I’ve been “about to build a new PC” for probably a year now.
Current system is a Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 2070 Super, 16GB DDR4 and a couple of SSDs. I built it in 2020 and at the time I assumed I’d get maybe 4-5 years out of it before something started feeling painfully outdated.
Well... apparently nobody told the PC.
I play at 1440p. Most of what I actually play is stuff like Baldur’s Gate 3, Helldivers 2, older RPGs, strategy games and whatever random indie game steals two weeks of my life. I’ve had to turn settings down in newer games, obviously. I’m not pretending a 2070 Super is secretly a 5080. But I launch a game, change a couple settings, and then... it works.
And that’s the problem.
Every few months I get the upgrade itch. I watch benchmarks, build a parts list, convince myself that this is finally the year. New CPU would be nice. 32GB would be nice. A modern GPU would be REALLY nice. Then I look at the total, go play something on my current PC, and within five minutes I’m thinking “wait, what exactly am I trying to fix?”
Well...kinda funny that I can afford a new build now much more comfortably than I could when I built this one. I actually want to build one. Half the fun for me is picking parts and putting the thing together.
But spending a few thousand dollars just to turn settings from “high” to “ultra” and watch an FPS counter become a bigger number feels harder to justify than I expected.
I always thought upgrading would happen because my old PC became unusable. Instead it’s slowly turning into this weird negotiation where the old bastard keeps doing just enough to survive another generation.
I’ve even caught myself almost rooting for something to finally struggle badly enough that I can upgrade without feeling stupid about it.
For now I keep closing PCPartPicker tabs and telling myself “maybe next generation,” which is exactly what I said last generation

I put off buying additional storage and now I'm regretting it. However, I had a kernel error and realized I needed reliable backup.

However, an M.2 2tb drive I bought for $120 two years ago now goes for $215?!?!?!?

Should I still buy the Silicon Power 2tb or are there better options for that price?

A few weeks ago, I had a flickering power outage only in the area where my PC is located, frying the motherboard and the CPU. Even though it was plugged into a surge protector, this had happened and I want to prevent this going forward as I have a pretty modern PC build and do not want to have to replace parts like this.

How popular are UPS's and should I invest into one? I never really heard of any of my friends or others who have a decent pc and own one of these. Is it overkill or preventative from possible future hardware from being ruined?

Current specs:

Ryzen 5 5600 and 6750XT.

Since going to AM5 is not an option, because of insane prices - I feel like I've only one option to upgrade and that is going to 5700x3d or 5800 x3d.

5700x3d seems to be totally out of stock here in Europe and only available second hand. 5800x3D seems to be going for 350 euros.

So is it worth spending that much to upgrade my current 5600?

building a new PC under €2000 and putting most of my budget into a top-tier CPU since I mostly play CPU-heavy games. Because of that, I'm intentionally saving on the GPU side for now, hoping to upgrade to an RTX 6000 series card down the line when they come out.

Right now I'm leaning towards a 5060 Ti 8GB . I play a lot of competitive games like Valorant, CS, and Siege, heavily modded Minecraft with shaders, and some AAA titles on the side. I prefer Nvidia sadly and alternative options like the RX 9070 GRE cost around €300 more here, which I'd rather avoid spending (or to a 5070).

For AAA games at 1440p, I have zero issues using DLSS or upscaling, I'm completely fine dropping settings to High instead of Ultra, and I don't care about maxing out Ray Tracing or using heavy texture packs (5060ti is not enough powerfull for that anyway). Given these conditions, is 8GB VRAM really going to be a problem at 1440p, or will High settings + DLSS keep VRAM usage low enough to smooth things out?

