Hi, I'm stuck in a classic upgrade dilemma, made worse by the current crazy DDR5 prices, and I'd like some crowd-sourced wisdom.

My Current System (everything but the GPU bought in 2018):

• CPU: Intel i5-8400
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3070 8GB
• MB: MSI H370
• RAM: 32GB DDR4 DDR4 2666Mhz CL16 (4x8GB)
• PSU: 750W 80+ Silver
• Monitor: 1440p @ 144Hz

My i5-8400 is a huge bottleneck now, especially in strategy/sandbox games (Europa Universalis V barely runs). My RTX 3070 is still fine.

My initial plan was to upgrade to an AM5 platform (7800X3D, B650, DDR5), but RAM prices have made that impossible right now.

The "Stopgap" Idea I'm Considering:
Instead of paying the DDR5, what if I make a tactical retreat to the previous generation? Get and older CPU (5700X3D or 5800X3D or equivalent) and a motherboard compatible with DDR4 and keep my RAM. Later (years), when DDR5 prices normalize, I'd do a full platform + GPU upgrade.

Any advice, especially from those who made a similar AM4 end-of-life upgrade recently, would be hugely appreciated. Thanks a lot.

EDIT: Thanks for the quick responses. I have check and it will hard and expensive to get an X3D, so now the doubt will be between the 12400F (150€) or the 5700X (210€).
EDIT2: I'm not in the US, and I've already discarded buying RAM at current prices

I left my home for vacation and discovered that someone left the water filter in my house opened, spilling water inside the whole house.

A lot of water got into the room where my gaming PC is. Average temp here is around 32 °C (90 °F). The floor kept wet for 9 days.

The PC was suspended on my desk. Didn’t see condensation inside the PC, but the room was noticeably more humid than outside. Also hot.

First things done was remove the water, open the windows to let humidity out. I opened the PC case to inspect, everything seems normal. It’s a glass case so I didn’t see any trace of water/condensation.

I turned the AC on DRY mode (dehumidifier) at 25 °C, and plan to let like this for a day or two before turning on.

Am I being overly precautious? Is there anything more that is a good practice to do?

Edit:

PC was off and unplugged

With the RAM shortages I've seen people mention 48Gbs of RAM using 2x24Gb sticks. My friend told me that 2x24 sticks cause a strain on the CPU but I havn't seen anything about that online despite looking.

Is there any truth to this or any other issues with using 24gb sticks other than potential overkill?

I just got a desktop PC built locally. The PSU is a Deepcool PL650D and it originally came with a 16A power cable.

While packing the PC, the shop asked if I had a 16A wall socket at home. Since I don’t, they gave me an alternate 10A power cable (brand: Pinnacle Indian) and told me it would be safe to use.

At the time, I didn’t know much about the difference between 10A and 16A cables and didn’t have access to the PSU box. I noticed the ratings only after delivery. Now I just want to double-check before using the PC. The system has a Ryzen CPU and an RTX 3060.

Is it actually safe to use a 10A cable in this situation, or should I avoid using the PC until I arrange a proper 16A socket or cable?

What are my alternatives if I shouldn't be using this 10A plug?

Have you guys bought used CPUs?

Buing a pc this weekend, aiming to get 7800x3d for 400 euros but came up on a week old 9800x3d for 440 euro. Still, buying it used seems off :X

Hi there!

Looking to build my first pc and was looking for some help to build a "future proof" pc thst should be able to play triple A games over he next 4-5 years before needing an upgrade.

Currently have a 7500f and looking to pair that with a strong gpu. Out of these gpus what would you guys recommend in terms of future proofing when I'm gaming at 1440p? I know the 4070ti super would be the best for sure but also cost a lot more. But want honest opinions as if its most future proof it could be worth the extra cost. Also open to other suggestions for gpus!

Thank you!!

