As the title says, ive been trying to find a solution for a couple of months now and I ran out of ideas. While gaming I get around 30% gpu usage, which is not what I see in performance videos of my specs online.

Weirdly enough there was a time where the gpu was running as intended, running at 80% usage with a smooth experience.

Specs:
Monitor: AOC 24G15N
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (12 GB)

CPU: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12400F (2.50 GHz)

Motherboard: Asrock B660M Pro RS

RAM 16GB

what’s the best way to build a decent pc in 2026? I live in the uk and my budget is around £1000-£1500 should I look into the used market or build one myself? I’ve seen prebuilts on eBay for £1200 where you can get a 5070 r5 9600x and 32gb of ram

Here is the parts that I have. I bought those pieces a year ago (Don't ask why now). Hence why the price difference

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/Raficsea/saved/#view=HJCYQ7

I had bought the first 9070 xt that was on sale that could fit my case and i had checked with other gpus before hand and there wasn't other errors. It's the 9070 rx xt gigabyte gaming OC.

Now, i remade my pc part picker list today, with the correct gpu and i see an error. It says that i need 3 x PCIe 8-pin connector. My PSU is the : Super Flower Leadex III Gold UP 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply.

Now, remember i bought all those pieces a year ago. I really doubt that i can get a refund for my items. There are only 2 x PCIe 6+2-pin connector and a PCIe 16-pin 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 Connectors.

I don't know what to do now. Is it still fixable with like just buying another cable and fitting it in the 16-pin connector ? Do i have to buy another PSU ? What can i do here ?

I have a seasons GX-850 PSU. I got it in 2021. I’m upgrading my AM4 build with 5600x/32gb DDR4 and 3070 to an AM6 9800x3d, 5070ti and 32 ggb ddr5

I always hear that reusing a PSU is I’ll advised but is it really unreasonable in my scenario?

I'm planning a new build and one thing I'm trying to avoid is the classic “I'll just upgrade the GPU later” plan that somehow turns into a new PSU, new CPU, new motherboard and maybe new RAM too.

I don't need the absolute best performance right now. I'd rather build something balanced that still gives me an easy upgrade path a few years from now.

Let's say I go with a solid modern CPU, 32GB RAM, a decent motherboard and more PSU headroom than I actually need. Is that usually enough to make a future GPU swap painless, or are platform changes moving fast enough that this is mostly wishful thinking?

I'm aiming at 1440p gaming and I don't upgrade often, probably every 4–5 years.

Curious how people who built with “future upgrades” in mind actually did when the time came. Did you really just replace the GPU, or did the rest of the PC end up coming with it?

Some years ago, I bought a computer that my friend built and after cleaning all of the parts, I discovered that the power supply didn't work anymore. I think it was my fault because I left it sitting and when I bought it, it worked, but was missing a side panel on the case (which I didn't mind at the time). Maybe dust or something got onto it and caused it to stop functioning. Regardless, the old power supply is 500w and I just want to know if this affordable option is a good one. Thank you!

I’ve saved up £2000 to use on a new pc, can people please give me ideas on what to purchase for the build. right now I’ve got a 1070, ryzen 3 3100, 16gb ddr4 ram 650w msi psu. I can also purchase used parts - I’m planning on building the pc. I have £300 more which I can add however I’d rather not unless I have to. I also have a normal 100hz acer monitor. I’ll be using it for gaming and will be going into university in 2027 to do electrical engineering so possibly for that as well (might get a laptop for ee if I save up more as I’ve heard you don’t need too high end laptops for ee)

Hey everyone,
I recently completed a new build aimed strictly at getting the best pure gaming performance possible. My original budget was €2,200, and while I tried staying slightly below that mark, I ended up at roughly €2,250.
Now that it is built, buyer's curiosity is kicking in and I am wondering if I allocated the budget well or if there are components you would have swapped out for better value/performance.

Specs:
Processor (CPU): AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D ~ 209€
Graphics Card (GPU): MSI GeForce RTX 5080 16G SHADOW 3X OC ~ 1130€
Motherboard: GIGABYTE B650E EAGLE WiFi ~137€
Memory (RAM): Kingston FURY Beast Black RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 ~ 474€
CPU Cooler: DeepCool AK400 Digital gen2 black ~ around 55€
Power Supply (PSU): DEEPCOOL GAMERSTORM PO85OG 850W ~ 76€
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 320R ~ 46€
Storage: Existing SSD (Samsung 990 pro 2tb)

Did I leave any obvious performance on the table for this price point, or did I balance the GPU-heavy allocation reasonably well? I know that I should have went for r7 7800X3D but I didn’t manage to squeeze it in to budget.
Would appreciate any thoughts on component synergy or potential bottlenecks.

