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Oxxidation posted:My PC would have reached its tenth anniversary next month. The graphics card shorted out and caught fire, killing the motherboard. I know what's happening with the cost of parts, but I need a replacement. Yeah, absolutely return or RMA that PSU, don't take chances on killing more parts if you're not 100% sure it's not the problem. I assume it's still in the return window? Notably, your monitor has an old-style G-Sync module, which means if you want VRR you'll be limited to Nvidia GPUs. That'll add $100+ to the cost, although the $550 5070 is similar to the $600 AMD 9070 in cost:performance. Do you have another system to test the SATA SSD in? If not, it will be a good idea to just buy at least a 1TB NVMe anyway, and use the SATA SSD as additional game storage if it still works. If you really only play older/indie games and the 980 Ti was enough, there's not much reason to do a DDR5 build right now, although the Microcenter bundles do reduce the cost penalty to around $100 over pre-insanity prices. Which location are you near, for stock checks? I've gotta cook dinner right now, but I can throw together a build with Microcenter prices in a few hours. Otherwise, if you'd rather save the money for when it might go a bit further, you can take a look at that ~$1000 AM4 build I've been workshopping for various people over the last few pages, and swap the GPU out for a 5070 or 5060 Ti 16GB.
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Jan 19, 2026 22:09
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mikey posted:They're not remotely the same, there are great models sometimes on sale for $80-90 and often mediocre to terrible models for $110-120. Thank you for posting that - I felt like I didn't do complete due diligence when I recently bought a new PSU and it's always reassuring to see it on the good list.
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Jan 19, 2026 22:13
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mikey posted:Yeah, absolutely return or RMA that PSU, don't take chances on killing more parts if you're not 100% sure it's not the problem. I assume it's still in the return window? I included a Microcenter location link in my summary post. If I can retain the monitor and avoid DDR5 then that would probably be ideal. VRR, ray-tracing, and 4K don't interest me on PC - anything that has those features just goes to my consoles with whatever performance compromises are needed. I just like 1440p 60fps on less demanding games. There's only 200GB left on the SATA anyway so it would probably have to be used as a supplement. I'll just have to content with Windows 11 on a newer built - part of the reason I'd held off on upgrading for so long was because I was comfortable with my current operating system. e: so the somewhat dubious good news is that after taking out the GPU, I was able to get the PC running again with integrated graphics when I swapped the EVGA PSU back in. Would it be worth trying to get a replacement card first to see if the PCI slot is fried, or is any damage to the motherboard just going to present itself more clearly over time? Oxxidation fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Jan 19, 2026 |
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Jan 19, 2026 22:18
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Oxxidation posted:I included a Microcenter location link in my summary post. Oxxidation posted:If I can retain the monitor and avoid DDR5 then that would probably be ideal. VRR, ray-tracing, and 4K don't interest me on PC - anything that has those features just goes to my consoles with whatever performance compromises are needed. I just like 1440p 60fps on less demanding games. What do you currently have for CPU / motherboard / RAM? Most graphics cards should function in an older build, but if those parts are also from 2015, there's not much point in getting a newer GPU and you may as well look at the second-hand market for something like a $200-220 RTX 3060 / 3060 Ti / 3070, all of which will still be much faster than the 980 Ti and give you DLSS support. If you're using this for PC-only indie games, I'm not sure what there is to be gained by spending more on it-- unless you were willing to go with a