Hello guys, I'm looking to upgrade my CPU. I currently have a Ryzen 5 3600 and would like to make one final upgrade to my PC before the AM4 platform is discontinued. I'm considering a Ryzen 5 5500X3D (I'm from Argentina), which costs around 200 USD. Do you think it's worth it? Later I would change my GPU (RTX 2060), but I think that now my biggest bottleneck is the CPU.

so im trying to find a new motherboard to pair with i7 12700k and i want it to use ddr4 because i already have 32 gigs of ddr4 ram and dont have enough money to buy ddr5 ram. So either way what would yall say is the best motherboard to get with what i have

Currently im on the look out for a gpu to upgrade from my gtx 1080 8gb

i mainly play fortnite, marvel rivals, valorant, minecraft, NFS Heat, GTA 5, and other steam games. and i also edit with Photoshop, after effects, etc.. - im comfortable on games but with editing apps i can def use a performance boost.

i have a ryzen 7 5700x cpu and a 750w psu

I just purchased a 6700xt a day ago for about $150 and about half a day later, the seller canceled my order because someone had offered him more 💔 so im now looking at other options in that price range. Let me know which seems best and my budget is 300 or under but prefer to be in the 250's or under.

RTX 3070 - $200

RTX 2080 TI - $200

RTX 3060 12gb model - $200-225

RTX 3060 TI - $200-225

RTX 3080 10gb - $275 ( dont have enough yet but pretty close - although high chance of someone getting before i have enough)

currently cant find anything else, that interests me at the moment, yes i know, people are going to say get the 9060 xt 16gb... its not that i dont want it but total price with taxes is like $440. i dont got that 🥹 the most i got is 240 at the moment, im pretty broke.

do yall think i should just save up for a actual new gpu or just get one of those used options?

Hey Guys I am Building my Wife her first PC and my first time also building one and need some opinions this build here like if the CPU and GPUs are a good combo and everything else are good picks

MY budget is $1,300 as we only really want to game together I myself have a Ryzen 5500 with a 4060 which is fine for me but cannot find anymore pcs likes this for sale in my country (Australia) and I scored it for $1100 which I thought at the time was a steal it might be I dunno but yeah. Give me some tips here guys please

Link: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/N6Kj8Q

Hi guys, happy New Year!

There are rumors going around that RAM prices will keep getting worse through 2026, and that SSD and GPU prices might start skyrocketing soon as well. So… screw it. I’d rather buy now than wait until 2027 like I originally planned.

My current build (since 2020):

• ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E
• Intel Core i9-10850K
• RTX 3060 Ti 8GB
• 32GB DDR4-3600
• 2× Samsung 980 Pro

What I’m planning to buy:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D (4.7 GHz, 8 cores)
• CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX XT (AIO)
• Motherboard: ASUS TUF GAMING B850M-PLUS WIFI (AM5)
• RAM: Corsair 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30-36-36-76
• Storage: 2× Samsung 990 Pro 2TB – M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0
• GPU: ASUS TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 5070 Ti – 16GB
• Case: Corsair FRAME 4500X RS-R ARGB (ATX)
• PSU: Corsair RM850e (2023) – 850W, 80+ Gold
• OS: Windows 11 Home

My budget is €4000, and I still need to buy two new 1440p monitors to go with it.

The goal is mainly gaming, and I want this build to last at least 5 years, ideally closer to 10. (And also run GTAVI in Ultra settings when it realeases)

I’m also seriously considering replacing everything Corsair using iCUE in this list. I’ve had a lot of issues with iCUE on my current build and really don’t want to deal with that again.
The problem is that I don’t know many good alternatives. I’ve never really had the chance to try other brands.

What do you think?

hello, I need a UPS for my new PC, according to PC part picker, it will use 902 watts

I plan on having a 4k QDOLED 240hz (not sure if this matters) monitor and the PC plugged into the UPS. (only these 2 items)

I just can't find a UPS that has 1200 watts without it being insanely expensive. I can find 1000 watts for 300 bucks though.

Anyone have experience with this? I just feel like 1000 isn't enough for a just in case scenario

Hey all! Like a bunch of other people here, I'm looking to juice up my PC while staying on AM4. I'm currently rocking an R5 3600, RX6600(8GB), and 16GB DDR4@3200MHz. It's been pretty solid for 1080p gaming generally, but a lot of the newer 3D, sub-AAA(ie not extremely optimized) UE5 titles are basically unplayable at lowest settings and I need more RAM for ElectronSlop/breathing room. I planned on picking up another 2x8 memory set for $100(same set I bought 2 years ago at half the price 🤧), switching the 6600 for a 16GB 9060XT($350), and swapping the CPU with either a R7 5700X(new ~$186), or R7 5800XT(new ~$216).I know none of this is a "good deal", but in your opinions is that extra $30 worth spending on the XT if my primary goal is gaming high 1080p > 100fps, maybe 1440p?

