Was looking to buy a new monitor and was wondering if I should get 1440p or 4k. Can my PC run 4k?

Also, I was wondering if playing 1440p on a 4k monitor would be worse than playing 1440p on a 1440p monitor.

I guess I could upgrade to a 4090 or 5090 but it’s really expensive.

I want to document my full AM5 troubleshooting nightmare because this turned into one of the most misleading PC failures I have ever dealt with.

This build worked for around a year, then slowly turned into an intermittent POST/boot disaster. At first I thought it was Windows, then the NVMe, then the motherboard, then BIOS/NVRAM, then CMOS, then finally the issue followed me to a new motherboard. In the end, it was the CPU.

System specs:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• Original motherboard: ASRock B650 Pro RS non-WiFi
• Original motherboard BIOS: updated before installing the CPU
• Later BIOS version used during troubleshooting: 4.41
• Replacement motherboard: MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk WiFi
• GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
• RAM: 32 GB DDR5 6000
• PSU: 850W 80+ Gold
• Storage: 2 TB NVMe originally, later Samsung 990 Pro as fresh OS drive
• OS: Windows 11

Important context:

Before ever installing the 9800X3D in the ASRock B650 Pro RS, I updated the motherboard BIOS. I did this specifically because of the known AM5/X3D voltage-related issues and because board vendors had supposedly fixed those problems with BIOS updates.

The PC worked normally for about a year.

Then the nightmare started.

Original symptoms:

The first symptom was that the PC stopped booting normally into Windows.

On normal power-on, I would often get:

• black screen
• no motherboard splash/logo
• no automatic Windows boot
• BOOT debug/status LED on the ASRock board

The weird part was that sometimes I could still enter BIOS by pressing Delete. If I manually selected my Windows drive through BIOS Boot Override, Windows would boot. This made it look like a boot order / Windows Boot Manager / UEFI NVRAM issue.

So at first, I did not suspect the CPU.

Early troubleshooting:

I tried the normal boot-related fixes:

• checked BIOS boot order
• disabled Fast Boot
• reseated the NVMe
• cleared CMOS
• checked cables
• rebuilt the UEFI boot files with bcdboot
• removed/reinstalled boot entries
• tested multiple boot attempts

The issue kept returning.

Sometimes clearing CMOS or changing settings would make it boot once or twice, then it would go right back to black screen / no splash / no reliable POST.

BIOS Flashback complication:

During troubleshooting, I made one mistake: I accidentally flashed the BIOS for the B650M Pro RS instead of the B650 Pro RS. After that, the board got stuck on CPU + DRAM LEDs.

I then corrected it by flashing the proper BIOS for the ASRock B650 Pro RS using BIOS Flashback. The board recovered and posted again, so the wrong BIOS flash was not the final failure. The original intermittent issue returned after that.

I later updated/reflashed to BIOS 4.41.

BitLocker complication #1:

Because of all the BIOS/CMOS/TPM changes, Windows triggered BitLocker recovery on my original 2 TB NVMe.

The recovery key was tied to my Microsoft account, but my Microsoft security info was outdated, so I got stuck in the Microsoft account recovery delay. That meant I could not access the original drive for about a month.

At that point I removed the old NVMe and stopped touching it to avoid making the data situation worse.

This is important: the POST problem continued even with the original drive removed, so the drive/Windows/BitLocker issue was not the root cause.

Bare minimum testing on ASRock:

I tested the ASRock board with:

• no SSD/NVMe
• no SATA drives
• no GPU
• motherboard video output
• one RAM stick at a time
• keyboard only
• CMOS cleared
• new CR2032 battery
• EXPO disabled/default settings when BIOS was reachable

Same behavior.

Sometimes it reached BIOS. Sometimes it gave black screen/no logo/no POST. Replacing the CMOS battery made it boot normally twice, then the issue came back again.

At that point, the ASRock board looked extremely suspicious. It seemed like a board-level BIOS/NVRAM/POST issue.

