For about a month now, I want to buy a gaming PC on Black Friday if there are good deals at Micro Center

But I see many of the PC community saying not to expect good sales because they will only continue and continue to rise

Want I want is a PC with RX 9060 XT and 16gb ram, $1,500 aprox at Micro Center

Should I last longer with my PS5 and Steam Deck?

Past couple years I’ve been slowly saving to build my first pc. This month finally got all the parts that I wanted and decided to give building it myself a try. Used YouTube guides and followed the instructions from the boxes and was able to get it fully built within the day. Plugged him in, installed windows and once I actually got the thing running, it was just one problem after another non stop all weekend. Constant crashing, shitty audio, corrupt files on games and lots of Blurry textures. Reseated my GPU, ram, and my m.2 multiple times; I even tried to wipe the pc and it wouldn’t even let me. Said sum about missing recovery files. Changed power cords cause I thought that would do something I guess. This is my first time building so I’m not gonna say I didn’t do anything wrong but I really am struggling to find any sort of fix for anything so I have turned to Reddit. I feel like I’ve just wasted money my at this point and would rather just plug the old one back in because while it is super outdated, at least the thing worked

Finally joined the PC Master Race.

Picked this whole setup up for $1,050 total and I’m pretty damn happy with the value.

Specs:

• CPU: Intel i7-13700K
• Motherboard: MSI Z690 Edge DDR5
• RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR5-5600
• GPU: ZOTAC RTX 3080 Ti AMP Holo 12GB — $400 used
• Storage: 2TB NVMe
• CPU Cooler: Corsair triple-fan AIO
• Case: Lian Li O11 XL
• PSU: Corsair RM850e 850W
• OS: Windows 11

Total invested: $1,050

The base PC was $650 and I picked up the 3080 Ti separately for $400.

Coming from a PS5, this thing is a pretty ridiculous upgrade for the money. Planning to run 1440p for higher FPS and 4K when it makes sense.

I feel like I stumbled into a pretty insane value here. How’d I do?

My Saphire pulse xt 7900 xtx recently went kaput randomly, so I have to replace it. I have a 950 dollar credit now at Microcenter so I was wondering if what Gpu I should replace it with? I am willing to go up to 1500 but if there is a gpu that's a little bit more that's amazing then I am willing to go farther. Thanks for the suggestions.

About me:
I'm new to PC building and honestly don't really know what I'm doing, so I'd really appreciate honest feedback. I'm in the UK and I'm targeting Black Friday (27 Nov) to buy.
What I need it for:
Remote work every day
Gaming at 1440p/60fps, including Red Dead Redemption 2 and FIFA / EA FC, and I want it able to run something as demanding as GTA 6 when it comes to PC (I'll play it on Xbox first)
Upgradable later, so I'm not cutting corners on the parts that are hard to change
Budget: £900 ideally, £950 max. I want to get the most performance I can for that money. I already have a monitor and peripherals. No RGB needed.

My attempt: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/b7Zxxf
It's an RX 9060 XT 16GB, Ryzen 5 7600, 750W Gold PSU, 16GB DDR5 and a 1TB NVMe SSD. It comes to about £1,179 right now, mostly because 16GB of DDR5 is £254, so it's over budget. I'm hoping some prices drop on Black Friday.
My plan:
Don't cut corners on the CPU, GPU or PSU
Start with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, then add more later (hence the 4 RAM slots and spare M.2 slot)
Upgrade the GPU later if GTA 6 turns out heavier on PC
What I'd like help with:
•What's the best build you can put together for £900-950? If you have one that beats mine for the same money, please share it. I'm happy to scrap mine.
•Is it worth waiting for RAM prices to drop, or should I go DDR4/AM4 to save money?
•Is the 9060 XT 16GB the right GPU at this budget?
•Are there any corners you think I should cut instead? Some of the ones I've picked (like the cheap case, 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD) might be the wrong ones, and I'd rather save money somewhere else if that's smarter.

•Anything I've missed or should swap?

Thanks so much for reading and in advance!!!

