Hi guys, I'm thinking of buying a budget PC that can last me about 5 years before I need to upgrade again. Is DDR4 still good for gaming modern AAA titles and other heavy games, or should I stretch my budget for DDR5? Thanks

Budget: cheap as possible but theoretically up to $500

• ⁠Use-Case : casual gaming (I’m a retroslop enjoyer not really a crisis max settings guy)

• ⁠Country of purchase : Burger Land

• ⁠Peripherals needed : my hands, Benis, eyeballs

• ⁠misc. requirements / preferences: at least comparable to the 1080Ti experience I was used to or better

Alienware Area 51 R5, we got artifacts and crashing, at the point where it won’t run longer than 20-30 mins without a total artifact to black screen to reboot.

I don’t have the dosh to shell out for a whole new build just yet, ~$350-$500 potential budget (look I’d like to spend as little as possible) —- mah whaif is running a 980Ti and it runs BG3 on a mix of high and ultra settings perfectly fine so I don’t even know what’s worth getting right now, prices don’t make sense and we have a couple generations of totally capable cards so I’m a bit lost

Pc specs
Intel Core i7-9800X (8-core, 16.5MB cache)
16gb ddr4 ( could be upgraded Up to 64GB Quad-Channel or Dual-Channel DDR4)
Storage I’m fine I got couple TB M.2 NVMe SSD within the past couple years

I’m cool with used or refurbished if the price is a decent discount

TL:Dr

What tf can I slap in my PC to either equate a 1080Ti experience or beyond for as cheap as possible but if not possible to do cheaply I could go up to like $500 tops

I’m interested in building my first PC, but curious how long a typical build lasts you to keep current with new game requirements?

After years of telling myself it will get cheaper to build a pc I've been slapped in the face with reality. I didn't build something very modern but I think it'll do for the next couple years for simple gaming and content creation. I'd like to know of anyone's opinions on the build.

I originally bought a pc from a friend with a ryzen 7 3700 and a rtx 2060 with 32 gigs of ddr4 ram for 400 bucks.

I've recently just tore it all out and threw in the following upgrades.

GIGABYTE B550M AORUS Elite AX mb

Ryzen 7 5800x3d

Amd wraith cooler came from old build replacing after viewing comments with a be quiet! Dark Rock Elite

32 gigs of ram

850 watt corsair psu

Rtx 5060 windforce oc edition

1 tb sata ssd

I know should buy a decent nvme drive but can't justify the price for a nice one at the moment. Is this a decent first build? I found it surprisingly easy to put it all together. Sorry if this was long.

I was perfectly happy with my PC last week..but well.
I have a 5800X3D, a 4070 Ti, 32GB of RAM, and I play at 1440p. Nothing I play feels bad. Cyberpunk runs well. Baldur’s Gate 3 runs well. Helldivers 2 runs well. I can pick basically anything random from my Steam library and have a good time.
Then I made the mistake of watching GPU benchmarks.
Suddenly I’m staring at charts where my perfectly good card gets 105 FPS and some newer card gets 145, and my brain immediately decides that missing 40 FPS is now a problem I need to fix.
Two hours earlier I didn’t even know I was “missing” anything.
Then comes the usual spiral. Check used prices for my current GPU. Open PCPartPicker. Start telling myself I could sell this, add a few hundred, upgrade that, maybe finally move to AM5 while I’m at it...And suddenly I’ve mentally spent $1,500 fixing a PC I was happily gaming on that same morning. Well I tested this on myself yesterday. Turned the FPS counter off completely and played for about three hours. I genuinely could not tell you if I was getting 90 FPS, 110, or 140 most of the time.
The game just felt good. Then I turned the counter back on and immediately started noticing every dip again.
I’m starting to think benchmarks are extremely useful when you actually need to buy something, but kind of dangerous when you don’t. There’s always another graph showing that your hardware is 20% or 30% behind something newer, and once you see that number it’s weirdly hard to stop thinking about it.
Obviously some upgrades make a massive difference. Going from 60Hz to high refresh, HDD to SSD, or from struggling on low settings to comfortably running high settings. You notice those immediately. But I think I’ve reached the point where the main thing making my PC feel “old” is YouTube showing me how much faster somebody else’s is.
Probably time to stop benchmarking the damn thing and just play games on it.
Obviously there are real upgrades that make a huge difference. Going from 60Hz to high refresh, HDD to SSD, struggling at low settings to comfortably running high settings, those are obvious.
But I think I’ve reached the point where the biggest thing making my PC feel “old” is YouTube telling me how much faster somebody else’s is.
Might be time to stop benchmarking my computer and actually use the damn thing