full $2000+ re-build that can also cast AAA games to your TV at 4K and replace the console. e: What kind of problems were you having with it that lead to replacing the PSU? The cheapest new GPU that would make a quick and dirty replacement that will handle older/indie games without problems and without being a total waste of money would be the RTX 5060 8GB at $290. The AMD RX 9060 XT 8GB is $310, and a bit faster, but probably isn't a better choice for DX11 games, and then you do lose VRR support if you ever find yourself needing it. The Intel Arc cards can be had for $200-250, but as discussed on the last page, they're not a good choice for older or less well-known games that may have compatibility issues. e2: poo poo, I forgot that the 5060 is a PCIe x8 card, same with all of the Arc cards. So the 9060 XT (which is x16) is really your only sane new option. mikey fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Jan 19, 2026 |
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Jan 19, 2026 23:47
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mikey posted:Whoops, sorry, my reading comprehension disappears when I'm in a hurry. I just keep to 60 fps. The last game I played was Paradise Mascot Agency. I don't see myself ever running something more demanding on this rig than FF14, which I may never get around to playing. Other specs are: Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme4+ LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard CPU: Intel Core i7 6th Gen - Core i7-6700K 8M Skylake Quad-Core 750W SuperNova Gold EVGA PSU, as mentioned 16 gigs DDR4 RAM I just built something that was top of the line at the time and found I never needed to go any higher. As for the PSU, my computer snapped off last Friday and wouldn't turn back on. I'm guessing that was due to the GPU short, but at the time I thought it was the PSU so I replaced it. When the Corsair experienced the same issue, I remembered reading about faulty GPU's causing excessive power draw so I unplugged the PCIe cables to see if that would get it running - but what I neglected to do was pull out the card entirely. I can only assume that the PCIe slot continued putting through voltage without the PSU's failsafes, causing the fire. I don't have much experience working in the actual hardware of my computer (family friend built it initially) aside from occasional cleaning and an earlier PSU swapout. Looks like I faced the consequences of it. Oxxidation fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Jan 20, 2026 |
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Jan 19, 2026 23:58
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Oxxidation posted:I just keep to 60 fps. The last game I played was Paradise Mascot Agency. I don't see myself ever running something more demanding on this rig than FF14, which I may never get around to playing. You might want to run OCCT's CPU/RAM stability tests for a few hours just to make sure those didn't get subtly damaged in some way. Oxxidation posted:I just built something that was top of the line at the time and found I never needed to go any higher. As for the PSU, my computer snapped off last Friday and wouldn't turn back on. I'm guessing that was due to the GPU short, but at the time I thought it was the PSU so I replaced it. When the Corsair experienced the same issue, I remembered reading about faulty GPU's causing excessive power draw so I unplugged the PCIe cables to see if that would get it running - but what I neglected to do was pull out the card entirely. I can only assume that the PCIe slot continued putting through voltage without the PSU's failsafes, causing the fire. It's possible that the slot took some damage if there was a short on the 12V PCIe power rail, but those particular power stages on the GPU aren't rated for more than 75W, so they're not going to allow much current through for very long without melting themselves (which sounds like what happened). Is there physical burning/damage to the slot, and/or was the short on the card near the slot? If not, the power traces themselves will survive that kind of over-current better than the power stages that died, and it might be fine. No way to know for certain without trying a replacement card and making sure it's stable and using all 16 lanes.