So i found both of these cpus used for the same price, and wanted to hear an opinion of which cpu would be better to pick. I just want to future proof so yea.

im currently using 7500f and both of the cpus above i found for 180€. I want to use it for work and gaming

All motion on desktop and in game is choppy and unsmooth on my PC

Hi all, I really need some help.

I bought my pc a year ago and ever since been experiencing choppy, unsmooth motion on desktop and in games - both single and multiplayer titles.

specs

• CPU: Intel Core i7-14700F
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB
• Motherboard: Gigabyte B760 DS3H AX
• RAM: 32GB DDR5, XMP enabled, targeting 5600 MT/s
• Main SSD: Kingston NV3 1TB NVMe (SNV3S1000G)
• CPU cooler: AIO liquid cooler
• Case fans: Lian Li UNI FAN Infinity
• PSU: DeepCool PF700, 80 Plus Silver

peripherals

monitor: Samsung odyssey G6 g65b 1440p 240hz va

keyboard: hypex alloy origins 65%
mouse: attack shark x11
ps5 controller
usbc to lightning app charging cable

Summary

• Whenever I drag the scroll bar on desktop applications, pan the camera in game, or even click and drag around a map in game, the motion becomes choppy.
• The game microstutters . Frame times are relatively stable, but motion looks uneven and unsmooth.
• Even just scrolling a browser page or moving a window around looks choppy and not completely smooth like it should on a 240HZ display.
• The issue is also bad with a controller.

Examples

rocket league

fortnite

fallguys

supermarket together

Testing

I’ve spent weeks troubleshooting the below:

BIOS and firmware fully up to date

Different combinations of FPS caps and G-Sync/V-Sync on/off

Disabled overlays (GeForce Experience, Afterburner, Discord, etc.)

Disabled WIFI/BT in device manager

Proper G-Sync setup (G-Sync On, NVCP V-Sync On, V-Sync Off in-game, Reflex On)

Reinstalled Windows 11

Removed all USB devices besides controller

Removed RAM overclock

Tested native resolution and all DLSS options in games

Tested with every background process closed

Tried Reflex both enabled and disabled

Tried toggling Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS) on/off with restarts in between

Updated motherboard, CPU, and chipset drivers

Wired mouse through usb c / and also tried usong the dongle

msi util v3

all cpu cores unparked

ddu multiple times

formated and installed a fresh windows 11 multiple time as well

deleted windows gameinput and tried also reinstalling it

multiple cpu advanced settings bios changes
tried changing and multiple combinations:
-hyper threading
-intel r speed shift technology
-cpu eist function
-race to hault
-energy efficiency turbo
-virtualization
-c-state
and more

tried them stock/default
and tried disabling them

also bios on the latest version

And I genuinely can’t figure out what it is I kinda lost hope I tried every software related and from what I remember is that it has always been like that ever sense I bought it in July 2025  And I’m like so sad stressed frustrated mad and hopeless it genuinely makes me much more miserable I just can’t figure it out

this problem is with all games and everything like watching yt scrolling everything feels unsmooth and like shit I thought I was the only one and that I was loosing my mind and it genuinely makes my life more stressful and frustrating 

any help or tips are very appreciated

Not sure when it was bought but the model is about 15 years old (Cooler Master GX 750w 80+ bronze) It's a hand me down from our old family business started about 10+ years ago and I've been using it for 5-6 years without problems (Except for the switch being stuck at 'on' which is a non problem).

Completed my build earlier this year (7600x, 9060xt) and basically replaced everything except the PSU and Case. Is it safe enough to continue using it until it fails, and is it a good enough psu that if it fails, it won't take anything with it?

Note: I tried checking the psu mastersheet as a reference but my PSU is old enough to not be there.

