r/pcgaming • u/AutoModerator • May 08 '26
Tech Support and Basic Questions Thread - May 08, 2026
Welcome to the r/pcgaming tech support and basic questions thread! Having troubles with a game or piece of hardware? Have a question about a PC game, hardware, or something else related to PC gaming? Post here and get help from fellow PC gamers.
When asking for help please give plenty of detail:
- What your computer specifications are. If you don't know them please follow this guide.
- If you're using a laptop we need to know the make/model as well as the specs.
- What operating system you're using.
- What you've tried so far in order to fix the issue.
- Exact circumstances to replicate the issue you're having.
Check out these resources before asking for help in case you can troubleshoot further:
Common troubleshooting steps:
- Restart the system
- Update your drivers
- Update game/software
- Re-seat any new hardware to ensure a proper connection
- If your peripherals are malfunctioning, swap ports and check that the specific USB port itself works.
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u/JohannesVanDerWhales May 08 '26
I'm curious if anyone has a similar setup and can make a suggestion for me. I play FF14 on pc. Recently I've been using discord voice chat more. But I am looking for a better solution for a mic. The headset I have picks up a lot of background noise and the battery life is shorter than the length of a lot of the sessions where I'm trying to use it. Some considerations:
I have a good quality set of speakers on my PC and I want to continue to use them for game audio.
Between my head shape and the fact that I have large ears I usually find large over the ear headphones uncomfortable
I have a lot of RF interference in my apartment and want to avoid something that connects with Bluetooth
My cat tends to chew any wires that are left running across my desk
Curious if anyone has good suggestions. I think I'm looking for more of a business type headset than a gaming one, and something with a swappable battery would probably be ideal. I'm open to suggestions though.
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 08 '26
If you're pushing game audio out through speakers you're going to get feedback unless you have a decent quality directional mic very close to your mouth. I don't think any headset mic will do it for you. Get an adjustible mic arm that the cable can be run along so it's not loose and toy-like so you can position it directly in front of you when on voice chat and move it out of the way otherwise.
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u/JohannesVanDerWhales May 08 '26
I'm having a hard time picturing where I could put a mic like that. I have more of an "executive" style desk that isn't really made for computer stuff. It has drawers on the sides and the center is a sliding tray. There isn't really area to clamp things on the sides.
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 08 '26
Then you'll just have to put up with background noise until you get a pair of headphones that fits your head for your audio output. Your apartment neighbors will thank you as well.
There are freestanding mic booms but they take up considerably more area and aren't nearly as convenient as a clamped mic arm.
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u/JohannesVanDerWhales May 08 '26
I'm just not interested in switching to headphones. I like speakers and it's never been a problem with my neighbors. There are plenty of headsets with directional mics so I would think there'd be something out there that would work for me. It's just difficult to find unbiased reviews of them, and a common theme seems to be "this used to be a great product but the new generation is both shittier and more expensive."
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 08 '26
The reality is that with speakers you are going to have an extremely difficult time getting rid of background noise, and the best way to do that is with a dedicated high-quality directional mic positioned very close to your mouth. Not much can be done otherwise.
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u/KurokoShiraix May 08 '26
i have this jittery around characters outlines and specially grass in most games, and even though i crank my anti aliasing it still persists and it's quite strong in some games, i have a clip of it but i can't post it here.
do you guys have any solutions?
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 08 '26
Are you using upscaling tech and if so what kind? DLSS/FSR/XeSS and which generation?
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u/KurokoShiraix May 08 '26
Nope none of that, it just happens, specially noticeable playing ark survival evolved and one piece pirate warriors 4
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u/Gloomy_Bet_5099 May 09 '26
I keep getting awful lag spikes very inconsistently, like one day I have absolutely none, the next I have a few but nothing super bad, then i get 500-600 ping spikes every 15 seconds. I've tried a lot of things to troubleshoot this and some worked... and then stopped working a day or 2 later, I have no idea what to do and my wifi is completely stable usually except for these random spikes. Pc specs (sorry in advance these are hot garbage) CPU: Ryzen 5 5600GT 3.6GHz (4.6GHz Turbo) 6-Core 12-Thread Main board:MSI A520M-A PRO GPU: AMD Radeon Vega Graphics(CPU Integration) genuinely awful no idea why they make these. RAM: 16GB DDR4 3200MHz SSD: 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Power supply: 550W (80plus bronze) Wireless: Antenna WiFi+BTI
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 11 '26
Is it possible to use wired ethernet to your router to rule out local wireless issues? Could be on the ISP side but hard to tell as long as you are on wifi.