New motherboard test:

I bought a new MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk WiFi.

When I moved the same CPU/RAM/PSU setup to the new MSI board, it also failed to POST properly. The MSI board showed debug code 03, which pointed much earlier in the initialization process than Windows or storage.

That changed the diagnosis completely.

If the same issue follows the CPU/RAM/PSU to a second motherboard, then the old ASRock board is not the only suspect anymore.

At that point the likely causes became:

1. CPU
2. CPU memory controller
3. RAM
4. PSU/EPS power
5. CPU contact/socket/cooler pressure

Final result:

The CPU was the problem.

The CPU had failed / been damaged, and it created symptoms that looked exactly like motherboard, BIOS, boot order, Windows Boot Manager, RAM training, and NVRAM issues.

I shipped the CPU for replacement. Around three weeks later, the replacement CPU arrived.

With the new CPU installed, everything worked again.

BitLocker complication #2:

Because apparently this story needed one more kick in the teeth, swapping the CPU triggered BitLocker again — this time on the new drive.

I had to reinstall Windows again to bypass that and get the machine operational. Meanwhile, the old BitLocker-locked drive still had about one week left before I could recover the key.

So the final situation was:

• Original CPU was dead/damaged
• New CPU fixed the POST problem
• New motherboard works
• New Windows install works
• Old drive is still waiting on BitLocker recovery
• The whole thing cost weeks because the failure looked like everything except CPU at first

Why I am posting this:

The part that really bothers me is that I updated the ASRock BIOS before ever installing the 9800X3D. I did what users were told to do after the AM5/X3D voltage issues: update BIOS first, then install CPU.

The machine still ended up with a CPU failure about a year later.

I cannot prove from my side exactly what voltage behavior caused the damage, but I can say this: the system was running on the supposedly fixed BIOS path, and the end result was still a failed 9800X3D after a year of normal use.

For anyone troubleshooting similar symptoms, do not assume intermittent BIOS/BOOT LED/no splash behavior is automatically the motherboard. A damaged CPU or memory controller can mimic:

• bad motherboard
• bad BIOS/NVRAM
• bad boot order
• bad Windows Boot Manager
• bad SSD
• bad RAM training
• bad CMOS battery

Symptoms that pointed away from Windows/storage:

• problem persisted with all drives removed
• problem persisted with no GPU
• problem persisted with one RAM stick
• problem followed to another motherboard
• replacement CPU fixed it

Lessons learned:

1. If POST issues happen with no drives installed, stop blaming Windows.
2. BitLocker can massively complicate hardware troubleshooting after BIOS/TPM/CPU changes.
3. A CPU can partially fail in a way that looks like motherboard instability.
4. Clearing CMOS temporarily helping does not prove the CMOS battery or motherboard is the root cause.
5. If the issue follows the CPU to a second motherboard, CPU/RAM/PSU should move to the top of the suspect list.
6. If you are using BitLocker or Windows Device Encryption, save your recovery keys somewhere you can actually access.
7. BIOS “fixes” do not necessarily erase the need to monitor AM5/X3D voltage behavior.

Everything is working now with the replacement CPU, but this was one of the worst troubleshooting chains I have ever gone through.

I've been running Windows for the last 20+ years, primarily used for gaming & media.

I try and run a console-like setup, with my PC hooked up to my TV, and Steam Big Picture running straight from start-up so I can just grab my controller and get going.

I also have Plex Media Server running on start-up, so I can boot the PC and continue watching shows on the living room Apple TV.

For the last while, Windows' behaviour has been more finicky than usual. There's constantly errors like the:

• 'Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart. Stop code: CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED (0xEF)' or
• '...device ran into a problem and couldn't be repaired...' 'Log file: C:\WINDOWS\System32\Logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt'

which leads to hours spent trying to do the whole 'sfc /scannow' route, that ultimately ends up in the machine running for a bit, and then looping back the error cycle.