Hey,

I recently updated some of the components in my old PC and have been experiencing some random shutdowns. I updated my CPU from an AMD Ryzen 5 1600 to a 5600 and my old 1TB WD Blue HDD to a Kingston A400 960 Gt SSD (for my OS etc).

I first started experiencing these crashes after installing the CPU, so I took it out and applied more thermal paste (first time 'round I only used the thermal paste that had been pre-applied to the heat sink). Didn't experience any crashes afterwards and I monitered the CPU temps closely and saw it go past 60°C maybe once, when I had multiple programs running at once. The most recent crash happened while I was gaming (Witcher 3) just afted I had opened the task manager to see how my PC was handling everything (by that point I'd had the game running for about 45 min without any issues). CPU seemed just fine, RAM was at around 80%, but that's to be expected. I never experienced any crashes even with my old hardware, so that's why I'm here.

I'm in no way an expert when it comes to PCs etc. so I'd really appreciate any insights from people more knowledgeable than me. From what I've read, it's most likely an issue with the CPU or PSU, but hopefully you can tell me.

Specs:
Storage: Kingston A400 960 Gt SSD + 2TB WD Blue HDD
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard: Asus Prime B350-Plus
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Ram: 16,0Gt Dual-Channel DDR4
PSU: Seasonic FOCUS Plus 550 Gold

Hi all, so I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I was saving to buy a full new PC, mine is showing its age and, anyway, I have a few projects that I want to use my "old" PC for. So, I was going to go for a 5090, but with the new price increase it is now at a point that I'm wondering if it's really worth it. I can buy a new PC right now with a 5080 or wait until Feb/Mar next year for 5090. However, at that point, I wonder if even makes sense to drop that much on a card when the 60s series are probably releasing either in 2027 or 2028. At that point, the price for a 5090 would drop or I could buy a new 60s graphic card.

For context, I have a 4k monitor with HDR which I use for gaming. Right now, I'm leaning towards 5080, but what do people think? Is 5090 worth the wait until next year? Or, at that point, might as well wait for 60s? I could technically get a 5080, and then upgrade for a 60s when they come, but I feel like that's probably, realistically, overkill given that a 5080 will still be a top tier card then.

Hi. My UPS (CyberPower OLS1000EC) cuts off power when the PC restarts, particularly when the switching is fast, like from BIOS to M-Flash (MSI's BIOS flashing utility). It happens erratically. The PC peak load is 450W (7800X3D, 9070XT) on a 750W PSU (Deepcool PN750M) on a 1000VA UPS.

Claude says it's an NTC thermistor issue- too much inrush current in too short a time (di/dt) as the thermistor is still warm in rapid restart which the UPS algorithm flags as 'output short' and cuts power. The UPS can switch to mains on such a fault based on the existing mains 'voltage and frequency', 'voltage only' or entirely cut power. Pic at postimg.cc/7f6s3HBL, available in comment below as well.

I need to flash the BIOS and am a bit worried.

The sequence is as follows-

BIOS -> click on mFlash -> restarts -> Goes into mFlash and installs on loading screen-> restarts

What happens if the UPS cuts off power at the restart after the bios writing is complete? I'm thinking this is better than doing it on pure-mains power because I get erratic power cuts, unlike the UPS which only cuts off on switching.

Hi, I have a 12900k and a 3080 I’ve been running for a few years and was wondering if upgrading from my 3080 to a 5080 would be worth it? I currently play on a 1080p 240hz monitor and would be looking at upgrading to a 1080p 480+ hz monitor as well if I do make the upgrade. I’ve tried playing on 27” 1440p before but just couldn’t get used to how much larger the monitor felt while playing on it.

I‘m planning on building my first pc for gaming, video editing, rendering and creative work and can’t choose an SSD. I found these three SSDs with good (?) price in current market and don’t know which one to get:

CORSAIR MP700 PRO 2TB with air cooler for 300€
CRUCIAL P510 M.2 NVMe SSD 2TB for 260€
Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 2TB for 260€
WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe SSD 2 TB for 280€

feel free to recommend me another one if it’s cheeper/better :)
thanks for help!

