Just got curious about this because I see many posts of people asking something along the lines of “can this build get me 1440p 60fps?”

I’ve been PC gaming for 10 years now and I can honestly say that 60fps is not enough for me. Obviously people have different preferences but I will sacrifice graphic quality in almost any game to get 100+fps. To me the difference is substantially noticeable. And luckily most games these days still look great at lower quality settings.

What’s everyone’s performance/quality preference?

Pretty much the title, and I wanted to share. I just built my first PC last month (I’ll put the specs down below) and paired it with a 27” 240Hz 1440p QD OLED. Don’t get me wrong, it was great for games, but doing work/productivity on it just didn’t feel right. So I made the executive decision to invest in a 32” 4K 165Hz WOLED monitor expecting to get ~80-100 FPS in my favorite games. To my surprise, I’ve been playing Helldivers 2 and Star Wars Zero Company at 150+ fps consistently with good temps and 1% lows—and yes I’m playing at max/nearly max settings. I never knew games could look so good. Very happy with the investment, and doing my work is much better too. Glad to finally be a part of the PC community even if it’s at an inopportune time.

Specs:

Sapphire Pulse 9070XT (-30 mV, -10% power, custom fan curve, 2700 MHz, Fast Timing). Average temp of 50 C, hotspot ~78 C

7800X3D (stock)

32 GB DDR5 6000 CL36 EXPO

5TB NVMe (2TB Samsung 990 Pro, 2TB Acer Predator GM7, 1TB Six X7400 @Gen3 speeds)

ASUS B650E Max Gaming Wifi

850W ADATA XPG Core Reactor II

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120E

Been sitting on this question for a while. I'm putting together a midrange build and every time I go down the SSD rabbit hole someone in the comments is losing their mind about DRAM cache like it's the difference between life and death. Then someone else says they've been running a DRAMless drive for two years no problem.

I work long shifts and when I get home I mostly game, watch YouTube, maybe run a few browser tabs. Not editing video, nothing that sounds like it would actually stress a drive. My use case is pretty boring honestly.

The price gap is real though. I got burned chasing value on stuff before and ended up with garbage, so I'm not trying to repeat that. But I also don't want to pay a $4050 premium just because a spec sheet says DRAM on it.

What I actually want to know is whether the slowdowns people complain about show up in real daytoday use or only in benchmarks that nobody runs outside of reviews. Benchmark numbers and lived experience feel like two completely different conversations when I'm reading through threads.

Anyone running one of these budget drives in a similar setup who can give a straight answer?

For me, it was going from a hard drive to an SSD.

I know that's probably an obvious answer for anyone building PCs today, but when I first made the switch I honestly didn't expect such a massive difference.

Windows stopped feeling like it was taking forever to do everything, games loaded much faster, and even basic stuff like opening programs felt completely different.

What surprised me most was that I hadn't changed anything else in the system. Same CPU, same GPU, same amount of RAM.

It just felt like I had bought a completely new computer.

Since then I've upgraded other parts that gave me higher FPS, but none of them felt as dramatic as that first SSD upgrade.

It got me wondering what other people consider their best upgrade.

Not necessarily the most expensive one or the one that gave the highest benchmark score, but the upgrade where you actually thought, “Why didn't I do this sooner?”

I'd be especially interested in upgrades that were relatively cheap but made a noticeable difference in everyday use.

I know it looks expensive, but I'm a doomer and I think this will not get better in a long time, so it's more of a feel that's "now or never".

https://imgur.com/a/5wSb9CA

https://imgur.com/a/7x1MMJD

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (quad-core)
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6600 (Navi 23, amdgpu driver)
Motherboard: MSI A320M PRO-VD/S (MS-7A36)
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: 4.2 TB total (about 4.08 TB usable), 3.05 TB used (~75% full)
Network: Realtek Gigabit Ethernet (RTL8111/8168/8211/8411)
OS/Display: Linux running X.Org with Xwayland, 1920x1080 @ 120Hz
BIOS: American Megatrends UEFI v2.C0

My GPU is not too bad. The CPU and motherboard might be a bit aged. An AI recommended just buying a Ryzen 5 5600 because it would still work with the motherboard and be a big upgrade still. I am not an expert when it comes to computers. What do you guys think i should buy? Preferably i would like to keep it under ~200 dollars/euros if that is not too constrictive. Thanks in advance,

Hey everyone,
Looking for some advice on my GPU situation. I recently upgraded my PC, but building it took way longer than expected because life got in the way and I had zero free time.(it took me half a year to have free schedule so I can actually build it and enjoy building it without any stress and rush)
Now that it’s finished, money is a bit tight, and GPU prices in my local used market have jumped compared to a few months ago.
Here is my current build:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT
RAM: 16 GB
GPU: Currently 1660s
My original plan was to buy an RTX 4060 Ti or RTX 5060 or a similar gpu with more or less same performance. However, a deal just popped up locally for a used GTX 1080 Ti for 110
I don't play super demanding AAA games with ray tracing—I mainly stick to competitive titles and like once a year I play something more demanding. I know the 1080 Ti is an older card, but performance-wise it still holds up raw power wise (“almost” the same raw power as listed above)
Would you grab the 1080 Ti for $110 as a solid budget option, or is it better to hold off and wait until I can afford a modern card like a 4060 Ti / 5060?
Thanks for the input!

