r/buildapc

Looking at Intel 12th, 13th, and 14th gen for their DDR4 support, but I've heard mixed things about them due having what looks like a pretty storied history of being faulty.

Are they worth picking up at all in 2026 or no?

Hey, all! I'm considering switching to an AMD ecosystem when I upgrade my GPU and CPU, but I'm a little lost on the "series" AMD uses.

I understand Nvidia easily because I was raised with it - 30, 40, and 50 series. I am able to easily identify what's either new or more powerful at a glance (i.e a 4090 is more powerful than a 4060.). But I can't do the same for AMD GPUs or CPUs. Can someone break down how to easily identify them for me? I haven't found any help from Google and refuse to use AI firsthand.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I got a LOT of reception from a lot of very helpful and smart people way faster than expected. Thank you all, I'm pretty sure I'm (chip) set with all the info I need! (i'm sorry).

Can you guys recommend a GPU?

Yesterday I downloaded Gears of War E Day. After installation, the game wouldn't run. I got a prompt saying the game requires a GPU that supports Ray-Tracing. I have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER. My CPU is intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9700. My budget is $300 max.

So, i usually play at UWQHD or at 4K. Been noticing that despite the 5070 being a pretty solid card, sometimes i run into trouble when trying to deal with RT and FrameGen. The problem ? You guessed it, it's the VRAM.

Now, it also seems that the 9070 XT is very close to a 5070ti, the card i actually wanted to get before i upgraded. My only worry is that i'll miss out on the Nvidia technologies, including the VRAM optimization tech they've been working on.

Another thing that worries me is the hardware crisis, and not knowing when we'll ever get the chance to buy things at a "reasonable" price tag.

With cool and probably demanding games coming out in the horizon, like Witcher 4, the hardware crisis, and worry of missing out on cool tech from Nvidia, do you think it's worth going through the whole hassle for this sidegrade ?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this.

I am thinking to upgrade from my i3-4130 to any of these processors.The price difference am getting is around Rs.1500 (Nepali currency). I just wanted to know that is the performance difference worth it for Rs.1500 ?? And what are the real life difference in usage of these processors ?

I'm trying to build a decent gaming PC but I don't know where to start. I heard pre-builts are more expensive. What could I buy for $1000 or less to build my own decent PC for gaming in the U.S?

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/ocker521/saved/YdGpmG

, the build idea is a retro looking PC with the abbility to play games obisouly but biggest reason is content creation, I have been working on a game, working with artist and other people to put together a a game as well as video creation. On top of that i wanted to get into streaming. I am going to add more ram I want to get 256 if RAM ever goes down; if not, 64 GB is perfect until I can afford 128/256. I love the noctua beige and brown and white. Suck to think my RAM and SSD are what's causing the high price. For now I will use the 1tb m.2 I currently have as a boot drive out my 2700x and 3070 PC and then just get a 4tb as backup. Be more realistic. PLus whhen I do upgrade i can use the old drives fort A DAS. But build-wise, besides prices, how does it look? And advice for better performance under 6/8k. I want a white AMD linux mint/POP OS build. I want the retro look, so this is the best I got. I will buy it part by part, Case and PSU first then the CPU, then the MOBO then ram and SSD last. In 2016, I bought the SSD and RAM first I Got 64 gb 200 bucks in 2017 :( (For you infromation this build is half bought I am saving for the rest and getting some for birthday and christmas but also the more expensive I am saving up for through the winter and summer. I will have it built and posted by the upcoming july if not my next birthday I am I am alive still. Its been my dream for an enthusiast PC.

EDIT

Currently I have a 2700x Ryzen, 3070 8gb, 32gb 3200mhz ram, 1tb m.2, 500gb sata SSD and two 1tb HDD.

My new upgrade will be to squeeze the last performance out of this system before I upgrade to something high end and insane is a

5950x Ryzen, 3070 8gb 64gb C13 3200mhz ( the reason not 3600mhz my mobo doesn;t support it) And a new Case and bequiet 1000w solid PSU with a Cyberpower USP

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/ocker521/saved/h3dH4D

Not sure how much more preformance I will get for doubling the ram and switching to just m.2 boot drives and the new CPU which should be alot quicker and double the cores which is nice for content creation, just need to update the bios which isn't hard. ANd

So no one sells flat 34" Ultrawide OLEDs, so if I want to go OLED that means going back to 16:9.

Going OLED in the living room TV was just an absolute mind blowing upgrade, so pondering doing so on my PC as well. But is it worth giving up ultrawide res?

I upgraded from Ryzen 7 3700x and 2070 super to
Now:
Asus Rtx prime 5070ti OC
Ryzen 7 58003dx
G skill (16x2) 3600mhz cl16
Samsung 2TB Samsung 970 pro
Phanteks eclipse 600p case
Cosair 850w
Phanteks glacier one 360 M25 lcd
Aorus B550 master

My cpu is running around 25-30 % on ultra.
My cpu is running 97-100.
Not sure if I’m under utilizing my cpu

I currently have a gtx 1650 (I know, I know), and am wanting to upgrade it. I'm thinking about getting either a 9070 gre or a 9060xt. I'm looking to play a whole assortment of games from repo to rocket league to bodycam or cod. I currently have a ryzen 5900x and 32gb of ddr4 and was wondering if there would be any bottlenecking for either of those cards. Im willing to spend an extra 30 bucks for the gre, but I dont know if the 12gb of vram will be a major problem for the future/modern games.

PC prices have seriously gotten out of hand. My GPU and RAM alone cost $3000 more than what I paid for my entire build last year. If any of the parts stop working or if my build gets stolen or anything like that I'm basically screwed. Has anyone looked into/been able to get some sort of insurance for their build that they could recommend?