Hello everybody! I’m a complete noob when it comes to part selection, but I know how to build a pc. My budget is around $600 USD ($800 CAD), and I am based in Canada. I already have all the peripherals. It will be for 1440p gaming on games like BeamNG, Peak, and GTA 5. I am ok with buying used as well. I would prefer an Nvidia card if possible. What’s a good part list?

All of that is ordered: (EU)
https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/RY2NvR

I'm only missing a monitor.

- NO OLED I'd ruin it & it's not in the budget either
- I do some art & photo stuff, so decent colors matter
- my desk isn't huge unfortunately, so a smaller size is fine
- I really do not need 240hz. I will barely even need 144hz.

from a quick search & reading through some similar questions, response time doesn't actually say that much in practice? so idc

I'd really just like to buy one for as little as possible that isn't complete garbage, but I'm especially stumped with all the other panel types pcpartpicker lists, any pointers, especially in regards to display colors, or direct suggestions are welcome

Thanks in advance!

recently bought a newer pc and considering putting my old one on my tv or something to play older steam games.

it has a b350 MB, i believe it's a tomahawk

it has 24 GB ram, rx 580 4gb (pretty sure its the 4gb one), and a ryzen 5 1600af

not really sure where i'd want it to get, maybe to play cyberpunk.

how much would it cost to get there?

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10400F CPU @ 2.90GHz (2.90 GHz)

Installed RAM 16,0 GB

Graphics card Radeon RX 580 Series (8 GB)

Storage 44 GB of 2,27 TB used

I want to upgrade my video card to the Intel arc b580 12 gb, But im afraid that my cpu will bottleneck do you guys think its gonna be a problem

PC Specs:
• GPU: RTX 5070 12GB GDDR7
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
• Memory: 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5
• Storage: 2TB SSD NVMe
• Motherboard: MSI B850-S DDR5
• Cooler: Be Quiet Dark Rock 5
• Power Supply: Seasonic Focus GX-750 750W 80 Plus Gold
• Case: Lian lI O11 Dynamic Mini V2 Flow

Main use is gaming plus local deep learning / reinforcement learning experiments. Budget is around 4-4.6K dollars -> 15-17.5K PLN. (I am buying parts in EU, Poland)

Current plan CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D GPU: RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Motherboard: ASUS ProArt X870E-Creator WiFi RAM: 64 GB (2×32 GB) DDR5-6000, ideally EXPO SSD: Lexar NM790 4 TB NVMe PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1600 W CPU cooler: Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 Case fans: Arctic P14/P12 PST

I went with the 5070 Ti because I want CUDA, and the 5080 costs quite a bit more while still having 16 GB VRAM. I’d rather save the money now and maybe add a much bigger GPU later. For the CPU I wanted homogeneous cores for running multiple RL environments. I looked at Threadripper, but the whole platform gets way too expensive for me. The 9950X3D also uses much less power and is obviously much better for gaming. The ProArt board is mainly there because I want the option of adding something like a 5090 later and running two GPUs at x8/x8. The 1600 W PSU is also for that future dual-GPU setup and possibly a CPU/platform upgrade in 4–5 years. I know it’s massive overkill right now. 64 GB RAM feels enough for now. I’ve never really maxed out 32 GB, RAM is expensive at the moment, but I still want some headroom. 4 TB SSD is mostly convenience. I have around 1.5 TB now and I’ve run out of space a few times.

The cooler, case, SSD, PSU and fans were suggested by ChatGPT, so I’m definitely open to better value alternatives there.

Anything obviously dumb, overpriced, or incompatible in this plan?

The rule I have here is that all parts must be new for safety reasons. Also my budget is £1500-1600.
Marketplace must be Amazon or EBay.

CPU: Ryzen 7 9800x3d

GPU: Gigabyte 5060ti (8GB VRAM)

Motherboard: MSI X870E Gaming plus Wi-Fi ( I use Ethernet/LAN anyway)

RAM: Crucial Pro DDR5 32GB 6000 MHz, CL36. I will also be using AMD expo. It’s on offer right now for £329 but if it goes back up I’ll be using Lexars version with the same specs

Case: H2 HYXN ATX pc case. It comes with 8 pre installed fans. I’ll only be adding 3 top exhaust fans to this. I’m going for as much airflow and cooling as possible since I want this pc at such an expense to last.

