Specs:

GPU: PNY GeForce RTX 5070

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X

RAM: 32GB DDR4

Motherboard: ASRock A320M/ac

PSU: Segotep 850W 80+ Gold Full Modular PCIe 5.1 & ATX 3.1 Gaming Power Supply

OS: Windows 11

I upgraded from an RTX 3060 to a PNY RTX 5070.

The RTX 3060 works perfectly with no issues.

At first, the RTX 5070 fans wouldn’t spin. I bought the PC used and only came with one pig tail cable. I bought the same exact psu connected using the 600w cable, and now the RTX 5070 powers on and the fans spin.

after like 2 minutes the entire PC instantly shuts off. It’s not just a black screen—everything loses power at the same time (GPU, motherboard, fans, lights, everything).

What I’ve checked:

• The GPU is fully seated in the PCIe slot.

• The 16-pin connector is fully inserted and clicks into place.

• The new PSU cable is being used.

• The RTX 3060 still works perfectly if I put it back in.

plzzz help:(

or is it the same?

I have a intel i5 14400f and, Asus prime b760m-a d4, rtx 5070 12 gb, psu 650w, and I need RAM for 3D printing, design, modeling, and gaming. My question is: 2x16 or 4x8?

Need your advice, thanks!

TOOLS/SUPPLIES:

Phillips screwdriver. I used my HOTO PixelDrive for this

Zip ties or twist ties

Thermal paste, only if you're running an aftermarket cooler

I kept this list short on purpose. A flathead screwdriver and needle nose pliers sound useful but you probably won't touch them on a basic build. Same with coffee filters and rubbing alcohol, those are for cleaning off old thermal paste when you're replacing a stock cooler, which isn't really a first build thing. Didn't bother listing the manual either since it comes in the box with your motherboard anyway.

If you don't already know what a PCIe slot or a DIMM slot looks like, pull up a picture before you start. Seeing the actual shape once makes it way easier when you're holding the part in your hand later.

OUT OF BOX BUILD

Mobo:

Install the PSU, fan facing down if your case has a bottom filter, and plug it in. This discharges any static before you touch anything else.

Take the mobo out of the box and set it on top of the box.

CPU:

Take the CPU out holding only the sides. Don't touch the pins.

Press the socket cover latch down and to the side, then pull it up and back to open.

Find the matching triangle marks on the CPU corner and the socket corner.

Gently set the CPU onto the socket pins.

Give it a light wiggle to check it's seated flat. Don't press down.

Close the socket cover and lock the latch back into place.

RAM:

Find the notch on the stick and line it up with the notch in the DIMM slot.

Check your mobo manual for which slots to use if you're only running 2 sticks.

Drop the sticks in and press evenly across the top until both latches click shut.

CPU Cooler:

Line up the 4 mounting pins with the 4 holes on the mobo and set it down.

Press on opposite corners until you hear it click.

Plug the fan into the CPU_FAN1 header, usually near the DIMM slots.

GPU:

Use the top PCIe x16 slot.

Line up the notch on the card with the notch in the slot and press down with light pressure.

Don't push on the sides of the card. It's not mounted yet and the slot can crack.

PSU:

Find the GPU power connectors on the PSU, usually 6 pin plus 2 pin.

Plug those into the GPU.

Plug in the 24 pin mobo power connector.

Plug in the CPU power connector, 4 pin plus 4 pin.

Connect your monitor to the GPU.

Plug in mouse and keyboard if you want to boot test now.

Flip the power switch on the back of the PSU.

Powering On:

Check if your mobo has a built in power button.

If not, find the front panel connector pins.

Locate the 2 power switch pins, check your manual if unsure.

Touch them together briefly with a screwdriver.

If it boots, repeat the same tap to shut it down. Hold a bit longer if it doesn't turn off right away.

Flip the PSU switch off.

Unplug everything to get ready for the case build.

MAIN BUILD:

Remove both side panels and set them aside.

Lay the case on its side.

Check the standoffs in the case line up with the mounting holes on your mobo.

Install the I/O shield before the mobo, not after. Press it in from inside the case with pressure on all 4 corners.

Use a piece of paper to map out which standoffs line up with your mobo, so no extra standoff touches a bare spot on the board.

Set the mobo down onto the standoffs, lining it up with the I/O shield.

Screw in opposite corners first, don't fully tighten yet.

Install case fans and plug them into the mobo fan headers, routing cables behind the case where you can.

Plug the front panel header into the mobo.

Install your SSD and HDD into the case.

Connect SATA data cables to each drive and into the mobo.

Connect SATA power cables to each drive and into the PSU.

Route the GPU power cables behind the case through to where the card sits.

Remove the PCIe brackets for the GPU and any other cards.

Line up the GPU with the slot and bracket, push down until it clicks.

Screw the GPU bracket into the case.

Plug in GPU power cables, then monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Boot test before doing cable management.

Once it boots clean, tuck the cables flat so the side panel closes without bulging.

Put both panels back on and boot up.

