Upgrade Advice

[Gray2233]

As always, cheers for all the help on this thread folks!

I managed to get a second hand 5700x3d which I've fitted today (bit of a faff getting reaquainted with unseating cpu coolers & isopropyl alcohol but got there in the end!)

I've also just had the RX9070XT delivered, which I intend to fit tomorrow. It's massive compared to the 3070FE it's replacing so that's going to be fun. I was just watching a youtube guide for fitting that card and have just noticed it's powered by dual PCIe cables, which isn't an issue because the RM750 PSU i've got is modular, but i've just checked and I've not kept the spare cables in the base of the tower - hoping they're up in the box in the loft which I'll have a look for tomorrow, but if they're not, will any 750mm 6+2 PCIe cable fit this PSU or do I need to buy a corsair specific one? I'm assuming there's no variants around that would have a single connector going into the PSU and split to 2 connectors to go into my new GPU?

The 3070FE only needed a single PCIe to power it, so will need to get to the PSU to sort that regardless.

Cheers in advance

Good choice, Warzone loves X3D CPU's and AMD GPU's, and last I checked Battlefield is kinda similar.

CoD loves AMD GPU's so much that the 9070XT actually competes with the 5090, which is pretty damn hilarious given it's a £550-600 GPU vs a £2000 + flagship.

 

[tamzzy]

I'm assuming there's no requirement to fit the additional cable alongside the original, and as long as I use either the third from the left on the top row, or either of the bottom right 2 ports from the below image, it'll be fine?

there's no absolute requirement, that's correct, however putting 200+ watts through one cable is not sensible for safety's sake when you have space for a second cable
yes, you can use any of the 8-pin ports

 

[tamzzy]

was there anything in Bios I should have changed?

disable csm -> restart
back into bios
enable secure boot
enable 4g decoding
enable rebar
enable xmp

 

[Gray2233]

Genuinely owe a few on this forum a drink one day - it's been such a massive help. Things change so quickly with PC components and it seems there's plenty on reddit & other online forums who'd have you pump your life savings into a build for such a nominal uplift it's almost always not worth doing. Glad I remembered to call back in here before buying anything. Really appreciate the advice everyone. I've also just powered up my machine following the CPU install, and it booted to bios settings.. I hit escape and exit without saving, and it's booted to desktop immediately. I've then restarted to make sure it booted normally, and it has.. was there anything in Bios I should have changed?

Missed this bit.

Reddit can be useful in certain respects, but in a lot of ways it's flooded with poor advice and is also unfortunately littered with echo chambers. It's often worse with tech in general, as what might be relevant for the majority (USA) members absolutely isn't for the UK, it simply isn't a good source of information outside of very few outlets.

You give clueless people social credit for their opinions on a mass scale, they're going to give their opinions left and right regardless of how informed they are.

It's a shame old school forums like this are dying in favour of poorly formatted outlets such as Reddit, or worse Discord where every other company seems to want to use a chat host that's a nightmare to navigate as an information hub.

TLDR: Keep using OCUK and forums like it!

 

[ijb1989]

there's no absolute requirement, that's correct, however putting 200+ watts through one cable is not sensible for safety's sake when you have space for a second cable
yes, you can use any of the 8-pin ports

Sorry - my previous post wasn't worded particularly well - I'm 100% using 2 cables, was just checking the port selection on the PCU

 

[ijb1989]

disable csm -> restart
back into bios
enable secure boot
enable 4g decoding
enable rebar
enable xmp

CSM was already disabled, so I've toggled to enabled, then back to disabled and restarted just to make sure.
RE Secure Boot, I've got that set to OS Type - Windows Uefi Mode rather than 'Other OS'.. the 'Secure Boot State' is set to User and the field is greyed out so I'm unsure how i'd change that, but i've booted and checked System Information and the Secure Boot State is 'ON' there so I'm assuming that's worked..

'Above 4G Decoding' I've set to enabled.. presumably that's the right option
'Re-Size BAR Support' - my only options are Disabled or Auto.. changing to auto doesn't seem to present a new menu to configure.. is setting to Auto enough?
I've looked at all of the menus I can for a setting labeled XMP and can't find one.. Google tells me AI Tweaker is the menu it should be under, and the 'Ai Overclock Tuner' selection should be moved from Auto to XMP.. but my options are either AUTO or D.O.C.P (D.O.C.P was already set)

Is there something I'm missing?

 

[tamzzy]

is setting to Auto enough?

yes, auto = enabled if all conditions are met
check in the radeon utility that smart access memory is enabled
SAM = rebar

I've looked at all of the menus I can for a setting labeled XMP and can't find one.. Google tells me AI Tweaker is the menu it should be under, and the 'Ai Overclock Tuner' selection should be moved from Auto to XMP.. but my options are either AUTO or D.O.C.P (D.O.C.P was already set)

asus calls xmp as docp
enable docp

 

[tamzzy]

RE Secure Boot, I've got that set to OS Type - Windows Uefi Mode rather than 'Other OS'.. the 'Secure Boot State' is set to User and the field is greyed out so I'm unsure how i'd change that, but i've booted and checked System Information and the Secure Boot State is 'ON' there so I'm assuming that's worked..

yes leave it as windows uefi mode and user

 

[ijb1989]

Afternoon all,

Just got the box out of the attic and thankfully there's some spare cables so will install this evening all being well. Quick one - the spare PCIe cable I have has 3 connectors total - if I were to use this as the additional cable to the GPU, what should I do with the 'loose' connector? Do I tape it up, or will it be fine just floating around in the case?

There's also a cable in here labeled CPU that looks the same as a PCIe cable but the connector is fused together in an 8pin setup rather than the PCI (6+2) configuration - would this cable be suitable?

Cheers

 

[Tetras]

There's also a cable in here labeled CPU that looks the same as a PCIe cable but the connector is fused together in an 8pin setup rather than the PCI (6+2) configuration - would this cable be suitable?

No.

Do I tape it up, or will it be fine just floating around in the case?

Dangle is fine, so long as it doesn't pull the cable down, or risk hitting a fan.

 

[ijb1989]

Just rounding off this thread - all installed and been working perfectly for 2+ weeks now, so once again, thanks to everyone who's provided help/suggestions. Really has made things super easy!