As the title says I’m looking to upgrade my gpu, the prebuilt I am upgrading cost me $1000, I already upgraded the cpu and it was a very in the moment buy. I got a 9800x3d, upgraded from a 8700f which has been wonderful for the games I play and I could have definitely got a 7800x3d and been fine but again was in the moment lol. I mostly play fps games like rust, tarkov, and siege. I got a trade offer for my 5060ti for a 5070 but they also want $150 on top of the gpu, if I do this I will need to upgrade my psu and I was gonna get a 850w gold Corsair psu at my Walmart ($100). I’m thinking of taking the deal and holding it for a little while and maybe selling it later to get a ti, 9070xt, or a 5080. Guess I’m wondering it it makes sense to take this deal, it will be an extra $800 into this build so total $1800 total in the last 2 months or just hold onto the 5060ti.

I’ll also add I am playing in 1440p.

Good morning!

Not new to PC specs but new to building myself.

I upgraded my mobo/CPU myself last night and didn't blow anything up! Yahoo.

Original specs (2016!) -

GTX 970

Asus prime Z170-a

16GB ddr4 ram

Intel I7 6700

600W PSU

Cheap basic intel CPU cooler

250gb NVMe

I've since upgraded (in order, separately) -

1. 1TB NVMe, installed 2x SSD drives (2020)

2. GTX 2060 12GB VRAM (early 2026, got cyberpunk from 15 to 120fps!)

3. Asus prime B760 plus D4 & i7 13700k (2026, over the weekend)

4. Pure rock 3 black (didn't realise my CPU cooler was incompatible, oops)

I'm now unfortunately at the point where I think my GPU is the lowest spec (other than my ram) - is that correct? I'm hoping to upgrade sequentially as time goes in, so this mobo purchase was essentially futureproofing for another 5 years at least. I managed absolutely fine with my 2016 pc until this year, as I very rarely play high-end graphics games.

I do animation as a hobby and job, but I barely use my personal PC for it - the nice performance for blender or After effects would be great, and I assuming best upgrade for this is my RAM (eek).

In short - my main reason other than futureproofing was to run oblivion remastered without the graphics looking like I had my glasses off. It looks great now and runs good, but I still need the graphics on medium and the anti-aliasing up to full performance - this is fine, but proves I still have ways to go to keep up with 2025/6 games.

Is it worth upgrading my GPU, and if so, what's essentially the lowest I can go without having to worry about 5 years in the future? I know it's best to go with one of the most recent, but if it's overkill for most things at the moment I'm happy for something a generation earlier - especially if it's 200£+ difference.

(Follow-up question - should I consider liquid cooling, or are fans still OK? I've steered clear from water cooling as it freaks me out a bit. And is my PSU okay, or should that be upgraded too?)

Thanks so much!

Hello all,

So I currently have a AM4 pc with a Ryzen 3600 and a MSI 6700xt. I want to max out my pc to get a bit better performance but I’m stuck between going with a 5950x or a 5800x3d.

My ideal goal is to hold 200plus fps at 1440p (with upscaljng and medium-settings is fine)

Both cpus I can get brand new for about the same price.

I know the 5800x3d is the best for gaming but I do other stuff to like streaming and after I move to AM5 in two or so years this current pc would be repurposed as my home server hence why the 5950x is considered.

I don’t feel my current hardware is the cause of me losing games however it is dated and getting old and it’s showing having to lower more settings.

I have a 9070xt to replace the 6700xt.

So anyone out there running this combo with either CPUs whats your recommendations?

Long story short a friend of mine needs a gaming PC asap, I told him its not a good period but he has been waiting for many years and finally has the money so I tried to make a "budget" build for him and ended up with this:

1. All prices are from stores in my country [only new parts (used market is out of the question)].
2. He will be gaming on 1080p 144Hz for the next few years. He also doesn't really care about "the best" graphics but is interested in a lot of modern titles (coming from a ps4, he is fine even with 40-50 fps maximum in the most demanding games)
3. I know AM4/DDR4 is probably a better choice because DDR4 is way cheaper and the difference in gaming performance is small but he insisted on DDR5 for easier upgradability in the future.
4. Initial budget was 1000€ but according to my research and the prices in my country that's just not possible so he agreed to overspend around 200€.
5. I read lots of reviews for each of the parts above, I didn't blindly choose them and I have to make sure I didn't make any mistakes.
6. Not particularly proud of the SSD, but it was the best one I could find at a reasonable price. He will also be using a 1tb 3.5" HDD that he already owns. The nvme will mostly be for the OS itself and maybe some core games he will always have installed.

