I have a 5600g with 32 gb ddr4 memory. Ive been debating upgrading to am5 and just making my pc so good i wont need to upgrade it for a long time. But, Im wondering if just switching to the 5800x3d is a better investment?

So hello everyone.

I was with using one chrome window and one vscode window when the image turned off, I stood up to turn the pc off, heard a sparkle and then the gpu (asrock 9070 steel legend) caught fire by the power connectors. My psu is a 850w thermaltake tough power that I've been using for maybe 2 years, all original cables. The gpu was bought 2 weeks ago.

Now the pc is also not turning on.

This happened just now, I'm shaking.

Ideas for both the gpu and the rest of the pc? I never rma'd something like this, even less not living in the US / Europe. Help.

Edit: I am attaching a photo of the burnt area. It is not on the connector.

UPDATE: after struggling a bit to make the igpu work, the pc turns on.

UPDATE 2: I asked the charbot from the store I bought the gpu for help and it granted me a full refund of the gpu once I send it back.

UPDATE 3: Found another user from my country that had the same issue, same place on the gpu, also Asrock but other model. Also the store now is difficulting the RMA/warranty claim.

Would it be wise to replace the psu just to be safe?

Photo of the burnt area.

I'm putting together a gaming PC for my dad (66), and I've realized that most of the advice I've been reading assumes the owner can comfortably crawl under a desk, move a heavy tower around, and reach behind it whenever something needs attention.

My dad had two knee surgeries. He gets around fine, still drives, walks the dog, and spends a ridiculous amount of time playing Civilization and Forza. But kneeling down or getting back up from the floor is genuinely difficult for him.

His current PC sits under his desk. Whenever he needs to unplug something or clean it, he either struggles with it or calls me.

I want the new one to be different.

Budget is around $1,500 USD for the tower, buying in the US. He already has a 1440p monitor and peripherals. I'm currently looking at a Ryzen 5 7600, B650 motherboard, RX 9060 XT 16GB, 32GB DDR5, 2TB NVMe SSD, and a decent 650W PSU. No overclocking, no RGB requirements. Quiet operation would be nice.

But I'm much less concerned about squeezing out another 5% performance than making this thing easy for him to live with for the next five years.

I'm planning to put it on a sturdy desk-height side table rather than on the floor.

That immediately raised a bunch of questions I hadn't considered before.

Are there cases where you can remove and clean the dust filters without moving the whole PC?

Would you prioritize a smaller case that's easier to handle, or a larger one with more room to work inside?

Are magnetic side panels actually convenient long-term, or are traditional screws more reliable?

I'd also like him to be able to reach the power button and commonly used USB ports without bending down or reaching behind the tower.

One thing I hadn't anticipated is that a lot of cases seem designed to look great from the front while putting everything you regularly need to access somewhere inconvenient.

He's absolutely capable of learning how to maintain his own PC. I just don't want the physical layout making simple tasks harder than necessary.

For anyone who's built a PC for an older parent, someone with mobility limitations, or even just themselves after getting tired of crawling under desks, what design choices actually made a difference?

I'm especially interested in things that seemed unimportant during the build but turned out to matter after a year or two of ownership.

Hi, i need to change my wife's GPU, and I'm between an RTX 4070 12GB and an RX 9070 XT 16GB.

I personally really appreciate having 16GB of VRAM on my RTX 5080 for Blender and some basic local AI stuff, but her main focus is professional video editing, mostly 4K and above.

She's also recently gotten interested in local AI, but video editing is her focus.

She's currently running an RX 6600 XT that randomly crashes sometimes, and that means lost work, time, and money. So stability and reliability are pretty much my biggest priorities here.

The thing is, I'm not buying this for me, so I'm having a harder time deciding what makes the most sense for her actual workflow, because I have no idea what resolve needs.

About gaming, she mostly plays BG3, CoD, and WoW forever, so gaming performance matters, but it's definitely not the main priority.

I've also also considered more budget to an RTX 5070 Ti, but at that price point, we even started wondering whether something like a Mac mini with an M6 and 24 GB of unified memory would make more sense as a dedicated editing machine.

In this scenario, what would you choose?

