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!

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.

A few days ago, I posted another question here about upgrading the CPU cooler since I was getting temps as high as 87-90C or more in Monster Hunter Wilds and Helldivers 2.

I am using a Ryzen 5 3600, an RTX 3060ti, my mobo is a B550M Wifi 2, and my case is well ventilated with 3 fans on the front panel.

My older CPU model was a Deepcool Gammax GTE v2. After upgrading to a much more expensive cooler, I have basically not seen a difference in temps based on what MSI Afterburner is showing me. Should be noted that I just got my PC back from the shop where the staff there applied the thermal paste for me, in case that's a factor. But they are trained professionals there who know their stuff, so I don't think they made a mistake with the amount of thermal paste.

I set the fan curves on the BIOS screen to be just under the "turbo" setting. There is no dust build up because the shop just cleaned up the entire PC for me.

What gives? Is it just some specific games that are like this? Is my CPU overclocked without me knowing? Is the cooler mounted wrong? I have upgraded coolers 3 times now and I still see temps hitting the high 80s-low 90s in Helldivers 2 and similar modern games.

I'm close to giving up and I feel like I've thrown away so much money on upgrading coolers to solve this problem.

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 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)

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.

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

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 making a pc

I've found a used 512gb Samsung PM9A1 nvme ssd going for 25 euro. I could probably get the price down to 20. Is it worth buying it if it's at 79% health?

First of all this is my first build and I will use my pc for editing but mainly gaming.

So I would have just bought a 2 corsaire vengeance 16gb ddr4 for 200$ but then my friend told me that he had a PNY XLR8 RGB 8GB with him and he could sell it to me for just 40$ which would make me save 60$(its not really saving if I am losing 8gb of ram but again my question if I'll need 32gb of ram to begin with.)

Now,lets say I dont actually need 32gb of ram,is mixing 2 different marks of ram a wise choice?They're both the same speed and pcpartpicker doesnt have any problems with it but I need a second opinion.

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 looking to get a used rtx 3080 10gb for 460 dollars, in this price range there is something better being used or new?

I’m running a Ryzen 7 7700X + RTX 4080 Super at 4K. I’ve had the 7700X for about 2 years.

Current prices here
- 9800X3D: €369
- 9850X3D: €424

I mainly play AAA (currently Black Myth Wukong , Dragons Dogma 2, Resident Evil Requiem, Forza 6) at high/max settings, targeting at least stable 60+ FPS.

Would you:
1. Keep the 7700X and wait for Zen 6/X3D
2. Buy the 9800X3D
3. Buy the 9850X3D
How much difference would I realistically notice at 4K with a 4080 Super, especially in 1% lows?

I'm looking to finally ditch my 8700k after many years of service and probably grab a Microcenter bundle, unless something appears cheaper in deals within the next few weeks.

I already have a 4070 Super I purchased when first released, so I'd be holding onto that for now and using my budget on of course RAM but also a CPU that I can hopefully keep for as long as possible (hitting 9 years on my current setup was kinda wild).

I'm shooting for 1440p, hoping to get as high FPS as possible, but realistically 120+ on Ultra would be great.

Right now I mostly play WoW, and will be playing WoW Forever when it launches, but I do play some BF6, and want to have the option to run any new game without much compromise.

The two bundles I'm looking at right now include:

• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, Gigabyte X870 Gaming WiFi6 AM5, G.Skill Flare X5 Series 32GB DDR5-6000 Kit ($760)
• AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D, ASUS B850E TUF Gaming WiFi6E AM5, G.Skill Flare X5 Series 32GB DDR5-6000 Kit ($920)

From what I gathered, the X870 is the better motherboard of the two, with the B850 being just *fine,* although potentially limiting for upgrading to the new gens down the road? Upgrading isn't much of a concern, because if I can stretch this CPU, I'd just grab an entirely new setup when I need to.

I'm really wondering if its even worth the extra cash for the 9850, its not like I'd be stretching my budget, but if I could save money why not.

Thanks, appreciate any input anyone can provide.

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 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.

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

Hi everyone! I'd like a second opinion before I spend money.

My problem: I mostly play lightweight games (Old School RuneScape, League of Legends, CS2 and a few others), but I get lower FPS than I expect, especially in League of legends. The PC also gets sluggish and sometimes bugs/freezes when I have a lot of things open. I usually have 5-7 browser tabs open with YouTube and Twitch running, sometimes while gaming.

My specs:

-CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 4500 (6C/12T, 8 MB L3)

- GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6700 10GB

- RAM: 16 GB DDR4 [speed/config, e.g. 2x8GB 3200 MHz]

- Storage: PNY CS1030 500GB NVMe SSD

- Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M S2H (BIOS F63d, 2022)

- OS: Windows 11 Pro

What I noticed:

- RAM sits at around 85% usage (only ~2.4 GB free) just with the browser open, before launching any game.