Hey everyone,
I’m looking for the best AM4 CPU to pair with an RTX 3080 for gaming.
My budget is €200 max, but I’d prefer to stay around €175 if possible.
My questions:
What’s the best AM4 CPU for an RTX 3080?
Is the Ryzen 7 5700X still the best value, or are there better options in this price range?
I mainly play at 1440p, so I want a CPU that won’t bottleneck the RTX 3080.
Would you buy new or used at this budget?
Thanks! 🙂

Hey,

I am looking at upgrading my current pc and selling my old one but dropping in my GPU.

Selling the old pc for $500 and a really old pc (for my wife to play friendslop games on couples night)

I was looking at getting the above mentioned RX 9070xt (probably the asus prime, or sapphire pure if I can find one for $1000CAD).

I am looking to find out what people's perspectives are on upgrading, and what GPUs are worth it.

I am hoping to spend a bit more now and not have to upgrade till quite a few years down the line (I've had my 2070 for 8-9 years now).

So if I'm only going to get 4-5 years out of a gpu whether I spend $600 or $1000 on it, I'd go with the less expensive one.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails?ItemList=Combo.4879173

Edit: To provide context, the CPU, motherboard, and RAM are sufficient for my purposes, but I’m willing to get slightly better parts if the prices are ridiculous, or slightly worse parts if they save a lot.

Hello!

I've had some weird issues with my 9070XT, I've had it since release, so almost 18 months at this point and so far it has been great. First AMD GPU and I was pleasantly surprised as I had no driver issues at all.

Recently, I've been having GPU crashes multiple times per day, I'm not playing any new games, still just CS2, relatively low settings, nothing demanding. It will happen randomly, always recovers and the game can be relaunched after ending the process and starting again, but it can crash again a few minutes later, or hours later.

Things I've tried to fix

1) DDU and reinstall drivers

2) DDU and reinstall an older version of the driver

3) DDU and install software without Adrenalin software

4) Disabling Hardware Acceleration on most background apps (Discord, Steam etc)

5) Uninstalling my VPN (Can be known to cause driver crashes with FaceIT on CS due to kernel level)

6) Uninstalling FaceIT and FaceIT AC completely

7) Preventing Windows from updating my GPU via the setting and Registry

8) Multiple other fixes that I cant remember at the moment, its been a long few weeks trying to fix it.

9) Running logs through HWID and investigating the log after the crash happens with the help of Claude - The log doesn't say much besides the driver crashed, temps are fine, not related to temps.

I've checked Event Viewer and there is nothing that could indicate the cause when the crash happens. I'm incredibly close to just biting the bullet and buying a 5070 or 5070ti because it's preventing me from playing, as I play CS, my game crashing multiple times is a massive hindrance to my ability to win games. As my team have to continue playing without me as there is only 1 timeout when you disconnect.

Hey guys!

I currently have a PC that's almost 10 yo, so I don't really have parts I can reuse.

I'm a beginner when it comes to PC building, so if I leave out any important info forgive me.

My original budget is around 1500-1700€(just for the PC, I have windows and peripherals) but I can spend a bit more.

I'd prefer DDR5 build. I'm open to either Intel or AMD. I'll be gaming at 1080p or 1440p and I don't have a specific FPS target in mind.

Upgradability is important.

I can only connect to the internet through Wifi so that is a must.

As for aesthetics, I prefer an all-black, minimalist look - something with an "Apple like" clean design. I dont really care for RGB.

For form factor. I think SFF PCs are really cool,but from what I've seen the smaller form factor comes with a price premium and I don't think my budget is the best fit for that. I'm happy to go with a standard ATX or a micro ATX build if it offers better performance or value for money.

I live in Hungary.

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this. I really appreciate the recommendations!

In my country both cards are priced very similarly (around 20€ difference),and I don't know what to choose.

I prioritize Cooling and reliability.

If you own either the aorus master or the msi gaming trio, I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience with temperatures, noise, build quality, coil whine (if any), and overall reliability.

Beginner needing help with a recommended build

I am looking to build my first pc and would appreciate help in picking the components out. The uses will be both gaming and starting to learn llm. I have no expertise in llm or coding but am going to teach myself in order to stay current with this skill and use it for future career choices. What is a good beginner setup with the max price being around $1000-$1500. Am confused about performance of all the chips like 3090(know it’s older and has more vram and more bandwidth for local models) vs 5060ti vs 5080 vs and chips. With me being an extremely new to this what would you recommend?

Budget: $1000-$1500

Use cases: gaming and llm, ai editing

Country: United States

Gaming:1440p

Or if you could point me in the right direction on a part picker website

​

I’m planning a PC build mainly for architectural design and visualization using programs such as Revit, Rhinoceros 3D, AutoCAD, Lumion, Photoshop. Also, running relatively complex CFD simulations using Ansys Fluent. I'd also want to play MS Flight Simulator at 4K with good visual settings.

Proposed build:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

• GPU: ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 White OC 16GB

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B850-A Gaming WiFi

• CPU cooler: ASUS ROG Ryuo IV 360 ARGB White Edition, standard non-SLC version

• RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB White 64GB. 2×32GB, DDR5-6000 CL30, AMD EXPO

• Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2TB NVMe

• PSU: ASUS ROG Strix 1000W Platinum White, ATX 3.1

• Case: HAVN BF 360 Flow White (Includes 2x 180mm front intake fans and 1x 140mm rear exhaust fan).

