r/buildapc • • 2h ago

Simple Questions - October 21, 2026

2 Upvotes

This thread is for simple questions that don't warrant their own thread (although we strongly suggest checking the sidebar and the wiki before posting!). Please don't post involved questions that are better suited to a [Build Help], [Build Ready] or [Build Complete] post.
Examples of questions suitable for here:

  • Is this RAM compatible with my motherboard?
  • I'm thinking of getting a ≤$300 graphics card. Which one should I get?
  • I'm on a very tight budget and I'm looking for a case ≤$50

Important: Downvotes are strongly discouraged in this thread. Sorting by new is strongly encouraged.

Have a question about the subreddit or otherwise for r/buildapc mods? We welcome your mod mail!

To easily find previous simple questions posts, use this link.


r/buildapc • • 6h ago

Build Upgrade Is there such a big difference between 1080p and 1440p that justifies the more expensive monitor and the sacrifice in performance?

236 Upvotes

Everyone says my video card can handle 1440p, but I never understood if there's really that much need to buy a more expensive monitor and sacrifice performance. Going from 1080p to 1440p doesn't seem like such a big difference, does it?


r/buildapc • • 1h ago

Build Upgrade Dell vendor locks AM5 9950X3d CPU to Alienware Area 51 gaming desktop prebuilt - CPU is E-Waste outside of dell motherboard

• Upvotes

I recently purchased a dell prebuilt in order to swap components onto my own PC
as the title says, after days of swapping components and making sure every single component is functional ive come to the conclusion that the 9950X3D is vendor locked to the alien-ware area 51 desktop, all motherboards used work all swapped CPUS tested worked, the 9950x3d simply does not work in any mobo besides the alienware prebuilt one, in the end I took it to a repair shop who also works with old dell prebuilts and told me it was vendor locked which ive never heard of before

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/desktop-computers/spd/alienwarearea51aat2265

does anyone have insight on what can be done, is this reversible? i genuinley cannot find anything else online stating dell vendor locks consumer CPUS or what to do


r/buildapc • • 15h ago

Discussion Does AMD or nvidia GPU actually matter that much?

102 Upvotes

I wanna build a pc, and I was thinking of going for the radeon 5700xt, but it doesn’t support rat tracing, but does that even really matter? Are there games that only run on nvidea GPU’s?


r/buildapc • • 4h ago

Discussion is a Ryzen 7 5700X build a significant upgrade over i7-8700K ?

7 Upvotes

Basically the title , I saw a deal for a gigabyte b550m gaming X ryzen 5700x and bequiet pure rock pro 3 brand new for about 300$ (i have 32gb Kingston fury x 3200mhz from current build which I will reuse) and I was wondering if its a big justifiable upgrade over my current 8700K 4.8GHz OCd? will be pairing with my current rtx 3070 on a 1440p monitor.


r/buildapc • • 3h ago

Build Help 7800X3D vs 9800X3D and RX 9060 XT vs 9070 XT for competitive gaming?

5 Upvotes

I'm building a PC with a budget of around 9000PLN (~€2000) and can't decide what to get.

I mostly play Valorant, CS2 and Fortnite at 1080p low settings. I have a 240Hz monitor but might upgrade to 400Hz.

I'm deciding between the 7800X3D and 9800X3D, and the RX 9060 XT 16GB and RX 9070 XT. I also play some AAA games occasionally but don't really care about ultra settings.

Is the 9800X3D worth the extra money? And would the 9070 XT be overkill for my use?

I want something that'll last me a good 4-5 years without overspending. Also, is the ASRock 9060 XT Challenger any good?

What would you guys go with? If you have any other compeletly other build ideas let me know.

Thanks


r/buildapc • • 1h ago

Build Help Budget motherboard + i5 14600k

• Upvotes

Will the MSI PRO B760M-P DDR4 (it has no vrm heatsinks) work fine with an i5-14600KF? I'm limiting it to 125W anyway, trying to maximize the use of this motherboard cause I plan to upgrade it in a couple of months alongside the GPU.


r/buildapc • • 30m ago

Troubleshooting New RAM, won't POST.

• Upvotes

Please go easy on me, I am a novice.

