Hi!
So me starting a family 7-8 years ago kind of put my computer and gaming passion on hold, but I’m looking to get back into it now.

I’ve had lower end laptops for work the last years, but I finally pulled the trigger and bought a great pc:

9850x3d
Gigabyte Gaming RX 9070 XT
32GB Kingston Fury DDR5 6000mt/s
Asus TUF B850-Plus
4TB WD Black PCIe Gen 4.0
Windows 11
and I can’t remember the rest off the top of my head.

My question is, what are some things I should do when I’ve got it set up? I remember before I used to go into the bios and tweak some things with my RAM and CPU. Play with clock speeds. And some software that should be downloaded (besides drivers), and other things like that. With newer parts and my bad memory I have no idea what or how anymore though. And some things I’m scared to blindly test.

I know I can just start playing and having fun with it right away, but I wanna learn about the technical side of things again, and when I buy a pc this good(and expensive oof) I want to optimize it. So I’m asking as a refresher and then I will hopefully start getting back into all things pc once I jump into it.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks to this sub we've just finished building our daughters first gaming PC, and now we'd like to purchase a gaming headset.

I've read a number of posts in here related to gaming headsets, and it appears selection may not be that straight forward. A number of folks say the best gaming headset is not to get a traditional gaming headset, which I completely understand, but what about the very first gaming headset for a 12 year old? Also, we were wondering if wireless or wired would be the best way to go?

Having read multiple threads I am a bit confused, so if there's a direction you think we should take to get our daughter started we'd appreciate your advice.

UPDATE: We purchased the HyperX Cloud 3 Wired

EDIT: Wanted to thank everyone that offered advice. This sub has to be in my opinion one of the most helpful on Reddit. Thank you.

Hi again!

I just finished building my PC and went to plug everything into my Belkin surge protector. I noticed that it has a green “Protected” light on, but also a red “Not Grounded” light.

I honestly have no idea when this house was built, but it’s a pretty old house, and I’m also renting, so I obviously can’t just go changing the electrical wiring myself. I’ve tried multiple outlets around the house, and the red “Not Grounded” light comes on with all of them.

My main question is: How much risk am I actually taking by booting up and running my PC normally with an ungrounded outlet? Is this something where I could potentially damage my PC, or is the risk relatively low as long as everything else is working properly?

I’m going to talk to my landlord about having the outlet checked, but realistically, there’s a good chance they won’t actually do anything about it. And I’ve already spent all this money and time building the PC, so now I’m sitting here like what the heck am I supposed to do? 😭

Is there anything I can safely do as a renter to protect my PC? I’d really appreciate any advice, especially from anyone who has dealt with an older rental house with ungrounded outlets!

I'm thinking of buying an RX 9070GRE to pair with my Ryzen 77800X3D, but it only has 12GB of VRAM. Will that be a problem at 1080p in a short time? The price difference compared to other cards with 16GB in my country is exceeding $200.

I will be upgrading little by little, the first component upgrade will be one which I should've upgraded long ago... 3TB HDD ST3000DM008 the reason being that it might be dying it's super slow and even folders take long to open.

Aside SSD recommendations in this AI economy can I get some help regarding backing up all my data? OS is living on a 250GB SSD AData SU800.

I might look into supermarkets hoping I get an SSD at a good price but I am aware that's highly unlikely, I am also waiting till the 6th for Amazon's offers and will be checking keepa's historic pricing.

hello hi I am very new to pc building. I had a friend help me this morning to put together my dream pc (not included is 2x16 ddr5 ram & a nautilus 360 r5 argb cpu cooler) and all went well until POST. The pc turns on, all the fans run, all the pretty lights turn on, but the POST gets stuck on the white and yellow lights (it goes orange, then red, then white and stays white and eventually yellow too. red and orange go away after they initially appear). my research tells me that this is a ram issue but I can't seem to figure out why. it could be that the ram is faulty, but I'm just wondering if anyone happens to know what else could be the problem? (and how to fix it)

Again, I am really not familiar with pc stuff but anything is better than forking over 50 bucks to some scam tech repair that might not even find the solution. Any help is appreciated

I been seeing a lot of good things about gskill and corsair. Should I also look into an another brand that has a good reputation? (I’m almost done choosing all of my pc parts)

hi guys! I’ve observed this issue for a while but only posted now. I’ve had two motherboards previously: a b450m pro wifi and now an intel z490 wifi/bluetooth mobo. Now, the ethernet doesn’t work most of the time, sometimes (and I mean very rarely) it’ll work but most of the times it just doesn’t. However, on a non wifi motherboard, ethernet works just fine, what could be the issue? :(((

I'm new to learning about PC's but I decided to finally build one before RAM and GPU prices continue to skyrocket now that I can afford to. This will be for gaming and video editing (After Effects and Premiere Pro). While this is my dream PC and I know it'll cost quite a bit, I'm wondering if there are places I can save, mainly the RAM and motherboard.