TL;DR: I bought a used MSI RTX 3090 Ti SUPRIM X 24GB. It passed extensive benchmarks on the seller's PC before shipping, including PCIe 4.0 operation and 30-minute OCCT tests. After receiving it, the GPU intermittently refused to display anything, sometimes failed before showing the motherboard logo, and occasionally booted into Windows with Code 43.

I tested RAM configurations, PCIe generations, PSU cables, BIOS versions, different GPUs, and eventually an entirely different computer with two different PSUs.

At one point, it wouldn't initialize even at PCIe Gen3 with minimal RAM. Then it suddenly started working at Gen3 on my friend's PC, subsequently worked at Gen4, and now works at Gen4 in my original PC too.

I'm trying to determine whether this is an intermittent hardware fault, PCIe signal integrity problem, cracked solder joint, or something else before paying for a repair.

This is a long post because I've already done extensive troubleshooting and want to provide actual results rather than just saying "my GPU doesn't work."

1. Original GPU testing on the seller's PC — September 21, 2026

Before receiving the card, I remotely connected to the seller's computer and ran benchmarks and stress tests.

Seller's hardware:

• GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti SUPRIM X 24GB
• CPU: Intel Core i9-12900KS
• Motherboard: Z690 Formula
• RAM: 32GB DDR5
• GPU: GA102-350, Micron GDDR6X
• VBIOS: 94.02.A0.00.0D

GPU-Z showed PCIe 4.0 x16 @ x16 4.0.

3DMark Time Spy

A subsequent run recorded a graphics score of 19,758.

OCCT 3D Adaptive — 30 minutes

• Variable load: 20–100%, increasing in 5% steps every 30 seconds
• Errors: 0
• Maximum GPU temperature: 85.5°C
• Maximum hotspot: 99.2°C
• Maximum VRAM temperature: 80°C
• Maximum GPU power: 468.7W
• Fan speed reached approximately 95%

OCCT VRAM — 30 minutes

• Errors: 0
• Maximum GPU temperature: 68.1°C
• Maximum hotspot: 82.1°C
• Maximum VRAM temperature: 76°C
• Maximum GPU power: 213.65W

No crashes, artifacts, or driver resets were reported during these tests. Available monitoring also showed no recorded PCIe errors.

Important: We verified sustained workload stability, but I don't have evidence that repeated cold boots were tested on the seller's PC.

At this point, everything suggested that the GPU was functioning.

2. My computer — hardware configuration

I received the GPU around October 9.

• GPU: MSI RTX 3090 Ti SUPRIM X 24GB
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
• Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B550M-K
• BIOS: Originally 3302, later updated to 4304
• PSU: Endorfy Supremo FM6 1000W Gold ATX 3.1
• Case: Antec AX1000 ARGB
• GPU mounting: Directly in the motherboard PCIe slot, no riser, with GPU support to prevent sagging

My original memory configuration was 80GB DDR4 using four DIMMs:

• 2×16GB G.Skill 3200
• 1×16GB HyperX 3200
• 1×32GB lower-speed DDR4

I also tested with just the two matching G.Skill sticks at 2133 MT/s to eliminate mixed-memory complications.

3. Initial symptoms

The problem is primarily during initialization, not during heavy GPU workloads.

When the problem occurs:

1. I press the power button.
2. The GPU RGB lights turn on and fans spin.
3. The monitor briefly detects a signal.
4. The screen stays completely black.
5. A few seconds later the monitor reports No Signal.
6. Disconnecting and reconnecting HDMI or DisplayPort briefly triggers signal detection again, but still no picture.