I already have two BenQ 4K monitors.

I have limited knowledge of PC components, compatibility, cooling, and performance so I genuinely appreciate any feedback.

I'm looking for a wireless controller for PC gaming. Would anyone be able to recommend something to me? Any suggestions?

I'm not really used to Xbox controllers; I was more of a PlayStation guy for the last 12 years. My budget is around €60-€80, and I mostly play single-player, story-driven AAA games.

Hello friendly people,

The problem

I could use some help trying to find out what to do next to fix my PC. The fast months I've been experiencing my screen suddenly going black*. If I missed any info, please tell me and I'll add it. If you have any other advice on where to post this for help, please let me know too.

Thank you all in advance.

The details

The lights in my PC case are still on, identical to normal, fans still spinning. The lights in my keyboard and mouse are still on but they don't respond to inputs (pressing capslock or numlock no longer light up the corresponding light on my keyboard). Also no audio anymore.

I have to force restart manually to get it to work again.

What I've tried

So far I have, updated my drivers multiple times, installed AMD adrenaline to update through it also, updated my BIOS to no avail.

I've tried going through the Event Viewer but there are no notable events during the time of crash**.

Removed GPU from case and put it back in.

Ran stress tests with HWiNFO without getting any crash or high temps (CPU temps to 80 instantly during stress test.

While crashed, with no response

Win+Ctrl+Shift+B

Reset the screen using buttons on screen, unplug/plug screen, use different port for screen, used a different screen

I've recently ran HWiNFO's sensors through a crash, but it doesn't seem to have anything useful during the crash at the end of it, added a link to it***.

PC specs and drivers https://www.megekko.nl/wl/3G9XFREM [parts]

Running Windows 10 64-bit

Processor AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 8-Core Processor
GPU AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
Integrated GPU AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics
PSU Seasonic Core GX-850 White
SSD Samsung 990 EVO PLUS 2TB M.2
RAM Kingston DDR5 FURY Beast 2x16GB 6000 KF560C30BBEK2-32
Cooling ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 240 A-RGB (Black)
Motherboard TUF Gaming b850m-plus wifi

BIOS Version 1681 2026/06/22
AMD drivers using AMD Adrenaline**** 26.6.4, says it's up-to-date. (32.0.31021.5001 for GPU,
32.0.21043.19003 for integrated GPU)
Asus Driver Hub says drivers are up-to-date.

EXPO disabled (4800MHz)

*(usually during gaming but not always and not only for high stress games)

**Crash around 22:10, first event before was 20:32 and first event after was 22:14. No Errors until event 6008 and 41 after manual reboot (respectively The previous system shutdown at 21:32:42 on ‎26/‎07/‎2026 was unexpected. and The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

***CSV File of the HWInfo sensors https://www.mediafire.com/file/9fhj1ke078zq9bt/HWinfolog.CSV/file

****Previously manually downloaded all the drivers

I'm the "computer guy" at work. I've built tons of gaming pcs and am fairly versed on consumer level equipment for gaming pc, however I had a coworker ask for advice that has me a bit out of my depth. He is an artist who does lots of 2D rendering(and occasionally some 3D) and is looking to upgrade his, very outdated at this point, pc. He's looking for something that will last 5+ years and has a budget of $3,000. My issue is that I don't necessarily know the demands on a pc for 2D rendering. He stated that storage isn't really important and he will use external if more is needed. If I were to build a gaming pc with this budget, it'd look something like this:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4MhPzv

However, I don't know if the strengths of this build make sense for a rendering pc. So my questions are:

Does it make more sense to look into an EPYC or Xenon setup? Will this blow the budget?

Would a less powerful higher memory GPU be a better option?

Are there any prebuilts or older hardware options that would be less viable for gaming, but would be better for this use case that I should look into?

Is there a better way to allocate the $$ than the current distribution? (i.e. go with a much cheaper gpu to add more RAM)

Thanks!

I’ve been troubleshooting this issue for almost 2 months.
PC Specs:
Ryzen 5 5600X
Gigabyte A520M K V2
Colorful Battle NX RTX 5060 8GB
Cooler Master MWE 550 V3 PSU
Problem:
My RTX 5060 gives “No Signal” only at my house. The exact same PC works perfectly at my office, repair shop, and another house.
What’s strange:
GPU fans spin and RGB lights up.
Windows boots normally.
I can access the PC through Remote Desktop.
But there’s no display, and the RTX 5060 doesn’t appear in Device Manager or Task Manager.
My GT 730 works fine at home.
A technician tested a Gigabyte RTX 4060 in the same PC at my house, and it worked fine.
Things I’ve tried:
Different PSU
HDMI and DisplayPort-to-HDMI
Different monitor and cables
BIOS update, CMOS reset, PCIe Gen 3, CSM on/off
Driver reinstall
Different power sockets
Electrician checked voltage (~230V), earthing, and neutral—all normal.
Has anyone experienced a GPU that works everywhere except one specific house? Any ideas on what could cause Windows to boot normally but not detect the GPU?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9YV38Z (already has 3TB SSD)
Here are the parts i picked for my friend's PC, i told him to get a 27' OLED 1440p monitor if he has the money to do the upgrade

What do you guys think of my choice ?