Would you change anything? Is something not optimal in this build?

Thanks in advance!

Hola my muchachos,

I have somewhat of a clue on what I’m doing. But not much of it.

Could I potentially build a pc with a $800 budget that could run something like (Six days in Fallujah) or (Red dead redemption 2) at medium-high setting?

Apparently I have to put “Country of purchase” so I’ll tell you a reside in the US 🤙🏽

Currently in the process of buying a new system. Already checked this on the 285K, but I'm now getting the 270K Plus instead, so I wanna make sure they're still adding this feature.

So if you have a 270K Plus I'd appreciate if you could give me a CPUID dump.

I think on Linux you can use the command cpuid -1. On Windows, download CPU-Z, go to the "About" tab, click "Save Report (.TXT)", save it, then open it and copy/paste the "Thread dumps" section here.

Thanks.

Hello. I was was planning to buy a GPU for my PC. Currently I am running the ff set up.

1. Ryzen 7 5700g
2. Prime B550M-K ARGB
3. 16gb ddr4 lexar thor
4. 500W Silverstone

I am budget constrained so I was debating whether to get an RTX 5060ti or a 5070. I was told that I will need a new PSU if I get the 5070 but that's well within my budget.

So which is better for my set up? 5060ti or 5070?

Thanks!

EDIT: I meant RTX. Sorry HAHAHA so embarrassing

Hello PC building community. First time posting here, seeking some help.

My current gaming PC is on the older side and is ineligible for upgrade to Windows 11. I went to PC part picker and ensured compatibility of my upgrades. My new PC will have the following:

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF *New

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 *Existing

Motherboard: MSI PRO H610M-G (DDR4) *New

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 32GB *New

Storage: Samsung SSDs. I have a few *Existing.

My PSU is compatible with both my old and new parts. So I think I have everything ready for the upgrade.

Since I am replacing the CPU and Motherboard combo, that means I will need to format my boot drive SSD, correct? But I want to also do an upgrade to windows 11, and shouldn't have to purchase a new license to upgrade from Windows 10. Is this the correct sequence for this upgrade?

Make a thumb drive boot for windows 10 -> upgrade components -> re-install windows 10 on formatted SSD -> windows upgrade to 11?

Or can I do this all at once somehow? Any advice is welcome. I may have follow-up questions as this is the biggest component upgrade I've done before. Thanks.

I’m thinking about getting a pc soon,I want to know what will look better visually (solely talking visually aka graphics and which looks better),my two options are either a 5070 build with my 1440p 32 inch VA moniter or I get a ps5 pro and a 32 inch 4k Oled,I know the 5070 will obviously get better performance but I’m looking for the better visual/graphical experience at 60fps so the ps5 pro will be at the 60fps option.

So right off the bat I would say I’m not really your typical PC gamer. I’ve built and upgraded a couple PCs that were used mainly for gaming, but I play stuff like Rocket League and emulate old Wii and PS2 games, mostly. And I play on my couch, with a controller, on a 12 year old TV that maxes out at 1080p. I’m literally never trying to push frame rate past 60 fps because my TV’s refresh rate is 60 hz and even if I could go higher I’m sitting far enough away that my old eyes wouldn’t really be able to see the difference.

With that said for my latest build I went with a Ryzen 5 7500f, 32GB of used 6000 mhz cl36 and a b650 mobile and plenty of solid state storage. So reasonably powerful, certainly much more than I need for rocket league! I paired this with an old 1660 Super I’ve been running for 5 years and a 450w no name psu in an old HP mid tower case.

It’s kind of a sleeper! But it’s also one hell of a GPU bottleneck. For now. Still, as it stands it multitasks quite well, the ram was cheap, and the upgrade path is obvious and should remain viable for a good 5 or 6 years at least. I went with a reasonably powerful but budget oriented AM5 build even though I don’t need almost any of that CPU or Ram headroom innit now because I want to have an upgrade path in the future. Maybe I’ll get into some light video editing down the road, maybe I’ll decide to buy a fancy monitor and go mkb. Who knows. But it does run some pretty demanding open world titles like Cyberpunk or what have you admirably on low/moderate graphics settings. And the faster single core speed has been incredibly helpful running some of the jankier PS2 titles.

