Just got curious about this because I see many posts of people asking something along the lines of “can this build get me 1440p 60fps?”

I’ve been PC gaming for 10 years now and I can honestly say that 60fps is not enough for me. Obviously people have different preferences but I will sacrifice graphic quality in almost any game to get 100+fps. To me the difference is substantially noticeable. And luckily most games these days still look great at lower quality settings.

What’s everyone’s performance/quality preference?

Pretty much the title, and I wanted to share. I just built my first PC last month (I’ll put the specs down below) and paired it with a 27” 240Hz 1440p QD OLED. Don’t get me wrong, it was great for games, but doing work/productivity on it just didn’t feel right. So I made the executive decision to invest in a 32” 4K 165Hz WOLED monitor expecting to get ~80-100 FPS in my favorite games. To my surprise, I’ve been playing Helldivers 2 and Star Wars Zero Company at 150+ fps consistently with good temps and 1% lows—and yes I’m playing at max/nearly max settings. I never knew games could look so good. Very happy with the investment, and doing my work is much better too. Glad to finally be a part of the PC community even if it’s at an inopportune time.

Specs:

Sapphire Pulse 9070XT (-30 mV, -10% power, custom fan curve, 2700 MHz, Fast Timing). Average temp of 50 C, hotspot ~78 C

7800X3D (stock)

32 GB DDR5 6000 CL36 EXPO

5TB NVMe (2TB Samsung 990 Pro, 2TB Acer Predator GM7, 1TB Six X7400 @Gen3 speeds)

ASUS B650E Max Gaming Wifi

850W ADATA XPG Core Reactor II

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120E

For me, it was going from a hard drive to an SSD.

I know that's probably an obvious answer for anyone building PCs today, but when I first made the switch I honestly didn't expect such a massive difference.

Windows stopped feeling like it was taking forever to do everything, games loaded much faster, and even basic stuff like opening programs felt completely different.

What surprised me most was that I hadn't changed anything else in the system. Same CPU, same GPU, same amount of RAM.

It just felt like I had bought a completely new computer.

Since then I've upgraded other parts that gave me higher FPS, but none of them felt as dramatic as that first SSD upgrade.

It got me wondering what other people consider their best upgrade.

Not necessarily the most expensive one or the one that gave the highest benchmark score, but the upgrade where you actually thought, “Why didn't I do this sooner?”

I'd be especially interested in upgrades that were relatively cheap but made a noticeable difference in everyday use.

Been sitting on this question for a while. I'm putting together a midrange build and every time I go down the SSD rabbit hole someone in the comments is losing their mind about DRAM cache like it's the difference between life and death. Then someone else says they've been running a DRAMless drive for two years no problem.

I work long shifts and when I get home I mostly game, watch YouTube, maybe run a few browser tabs. Not editing video, nothing that sounds like it would actually stress a drive. My use case is pretty boring honestly.

The price gap is real though. I got burned chasing value on stuff before and ended up with garbage, so I'm not trying to repeat that. But I also don't want to pay a $4050 premium just because a spec sheet says DRAM on it.

What I actually want to know is whether the slowdowns people complain about show up in real daytoday use or only in benchmarks that nobody runs outside of reviews. Benchmark numbers and lived experience feel like two completely different conversations when I'm reading through threads.

Anyone running one of these budget drives in a similar setup who can give a straight answer?

Hey everyone,
Looking for some advice on my GPU situation. I recently upgraded my PC, but building it took way longer than expected because life got in the way and I had zero free time.(it took me half a year to have free schedule so I can actually build it and enjoy building it without any stress and rush)
Now that it’s finished, money is a bit tight, and GPU prices in my local used market have jumped compared to a few months ago.
Here is my current build:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT
RAM: 16 GB
GPU: Currently 1660s
My original plan was to buy an RTX 4060 Ti or RTX 5060 or a similar gpu with more or less same performance. However, a deal just popped up locally for a used GTX 1080 Ti for 110
I don't play super demanding AAA games with ray tracing—I mainly stick to competitive titles and like once a year I play something more demanding. I know the 1080 Ti is an older card, but performance-wise it still holds up raw power wise (“almost” the same raw power as listed above)
Would you grab the 1080 Ti for $110 as a solid budget option, or is it better to hold off and wait until I can afford a modern card like a 4060 Ti / 5060?
Thanks for the input!

