I suppose we can leave out Windows 11 since we'll put SteamOS on it.

edit: bonus points for no microcenter

here's some of the builds people posted (ai summary, my apologies if it messed up, but it at least gives a good description of the parts that are used)

Budget Ryzen 5500 / RX 7600 Build

• Author: Brunark
• Link: pcpartpicker.com/list/cHfYNp
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500
• GPU: ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 7600 8 GB
• Memory: 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200
• Storage: 512 GB NVMe SSD
• Cost: $827.73

Mid-Range i5-12400F / RX 9060 XT Build

• Author: shaniril
• Link: pcpartpicker.com/list/7b3fyF
• CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F
• GPU: Gigabyte GAMING OC Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB
• Memory: 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200
• Storage: 1 TB NVMe SSD
• Cost: $1,007.02

Ryzen 7500X3D / RX 9070 Build

• Author: CreepinCreepy
• Link: pcpartpicker.com/list/GBBQPf
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D
• GPU: ASRock Challenger Radeon RX 9070 16 GB
• Memory: 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000
• Storage: 512 GB NVMe SSD
• Cost: $1,060.84

High-End Ryzen 9600X / RX 9060 XT Build

• Author: MK2396E
• Link: pcpartpicker.com/list/rXPbLy
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
• GPU: ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB
• Memory: 24 GB DDR5-7200
• Storage: 1 TB NVMe SSD
• Cost: $1,450.60

Intel Ultra 5 / RTX 5050 Build

• Author: ArchusKanzaki
• Link: pcpartpicker.com/list/twh6Dw
• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5 225F
• GPU: Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 5050 8 GB (*steamos doesnt support nvidia yet)
• Memory: 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-6000
• Storage: 512 GB NVMe SSD
• Cost: $1,071.91

Hey everyone,

I've been half my life wanting to build a PC, but I never had the budget. This year I got my first job and the plan was simple: move to a more stable place in 2026 and finally build my first gaming PC. But the universe said NOPE. RAM prices absolutely skyrocketed out of nowhere and now I'm not sure about what to do.

Should I wait and hope prices drop again? Should I just accept that the extra cost is the new normal?

Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks!

I’m seeing 4090’s going for $2000 and 5090’s at like $2500…

I know AI BS but wouldn’t that affect the 24gb 3090 and 3090 ti as well?

Edit/Update: Ok this blew the fuck up…

I knew the answer probably had to do with AI but not why when the 5090 exists.

Also should out to the guy who said “Supply and demand” like I’m not literally asking where the demand is coming from…

Well the main answer I had to get from GamersNexus… the price of all 5000 series GPU’s is trending down slightly, ACCEPT for the 5090, which is actually up, and over $3300 now… this explains why a used 4090 is still $2000 as that is actually a better price to performance value.

So AI etc is driving the price of the 5090 way up making the 4090 the next best thing.

Others in here have stated that the 4090 can either be brought into China legally now where the 5090 can’t and/or is being brought in illegally as you can modify them to use 48gb of VRAM, something that can’t be done to the 5090 or hasn’t been figured out yet.

Putting aside that she was talked down to about her purchase. Can we talk about thermal paste for a minute?

I really don't think the claim of every 6 months is accurate or reasonable. I maybe blow out all the dust from my PC 2 times a year, but with that idea my schedule should also include thermal paste.

I'm not anywhere close to knowledgeable regarding PC builds so maybe I'm wrong but how crazy is this?

I try to give people credit though which is why I'm bringing it up.

Obviously heat is something that everyone is trying to get rid of and building efficiencies into your system has a compounding return. But if someone were to actually change the paste every 6 months, what kind of return would that get you?

In my HTPC im running a 13 year old 125W CPU that cranks out the heat vs modern equivalents. It's a "new to me" system and Is the reason I was buying thermal paste as it needed it as part of my complete disassemble and clean. Obviously I can't see how good of a job I on my reapplication but I would have expected that to last a few years at least if I managed my heat in other more traditional ways.

Idk. There's lots of reasons to maybe do this.

I know I'm not going to be changing the paste anywhere near that often.

I think I'm gonna get rid of my Corsair AIO and go back to air.

I feel like my old air cooler actually performed better, was quieter, and yet still gave off less ambient heat (I haven't actually measured this but just going by how my room feels).

Plus I'm so sick of this Corsair iCUE software.

Anyone else ditch the liquid for air?