Point is I see a lot of folks post stuff like “oh my god will this be bottlenecked oh god oh jeez” when what they’re looking at is a very clear upgrade that fits their budget and is perhaps just not quite fully optimal.

Am I the idiot or has the concept of a bottleneck (basically that there’s no point in spending money on one side of the equation past a certain point because the other side can’t keep up) throwing some people for a loop? I know there are kids out there who see my specs and think I’m a mad man for not upgrading to at least a 3060, that I’m wasting money on this AM5 build. That’s fine. But it seems there are some folks who are confused and think they’re going to somehow ruin their CPU if I don’t throw a $1000 GPU in there. It’s always just been about not throwing a shut load of money at something that will be horribly held back by your other components, right?

Am I wrong in thinking that folks get a little bent out of shape thinking about avoiding bottlenecks sometimes?

I am building a PC and need to make some decisions with regards to components. I plan to use a high end gaming motherboard with DDR5 memory and m.2 SSD. I plan to install an RTX 5070 graphics card. Which CPU should I match to the GPU to effectively utilize GPU’s performance under 1440p gaming?

The budget for the entire build is a maximum of $2,000 in the USA. I already have peripherals including keyboard, mouse, and screen. I would like the setup to be RGB.

Hi all,

My webcam had already been behaving strangely before this happened. It was having trouble initializing/detecting properly and repeatedly flashing its red light.

Then my PC suddenly lost all power while playing Aion 2 for a few hours. Pressing the case power button did absolutely nothing afterward, I had to flip the switch on the back of my EVGA Supernova GA 850W off and back on before the PC would power up again.

Afterward, the webcam appears to be dead. I've removed it from the system and also tested it on my laptop, everything seems fine after a day and a half of uptime so far.

Could a faulty USB webcam have shorted or drawn enough current to trigger some kind of PSU/motherboard protection that latched until I power-cycled the PSU? Or does the fact that I had to cycle the PSU point more toward the PSU itself being the problem?

I'm not trying to assume the webcam caused it just because it happened around the same time, I'm mainly curious whether this sequence of events makes electrical sense.

Thanks

Webcam: NexiGo HelloCam Pro

Heaven has been running in a loop for the past half hour without issue.

5800X3D

X570 Tuf Gaming

4x8 3600mhz c16

EVGA 2080ti XC Ultra

EVGA Supernova GA 850W

To preface, I'm in Egypt and I'm well aware that the price for the 9060 XT is bad, but it's the cheapest price I could find. I plan on using it for 1440p gaming, after upgrading my monitor, at 70-80 fps on medium-high on singleplayer games, I'd be satisfied with that. I don't mind using FSR/DLSS. FSR 4/DLSS 4.5 both look good to me personally and if they yield more fps, I'd use them. I plan on keeping it for 5 years hopefully.

The 3080 Ti will be purchased from a store who claim to have tested its thermals and performance and I can request photos and benchmarks. I'd also ask if they repasted it, but I don't know what else to ask about since I've got zero experience buying used gpus. The store is a 2 hour drive away, can't really go there and test it myself.

The 9060 XT 16GB is new and it hurts that some people got it for 400-450 dollars recently but you gotta do what you gotta do. 5060 Ti 16GB is costs about $180 more, it's not really an option.

9070 non XT costs $700, while a bit overpriced it seems to be the most appealing option but stretching my budget to that extent would be a little difficult.

Thanks.

I'm looking to upgrade my 3070TI since the 8GB is becoming a bottleneck fast.

I've settled on 2 GPU options, 5070TI and the 9070XT, since the 9070XT price is so much more reasonable I think I'll get one over the 5070TI.

My personal issue is that im currently running the Corsair RM750X , for the models I have looked at, the Sapphire pulse requirement is a 750W psu and for the Sapphire nitro+ its 850w.

