3070 ti is quite nice. I'm quite happy with mine.

What's with the PCIe SSDs? How are they compared to regular ones?

windows booting up in 10 seconds is uh, nice

if you get a 990 pro update the firmware...i had to create a bootable usb drive

If you already have a SATA SSD and only use your computer for typical shit then there's no need to upgrade to a NVMe.

The real world performance difference for normal computing is milliseconds. You'll shave minutes off production if you are working with large file transfers, though.

A SATA SSD typically has a read speed of 300-500MB/s. An NVME M.2 typically has a read speed of 3500-7500MB/s.

It's very noticeable. NVMEs are cheap. If you have the capability, definitely do it.

FYI... RAM prices have dropped by about 60% over the last week or so. Even DDR5.

The definitely noticeable difference between a SATA SSD and a NVMe SSD for your average user.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V3AMz-xZ2VM" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Like I said, unless you are working with large file transfers where you'll be saving minutes in production, then save your money and put it to better use than upgrading a SATA drive.

I pulled the trigger, boys.

The Micro Center bundle deals are too good to pass up.

Gonna be:

13700K
32GB DDR5 RAM
RTX 4080
2TB 990 Pro (snagged on Amazon sale for $180)
360mm AIO liquid cooler

Total budget for everything including Win 11 is about $2,400. After gift cards I had sitting collecting dust and a credit card cash back offer, gonna be under $2,000 out of pocket for me.

I was way overdue.

Next question is, what's the best place to sell my old PC, FB marketplace?

No offense, but Windows load times aren't really a good indicator of overall performance in most cases. It's as simple as read/write times, and there's really no argument when you break down the numbers. The difference on average is ~350MB/s compared to ~3500MB/s. You're going to notice that difference in many more areas other than just large file transfers.

Nice. That's going to be a greasy fast speed demon.

Make sure you update the firmware on the 990 Pro before you do anything else.

Nice. That will be a really sweet rig. Especially for that price.

I'm currently in the process of upgrading my mobo/CPU/RAM/etc. Jumping to DDR5 as well. Still waiting on 32GB of DDR5 6000 to arrive, so I can install everything. Upgrading mobo/CPU/RAM/CPU cooler/case fans/adding another 1TB NVME. Plan to overclock Intel i5-12600K, hoping to hit 5+Ghz stable but haven't had a chance to test. New ASUS boards let you OC cores individually, so you can adjust performance cores differently than efficiency cores.

Speaking of.. have you guys seen ASUS's new AIOC? You basically turn it on, and it uses AI to learn your system's system capabilities and cooling in real time with regards to overclocking, cooling, etc. It will sample your running system over a matter of weeks, and automatically overclock your system using settings derived from your sensors and usage to the best it's capable of. You don't have to tweak individual settings and then stress test for hours to see if your settings actually worked. You can automatically overclock an individual system according to what they are actually hardware capable of, as opposed to recommendations. Easy one-click overclocking that can essentially improve your CPU performance by 1-1.5Ghz improvement just by letting the system AI learn how your system works. You can set it to auto overclock your system as long as it stays under a specific target temp, and it will auto overclock up to that temp without any input.

I haven't really looked at any other mobos with this capability because I'm a total ASUS homer, but they likely have similar tech.

If anybody has any questions about overclocking, hit me up I've been pushing systems for a long time.

Description for AMD OC, but it's almost identical to Intel and gives you a good idea of how it works...

<iframe width="1200" height="800" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LqfqHLpi490" title="How to use AI Overclocking on an ROG X670E Motherboard for Ryzen CPUs" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Also... NVidia RTX users, don't forget to enable RTX Super Resolution with the most recent driver. It makes a really noticeable difference when streaming from any Chromium based video source. YoutubeTV, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Peacock, etc. If you're streaming video in a Chromium based browser, it will automatically upconvert your video using AI technology taking advantage of the graphics capability of your RTX GPU. It's a very noticeable difference on my system. 720/1080p content looks more like 2K content with most stuff.

https://i.imgur.com/1wb69mI.png

For reference... watch these videos before and after you enable it...

<iframe width="2503" height="1075" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rrGMENN1iaY" title="Avengers Endgame Final Battle Scene #1 4K 60fps &#39;Avengers Assemble&#39;" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="2503" height="1075" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7lwJOxN_gXc" title="Return of the King: The Ride of the Rohirrim [4K]" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="2503" height="1075" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tdW0Gv9WDP4" title="Top Gun 2: Maverick&#39;s BEST Dogfight Scenes �� 4K" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Wow, I had no idea this was a thing. Thanks, Fish!!

Welcome. I also recommend searching through individual specific settings for your exact GPU/mobo. The settings within the NVidia Control Panel can make a huge difference in your experience. Search for your exact GPU/mobo for the best recommended settings. Do the same for your exact monitor and it's internet recommended settings. Make sure your monitor's most capable resolution is what you're actually running.

Here's a good typical rundown: https://www.digitaltrends.com/comput...anel-settings/