In short (as short as can be, I suppose), I bought new RAM. Second hand, but confirmed working by seller. Took the old out, put the new in, no POST. Attempts to boot repeatedly, but never actually makes it. Old sticks are DDR3 1.5V 1600MHz UDIMM 4GBX2. New are also DDR3 1.5V 1600MHz UDIMM, but 8GBx2. Motherboard (soyo SY-H81-ITX) has a limit of 8GBx2 from what I can see, so the new are at this limit. My current sticks, I found out, have been running at 1333MHz, though the board is definitely compatible with 1333MHz and 1600MHz. I also see that the system is running my old sticks at 1333MHz. I don't know if that's relevant but doesn't hurt to mention.

I did hear the RAM click when pressed in. Both latches clicked for each stick.

What I have tried since:

- Removed GPU and am working with integrated graphics for now, it's easier to maneuver without it in the way.

- Took out the new sticks, replaced the old and tested to see if things still worked. They do.

- Removed old sticks once more, took out CMOS, and gave it 10 minutes or so.

-Put in only one stick of the new pair in the first slot. Now it won't POST again.

- Pulled out that 8GB stick and swapped in the other. Same result. No POST, still attempting to boot repeatedly.

I have tried to make searches for this to troubleshoot on my own, but all the other problems were seemingly solved by things like actually seating the RAM properly or remembering to actually plug in the power cable before attempting to boot.

Some hardware info:

Motherboard- soyo SY-H81-ITX

Old RAM- ​SK Hynix HMT451U6BFR8C-PB

New RAM- ​Kingston KVR16N11H/8

And if it's relevant, BIOS date is 11/20/2015, and version is 4.6.5.

Please let me know if I've missed any information. As I said earlier I am very much a novice, and so I don't know what's actually needed to diagnose this issue. Thank you to anyone who can give me a hand here.


r/buildapc • • 39m ago

Build Upgrade I need some graphics card upgrade advice

• Upvotes

Current specs:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (8GB)
  • RAM: 32GB DDR4 (3200MHz)
  • Motherboard: B550 Chipset
  • Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD
  • Monitor: MSI MAG 274QF (27" 1440p, 180Hz IPS)
  • PSU: 600w

wanna upgrade to a 5060ti OC for the 16gb vram as im already maxing that out. Ive got a £650 budget...got told 5060ti OC but im pretty new to all things pc so wanted some suggestions. Ideally wanna keep the same size card as im not sure how id go about putting one in thats bigger...plus, idk what to do about psu power.


r/buildapc • • 3h ago

Build Upgrade Replacing CPU fan?

3 Upvotes

Hi.

Last year I asked a coworker to help me build a PC and it worked great so far. Sadly, now I'm getting weird noises from the PC and from what I read on some articles and videos, it could be from my CPU fan. Can you recommend me what to buy to replace it, so it will fit into my configuration.

If you think there could be another problem please tell me your opinions.

Thank you.

PC config:

Intel Core i5-10400, ASrock B460M-HDV, 16gb RAM, AMD Radeon RX Vega (8 GB)

https://imgur.com/a/5WnyjvI

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yWMBkY8MdA


r/buildapc • • 6h ago

Build Upgrade Help! I’m trying to upgrade my PC!

4 Upvotes

I am hoping you beautiful people can recommend some solid upgrades! I am 90% sure I am GPU bottlenecked. I have a $500 MAX budget I can afford to put into upgrades right now… $300 would be a lot more comfortable… Any thoughts/suggestions? I really appreciate any feedback and advice!! 🖤

Current Build:
Hyte x50 Air (fully mesh case)
Rog Strix B550-F WiFi II
Ryzen 9 3900X (AM4)
Arctic MX-6
Noctua NH-D15S (fan going front to back of case)
32GB (2x16) ADATA DDR4 3200 CL16
ASRock Phantom OC RX 6500XT 4GB
Samsung 990 EVO 1TB M.2 SSD
Corsair RM850x (2024) fully modular
10x Corsair iCUE LINK RX120 (3x front intake, 3x side intake, 3x bottom intake, 1x exhaust)
Dual booted Bazzite(main OS) and Windows 11 Home (original OS / necessary for college classes)


r/buildapc • • 3h ago

Build Help Upgrading my mid parts.