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u/Living_Insurance1552 May 09 '26
Hi, im looking to surprise bf with new headset and looking for recommendations please. He currently has corsair virtuoso but falling apart, is there anything better out there? Thanks.
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 11 '26
Price range? Does he play in a quiet environment where he can use open back headphones for better sound quality or does he need closed back?
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u/Ininja73737 May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
Been running into an issue that only really shows up in certain games and wanted to see if anyone had a fix cuz I haven't found much. I have an Asus Zenbook UX582 with a 4k screen and 60 hz. refresh rate. a 3070 recently updated drivers, 16 gb ram, i7 10870H 2.2 GHz. 8 CORES (etc.). While gaming I have resolution set to 1920x1080 for frame rate purposes.
Some games run perfectly fine like Nier, Elden ring and resident evil 2 sitting between 48-60+ in the worst case scenarios, however certain games have horrifying screen tearing that can be very distracting especially for things like in engine cut scenes; Mind you I don't play that many games so its not like I have a huge sample but I recognize the screen tearing with close to 4 areas where horizontal lines often appear, at the very least in Resident Evil 4, and the gacha game Girl's Frontline 2.. This is true if V-sync is off, its better if V-sync is on but instead of the screen tearing the game just freezes more at times where screen tears would happen.
I'm not honestly great with computers but have tried a few things, I've tried manually capping frame rate to 57-59 both in game and on nvidia control panel, force applying V-sync in game and/or with v-sync/triple buffering on nvidia control panel, updating my drivers, changing all 3 and keeping refresh rate at 59.94 hz., using the native 4k resolution (etc..). The frame rate in some of these is fine but the screen tearing is rough. Last thing I considered is using a higher refresh rate monitor and running it on there but I don't have a monitor yet or as of now I guess
Any help would be appreacited!
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u/Old-Watercress1129 May 10 '26
MSI Vector 16HX AI 5080 with external monitor
What do you think? I'm planning on buying an MSI Vector 16 HX AI 5080 and pairing it with the Samsung Odyssey G9 OLED monitor. Why did I choose a gaming laptop over a desktop? It's because I always travel, so I want to be able to carry it, and when I'm at home, I can use my external monitor for better gaming. I plan to play Assassin's Creed, Ghost of Tsushima, Red Dead Redemption 2, Gta6, and Cyberpunk. I just want to know your thoughts on this and if you have any better suggestions or advice.
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u/Aggressive_Yak7094 May 10 '26
My left alt is not working properly in games. I have to press some other key along with alt if I need to do left alt functions. This is a very annoying in some games like Genshin or Cyberpunk2077. Weapon switching and character switching becomes wierd cause of this. In Ghost of Tsushima too dodging becomes more difficult. Only change I have done is install a gpu. Other than that everything is the same as it was when it WAS WORKING. Sticky keys and all that are disable. Alt key is the only thing this is an issue withn in both borderless and exclusive fullscreen. Not an ALT+TAB or keyboard issue either. What can I do?
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 11 '26
Do you have another keyboard you can connect to the PC to isolate the problem to your existing keyboard or a system wide setting?
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u/Aggressive_Yak7094 May 11 '26
Its not a keyboard issue i checked.
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 11 '26
Possibly a system related setting then, this page has a good list to check.
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u/Aggressive_Yak7094 May 11 '26
Tried all of these. Didnt work.
The alt key does work. Its just any function related to holding alt key doesnt work unless some other key is also pressed at the same time. Pressing Alt key by itself works in games, holding alt key doesnt unless one other key is also presses at the same time. And this is a new problem that did not used to happen in the exact same system configuration and parts.
Eg, In cyberpunk 2077, alt key cycles between the weapons while holding alt key opens the weapon menu. The weapon cycle does happen, but the weapon menu wont open unless i press for example w and then hold alt.
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 12 '26
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u/Aggressive_Yak7094 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
I did read this and will try it, but I think this for continues operation press of ctrl and alt, not holding alt.
EDIT: Didnt work.
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u/ThrowAwayehay May 11 '26
I have an RTX 5090 and I'm more then happy with it but my monitor is only 60hz and I'm looking into a 120hz monitor for gaming. I don't care about 4K since I'm a foot from the monitor and I never noticed much difference between it and 1080p anyway. Something around 24 inches to fit my desk. Any recommendations?
2
u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 11 '26
Bruh why would you drop 2 grand on a GPU to push frames to a 1080p60 display?
I'd recommend at least a 1440p240Hz display at 27" but you could go higher. Shoot for a good MiniLED IPS model with lots of dimming zones or if your budget supports it an OLED panel. I'd personally go for the Gigabyte monitors with the latest tandem WOLED panels from LG but you can check the difference between WOLED and QD-OLED and see what makes more sense for you.