Please save me, I'm tired of hearing complaints in my studio.

My r79800x3d which is 8 core 16 threads processor is not showing 16 logical processors instead it shows 8 cores and 8 logical processors, I tried msconfig unchecking the box and restarting it didn't work , please help!! 😞

Folks, it's been a long time since I've built a PC so I'm starting from scratch. Would love to get a good starter set of specs to work from.

• Budget: $1000
• Use-Case: Teen playing video games or anything else she wants to do on the PC. Most of the games are steam games, Among Us, indie games, maybe sims4, dressmaker, Genshin Impact, etc. Anything she really wants though she's not into bleeding edge FPS games or GTA etc.
• Country of purchase: USA
• Peripherals needed: None
• misc. requirements / preferences: Just that the PC have decent ability to upgrade in the future. Prefer NVME if possible, but not a hard requirement. 1TB hard drive is probably safe. Specs can be lower if it's easy to add later. For example, 16GB ram would be fine if there's an empty slot for another stick later. Graphics can be anything that works - is AMD competitive right now?

After not having a PC for around 5 years, I am planning a following Linux-based build, mostly for gaming in 1440p and FSR4 or native 4K where possible (apart from doing some nerdy software engineering stuff):

• GPU: Sapphire AMD 9070 XT Nitro+
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x16GB CL30 EXPO
• PSU: CORSAIR RM850e (2025), 850W
• Case: Fractal Design Meshify 3
• CPU cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE

For the CPU, I impulsively ordered AMD R7 9800 X3D after watching reviews on it, AFTER I already ordered 9700 X which I initially planned as a "best before diminishing returns". Perhaps this was not a good bet, but I wanted to stick to AM5 and Zen 5 to simplify upgrading in the future. 9700 X was 259 euros, and 9800 X3D - 407 euros. I haven't done a good research on the CPUs and was mostly focused on the GPU, I knew I wanted to go a full AMD build, and the CPU did not feel like a bottleneck, but seeing a massive difference in some reviews (e.g. Gamers Nexus) got me thinking that I made a mistake.

However, I realized that most of the reviews revealing massive differences in CPU performance in gaming are based on 1080p for a reason - going to higher resolutions and better presets makes the same scenarios they show more GPU bound and the performance difference does not look that dramatic anymore.

In hindsight, after I cooled down a bit, I realized that I'd probably be satisfied with 9700 X, and going that much higher feels like the actual diminishing returns - I am afraid that I won't be able to see the difference in most of the scenarios.

Do you think it's reasonable to stick with 9800 X3D and send 9700 X back, or better save this money for the future upgrades, like adding more RAM or selling 9700 X and upgrading the processor in a generation or two? Or maybe just ordering a new Steam Controller and keeping a fifty.

I'm considering swapping to Linux (i know, very original), but i want to make backups of my current OS and data, and the only price i can find for anything that's reliable is over 200USD, when something in the 100usd range is more what i can afford (and even cheaper would be nice, ngl...) I'm just wondering if I'm looking in the wrong places? I've seen some things on ebay but I've never bought from there before and only browsed. And would swapping the current internal ssd for one with Linux already installed be better, or would just backing up the current to another drive and doing a clean slate work? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I've been rocking my old crappy 350-watt power supply for way too long, promising myself I would upgrade. It's honestly a miracle it still turns on, but now the time has come to upgrade, and I'm conflicted about which one I should pick. There are many good options, but they all seem a bit expensive. I live in Europe, if that helps.

Hi, I'm soon going to be buying a new PC and getting a 1440p monitor and I can't decide between the 5070 or the 9070xt. That's because while I know the 9070xt is about 25% faster than the 5070 in games, I don't use my PC only for games, I do 3d modeling and rendering and I also plan on using UE5 when I get the new PC, for which the 5070 would probably be better. I was looking at the 5070ti which would be best for me but unfortunately it's out of my budget so I have to choose between these two. Which one would be better for my use case? Maybe someone here has one of these GPUs and can tell me your experience with it?

Im trying to find an AM5 motherboard with at least 6 USB 3.0 ports for my dream PC, so money isn't a problem.

