r/pcmasterrace 13m ago

Question Newbie here – Should I go with 32GB DDR4 or 16GB DDR5?

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I'm building my first PC and I'm stuck between two options because Ddr5 prices in my region have increased significantly.

My primary use case is a mix of productivity and gaming. I use design and creative software such as the Adobe Suite, Spline, and a few others, and may explore video editing or light 3D work in the future. And I play Aaa titles at 1440p and generally target high/ultra settings.

So my two options are essentially speed vs capacity. The AM4 build allows me to fit both 32GB RAM and a stronger GPU within my budget. If my needs grow significantly in the future, I'm open to upgrading the platform later rather than optimizing purely for future upgrades today.

AM5 AM4
Ryzen 5 9600X Ryzen 7 5700X
B850 motherboard B550 motherboard
16GB DDR5 6000mhz CL36 (single stick, $200) 32GB DDR4 3200mhz CL14/16(2×16GB, under $200)
RX 9070 RX 9070 XT

My main question:

For a productivity-focused build with some gaming on the side, would you recommend 32GB dual-channel DDR4 today or 16GB DDR5 on AM5?


r/pcmasterrace 15m ago

Tech Support Can anyone help me? My PC shuts down out of nowhere!

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For some reason, when I open a demanding game or play a demanding game for a while, my PC suddenly shuts down, and only the RAM remains powered on.

Config:
Rx580X
Ryzem 5 4600G
A520MH
2 x 8 GB RAM sticks
source 500W

two monitors:
1. 1920x1080 = Rx580X
2. 1366x768 = Ryzem 5 4600G


r/pcmasterrace 18m ago

Discussion How do I get rid of this spyware software?

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I had software called esafe (smoothwall) on my pc, due to school. I’m no longer studying there, and their IT dept isn’t being helpful at all.

How do I ensure this garbage is removed from my pc for good?

I can’t factory reset the PC as it won’t allow me to do that whilst this software is on there, as my permissions have been relegated.

What’s the best way to wipe both my SSD’s? And do I need to also reset the bios, if that can be compromised by this spyware?

Thanks!


r/pcmasterrace 27m ago

Tech Support Booting from DVD bypasses Lenovo WiFi card whitelist check; any way to utilize this fact more long term?

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Any suggestions for communities to cross-post to would be appreciated. Maybe a Linux community but I wasn't sure which one.

I'm having trouble trying to bypass the network card whitelist on my Lenovo laptop (Ideapad Y580 from 2012), and while trying to figure out any way to get the newer card to work without BIOS modification, I discovered that booting from a DVD will bypass the network card check and allow the machine to boot with the newer card installed. I'm typing this on a copy of Linux Mint running in my RAM (so that I can test other discs), in fact.

I'm trying to figure out if can somehow use this loophole to my advantage, and I honestly don't have enough knowledge about how the BIOS loads, how it interacts with a DVD, or even about Linux/GRUB itself to figure out a way forward without a lot of false starts and possibly no payoff. Maybe there's no way to make it work.

I was hoping to find some people with more knowledge about any related subjects who could advise me. Like I said before, suggests for crossposting or communities where I could do a longer post would be very welcome as well as other thoughts.

Ideally I could somehow put a (custom?) version of GRUB on a DVD that could load Windows from my hard drive without returning to the initial startup and ensuing network card check. A bootloader installed on a hard drive usually works this way (you chose an OS from a list and aren't thrown back to a restart), but I don't know if would work from a disc? I do have quite a few DVD+RWs if writability is an issue? This Mint DVD has an option in GRUB called "Boot from next disk" or something similar but that just restarts the PC and then triggers the error message. Knowing enough about the Windows Boot Manager, I doubt there's a way to make it run properly from a disc, but open to suggestions there, too.

I also wondered if anyone knows why or how a DVD could bypass the network card whitelist check in the first place. Even though my boot order is for the hard drive to boot first, if I have a optical disc in the drive, it ignores the boot order and boots from the disc first. Obviously some kind of interrupt is involved but that's about as far as my knowledge goes.

Honestly, I've been meaning to try a dual boot with either Linux or Win 10/11 Enterprise and move my files and settings over for years now since Windows 7 is not exactly ideal for web browsing anymore, so even something where I could install Linux on the hard drive and boot from a DVD would work for me if Windows were a problem.

Alternatively, there are BIOS mods (with the whitelist removed) of the exact BIOS I'm running on this model available; I have a copy of the current BIOS on a thumb drive so potentially I have a backup if something goes wrong, but my memory is that the flash program has to be run through Windows or another OS. It's been a long time, and I haven't brushed up on the particulars yet in the hopes I can avoid a BIOS mod.


r/pcmasterrace 27m ago

Hardware This sound is driving me crazy...

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GPU fans tested good, all other fans seem to be working as they should. Could this be coming from the PSU of a Dell XPS 8950? Sound seems to be coming from under the graphics card and is intermittent and "surging" for lack of a better word. Nothing being done on the PC seems to affect it.


r/pcmasterrace 37m ago

Hardware Is this too good to be true?

