Windows 11 - Do we want it or can we even handle it?

[Sandman[SA]]

The thing with that chip is, I had de-lidded it but haven't applied any silicone to secure the IHS in place.  Even after de-lidding, it still runs kind of hot.  About 95-C at 5 ghz all-core with a EKWB supremacy EVO strapped to it.  And about 80-C if you just let it run to its default 4.7 ghz boost.  It demands a good cooler.

[KT 💣 KλBoƠM]

The thing with that chip is, I had de-lidded it but haven't applied any silicone to secure the IHS in place.  Even after de-lidding, it still runs kind of hot.  About 95-C at 5 ghz all-core with a EKWB supremacy EVO strapped to it.  And about 80-C if you just let it run to its default 4.7 ghz boost.  It demands a good cooler.

[Sandman[SA]]

That image reminded me of that time when you visited me and used my laptop to play L4D for a week straight.  And how hot that thing got.  lol

[One Eyed Wonderweasle]

I guess it's better to stick with the I5 8400 6 core I got it with. Should be able to run with the stock cooler also.








 Maybe if you have some money kicking around see what deals you could find in the used graphics card market near you. she's still rocking a EVGA GTX 760 OC 2gb.

[Sandman[SA]]

I guess it's better to stick with the I5 8400 6 core I got it with. Should be able to run with the stock cooler also.

In most cases, a modern I5 is better for gaming than an I7.

Maybe if you have some money kicking around see what deals you could find in the used graphics card market near you. she's still rocking a EVGA GTX 760 OC 2gb.

That was a decent card for its time.  But it's not even close to entry level today.  I'll see what I can find.

Edit: Still a bit overpriced IMO, but this doesn't look too bad.
https://www.microcenter.com/product/643923/asus-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-ti-tuf-evo-overclocked-dual-fan-6gb-gddr6-pcie-30-graphics-card

[One Eyed Wonderweasle]

 You could maybe try Facebook marketplace or whatever E-bay has for local stuff and probably get something twice the performance. just make sure you try it out with heaven or valley benchmark with drivers loaded first before buying. I always test out the card before paying. I did have a card that worked and was detected till it had the drivers loaded. then when I would try to run any tests it crashed or blue screened, didn't buy that one.
 I was gonna suggest a 6500 XT but then noticed it relies on PCI-E 4.0 for full performance, not supported on 8th gen. Maybe you could find a good used RX 580, GTX 1060, or 1070. 

[Sandman[SA]]

The RX6400 and RX6500 series both depend on PCI-e 4.0 and resizable bar.  And only run on 4 and 8 PCI-e lanes respectively.  8th, 9th and 10th gen Intel does not have PCI-e 4.0.  So yeah, that's a no go.  I think 11th gen Intel supports PCI-e 4.0.  BUT... as far back as 8th gen Intel, it DOES support resizable bar with the latest bios update.

I've thought about trying the used market, but typically.  Most "decent enough" used and reasonably priced video cards for sale are commonly priced too good to be good.  If you get my meaning?  You might get lucky, and it only needs a good cleaning and a re-paste.  But I can't live with spending good money for a video card and shipping it to another country to have it fail a short time later.  And no way to warrantee it.  I am wishing I hung on to those RX580 and RX590 I had.  I would have gladly donated one of those.  Right now, they are still 3X what the MSRP was when they came out.

[One Eyed Wonderweasle]

 Market price just took a dive because 75 percent of mining with GPU's just ended. a flood of used GPU's should be hitting the market any time now. could Look into used 970 -1080's over there. In the states you-tubers are saying the prices Have already dropped but it hasn't been reflected in my city's local ad's yet. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a monitor that pulls over 1080p 60hz. if the card out puts that on most stuff at high settings she'd likely be more than fine with that.
 Maybe we just have to wait for a bit of time for the used market's prices to adjust.
 

[Sandman[SA]]

Yeah.  Those massive price drops youtubers keep talking about hasn't really taken effect yet here either.  Unless your fine with using an abused ex mining card.  I know what you mean about the display issue.  Frame rates on a 1080P / 60 hz display run from a decent graphics card is just going to get capped by the display and the CPU.  Is she still using a CRT?  Or did she finally get at least some sort of panel display?