2 Upvotes

im not good when it comes to making a pc. i have no idea what im doing, but i know shit is expensive nowadays so i need some help.
my CPU is a AMD FX-8320 Processor
i THINK my motherboard is a GA-78LMT-USB3 6.0
and i have 12 go of RAM.
I was thinking of getting

B550M mobo
5 5600 ryzen CPU
32 RAM
Like i said i am not too knowledgeable in pc building so it'd be very nice to have some input from an outside perspective or in other words someone that has an idea of what they're doing.
also i don't think its needed to say but my gpu is a 1060 gtx 6gb.


r/buildapc • • 4m ago

Troubleshooting CPU Usage Spikes when starting up games. How do I fix?

• Upvotes

It happens when Im launching Wardogs or Arc Raiders (only 2 heavy games I have currently). Every time I launch those games my cpu utilization goes up to 90-99% and stays there till the loading ends just before it loads final assets then I enter main screen. The CPU temperature also spikes up to 80-85C. It goes down immediately and temps cooldown to 50-60 after.

Im worried if this thing isn't normal if so is there any way to mitigate or fix this issue. I just built it 2 weeks ago.


r/buildapc • • 18h ago

Build Upgrade Upgrade am4 or build new am5 ?

30 Upvotes

Hi,

I'm about to buy a new AM5 build. I got a pretty good deal on the CPU, motherboard and RAM, but now I'm wondering if I should return them and just upgrade my AM4 build instead.

New AM5 build:
-9850X3D
-ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi
-2x32GB DDR5 G.Skill CL30 6000
-9070 XT Nitro+ (or similar)
-2TB SN850X NVMe

The new build would cost me around $3,700 USD. (total with case + ventirad & other things)

My current AM4 build:
-Ryzen 3600X
-5700 XT
-32GB DDR4 (don't remember the speed)
-B450 Tomahawk Max

The other option would be to upgrade my AM4 build with a new CPU and GPU, maybe the motherboard too. For example:
-Ryzen 5700X + ASRock Challenger RX 9060 XT 16GB

Total upgrade cost: $820 USD.

What would you do in my situation? Is it worth spending that much on a new build, or should I just upgrade my current one?

I play at 1440p.

Thanks!


r/buildapc • • 30m ago

Full Build Req Hey everyone, I don't have a clue what I'm doing

• Upvotes

Hello,

So, I don't know a damn thing about computers. But, I'm sick of giving Sony money and so I'd like to build a gaming PC. While I don't expect anyone to part by part a rIg for me, I wouldn't be mad at it, I was really hoping to just get a recommendation for resources where I can educate myself.

I'm in Canada, would like to keep it under 3k CAD for the PC itself, peripherals aren't important but I'll take any suggestions on anything.

Cheers


r/buildapc • • 32m ago

Build Help PC Part advice on saving cost

• Upvotes

Hey, I'm currently trying to build my first PC. I've found these parts to be a pretty good deal off of PCPartPicker, but I would still like to see what changes I could make to maybe get it down to 3k AUD (before windows activation and a monitor). I'm a first time PC builder so it'd be nice to ask for some advice on how I could possibly get the price down. One change I don't plan on doing is getting a Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU as the 100 AUD price difference is not significant enough to avoid getting a more recent CPU. Thank you :)

Build:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU – A$599
MB: Gigabyte B850 EAGLE WIFI6E ATX AM5 Motherboard – A$269
RAM: 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MHz DDR5 RAM (Crucial Pro Overclocking) – A$630
Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB CPU Cooler – A$55
SSD: Kingston NV3 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe NVMe SSD – A$399
GPU: ASRock Challenger Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB – A$1199
CASE: Lian Li LANCOOL 216 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case – A$158
PSU: 850W 80+ Gold Power Supply (MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5) – A$158

Total: A$3467


r/buildapc • • 42m ago

Build Help Question regaring installing two SSDs on Gigabyte motherboard.

