the top --- I was looking at a five pack at MemoryExpress today. But first I'm going to tape over the 120mm mounts, since that is causing the noise (according to randos.)
I installed Windows 11 Enterprise. What a shitshow of an OS :)
Huh, weird. I watched a couple review videos on the Meshify 2 (e.g. Gamers Nexus) back when I was considering it for my own build, and nobody mentioned that issue. But I suppose that's the sort of thing a reviewer, who is doing tons of reviews every week, may fail to notice. Although Gamers Nexus is usually pretty thorough, especially with their noise testing, so I'm surprised they didn't notice or didn't encounter that issue since they used the stock 140mm fans in their default positions for the testing.
its so weird. Its calmed down now -- but when the fans hit around 50% or so, it gets going. I also have super super sensitive hearing, so there's that. I went to look for fans and told the dudes who built this thing and they gave me the same 'wtf.. never heard of that' response.
Not my photo, but check this -- you can see where the mounts overlap the fans. This guy cut them down, but I don't want to do that.
I'm usually pretty sensitive to that sort of thing too... E.g. I can't stand fluorescent lights because I can actually hear them buzzing. And I could hear a slight rattling from one of my HDDs in my new case that was driving me nuts, so I had to add some padding underneath it to get it to stop bothering me. So had I bought the Meshify 2, I probably would have encountered the same issue as you. I likely would have just Dremeled the 120mm mounts out like in that pic though. :P
oh my god. I hate lights so much. It didn't even occur to me that the ram would have lights, but RGB is right in the name. The application to disable the lights is janky and inconsistent and a whopping 1.8gb... to mess with lights! its crazy. Also another reason why I want to slap some lights at the top of the case. Its not like I can even see the box, but know that they're there, I don't like it.
So when I add the drives in (four or five 4tb reds), should I also get some sort of padding or absorbers or something to keep the noise down?
That's one thing I actually like about Corsair's iCUE. It may be big bit it's super simple to disable absolutely all the RGB in this case. Just two clicks and I can go from my lovely pink & blue to glorious darkness (or vice versa). I love the RBG (and my desk mounted LED stips) with this new setup, especially when I am listening to music or playing games... but when I just want to chill out and watch a movie or show, I need it dark!
It really depends. My old old case had rubber grommits on all the HDD screws, and rubber buffering around the hard drive enclosures, so I never had any noise issues despite having 4 clunky old HDDs in it. And my old Mini-ITX case didn't have any buffers, but didn't have any noise issue despite that and its tiny size. But this new case needed a bit of extra padding for whatever reason. I didn't buy anything specifically for it though, I just used a bit of felt which I had handy from doing crafts with my nephew. :P
ha -- okay, iCUE it is! I don't get why the application is so big, though.
Ok, thanks again! It sucks to have great hearing, eh :)
It's more than just an RGB manager with effects. It has all sorts of system monitoring and fan control stuff built in as well. E.g. You can set custom fan speed curves based on various sensor temps (even GPU), or even have the RGB colors change based on those temps. But yeah, even with all that it's still pretty big. I suspect a lot of the size is due to the "Dashboard", which is similar to the AIDA64 Sensor Panel (which is what I use on my in-case monitor shown in the above pic).
And lol yeah, it does suck... especially when people look at you like you're crazy after you mention being annoyed by a sound they can't even hear. :P
hm. ok, I'll tuck into it.
On a side note, I have the feed sorted by activity and all-time and its nice that this thread isn't constantly bumped.
Yeah, IIRC after a certain thread depth, or number of replies back and forth between the same two people, the comments don't cause the bump mechanic to activate unless you're viewing "All Activity".
The Easter fundraising event I was planning went off without a hitch, aside from the girl who shoved a bead up her nose in the arts and crafts room. Kids seemed to have a blast doing the scavenger hunt! We were worried it might be boring compared to a straight hunt for candy but they were into it and mostly everyone followed the rules. (We did have candy available but it was at the end.)
Over 250 families showed up, which was more than we were expecting by a lot. We need to do some prize draws on Monday and then we're all done! Not sure how much cash that translates to yet but I'm really happy it was a success.