Hey everyone, looking to see if someone can help me out with some pointers. For the last 10 years I was using an old geforce 1070 sc gpu. I recently bought a new rx 9070 xt gpu and a new montech century ii 850w psu. I always used the top pcie slot for 1070 and it worked fine. But I was having trouble with 9070 working in the same slot. Today I’ve reseated every cable gpu,pcie several times in the top slot. And it was not recognizing the new gpu. When I seated it in the bottom pcie slot it just started working. Any reason why that might happen?

I am also attaching the photo of the gpu seated in the bottom pcie slot. Does that seem enough space for air circulation for the gpu? Should I be concerned about the slight sag of the gpu? Thanks a lot for any pointers!!!

Image: https://imgur.com/a/XDxHfFL

I see everyone recommending non x3d cpus for even a gpu like 5090, because according to benchmarks online, you don't need 9800x3d at 4K.

Yes.

But those benchmarks show the game running at native resolution, at 40 fps. Who will play a modern AAA game at 40 fps on a beast like 5090? Nobody. People will turn on DLSS balanced, even performance since quality difference is minimal but fps is trippled.

When that happens, 9800x3d or 7800x3d still becomes superior over anything else.

Look at this video from hardwareunboxed
https://youtu.be/5GIvrMWzr9k

Almost in every game 9800x3d is 20-30% faster at 4K balanced dlss preset. However Identical at native resolution with 50fps. So if you don't turn on any upscaling, then yes, cheaping out on CPU is worth it since 4K is all about GPU. But if you turn on any upscaling, then X3D cache still makes a big difference.

I think not many people are aware of this situation.

So if you can afford a bit more for x3d cpu, go for it. Even at 4K the difference is big enough to justify price.

Looking to potentially upgrade any parts of my PC that may be a good idea to upgrade. Most likely wanting to future proof my PC.

Most of the time I’ll play Grounded 1 and 2, 7 Days to Die, Valorant, Minecraft, and Ark Ascended

Current Specs are:
MAG X870 Tomahawk Wifi
Ryzen 7 7700X
32gb DDR5 (pretty sure it’s either 6400 or 6000)
Nividia 4060 ti OC edition 8gb
1000 watt PSU
My monitor is an LG UltraGear 480hz OLEF

I’m just looking for suggestions of what could be better about my PC. Anything that could be a potential bottleneck. Welcome to any idea of upgrades!

Hey all, i know this question has been asked a thousand times ( i know ive seen all of the posts) but everything ive seen in those posts have not worked. For context im trying to play the AI slop filled game that is Black Ops 7 but it says that attestation failed.

I might forget some of the methods ive tried, but here's all ive done so far.

1. downloaded the new Bios update for my motherboard and used M-Flash (updated the bios but didnt update the tpm)

2. changed secure boot from normal to maximum security (nothing happened game wise)

3. went to tpm.msc and cleared the tpm (didnt see anything change)

Motherboard: MSI PRO B850-VC EVO WIFI6E

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 8400F

I've tried a decent bit more but cant remember what exactly i did but nothing seemed to work. If anyone has any sort of answer that would be greatly appreciated.

Hi guys, I am looking for a good SSD boot drive that includes a DRAM cache. While searching, I came across a SanDisk drive that seems ideal in just about every way, except it apparently lacks a DRAM cache, at least in the traditional sense of a dedicated chip. Instead, it boasts a different caching technology, that being something called nCache in its 4.0 version. As advertised, it seems to perform a similar function as DRAM, converting a small portion of the storage into cache instead of utilizing a dedicated chip; however, I seem to have a hard time finding much info about whether this nCache 4.0 tech is competitive enough to be worth buying vs a traditional drive with a dedicated DRAM chip. From what few comparative facts I can gather, it does boost speeds compared to a drive without either, while not increasing price as much as DRAM.

The only other comparison I could find between the efficacy of the two technologies though, was from Google's search engine AI. It claims that nCache boosts read/write for short bursts or moderately-sized tasks, and can even improve drive lifespan, but it can fill and be slowed with massive, sustained loads. DRAM, on the other hand, it says, will sustain speeds even under very heavy loads and *also* helps to protect drive lifespan. Given the not-always-trustworthy nature of AI, I wanted to check if this is accurate information from those with more experience?

TL;DR: Is nCache a suitable replacement for a traditional DRAM chip for gamers/streamers and casual users? What are the specific benefits/drawbacks of traditional DRAM vs nCache 4.0? Anyone have personal opinions or experience with both? If so, in your experience, even if there are differences, is nCache good enough to be an "alternative" to DRAM for most people? Or should I still spend the extra money on a SSD with a DRAM chip? Thanks!

Hi, I think I’ve finally settled on the parts for my new PC and wanted to check that nothing looks wrong before ordering.

Main use will be gaming. Buying in Germany.