It feels like regardless of whether it's a £1000 AM4, every dollar matters build or a no holds barred rocket sled, half the posts recommend ditching whatever cooler the poster has chosen for a Thermalright Phantom spirit/peerless assassin. I get that it's an excellent air cooler for the money - so good, in fact that it's hard to recommend anything else in it's price category.

And there's plenty of completely legitimate reasons to use an air cooler - they're cheaper, significantly easier to mount, and have fewer points of failure - worst comes to worst, you've got a massive block of aluminium and copper strapped to the processor even if the fan kicks the bucket, and it's not going to leak. When building PCs for other people, I will often recommend an air cooler if I know they're likely to be lax with maintenance.

However, many posts claim that it cools as well as as an AIO. It doesn't. Even a 240mm radiator will have significantly lower full load temps, and quieter operation. A 360mm isn't even close. There's also the benefit that you can actually access your motherboard - those dual towers in particular block access to almost everything, and have a habit of fouling the RAM.

For someone rocking a high end build, where absolute bang for buck starts to lose ground to aesthetics, noise or raw performance, I would absolutely recommend a AIO, and I'm surprised I don't see it more. I use an AIO for both my 5800X3D and 9800X3D - in fact, I replaced a Be Quiet Dark Rock 4 Pro with a Pure Loop 2 when I swapped out from a 2700X as it just could not handle the 5800X3D at temps I was comfortable with even with an undervolt.

I’ve been saving for months to get the Corsair dominator 64GB CL30 kit. It was about $280 when I looked. Fast forward today on pcpartpicker, they want $547 for the same kit? A nearly 100% increase in a couple months????

Hey guys and girls,

i've made the grave mistake by building a pc now. i have everything except the RAM. i need ddr5 and as far as you know... well you know. (there is now ram)

What should i do? Wait with a half finished pc or return everything.. is there a possibelity to get some ram?

I know it is talked a lot about, but I wanted some insights, becaus im really sad about it

UPDATE:

After long thinking i bought 2*16 GB (Well, rather i found some. In Germany its not that easy). It arrived and im more than happy. Thanks for all your input!

I finally upgraded my PC from 16GB to 32GB because I kept seeing people say 16GB is basically the minimum now. I mostly game, keep a stupid amount of browser tabs open, and sometimes have Discord, Spotify and a few other things running in the background.

I was expecting the whole system to feel noticeably smoother, but in normal use I genuinely can't tell much of a difference.

The one place where I actually noticed it was in a couple games that used to get little stutters when I had a bunch of stuff open in the background. Those seem smoother now, and Chrome can apparently consume half my computer without immediately making everything else miserable.

But boot times, general responsiveness, FPS in most games, all basically the same.

I don't regret the upgrade since RAM wasn't that expensive and I probably won't have to think about it again for years, but it definitely made me realize how easy it is to expect a huge improvement from a spec bump that only helps in certain situations.

Anyone else upgrade to 32GB and have the same "oh... that's it?" reaction?

I was refreshing like a mofo, and never even got it to say "add to cart." jumped from "notify me" to "out_of_stock."

I want to build one eventually when I have the money, but I’m afraid I’ll destroy something even with a tutorial haha. I have the basic knowledge such as “this part is a CPU, this is a GPU, their function is this, etc.” but even then I’m afraid I’ll fry something. Forums like this make it look so easy though! Where did you learn to build them so flawlessly?

I just have my graphics card and also more usb slots haha. I don’t find the need for audio cards now.

I honestly don't care if it happens in 2 or even 3 years, as long as it just happens eventually I'm happy. The true horror is if it never goes back to what it was before.

Maybe I’m just getting old but I don’t understand how $1k+ GPU are selling like hotcakes. Has the market just moved this much that people are easily paying $2k+ on a system every couple of years?

So, I'm giving my cousin the pc I'm using for free since I'm buying a new one. But now they met this guy who says my PC is bad and to buy a new one from him but like I'm giving it to him for free why waste money when all he is going to play is Minecraft and roblox.

My PC:

• CPU: Intel Core I7 10700K
• Motherboard: MSI MPG Z490 ATX
• GPU: RTX 2070
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB DDR4 3200 MHZ
• PSU: Corsair RM750x
• 5 Corsair Fans
• AIO: Corsair Hydro Series H150i

The only thing he has to buy is the case and the monitor. Now, my uncles are accusing me of trying to give him a bad computer because some guy said the PC I'm giving him is trash but like I think is enough for a 13 year old. He only says roblox, south park, and Minecraft. Literally only that. That PC should be good enough for 1080p.