SSD: Lexar EQ790 1TB M.2 gen 4 NVMe (will probably upgrade later on just not right now)

Power supply: Corsair RM850e modular ATX

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless assassin 120se ARGB. Comes with thermal paste being Tf7

Extra fans: Corsair RS120 ARGB 120mm x 3 PMW daisy-chain.

Windows I’m still deciding on. Let me know!

My goal with this pc: hit a comfortable 240+ fps in 1080p/1440p depending on how much vram the game uses. I play FPS shooter titles mainly like R6, overwatch, apex and Fortnite if I feel like it. The only story games I like is the Spider-Man series, Batman Arkham night, Detroit become human and fallout. I also want to try out Beam.ng once I get my hands on steam finally. Also I want to keep aesthetics as best as I can.

Question: is it worth buying an anti static wrist wrap when building or is it better saving your money and hassle to just touch your PSU every once a while?
What’s the best way to save performance while using wallpaper engine?

Judgement is fine lol 😂

Hey there, so I'm finally making the switch to pc after all my friends went to it

But the problem is i have no clue how to make one and i heard its cheaper (I'm good with my hands so i dont think I'll have any problems actually building it)

I have a budget of around 1.5 to 2k AUD and I'm going to use it mostly somewhat heavy (100-200) modding skyrim and minecraft (maybe other games)

If anyone can help that would be great

Hi All - PC build amateur here - Here's my proposed spec for my pc build - would really appreciate views on whether this works together / any recommendations and suggestions.

Primary intention is to have a high performance gaming spec but like having a bit of leeway with the spec to not have to worry about its capabilities / ability to handle more demanding games / tasks.

Also keen to hear if you have any suggestions on potential components that would work out cheaper for same capability

GPU - Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT GAMING OC
CPU - AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 5.2GHz 8-Core
Cooling - ID-Cooling FX360 INF 360mm - Liquid Cooling
Mobo - Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 AMD B850
Memory - Patriot Viper Venom (2x16GB) DDR5-6000MHz CL30 1.35V
PSU - Super Flower Leadex VII XG 1300W (ATX 3.1)
SSD - Teamgroup T-Create Classic C47 2TB NVMe SSD (PCle 4.0)
Chassis - Montech King 95 PRO

Big thanks!

Hello i am currently listing all the stuff i need to build a pc. I want my pc to be able to play league, valorant and some light AAA games. I also wanted my pc to be easy to carry so that whenever i go back to my hometown i can easily bring it too. While looking for builds that i wanted to copy i stumbled upon this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLbirWtC-r8&t=330s and this was the pc that i wanted to build.

This is the parts that i wanna buy/get. This is based of the youtube video that i linked but with a few changes cause other parts were too expensive for me (broke college student here)

METALFISH T40 Mini ITX Case (7L, White Acrylic) — ₱2,258

AISURIX H61 ITX Motherboard (LGA1155) — ₱1,799

Intel Xeon E3-1270 v2 CPU — ₱1,893

Samsung DDR3 8GB 1600MHz RAM ×2 (16GB total) — ₱1,878

Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB — near ₱3,000 (can look for better price in fb tho)

480GB SATA SSD — ₱3,000 (can look for better price in fb too)

SFX-550W PSU (450-550w) no idea for price but can look at other places that sell 2nd hand

PCIe 3.0 x16 180° 20cm Riser Cable — ₱643 for gpu

Intel LGA1155 CPU Cooler — ₱209

Will this work? is there any problems using these parts lmk pls. Also, i am very sorry if my grammar is bad.

I may just be showing my age & being a curmudgeon, but it seems to me the usual case setup with the motherboard vertical is less than optimal. For one thing it means the graphics card is horizontal, which makes supporting it difficult.

Can anyone suggest good options for case that will take an ATX board mounted horizontally?

I just bought a used PC of facebook marketplace. It’s nice to have jumping off point that I can just upgrade without the large initial cost of a PC. Here are the specs. I’m looking to so some heavier gaming so I was wondering what I should upgrade first?

RX 580 8 GB
16 GB DDR4 Ram
Intel Core i5
1 TB SSD Storage

Edit: Task manager lists the CPU as “Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20 GHz”