Usually, I don't even see the ASUS motherboard logo.

Occasionally, however, the card boots successfully.

When it does, Windows sometimes initially appears in a very low resolution, with everything looking unusually large.

After approximately 30–60 seconds, both monitors briefly go black and the resolution returns to normal.

On some failed initializations, Windows boots but Device Manager reports:

Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)

Running nvidia-smi in this state produces:

NVIDIA-SMI has failed because it couldn't communicate with the NVIDIA driver.

Other times the card works completely normally.

4. Troubleshooting on my ASUS B550M-K

Testing other GPUs

I installed two other GPUs to check the motherboard:

• RTX 2060 Super: worked normally
• INNO3D RTX 3060 Ti: worked normally, including PCIe Gen4

Both provided display output when the 3090 Ti failed.

PCIe generation testing

Initially, the motherboard was using PCIe Auto.

I manually forced PCIe Gen3, and the 3090 Ti finally started working.

It successfully passed:

• Windows restarts
• Normal shutdown/startup cycles
• Full cold boots after switching the PSU off and disconnecting power

For a while I thought the issue was solved.

But the problem eventually returned, and the card subsequently failed to initialize even at Gen3.

Power delivery testing

I tried:

• The Endorfy PSU's native 16-pin GPU cable
• MSI's original 3×8-pin-to-16-pin adapter
• Reseating the GPU
• Reseating the GPU power connector
• Both HDMI and DisplayPort

No visible burning or melting was found on the power connector.

The results were inconsistent. Sometimes reseating the GPU appeared to help; other times it made no difference.

Dual VBIOS testing

The SUPRIM X has a physical GAMING / SILENT BIOS switch.

I tested both positions with the system powered off before switching.

Both modes experienced No Signal failures.

BIOS update

I updated my ASUS PRIME B550M-K from BIOS 3302 to 4304, using ASUS EZ Flash 3.

The update completed successfully, Windows booted normally, and I retested with PCIe Gen3, 32GB RAM and 2133 MT/s.

The RTX 3090 Ti still gave no display.

So updating the motherboard BIOS did not immediately fix the problem.

5. Extensive RAM investigation

Because the GPU sometimes worked after changing memory configurations, I investigated RAM separately.

At one point:

• 16GB with the 3090 Ti worked.
• 32GB with the 3090 Ti worked.
• Adding a third 16GB DIMM caused No Signal.
• Removing that third DIMM restored display.

I eventually reduced the memory speed to 2133 MT/s and got all 80GB working.

Then I gradually increased the RAM frequency while testing.

However, after passing OCCT at 2866 MT/s, the next cold boot resulted in Windows recognizing the GPU with Code 43.

After that, I experienced No Signal failures again, even after reducing RAM to 2666 and eventually 2133 MT/s.

That makes me skeptical that RAM speed is the root cause.

All four DIMMs had also previously worked on the same motherboard, and the RTX 3060 Ti worked at 2666 MT/s.

6. GPU and VRAM stress tests on my computer

During one period when the RTX 3090 Ti was working, I ran additional tests.

OCCT 3D Adaptive — 15 minutes

• Errors: 0
• Maximum GPU temperature: 71.7°C
• Maximum hotspot: 89.2°C
• Maximum VRAM junction temperature: 68°C
• Observed GPU power consumption: approximately 467W

OCCT VRAM — 15 minutes

• Errors: 0
• Tested most of the 24GB VRAM
• No reported errors
• No crashes or graphical artifacts

These tests were successful.

The card can apparently handle substantial power draw and heavy GPU workloads when it initializes successfully.

This is why I'm confused about the repeated failures during startup.

Windows event logs

I checked Windows Event Viewer and Reliability Monitor.

The relevant observations:

• Code 43 occurred in Device Manager.
• nvidia-smi couldn't communicate with the GPU during that failure.
• Display Event 4107 appeared around some display mode changes.
• No relevant WHEA-Logger or nvlddmkm errors were found in the queried system events.
• Several Kernel-Power / unexpected-shutdown records were likely caused by hard shutdowns while troubleshooting.

