Munx wrote on 2026-01-19, 18:53:

BitWrangler wrote on 2026-01-19, 16:36:

Historically, I don't think doubling up on GPU RAM ever paid off. By the time minimum spec reached the high amount of RAM for that card, the GPU was too slow or didn't have the features.

Historically, graphics cards used to come with more VRAM than you needed for that time and would double that amount every couple generations or so. We have not gotten much of a VRAM bump for almost a decade now. Had the 3070ti come with 16GB of memory instead of 8, I would still be very happy with it and would not have upgraded.

yeah the games market isn't selling games for which the hardware doesn't exist, though it might improve with later hardware. So first half of a generation with a RAM bump you're probably very happy for RAM, the second half, games are shipping that use all of the default amount on them.

Well my latest silly ebay purchase came in today and it works nicely. RTX4070 12GB from an Acer desktop.

pete8475 wrote on 2026-01-23, 02:49:

Well my latest silly ebay purchase came in today and it works nicely. RTX4070 12GB from an Acer desktop.

Woa... what kind of case are you using for that modern rig? Looks like it's got to be a retro sleeper.

The missing piece for my new pc arrived today 😀

After a couple of years thinking I should upgrade but unable to justify it to myself given the actual use I make of my current main pc, after seeing how prices shoot up without apparently any chance they get back to normal any time soon, and after seeing my veteran GTX 950 card refusing to work after I took the pc apart for cleaning, I finally said "now it's the time" 😀

I think I overpaid 150-200 € compared to what I could have paid if I had done it 1-2 months ago, but it was now or never (or more precisely, now or "maybe in a couple of years").

So, Ryzen 5 9600x, Radeon 9060xt 16GB, 32GB DDR5, and a 1tb nvme (the first one I've ever bought!) will replace my definitely aging
Xeon e3-1240v3, GTX 950 2GB (rest in peace, thank you for your almost 10 years of service), 32GB DDR3, and 500GB SATA SSD.

Only thing I lost is ECC, but since prices are what they are and the 32GB "only" costed me 250€ last week, I won't complain.

carlitosbala wrote on 2026-01-23, 08:34:

The missing piece for my new pc arrived today :) […]
Show full quote

The missing piece for my new pc arrived today 😀

After a couple of years thinking I should upgrade but unable to justify it to myself given the actual use I make of my current main pc, after seeing how prices shoot up without apparently any chance they get back to normal any time soon, and after seeing my veteran GTX 950 card refusing to work after I took the pc apart for cleaning, I finally said "now it's the time" 😀

I think I overpaid 150-200 € compared to what I could have paid if I had done it 1-2 months ago, but it was now or never (or more precisely, now or "maybe in a couple of years").

So, Ryzen 5 9600x, Radeon 9060xt 16GB, 32GB DDR5, and a 1tb nvme (the first one I've ever bought!) will replace my definitely aging
Xeon e3-1240v3, GTX 950 2GB (rest in peace, thank you for your almost 10 years of service), 32GB DDR3, and 500GB SATA SSD.

Only thing I lost is ECC, but since prices are what they are and the 32GB "only" costed me 250€ last week, I won't complain.

Nice! That will be an absolutely massive upgrade. Very similar to the one I did for a relative last year. He went from an i5 4430, GTX 1050 Ti and a 720P 32" TV to a Ryzen 7 7700X, 9060XT 16GB and a 240Hz Curved VA display. And also, lots of RGBs, because that made him smile. Needless to say, that thing is his baby and he treats it as such. I was the one that helped his family get the old refurbished i5 system probably 12 years ago and I did the upgrades and maintenance over the years so he could play games, so it was cool to see it last this long without exploding. His Dad hooked the old system up to the TV to browse the web, so it is still going... 😅

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-23, 07:40:

pete8475 wrote on 2026-01-23, 02:49:

Well my latest silly ebay purchase came in today and it works nicely. RTX4070 12GB from an Acer desktop.

Woa... what kind of case are you using for that modern rig? Looks like it's got to be a retro sleeper.

It's an Inwin brand micro atx beige case that I've had for probably 20+ years, I don't know the model name but it's old enough that it didn't have any front usb or audio. I've added front USB 3 and a card reader.

I might have posted pics before on here so I'll look for those, if not I'll snap a few shortly.

Specs:
Intel i7-11700k
Asus Prime B560M-A
32GB DDR4 Corsair (2x16GB 3200MHZ)
RTX4070 12GB
Teac DVD-RW (beige of course)
~5TB of SSD storage

I added an intake fan at the front of the case and an exhaust fan at the back. I had to cut holes for both. I also have a 27" LCD bolted to the side of it and a carry handle on top.

Here's a post I made years ago about my setup, it's still on the same desk with the same screens. I'll snap a pic of the front of the comptuer after I have something to eat.
Re: post up pics of your "computing area"

EDIT - I made a little support bracket for the card from a PCI expansion slot cover. Probably unnecessary but this 4070 is a bit longer and heavier than the 3070 that was in here. When it's not -30C here I'll bring it outside and blow the dust out. 😁

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-23, 20:31:

Nice! That will be an absolutely massive upgrade.

It truly is. Everything happens so quickly now 😁

My old Xeon system was not only "desktop pc" but also nas, local server, and at some point even firewall / router. It is still running because I decided the new machine is desktop only, but any mini pc could do its job (except for the nas duty) so I'm not sure what will I use it for.

I couldn't quite decide if these were modern or retro at this point, but I think they're still fast enough to be modern even if they can be found in some very fast retro rigs as well.

I bought a couple of i7 5775C processors for a bit less than half of what they normally go for. I honestly didn't think I'd get them for this price, so it was a bit of a surprise... but I figured I'd find a use for one eventually, and I think I have a good use case for the other.

I have a relative that doesn't have the money or the desire to build a whole new PC right now, but he does play some strategy and simulation type games that thrash one or two cores of his i7 4790 (non-K). The system I built him several years ago is currently using a Gigabyte Z97-HD3 board, 2x8GB DDR3-2133, a pair of decent SSDs and an EVGA GTX 1080 SC that I just installed last week (upgrading from a GTX 970).

From everything I have read, it sounds like the 128MB of EDRAM L4 cache on the 5775C processor could provide an pretty decent improvement in these types of games... similar to the improvement seen with a Ryzen X3D chip, though nowhere near as large since the cache is a lot slower (and the 2133Mhz DDR3 is relatively fast for the platform, which offsets some of the L4 gains). I think if I can easily get the processor to run stably at 4Ghz all-core turbo it may be worth the upgrade for him considering the pretty reasonable price I paid for these chips.

Sadly, there isn't a ton of benchmarking data for these CPUs because they were quite uncommon at the time, and hardly any of the data that exists involves simulations or single-thread-heavy strategy games. It would be a bit annoying to go through the whole process and not have it give any discernible benefit over the 4790 in cases where he would like some improvement.

Anyway... I don't have the chips yet, but I am happy to have some coming my way. Honestly never thought I would own one of these or get to tinker with one.

If anyone has used a 5775C and has any input or suggestions, let me know.