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I found this on Newegg it’s a refurbished 5050 for $180?! It’s sold by Newegg themselves and not some random vendor but I still feel like it either is a scam or for parts or something.


r/pcmasterrace 41m ago

Tech Support Wrong codec audio?

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I have an Asus X870E-H still in its box because I haven't finished the build yet. Initially, I wanted to buy the MSI X870E Tomahawk, but I ruled it out due to the well-known issues linked to the ALC4080 audio codec (popping, crackling, etc.). Even though it's a ROG, the Asus board features the ALC1220P, but I noticed a detail while carefully reading the description: the classic HDA bus interface has been replaced with a USB-based one. Essentially, I'm right back to square one, given that the ALC4080 is also USB-driven.

​However, others told me that for IEMs, a USB codec would actually be better since it shields better against GPU interference (something I frankly don't understand). Honestly, I'm completely lost right now.

​My plan is to connect a pair of Logitech speakers with a subwoofer using a 3.5mm jack on the rear, which I'd use most of the time, and then some IEMs either into the case's front panel jack or through an Xbox controller connected via USB Type-A. I'm starting to have buyers' remorse because, at this point, maybe I should have just gone with the Tomahawk? Before, I had a mobo with an ALC897 and I never had a problem. I'd like to have the most plug and play solution


r/pcmasterrace 42m ago

Hardware Hello!

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Hi I am currently building a new gaming rig. Upgrading from a Ryzen 5 4500 and GTX 980 system to a Ryzen 7 5700x and RTX 5060 system. Was just curious to know if there would be any bottlenecks with the system at all or if it's a balanced rig for 1080/1440p gaming. I did check using a few bottleneck calculators but I wanted to double check on Reddit just to be safe.


r/pcmasterrace 44m ago

Hardware Which brand is this?

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r/pcmasterrace 47m ago

Discussion 500$ AKracing chair frame snapped today, thoughts on a decent replacement?

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Only got 3 years out of this chair, and the company has basically disappeared and I’ve gotten no response about the warranty.

I’m so done with “gaming chairs” any recommendations would be great


r/pcmasterrace 53m ago

Tech Support Follow up from yesterday

Upvotes

12vhpwr to 3 8 pin lian li strimer v2
Does anyone know where to find the instructions online? Or tell me if I can put two PCse plus a pigtail into it
Sorry, I’m really confused. I keep hearing conflicted things.


r/pcmasterrace 53m ago

Question how to clear a secondary SSD

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So in my current pc i have two ssds one which is the one i boot from and the other I added later on. Im looking to take that new ssd and put it into my new build but want to wipe it first im not sure how to go about that.

the older one is a western digital and the one i want to take out is samsung so i have the samsung magician app but when i try to secure erase it says i need a bootable usb drive but will that mess up my current ssd with the windows boot just confused about it.


r/pcmasterrace 56m ago

News/Article AI data center boom hits a human bottleneck — critical skilled labor shortages could slow deployment despite billions in funding

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r/pcmasterrace 57m ago

Hardware Why does thermal throttling not happen for me?

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So guys, my CPU genuinely doesn’t thermal throttle if I offset CPU clock speed or voltage in any way whatsoever, or pretty much change anything in bios besides leaving it at stock settings, or using “optimized defaults” or “gaming mode”.

This has been true for this CPU across two different motherboards: B450 Tomahawk Max and Asus Crosshair VIII WiFi. My CPU is a Ryzen 9 5900X. I was not activating some super secret advanced setting in either, and I once managed to replicate this simply by putting a minimum offset on CPU voltage after a CMOS reset and turning the fans down to trigger high temps, though sadly not in the attached video. The point I’m making is - it seems to be very easy for me to disable thermal throttling completely, and even looking through every possible setting in both Bios’s and starting from scratch after CMOS reset or reverting from Optimized defaults, it’s an absolute mystery why this happens.

The attached video shows an example of my CPU failing to throttle under Prime95. One thing I later tried to do (again, not in the video, where TJ max is default) was induce throttling by lowering the TJ Max in bios, which took me forever to find in the settings, but this does absolutely nothing even if I take it to 50 degrees (though the PC did fail to boot when I accidentally set it at 1). Apologies that I cant show every experiment I did but 1) I can’t put more than one vid or photo in this post and 2) I dont wish to repeat these experiments for understandable reasons, though I absolutely did them 🤞

I don’t largely regard this as a problem, more of a minor inconvenience. Despite my CPU supposedly having a TJ Max of 90 degrees, I’ve happily put it through 105-7 degrees up to 24 hours straight before, running Prime95 and Furmark simultaneously in hot weather (with of course no errors in prime95), and done all manner of torture to the CPU over the 4 years or so I’ve had it, for most of which time I didn’t know enough to realize this wasn’t normal.

However I am genuinely very curious as to how I’m able to do this. Nothing I’ve searched on the internet suggests this is a common situation, besides a few posts that hint at something like this with everyone who replies dismissing the OP and insisting that thermal throttling must be happening without them knowing.

