End of Year PC Build

Am I right that this is only a problem at the high end? I didn't have any problem rebuilding my rig in October, but I've always been a bottom-feeder.

Nicely done. I wish I had the aptitude or desire to build my own. Maybe some day.

(I recently upgraded to a mid level Dell, don;t hate me for it.)

Day 2.

Time to install the Samsung SSD and put in the last screw into the motherboard. I know some people have missed this last screw because it's hidden under the NVMe heat shield. Although it's probably not needed, it's better to put it in to reduce the motherboard flex as modern high-end video cards are quite heavy.


Follow the motherboard manual and put the DDR4 memory into the correct slots to make sure they will be in dual-channel mode. Ryzen CPUs love fast memory and extra memory bandwidth.


Carefully push the RTX 3090 video card into the top x16 PCI Express slot. There's actually very little flex or "sag" because the video card cooler kind of just rests itself on the motherboard.


Install the Sound Blaster AE-7 sound card into the last PCI Express slot. It is a x16 PCI Express slot, so it should be more than enough to handle a tiny x1 PCI Express sound card.


Finally, plug in all the power cables like giant ATX plug, 4 and 8-pin 12v ATX, and the 3 8-pin PCI Express plugs on the video card. Turn on the PC and hope it doesn't blow up. Not gonna bother with cable management until I make sure everything work properly.


It's alive! While the BIOS that comes with the motherboard recognizes the new 5950X CPU right away, it is still recommended to update it to the latest BIOS to improve component compatibility, overall system stability, overclockability, and even performance because it also updates AMD's AGESA code. Just download the latest BIOS from the motherboard manufacturer, put it on a USB thumb drive, and flash the BIOS. It is a scary process but as long as you don't accidentally turn off the PC during the flashing process or lose power, you should be fine.


After the BIOS flash is complete, remove the thumb drive, and restart the PC. Now I can finally play with the BIOS settings, but let's leave the overclocking settings alone for now. Instead, install Windows and enjoy those 16 CPU cores plus the 16 virtual ones from SMT.


I'm kind of glad that I use an AIO cooler on the 5950X. It runs very hot and along with the RTX 3090, I probably don't need my heater this winter. So far this has been very educational for me because I had to learn a few new things about the Ryzen platform. Building a new PC can be very a frustrating experience right now as demand outstrips supply. Let's hope 2021 will be a better year.

YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN STADIA INSTEAD SO YOU COULD SEE EVERYTHING RUN LIKE SH*T / troll

I was going to build a PC for myself at the end of this year, but I had to push it back. 2020 has been hard on the $$.

Nonetheless, that's an impressive rig. Waaayyy out of my budget, but very impressive.

That's a serious high-end rig, good pics too, thanx for sharing. Always nice to see a lovingly put-together PC.

The Sound Blaster is a nice touch. It used to be IRQ 5 DMA 1

Oh, the joy of getting the DOS-driver programmable cards working. Before that you had to set the DIP switches manually. And yeah, SCSI... [shudders]

Yeah I bit into computers when I was 6 to 7 years old, fixed moms work CP/M machine when I was 9...
Have seen the first home micros and programmed TELMAC etc.

I worked in IT from 1994 to 2009 and changed profession but still working with computers (games).

So there are three old guys reminiscing about early PC tech. That would be brilliant, if I didn't get the notion that we've become somewhat redundant.