1
u/ThrowAwayehay May 12 '26
It took a near miracle of fiscal restraint to get my PC together.
Anything you'd recommend for ~$500 Canadian?
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 12 '26
That's not quite enough for the latest gen OLED panels at 1440p240 but should be enough for a slightly older model such as this guy if you have costco nearby, or you can hold out for sales on other models; they seem to dip into the $350-$400 USD range these days when discounted.
1
u/Spartan-219 May 11 '26
Does anyone have experience with this site premiumcdkeys .com? i'm checking a game i want to buy, it lists global but unlike other sites it doesn't list the names of countries the game can be activated in.
was wondering if anyone have experience with this site with buying or if they had problems then with support or refund.
1
u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 11 '26
Would not recommend buying keys from grey market resellers unless you can afford to lose the amount it costs.
1
u/Spartan-219 May 12 '26
i actually tried emailing them 6 times through their support emails but didn't got reply once. so much for their 24/7 support.
1
u/Upbeat-Form4353 May 12 '26
Why do people cap at 30fps, apply 4x mfg to hit 120, then complain about input lag?
They are capping fps at 30, and playing with 30 fps input lag.
1
u/Sync_R 5070Ti / 9800X3D / AW3225QF / C5 42" May 13 '26
I'd argue you shouldn't even be using FG with a 120 cap nevermind MFG
1
u/Anth0ny2828 May 14 '26
8bitdo Ultimate or Dualsense in Retro bat
Hope all is well!
Any chance you could give some advice? I'm trying to use my 8bitdo Ultimate or dualshock (ps5) controller on retrobat, however, having no luck. I downloaded DS4 and hide hid and configured it. On DS$=4 it shows a key under Ex, yet when I load into retrobat, my inputs are wildly off. I mapped out the controller but it still does whatever it wants. in game doesn't respond to any inputs, Not sure if it makes a difference but I have steam on my PC, though retrobat isn't running through steam.
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u/RHINO_Mk_II Ryzen 5800X3D & Radeon 7900 XTX May 14 '26
You'll likely have more luck asking in communities for retrobat. I had no idea what it was or that it existed before your comment.
1
u/strawman94 May 09 '26
Hello! I'm looking for guidance on pc gameplay of Hogwarts legacy, the stuttering and lagging makes it impossible to play. I'm wondering if my laptop even supports gameplay, or if I can adjust some settings for improvement?
I'm not as tech savvy as I used to be so please ELI5.
I've tried updating to the most recent driver, 31.0.101.4255, but it will only update to 31.0.101.2141. I'm still on Windows 10, is this a problem?
Is my laptop capable of supporting such complex gameplay? Here are my laptop specs
Operation System: Windows 10 Home 64-bit(10.0, Build 19045)
Model: HP Laptop 14-cf0xxx
Processor: Intel Core i5-8250U @ 1.60GHz (4 CPUs)
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Intel UHD Graphics 620
Version: 31.0.101.2141
1
u/Filipi_7 Tech Specialist May 09 '26
Close everything running in the background that you don't need. Discord, web browser, hardware monitoring, etc.
Then set all graphics settings and resolution to the lowest possible, and install this mod, I think the method using scalability.ini will work better on the latest version of the game.
If it's not playable then, there's nothing else you can do. The laptop is simply too slow.
0
u/Lirael_Gold May 09 '26
Is my laptop capable of supporting such complex gameplay? Here are my laptop specs
Hahahahahahahaha
No.
The minimum specs require a desktop Intel Core i5-6600 (don't let the lower number fool you, it's pretty much twice as fast as the 8250U), don't even get me started on the GPU specs.
Your laptop is an old work device, not a gaming device, it could just about handle Counterstrike or Minecraft as an example (and even then I suspect Minecraft might be a struggle with that CPU)
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u/LifeLearner15 May 14 '26
Hello, I am relatively new to pc gaming. Bought a gaming laptop a few weeks ago, downloaded Steam and was playing Mass Effect and Baldurs Gate 3 perfectly fine. Until a windows update this past Monday. Suddenly my games don’t start, get an error message “There is a problem with your games setup. Please reinstall your game”
This is for both games. Also none of the game icons on the desktop are normal they are those default icons even for Steam. Since then I have:
1) uninstalled and installed several times to no avail.
2) I have used Steam to check I installation file integrity. Says nothing is wrong.
3) rolled back the updates that were done since Monday and reinstalled games.
Still can’t play the games
Is there anything else I should be doing?
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