G20CB in 2023

[MrLiechtenstein]

Hey there. ^^

I recently got back to desktop gaming after 15 years on gaming laptops. So I can feel the rust and questions in the back of my head even after reading a good amount of posts in here.

Basically my setup runs with:
I5 - 6400
8 Gb ram dual channel,
2 tb storage, (1tb SSD)
GTX 950
and the 230W power brick.
(I just ordered the 180W recently. )

Really awesome machine. Runs Crysis pretty well on Medium. ^^

Anyways. I have read a lot of subjects regarding the various upgrades to this machine. And they have all been really friggin exciting to read. All the crazy upgrades you have been able to make is truly inspiring.

I've seen that some of you have gotten the 330W Dell power brick and replaced the 230W, and that it should work for the CB model, and the AJ was locked to only receive 230W? How has the your experience been so far?

And I have noticed that the socket of the Lga1151, and that there are quite a few good Intel chips that are supporting this. But if I'd keep the TDP in the 65W ish range, are there any processors you'd recommend over others?

And lastly, I've read that the blower style GPUs are best for this case. Yet some of you are able to make the standard cards fit. How about the fans? Aren't they in the way ?
Regarding that I've thought about getting an 1080, Ti/non-Ti blower or a low-profile card of some sort, if space allows it.
I have seen people in here add RTX2080 which sounds a bit frightening, as it sounds like they require a huge amount of power. ^^; My respect to you. ^^

So yeah. Old fart here asking some potentially dumb questions. ^^; And for that, my apologies. Some of it may be self-explanatory, and I've been all over Youtube for the great upgrade videos, but as things change, I just want to make sure I don't break it and some of you, may have some really valuable experiences that the videos haven't covered.


Thanks in advance to all of you for any tips and on. ^^

[Dung_Hwangbo]

You mean the Leadtek one right? Honestly I don't know anything about it, I can't even find it on sale anywhere, so..

[MrLiechtenstein]

Dung Hwangbo wrote:
You mean the Leadtek one right? Honestly I don't know anything about it, I can't even find it on sale anywhere, so..

That's fair. it was also more of an afterthought. ^^; Now that I think of it. The GTX 950 only has a 6 pin connector, and there is only the 6-pin cable included. I've seen that there are these " 6 pin to 8 pin pcie GPU " cable things all over Ebay. But is safe enought ? I recall the slot being able to power 75w and the 6 pin would be able to supply 75w or so ? I would prefer to get the OG 8 pin - 8 pin connector, but for this machine they seem to be a bit more differcult to find.

And again thanks for all the help. It has been very valuable! ^^

[Dung_Hwangbo]

You are welcome.

MrLiechtenstein wrote:
I've seen that there are these " 6 pin to 8 pin pcie GPU " cable things all over Ebay. But is safe enought ? I recall the slot being able to power 75w and the 6 pin would be able to supply 75w or so ?

I'm not sure but i think a 6 to 8 pin connector delivers 75W as if it was a 6 to 6 pin. It all depends on what GPU you are aiming for, look how many pins it has and how much power it requires, then do the math. Keep in mind that the PCIE slot provides 75W, the 6 pin connector 75W and the 8 pin one 150W.

[Driftingdeath]

I have just got a second hand G20CB

This link is to a user benchmark for this system, https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Asus-G20CB/20... it can help you see what works and what doesn’t, as it displays the system builds of other g20cb systems that have run the test. It gives you ram manufactures codes etc, and you can see the basic build items like graphics cards etc.

so far I have fitted 2 new drives an 1T ssd and the following 1T drive in the M.2 slot.

to do so follow this I posted elsewhere on this forum.

Yes I have fitted a https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08V83JZH4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

a 980 m.2 1T drive.
install the latest bios from ASUS G20CB page with the lastest app to do so.

buy a heat sink for the m.2 drive to be careful.

installing is then possible.

make a windows 10 install drive on the fastest usb key you have, 

install the latest bios.

run load optimised defaults. 

install the new drive, back in the bios while not needed disable all the ssd drives in bios but not the chipset so disable each drive individually, this will make sure your installing windows onto the m.2 drive and making sure the mother board asides it to be the boot drive.

Insert the windows usb key you have made and restart your G20CB you may have to cycle the system to get the bios to see the new setup but if it’s all working you should boot to the usb and windows setup should start at the choose a drive screen you should see your m.2 drive you will only be able to tell by its size hence disabling all other drives to cut the chances of putting windows on the wrong drive.

you may get an error, about GPT file format if you do this can be fixed here with command prompt,  shift f10 to open command prompt.

Fix on YouTube 

then just install on windows you may have to click refresh in the windows install dialog.

all should work, once your working you can re activate you ssd drives in bios.

the physical install of the m.2 drive is covered in other builds the how to take the G20cb apart if you buy the heat sink kit I got the little screw you need was included.

Heat sink for m.2 I used. 
If your system is missing screws, and you need an m.2 fixing screw. 
This cable fits the 8 pin slot for the graphics card power output on the mother board if your going ... There may be others but I can confirm it fits.

[Driftingdeath]

I will add the rtx 2000 range are the first to get dedicated ray tracing chips. Power wise the rtx3050 is safer but it runs on PCIe4 it will run on our system but at less speed than it could but it also gets the second generation of ray tracing so may work better.

but the AMD Rx 6600 xt and 6650 xt look to be better at lower power, but I have not seen any setup as a blower nor seen any on the benchmark page but I think the ASU’s g20cb pages list a driver. But that’s not a given to work on this system as a nvidia card.

[Driftingdeath]

I would say if a rtx 3000 can be fitted then so could a rtx4000

[Driftingdeath]

ok you can add the RTX 4060 Ti founders addition to the list, as I just installed one its on just the 230w power supply (the special power adapter it uses was tight but it fitted)  a more angled one would be better.

edit you can buy 90 degree angle adapters I suggest you get one I will be.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=12VHPWR+Angled+Adapter&crid=1CMEVIX101SX0&sprefix=12vhpwr+angled+adapte... 

 I will be adding the second power supply as At full rattle it will likely test the 230w solo supply, heat wise so far so good its one of the reasons I picked it, its low clock and low power draw, it has a fan at both sides so I am not sure how it will go, I did add an 980 m.2 drive ( not the pro) with a heat sink without any fan overrides it sits at 67c doing 40mb storage over 2 hrs, if I disable quite fan for the system fan in bios then it drops to 62c under sustained 45mb usage. (the rtx card is the second reason, I want to get ahead of any heat problems). I haven't had it under long term sustained load to test yet but the card I  expect will be ok with the system fan running 100%, if its not I will report back.

[Driftingdeath]

The one that looks correct for my 4060ti founders addition https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C4P...