I was just thinking that during the RAM crisis it'd make sense for 24gb RAM to become more common as a viable in-between as 16gb is often not enough but 32gb costs your first born child, but I looked into it and it's just kind of a pain to find 24gb plus I've never seen anyone talk about it

So 3 years ago I built a budget pc at around 650 dollars at the time, and yes this was before all of the crisis stuff. Ill list my specs below

CPU: Ryzen 5 5600x

GPU: RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB

RAM: 48 GB DDR4 RAM at 3200 Metatransfers a second/ MT/s

Storage: 1 TB NVMe SSD with fast read and write speeds

Cooler: I dont know, but i think its really good

OS: Windows 11

Motherboard: Gigabyte B550

My main game i play is minecraft java (with mods obviously), and in my survival world flying with an elytra CPU temps are around 50 to 55 C at 8 chunks render distance and 5 sim, and im on lowest settings bc i honestly prefer it. GPU temps are flat 40 C with Nvidium mod installed. Loading into my survival world same settings CPU temp maxes at 68 c and goes back down quickly. Both thermal pastes were applied last when I built the PC.

Hi,so i got new parts for my pc.
Im using GIGABAYTE AOURUS ELITE WIFI 7,32gb ddr5 ram (1 stick),Montech king pro 95 case,360mm aio,but im reusing my old gpu rtx 3050 and my old psu.I connected all the cables,i have made sure everything is fully and firmly connected ,made sure psu is on ,connected hdmi cable from monitor to gpu (i dont have cb) but it still wont turn on,can anyone help me.

For background, I have an MSI B550M pro motherboard. I am getting 2 gigabyte fiber internet hooked up and the installer saw my computer and let me know that I may need an adapter depending on how recent I built the pc.

I looked up the motherboard and it only goes to 1 gigabyte, so I’ve been looking at adapters but don’t know much about them. Is there a preferred brand/build for them? Is it worth getting even?

Any help would be appreciated

Hi,

I'm close to ordering my new PC and I'd appreciate a final sanity check, especially from anyone who has built in a be quiet! Shadow Base 800 / 800 FX with an Arctic Liquid Freezer III.

The main components are:

• Ryzen 7 9850X3D
• MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk Max WiFi
• RTX 5080 AORUS Master
• 64 GB DDR5-6000 CL30
• be quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX
• Corsair RM1000x ATX 3.1
• Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro A-RGB

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BD9Hqd

My main questions are:

1. 360 mm vs 420 mm

For a 9850X3D, is there any meaningful real-world reason to choose the 420 mm version over the 360 mm?

I'm particularly interested in noise rather than maximum cooling performance. Would the larger radiator allow noticeably lower fan speeds / lower noise during gaming, or is the difference small enough that a 360 mm LF III Pro is already effectively overkill for this CPU?

2. Will they actually fit in the Shadow Base 800 FX?

This is the part I'm most unsure about.

The Arctic Liquid Freezer radiators are much thicker than typical AIOs. I've found conflicting information online about top clearance in the Shadow Base 800.

Has anyone personally installed:

• a Liquid Freezer III / III Pro 360 mm on the top, or
• a Liquid Freezer III / III Pro 420 mm on the top

in a Shadow Base 800 / 800 FX?

I'm especially interested in possible interference with motherboard VRM heatsinks / RAM. My board will be the MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk Max WiFi.

Photos or first-hand experience would be extremely helpful.

3. Any other issues with the build?

If you notice anything questionable in the list — compatibility, airflow, component choice — please let me know.

My intended airflow setup is front intake, top AIO exhaust, rear exhaust.

Thanks!

Hi! I've been fantasizing about building a gaming PC for nearly 5 years now and have been saving up for it.

This is my planned build so far, I've spent the past weeks ping-ponging between tons of sites and consulting with AI, I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

About the individual price parts, I've compared them to other sites in my country, my country is just super expensive; these are prices if I buy from a VAT-free location.

Name --- Price (Converted to USD):

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D AM5 Tray --- $488
CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK PRO 3 Black --- $56
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B850-PLUS WiFi --- $229
Memory: Klevv DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) 6000 CL30 BOLT V Grey --- $593
Case: Fractal Design Pop 2 Air - Black TG --- $125
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM 120MM Fan --- $39
PSU: Corsair RM1000e 1000W ATX 3.1 Gold Modular --- $193
GPU: Palit GeForce RTX 5080 GamingPro OC 16GB --- $1766
SSD: Samsung SSD 2TB 990 PRO NVMe M.2 --- $418

For a monitor, I was eyeing the Gigabyte 27" QHD 240Hz 0.03ms USB-C OLED Gaming Monitor but the site I'm using to buy the parts from stopped displaying any monitors larger than 24.5", so I'll buy monitors from somewhere else....