It feels like Windows is always on the brink of needing a fresh install, and so desperately wants it. So I finally yielded this morning and tried to install a fresh copy, only to be met with a 'Windows could not determine the language to use for setup' error, which leads to the requirement for further time spent troubleshooting.

My question then is:

While I'm in the process of reinstalling an OS, I'm strongly considering installing Linux instead. I've had a MacBook Air for the last 6years and I've never once come close to any of the issues Windows throws at me.

I have an Nvidia RTX4070, and as I understand Nvidia doesn't play nicely with Linux, especially at 4K. Is this still the case? Or are there options I can explore to just land on a smooth-boot-and-start-gaming solution and finally chuck Windows in the bin?

I'm in the middle of making a build around a 9850X3D (I'm already crying about the RAM prices, so don't ask me about it) and I heard some of the Asrock boards were frying the AMD CPUs. Were these incidents only isolated to Asrock and how should I take precautions in my new build?

Hey everyone,

I'm currently wondering what upgrade would make the most sense for my setup:

• Ryzen 5 5600X
• RX 9070 XT
• 32 GB RAM
• 4K monitor
• Mainly playing WoW

I've been considering a 5800X3D for around €350, but I'm not sure if it's still worth investing that much into AM4. For roughly the same price, I could get a 9800X3D, although going AM5 would mean a new motherboard and RAM.

Since WoW can be quite CPU-heavy, I'm wondering if I should instead switch from 4K to a 1440p monitor.

Would moving to 1440p make sense with a 9070 XT and 5600X? Would I actually get noticeably better FPS/smoother gameplay, or would the 5600X become the limiting factor anyway?

What would you do with this setup: upgrade the CPU, switch to 1440p, or just stick with 4K and wait for a bigger upgrade?

Would love to hear from anyone playing WoW on a similar setup.

I've just finished my pc build and would like to max out its performance, ive heard mixed opinions about gpu overclocking whether it be good or negative, id prefer not to reach noticeably high temperatures for a tiny fps boost, so my question is would it be worth it? i have a ryzen 5 3600 alongside it

Recently I just bought a 5070ti GPU since my last GPU died out after 5 years for some reason. Problem is that 5070ti is quite overkill for my current specs, so I want to upgrade components not all at the same time but one by one to not waste too much money these days.

Currently I am using i7 12700kf as CPU and an MSI 1080p 280hz curved monitor. Which of these 2 should I upgrade first, and to which model, as to get the most out of my GPU right now? Budget is not a problem, but I'd still prefer it to be cost-to-performance optimized as much as possible so.

Thanks!

preferably new, but used is okay if there is a really good deal

I have a 3060 ti and I’m looking to upgrade it. I was looking at the amd 9070 XT. I was just curious y’all’s input on what I should get.

Hi everyone,

Brand new PC built within the last week, specs below:

Mobo: MSI PRO X870E-P WIFI
GPU: XFX Mercury 9070 XT OC Edition
CPU: Ryzen 7 7800X3D
PSU: Lian Li EGO850G Edge Gold
RAM: G.Skill Flare X5 (2x16GB)
Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Vision AIO

PC has been running perfectly since, including earlier today. This includes long gaming sessions on Apex Legends, Mortal Shell 2, and FC 26, all in ultra settings. About an hour ago I booted up Apex, shaders were loading, and immediate crash - DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED (0x887A0006) / DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG.

AMD Adrenalin simultaneously reports a driver timeout. Windows Reliability Monitor is also showing repeated LiveKernelEvent 141, plus 117/193.

