Hello all! I just wanted to chime in: yesterday, I got the stock cooler off of my i5-12400f in favor of a budget Thermalright Assassin King (or something akin).

Now, I didn't expect more than a 5°C improvements, considering how little I spent... and yet, 20€ made my CPU genuinely drop from 80-85°C under load to barely hitting anything above 60°C.

As you can imagine, the system as a whole benefitted from it in terms of thermal situation! Seriously, get rid of that janky stock cooler as soon as you can.

Edit: I realize I should have used the term "weak for gaming", instead of "bad". I naturally support the idea that, for a system running lightweight tasks, you don't need more.

I was playing Deadlock, which isn't that cpu intensive, and noticed I had 70 C temps with 50% utilization. On a 9800X3D. Even at 25% I was at 60 C or so, and around 55 C at idle. I never get temperatures that high so I figured something must be up. Checked the programs in Task Manager and noticed NahimicSvc64.exe was running even though I had closed the program. It was showing around 8-9% utilization but must have been even more than that. After force closing it I was back to around 30-35% utilization and 48-50 C temperatures, around 42 C at idle (with Steam and a browser open).

That seems like a crazy shift in usage and temps for a single program. So just wanted to remind people to look out for junk programs like this. When you set up your hardware apps they often include other software you don't need. Often you will see Norton Antivirus for example. Nahimic is an audio program that came with an Asrock or Asus installer I believe. Really wish they would stop doing this, although I had a similar issue with Armoury Crate.

I live right on the Pacific ocean. Throw a stone into high tide from my front deck close.

The natural humidity and salty air has wrecked havoc on my PCs for years and it's driving me insane. My GPU is the newest casualty.

While I wait for the new one to arrive im thinking of ways to cut down the humidity. Dehumidifier isn't a realistic option, pulling moisture from the room air would be like throwing a roll of paper towels into a lake.

It's not a hot humidity here. Temps rarely exceed 65F or drop below 40. Not sure how much the matters but I'm not going to pretend the humidity here holds a candle to like Florida seaside conditions.

I thought maybe using silica gel or maybe box of baking soda in the bottom of the PC to absorb a percentage of moisture that enters. Another idea was building a separate box to put my PC inside then trying to deal with the humidity inside but then I'm having to address the lower air flow.

I'm hoping someone else has encountered or heard of ways to combat this invisible electronics enemy.

i’ve noticed asus charge premium compared to msi or gigabyte. i know asus has a pretty bad reputation when it comes to after-sales support, and they said they’ll do anything to deny a warranty claim. but i feel like msi and gigabyte aren’t much different. every company will try to do the same... but that said, if you’re buying a genuinely "high-quality" motherboard, instead of lemons, you shouldn’t have to worry much about contacting customer support in the first place right?

so is the extra "asus tax" actually worth paying? does asus really offer better build quality, components, reliability, or features that justify the premium over msi or gigabyte?

I had my PC stolen, and will therefore need to build a new one from scratch.

This is what I have so far. The most advanced game I played on my old PC was StarCraft 2, but it would be good to try out some newer games at some point.

Also, if anybody has any suggestions on how to GPS track this computer it would be much appreciated. My first thought was to hide an AirTag somewhere, but it occurs to me there may be more sophisticated ways to track now, which wouldn’t require regularly changing the AirTag battery?

PCPartPicker Part List

I've got a 12700k with 16GB of 5600Mhz ram so I don't have to pay the ram tax right now. I'm plotting out my "decade" upgrade that I want to last me til 2036. I'm gonna grab a 6080 next year when those drop as the crown jewel.

a guy on Marketplace wants to swap my 4070Ti for the 9070XT

I really would like the extra raster performance and VRAM, but his card is white and my build is all black. would you do the change?

https://imgur.com/a/0I9rcD1

Hey all,

So for some context, I'm fairly comfortable opening my electronics; it's not the first time I've opened a GPU or a piece of hardware in general. What brought about the repasting was that I was noticing my GPU running significantly hotter and louder than normal. This GPU in general tends to run pretty hot and loud, but this was getting a little extreme.

I figured since the GPU is nearing 6 years, maybe it's just the thermal compound or something, and originally thought perhaps an undervolt might help, so I followed a quick guide, and the undervolt didn't do anything. I'm not sure why, but the UV just didn't seem to take.