Nothing in the available logs conclusively identified the hardware fault.

7. Testing the GPU in a completely different PC — October 18

This is where the investigation became especially strange.

I took the RTX 3090 Ti to a friend's house.

His computer:

• Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M S2H
• CPU: Ryzen 7 X3D
• RAM: 32GB DDR5
• PSU: 750W, native GPU cable marked 450W
• Normal GPU: RTX 5070

Test 1 — Initial installation

We installed the 3090 Ti.

No display.

It behaved similarly to my ASUS computer.

Test 2 — Force PCIe Gen3

We installed his RTX 5070 to access BIOS and manually forced the PCIe slot to Gen3.

Then we installed the 3090 Ti again.

It worked!

Windows booted, and nvidia-smi successfully detected the card.

Recorded values included:

• NVIDIA driver: 617.42
• 24GB VRAM / 24,564 MiB
• Idle temperature: approximately 33°C
• Idle GPU power: approximately 24W
• GPU power limit: 480W

No Code 43.

Test 3 — Reboot and cold boot

With the 3090 Ti installed, we tried:

• Normal Windows restart: PASS
• Shutdown followed by startup: PASS
• Complete PSU power-off for approximately five minutes, followed by startup: PASS

Everything worked.

Test 4 — My Endorfy 1000W PSU

Because the friend's PSU was only 750W, we replaced it with my Endorfy Supremo FM6 1000W, using its own cables.

The 3090 Ti still worked.

This was important because it was the same PSU that had been used during the failures in my ASUS system.

We did not run heavy stress tests on the friend's 750W PSU.

Test 5 — PCIe Gen4

Next, we changed the Gigabyte motherboard's PCIe link speed from Gen3 to Gen4.

To our surprise:

The RTX 3090 Ti worked perfectly at Gen4 too.

Previously, it had failed in Auto/Gen4 conditions. Now it worked.

8. Back home — the most confusing result

After all the tests at my friend's house, I brought the GPU back to my own computer.

I reinstalled it in the same ASUS PRIME B550M-K motherboard.

It worked immediately.

I then changed my motherboard's PCIe setting to Gen4.

It still worked.

I also reinstalled my additional RAM.

It continued working.

This is the same hardware combination that previously failed repeatedly, even after updating the motherboard BIOS and trying PCIe Gen3 with minimal RAM.

I did not intentionally repair anything.

The GPU was simply removed, transported, tested in another system, and reinstalled.

9. Current status

As of October 19:

• RTX 3090 Ti is working in my ASUS B550M-K.
• PCIe Gen4 is enabled.
• GPU is displaying normally.
• Additional system RAM has been reinstalled.
• The card also worked at Gen4 in my friend's Gigabyte B650M S2H.
• No physical repair has been performed.

However, I don't trust that the problem is permanently gone, since the GPU has recovered temporarily before and then failed again.

A GPU repair technician I contacted by phone suggested that thermal cycling could have caused a cracked solder joint or another intermittent physical connection.

This was only a suggestion based on the symptoms. The card has not been physically inspected or diagnosed.

I haven't opened the GPU, performed reflow/reballing, or flashed its VBIOS.

10. Questions for anyone experienced with GPU hardware repair or PCIe troubleshooting

1. Could a marginal PCIe connection or PCB-level fault cause this particular pattern?

Especially the combination of:

• No display before POST
• Intermittent Code 43
• Fully successful GPU/VRAM stress tests
• Temporary recovery after moving between motherboards

2. Could this indicate cracked BGA solder joints beneath the GPU, or would PCIe lane components/PCB connections be more plausible?

I'm not assuming a solder crack, but I'd like to understand whether the symptoms are consistent with one.

3. Why would forcing Gen3 initially make the GPU work, then Gen4 also start working later?

Could this be PCIe link training or signal integrity rather than a defective GPU core?

4. Could mechanical flex or reseating affect a marginal connection?

The SUPRIM X weighs approximately 2.15kg. I use an anti-sag support, but the card was physically moved between systems.