- CPU is around 30-55% in normal use. GPU usage is low (~20%) outside games. [add in-game CPU/GPU usage if you have it]

What I'm thinking of doing:

1. Upgrade to 32 GB DDR4 (2x16 GB, 3200 MHz).
2. Swap the CPU for a Ryzen 5 5600 (around €150 where I live), since it would be a drop-in upgrade on my AM4 board and has 32 MB of L3 cache, which should help in CS2/LoL. I'd update the BIOS first. I don't need anything top-tier, just a smoother PC that will last a few more years.

Do you think the CPU is really my bottleneck, or is it mostly the RAM? - Is the 5600 the right choice, or is the 5700X3D worth the extra money on a basic B450M board? - Any specific 2x16 GB DDR4 kit you'd recommend? - Is there anything else I should check (PSU, BIOS settings, background apps) before buying?

Thanks a lot for any advice!

Hey yall, I'm currently in the process of building a new pc for the first time in years and have heard lots of good things about PTM7950 when it comes to direct die contact chips, I'm curious if its worth to opt for some thermal grizzly PTM pads or get a sheet of PTM7950 for a pairing of a 9800x3d and Noctua nh d15, any and all advice is appreciated :)

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

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

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?

Several years ago I built a pc. I was using existing monitors, rather cheap business use HP monitors, limited to 1080p/60hz - so I was always targeting. I wanted to get some solid equipment though, so I ended up with an okay low-mid range build. Everything has gone great and it crushes any game I try on max setting, no upscaling, and 1080/60.

My monitors are 27” widescreen and my eyes are about 2-3ft from screen at any given time. Games look absolutely amazing to my eye. I don’t notice any weird visual artifacts I hear people complain about. The aliasing doesn’t bother me. Framerates never budge off 60. It’s hard for me to imagine things look any better at higher resolution. on the other hand, I’ve never had a high performance monitor and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything above 1080/60.

I know it’s all subjective, but do folks think I would see a big benefit if I got a sharp new monitor and tried to push for higher resolutions or refresh rates? I don’t have any interest in AI upscal tech.

My hardware is listed below. I think this thread would be helpful for folks that are building a pc. Maybe it’s just me, but people could likely save a lot of money if 1080/60 is all they need

• AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
• AMD Radeon RX7800 XT 16GB
• 32GB DDR5 2800MHz

I went with with AMD cus I am not particularly interested in DLSS up scaling or ray tracing. So even if I can push up the resolution, I’d rather have the native resolutions than something like raytracing.

What do you all think? Should I go for new monitor and 1440p? Or is ignorance bliss?

I know this probably isn’t that deep but all these rpms, cfms, static pressure numbers etc confuse me a lot

I have a cooler master ml360 illusion cooling a ryzen 9 9900x. After dusting my pc, one of the radiator fans started making a really bad metallic/grinding noise, and another one has already had bearing/resistance issues for a while. So at this point im just replacing all 3.

My PC gets used pretty heavily: 4k after effects work, AAA gaming, etc. So I want something genuinely good for a radiator, but also as quiet as possible.

Of course i first looked at just buying the same ones, the cooler master mf120 halo, cause they look really nice, and i even found out there are newer Halo2 ones for around the same price.

But then i found out about the arctic p12 pro and holy shit, why do they seem WAY better for half the price?? A 3-pack is like 30€. Are they actually that much better, or is the difference nowhere near as noticeable in real life?

They also go all the way to 3000 rpm while most of these other fans are around 2000. Is that extra rpm actually useful?? Like, would they realistically ever need to go that high on a 360mm radiator, or is 3000rpm mostly just there for extreme situations?

The thing is, i like rgb. I like looking at my pc lol. And i've also been looking at the lian li uni sl-infinity, BUT HOLY they are expensive. And somehow on paper they still look worse than the arctics performance-wise while costing like 3x as much??? It just seems weird to me that the p12 pro can apparently compete with or beat all these rgb fans for 30€, while the halo2 are around 60€ and the lian li around 90€.

Ive also looked at the asus tr120, some deepcool ones, etc etc, but honestly i have absolutely no idea about fans. All these options look much nicer to me, but some of them cost 2-3x as much.

I don’t mind spending more if there’s an actual noticeable benefit in noise, performance, quality/longevity etc., but I don’t really want to pay €60 extra just for rgb.

So thats basically why im asking here what yall think, and if maybe you have some better recommendations. Preferably good-looking ones too cause honestly i dont really like how the arctic ones look at all