In all due respect, she will eventually need a complete system overhaul if she wants to see any noticeable gains in gaming.  It would be great if we could get a group effort together again to help build her a new battle station.

[One Eyed Wonderweasle]

 I already have the 8th gen motherboard, 16gb's ram DDR4 and i5-8400 I think she has a 19"  LCD monitor I thought it was a new one, maybe just before the pandemic. I thought maybe you ordered it for her. I don't think her monitor before that one was 1080p though. her limiting factor on a monitor is that desk she still has. the section designated for the monitor will only fit about a 19" monitor. she didn't want to try an alternative mounting to get the monitor out of it's nook to use a bigger one. I tried getting her to change to a higher flowing case she wanted to stick with her current one. so just keep in mind, a "battle station" might not be possible with her restrictions. Plus at the moment, I'm not overflowing in the cash department.
 I don't think the performance of her system is the thing that is stopping her from gaming at this time.

[Sandman[SA]]

I don't know what monitor she has.  But I did get her a better set of headphones not that long ago.  If that is an older LCD monitor, I need to know what connection it uses.  VGA?  DVI?  HDMI?  That will be important to know.  I fear she will need a new monitor as well with a newer graphics card.  Wait...  Is she is still using that alien case that team SA got her all those years ago?  That case was barely "ok" for the AMD phenom II X3 she had way back then.  It doesn't have enough airflow needed for the 2nd gen Intel she has now, let alone a considerably higher TDP 8th gen you're planning for her.

[One Eyed Wonderweasle]

 She'd have to tell you whatever monitor she's running, but I think adapters can take care of most monitors and a I think her's isn't too old.
https://www.newegg.ca/black-blue-apevia-x-hermes-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811144292
 That is the case she is currently running though most of the original fans have long since passed and been replaced. I tried a couple of years back to have her go to a better flowing case when I had one but she wanted to stick to that one because she had picked it out and bought it.
 the case I obtained with the MB, CPU for her was such garbage on airflow it's probably going to the curb once I upgrade her.
 Her pics of her case are on page 8 of bragging rights.

[Sandman[SA]]

Now that you pointed it out, I do remember that case.  At least it's a somewhat more modern case with USB 3 in the front IO.  And it looks like that 200mm side intake fan is its only noticeable source of fresh air.  If you put a recent graphics card in that case, you may not be able to close the side cover.  My 2 most recent gpu's (RX 5700 XT and RX 6900 XT) reach about 6 and 10 mm away from the side glass of my 011 D XL.  Yeah, I know they are both water blocked.  But the manifolds add less than an inch to the card's overall width.

Back to the monitor.  Yeah, an adaptor will work in a pinch.  Well enough to get a display out, surely.  But the display quality and refresh rates could suffer badly.

So she says it's DVI.  I suppose we can look for a decent 10 series nvidea card?  That still had a DVI port.

[One Eyed Wonderweasle]

 As far as resolution goes I think her current monitor pulls maybe 1080p max. thought it might have a HDMI port on it but she might not have had the cable for it at the time or we didn't even think to check at the time. If you get the model number of the monitor off her, specs should list all connections, pretty sure most the 10 series still had DVI a few 1080 TI's 1070 TI's were missing them. 

[Sandman[SA]]

I'm certain that most of the GTX 10 series cards and Radeon cards from that same era still had a legacy DVI connector.  My R9 390X has 2 of them.  But that connection type was phased out at that point in favor of much higher resolution and bandwidth of HDMI and DP connections.  So why they kept DVI then is anyone's guess.

But if she is using a DVI only capable LED monitor, it's most likely running 1080p at 59 Hz max.  Not a true 60 Hz that it may otherwise be reporting.  It will work fine for everyday use and general video playback.  Latency and color accuracy is fair at best and has been proven to give the user mild headaches during extended use scenarios.

So, I've been thinking of helping her out a bit so she can pick out a better, yet budget minded 120 Hz or better display to pair with a better graphics card.  A GTX 1660 TI would be a decent 1080p card that is capable of some light 1440p gaming.  If anyone would like to help with some donations, we might be able to go a tier higher.