I might be considering upgrading for a budget "gaming" PC.
But I also like to use Photoshop and Premiere to edit videos occasionally as a hobby.
Is this sufficient with a i3 or is getting an i7 a must with significant benefits?

I looked at a budget gaming build and it recommended an i3-8100.


To get an idea where I'm coming from:
I'm upgrading from a i5 3570k, GTX 660ti. I was actually ok with this set up, but my computer started acting up, so whatever, I'm due for a new PC anyway. I just want to make sure I get a cpu that fits my need.

All this talk about NAS'es. I currently use a $200 Optiplex with 2x 1TBs for 1080p Plex streaming. Would like to build one with a Node 304 and FreeNAS one day.

If you have the space to hide it where you can't hear it, just get an old 12 bay server off eBay. They're cheap, reliable, parts are plentiful and hot swappable. I thought power would be an issue but mine sucks about 175 watts once all the drives are spinning and all my bays are populated. I imagine that number will go down as well as I upgrade my drives over time, newer drives should be more energy efficient or if big SSDs ever become cheap enough.

But that's just me... lol... I feel if I'm going to build a file server, why not just use an actual server that was designed to do just that.

Whats your budget?

This is a pretty good deal.

https://forums.redflagdeals.com/cana...o-319-2283512/

Good deal, for sure. If you're upgrading your existing system, you'll also need to budget some DDR4 memory.

I have a 12 bay home server. But i just keep stuffing in HDD into it.
So far, it only filled 5 bays. And its running on Win10 Pro and 16GB DDR4 Ram. No raid.

Now, If I do Raid 5, i should get 10-11X read speed performance with all 12 bays filled.
Question is how reliable is Raid 5 ?? Or maybe i should do Raid 6 ??
And if a drive failed, does it take a long time to reconstruct ? Also, can i add more drives in the Raid 5,6 array later on ?

btw, what about RAM ? Should i expend it to 32GB or 64GB?

ALSO, WD RED/Blue NAS vs Seagate IronWolf ?
Planning to get all 8TB HDDs to fill up empty bays.

That's the issue with the two NAS's I have, they're fairly quiet once they're up and running but at boot they absolutely scream so I have to be careful where I put them so a power cycle doesn't wake the whole house. One has 4x 1TB drives and the other has 4x 1.5TB. They're worth a good chunk of money but I imagine they'd be a pain to sell, if I get the time I should probably set them up as RAID1 and store irreplaceable media on them.

I don't think speeds increase like that but it'll be much faster than single drive reads. A single drive is enough to saturate a 1GBe connection, so throughput isn't the issue. A RAID would have much faster seek and response times which is what you need if you have several users accessing the data.

You should just stick with a RAID 5. The writes are slow enough with a RAID5, RAID 6 is even slower because it'll have to calculate 2 parity bits. If you want 2 disk redundancy, go with RAID 5 + hot spare. It should automatically rebuild on the hot spare if one drive fails.

Adding drives to a RAID 5 or 6 depends on what you're using to create the RAID. I'm running Server 2016 with a H700 flashed to HBA mode so I'm letting Windows handle the RAID with Storage Spaces. I've read that I could add drives to the array but I haven't tried. What I normally do is replace with bigger drives one at a time and expand the drive. It's expensive because I have to replace 4 drives each time. Some hardware RAID cards may let you add a drive to the array and redistribute the data.


RAM shouldn't matter, it's just a file server. More ram would give you some more write cache if you're running Windows. If you're planning to run some virtual machines then load it up otherwise 8GB is fine.

If you're going to RAID, just go with the cheapest disks. I've used desktop drives and even WD Green disks without problems. My smallest array consists of 3TB Seagate Barracudas. Don't forget that RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. I just keep a spare disk laying around in case of failure but make sure that disk is at least as big as your biggest disk.

Somewhere like $600-800.
Just planning to upgrade Mobo, Video card, cpu, ram.


But I wanted to know if I should be looking at a i3 (or amd equivalent) or if I should go with at least an i5 if I'm doing any video editing/photoshop, even as a weekend hobby.