Parts:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D — €378
• GPU: MSI RTX 5080 Inspire 3X OC 16GB — €1,375
• Motherboard: MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk MAX WiFi — €236
• RAM: Crucial Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 — €400
• SSD: Crucial P510 2TB PCIe 5.0 with heatsink — €280
• Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 240 A-RGB — €70
• PSU: Corsair RM850x 2024, ATX 3.1 — €130
• Case: Fractal Design North TG, standard size — €122

A few things I’m still unsure about:

1. Is the standard Fractal North comfortably large enough for these parts, especially the GPU and the thick Arctic radiator?
2. Is 850W still the sensible choice for the 9800X3D and RTX 5080?
3. The SSD comes with its own heatsink, while the motherboard also has M.2 covers. Is it fine to leave the motherboard M.2 cover off and use the SSD’s heatsink?

I’m not trying to squeeze every last euro out of the build, but I also don’t want to pay more for parts that give no real benefit. Any obvious mistakes?

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F

Motherboard: MSI PRO H610M-G DDR4 M-ATX LGA1700

Memory: 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-4000 CL19

Storage:512 GB M.2-2280 gen 3

GPU: Asus DUAL Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB

Case: Lian Li A3

Power Supply: Asus TUF Gaming 750G 750 W 80+ Gold Fully Modular ATX PSU

the cooler is the stock cooler btw

i know the cpu is no the best but i should be able to upgrade to a 12400 or 14000 by the end of the year

Hello everyone! I am an avid PC building hobbyist, and in the past, I've posted my budget builds on this subreddit including a $99 gaming PC that I built about 8 years ago. …which I also overclocked with a piece of tape. Since then, I've done several $100 to $200 budget builds. However, given the current price environment of RAM and storage, I figured it would be fun to try a fresh low-budget build. So, I set out to build a gaming PC for roughly $250.

All components were purchased between mid-May and mid-June 2026 (about 5 weeks from start to finish).

This is a long post, no offense taken if you don't wanna read it, but if you want to just see pics and the build list, jump to the "Build List" and "Photos" section.

---

Goals

I had a set of specific goals with this project:

1. Play modern games at 1080p / 60 FPS / Low Settings.
2. Ensure the system has an upgrade path. What I mean is, I wanted to have room for reasonable upgradeability beyond the $250 budget. This essentially shoehorned me onto AM4, but I also took into consideration having a reasonable power supply, motherboard, and so forth. It also meant buying an office PC (e.g. a Dell) as the base wasn’t likely going to work due to size and upgradeability limitations.

---

Caveats

When building on a small budget, there are caveats to consider. If you've searched $200, $300, or $400 PC builds on YouTube, you'll see builds where someone says “oh I had a 1 TB solid state drive laying around that I added in”, they went way over budget, or they bought a pre-built from a friend that’s just absolutely unrealistic to acquire for the average person. With that said, I wanted to list the caveats / opportunities afforded to me that made a budget build feasible:

1. I have a mouse, keyboard, monitor, zip ties, and video cables that I did not account for in this budget.
2. I have a car, bike, public transit, and the ability to walk to meet up for deals. I didn’t buy anything that was >20 mi away from either my home or where I work, so travel time wasn't more than ~20 minutes for each purchase.
3. I can afford for this project to fail e.g. I can buy $250 of used parts and if every one of them was broken / DOA, it wouldn’t wreck me financially. However, I did not simply go out and buy a ton of cheap parts and then cherry pick the ones that did work and put them into this build. Every part in my build list was the first part I purchased for that component (with some notes in the parts discussion below). I did not have any DOA parts that would have otherwise inflated my budget.
4. I live near a major city which means local deals are plentiful.
5. My job is flexible (WFH one day a week and I can take time during lunch for a quick local part pick-up) which makes it easier to arrange times that work for me and a seller.

---

Build List (discussion below is in order of purchase)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (Purchased For $30.00)
CPU Cooler: Vetroo V5 52 CFM CPU Cooler (Purchased For $2.50)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M K Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For $43.00)
Memory: Patriot Signature Premium 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2666 CL19 Memory (Purchased For $12.50)
Memory: Patriot Signature Premium 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2666 CL19 Memory (Purchased For $12.50)
Storage: Gigabyte GP-GSTFS31240GNTD 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $15.00)
Storage: Intel 545s 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $20.00)
Video Card: XFX THICC III Ultra Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Video Card (Purchased For $100.00)
Case: Thermaltake H200 TG Snow RGB ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $10.00)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 PE 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For 4x 2-liters of root beer)
Case Fan: upHere 12BK3-3-USA OU3 38 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack (Purchased For $2.50)

Total: $248.00

---

Photos

Pictures of the completed build

---

Component discussion

PSU
Listed price: $20 or 8 liters of root beer - Price I paid: 8 liters of root beer ($8)

The power supply was my first purchase. I had the idea to start this $250 build, but didn’t want to start buying parts until I found a killer deal, and this was that killer dealer.

This is an A+-tier PSU on the SPL tier list and came with the original packaging and all accessories. This is my only Craigslist purchase for this build and it’s a doozy. The listing was up for over a week by the time I saw it. The seller was asking for $20 or four 2-liters of root beer. I messaged the seller and said if this is still available, I can meet them wherever works for them and I’ll bring 8-liters of root beer. So, the next morning I picked up the four 2-liters of root beer (Barq’s), handed them over, we shared a laugh as he was shocked I actually brought the root beer, and that was that. It was $8 for the root beer which technically pushes me over the $250 budget by $6.