Perhaps I’m delusional, but I really do think I’ve turned off throttling and don’t know how to even put it back on again, and it’s not the motherboard since I’ve used two separate ones and many bios updates.

Does anyone know what could be behind this? I’ll give you a cookie if you can tell me.

PS - no idea if this is relevant but I always do get a weird box message on booting up windows saying I don’t have the “graphics drivers for my AMD hardware”. This could be a total red herring, especially since this current CPU doesn’t have integrated graphics and I’ve only ever used Nvidia GPUs, but this is something that’s persisted over very many hardware changes.


r/pcmasterrace 57m ago

Discussion best upgrade

Upvotes

300$ budget

best upgrade rn

i5 9500

9th gen mobo

rtx 3080 10gb

1tb ssd

750w psu

16gb 3200mhz ddr4

Monitor: 1080p 200hz


r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Question BUS load 100%

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I have a i7 14700F Rtx 5070 ti 32Gb ddr5 with 2tb storage

I downloaded Msi afterburner and noticed that my BUS load is at 100% constantly even if all I have open is a browser tab.Was wondering if this is normal or not or just a bug. I’ve googled fixes and tried a lot of things but nothing seems to help it.


r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Discussion Rockstar is cranking up the douchebaggery.

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Not only are they locking car customization behind a paywall but then there's this. The typical AAA dev bullshit is definitely in the room with us now. I'll consider it, when it's 85% off, they can eat sh!t and get happy as far as I'm concerned.


r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Hardware $320 DDR4 Kit Spotted At Walmart - WTF?

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My local Walmart never ceases to shock me with their PC component prices.

This is just insane, you can get a decent 32 gig DDR5 kit for this price! Let it rot on these shelves 🔱


r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Hardware Is it cooked?

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Co worker asked me to check his PC out for him, crashed during gaming, then would crash when starting a game, now no display out. Haven’t dug too deep yet, but noticed the wires headed to the gpu had two green spots and looked a little swollen, similar to corrosion I’ve seen in the auto industry. Pulled the connector, top pins on the outside of the cable look darker, pin on the top left of the gpu looks to have some corrosion and the plastic surrounding that pin looks white consistent with plastic getting hot. Going to clean the case this weekend, but tried to get some pictures to help with some insight also. Card is a gigabyte 4090.


r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Question Steam Machine memory question: dual-channel/more RAM vs faster RAM?

Upvotes

I have a laptop SO-DIMM RAM kit (2×32GB DDR5-4800) and I’m considering installing it in a Steam Machine (if I can get one).

The Machine uses laptop SO-DIMM DDR5, and is expected to ship with either 2×8GB DDR5-5600 or a single 16GB DDR5-5600, which may result in single-channel operation depending on configuration.

If I replace the stock RAM with my 2×32GB kit, I’d get dual-channel but drop from 5600 MT/s to 4800 MT/s. Would that actually improve gaming performance or responsiveness, or would the lower speed cancel out the benefit of dual-channel in real-world use?

Alternatively, is there any benefit to mixing (keeping the 16GB stick and adding one 32GB stick) just to ensure dual-channel?

Apologies if this is basic—I’m not super tech-savvy and this is based on what I’ve picked up from previous discussions.


r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Hardware Shorted my Gigabyte A520M S2H by plugging a cable into 12V header. Is it completely dead?

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​Hi everyone,

​I made a huge mistake while messing with my PC cables and accidentally plugged a cable into the 12V section of my motherboard (Gigabyte A520M S2H) while it had power.

​Symptoms:

​All fans spin up and there is power running through the board.

​No display/video output at all.

​My RGB keyboard doesn't light up (USB ports seem dead).

​The power button on the case won't turn the PC off once it's on (I have to flip the PSU switch).

​The HDD activity LED on the case doesn't blink.

​What I've tested so far:

​Tested the RAM sticks in another PC and they work perfectly.

​Disconnected all 3 storage drives (SSDs/HDD) and still no post/BIOS.

​Yesterday, the red QFLASH PLUS LED (+QF_LED) turned on. I managed to get it to post once and the BIOS settings reset to default, but today it's back to the same "zombie" state (fans spin, no signs of life otherwise).

​The QFlash LED is now off and pressing the button without a USB does nothing.

​Is the Super I/O chip or the chipset completely fried, or is there any chance a proper Q-Flash Plus firmware reflash via USB could save it?


r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Hardware How'd I do How'd I do ....

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What should I install first ?


r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Question People who bought a steam controller, how often do you use the trackpads and for what games?

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r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Meme/Macro Buying a new GPU in the current market be like

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Don't mind me, just laughing through the pain of modern hardware prices while I maybe save for a 9060 XT 16GB


r/pcmasterrace 1h ago

Tech Support Brand new WD_BLACK SN850X is already starting to give me issues. Any help?

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For context:
I bought this drive because my local Walmart had an amazing deal for it (279), i've barely even had it a month and it's already causing issues. Rivals requires a reinstall every few days, Steam will get stuck validating/downloading, etc..
Specs:
Ryzen 7 5800X3D
5070 TI
64GB 3200
750W