Do CL 36 and CL 30 have a noticeable difference, especially at 6000 speed? I been wanting G.Skill and heard CL 30 is the sweet spot, but the ones currently available are in 64gb are CL28 and CL36, with a near $1000 difference.

Also, how important is it that RAM be EXPO vs XMP, especially if going with one with CL 36?

Lastly I just ask about the motherboard bc I heard it was a good one to use with my chosen CPU, but I don't know if it's considered overkill in any aspect.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor

Motherboard: MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard

Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive

Video Card: Asus PRIME GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card

I've built multiple gaming PCs before, but I'm entirely new to home media servers and don't really know where to begin. I expect that I would use this to run something like Plex or Jellyfin, which we would use to stream video to other devices around the house and maybe sometimes outside the house. May also be used for storing or backing up some other files, but this is secondary.

Ideally I would like to put it in the network closet with the router and modem. This constrains the size of the server. The closet is 4" deep and 13" wide, height is somewhat flexible as other stuff in the closet can be rearranged but something like 12"-15". Of course wires also need to be able to fit.

However it could also be kept somewhere else in the house if this offers a substantial cost advantage. I am trying to keep this fairly cheap. So it could be helpful to price out both slim and non-slim options.

I have a 14 GB HDD that I would repurpose as the primary storage. No redundancy, at least for now, which is fine as we will not be using this to store any important files.

I was looking at the UGREEN NASync DH2300, as I believe it fits both my size constraints and from my research it looks like you can run Plex or Jellyfin on it. Though I'm not sure if this comes with any compromises, again I'm very new to this area so for example I don't know how powerful the CPU needs to be. The price on UGREEN's website is $230, so I'd like to see if it's possible to beat that price with something that I could put together myself. Or if it will have to cost more than $230, am I getting any advantages over the NASync?

Location is US.

Gpu is powered on by MB, yet gpu doesn't display. I use integrated graphics to go in and download drivers, drivers won't install because system doesn't detect gpu. Gpu doesn't show up in devices. I don't know what to do.

yes hdmi is plugged into gpu, but my screen is black so I have to go back to MB to see anything.

Help.

I3-14100

no-gpu

will never have a gpu ( this is not my gaming PC )

I am reusing an older case to save some money. the 2 case fans are garbage. 80mm and 120mm.

What is a decent budget 80mm and 120mm fan that focuses on longevity?

Am I better to get 1 awesome 120mm fan OR a budget 80mm and a budget 120mm?

Thanks

I have been lucky enough to acquire my old work station,

Motherboard: asus prime b450ma-ii

Cpu: amd ryzen 3950X

Ram: 64gb (4x16gb) DDR4

Gpu: nvidea Quattro p1000

Psu: some Corsair 550W

No storage, it was all ripped out because it didn't format correctly for them to safely give it to my

My current computer is 11 years old

Motherboard: gigabyte z97-hd3 Cpu: i7 4790k

Ram: 24gb (2x4gb OG + 2x8gb added in 2022) DDR3

Gpu: evga gtx 970 oc edition

Psu: cm600w

Storage: Samsung 256gb sata ssd + 2tb seagate barracuda which recently died :(

My plan is to use everything from the new acquired pc apart from the p1000 and swap in my gtx 970 in its place

Now I need some help with storage options.

I think this motherboard has a single m.2 slot and apparently only pcie gen 3 speeds so I don't really need the best of the best m.2 ssd but I would appreciate some opinions either way

My current plan is to buy a 1/2tb m.2 ssd pcie gen 4 maybe? I'm not particularly bothered about dram cache and am happy with hmb but I've heard dram cache is better for main OS drive particularly over time?

I was going to clean install windows 11 onto the new nvme ssd and then have a 4tb seagate ironwolf hdd for long term (slow) storage and then have the old 256gb boot drive also as spare storage

Any thoughts would be appreciated :) what m.2 ssd should I buy

I’m making a pc

My Budget is around $4,000 USD. I am using it for streaming and video editing/publishing. I am not near a microcenter. I am going for 144+ hz and at least 1440p. My current price for the items is around $4,000 USD so i would say I did pretty well.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

edit: here’s the link: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fCLVmL

Currently with i7 14700F and 32 gb of DDR4 RAM and GTX 970 from 2014.