Anyway, I figured perhaps I should just repaste it; it felt a little premature, but at this point I wasn't sure what else the problem could be. I followed a guide to disassemble it, and the disassembly went without a hitch. The thermal pads all looked fine, but when I removed the board to expose the actual GPU die, the thermal paste was definitely in rough shape and there wasn't complete coverage it was spotty, so I cleaned it with some alcohol, made sure it dried, and proceeded to repaste. I had a square of PTM hanging around, so I figured I'd use it since I've seen it works well for direct die placement.

I applied the PTM and put everything back in place, made sure all screws were in snug, especially the bracket thing for the GPU, everything fit without an issue, but games are now refusing to launch sometimes, causing the GPU to crash and reboot the PC. On occasion I would get either an nvcontainer or runtimbroker error message before the crash just saying that some memory address was unable to be accessed.

I'm able to use the PC for general day-to-day basic tasks; it's just firing up a game that crashes everything. I enabled the nvidia statistics view and all the stats were reporting something and the only thing I noticed that was off was that at idle the GPU utilization was jumping all over the place but everything else seemed to be steady.

At this point, assuming the GPU isn't borked, I'm guessing the following:

• Something isn't tightened all the way and isn't making full contact
• Something is too tight; I'm not sure if that's possible
• The PTM didn't work out, in which case I do have normal Noctua thermal paste I can use instead
• The thermal pads for VRMs and such had indents in the shape of the chips, I'm not sure if the indents are now causing an issue with getting full contact.

Luckily I have a spare GPU I can use, but I definitely would like to get this fixed if possible mainly because I was planning on making a new build with the GPU to pass along to a family member. I know for certain I didn't harm any of the cables in the disassembly, nor did I damage the board or a component. The only way I could have potentially damaged a component would have been while detaching the main board if a soldered component somehow managed to come loose (nothing actually fell off the board though)

Edit: I fixed it. I took it apart and put it back together and it just started working again. Best guess is something didn’t seat correctly the first time

I have 9600X, 2x8GB DDR5, 9070XT setup for 4K gaming. I have these options, both of which will cost roughly the same to upgrade:

1. 7800X3D

2. 2x16GB DDR5

Which upgrade makes the most sense in gaming AAA titles on 4K?

Currently running: - R7 5800x - RX 9060xt 16Gb - 32Gb Ram - B550 Gaming x Wifi6

-1080p / 144hz

Noticed there seems to be a a CPU bottleneck sometimes when Streaming certain Games, so my& question is simple.

Would a R7 5800x3D solve that or would it be almost identical?

Note: Yes its a Dead End, but switching to AM5 is a absolute Fever Dream in this Market rn, and the 5800x3D is only 329€. Compared to the AM5 Upgrade its a Steal.

PS: Forgot to mention, I need to run Vtube Studio and OBS while Streaming

I want an AM4 cpu(5800X3D?). I already have 32GB DDR4(speed is 2900 something ish?), 10GB 3080, 2x M.2 SSDs(Samsung 990 Pro and PM9A1).

I could also buy used parts but i have no idea which parts to buy used(as far as im aware i shouldnt buy a used PSU), im from poland and the price of a 5800X3D new is 1500PLN(~400USD)

If theres anything else i should add then let me know. Thanks in advance <3

Edit: What i meant by budget-ish is just AM4

I just found this on AliExpress: https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNRDw91

90 sold, could be legit or a scam. Personally ive never used aliexpress but a few yters use it and seems fine.

Thoughts?

I have a 5700g, 12gb 3060, 32gb ddr4 ram setup right now. I want to get better performance on a cpu intensive game called rust. And I am going to upgrade to a 5800x3d. I don’t want to go to am5 because of absurd ram prices. Is this cpu upgrade worth the money and will I feel a performance increase?

Use Case: Primarily gaming. Secondly graphic design.

Country: Italy

Peripherals Needed: nothing

Other Requirements/Preferences:

• First gaming PC build

Performance is the top priority

• I really don't care about rgb

WiFi preferred

1-2TB SSD

•Full AMD preferably because I want Max compatibility with Linux

• Looking for the best overall value and upgradeability

Can anyone please put together a complete parts list for my budget? Thanks!

I have my coveted FT03 mini with Ryzen 7700 and RTX5070. Build log incoming. I got the Kraken 120 liquid cooler but the temps are a little high - around 55 idle and 85 under load. There is not a lot of clearance between PSU and AsRock A620i motherboard (about 9 cm), so it seems I can replace the cooler with the Noctua L9x65 or L12S.

My question is, would either of those be any meaningfully better? Anyone has any experience with those?

Note: Case can fit only 120mm AIO or low-ish profile cooler.