What are your thoughts? What should I change if my main goal is better performance at roughly the same price range?

Hey guys, anyone here running this combo? I've been testing mine and would like to compare temperatures, especially at idle.

My setup:
• Ryzen 7 5800X3D
• Corsair Nautilus 360 RS ARGB
• ASUS Prime B450M-A, BIOS 4645
• 32GB DDR4-3200 and an RTX 5070

The radiator is top-mounted as exhaust, with the pump below the radiator and no kinks in the tubes. Pump speed is around 3100 RPM. I'm using the Windows High Performance power plan with DOCP enabled. Curve Optimizer isn't available in my BIOS.

Here are the CPU temperatures I've recorded:
• Idle: 46–48°C at 28°C room temperature, with CPU power around 28–34W
• Firefox open: 52–53°C
• Valorant: 60–66°C
• Valheim: 58–65°C
• Cyberpunk: 63–70°C
• Four Cinebench 2026 runs: 74.8–77.5°C CPU Package, at roughly 110–114W

I also tried AIDA64:
• CPU + cache: around 74°C
• CPU + FPU + cache: 83–84°C Package, with HTC/PROCHOT reported as “No” during that test
• FPU only: reached 88.9°C Package and 91.3°C CCD

The 28°C room temperature was measured during the idle session, not throughout every test.

If you're using this CPU with the Nautilus or another 360mm AIO, how do these results compare with yours? I'm mainly wondering about the 46–48°C idle temperature. Please mention your room temperature, fan speeds and whether you're undervolting, if possible. Is there anything in the setup or mounting you'd check?

Hey everyone,

I'm thinking of upgrading my gpu in my pc and looking for some feedback on my component choices and expectations. I have an Intel i5-12600KF, specifically looking at the RX 9070 GRE (there's a $120 USD price gap between it and the standard RX 9070 in my market, so the GRE seems like a much better value right now).

My main goal is playing competitive shooters at 1440p aiming for 240 FPS, but I also want to play some single-player games on the side.

Here is what I'm expecting based on my research, but I wanted to see if the community agrees:

- Competitive Shooters (R6, CS2, Apex, Fortnite): Since I'll be running competitive/optimized settings, the GPU load should be lower. The i5-12600KF seems fast enough to push 240+ FPS.

- Single-Player Games: I'm not going for 240 FPS. My target is a consistent 120 FPS at 1440p. It seems like the GRE will hit 90-100+ FPS on High/Ultra in heavy titles, and I can utilize FSR 4 or Frame Generation where needed.

Does this setup make sense, or am I overestimating what the 12600KF and 9070 GRE can do at 1440p? Is skipping the standard RX 9070 to save $120 the right call for my use case?

Also should I buy now, or wait till black friday sale, or will there even be a reprieve for GPUs on blackfriday in general?

Hey everyone, I need some serious help figuring out a bizarre PC problem that started after a sudden power cut. I’m running a Ryzen 9 5900X on a Gigabyte B550 Gaming X V2 motherboard, and my main RAM kit is a matching pair of 32GB Kingston Fury 3200MHz.

Ever since the power cut, my PC completely refuses to work right with my matching Kingston RAM kit. If I turn XMP on to get my 3200MHz speed, the PC won't even post, or it throws a corrupted fTPM screen saying a new CPU was installed. If I leave XMP off, it boots into Windows, but the second I try to launch a demanding game or a heavy stress test, the whole PC instantly shuts off.

I have done a ton of hardware swapping to isolate the issue, and the results make absolutely no sense:

-First, I thought it was my power supply acting up under load, so I swapped it out for a completely different PSU, but the exact same crashes kept happening.

-Next, I took my CPU and Kingston RAM and tested them in a friend's motherboard. With both Kingston sticks plugged into his board, the PC refused to even turn on. It would only boot if I took one stick out.

-Then, I tried a completely different CPU in my original Gigabyte motherboard using my Kingston RAM. The crashes under gaming loads still happened, and XMP still wouldn't turn on.