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

Something like this will perform well for the money.

Money left over for an SSD.

That's a solid build. for $50 more you can get the Ryzen 7 2700. it comes with 2 free games. You could sell those if you don't want them.


https://forums.redflagdeals.com/amaz...76-99-2284047/

I know W7 support ends in January, but how risky is having a machine or two on the network still running it? They're just used to stream content stored elsewhere on the network so there aren't any passwords or anything going through them, but I want to make sure they can't somehow affect anything of the other machines.

Alternatively I assume keeping them on the network but blocking their internet access is a possible solution?

Anyone get in on the 10TB WD My Book deal this morning?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CMH78R5/

Was able to place an order two. Came out to around $280 after shipping, taxes, and conversion.

Might keep one or none at all, so if anyone wants one at cost, let me know.

https://i.imgur.com/2boPr1P.jpg

Just downsized from a Fractal Design Meshify C Mini mATX to a Nouvolo Steck mITX.

Old case - 409mm x 217mm 412mm = 36.5L

New case - 315mm x 142mm x 215mm = 9.6L

More pictures - https://imgur.com/a/HjOYrh9

Anyone thinking of picking up the new AMD CPUs?

Going to be upgrading from the i5 4670k + RX 580 and maybe getting the 3700x (maybe even a 3900x) + a 2070Super.

Will be for gaming and video editing a quick list I'm thinking of https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/ts3C3b going with the 3700x will save about $240

I'm considering it. I just bought a new 65" 4k TV. The laptop I was using is no longer cutting it for 4k h265 files I'm watching. Figure if I'm building a new HTPC, I may as well game with it.

Haven't decided on the CPU but I'm looking at the 2070 Super as well. I'm probably not going to play many PC games. Mainly to emulate Nintendo games. Might be good enough to ditch the Wii U. I'm impressed with the CEMU emulator and Yuzu is still a work in progress but it's getting there. The videos of BOTW in 4k60 look amazing...

Considering a Node 202 for a case but I might keep my current case with some modifications. Currently, it's an old laptop shoved inside a 1980's JVC VCR. I like the retro look... lol Would be nice to get some of the lights working with a VFD display... Going to try and retain the top loading eject mechanism too... now I'm just rambling...

Are the Intel price drops in effect yet?

The sweet spot right now is 3700X (w/ DDR4-3600) + 5700XT.

I remember seeing some issues with X570 boards tho, so you might want to read up and look into X470 boards (I don't think you'd be losing much aside from PCIe 4.0).

Your Nouvolo Steck mITX build is really cool, wondering if I should build a new computer now..

Ended up selling the Nouvolo Steck case and went with the Louqe Ghost S1.

Paid a lot more for it, but I loved the design (the Steck was based off of it) and the quality was much better.

I caught a bit of the /r/sffpc bug.. would've had a lot more vacation money to spend if I just kept my old mATX build.

:alone:

Got a email from Newegg. AMD CPU 50% off. https://www.newegg.ca/amd-fx-8000-se..._-19113284-S0A.

Where do they even find these.

Yea I'm gonna do a bit of research today on using the X470s or even the B450s if I don't want to OC right away. But I do plan on eventually OC'ing so might be best to get a X570 board.

If I go with the 3900x is the 5700XT still a good option? I'm not a fan of the blower but I also don't think I can wait till next month for a video card. Will be selling my current PC.

The 5700XT was showing overheating problems with the blower (Linus Tech Tips had problems). Might want to wait for a different cooler from 3rd party to show up.

I wouldn't buy any blower cards either..

Maybe not the most ethical option, but you could buy one off of Amazon and return it?

If not, your only option at this point is to buy a RTX 2060/2060S.

https://victoria.craigslist.org/sop/...928813230.html

I don't mind spending extra to just get the 2070S now though but maybe I will feel bad next month once the 3rd party 5700XTs are out.

I may just sell my PC and order the parts slowly since no stores seem to have them in stock. It'll probably be end of July that I get all the parts I need anyhow

whats the best company to buy computer parts these days? (best warranty and returns etc)

canada computers or memory express?