GPU pick

[Cezar]

Hello everyone,

I had my system going down a while ago and I have not come around getting one yet.

I have been using GTX 970 to run LG 43" and Dell 23" monitors. I would occasional play some games, but nothing competitive and use it for school, etc.

I was thinking to substitute Dell 23' with another LG 43" for convenience and have 2 43" monitors running side-by-side.
What kinds of systems would support a pair of 43" 4k monitors? I would only play on one of them and use a pair for computing, desktop applications.
Could you please mention what would be graphics requirements to run the monitors with options: " good enough to run and not die", pleasant experience?
What would be the cheapest processor that would not bottle-neck the card(s) for the task?

 

[trents]

The GTX 1660 is reasonably priced and might give you a "Pleasant experience" with two 4k monitors in non gaming scenarios but it will not do well in 4k gaming even on one monitor. For 4k gaming on one monitor you would need to look at the RTX 2070. Not cheap.

Ryzen 2700x and 470x motherboard for the CPU should keep up with the GPU in 4k gaming and save you some bucks over Intel CPU/motherboard combos of equivalent capability.

 

[EarthDog]

Inches arent relevant, only the resolution.

As far as which card. As was said a gtx 1660 will run two 4k desktops, but it isnt capable of gaming well (at 4k). You would want at least a 2080. A 2070 just doesn't have the parts for 4k gaming.

 

[wingman99]

You could run the games at 1080p with the 4K monitor, that would allow using GTX 1660 GPU.

 

[UltraTaco]

You could run the games at 1080p with the 4K monitor, that would allow using GTX 1660 GPU.

but...why? It will be blurry up close and not in native res. I'm guessing OP is sitting close to them?

 

[wingman99]

but...why? It will be blurry up close and not in native res. I'm guessing OP is sitting close to them?

So he can use a GTX 1660 instead of RTX 2080 or RTX 2080ti. 4K TVs have a 1080i signal and they do fine.

 

[UltraTaco]

Well yes of course, Sir, but 4k is so much better(small price pinch) on 4k TVs..
OP never mentioned price ceiling, hence 2080 is perfect!

 

[trents]

Op currently has threads in one or two other forum areas I think and there is some evidence in them that economics is relevant in his purchase decisions. But it would be good to hear more specifically from him with regard to his budget for the system he is envisioning.

 

[EarthDog]

So he can use a GTX 1660 instead of RTX 2080 or RTX 2080ti. 4K TVs have a 1080i signal and they do fine.

Nothing like staring at a 43" 1080p/i resolution from arms length away...

I can see the pixels when that close. But yes, it is possible, but does look fuzzy/not the native res when doing so.

 

[wingman99]

Nothing like staring at a 43" 1080p/i resolution from arms length away...

I can see the pixels when that close. But yes, it is possible, but does look fuzzy/not the native res when doing so.

Why is it that a 4K TV with 1080i TV signal is fine?

 

[trents]

Why is it that a 4K TV with 1080i TV signal is fine?

Because you are looking at it from a distance. If you get closer or if you put two TVs side by side with one running 1080 and the other 4k you would see the difference. The other thing is that most programming content is still 1080 so even on a 4k TV you are still using it at 1080p. At this point, there is very little available in 4k that is not on optical disk or streamed.

 

[Cezar]

Thank you very much for advice. I was hoping that 970 would be ok. So far I want to buy approximately the following parts. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nxqL3b I might get 16gb of memory. Also I did not choose specific sticks of memory yet and just added something to see what is my approximate total.
Power supply I got replaced under warranty and it will be EVGA B1 750. Video card for now is gtx 970. If I were to play 4k on 970 would it die over time from the load or I would just get fps stuttering?
Have anyone had experience getting parts through reddit hardware swap? I was thinking that getting there ryzen 7 2700x for $210-220 used might be a good idea. Paypal would act as an insurance.

 

[wingman99]

The motherboard you picked out might not be compatible without a BIOS update. I would pick X470 chipset.

 

[Cezar]

This card has BIOS flash back feature. I am not sure how exactly it works, but from my understanding if you have a formatted USB drive with bios file you can overwrite BIOS without needing a CPU in it. I might be wrong. The procedure is described here.

Found another video.

I picked the board mostly because of its powerful VRMs and overclocking features to play with. Also big for me is postcode as I want to be able to tell if my gtx970 from previous system survived or died. I suspect the postcode and other buttons for overclocking could be bought as a separate unit somewhere on ebay?

 

[wingman99]

Yes if the PC won't boot up you can use BIOS flash back with the motherboard you picked out.

 

[trents]

That 2133 mhz memory will really put a ding in your performance. Ryzen thrives on high frequency RAM. You an get 16 gb of 3200 mhz Samsung B die memory at New Egg for what you are paying for 32 gb of 2133 and I would certainly push you in that direction. 32 gb of RAM will give no advantage over 16gb unless you are doing creative content things like video editing that can use that much memory.

 

[Cezar]

Yeah, I stated that I just dropped random sticks to keep track of my total because looking checking for the proper ram is tedious for now.

My major concern about x370 is whether it would be able to OC memory over 3200 stated. It seems like 3200 was the limitation of the first gen ryzen processors. Would 2700x be able to OC memory on this motherboard over 3200?

 

[wingman99]

I would go with something for AMD like this. G.SKILL Flare X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) AMD X370 / B350 Memory (Desktop Memory) Model F4-3200C14D-16GFX https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232530 Then you can try overclocking the memory above 3200.

 

[trents]

Even if it won't ovreclock, 3200 mhz is considerably more than 2333 mhz. I would also recommend the GSkill FlareX 3200 mhz. It is CL 14 and has the Samsung B die chips. Samsung is discontinuing production on the B die memory products so get it while you can. Going with 16 gb instead of 32gb may also have a favorable impact on your CPU overclock.