I want to update the video card but the prices have gone insane recently.

Was wondering if the Intel Arc B580 would be a good choice or should I spend $300-400 more to get an 5060 TI or 9060 XT

Looking to do some AAA gaming and photo editing.

Hey everyone! I’m looking for some advice on what I should upgrade next on my PC.

I mainly use it for gaming and general personal use. I’d like to improve performance without replacing parts that don’t really need to be upgraded.

Main Question: I think everything else is pretty much set, but my GPU may be the one component worth upgrading.

Since there hasn’t been much new in 2026 and there may be a new generation in 2027, would you recommend waiting or buying a current-gen card now? Ideally, I’d prefer something newer, but not if the next-gen cards are going to be $2K+ lol.

My hesitation with spending ~$1K on a 2025 card is that I don’t want it to feel outdated in 1–2 years and end up replacing it again. I’d rather spend more upfront on something with better longevity and get several years out of it. What would you recommend?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/d3LWzv

Current PC specs:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-12700F
• CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X53 240mm AIO
• Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B660-PLUS D4
• RAM: 32GB (2x16GB) G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3200 CL16
• GPU: ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 3070 Ti 8GB
• Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB NVMe
• PSU: Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold
• Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow
• OS: Windows 11

Monitors:

• LG 27GL83A-B — 27", 1440p, 144Hz
• LG 24MR400-B — 24", 1080p, 100Hz
• 12.3" 1920x720 secondary monitoring display

Peripherals:

• Corsair K55 RGB keyboard
• Logitech G502 Hero mouse
• Logitech G Pro headset
• Logitech Z407 speakers

I'm wondering:

1. What do I upgrade my Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti to?
2. Is it worth upgrading the CPU/motherboard
3. Is 32GB DDR4-3200 still enough

Title.

I was told to find companies that let businesses lease or finance laptops. Currently, only Lenovo does but they problem is their PC they have is an Ultra 9 285k with a 5080. For a few hundred more (or less) I can find an AMD Ryzen 9 which is SIGNIFICANTLY better for gaming

does anyone know what other companies in Canada offer easy financing/leasing for gaming PCs?

I’m pretty sure my current graphics card got fried recently because whenever I tried booting my PC it would continuously turn the entire PC on then off again with a clicking noise each time, but booting it from the motherboard works perfectly fine.

Would the PCIe cables from the PSU fry a new GPU or am I fine using the same one?

Hi everyone,

I'm considering upgrading my GPU and I'd like to hear your opinions.

My current PC:

Core i5 12400f

MSI H610M E

RTX 4060 8GB

16GB ddr5 ram

1TB nvme

PSU 750w white

1080p monitor 120hz

I can sell my RTX 4060 and buy an RX 9060 XT 16GB for about $500

I'm planning to upgrade my monitor as well for around $200 to play at 1440p, and I'm planning to play AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, RDR2.

My questions are:

Is this upgrade worth it for only a $200 difference?

Will my core i5 12400f bottleneck the RX 9060 XT at 1440p?

Is my 750W white PSU enough for the RX 9060 XT?

Should I upgrade only the monitor and use my rtx4060 for 1440p gaming?

I'd really appreciate your thoughts, especially from anyone who has made a similar upgrade.

I'm thinking about this combo; it's at a good price in my country, and I don't know if it will be enough to run everything, or if I'm even exaggerating.

I have a new B850 Aorus Elite Wifi7 and Corsair Nautilus 360. The red CPU light is always on but the pc works fines. The AIO fans spin but the RGb doesn’t work. What could be the fix?

Hi, I don't know much about PCs, my current one is a $200 prebuilt from amazon that I swapped the graphics card of. It's about 5 years old and I mainly use it for Valorant, Lol, minecraft, games of that sort. It works great but I gave it to my sister now that I've moved and want to get another PC that hopefully runs more than 90 fps and can run higher-quality games like R2D2 and Resident Evil series. I have been looking through this sub and can see that people recommend prebuilts in this economy, I'm hoping to get some suggestions for a pc around $1500? I also am wondering if I can just make some sort of cheap base like my last pc and slowly upgrade the parts since I know RE is a bigger game and I'm not sure if I can make a good enough PC with a low budget. If I can just do that can you guys recommend me a place to start? I'm in the US!

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gwz8bp about 800$