End of Year PC Build

I believe my old system was cleaned only once or twice in 8 years by my PC guy! It was VERY dusty when my new guy picked it up. Cleaned it nicely for me. I don't plan on cleaning it for years. My laptop is covered in dust too. I often used it propped on my thick blanket with awful airflow as a result. Neither has died a heat death. I'm a filthy person and unless something starts dying as a result I won't change, sorry. *g*

New RAM arrived today. I fiddled a few embarrassing moments with it, too scared to apply the pressure needed to click it into place. Mildly panicked before I used more force. Played FO4 for 90min, no crashes, no blue screens. So it looks like it really was the RAM and not the board, what a relief!

Yes that has happened to me too, once or twice before...Not putting enough pressure on the RAM to properly seat it securely in the socket.  I get it, you're afraid of breaking something....I get it.  But with just that little bit more of an *umph*, it snaps itself into place nicely.   And voila!   No more RAM issues!     It's such a relief when you go from agonizing things like BSODs(Blue Screens of Death.... ie those brought on by RAM issues, like you saw) to a clean, fresh, beautifully-working PC.    There's a GINORMOUS weight suddenly lifted off of your shoulders and you can actually feel yourself breathe that "sigh of relief", rather than always unconsciously holding your breath just waiting for another occurrence of said issue (that's the worst!)

But when it is finally gone for good..... You almost feel like *Chair Dancing* 


S0 glad to hear that you solved the problems.....I'm happy for you *Begins spinning rapidly in circles excitedly and banging drums exhuberantly*

Like if you had an 10000RPM intake and your case fans only ran 1200RPM... I am sure you would get at least 4000 RPM out of that sort of setup...

With RAM its simple if you pull that tabs on the motherboard open first and just push on the ends of the RAM sticks simultaneously they will click without worry. As to filthy computers...
Two things: 
1:

2:


3. Oh here is a fun one:

Speaking of M.2, installed FO4 on it and it takes only 34 seconds from booting the game to the save being loaded, I love it!!!

Definitely makes a difference for modded games. Granted, switching ENBs reduced the loading times considerably even before. My old ENB took like a minute or two to just boot to the title screen because it was slowed down by loading all the possible presets in the background. I think I was down to about 30 second with the new ENB. But six times as fast as the SATA is noticeable. About 10 seconds and I'm on the title screen now. I used to go get a glass of water or go to the bathroom before and chances are it was still booting. Now if my game crashes I won't lose much time.

No kidding. That 4TB SN850X is even cheaper than the 2.5" 4TB Samsung 870 Evo drives I bought last year.

However, most motherboards only come with three or four M.2 slots. So I still need to get 2.5" SSDs for storage purpose for my future builds.

Even if the motherboard supports PCIe bifurcation, there isn't any room left for an NVMe expansion card. Especially after installing the GPU that takes up four slots and the sound card.

And hey, if any y'all need to clone a single M.2 to another single M.2 (say for example you only have one drive and it is being used... But you bought a bigger, faster replacement drive that you want to clone and then install I have got just the thing for you! A nifty, handy gadget I picked up on Amazon a while back

see if I can find it and I'll post the link here:

Plugable USB C to M.2 NVMe Tool-Free Driverless Enclosure, USB C and Thunderbolt 3, Up to USB 3.1 Gen 2 Speeds (10Gbps). Includes USB-C and USB 3.0 Cables (Supports M.2 NVMe SSDs 2280 2260 2242)

This is what I used. 

ACASIS USB 4.0 M.2 enclosure (TBU405). It's one of the more expensive enclosures, but it supports up to USB 4.0 and Thunderbolt 4.

The video card takes up even more room if you mount it vertically with a riser cable. It basically blocks all PCIe ports and leave them completely unusable.

You don't understand. There is no room at all to access those PCIe slots. The GPU heatsink completely touches the PCIe slots. The only slot left is the very bottom one and that's for the sound card.

Lian Li have a prototype case that can mount the GPU on the front intake of the case.



But I'll just do this instead. It's easier and a more elegant solution.

They're certainly popular, but not great in terms of build quality (not here anyway in Canada).  I made a previous post about the history of the company also known simply as "ADMIRAL".  Back in the 50s, 60s, they started in North America by making Appliances such as refrigerators and freezers...they're now part of the Whirlpool conglomerate (Kitchen Aid, Whirlpool, Amana, Maytag and Jenn-Air)

 In terms of modern electronics  They're listed on the lower end of any list I've seen for "Best Monitors of 20xx" and they're always in the "Budget" Category, which if you're looking at 389 AUD (349 Canadian Dollars) that's a decent price....I've seen Samsung go for even less.  But they're certainly not meant for a "High End Gaming" set-up.



www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-monitors,4533.html


For what it's worth, my money (even on their low to mid range stuff) is on BENQ.....or LG.   And though I don't personally like them, I know ASUS monitors are very popular here, and I've even seen some in that price range you're looking at.



www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_5358_5361&item_id=103307


Here is a 27" 1440p LED monitor from BENQ that I believe fits within your price range give or take 40.00 CAD


But bottom line is:  If you like the look of the AOC monitor, if you like the specs on paper, if you think it will suit your needs...... See if you can find some reviews of it online or on youtube.   If the reviews you read/watch are decent and you're satisfied with that.....then the choice is yours.