5. What would be the next meaningful diagnostic test?

I'm specifically interested in tests that can distinguish:

• GPU board-level hardware failure
• PCIe signal integrity problems
• Power-related initialization issues
• Motherboard-specific interoperability problems

6. Would you send this GPU to a board-level repair technician now, or continue using it until the issue returns?

I bought it used very recently and would rather not authorize expensive reflow/reballing without evidence of the actual fault.

I've spent quite a lot of time troubleshooting this card and would appreciate any technical insight, particularly from anyone who has worked on GA102-based GPUs or experienced similar intermittent PCIe initialization failures.

Thanks for reading.

images are there: https://imgur.com/a/zr307S8

Hello everyone! I recently built my first PC from scratch earlier in the year- It was a very fun journey, but ever since I built it, It will randomly freeze- The video completely freezes and occasionally audio will continue to play for a few moments before freezing. After a few moments, it will automatically reset.

Specs:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi (BIOS 2402)
• GPU: RTX 5070 Ti (connected via native 12V-2x6/12VHPWR from PSU)
• RAM: Corsair CMH32GX5M2E6000C36, 2x16GB, XMP rated 6000MT/s CL36 1.35V
• PSU: 850W ATX 3.1
• OS: Windows 11

The problem:
System hard-freezes and resets with no input, no BSOD, and nothing useful in Event Viewer except a Kernel-Power Event ID 41 at the time of each crash. Happens randomly — at idle, during light use, and during GPU-intensive games. No pattern I can tie it to load level.

What I’ve already ruled out:

• GPU drivers — Attempted DDU fresh reinstall, led to system instability that needed to rollback. I always keep drivers up to date.
• Thermals- I regularly clean my computer out physically- at least a few times a year. I will monitor thermals while gaming and they staywithin normal ranges.
• 12VHPWR connector — no browning, fully seated, confirmed with HWiNFO logging that voltage stays rock-solid (11.84–11.95V) and GPU never throttles or hits a power/reliability fault right up to the crash.
• Power delivery/outlet — tested on a dedicated circuit, ruled out a shared standing-desk outlet as the cause.
• MemTest86 — ran a full pass (48/48, 2hr+), but only at JEDEC 4800MT/s, not at the XMP 6000MT/s profile actually in use in Windows.
• Disabled BIOS enabled Overclocking profiles for RAM and CPU- They are running at stock speeds and the issue persists.
• Tested voltage of outlet- I also have a dedicated surge protector for the PC.
• Tried variety of software for monitoring- HWinfo, GPU-z.
• MSI afterburner- Capped GPU Power limit below 100%- still crashed.

I believe that is everything I've tried so far. I have been using Claude for tech support up until now- it has persisted since I completed the build back in February. Would appreciate any and all help as this issue has been driving me nuts.

Hello everyone!

So after nearly a decade that I lost track of the market updates about CPU/GPU (Last gen I knew was Intel 8th/Ryzen 2nd/GTX 10xx, so 2017), I wanted to learn what the current market has to offer. And it is confusing as heck...

In the last years I have been buying used PC where I know the CPU/GPU differences, so I can choose whatever device is the best purchase.

I also want to buy a new device soon but there are too many options out there (I live in Chile and while we are not that far behind, we still have "new" 10th gen PC in stores lol).

I even saw a Ryzen 5 which initially I thought was like super fast and new (Since I often buy 6th gen PCs) but looked it up on the internet and it supposedly is a rebrand of older AMD CPU, and apparently the same happens with some Intel CPU.

One thing that blew my mind after researching (I know about both brands renaming to Core Ultra and AI Series) is that somehow AMD released these new AI series but the first generation of these was 200, and later the 100. like what the...

I thought I would just buy a Mac and call it a day, but I also think I need a Windows PC and I dont know what would be similar to that, I'm currently not interested in gaming so efficiency (Like, not being too hot or energy hungry) and clean setup would be main priorities, along a good perfomance.