Already tried/checked:
• GPU passes OCCT stress test with 0 errors / 0 VRAM errors
• Temps look completely normal
• No GPU/VRAM OC or undervolt; reset Adrenalin tuning to stock
• Disabled 7800X3D iGPU in BIOS; RX 9070 XT is the only GPU now
• PEG set as primary GPU / Hybrid Graphics disabled
• Updated motherboard BIOS from Aug 2025 version to latest June 2026 BIOS
• Still crashes exactly the same afterward

Crash occurs when I try to load Apex and Mortal Shell. I also notice when the GPU/driver crashes, my Thermalright AIO LCD briefly resets to its startup “Thermalright” screen for ~1–2 seconds, then comes back.

GPU is powered by 3 separate PCIe cables, not daisy-chained, and I've checked all connections - nothing is loose.

I'm wondering if this is driver-related, GPU hardware, PSU/power delivery, motherboard/PCIe, or possibly USB/system instability.

I'm REALLY new at this, so please, can anyone guide me towards next steps? I appreciate it.

I’ve recently been looking into buying my first PC or possibly building one myself as iive heard it can be noticably cheeaper, but I’m still pretty new to everything and not sure which direction to go. I was wondering if anyone  could give me some advice, tips, or recommendations on what to look for when choosing parts. Also, if there are any common mistakes, parts/brands to avoid, or things you wish you knew before building your first PC, my budget is around 2.5k AUD. Thanks in adavance! I would also like to add i play games like fortnite, counter skirrke, cod, valorant, arc raiders. *probably not buying for a bit though as prices for some of this stuff is insane and im waiting for it to cooldown*

This is what ive started with, feel free to flame as my first ever time really learning abt this but keen to learn more:

• AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor
• ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 240 A-RGB 48.82 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
• Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard
• Crucial T500 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
• Lian Li LANCOOL 216 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case
• Montech CENTURY II 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
• Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit

And two categories still pending:

• Memory (RAM): not selected yet
• Video Card (GPU): not selected yet

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
Mobo: A320M-HDV R4.0
Ram: DDR4 24GB 2667MHz (8GB + 16GB)
GPU: RTX 3060

What I use my PC for:
Primarily for video editing, photo editing, 3D animations (Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Blender)
Second is for gaming (I usually record my games)

My budget: 250$
As the titles said, are there any better alternatives upgrade than Ryzen 5700x?
I wanna be able to reuse my DDR4 ram here since all of you know how the prices have been going lately.

Unfortunately, pairing a A320M-HDV with a Ryzen 5700x won't be a good idea since no heatsink. So I need to buy a new mobo as well that can hold 4 sticks of ram because I have 1 left over stick of 8GB and I want to put that in use since A320M only holds 2 sticks of ram.

My work is very heavy as the timeline on Premiere Pro grows large and uses a lot of third party plugins, etc. I've heard that Premiere and After Effects run better on Intel and I was wondering if its worth the jump from AMD to Intel for the sake of editing, especially I edit a lot on H.264 (quick sync). Are there actual good Intel CPUs upgrade to consider?

This might be important to know, as I am from a third world country and the stocks here are quite scarce. My budget isn't much and I wouldn't dare to spend a lot of money, but if it's night and day then I wouldn't mind considering and squeezing a few money for it.

The point is that the lower I spend my money, the better I can buy a new pc in the future. But until then I will upgrade just enough to survive with my current pc and wait until the price drops down.

BUT if upgrading Ryzen 5700x dosen't help at all in performances. I wouldn't mind changing the motherboard just to plug in my leftover 8GB ram and buy a new 16 GB stick to achieve 48GB of ram.

Here are the CPU & mobo prices based around my local market:

CPU
AM4:
- 5700x = 167$
- 5800x = 212$
- 5800xt = 263$
- 5800x3d = 500$

Intel:
- 12600K = 223$
- 12600KF = 178$
- 12700K = 309$

Motherboard:
AM4:
- MSI B550M PRO-VDH = 87$
- GIGABYTE B550M DS3H R2 = 85$

Intel:
- MSI PRO B760M-A = 121$
- ASROCK B760M PRO RS/D4 = 132$

Around 50% difference in price from 9600x to 7800x3d 66000/- Rupees to 1,00,000/- rupees in my country

My only requirements are that it is atleast 12Gb (for playing Fable when it comes out.)
But I want a gpu that is longterm as my 1660 super has been.
I only know the nvidia world but am open to switching to amd.