I want to be able to code/program on my pc as I am interested in IT, and also want to be able to game COD, GTA, Fortnite etc and also be able to edit videos for online content. WHAT IS THE BEST SPEC I SHOULD GO FOR? I would like this PC to last a while without needing to upgrade the set up

Budget: €1,300 (I can try save up more if needed)

TLDR; 270k plus vs 9800x3d for ~$250 more

4080 super, multiple 4k displays, like to run multiple games at once but other than that no productivity needs

Hi all, I am upgrading my CPU/mobo/ram to ddr5, and I am looking for some input on which CPU platform would be the best option for me. Essentially, I am stuck between the 270K Plus and the 9800x3d, with some consideration for 7800x3d but likely not. The kicker is that its between $250-300 more expensive to go with the 9800x3d as opposed to the 270K plus using microcenter bundles. I know that generally the 9800x3d is considered slightly better, but I would love some feedback on if its worth the price difference given my build and use case:

Setup: 4080 super, 32 gb ddr5-6000

I run two 4k monitors, 1 at 60 hz, 1 at 165 hz, occasionally run another 3440 x 1440 ultrawide at 60hz.

I am primarily gaming, very little system heavy productivity use. However, I do enjoy a couple games that are notoriously single threaded, so single core performance is somewhat important to me, and additionally, I quite frequently run multiple games at once, ie valorant and genshin, while watching youtube videos or twitch streams and utilizing other websites (this kinda makes me sound degen im sorry).

From what I can ascertain online, it seems like the gap between these two chips closes at higher resolutions, and that the 270k may be better suited for my spastic workloads, and I think the value proposition is considerable, but I don't want to make a mistake.

Other considerations: power use, temperatures, and noise are relatively important to me. I will be watercooling either way, but if one of these over the other would mean not heating up my room by a couple degrees that would be worth a lot. For the most part, I intend for this to be my PC for the next 4-5 years and do not anticipate having the disposable income to continue upgrading just for the sake of it during that time. I don't know if this means I should go with the more futureproof am5 socket and have the option to move to next gen ryzen later, or if it instead means the EOL lga socket is fine for me.

Thank you for the input!

So my understanding is that 3200 mhz cl14 is obviously better than cl16 or 18 for latency. A guy sold me 32gb of ddr4 for 100 bucks the other week and it booted up into windows at that clock no issue. But where will I see that difference exactly? Windows seems a lot more snappy. I have yet to try it in a game but idk if it'll make much of a difference because my pc already runs pretty alright on games. I've heard cl14 is better for competitive games even vs ddr5 with higher CL rating.

What about workload? From what I know and have read, its strictly latency and it can help improve choppy fps, as well as help with multithreaded tasks like video editing to make the workload more efficient. Or is it all numbers that im looking a bit too far into? I just put the parts together and install windows lol.

I'm torn between upgrading the existing config or just live with it. I'm not a heavy gamer. Only playing battlefield 6 and lol(aram).

I've a Ryzen 5700x with 16gb DDR4 and 6600 xt GPU. I cannot really upgrade to a more beefy GPU, as I've a 500w PSU.

Is it worth upgrading maybe to a 4070?

Or ditch the whole concept and get a Mac mini with cloud gaming?

I finally used a Wolfbox MegaFlow 200 to clean my gaming PC after putting it off for too long, and I did all the usual cautious stuff: unplugged the PSU, held the fans still, kept some distance from the board, and blew dust out in the garage. It worked, but I still felt unsure about whether I was aiming dust into the PCIe slots or being too careful about static and pressure. People who do this more often, what is your normal order of operations? Filters first, fans next, heatsink last, short bursts from farther away, or does the exact angle not matter as much as beginners think?