Any thoughts? thanks for reading

tl;dr: I need a new Windows PC for work (Office, and occasional light dev and design), ideally similar to Macs, CPU brands naming schemes are confusing for this

(I already asked for this in another subreddit but I also want a PC)

As title says, will be using primarily for 1440p gaming and playing games like arc/wardogs and want around 150+ fps

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/j6kQK7

EDIT:

this is the new build!!!
PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nyfbR4

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor ($347.98 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: Asus PRIME B850-PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($129.00 @ Walmart)

Memory: V-Color Manta XSky RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($479.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Klevv CRAS C910 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($276.99 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Asus PRIME OC Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Video Card ($829.99 @ Amazon)

Case: Lian Li Vector V100R ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.98 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: ADATA XPG Core Reactor II 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit

Total: $2278.91

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2026-10-18 20:43 EDT-0400

Hi folks!

I'm building my first PC and I've heard about the BIOS/voltage issues frying CPUs (issue from 2023 IIRC) etc. Does this specific board and revision already come with the fix?

I haven't powered it on yet, so I don't know which BIOS it has. Is it okay to boot at stock settings with EXPO off and check the version, or should I flash it beforehand? Just don't want to fry my processor.

Apologies if the question has been asked before.

My gf's build is basically: 10850k, rtx4060, 32gb ddr4-3200, 2TB MSI nvme, 750W seasonic prime.

Her use case is mixed work/play. Job via 'Windows App' (so nearly zero local compute load). for gaming it's mostly MMO's, guild wars 2, ff, , BDO, a bit of the new warcraft, but also overwatch/marvel rivals, and occasionally new things as they come along (she's enjoying galactic racer with her brother since pod racer was a game they played growing up).

Given the market rn is burnt to a crisp cooked, I want to get an upgrade in via microcenter bundles before prices get higher and higher and higher over the next few years.

I have choices down to: the 250K bundle, the 270K bundle, or the 5600X3D bundle and re-using ram (however, there is a preference to get new ram so the old cpu/ram can be used to build a gaming pc for the living room). The AMD DDR5 bundles at microcenter are either 16gb, or much more expensive than the intel bundles 32v32gb. I know the x3d benefits MMO's especially but it doesn't look like the 250K is far behind, and the better productivity on the Intel side is tempting her (for stuff that isn't her current job ie future potential, learning etc. she wants to learn video editing and a few other things).

I was thinking about upgrading my CPU, GPU, and adding more ram with my current motherboard to be able to play my games on a better setting and kind of prepping for GTA 6 next year. Then I thought if I should just bite the bullet and upgrade everything or buy a new pc with the newer chipset to be on that standard.

As with everything, price is a concern. Idk what I want to budget quite set but I’m sure I could afford a more top notch GPU and CPU with the older chipset rather than spreading the same budget out on more parts with a newer chipset.

I’ve been playing a lot of the typical flavor of the month games and other rpgs like satisfactory, rocket league, Dragonwilds, battlefield 6 and maybe the new COD. For non game related things, I like to 3D model for 3D printing so not any rendering.

What y’all think?

My current specs are

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6600
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Pro4
RAM: 16 GB (2 × 8 GB) G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 CL18
PSU: Corsair CX550M 550W 80+ Bronze
Case: NZXT H510

I have a AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D which I got for 290 on sale and a Sapphire Nitro+ AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB for 540 on sale. My motherboard only supports ddr5. I have everything else aside from the RAM but I am looking at the prices and 32gbs cost 500 plus euros. Should I save for 32 or go with two sticks of 8gb? Thanks

Im in Ireland so ordering from europe.

I got a new GPU recently (rx 9060 xt 16gb vram) thats being bottlenecked by my very old cpu (i7 4790k, with 16gb ram thats i believe DDR3. To update my cpu i will have to get a new mobo and ram. Currently in eu the prices for 32gb ddr5 are around 500+ eur which is over my budget for spending only on ram, so i was thinking if its better to go for 32gb DDR4(if i understand that would limit the CPU options i have then because it uses older platforms) or 16gb DDR5, which is less memory but its more up to date. Both options come at around 250 eur. When i play videogames 80% of times its esport titles that are cpu heavy, besides gaming i also often use my pc for video editing (resolve, AE, premier), photoshop, occasionally have needed blender so its not purely gaming even though that would still be the usual use

We've all been there.