Here is the absolute craziest part. Just to see what would happen, I took out one of my Kingston sticks and replaced it with a random 8GB stick I had lying around. For some insane reason, this completely mismatched Kingston + 8GB setup boots perfectly, enables XMP Profile 1 at 3200MHz with zero issues, and doesn't crash at all under heavy gaming loads.

I am completely stumped. If my CPU memory controller or motherboard traces were physically fried by the power cut, how is a mismatched 16GB and 8GB setup running flawlessly at full 3200MHz XMP speed? But if it is just a single dead Kingston RAM stick, why did putting a completely different CPU into my motherboard still cause the system to crash under load?

Has anyone ever experienced a power surge causing a weird double failure like this, or is there some bizarre hardware conflict I am overlooking? Any advice would be amazing.

hello! sorry to bother you, but i was hoping to get some advice on building a gaming pc.
this is the first time i’ve really taken an interest in pc components because i want to build my own pc, so i’m still pretty new to all of this. i’d really like to get the best value for my money without spending a fortune on components i don’t actually need.
for the aesthetics, i’d ideally like a white pc with rgb lighting, using the lian li o11 vision compact case.
in terms of performance, i want a pc that can handle demanding games like cyberpunk 2077, as well as valorant and lighter games like habbo, while also allowing me to keep multiple tabs and applications open at the same time. i don’t necessarily need to play on the highest graphics settings, i just want a smooth and enjoyable gaming experience.
i’d also like the build to be upgradeable in the future, preferably using the am5 platform and ddr5 ram, if i’m not mistaken, with built-in wi-fi and bluetooth on the motherboard.
my budget is around €2,000 maximum, and i really want to make sure the build is worth the money. i’d rather invest in good-quality components than spend significantly more just for the aesthetics.
if white and rgb components make the price go up too much, i don’t mind having some black components instead, especially if that means getting better performance or higher-quality parts for the same price.
since this is my first pc build, i’d really appreciate any advice on which components i should prioritize and where i could save money without making any major compromises.
thank you so much to anyone willing to take the time to help me! ♡

I have just completed my first pc build with the following specs:

MB: msi b850 gaming plus wifi

CPU: ryzen 7 7800x3d

GPU: Radeon RX 9060 XT

SSD: Crucial P510 1TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe M.2 SSD

And I have been experiencing problems with the SSD. It failed to be detected a couple of times, and when I restart the PC it then gets detected and windows boots normally.

But then once in Windows, I check at what speed the SSD is running via hwinfo, and sometimes it's at PCIe 1.0 (also verified with test via CrystalDiskMark). 90% of the times rebooting fixes it, and goes to PCIe 5.0

What i have tried: Reseating the SSD, forcing Gen5 on the M2 slot in the BIOS, updating to the latest BIOS update, turning off fast startup, disabling EXPO

The M2 slot I am using on the mb is the M2_1 and it is gen5, and the SSD is also on the qvl for the mb.

Does anyone have any suggestions or solutions?

Hey all! I have a bit of an issue. I have two USB 2.0 headers on my board that are both used by the USB ports on the case IO and am looking to add in a 2.0 card reader and a floppy drive (via USB 2.0 header to USB-A to 34-pin floppy). I understand that the split header would be sharing the bandwidth, but what would be the best way to handle this to avoid issues?

And no I'm not looking to just do an external reader, I'm in too deep.

My PC was working normally before I shut it down. When I turned it back on, the monitor acted as if it wasn't connected to the PC. The fans spin, and the keyboard and mouse are connected, but there's no display, not even the BIOS screen.

Is this a GPU problem? Since my GPU is old and not that good.

Hey there, I just recently upgraded my pc from an intel replaced all parts to a 9800x3D - TUF 5070ti 990pro Samsung and Corsair ram DDR5 6000 speed

I play on an Alienware HDR ultrawide monitor

I have this issue though where I had a 3070 in my pc and only recently upgraded to the 5070ti and ever since then I’ve been trying new games out and just not been happy with the performance - the games all run smooth and totally fine and you get high fps but then loading or moving around a world frame dips 1%lows go down to like 20fps etc and it’s more able

I now am obsessed over watching the performance graph in steam and it’s ruined gaming for me. I recently played gears of war e day and that was great up until it started stuttering slightly when running down the street and then crashed all together and quit. I then turned my pc off from frustration and later found out the game is not just optimised, but modern games are they normal to have red spikes and I just never noticed or is there something inherently wrong - red dead 2 is the most notable with a ‘sawtooth’ fps graph it runs so smooth in the open world the second I get to a town it’s micro stutter central. I’ve tried every fix I’ve found online nothing worked so I’ve reset my entire pc tried games fresh out the install just windows and nvidia driver and chipset exact same issue
Does anyone have the best optimal settings for Nvidia app what they should be on?