So, I've had my MSI Thin A15 B7VE for a while now, with 512 GB of storage, and I'm wanting to upgrade it to 1TB. Problem is I don't know what kind of SSD to get for my laptop. I live in Malaysia, and if someone could recommend proper SSD brands I can buy? Prefarably budget friendly ones I can get in my country.

Hello.

I want to get help getting unbanned from the buildapc discord server.

I think I got auto banned by a bot because my account was brand new.

Any help?

So I have had the same PC for about 6-7 years now. I had upgraded the components throughout the years and currently when gaming, it shuts off randomly. Whether I’ll be on for 10 minutes or 10 hours, at some point, it will shut down completely. I thought maybe it was my power supply going bad but after replacing it, no change. I believe this all really started after I went from a 2070 to a 4070 but would like some advice.

Here are my current specs:
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
NVDA RTX 4070 TI Super
MAG B650 Tomahawk (MS-7D75)
Corsair DDR5 32GB x2

Please help!

$1200 NZD Budget (Around 700 USD)

I'm trying to buy or build a pc to play games such as; Valorant, Fortnite, Minecraft, Rainbow Six Siege, And other 1080p games.

I'm Based in New Zealand :)

I am restarting my setup from scratch with only a desk and a mouse so please any advice helps

I would prefer an all white build and a ryzen cpu over an intel cpu preferred.

I currently have a pc with the 1660super and Ryzen 7 3700x do I upgrade it to the Ryzen 5 5500 and rx5700xt

My PC has had a few issues lately, but the main problem right now is that my CPU fan isn’t spinning on its own anymore. I have to open up my case and manually spin the fan repeatedly until it starts spinning.
Today it pretty much stopped working altogether. I managed to get it spinning once, but I had to restart my PC because I got it running after the PC had already booted. At this point, I think it’s finally time to replace the cooler.
For some context, I have a Ryzen 7 5700X3D, but I’m still using the Wraith Prism cooler that originally came with my Ryzen 7 3800X. I’ve had that cooler for a couple of years now.
I’m looking for a cheap CPU cooler since I’m on a relatively tight budget. I’d also really prefer something that’s easy to install, because I’ve watched some videos of people installing CPU coolers and some of them look absolutely wild lol.
What would you guys recommend for a 5700X3D that’s inexpensive and relatively painless to install?
Thanks!
My budget is around $25-$30

Hi, I bought my son a pre-built gaming PC in 2024 that he has started to outgrow (can’t really play the games he wants) and also I’m unable to upgrade from Windows 10 pro to Windows 11 because the PC isn’t up to spec.

My question is, is there anything I can change or any quick fixes that would improve his PC or am I better buying a new one? I’d rather upgrade it gradually but in all honesty I just don’t know enough about PCs which is why I’m here.

This is what the PC is running with at the moment. But I think I’d need to open it up to find the PSU and whatever cooling system it uses?

CPU: Intel (R) Core (TM) i7-3770 CPU @3.4GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
Motherboard: Intel B75 ?
RAM: 16GB
OS: Windows 10 Pro
SSD: 256GB

Thanks for reading 🙏

When I built my current PC, I assumed I'd probably replace most of the components within a few years.

The GPU, CPU and motherboard were the parts I expected to become outdated first.

What surprised me was the power supply. It's been running for years through multiple upgrades, and I honestly expected to replace it much sooner.

I originally bought it because it had good reviews and enough headroom for the build, but I never expected it to outlast several of the components it was powering.

My case has also aged surprisingly well. It's nothing fancy, but the airflow is still good, there's enough room for modern components, and I haven't really found a reason to replace it.

It made me wonder how many people have one particular component that just refuses to die while everything around it gets upgraded.

What part of your current or previous build lasted significantly longer than you expected?