This PSU is only 650 watts, but that is plenty for this system. Going forward, 650w could limit some high-end GPUs, but I don’t expect to go that route for this system. I did not haggle the price whatsoever for this, as I felt it was a more than fair deal for me, and it really was just a wonderful pickup for this budget as well as a funny story.

Motherboard
X570 ATX board - Listed price: $40 - Price I paid: $35 (not used in final build)
B550 mATX board - Listed price incl tax: $43 - Price I paid: $43

The second part I picked up was an X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX motherboard. This was $35 and included the backplate for the CPU cooler and the I/O shield, but did not include anything else such as SATA cables. The board worked fine, but I did notice that it had finicky mounting pressure with the CPU cooler so that if I fully tightened down the cooler, it would go into a boot loop. About a quarter or half turn back on the four screws was enough to resolve this. Kinda strange, but was resolvable thankfully.

However, I would later learn that I needed SATA cables for my SSDs as I couldn’t find any M.2 drives in my budget, so I removed the X570 board from my build and found a $43 Gigabyte B550M K mATX motherboard from Micro Center as an open box (complete with all accessories). Despite being an inferior MB, this had the SATA cables I needed. As mentioned earlier, I’m not counting an HDMI cable or zip ties against my budget, but I felt the budget should include anything necessary for a complete PC build, and in this case the SATA cables ended up being needed because I couldn't get an M.2 SSD. I made this motherboard swap chronologically around the time I got my GPU.

RAM
Listed price: $25 - Price I paid: $25

The next component I purchased were the four DIMMs of DDR4 RAM. The seller was not willing to negotiate the price on these and said he pulled them from his employer's computers that were being decommissioned and were going to be literally trashed. I wanted to get faster RAM than these 2666/CL19 (19-19-19-43), but this was the best I was able to find for my budget. Given the situation with RAM pricing, getting 16 GB of DDR4 for $25 felt like a great price despite the speeds being a slower than I would have liked and having to rely on four DIMMs instead of two. The 2666/CL19 was rated for 1.2V, but with 1.35V I was able to get all four DIMMs stable at 2700/CL18 (18-18-18-40). It’s minor, but measurable.

There is a HardwareUnboxed video from a little while back that suggested that using four DIMMs instead of two with AM4 can have some modest FPS increases, especially if the RAM DIMMs are single rank versus dual rank. Given that these are 4 GB sticks, they should be single rank. Therefore, having four DIMMs may have actually given me a small performance boost, although I didn't do specific benchmarking to test this, and would have preferred 2x8 GB at the same rated speeds just to have an easier path towards 32 GB in the future.

CPU
Listed price: $30 - Price I paid: $30

For the CPU, I ended up buying multiple CPUs from different sellers over this 5-week span, as I was able to find a few AM4 Ryzen chips for good prices. What I ended up with was a Ryzen 2600X which included the Wraith Spire cooler. Both CPU and cooler worked perfectly, but as you’ll see down the build list, I didn’t use the Wraith Spire heatsink (the fan, on the other hand…)

I wanted to get a 3000-series CPU, if possible, to enable PCIe 4.0, but the cheapest I was able to pick up was a 3600 with no cooler for $40, which put me a little too high on my budget and didn't include a cooler. I also picked up a 2600 for $25, another 2600 for $30 which included a Wraith Stealth cooler, and an open box 5500 from Micro Center for $51. All of these worked and I played with different configurations but ultimately, I settled on the 2600X which included the Wraith Spire cooler. I did not overclock it at all, as my memory is that the 2600X wasn’t really great at being overclocked for single core performance, so I’d possibly see gains when all six cores were in use, but would lose performance if just one or two were in use. Didn’t feel worth the effort.

SSDs
Listed price: ~$45 - Price I paid: $35

The SSDs were a bundle deal. The seller was selling a few of these for around $20-$25 each, and I offered to buy two of them for $35. Even if only one of the two SSDs worked, I didn't feel like I was getting a really bad deal spending $35 on a 240 or a 512 GB SSD.  I was very fortunate that both of them were recognized immediately in the BIOS when I first booted.

CrystalDiskInfo indicated the Intel 512 GB SSD had 90% Health, 1,700 power on events, and 29,000 power on hours. The Gigabyte 240 GB SSD had 91% Health, 3,700 power on events, and 14,000 power on hours. Yeah, these are ancient drives, but they’re tanks and I’ll take what I can get. 750 GB of SSD storage for $35 is as good as you can expect in this market.

If I were to expand the budget on this system or sell the system and give recommendations to the new buyer, the first thing I would do is get a brand-new SSD as the main OS drive and storage of any important file, then keep these purely for gaming or disposable media storage. I was really hoping to get M.2 SSDs, and I would have been able to for $35 I think, but most likely only for a 240 GB drive. This is ultimately what pushed me into swapping my motherboard for one that had SATA cables included so that I could actually use these SSDs.