• Upvotes

I plan on getting both a new case and new motherboard, because I have RAM that is advertised to run at 3200MHz but my prebuilt Acer Nitro N50-640 doesn't support XMP/EXPO, meaning I can't run the RAM at full speed unless I get a new kit of standard JEDEC 1.2v. So therefore I have to get a new motherboard as well, as it is drastically cheaper (at least where I live). The reason I'm getting a new case is because my prebuilt isn't compatible with the available motherboards on the market. Now I've found one that is nicely compatible, but I'm severely confused about how I'm supposed to fit my two NVMe SSDs in it. The motherboard I plan on getting is the Gigabyte H610M D3H DDR4 WIFI, and this motherboard has two M.2 slots stacked on top of each other as far as I can tell. The thing is that both my SSDs are 80mm long, so I'm unsure of how that's supposed to work. Before anyone thinks the question I'm about to ask is stupid, I'd like to say that I am fairly new to PC building. Do I just fasten both SSDs with the same screw into the same hole or what? I would've posted some pictures if it allowed me to do so.


r/buildapc • • 1h ago

Troubleshooting First build boots to 0d error when cold. Immediately restarts fine into Windows. Also, Boot Failure on cold boot after increasing RAM MT/s.

• Upvotes

I just built my first PC with the help of a friend who is more knowledgeable than I, and I'm *almost* to what I'd call a success but the two issues in the title have stumped both of us.

Here's the hardware (copy pasted from my order since I don't really know how much of these titles are relevant), all of it is brand new within the last 2 weeks:

  • AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D - Ryzen 7 9000 Series Zen 5 8-Core 5.2 GHz - Socket AM5 120W - AMD Radeon Graphics Desktop Processor - 100-100001084WOF
  • GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 AM5 LGA 1718, ATX, DDR5, 4x M.2, PCIe 5.0, USB4, Wi-Fi 7, 2.5GbE LAN, EZ-Latch
  • CORSAIR Vengeance RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model CMH32GX5M2E6000C36
  • GIGABYTE Gaming GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7 PCI Express 5.0 Graphics Card GV-N5080GAMING OC-16GD
  • CORSAIR RMx Series RM1000x ATX Power Supply - Fully Modular - ATX 3.1 - PCIe 5.1 - Cybenetics Gold - Low-Noise - Japanese Capacitors - 1000 Watts
  • SAMSUNG SSD 9100 PRO 1TB, PCIe 5.0x4 M.2 2280, Seq. Read Speeds Up to 14,800MB/s, Best for AI Computing, Gaming, and Heavy Duty Workstations (MZ- VAP1T0B/AM)

The case is the Phanteks EX5 Max which has a built in AIO cooler for the CPU.

Here's my first issue: When I boot up cold, it immediately (or within 1 second) gives me a motherboard error code of 0d. It will stay there forever if un-messed with. If I reboot by holding down the power button or by just hitting the restart button, it then boots to windows with no issues.

Second issue: When enabling XMP in the BIOS to unlock 6000 MT/s from the RAM (instead of the default 4800) the computer will boot into windows normally from the BIOS. A check ensures that the RAM is at 6000 MT/s. But then, any boot or reboot warm or cold leads to a boot failure, with the only option being to go back to 4800 MT/s.

And here's what we've tried so far:

All drivers updated

Updated the BIOS to version FB2f

Reseated the RAM (They started in slots 2 and 4, and they were reseated in 2 and 4, just in case they weren't fully clicked in)

Tried stepping down the boosted RAM speed from 6000 to 5800, 5600, etc, with the only successful one being the default 4800.

My friend says if we can't fix it, booting twice every time is not the end of the world, nor is having RAM at less than maximum speed. And while he's right, I sure would like this whole thing to just WORK. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated!

I'm going to crosspost this for visibility on r/Corsair and r/gigabyte


r/buildapc • • 1h ago

Troubleshooting Video shutting off but pc still on

• Upvotes

so i had a 3060 ti first and the monitor kept shutting off. so I thought it was the video card failing. so I purchased a new video card and keeps happening. I am running 64g of memory and so I removed one of the sticks and now and stays on a lot longer. but when i load any games even ones like starcraft which is very old, monitor goes black. Not sure what is going on. Wondering if it could be the PSU. Any suggestions?


r/buildapc • • 1h ago

Discussion Optimization failed

• Upvotes

So I was using hone to optimize my pc and when I restarted my PC it crashed and gave me the blue screen of death I had to reset my has this happened to anyone


r/buildapc • • 1h ago

Build Upgrade Trying to figure out how to upgrade

• Upvotes

I'm currently trying to upgrade my PC, as my current bottleneck is my CPU. I'm stuck between sticking with intel, which I have done for well over a decade with my pc, and trying to make the switch to AMD instead.