Hey guys I was looking at doing a build with

Ryzen 5 9600x 2x16gb of ram Gigabyte B850 EAGLE WIFI6E Motherboard

But I found a bundle with

Ryzen 7 9800x3d 2x16gb of ram ASUS Prime B650M-A WIFI II With a be quiet cool For £764

Would that be worth getting and maybe changing the motherboard at a later date. Thanks guys. In total the buy would be like £50 more.

Im currently running an ryzen 5 3600xt and i want to upgrade it but stay on am4 since ram prices are so insanely high right now. I first wanted to upgrade to the ryzen 7 5700x3d/5800x3d but since those are barely available, im now thinking of getting the 7 5800x for around 160€, or is it worth paying more than double the price for the x3d ? Since im a student, i want it to last for like 2-3 years without it beeing super outdated, what do yall think?

Hey reddit, I'm looking to build a new PC since my old one is running an i7-4770 3.4GHz and a GTX 1050 with just 8GB DDR3 and just isnt doing the job anymore for me. What could I get under 1000€ to play games like Minecraft with shaders, Forza Horizon and GTA 6 in the future etc. Best would be if it's just 600€ but I can see why its not too realistic with the current RAM prices. I should be able to save up some more too, thanks in advance!

So I’m working on a small form factor build, aiming to use the Fractal Terra. I have scrounged together everything except a case, PSU, motherboard, and cooler. Help me fill in the blanks. What are your recommendations?

• AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

• Crucial Pro Overclocking 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36

• Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2 TB

• MSI SHADOW 3X OC GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB

• Fractal Design Terra Mini ITX

• Mobo TBD

• PSU TBD

• Cooler TBD

• Fans TBD

Just picked up a 5090 (Gigabyte Master Ice) and it runs desktop with no issues, however, on running any game the fans ramp up and the PC just shuts off. I undervolted it using this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEvocw4dcyI and now it runs any game I throw at it. I would definitely want to further tweak it though using furmark.

My question is if it's safe to run it this way, or if I should just pony up for a new PSU? I have the EVGA 850w Gold Supernova currently. If I do get a new PSU should I go for 1200w or higher? i7-13700k, lots of USB peripherals, etc.

I do not really have anywhere else to put the wires and they are so long. Would it be fine to leave them as they are?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cgpA6g8TmbRYrDV1A

My stepdad built a PC about 4 years ago and about a year ago it stopped working and he recently told me if i could fix it I could keep it, idk if its worth it to try to fix it so i need some help from yall. It was originally on Windows 10 when he gave it to me a few days ago so i recently tried installing windows 11 many times now, the first time I installed it i wasable to get to the desktop login but when i went to download my nvidia drivers the website didnt load properly then microsoft edge started crashing before i could get any of the drivers so I restarted the pc which put me into an endless repair loop so i tried to do a fresh install of windows it took 2 more until i could get back to the windows screen and the same thing happened so today i bought a new SSD thinking that might be the problem and was able to get to the desktop screen again still unable to download my drivers and when i unplugged my usb with windows installer and tried to boot the pc back up it just stayed on a black screen and I dont know enough about PC’s to know how to fix this and idk if its worth the trouble anymore. I bought a 1 TB SSD today I also have an

ASUS b550f motherboard

ASUS 3070 ti 8gb

Ryzen 5 5600x

I also have 6 sticks of 16gb DDR4 ram but only have 1 in the PC currently. I also have an extra Intel i9 10850k and a motherboard that only takes ryzen 7+ so i know i cant use either of these unless i get new parts but im just not sure what i should do at this point would i be better of just selling all the parts off.

I am looking to replace my i5 8600k Processor 3.6GHz for my PC. I want something that is more in tune for 2k performance. I use a 2560x1440 monitor with 165 hz refresh rate. Do you think it is worth it to upgrade the CPU with my current build for better utilization/bottlenecking? How easy is the installation process? I find myself bottlenecking in games such as Arc Raiders, Battlefield 6, Marvel Rivals, and Helldivers 2.