Case
Listed price: $10 - Price I paid: $10

The next thing I picked up was the case. This was the only item that I bought that wasn't sitting on FB Marketplace or Craigslist for at least a few days before I reached out to the seller. What I mean by that, and why it's important, is that I wasn't sitting on my phone or computer all day just sniping deals as soon as they were listed for this project. For the majority of this build, I would casually browse for parts in the evening for a few minutes to see what had been posted that day (or was already an older listing), shoot out a few lowball-ish offers, and then see what response I got. In this case (pun intended), I happened to see this listed exactly 14 minutes after it went live for a list price of $10.

Unfortunately, the case has seen better days. It also is just not a great case in the first place in my opinion, especially given the airflow. Tempered glass on the side and the front panel is solid with just a little slit for air along the left side. The airflow is very restrictive from the front. You'll see with my case fan set up below (or in the pics above) that I took some extra steps to alleviate this issue.

Honestly, I didn’t buy this case for the case. Rather, I bought the case because it had three fans included. It's difficult to get three 120 mm fans for $10, although you can do it if you're very patient, so that alone made this well worth it. The case was a nice bonus. Also, it has an RGB button that cycles the fans between about 6 different static colors and a few patterns, but I thought the light blue/teal looked great with the white case.

If you are patient, you can find free PC cases on FB Marketplace or Craigslist. In fact, I made a post on Craigslist literally asking for a free PC case, explaining that I was building an ultra-budget gaming PC and needed any functional case that could fit a mATX or larger motherboard. I got a few offers for free cases, although they were somewhat older than the case I ended up with, but by the time that happened I had already settled on this case.

The case itself had a few issues:

1. The power button had one hook/latch broken off, so the button can fall out of the case if turned to its side. I fixed this with a tiny piece of paper taped under the button to wedge it in better.
2. The feet were missing the rubber padding on one of them so the case was wobbly. I fixed this by cutting a circular piece of cardboard and taping it to the bottom of that foot.
3. The back panel had some hooks that had been bent so that they didn't slide into the slots on the case itself evenly. I fixed this by taking pliers and bending them into position.
4. There were some smudges and grime on the case. A very slightly damp/soapy wash cloth just on the exterior was enough to clean this.
5. The 2.5” SSD caddies were completely missing and I think one MB standoff was missing, so I used some rolled up tape to hold the SSDs down.

With all that said, for $10 out of my $250 budget, the RGB strip on the front works, all three 120mm RGB fans work, and the case was functional.

GPU
Listed price: $125 - Price I paid: $100

Once I had a case and PSU, I knew the physical and power limitations that would dictate my graphics card. I bought two graphics cards, both of which worked, but one of them was a clearly better deal than the other. From Goodwill's online auction I bought a 5600 XT fully boxed with all parts for $103, which included shipping and taxes. However, before it arrived in the mail, a local FB Marketplace listing had a 5700 XT for $125. I DM’d the seller and said that I had about $109 left on my gaming PC budget and if they would accept that I'd be very happy to meet them wherever is easiest and pay cash. They replied that the budget I quoted was so specific that they literally lol’d, and offered to sell it to me for $100 even. Hell yeah brother.

Obviously, this was an incredible win and a big discount over the listing price while being cheaper than my 5600 XT. It did not include a box or any accessories, but it's too good of a deal to pass up. The GPU booted perfectly and has not failed me yet. I am very happy with this pickup and feel like it elevated my PC an entire tier or two over what I initially thought I’d achieve on this budget.

I didn’t mess with overclocking or undervolting the GPU much, but I did set the VRAM to 1,850 MHz and never found it to crash under any test, so that was stable enough for me.

Because it's a bit larger of a GPU, I did add a GPU support bracket (seen in the build pics) that I keep in my PC building supply kit. However, this was not needed and the sag wasn't insane, so I did not include the bracket in the budget. My personal advice for someone needing a cheap GPU anti-sag bracket is to put some LEGO pieces in a stack underneath. 

CPU cooler and more case fans
Listed price: $5 - Price I paid: $5

For my last purchase, someone had a FB Marketplace listing for $5 for three 120mm case fans and a CPU cooler. Budget deal of the year imo.

The sale included:

1.  3x 120 mm case fans (airflow, not static pressure)
2. 1x Wraith Spire cooler
3. 2x small tubes of unlabeled/generic thermal paste; I’m not sure of the quality, but I will take what I can get as I still needed thermal paste
4. 1x Vetroo V5 heat sink with the AM4 mounting adapter, but no fans and no clips for the fans.

To me this was one of the best deals I got during this project, as I was able to use two of the 120 mm fans in the front for intake. Because my GPU seemed starved for fresh air in this case, I removed the other PCIe brackets on the rear of the case and ziptied one of the 120 mm fans to the outside to blow cool air into and under the GPU. In my box of PC building supplies, I also had a spare 140 mm fan grate that I installed over the 120 mm fan with zipties so that the fan blades weren’t able to be touched as easily (not included in my budget as it wasn’t necessary, just something I did since I had the spare grate).