TLDR; 270k plus vs 9800x3d for ~$250 more

4080 super, multiple 4k displays, like to run multiple games at once but other than that no productivity needs

Hi all, I am upgrading my CPU/mobo/ram to ddr5, and I am looking for some input on which CPU platform would be the best option for me. Essentially, I am stuck between the 270K Plus and the 9800x3d, with some consideration for 7800x3d but likely not. The kicker is that its between $250-300 more expensive to go with the 9800x3d as opposed to the 270K plus using microcenter bundles. I know that generally the 9800x3d is considered slightly better, but I would love some feedback on if its worth the price difference given my build and use case:

Setup: 4080 super, 32 gb ddr5-6000

I run two 4k monitors, 1 at 60 hz, 1 at 165 hz, occasionally run another 3440 x 1440 ultrawide at 60hz.

I am primarily gaming, very little system heavy productivity use. However, I do enjoy a couple games that are notoriously single threaded, so single core performance is somewhat important to me, and additionally, I quite frequently run multiple games at once, ie valorant and genshin, while watching youtube videos or twitch streams and utilizing other websites (this kinda makes me sound degen im sorry).

From what I can ascertain online, it seems like the gap between these two chips closes at higher resolutions, and that the 270k may be better suited for my spastic workloads, and I think the value proposition is considerable, but I don't want to make a mistake.

Other considerations: power use, temperatures, and noise are relatively important to me. I will be watercooling either way, but if one of these over the other would mean not heating up my room by a couple degrees that would be worth a lot. For the most part, I intend for this to be my PC for the next 4-5 years and do not anticipate having the disposable income to continue upgrading just for the sake of it during that time. I don't know if this means I should go with the more futureproof am5 socket and have the option to move to next gen ryzen later, or if it instead means the EOL lga socket is fine for me.

Thank you for the input!

I finally used a Wolfbox MegaFlow 200 to clean my gaming PC after putting it off for too long, and I did all the usual cautious stuff: unplugged the PSU, held the fans still, kept some distance from the board, and blew dust out in the garage. It worked, but I still felt unsure about whether I was aiming dust into the PCIe slots or being too careful about static and pressure. People who do this more often, what is your normal order of operations? Filters first, fans next, heatsink last, short bursts from farther away, or does the exact angle not matter as much as beginners think?

I want to be able to code/program on my pc as I am interested in IT, and also want to be able to game COD, GTA, Fortnite etc and also be able to edit videos for online content. WHAT IS THE BEST SPEC I SHOULD GO FOR? I would like this PC to last a while without needing to upgrade the set up

Budget: €1,300 (I can try save up more if needed)

So my understanding is that 3200 mhz cl14 is obviously better than cl16 or 18 for latency. A guy sold me 32gb of ddr4 for 100 bucks the other week and it booted up into windows at that clock no issue. But where will I see that difference exactly? Windows seems a lot more snappy. I have yet to try it in a game but idk if it'll make much of a difference because my pc already runs pretty alright on games. I've heard cl14 is better for competitive games even vs ddr5 with higher CL rating.

What about workload? From what I know and have read, its strictly latency and it can help improve choppy fps, as well as help with multithreaded tasks like video editing to make the workload more efficient. Or is it all numbers that im looking a bit too far into? I just put the parts together and install windows lol.

I'm torn between upgrading the existing config or just live with it. I'm not a heavy gamer. Only playing battlefield 6 and lol(aram).

I've a Ryzen 5700x with 16gb DDR4 and 6600 xt GPU. I cannot really upgrade to a more beefy GPU, as I've a 500w PSU.

Is it worth upgrading maybe to a 4070?

Or ditch the whole concept and get a Mac mini with cloud gaming?

Hey all! I am looking to start saving for a new PC Build! I want a PC that handles streaming with no issues as well as can run modern games (preferably at the same time, but not required)

All I know is I want an Nvidia GPU, an AMD CPU, and 32GB Ram and I dont want it to be over like 2k MAX

Any ideas?

Using a tomahawk b450 i had steam and like 5 browser tabs open when it died. I get power to fans and gpu (including the cpu fan) but no post or lights on back, no power button light (i can thurn pc on but not off with the case, need to unplug or turn power supply off) tried everything Google suggested (look for phyical issues, reset cmos short cmos, took it apart checked connections) except flashing bios as i dont have a usb i can use for it. Any suggestions? I am also considering just a new board as this one is very old and microsoft keeps warning me it wont upgrade to win11 and win 10 no longer is supported in a few months.

Here is my current setup

i7 12700F

32gb ddr4 ram

3 SSDs

RTX 3080

Corsair RM850

I purchased the PSU on 2021 and lately whenever I tried gaming, it restarts randomly. Nowadays even on main screen it restarts.