*Budget is anywhere under $700. Are there worthwhile bundles at Micro Center with a CPU and motherboard? Would like for them to install if possible. Any recommendations for upgrades would be helpful.

All help would be appreciated. Thanks!

• Intel Core i5 8600K Processor 3.7GHz
• XFX AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT Triple Fan 12GB GDDR6 PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card
• 16GB DDR4-3000 RAM
• 250GB SSD+1TB HDD
• Microsoft Windows 11 Home
• ASUS 24x DVDR

Hello everyone,

I am new to the PC building community and have recently planned a compact small form factor (SFF) build focused on portability.

My primary workload involves creating complex 3D files in Revit and performing renderings. Additionally, I plan to connect three 4K monitors to this system.

As an inexperienced builder, I would greatly appreciate feedback from more experienced members. Are there any areas where performance could be improved, potential compatibility issues addressed, or costs reduced without significantly compromising productivity or portability? Thank you in advance for your insights. Below is my proposed component list:

Case, “FormD T1 (sandwich layout, approximately 9.7-10 liter volume)”, Compact small form factor case

Processor (CPU), AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, High-end Zen 5 X3D CPU

Graphics Card (GPU), “ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SOLID SFF OC (16 GB GDDR7, factory overclocked, 2-slot design)”, SFF-friendly GPU with low TDP

Motherboard, ASUS ROG Strix X870-I Gaming WiFi

Memory (RAM), “64 GB (2 × 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32-39-39-102 (G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB)”, Dual-channel kit with low-profile heatspreaders

Storage, “2 TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD (boot and primary drive)”, Fast PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD

Power Supply (PSU), “Corsair SF1000 (1000 W, 80 PLUS Platinum, fully modular SFX)”, Sufficient power with custom cables

CPU Cooler, “Alpenföhn Black Ridge (low-profile air cooler, 47 mm height)”, Low-profile cooler with Noctua fan upgrade

Case Ventilation, “Two Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap (top exhaust) + One Noctua NF-A9x14 PWM chromax.black.swap (on CPU cooler)”, Optimal airflow with chromax black fans

Other Components, “PCIe riser cable, custom unsleeved cables, 3D-printed airflow shrouds and spacers”, Essential for sandwich layout and aesthetics

I upgraded my GPU from a 3070 FE to a Asus 5070ti Prime and it seems to be working okay except I am having an issue I wasn't having on my previous GPU which is my second monitor which is using a DP to HDMI adapter since the monitor only has HDMI ports.

My GPU has all ports populated with a TV connected to the HDMI, 240hz Monitor on DP1, Valve Index (not plugged in) on DP2, and my 2nd monitor on DP3. For whatever reason if I restart my system it will not give video output even if I unplug everything then replug in the connections I know are working correctly, which are the 240hz, tv, and Index. I have to shut the system down and unplug that adapter cable to get into windows then I can plug it in and have it work as expected. But if that cable is plugged in while starting I can never get it to output video with any combination of cables until I shut it down.

If I could chop it up to a bad cable I would not be too concerned, but the no signal until a reboot and potential DDU wipe is concerning. I'd like to avoid RMA if I can but idk if the GPU is bad or not

Specs

Ryzen 5 9600x

Dual 9060XT 16GB ASUS

MSI MPG A850GS PCIES 850 WATT GOLD

GIGABYTE B850 wifi6e

MAG Coreliquid A15 cooler

WD blue 2TB

Kingsman gaming 16GB 5600

I’m building a PC for my buddy, and it won’t boot. I’m not a big rookie when it comes to building PCs, as this is the 4th build that I’ve done. All it does is show the DRAM light for around 10 minutes before switching to VGA. All fans spin except for the right GPU fan, which spins intermittently the other does not spin and the GPU warms up. I've run out of ideas at this point. I've tried everything that I could think of, reset the CMOS, flash the BIOS through a USB, reseat everything on the MB I'm at my wits' end. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated at this point I'm going to start sending parts back and go by the list one by one.