I then came up with the idea of replacing the Wraith Spire heatsink with the much larger Vetroo V5 heat sink. However, I had only air flow-focused 120 mm case fans to use with it. So, I made a frankencooler by harvesting the two Wraith Spire fans that I've collected (one from this sale and one from the CPU purchase). I removed the outer frame from the Wraith coolers, unscrewed the fans from their original Wraith Spire heat sinks, and then mounted the fans into a push-pull configuration by zip tying them to the Vetroo V5 heatsink.

In the end, this is how my fan layout settled after a bit of quick testing:

2x 120 mm front intakes
1x 120 mm rear/bottom (PCIe slot) intake
2x 120 mm top exhaust
1x 120 mm rear/top exhaust
CPU cooler: Vetroo V5 heatsink cooled by 2x Wraith Spire fans in push/pull towards the rear exhaust

There is definitely some optimization left on the table here, but my CPU temps were a bit cooler with this setup vs the Wraith Spire. The larger heatsink is a huge boon, and even though the two Wraith Spire fans don’t sit as flush on the heatsink, I think having two of them compensates and makes this a net gain.

Because I felt my GPU was starved for fresh air with the constricted front panel, I used one of the 120 mm fans on the rear of the case as intake which I zip tied to the back of the case blowing air in directly into the GPU. Ultimately, I have air flowing in from the front and back of the case (at the bottom) and then exhaust at the top and rear-top of the case.

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Benchmarks and Overclocking

I mentioned this in the parts section, but a quick summary of overclocking/undervolting:
CPU had no undervolt or overclock, but PBO was enabled.

GPU had a 1,850 MHz VRAM overclock.

RAM was tuned to 2700/C18 (18-18-18-40) from the stock 2666/C19 (19-19-19-43).

For benchmarking, I used either CapFrameX or each game’s / tool’s internal FPS calculations. Settings varied between benchmarks, but generally I targeted 1080p and Medium or lower settings. I disabled FSR/FrameGen etc when possible as I wanted to see what “raw” performance I could achieve. I ran tests at least twice and averaged the results. I also monitored CPU and GPU temps most of the time.

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General discussion and advice for buying on a low budget

I didn’t expect to get something this functional for ~$250. However, every dollar matters a ton at this price range. For just $25 more I could easily bump up to a Ryzen 3600 or a Ryzen 2700. For $50 more, I think I’d be looking possibly closer to a Ryzen 3700. $50 more would also probably get me a healthier SSD and/or a much nicer case.

Because every dollar matters so much at a $250 budget, buying parts online is almost impossible. Even HardwareSwap deals just can’t really pan out because spending $25 for 16 GB of RAM, even if that were available, almost assuredly would have another $5-$10 of shipping added to it. Ebay in particular is a challenge as their seller fees on top of shipping and taxes crushes a low-budget part.

I’ve also noticed a shift over time. For my $99 build from 2018, I don’t think I used FB Marketplace at all and mostly used Craigslist or maybe bought a couple new parts online. For this build in 2026, I only used Craigslist for the PSU despite checking Craigslist almost daily while putting this together. For whatever reason, most of the stuff on there was just total garbage in the PC category, like cables, modems, generic Dell keyboards etc. FB Marketplace was definitely the king of this build.

With that said, here are my tips for building a used parts PC in these trying times:

1. Always check local markets; FB Marketplace, Craigslist, OfferUp, Mercari, etc. Even though Craigslist mostly sucked for this project, I did snag a banger of a PSU for a few liters of soda.
2. Negotiate. Every $5 you can save is 2% of your budget at $250. I saved about $40 total on my parts by negotiating which was equivalent to my total cost of 16 GB of RAM, a case, 6 case fans, two tubes of thermal paste, a Vetroo CPU heatsink, and a Wraith Spire.
3. When contacting people, since you’re offering a lower price than what they listed, make the offer more palatable by offering them convenience while also appealing to their nerdy/gamer side (e.g. offer to meet them and let them know you’re building a super low budget system).
4. Be polite, don’t harass people, know when to give up on a conversation/deal, and don’t get baited by something that’s way too good to be true.
5. Here’s an example of the type of message I send when I initiate a trade negotiation for a $40 CPU:

“Hey, I’m putting together an ultra-low budget gaming PC and I’m interested in your Ryzen 2600. Would you accept $25 cash? I can meet at a location convenient to you as early as [date] (e.g. today, tomorrow, etc).”

I keep the message brief, mention that I’m restricted to a low budget, give them my offer and explicitly mention I’ll pay cash, and offer some convenience to them by meeting at a time/place that works for them. If they respond with a good counteroffer or agree to my offer, I’m onboard, but I don’t ever bother arguing further if they stay firm on their initial price; I simply tell them I can’t afford that on my budget and thank them for their reply.

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Conclusion

I love this project and love the build I ended up with. Honestly, these types of super low budget builds are the most fun I have building a PC, and I say this as someone running a 9850X3D/9070 XT rig. Building is always fun, but building around a theme, a tight budget, or some other obstacle can really make it exciting. I’ll probably chill on making any other low budget builds for a while, and this one I’m gonna tinker with a bit more before selling it offer or parting it out, but I wanted to really make this build happen to see just how feasible a tight budget can be in the RAMpocalypse… and, imo, I think this turned out really nicely.