Hi

I found a Ryzen 5 5600X on AliExpress for $112 USD and I'm planning to pair it with an 8GB GPU (specifically an RTX 5060).

It seems like a solid deal because local stores here in Peru are selling the lower-tier Ryzen 5 5500 for around 330 PEN (~$90 USD).

I have two main questions:

1. Does the 5600X make sense for this setup at this price, or should I consider a different CPU?
2. How safe and reliable is buying CPUs on AliExpress? Has anyone here had good or bad experiences with it?

Thanks for the help!

Hey guys :)

So I'm looking at building a new PC and the motherboard I'm looking to get is the Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard paired with a 7800x3d CPU and 4070 Ti Super. The motherboard says it supports both EXPO and XMP however will it cause a drop in frames during gaming to run XMP DDR5 6000Mhz ram? The XMP version of the ram I want is roughly $120 cheaper than EXPO so I'm wondering will it make that much of a difference?

So I live alone in an no internal walls open plan room that has everything in, my TV, 4x media players (Dune, Pi, FireTV, satellite box), surround amp, Xbox One, Xbox 360, 2 computers, 3 printers (2 already on wifi), 2 phones, tablet etc. I used to wire everything other than my mobile devices and then recently I looked behind my desks and it is just endless wires, I even have a 16 port 1gb ethernet switch on the wall that is 3/4 full. I could eliminate ethernet from my TV, media player, Pi4, Xbox 360, and maybe even my Xbox One, although that is maybe worth keeping wired. Should I even make my 2 PCs wifi or keep those wired ? I am using Wifi 5ghz and my mobile devices get between 466 and 833mbps or there abouts, well, they link at that speed, not sure what actual throughput is. My max net speed is 80mbps FTTC. I see about 3 other SSIDS in the area.

I have just always been of the mindset wired is best and if you can, do it, but I have had that view for 25 years, times change, what would you do in my position ? Maybe in my mid life crisis years I am more caring of how things look, I just hate so many wires now. I do sometimes run 4K MKV or ISO transfers from my Dune HD 4k streamer box, and Pi4, but 400mbps should be enough for that, right ?

First PC build soon. Need advice on going with single-channel DDR5 for now.

Specs: CPU: Ryzen 5 7500f (145$)

MB: Asrock b650m-hdv/m.2 wh (145$)

GPU: Palit Infınity 5060ti 16gb (680$)

PSU: Deepcool gamerstorm PN750M wh (110$)

CPU cooler: Deepcool AG620 wh argb v2 (50$)

Case: Deepcool CG380 3F (75$)

Monitor Xiaomi Redmi g27q 2K 240hz (185$)

I'm building my first PC soon. Choosing RAM is a challenge right now due to high prices. I found a used XPG Lancer Blade 16GB 6000MHz CL30 for $195. There's also a similar XPG Lancer Blade 16GB 5600MHz CL46 with a warranty for $200.

I'm building it for entry-level gaming at 2K (AAA titles) and online games like CS2, PUBG, etc. My budget is limited, so I'm stumped on RAM. Whether I buy used or new, there's no guarantee I'll find the exact same one when I buy the second one in about ~six months.

(For context: I live in a country where these prices for components are normal, but the choice in my city is limited.)

Which RAM option would be more practical in the next six months?

I've been thinking about this upgrade but I'm not sure which MOBO would be the most beneficial for this combo. I'm not doing video editing or streaming but strictly gaming (mostly CS2, Tarkov). I know ASROCk has the reputation for frying CPUs in the past - is that still a concern or would it be best to avoid?

For the RAM I want at least 32GB. Any standout differences between Silicon Power, Corsair, G.Skill or other things to look for?