I am an absolute amateur to this type of stuff, so if you take the time to advise then you'll have to format it like you're talking to a 36 year old woodsman. Also, please excuse my ignorance haha

I have a DELL Inspiron that was buried in storage, it seems to power on but will not display when hooked to a monitor. It was open when I found it but I have no clue what my buddy would have done to it or take from it. It has An HDD in it, along with a samsung SSD 120 GB but the 'P6' plug is out. I see two long chips hooked to an intel board, a vertical board with a good size heat sink on it, 3 fans and the power supply.

I also have a Lenovo Thinkcentre M73 that I have confirmed works

The end game is to have a home computer and use the laptop for travel and stuff. Is there a way to combine components or are there easy upgradeable components? Help me modify my first PC

I'm planning to build a PC with a 9600X and an 9070GRE.

I mainly play games like cyberpunk, gta v and bmw, but I don't really need to play everything at max settings. I'm mostly aiming for a smooth gaming experience at 1440p.

Would this be a good CPU and GPU combination?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I want to get an OLED monitor, something preferably not too expensive, HDR 10 compatible, ideally 1440p, and a reputable brand. Let me know if there is anything else I need to know.

So I had this issue a few months earlier, tried to undervolt the GPU to reduce it, seems to work. Now it seems after unoptimised games, it just whines all the time. I've heard that someone disabled S3 deep sleep, but cant find it on my mobo then I noticed that it whines even in BIOs, my next step is to change case fans as one of them does make some noise normally.

Specs CPU - 9800X3D with peerless assassin fan

GPU - 9070xt XFX

Fractal North - Stock case fans

Mobo - B850 ASRock Steel Legend

PSU - Superflower Leadex III 850W

Question

1. How do I reset voltage for everything?

   1. Should i try a new PSU first?

Need a monitor for where a lot of annotation can be done. Hands wont be clean so a stylus will have to be used.

There are so many CPU+DRAM LED no-start forum posts but I'm not finding any that align with my issue as most are resolved with new RAM or mainboard.

Symptom: No POST, CPU+DRAM LEDs lit. The issue got worse over time, power-cycling used to resolve it but not anymore.

• Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• MSI X670E Gaming Plus Wifi (ME-7615) V1.0
• 32GB DDR5 (2x16GB) Corsair CMH5X16G1B60Z40A2

I pulled the board and bench tested boiled down to onboard video, a known good PSU, no SSD, and default settings... Same issue. Once in a while out of the blue it POSTed but that's maybe twice out of over 50 attempts.

Strangely I found it reliably POSTs once immediately after flashing the BIOS using the USB recovery method. I guess after a flash it must boot some safety default mode that a CMOS reset doesn't reproduce. I used that opportunity to run tests (RAM passes Memtest86 without errors) and try various BIOS settings (no improvement at all).

Since it boots once after flashing and RAM passes tests it seemed CPU and RAM might bo okay so I tried a new mainboard, ASUS TUF Gaming X870E-Plus WIFI7.

The Asus X870E behaves like the MSI X670E did a long time ago where sometimes it POSTs and other time not. The Asus gives a DRAM LED, not CPU, but that might just be brand design differences. I flashed the Asus to the latest BIOS and it wouldn't POST at all after that. I reverted it to v.1513 and we're back to functional but inconsistent.

I'm bench testing with a traditional heatsink/fan and noticed I can tell immediately when it's not going to POST because the CPU fan revs (instantly and forever until forcing power off). When it's going to POST the fan is consistent and smooth.

It seems it's not the mainboard so I bought a new 8 gig stick of RAM to test with and am getting the exact same result on the new Asus and old MSI boards. I also tried a third power supply for good measure.

So, same symptoms with new mainboard and new RAM. That leaves the CPU. Of course I previously inspected the AM5 sockets on both boards. The old board does have one pin slightly crooked but it's a common VSS pin and should still be making contact. The new board socket is perfect.

I recently worked on another machine with an Intel 14th gen that seems to have CPU degredation (Vmin shift) causing instability. That made me wonder if this Ryzen 7 could be failing. I researched and found instances of memory controller failures but those seemed to be coupled with burnt or discolored sockets or CPU contacts. Our socket and CPU look beautiful.

