Would this build run Zwift well?

As Mike says. I typically recommend trying ANT+ first on PC (fewer layers to go wrong) and it’s what I use, but there are always tons of people who swear by switching one way or the other.

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I guess, lastly, is it overkill to buy a GTX 1650 to throw in one of those HPs you linked as opposed to a 980? There are some on eBay for $150ish.

Only thinking in terms of some sort of future proofing? But I don’t know if that’s a thing with Zwift.

A 980 is massively more powerful than a 1650 mate. Approaching 50% stronger.

I guess I got lost somewhere along the way in Nvidia’s numbering conventions. :upside_down_face:

First one/two numbers are generation, second two numbers are tier. In this example the GTX 900 series 80 tier card is miles more powerful than the 16 series 50 tier card, despite being two generations older (they skipped from 10xx to 16xx in their wisdom). Gets a bit more complicated with the RTX cards (2000/3000/4000 series) because they’re intended for ray tracing but the same general principle applies.

If in doubt, just compare using something like this chart: PassMark Software - Video Card (GPU) Benchmarks - High End Video Cards

All that really matters is whether it’s good enough for 4K or not, because basically everything else that gets Ultra profile is good for 1440p.

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this is exactly what i did and the total cost during peak gpu shortage amounted to approx. £170, for anyone interested. £130 of that was the gpu, i’m sure they’re cheaper now.

a 1050ti is basically the “you can plug it into pretty much anything and go” card for zwift. emphasis on the “ti” part

Still not a great deal less than that for a 1050 Ti, unfortunately. But you can buy a much better card + PSU for the same money now. That’s why it’s better to buy a base system with standard motherboard connectors, that can take an ATX power supply as a straight swap. Like that HP I linked to.

To confirm, the HP you link to can definitely fit a 980?

That’s an ASUS Strix 980 in the image above, it’s fairly chunky. :rofl: Bit of a squeeze physically, but fits yes. This is smaller, for example: EVGA Nvidia GTX 980 4GB Graphics Card | eBay

It’s just one option anyway.

One thing I didn’t think about: it’s virtually impossible for me to easily, emphasis on easily, run Ethernet to where I have my setup.

Does anyone have experience with WiFi adapters for desktops? I’ve never used them, so have no idea how well they work.

Yes, I had to get one too for my cheap desktop from Ebay that didn’t have wifi. I have a wifi dongle with an antenna on a usb extension cable, works fine all the way down in the basement, wifi router is on main floor of the house.

Consider powerline adapters. Otherwise an internal PCIe wireless card (ideally with an Intel chipset) is best IMO. They’ll fit in that HP no bother - there’s one in that image above. :wink: Or you can just get a USB dongle.

I use one of these and have never had any issues with it, works perfectly for me.

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a USB wifi adapter works very well, my setup is in an outdoor shed and any if there are any latency issues then i sure cant tell. i think the one i have is just some unbranded thing. TP Link make good peripherals for cheap if you want a brand

Yeah, mine is much better than the internal wifi I have on my laptop.
My setup is in my roof about as far away from my router as I can get and the wifi adapter on the desktop i use is more reliable than the laptop I also use - although both are fine.

Internal antenna is likely your problem there.

Yeah, it really isn’t a problem though, loses signal only very briefly and probably about twice a year! Otherwise i’d have looked to improve it

just the PC has never lost wifi signal so is technically better but both are more than fine :slight_smile:

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Well, I pulled the trigger on one of those HPs and a used 980. Then went on Amazon and bought 4gb more of RAM, a power supply, 240gb SSD, and PCIe card. All in all I’m at like $280 and I think I have everything.

Seems about $30-50 more than I’d expect? You didn’t buy the RAM brand new I hope, it’s like $8 from eBay. Anyway let us know how you get on. Make sure you reset the BIOS to defaults then clean install Windows 10 offline straight onto the SSD - the Pro licence will reactivate itself when you connect to the internet later. Let Windows install the Nvidia driver (no need to do anything manually), and ensure you enable threaded optimisation and triple buffering in the control panel.

4GB RAM for $6.50 or less Micron 4GB (1-Stick) MT8KTF51264AZ-1G6E1 PC3-12800 DDR3 1600 Desktop PC Memory | eBay

SSD for $13.77: Sandisk 120GB SSD Plus SATA Solid State Drive SSD 120 GB | Fast Ship, Tested,... 619659158507 | eBay