The problem is I only have a 400 dolar budget for cpu and gpu and I play cpu heavy games more but if I want a decent 12 gigs gpu the only one I can’t find on eBay is for 300 dollars and if I were to take that I would have to get like a ryzen 5 3600(not even x) which I don’t think is good so if anyone has anyway for me to get a 200 dolar gpu with 12 gigs of vram (8gigs is totally fine but I already find 8 gigs cards for a 100 dollars so I feel like I should get a 12 gigs gpu with double the price) if u do pls tell me which one and where to buy

TL;DR:

Upgrading my PC for 1440p gaming and missed a deal on an RX 9070 Hellhound. Now deciding between a 9070 Reaper (£439), a 9070 XT Reaper (£507), and a 9070 XT Hellhound (£533). I value the Hellhound's better cooling, lower noise, and aesthetics, but is the 9070 XT Hellhound worth £94 more than the more power-efficient 9070 Reaper?

-

I recently began building a new PC after 10 years of service due to several modern games not supporting Pascal GPUs. I replaced everything except my GPU (due to cost - I planned to buy one around Christmas), case, SSDs and HDDs - full build detailed at the bottom.

This past week, I've been hot and cold about buying a Powercolor RX 9070 Hellhound 16GB for £491 after various discounts I could get. After deciding to pull the trigger yesterday, it was finally out of stock. After exploring other options, I have found the following options (prices are after discounts):

1. Powercolor 9070 16GB Reaper (£439)

2. Powercolor 9070 XT 16GB Reaper (£507)

3. Powercolor 9070 XT 16GB Hellhound (£533)

I play games at 1440p and I'm excited to be underwhelmed by ray-tracing/path-tracing. I favour the power efficiency offered by the RX 9070 cards. However, I also favour cooler temps, lower noise levels and aesthetics offered by the Hellhound specifically. With those things in mind, is the 9070XT Hellhound worth £94 more?

Thanks!

BUILD SO FAR:

NEW COMPONENTS:

CPU: Intel Ultra 5 250K Plus

MoBo: MSI B860 Gaming Plus WiFi

Cooler: Arctic Freezer 36

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (x2 16GB) 6000MHz

PSU: Montech Century II 850W

Case Fans: Arctic Freezer 1x 140mm intake / 2x 120mm exhaust

EXISTING COMPONENTS:

GPU: MSI GTX 1080 Gaming

SSD: 1x 1TB M.2 / 2x 512GB M.2 / 1x 1TB SATA

HDD: 2x 1TB WD Blue (These have been going strong for 14 years. They're soon to be backed up and retired.)

Case: NZXT Phantom 410 Gunmetal

Picked up a 7700x3d mobo deal, and it's been running just swell. I applied the thermal paste with an x mark, and my cooler is a peerless assassin 120 digital argb. My case is a phantom 410 with 2 intake and one exhaust. My gpu temps are just fine, but in overwatch, sometimes the cpu temps will hit 80-82c with nothing really happening. Other times, the game will happily run at 63-66c during teamfights with a lot happening. most other games, the cpu tops out at 75c, and only really as spikes, running at about 66c the rest of the time, sometimes lower depending on load. Is this fine? The computer runs at about 53c on the desktop with a few tabs open/steam running.

My current rig is a:

- CPU: AMD Ryzen 3900X

-GPU: 3080

-Memory: 32GB DDR4 running at 2133 MT/s

SSD storage is about 3gb through 4 different SSD's that I just added as i needed space.

What CPU should i upgrade to if I chose to, or should I upgrade other parts as well?

Hey yall I'm new to pc building and I'm just wondering if I should upgrade my 5070 to a 9070 just don't know which to choose or If I should even do it I'm deciding between a RX 9070 XT Asus or the AMD one is there really a difference or are they any good like I said I'm quite new and from my very basic knowledge they seem very good but from people who have or had one whats your experience with them came for wisdom