I do a lot of rendering and game development, so I have 48GB of DDR4 currently. I know that I'll likely have to invest in DDR5 in order to truly upgrade, but I was looking at older motherboards for the i7-12700kf that would let me utilize my older RAM.

I know that a lot of people in the computer space tend to favor AMD now, but my main reservations are having to make the switch from windows 10 to 11, and I'm not entirely sure on the process of having to switch from my i7 to a Ryzen.

Current specs:

- 3080 TI

- i7 9700

- 48GB DDR4


r/buildapc • • 1h ago

Build Upgrade New Build Dilemma : Dual Mode 4k/1080p vs 1440p?

• Upvotes

Hi guys, I'm looking to build my first all new gaming rig in 13 years. After researching recently, I see a lot of things have changed/gotten so expensive haha. I'm mainly stuck on whether I should go for a dual mode 4k 240hz/1080 480hz monitor or just get a high refresh rate 1440p monitor. The two games I've mainly played over the last 20 years were Battlefield and World of Warcraft. So I see the benefit in taking advantage of the dual mode to enjoy both games. 4k for WoW and 1080p for Battlefield to ensure high frames(always preferred high frames). However, I hear that 4k is quite taxing on the GPU, so I'm conscious of that potentially making it more difficult to play new games at that resolution in the future. Am I just better of getting the high refresh rate 1440p monitor for longevity or has DLSS(this technology is new to me) for 4k made things easier to transition now with higher FPS. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Current rig:

4770k

GTX1080

BenQ XL2420TE (24inch,144hz, TN Panel)

24GB DDR3

New rig thoughts:

9800X3D

RTX5080

ASUS ROG Swift PG27UCWM 4K Dual Mode OLED or ASUS ROG Swift PG27AQWP-W Dual Mode

32GB DDR5


r/buildapc • • 1h ago

Build Upgrade Ryzen 5 5500 low performance

• Upvotes

I just bought the Ryzen 5 5500 because my friend recommended it but im getting really low fps in every new game i play. I have really bad drops im arc raiders, Battlefield 6 is stuck at 40 fps showing cpu in red all the time. Everywhere else i look up about this cpu everyone says its fine to run games but i cant get 60 anywhere. I have:

Asus asrock b450 pro 4 r 2.0

Rtx 2060 super 8gb

16gb ram 2400

M2 ssd 1tb

Should i buy a new cpu or should i upgrade ram to 3200?


r/buildapc • • 5h ago

Discussion Is it worth waiting until Black Friday?

1 Upvotes

I want to upgrade my 4060 to a 5070. Black Friday is in about a month, but I've seen a lot of posts saying that the sales aren't real as retailers slowly increase the price of things, just to drop it back down to their original price to pretend it's on sale.

Is it worth waiting until Black Friday or should I just buy one now?


r/buildapc • • 9h ago

Build Upgrade Please help - RX 9070, 9070 XT, or RTX 5070?

5 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I REALLY need help on choosing what GPU to upgrade to! :)

My current specs: 5700x3d, 32gb ram, RX 9060 XT 16GB. I also have a 200hz monitor at 1440p resolution. My PSU is a corsair rm750e 750w (2025) I feel like my 9060 XT is slightly under what I would like FPS wise, especially for FFXIV with reshade.

I don't play AAA games, I play a limited selection of games lots of which I can't find benchmarks for since they are obscure and less popular and not mainstream. My main games are WoW retail (and Forever), and FFXIV.

Then I'll occasionally play Overwatch, OSRS (runelite), Warframe, Stardew Valley, and maybe some modded Minecraft with shaders (aka running around for 20 minutes then logging off xD).

My options in Australian Dollars (AUD, brand new all from Amazon):

  • RX 9070 XT - $1250
  • RX 9070 - $1079
  • RTX 5070 - $1249 (cheapest model)

I am deciding on whether its worth it to pay the extra for Nvidia just because I know FFXIV runs much better on Nvidia cards and Blizzard seems to favor Nvidia in terms of bug fixes... I know the 9070 XT is MUCH faster than the 5070, but would that matter for the games I play? Do I even need the XT or would the 9070 be better value?

Thank you!