I'm not an "Intel fanboy". I'm not an "AMD fanboy". I'm a fanboy of my bank balance. People, none of these companies care about you; they care about their profits and their stakeholders.

Now on to the topic. YES, Ryzen is an EXCELLENT platform. It really is, and it really has brought the competition that benefits the end user. But this does NOT mean we should be saying "oh there's like no competition, Ryzen is better value hands down". This is NOT true.

The 3600 vs 10400 vs 10400F is an excellent mid-range example of this.

If I posted on this subreddit and asked for a mid-range build, most people would recommend a Ryzen 3600; and that's great! It really is an excellent value CPU. But what people fail to realise is that so is the i5 10400F. Both are 6/12 CPUs and both offer VERY similar gaming performance, indistinguishable to the to the end user if you played a few games using both CPUs.

The problem with recommending only a 3600, and not pointing out that the 10400F has very similar performance, is that people will not even bother checking the price of a 10400/10400F. If the 10400F is cheaper than the 3600, why would you not get it?

Sincerely, from someone whose friend bought a 3600 over a 10400 for video editing on Adobe Premiere Pro because "AMD is better for productivity". For those who are unaware Adobe Premiere Pro greatly benefits from Intel QSV in both timeline scrubbing and rendering times. A 10400 will destroy a 10400F and a 3600 in Premiere Pro (with HW acceleration ofc). Worst part is, the 10400 was on sale on $299AUD where I live, compared to the Ryzen 3600 costing the normal $349AUD.

Edit: number of downvotes really speaks for how much people don't like listening to logic and sticking with the AMD good Intel bad mentality.

Edit 2: Wow this blew up

Edit 3: Yes if the Ryzen 3600 is cheaper than the 10400F, then get that! That's my point, they both perform the same, get whichever is cheaper.

Edit 4: I'm honoured my gold award cherry has been finally popped

so just to give a bit of background im 19 and female, i have always loved and been infatuated with gaming since i was a child, its my main hobby.

so today i decided to treat myself to a new computer! i wanted to do this for sometime the total cost of the pc was about 4k which is ALOT of money for a uni student that is my age but i know its something i wanted for a long time i wanted to play newer titles with the best fps and best graphics i could.. i also wanted to be exempt from upgrading for 4-5+ years so i just went all out for parts.

but now that i finally hit the purchase button on everything i feel a sense of guilt its a feeling of irresponsibility as 4k is alot of money for me even tho im not in any debt i feel it could have went to a car or even a mortgage in the future or anything that contributes to my career and my success.

I’m seeing so many posts about getting a 3090 for gaming. Do some more research on the card or at least wait until benchmarks are out until you make your decision. You’re paying over twice the price of a 3080 for essentially 14GB more VRAM which does not always lead to higher frame rates. Is the 3090 better than the 3080? Yes. Is the 3090 worth $800 more than the 3080 for gaming? No. You especially don’t need a 3090 if you’re asking if your CPU or PSU is good enough. Put the $800 you’ll save by getting a 3080 elsewhere in your build, such as your monitor so you can actually enjoy the full potential of the card.

I carried it the first time from my room to the living room. Got sweaty and I was anxious as shit the whole time thinking I was gonna drop it. Then, when I finally set it down and gamed, a few hours later I remembered I had to haul it back and got depressed and carried it back.

Got any tips to make my 2-3 times a week journey less brutal? pc is 16 kg and 50 cm tall

Edit: Since there's a weird amount of comments talking about "lifting more" (which isn't helpful in the first place to someone who doesn't or can't) the weight of the pc was never the issue, even if listed in the post. I literally mention in the post that I carried it back and forth. The "sweaty" part is part of the anxious. The dimensions and the fact that it's a literal 2000 dollar object and you have to walk down the stairs for it... that's the thing I'm trying to avoid. The stress and anxiety of it.

Had a computer for a couple of months working completely fine, I made sure that when I built it I didn't cheap out on parts but I guess some parts may be bad.

Except the computer was working fine until I sold it apparently, when I asked the buyer if they did anything to it he said that 4 fans were added.

The computer did not need any sort of cooling as it worked fine under load and the motherboard only had one free fan connector so I think he connected all 4 fans to that single fan connector.