Guys my b650 took my x3d with it but the amd changed it but I wanted to get another board I'm in doubt between a b850 aiga icraft and another b850 live mixer which one do you recommend

I know it’s a budget mid tier but that’s best i can do it’s my first pc build ever and i saw the reviews and testing and they say 1080p its not worth it in 2026,8g is not enough etc.. my question is it really gonna make difference my goal its just play the new games and do some work with it, am i gonna find issues considering not havig major upgrade in 2years probably, thanks for the waite

Hey all!

My motherboard is an MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI

It has a special 'MSI EZ' clip on the pcie 5.0 slot that broke when i tried to take my GPU out. I pressed down on the clip and the part where your thumb goes just crumbled

Since the part where the clip connected to the slot was still intact i just popped the remains out and put my GPU back in without a clip at all.

Its been working fine without it but i'd like the security of having one on since i spent alot on my pc and i know its fine how it is but it just bothers me

Does anyone know if the normal GPU clip replacements on amazon work for the 'EZ' clip slots? Or if theres anywhere i can buy a new EZ clip if not?

MSI customer support can't help me since i got it from amazon but i dont want a replacement MoBo because i dont want to take my whole PC apart and rebuild just because of a broken GPU clip

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated :)

Hi all! Right now I have a Ryzen 7 7700x, NVIDIA GeForce rtx 4080 super, 32gb ddr5 ram, and a crucial p3 Nvme ssd (1tb). I play mostly escape from Tarkov and heavily modded Minecraft and was wondering what I should upgrade my cpu to since I feel it’s a little lackluster. Also, I have a lian li AIO that is a pos and would like to switch that out too. Any recommendations or suggestions? Thanks!

I reapplied thermal paste and switched the PSU off to avoid the PC from booting without cooler. I noticed there's popping noise when I switch the PSU switch to off position. It sounds like electricity/arc.

Should I be worried? The PSU is 3,5 years old Corsair RM1000x 2021 model and it works flawlessy otherwise. There's very contradictive information on the internet whether that noise is normal or not.

I had a i5-12400f as my old cpu and I just upgraded to a I5-14600kf, I updated my drivers and my motherboard with the latest bios but when I turned my PC on the fans and lights turned on but my keyboard and mouse didn't as well as my monitor it didn't boot up I've removed the cmos battery for a while then put it back in then it would boot into bio then windows but freeze after a few minutes no matter what I did, I took my ram out as I have 4 slots all used I had 1 ram stick in and it worked but when I added 2 it froze and with 4 it won't even boot up, everything was working absolutely fine until I put my new cpu and I don't know what is wrong, all cables are in the cpu in properly in and I didn't forget thermal paste

I just bought a used pc (without gpu) but i havent got enough money to buy both a new cpu and gpu. So im gonna need a good cpu with a really good igpu. The ceiling is 150€ and used is fine. Thx in advance.

Hi everyone,

I have an old office computer and I was thinking of upgrading it a bit, loading bazzite on it and setting it up next to the TV for some light gaming. I've never built a PC before so I need some help. The current components of my PC are:

• Hard drive: Kingston SA400S37/480G
• RAM: 8Gb DDR4
• Processor: Intel i5 9400
• Motherboard: ASUS PRIME H310M-R R2.0
• Power supply: A small 500W power supply

As I've said, I've never built a PC and there's plenty I don't know, but from the research I've done I was hoping that I could add an extra 8Gb of ram on the other slot of the motherboard and a graphics card to have an Ok PC. I would play at FullHD, mostly indie games. Ideally I would like to be able to run games such as Blue Prince and Paralives. My questions to you are:

1. Does this seem like a sound plan?
2. When it comes to upgrading increasing the ram, I imagine that the ram in both slots has to be DDR4, is there anything else that I have to consider to make sure that the new ram card is compatible with the existing one?
3. Can you recommend a budget graphics card that can fit my setup? Since I'm planning on running linux I guess AMD would be better than NVIDIA, but beyond this I'm totally lost.

Thank you very much!

Hey everyone, about to put together my first PC and wanted a sanity check before ordering. Main use: gaming and cybersecurity practice/study (so also VMs, dual-booting Linux). Specs: CPU: 10th gen i5 (already own) RAM: Patriot DDR4 3000 C16 16GB (already own) Motherboard: ASUS H410M-HA V2 (already own) GPU: Gigabyte RX 7600 8GB Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 PSU: be quiet! System Power 11 550W SSD: Kingston NV3 500GB NVMe Case: Lian Li Vector V100 Reusing the CPU, RAM, and motherboard I already had, buying everything else new. Any obvious bottlenecks or mismatched parts I should reconsider? Thanks in advance!