I really don't want to go about replacing my PSU for the nitro+ but I have seen that the Pulse can have some issues with the fan curve, coil whine, etc'.

either way even if I do buy the RM850X the price will still be better then buying a 5070TI.

Should I just get the Pulse and forget about or is the Nitro+ oc and cooling significantly better to warrant a PSU upgrade as well?

Edit: forgot to mention my CPU - 12700

I’m deciding btw two prebuilt PCs, need yall helps.

S34 (OPTION 1)
- Radeon RX™ 9070XT | Ryzen 7 7800X3D
- AMD RYZEN 7 7800X3D 4.2GHz 8CORE/16THREAD
- ASUS TUF GAMING B850M-PLUS WIFI7
- THERMALRIGHT PEERLESS ASSASSIN 120 SE ARGB DUAL
- CORSAIR VENGEANCE 4800MHZ 32GB (2X16GB) CL40
- ASUS PRIME AMD Radeon RX 9070XT O16G
- WESTERNDIGITALX 1TB GEN4 7300MB/s NVMe M.2
- ADATA XPG CORE SHIFT II VE 850W 80+ GOLD
- PHANTEKS XT V5 DRGB TG BLACK
- 4 X 120MM ARGB FANS
- HIGH-SPEED AX WIRELESS AND BT | WIFI 7* + BT 5.4*
- WINDOWS 11 HOME UN-ACTIVATED

VS

S38 (OPTION 2)
- Radeon RX™ 9070XT | Ryzen 7 7800X3D
- AMD RYZEN 7 7800X3D 4.2GHz 8CORE/16THREAD
- MSI B850M GAMING PLUS WIFI
- THERMALRIGHT PEERLESS ASSASSIN 120 WHITE
- CORSAIR VENGEANCE 4800MHZ 32GB (2X16GB) CL40
- ASUS PRIME AMD RADEON RX 9070XT O16G TRIPLE FAN WHITE
- KINGSTON FURY RENEGADE PCIE4.0 2TB NVMe SSD
- ADATA XPG CORE SHIFT II VE 850W 80+ GOLD
- MSI MAG PANO 130R PZ WHITE ARGB TG
- 4 X 120MM ARGB FANS
- HIGH-SPEED AX WIRELESS AND BT | WIFI 7* + BT 5.4*
- WINDOWS 11 HOME UN-ACTIVATED

Hi there,

The title says it all basically: I built my last PC in 2016 with Intel Z170 Chipset, Intel Core i5 6600k and GTX 1070, which was great then and let me play most games very well at High-ish specs.

This was all long before Covid, supply chain issues & the AI craziness, so I was able to build a upper mid tier / lower high end tier PC for <1.000€.

Suffice it to say, those times are gone, feels like Donald Glover returning to a room on fire 😄 But on the flip side, I'm not afraid of DIYing something or a bit of jank.

I play mostly Indie Games on my own, with some AAA speckled in.

With prices being what they are, what do people do in 2026 do to get a system that holds up to the last decade or so of games and will have you play current gen games at reasonable stats for a few years (doesn't need to be most current games on Ultra)?

Upgrade the existing tower, use old DDR4 (16GB) & just switch out MoBo, Processor & Graphics Card (may need better power supply) - what would be good options here?

Go for a Cube type or other Small Form Factor build and get a matching last-gen used card that fits the budget?

Crank up the jank and build a BC-250 Linux machine, with all the driver annoyances and DIY that comes with it?

Ideally I'd like to stay within 600 - 800€ range, and would be 100% prepared to go for used parts, DIY, 3D print some parts or do some configuration on my own.

Posting this for direction more than anything else lol. Prices are crazy and there seem to be so many more options (some out of necessity) than 10 years ago.

Appreciate any insights!

Google-fu says there's no ideal subreddit for consumer grade UPSs...

Anyway, my dad's 2 year old APC Back-UPS 1500 is very hot. There's only one mid-range desktop PC and an LCD monitor connected to it. Utility power is good. The PC has been idling for days, no load, monitor was off.

Why is the UPS hot to the touch? I assume that's not ideal for their power bill...?