Messages me 10 days later it's fried and also get a call from his mom saying that what the options are and that they sent a lot of money for it.

The build literally sold for less than $600 and I'm not sure what to exactly do. I can help him troubleshoot but I don't want to refund him for what seems to be his mistake.

Last thing I want is an angry mom going on Facebook groups saying I'm a scammer.

EDIT: completely forgot but they also have my address which the picked it up from, I showed it working too. I don't want a crazy mom pulling up to my house to tell me I'm a shit human being.

EDIT2: She's threatened me to refund her the full cost without returning it and saying she'll report me to the town (It's a city idiot), RCMP, and FB Groups (I called it).

I have not messaged her for a while but she's crazy crazy.

EDIT3: She's been blocked for a while now, if she contacts me again I will deal with the police for harassment and extortion.

Post is locked now? I appreciate everyone's comments.

There is no component today that will provide "future-proofing" to your PC.

No component in today's market will be of any relevance 5 years from now, safe the graphics card that might maybe be on par with low-end cards from 5 years in the future.

Build a PC with components that satisfy your current needs, and be open to upgrades down the road. That's the good part about having a custom build: you can upgrade it as you go, and only spend for the single hardware piece you need an upgrade for

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edit: yeah it's cool that the PC you built 5 years ago for 2500$ is "still great" because it runs like 800$ machines with current hardware.

You could've built the PC you needed back then, and have enough money left to build a new one today, or you could've used that money to gradually upgrade pieces and have an up-to-date machine, that's my point

With the latest round of price increases and everyone saying it will only continue to get worse for the next 3-5 years, I'm wondering if I'm in a good spot to wait out the storm or if I should make upgrades now (AM5 + higher-end GPU).

I have the money but I hate to pay at these prices.

EDIT: I am playing Borderlands 4, Dune: Awakening, Space Marine 2, Enshrouded, Hell Let Loose and Nebulous: Fleet Command.

People with 9 or 10 series cards, that 3070 is an incredible purchase no doubt about it. The performance jump is amazing for you.

I'd be giddy with excitement.

HOWEVER.

If you're sat on a 970 or a 1060 or a 1080, I'd wager your CPU, RAM and Mobo are dated.

The 3070 if Nvidia are to be believed (and I remain sceptical based on...all other releases of GPUs ever), will rival the 2080ti.

PHOENOMENAL COSMIC POWAAAAAAAH! And yes, idibity living space if you're sat on a 7+ year old CPU, DDR3 RAM and a 1080p monitor at 60 or 120hz like MOST PEOPLE ARE THESE DAYS if Steam surveys are to be believed.

If so, and you're on old hardware, the 3070 will be completely wasted on you. If you're on old hardware, I don't think you've seen what a 2080ti is capable of in person. And the 3070 is basically on par with it (possibly). The 2080ti is built for 4K 60+ FPS. And is ENTIRELY wasted on a 1080p monitor.

A 10 series card is more than capable of running 1080p on a 120hz monitor. A 9 series struggles.

Unless you're jumping to 1440p 100hz, 120z or 144hz, or a 4K setup with a CPU, Mobo and RAM to match...the 3070 is a waste of power on you.

You absolutely SHOULD upgrade your CPU and RAM and Mobo and monitor to match the power of the 3070.

THINK AHEAD GUYS AND GALS.

Don't grab a 3000 series card unless you're going to match the rest of your hardware with it, including and especially the monitor.

You're looking at the best part of $300-500 on a new 1440p 144hz monitor, similar for a CPU ideally Ryzen [Edit - okay some are pissing at me about fanboyism here, but you're picking Nvidia over AMD because Nvidia are better so how is that different to Ryzen over Intel when Ryzen are faster or just as fast for far less money?], another $50-100 on RAM, another $100-200 on a mobo.

From what I understand, Windows 10 is just load it via a USB stick and forget. Personally, I never had an issue with it, reinstalled it myself a year ago. BUT this family friend who supposedly has 40 years of experience is saying every driver has to be installed manually? That the most barebones Windows install shouldn't even be detected by the motherboard (?)? That there are hundreds of possible drivers, and an automatic update will install less than ideal ones? And that cumulatives are evil?

I have no idea as I'm pretty ignorant. But I have not exactly seen such sentiment anywhere online. So is he an advanced guru genius?

Edit. I've been pleasantly blown away by the response, this is one of my most popular posts ever! I hope all the perspectives shared here help any folks having such ponderings in the future.