I don't have another CPU to test with and am wondering if this situation is familiar to anyone else. I've been around the block on this and tried many things but only detailed the highlights here.

Thank you.

After nearly a decade I changed my cabinet, and was rather surprised to see the new one didn't have drive bays, even though the description said it accomodated X number of drives. After some googling, I found out I'm supposed attach the HDD's to the floor, and the SSD's to the wall. The later part is giving me trouble. I'm finding it difficult to hold the SSD in place, aligned with the holes, and fit the screws at the same time. Is there a trick to it?

Im using a 4060 Ti (8 GB Model) atm and its not preforming the best now adays (such as on monster hunter wild) so im looking to see what a good upgrade would be that wouldnt be replaced quickly. Prefer AMD but okay with nvidia.

Open to ebay but not smart enough to know which ones are scams or overused ones

Other specs incase it matters for what
CPU: i5-12600KF
MB: B760 gaming plus wifi
Ram: 32gb

What do you think guys? Will use this for work (crm apps) and gaming (more into dota 2, fps, mmorpg; not into AAA but might try).

Willing to spend for aesthetics since this would be my very first pc (but would be open to alternatives that are cheaper that looks the same especially for aesthetics). If you guys have a good alternative, would love to hear from you.

Thank you!

I’m planning on building a pc soon but need help in deciding parts. I found a combo of a 5800x3d 32gb ddr4 and a x series motherboard for 450$ would that be a better option than over 900$ for a 7800x3d or 9800x3d with the same amount of ddr5 and a b series motherboard? How much of a difference in performance would there be in gaming? Any help would be appreciated!

Hello, I am looking for good looking AIOs (so unfortunately not Arctic Freezer)... to fit my lian li o11d v2 case with 9800x3d. My budget is around 150-250. I prefer to have a large screen but wonder if the cheaper options with a good screen have good enough cooling power

Currently considering panorama se but the screen looks a little ugly imo but thats just opinions. I will be replace them with lian li fans uni sl

Thank you!

My PCMR brethren I am in need of advice. I recently upgraded my PC's GPU to a PNY RTX 5080. During the same upgrade I tossed in a new power supply. A corsair rm1000x.

Motherboard is an asrock b450 with 32GB of Ddr4 3200mhz. All was kosher until this weekend.

Symptom : PC boots normally sometimes. When powered up it's perfectly fine. Temps are fine so fans and cooler are working. Upon a power down, it shuts gracefully but if I attempt another boot, I get nothing. No PSU click just silence. If I kill power and and remove power cable, upon power up, PC will boot.

To me it appears to be some sort of handshake or failure mechanism but it's slightly annoying having to get on my knees after a power down to get a working system.

Any thoughts from my brethren? Google has provided some pointers but changing BIOS settings randomly isn't my cup of tea.

I’ll try to keep this as rule 2 friendly as possible. I’m lenient on budget, but I’d still like to keep it around $2000 give or take a couple hundred.

I’m a writer, so I need something I can use for writing software and storage for writing projects as well as something that can connect to a drawing tablet. Gaming, game dev, music software, and streaming as a vtuber are also priorities.

I’m building it in the US, but I’m also planning to move to Europe in the next few years so I imagine I may need to be able to replace the power cord and maybe other things.

I’m not really sure what peripherals are. Google says input and output devices, storage, and networking devices. I have a mouse and keyboard and they both use usb. I’d need to be able to connect a microphone and a probably a webcam, although for vtubing I think it’s better to use a iphone camera so I might not need a webcam. I’d like to be able to connect speakers and wired headphones and wireless even if that’s a thing for PCs. External hard drives, USB flash drives, and USB-C ports. I’d like to be able to connect to the internet wirelessly but also with an ethernet cable. Again I’m not sure if any of this is what peripherals meant, I apologize if not. That all seems like basic computer stuff anyhow.

I think that’s it? I don’t need it to be all colourful but I wouldn’t say no to that if it doesn’t cost much power for it to light up. Otherwise it’s not completely necessary. If I’ve missed anything I’m happy to answer questions that’ll make it easier! Thanks a bunch in advance!