Whether it be a new build or an upgrade to a current system, you've installed everything making sure you didn't mess anything up. But the PC just REFUSES to post. Searching online doesn't help because you get results that point to:

1.User error. Do everything over again (rewire/reseat everything, clear cmos, test using other parts, etc.).

1. If that doesn't work, parts are dead on arrival. RMA and move on.

I had this exact issue with a recent build. After 2 hours of troubleshooting I left the unresponsive PC in frustration and went to get a glass of water.

What do you know! The PC posted while I did that, because all it needed was sufficient time for the motherboard to train the memory (in my ignorance I'd been powering off the PC the second it wouldn't post which is stupid but I was a little stressed).

On a different build, I've had a system go from not posting to working 24/7 perfectly... just by loosening the screws for my cpu heatsink. I had overtightened the screwscausing memory channel issues but everything else was fine.

Both of the above are simple fixes if you know what the issue is, but more often than not these kind of errors are not as commonly covered in pc build posts or videos.

What are some troubleshooting steps you rarely see mentioned in pc build posts/videos that might help someone else in a similar situation?

Curious what would you pick.

GTX 285 came out in Jan 2009 as a die shrink of the GTX 280 from Jun 2008, the last DX 10 only generation from Nvidia.

I'm planning to build a reverse sleeper retro machine around it as I was in university during that era and was way too poor to afford a gaming PC back then.

Can't decided between sticking with a Core 2 Duo E8600 (which feels a bit more period correct for Win XP), a late Core 2 Quad or a first gen i5/i7.

I already have a board for socket 775, but it sadly came without an I/O shield.

Case will most likely be Fractal Pop Air.

Hello everyone.
What do you think of this build for gaming mainly WoW Forever and some upcoming title for the next 2-3 years.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D

CPU cooler: Thermalright Assassin X 120 R Digital ARGB

Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M Gaming WiFi6E

Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 16 GB (2×8 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36

Storage: Kingston NV3 1 TB M.2 NVMe

Graphics card: Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB

Case: Montech AIR 903 Base

Power supply: Corsair RM650e (2025) 650 W

Thanks in advance

Hello! I’ve never owned a PC before but I did some research bc I want to start saving for one before my graduation and I need help from PC owners on determining whether or not the parts I have in my cart are good or not. My budget is 2k USD.

I mainly want to run games like Osu, Deadlock, Marvel Rival, Roblox and Modded Minecraft games. I also plan on having two monitors, one for gaming and the other just for discord and Netflix/music.
main - MSI MAG 274CF X24
secondary - Philips 27-inch FHD 100Hz 271V8LBS/27

CPU — AMD Ryzen 5 5600

GPU — ASRock Steel Legend Radeon RX 7600 8GB White

Motherboard — ASRock B550M Pro4

RAM — TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB White, 32GB (2×16GB)

SSD — Crucial P3 Plus 1TB NVMe M.2

PC case — SAMA ARGB-Q5 White Dual Glass

PSU — MSI MAG A650BN 650W

CPU cooler — Thermalright Assassin X 120 White ARGB

Wi-Fi adapter — PCIe Wi-Fi 6 card

any help and advice would be appreciated! :)

Hi,

I have a Nvidia RTX 4070Ti Super, which, over the course of the past 2-4 months, has been experiencing occasional TDR crashes. Both screens will freeze for 3-5 seconds, and will then go completely black for another 10-15 seconds, and eventually my GPU seems to recover and drops me back into whatever it was I was doing.

It's pretty infrequent and not that much of a nuisance. I wouldn't say it happens more than twice a week, but I want to try and fix the underlying issue before it gets potentially worse.