Vsync on in app? Off in game? Frame rate limit to 180hz my monitor cap? Low latency on or off? Shader cache is unlimited.

I came from playing overwatch mainly on my 3070 and that was and still is the only game that runs flawlessly so I just don’t know if it’s a me settings issue or modern games just don’t run how they used to with more asset streaming going on. Palworld is complete micro stutter central and so is peak the mountain climbing game. They are playable but the constant 1% lows is keeping me up at night thinking there might be an issue or setting somewhere that’s not quite right - this still happens with hdr on and off too

Any insight or things I might be overlooking or if I’m just hyper focused on this would be greatly appreciated thank you so much!

Computer Type: Desktop

GPU: PowerColor Fighter AMD Radeon RX 7600

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600 CPU

Motherboard: MSI MAG B660M BAZOOKA

BIOS Version: 7D43vMO/7D43vMP

RAM: 2x16GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB PRO 3600MHZ CL18

PSU: Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W V2 PSU

Case: Cooler Master Masterbox 311L ARGB Micro ATX

Operating System & Version: WINDOWS 11 HOME 10.0.26200

GPU Drivers: AMD Adrenaline Edition 26.8.1 WHQL

Chipset Drivers: Intel Chipset Drivers 10.1.19459.8383

Background Applications: -

Description of Original Problem: I recently had to return my RX6600 on warranty and got a RX7600 as a replacement, but can't get it to work in my machine.

Whenever the GPU is plugged in and the system is set to UEFI, it never gets to POST or even lets me enter the BIOS. With the GPU plugged in and the system set to CSM, it boots fine using integrated graphics and the GPU is detected, but marked as faulty in the device manager.

Troubleshooting:

What I've tried to far (in no particular order):

• Tested the GPU in another (much older) machine, where it worked OOTB.
• Tested the old system's Nvidia GPU on my machine, which worked OOTB.
• Cleared CMOS with the RX7600 installed
• Tried different HDMI and DP ports on the GPU
• Updated the BIOS to two different versions, first the most recent and then a slightly older one
• Run the AMD Remover Tool x2 and reinstalled drivers, I am getting the PA-300 error every time and have attempted this fix (manually) without result
• Run DDU in safe mode as adviced and reinstalled drivers, same result as above
• Changed the 4G-setting in BIOS
• Changed safe boot settings in BIOS
• Changed PCIe settings between auto and 3rd/4th

Any input would be appreciated

I just built my first high-end PC with a Ryzen 7 9850X3D and 32GB of DDR5 CL30 RAM.

The only thing missing now is the GPU.

I wanted to get the 5080 for future-proofing, but it's way more expensive here where I live. My friend recommended the 5070 Ti instead, since the 5080 would be kind of a waste of money for 1440p single-player games.

The problem with the first option is the markup, and the problem with the second one is that I have never built one.

Hello,

My PC right now has 16GB of 3600 MT/s DDR4, an RX 7600 XT (16GB of VRAM), and a Ryzen 5 5500.

I plan on buying a Steam Frame (whenever I'm able to, so probably around mid 2027), and I want to play PCVR streaming from my PC with the dongle. I want to play some VRChat and horror (more specifically, I want to play the Resident Evil VR like RE7 VR).

I have 200GBP and may be able to push to 250GBP to upgrade my PC. To make those VR games more playable, what do I upgrade, and what can I expect out of the upgrade? Or is it not worth upgrading, or is it worth upgrading but I can't with my budget?

Thank you.

GPU Rtx 5060 ti 8 GB

CPU i5 14400f

32 gb ddr5 4800 mhz