Been thinking about upgrading my pc for a while now and currently am looking at a 9800X3D to replace my 9700k. I really liked the look of my Asus Prime Z390 since its colors matched my NZXT H500i really nicely but looking on PcPartPicker they're all either fully black or white apart from ASRock, who I've heard I should avoid.

Hi, I have a doubt about which ssd should I purchase. Specifically, I have the possibility to buy for both at 110€, a Crucual t705 and a Samsung 990 pro, both 1tb. My motherboard support only the gen4, so I would not benefit the pci 5 of the crucial (my cpu does), but I was wondering, for the same price and the same health state (99% for both), should I go for the crucial t705? It will run well on my b650 m-p and r5 7600x build? So I can get for the same price a gen5 and if I will upgrade to another mb in the future I will unlock also the pci 5 benefits. Does this makes sense? Apart from the pci upgrade stuff, has the crucial better quality and technology compared to the samsung 990 pro? Which is your advice ?

First time PC builder here. I just finished up a build the other week and for my first time, I got everything figured out pretty easily. It was working perfectly for a few days, but then today I tried to play a game and was prompted to update my GPU driver, so I did and that compeletely tanked performance for everything, so I uninstalled the driver and now I'm kinda stuck because I need one to have my GPU work properly.

So here are my questions:

What is the best driver to install at the moment? (I'm using an AMD Radeon 9070XT)

How do I install it properly without ruining my performance (and how did that even happen in the first place lol)?

As I said, I'm a first time builder so bear with me here. I'm just trying to learn what I'm doing and a lot of the stuff I look up is verrry confusing.

Hey BAPC hivemind! I have one of those fancy desks that has 2x 4u rackmount bays built in, and I want to rebuild my workstation into a 4u chassis I can mount up on my desk! I’ve been searching but haven’t found anything that checks all the boxes save the Slieger CX4150a… which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I just feel like there’s more I’m not finding yet!

Here’s what the Chassis needs to have…
-360 rad support
-GPU Max Length 345mm
-ATX Form Factor and PSU support
-Support for at least 4 PCI Expansion Slots total (3 for GPU and 1 for an M.2 riser that acts as all storage)
-Doesn’t need to be shallow but doesn’t need to be mega deep - standard 19” width and maybe 17” depth?

This is all coming out of a Lancool II if that helps! I’d love to see what’s out there and of course see your rackmount workstation or gaming builds too!! Cheers and thanks for all the help!

Current Specs
R9 5900XT
AORUS x570 MASTER
9070xt Hellhound
64gB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RGB
12TB Vairous NVME storage (combined)
ASUS RAID M.2 Riser Card
EVGA SUPERNOVA 750 GOLD ATX PSU
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360
LianLi Lancool II

Should I buy a 5060 now or wait?

GPU prices in my country were already pretty inflated, and they've gotten even worse with RAM/SSD prices going up and the general increase in component prices.

I'm kind of in need of an upgrade now, though. My RX 5700 XT died, so I'm currently stuck with a spare RX 580, which unfortunately isn't really enough for newer AAA games.

I play at 1080p, so I've been considering the RTX 5060. I know the 8GB VRAM is a potential concern, and that I'd probably be committing myself to 1080p for the foreseeable future.

The problem is that the alternatives are insanely expensive here:

• RTX 5060 8GB — $415
• RX 9060 XT 16GB — $550
• RTX 5060 Ti 8GB — $530

So the 9060 XT is ~$135 more, while the 5060 Ti 8GB is somehow ~$115 more than the regular 5060. Intel GPUs also aren't available here, so that's unfortunately not an option.

Given these prices, I'm wondering whether I should just bite the bullet and get the 5060, or hold off on buying a GPU for now.

Would an RTX 5060 8GB be enough to keep me happy with AAA games at 1080p for the next few years, or is the 8GB VRAM likely to become a major limitation or will games be more optimized considering the RAM crisis?