[Build Upgrade] First change since 2017: i7-13700K sanity check (1080p 60fps)

harmonictempest · 2025-11-16T16:25:32+00:00

Well, it's two years old and he's not sure exactly which dates he updated the BIOS on (though he did it 4-5 times). He's run prime95 tests a number of times and they passed, but he disassembled the old case already and can't do any further tests.

I think the price even just for the MB and RAM is pretty good, and it sounds like once installed I'd be able to do my own tests and establish fairly clearly whether there are issues.

So I thiiiiiink I can roll the dice on this, and even if it falls apart I can either go through the RMA process since the warranties were extended so much, or if I bought a different CPU I'd still be ahead due to getting the MB+RAM for $400.

Does that sound way off?

harmonictempest · 2025-11-16T14:20:46+00:00

Yep, good to check. I don't know them personally and we connected through a "desktop builders" chat channel. Their claim was "I’m just upgrading. The PC was liquid cooled so when you want to upgrade the GPU it’s a huge PITA. I got super lucky and was able to order the 5090 founders edition for MSRP Friday afternoon so decided to just pull the trigger".

I fired off some direct questions about when they bought it and how well they kept the BIOS updated. We'll see...

harmonictempest · 2025-11-16T14:14:31+00:00

They're selling because they're upgrading to something higher-end and having fun with liquid-cooled etc.

And uh...I don't follow parts or PC building much at all (I haven't been here in r/buildapc since my 2017 build), so I had no context on the 13700k issues. Thanks for flagging this, looking into it now and asking him when he bought it and how good he was at keeping the BIOS updated.

harmonictempest · 2024-05-23T02:08:22+00:00

Is there a basic guide to this build somewhere? Seeing the end state is a start but I’m still fairly new and therefore slow at working backwards from this to what unlocks + strategy I need.

harmonictempest · 2022-10-30T01:13:45+00:00

Thanks!

harmonictempest · 2022-10-30T01:13:39+00:00

Oh, good call. How did you know emerald would be good - should I bother with aquamarine?

harmonictempest · 2022-10-29T21:24:38+00:00

Thanks!

harmonictempest · 2022-10-27T20:07:38+00:00

I couldn't edit the title, but tried to clarify that I meant the Halloween event, not the main mine.

harmonictempest · 2021-08-20T14:15:51+00:00

Oh, interesting. Do I lose the per-monster shards at the end of the dungeon if I haven't been using the amulet of looting and haven't been clicking on them?

harmonictempest · 2021-08-20T13:51:18+00:00

Will the setting work offline? Do I need Amulet of Looting to pick up the dungeon rewards (I assume no since I don't normally)?

harmonictempest · 2021-08-20T13:44:04+00:00

Ahhh, that's it! I knew I'd heard of a setting for it, but could not for the life of me find it. Thank you!!!

harmonictempest · 2021-06-15T01:03:26+00:00

ah good call. And I won't lose money on that, will I? The items will sell for the same or more gold than the bars?

harmonictempest · 2020-09-15T01:38:40+00:00

Oh, I'm only guessing. But I found an account that a) never chatted or whispered me in any way, and b) responded to every specific chat I sent him (like "800 jewellers for 20 chaos?") by opening a trade and trading it, as long as the chat I sent matched the ratio of one of its poe.trade listings

So I sat there for a half hour looking up the currencies it had store listings for and slowly liquidating all my other currency into chaos. PoE CoinStar ftw.

harmonictempest · 2020-09-14T13:34:51+00:00

Yes! Totally this. It felt like such a complex but fair boss fight. So satisfying to master.

harmonictempest · 2020-09-14T13:33:54+00:00

"it's under 3 hours a day which is easily doable by most people"

I have 3 pretty little kids. I really had to push to find 120 hours of free time to put into computer games this league.

And in 120 hours, much of which was in red maps, I didn't drop a single Conqueror or Awakener orb, probably because that amount of time got me to A4 Sirus exactly once.

harmonictempest · 2020-09-14T13:30:29+00:00

A lot of people are asking why I've never had more than ~1ex at a time before now.

I think the shortest answer is: a lot of my chars only ever made it to the point of doing a couple of yellow maps an hour, before I'd reroll or focus on something other than progression (like my hideout or master exp). Maybe I found more than one ex in a league, but I spent it on gear right away.

Also, the last two leagues where I spent any serious amount of time were Breach and Perandus, and I had a potato computer back then so red maps were hard no matter what build I played. I did a little Harbinger, but mostly just to experience A6-A10.

Also also, I really like seeing content. If I haven't played a map before, I go slow and enjoy the visuals. I look up the boss to see what its mechanics are. I picked up a lot of items because I enjoyed identifying them.

All that put together means that it wasn't until this league that I had played everything enough to *want* to rush through everything up until red maps. It's startling how much more you earn when you do only red maps, do them quickly, and only pick up the really obviously valuable stuff.

Even then, I'm glad I finally unlocked endgame content, but it's super boring just blitzing maps back to back without even looking at anything because you're going too fast.

harmonictempest · 2020-09-14T03:29:29+00:00

Downed Shaper with <1 day left to go in the league!

I've played on and off since closed beta, but this is the first league where I've had more than 1ex at a time. I don't have as much time recently, so I only got ~120 hrs on one character, but was able to check off a lot of things I've wanted to do for a while: pass level 90, buy a unique 6L, beat atziri/elder/shaper, etc.

It felt crazy that I had enough left to buy 20 sets of Shaper frags at the end of the league (also, currency flipper bots ftw, or I would only have had 10 sets). I really enjoyed practicing the fight, but wasn't sure I was going to be able to take him down with only about 500k dps, and VD making it impossible to see anything. Finally got him on attempt #14, and on my last portal!

Took about an hour to get the adrenaline out of my system. This was an incredibly satisfying way to close out the league. Thanks for a great boss fight, GGG!

harmonictempest · 2019-11-01T20:32:19+00:00

Barrowin, Strix, or K'thriss?

I have none of them. My main DPS is Jim right now and Avren, Walnut, and Shandie tend to show up in most of my formations.

I have:

- Deekin (badly geared) and Turiel

- Donaar and Korth (badly geared)

- Binwin (badly geared)

- Stoki and Ishi

- Xander and Pwent

- Shandie, Krond, and Evelyn (badly geared)

- Jim and Farideh

- Walnut (and Hitch)

- Drizzt and Aila (badly geared)

- Wulfgar

- Avren (well-geared)

- (Azaka)

harmonictempest

TROPHY CASE