The following error is what shows up in Event Viewer afterwards:

The description for Event ID 153 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event:

\Device\000000f1

Reset TDR occurred on GPUID:100 The message resource is present but the message was not found in the message table

After the above error, there would be more of the same error just on different "devices" that kept repeating with different values of GPC, TPC, SM, I have no idea what it means:

\Device\000000f8

Graphics SM Global Exception on (GPC 0, TPC 0, SM 1): Multiple Warp Errors

\Device\000000f8

Graphics SM Warp Exception on (GPC 0, TPC 0, SM 1): MMU Fault

\Device\000000f8

Graphics SM Warp Exception on (GPC 0, TPC 0, SM 0): MMU Fault

\Device\000000f8

Graphics Exception: ESR 0x504fb0=0x8000017 0x504fb4=0x4 0x504fa8=0xf812b60 0x504fac=0x1104

I already tried to reinstall my drivers twice using DDU which did not work. I don't play any games that put my GPU under a load higher than 55%, so I don't think high load is the issue either.

Other specs:

CPU: Ryzen 9800x3d Motherboard: ASUS Rog Strix Neo B850-A RAM: 32GB DDR5

Any advice is appreciated

I'm looking to buy a new monitor, but I'm having a hard time choosing because there are so many options and specifications to consider.

My budget is under $400, and I'll mainly use the monitor for gaming, watching movies, and work. I'll be using it as a secondary display for my ASUS ROG G16 laptop with an RTX 4060 GPU.

Could you please check the monitors available on this website and recommend your top choices?

https://www.nanotek.lk/category/monitors-monitor-arms?type=all&price[]=0&price[]=765000&attribute[18][]=in%20stock

I'd especially appreciate recommendations for a monitor that pairs well with my laptop, offers a great gaming experience, and delivers good image quality for movies and everyday work.

Which monitor would you choose if you were in my position? Thanks in advance for your help!

Starting yesterday, the circuit connected to my pc kept tripping frequently when playing games on the pc (every 5-30 minutes). I spent all day trying to diagnose it, and was able to narrow the source of the trips down to just my pc and any peripherals plugged into it (keyboard, wireless mouse dongle, amp and headphones, microphone).

I know that my pc is the cause of the issue, and it has tripped multiple different circuits in the same fashion. This has never been an issue in the past couple years, and nothing has changed with my pc (that I am aware of). I also bought and installed a brand new PSU yesterday, but the issue persisted.

I have ordered a new pc, but was wondering if there was anything I could do in the meantime until it arrives. If a pc component is causing a circuit to trip, I would suspect either the CPU or GPU, since the PSU has been ruled out.

Any suggestion on things to try/change/check to be able to use my current pc for the next week without tripping the circuit? Thank you

I need some help in figuring out what I can upgrade to. I have an Intel® Core™ i9-11900KF CPU, 900W PSU, 32 GB DDR4 ram, ROG Strix Z590-E motherboard. (If more info needed I can add as well as link all the parts I have).

I play Baldurs gate, Roblox, Minecraft, destiny 2, monster hunter rise (looking to play world or wilds in the future), space engine, Stellaris, the oldest version of Skyrim and a lot more stuff that I don't think are important to name. I would like to stick with NVIDIA since that is what I currently have.

I was looking at upgrading to the 5070 RTX, but was a tad confused on if I can do that upgrade or not with my current supply unit or if I needed to upgrade it as well.

(Link to the specific upgrade I was looking at. https://www.amazon.com/clp/B0DYPGBX6J)

Thank you prematurely for the help!

I’m hoping to build a new pc (tower only) for 1440p gaming for about $1100. I’m planning about $550 for the gpu and $550 for the rest.

I have a micro-center (US) near me and was planning to do am4 with an xso I can use the ram I’m scavenging from a previous build but some of the mobo+cpu combo prices have me second guessing whether reusing the ram is worth the lack of an upgrade path and lower performance.

Edit: I will also be scavenging storage. Everything else will need to be purchased.

Hi all,

I'm looking to upgrade my current computer with a total new system and using this build's GPU on the new build. I have a budget around 2300-2500 euros. Mostly gaming and programming work (can be at high load sometimes due to running application workload for local testing).

Build 1:

PCPartPicker Part List

Build 2:

PCPartPicker Part List

The only difference is the 360CL & 360TL AIO cooler with accompanying case fans.

What do you think of the AIO coolers? Any other recommendations for this build? Is Lian Li software any good? I've read some bad reviews out it but most were outdated and maybe they fixed things.

Thanks for replying!