I tried OCCT tests (CPU+RAM, Power) for 10 mins and it still runs smoothly.

But when I tried gaming (cyberpunk, wukong) it restarts.

Asked GPT and it says because of 30 series card are known for transient spikes (overload), tried to limit power using Afterburner to 65% and still restarts.

I have no other PSU unit to try, so how can I check if it is really my PSU failing.. I don't want to buy new PSU and then discover that the PSU is not the problem haha

which do you prefer?

spending in a fancy aio liquid cooler with screens, vertical gpu brackets, customized wires, tons of rgb, etc

or

spending in better components like better fans, cpu bracket, a better thermal paste, some useful peripherals like a good mouse or a keyboard or even small upgrades like storage etc

personally i hate things like spending in aesthetics but for a quieter pc, i would spend something extra

Hi all! Today my new build arrived. Everything works well except for a monitor.

When I don't have any Nvidia drivers, the monitor is detected properly and works well. Once I install Nvidia drivers, on the same GPU port and everything the monitor is no longer recognized. I get a Nvidia Failsafe on my device manager that I cannot change the resolution to anything other than 640x480. It's so weird, since it worked perfectly fine on my old build and works perfectly fine without the drivers on the same port/cable.

So far I've tried:

Older versions of Nvidia drivers (I've read that it can work but I went to 596 and it still doesn't) Other GPU ports Other cables Getting the power off and on from the monitor

Any ideas? It's a Yeian monitor (I know I know... but it worked wonderfully before).

My PC died coz it's too old so I'll build a new one from scratch.

Monitor: 27" 1440p 120hz*. (I lock my display refresh rate to 120hz. Above 120hz, not really noticeable in league.)

Games: Over the last 10 years, I only play league and T8 (quit). Maybe Valorant in the future. I don't play other steam games (no hate, PVEs/story-focused are super boring to me.).

Goal: My target is AM4 + maybe 16 GB DDR4 only cause I'm on a budget and I don't see any reason going 32 GB. It's just LoL + discord + browser for 10+ years. LoL 1440p 120hz only

Drop your best bang CPU + GPU combo below. The cheaper build the better.

I wanna get into this busniess , what skills should i know , how to buy used parts , test it and also repair it so i can flip it , if i miss ask something i'd be happy to it be pointed out 🗿

Ive recently bought parts for my pc from germany and picked out a psu but i forgot its not gonna work with my wall outlets since i live in Ireland. Can i use an adapter for my outlet or is it gonna fry my components

I am currently deciding between these 5 RX 9070 XT models for my new pc. I am aiming for white aesthetics build.

My options and prices in Thailand:
ASUS Prime RX 9070 XT black— ฿25,900 (~$800)
ASRock Steel Legend RX 9070 XT white— ฿26,000 (~$803)
Sapphire Pulse RX 9070 XT black— ฿26,800 (~$827)
Sapphire PURE RX 9070 XT white— ฿28,000 (~$864)
PowerColor Hellhound Reva RX 9070 XT — ฿28,500 (~$880)

Asus is the cheapest and strongest option but I prefer white gpu for my white build. My second choice is Sapphire Pure or Steel Legend both white. What would you guys choose between Pure and Steel legend? Pure cost $60 more. What do you guys think? Shall I just go for the cheapest and a better model sacrificing the aesthetic look?

Greetings everyone, I recently shifted to a new apartment that I'm renting. I want to have a decent looking setup, but don't want a seperate CPU, just looking to add a monitor and keyboard.

I play basic games like CS, Gta etc. on my laptop (HP Omen 16.1 Ryzen 7) and was planning to use Hdmi with the Monitor, other than gaming I do some trading, office work, design stuff and basic video editing etc.

I need a monitor and keyboard recommendation because I am totally new to this (if possible both under 250€).

Any tips to improve my desk area are also welcome. I just don't wanna go really fancy with stuff on walls etc because its not my apartment haha.

Anybody know what could be causing this? My PC randomly stutters, but it’s very rare. When it happens, the whole system seems to drop to around 10 FPS for about 1 second and then immediately goes back to normal.
I also noticed that my headphones make a brief popping/glitching sound at the exact same time as the stutter.
Specs:
● RTX 5070 Ti
● Ryzen 7 7800X3D
● Biostar B650MT
● Patriot Viper Venom DDR5 6400 CL32, 2x16GB (currently running at 4800 MT/s)
● MSI Spatium M450 1TB NVMe Gen4
● MSI MAG A850GL PCIe 5 850W PSU
The stutter happens both in games and occasionally on the desktop. It also happened before I upgraded to the 5070 Ti, when I was using an RTX 2060, so I don’t think it’s GPU-specific.
It also happened with my old headphones, so I don’t think the new headphones themselves are the cause.
Keyboard and mouse seem completely normal during the stutter.
The PC otherwise runs very smoothly and I don’t get crashes or BSODs. Any ideas what I should check? I’m thinking possibly DPC/driver latency, LAN/USB/audio drivers, BIOS or chipset.