I have recently started wanting to make a pc with a budget of around 1500$~. I want to try and squeeze every last drop of performance out of it (taking recommendations on the other components too)

AMD Ryzen 5 9600X 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler
Gigabyte B650M GAMING PLUS WIFI Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard
TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-6000 CL38 Memory
Lexar NM790 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case
SAMA G650 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

The final thing I need is the gpu and i have around 500~ remember I am trying to get the most performance per dollar, any recommendations?

I built a gaming pc for my son 2 years ago. He's currently having an issue where the PC completely powers off during the Leviathan sequence of Final Fantasy XV. It's pretty consistent. It completely powers off, no lights, no fans, nothing. It can be powered back on normally using the power button on the case. Here are the specs of the PC:

Component	Model
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core
Motherboard	Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX V2 ATX AM5
Memory	G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36
Video Card	Sapphire 21330-01-20G Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB
Case	Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower
Storage	TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
OS	Microsoft Windows 11 Home (Digital Download)
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
Power Supply	Corsair RM750e (2023) Fully Modular

I've run a bunch of tests using OCCT, and everything passes. I ran the CPU test for 15 minutes, the GPU test for 15 minutes, the Power test for 1 hour, and the GPU Switch test for 1 hour. There were no errors and all temps were completely normal (nothing higher than 70 C).

I used AMD Adrenalin to lower the max GPU power draw by 10%, and he was able to play through the Leviathan sequence successfully for the first time. To me that indicates some sort of GPU fault triggering the system shutdown, but I honestly don't see how that can happen. He's not getting an error, or a blue screen, or a spontaneous restart. Power is just shutting off. I'm tempted to try a new power supply just in case, but I'd hate to spend money on a new power supply when I have no real evidence that there's a problem with this one.

Has anyone seen an issue like this?

- GPU: 9070XT

- CPU: 5600GT

- RAM: 32GB

Should I buy the 9 5900XT or the 7 5800X3D for longevity and versatility? I had a 9060XT 8GB before, but there wasn't much difference in FPS when I switched GPUs. I intend to maintain this setup for many years, AM5 is not viable for me at the moment :/

Given DDR5 RAM prices I can't afford to upgrade my PC to new generation, plus I would like to switch to AMD X3D processor, cost of that upgrade would be astronomical.

I thought that I could give a bit more life to my current platform by staying on 1700 socket and switching to i7 12th gen and RX9070 XT.

Does it make sense to do it? Is i7 significant upgrade over my current i5?

Will RX9070 XT be used in full power considering older gen processor and DDR4?

It seems to me that this will be a cost effective upgrade, since I can still sell my current stuff for quite a bit. I'm also thinking about 12th gen i7, because of the issues of Intel's 13 and 14th gen, plus 12 is cheaper.

Will I get another 3 years of good performance out of that?

I play 1440p plus sometimes use my 4K TV and triples for simracing ( I lower details then)

Should I wait it out for black Friday sales or Boxing Day sales in Australia to buy pc parts? If not when is the right time to

Hey everyone! I’m planning my first PC build and would appreciate some advice on compatibility, performance, and whether I should change anything before buying.
Current parts list:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Aqua Elite 360 V3 360mm AIO
Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming B850-PLUS WiFi
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 32GB (2 × 16GB) 6000 MT/s CL36
Storage: Lexar Thor Pro 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD
Case: Lian Li Vector V100 ATX (comes with fans)
Power Supply: Corsair CX650M 650W
GPU: Undecided — NEED HELP
What I’ll use it for:
Gaming
4K video editing in Adobe Premiere Pro
Running three monitors

My questions:
Which budget GPU would you recommend for gaming and 4K video editing
Is 650W enough for this build?
Is the 360mm AIO a good fit for this case?
Are there any compatibility issues or parts you’d recommend changing?
Is 32GB of RAM enough, or should I consider 64GB for 4K editing?
I’m buying in Canada, so prices are in CAD.
Thanks for any advice!

My gpu is a rtx 3070 (exact model) purchased 5 years ago and has been problem free. Recently been playing witcher 3 remastered and noticed the fans suddenly ramping up when gpu hit 78 degrees celcius, which was weird, its gone past 80 comfortably . Did some research and learned of hotspots and using hwinfo I can see the hotspot is 105 degrees when playing. I've tested both battlefield 6 and Holdfast and same result, temps go up, the hotspot hits 105, and the gpu fans roar into max speed.

Hwinfo data is as follows:

idle- gpu 38, hotspot, 48.

gaming: gpu 78, hotspot 105.

Are there steps I can run through to test the heat problem, dust check etc, or does this scream ''change gpu thermal paste'' and how much of a balllache is that if I have to?

Hello friends!

I’m looking to upgrade this PC for / with my nephew. He’s taken a liking to electrical under 10. I want to take this PC apart with him and re-apply thermal paste and any upgrades.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/ShatteredRadish/saved/#view=cmdQZL

CPU - AMD 7-1700 3 GHZ 8 core

Motherboard - ASUS Strix B350-F Gaming ATX AM4

RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB DDR4-2666 CL16 4 sticks x 8 GB each

GPU - EVGA SSC Gaming GeForce GTX 1060 3GB GPU

Storage - Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5” SSD

Case - Corsair carbide series 400c ATX mid tower case

Power - EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G2 550 W 80+ Gold cert fully modular ATX power supply.

Monitor 2 x ASUS VG245H 24” 1920 x 1080 75 Hz

Budget can be up to $1000 to upgrade. Would be nice to get another two years out of it for light gaming like Minecraft.

TIA! Happy Thanksgiving