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Jan 20, 2026 00:24
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The RAM falls a fair bit short of those specs, it's DDR4 2133. If I needed to replace the CPU and motherboard as well then we'd be pretty close to a full-system overhaul regardless, sounds like. The fire was in the upper part of the card near the fans, and it didn't look like the slot itself was significantly damaged. Oxxidation fucked around with this message at 00:32 on Jan 20, 2026 |
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Jan 20, 2026 00:30
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the thread title really should just be "you don't hate sam altman enough" at this point
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Jan 20, 2026 01:02
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Oxxidation posted:The RAM falls a fair bit short of those specs, it's DDR4 2133. If I needed to replace the CPU and motherboard as well then we'd be pretty close to a full-system overhaul regardless, sounds like. It sounds like it might be worth trying a new GPU in the current system, but if you want more performance, you have a few options: - New AM4 CPU and motherboard for $250-ish. The 5600XT periodically comes in stock for $150, as it was a few days ago, but that never lasts very long. The 5600 is fine if you're not performance-sensitive, it's only about 4% slower, though $170 is not a great price for it. All of those motherboards have adequate VRM for even an 8+ core CPU, so get the cheapest that has the USB / PCIe slot / audio setup that works for your needs. This may benefit from a new $20-35 CPU cooler if you want something that will be quiet, but it depends on your specific case. - The same, but with 16GB or 32GB of DDR4-3200, currently $108 and $173 respectively. That makes 32GB a better deal for what you get, but if you don't need it, 16GB is still $65 cheaper. DDR4 prices seem.. somewhat stable, at least for the last month, so you wouldn't need to commit to new RAM immediately if you just want a cheap performance uplift. - A new AM5 system from Microcenter. The minimum viable bundle with two sticks of RAM is the 7700X for $550, and the whole re-build will probably set you back at least $750-800 before the GPU. This will be 25-50% faster than an AM4 system depending on DDR4 speed and the specific AM5 CPU bundle you choose. The 7800X3D bundle is only $100 more, and considerably faster for gaming, so it would make a lot more sense in the long run even if you'd see no benefit initially. If you're doing fine with a four core CPU from 2015, a $250-360 AM4 upgrade would probably already be overkill. I don't know exactly how much faster a 5600 to 5600XT would be in games that can utilize four cores, but in those that can use six, it should be at least 2-3 times as fast even with the old DDR4.
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Jan 20, 2026 01:07
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The AM5 bundle sounds like the most reasonable if I don't just try to get a used 980ti off some semi-reputable eBay seller or something. I've just never built a PC starting at the motherboard/CPU level and I hate messing around with hardware enough so that I'd need some time to talk myself into it. I appreciate the attention and the options. Feels like a decade's worth of computer drama was crammed into this weekend.
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Jan 20, 2026 02:08
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A quick look at ebay shows 980 Tis starting around $90-100, which doesn't make much sense if you think there's a chance you might build a new system. A used 3060 Ti or 3070 8GB will only cost $200-220 for 2.1 to 2.4 times the raster performance, a bit more VRAM, up to date drivers for at least a few more years, and they'll actually be usable for newer games that need compatibility fixes or that benefit from upscaling. They're also six years newer and won't be anywhere near as likely to fail, and they're in much higher supply and you have a much wider choice of models. Both are x16 cards that will work fine in your current PCIe 3.0 system. I understand not wanting to spend $300+ on a new GPU if you don't have to, but buying something very old only makes sense if you're not doing any other upgrades now and can spend <$75 so it's not a complete waste when you inevitably have to replace it in a few years. The used GPU market just took a hit from the rise in new GPU prices, and it seems to have disproportionately affected the cards under $200, maybe due to lower supply.
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Jan 20, 2026 02:46
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I actually wasn’t sure what cards were compatible with my mobo/CPU/RAM layout, but if those are your recommendations then they’re what I’ll look into. Thanks again and if it’s not too much trouble then please let me know if you think there’s anything else stupid/obvious I might have overlooked.
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Jan 20, 2026 02:48
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PCIe has pretty impressive inter-generation compatibility, so any card will function in any PCIe motherboard-- other than the Arc cards that absolutely require Resizable BAR support, which your system predates. Nevertheless, it's a good idea to avoid cards with only 8 lanes on PCIe gen 2/3 systems due to poorer performance. The two I listed are at the peak of the cost/performance curve right now, and the 3080 10GB isn't far behind, but it's a higher wattage card (320W) and runs closer to $300, apparently $325+ if you want one with a decent 3-fan cooler (and you do). Some filtered ebay links, Buy Now, sorted by price+shipping: - RTX 3060 Ti 8GB: quite a few available for $200-220 - RTX 3070 8GB: ignoring Dell two-fan and blower fan models, there are lots available from $220-240 - RTX 3080 10/12GB: there's one triple-fan model for $260+35 shipping right now that doesn't seem to have a catch? https://www.ebay.com/itm/286643147214 otherwise the decent models start at $325 I looked at second-hand AMD cards and they all seem very overpriced for some reason. It might also be worth posting a WTB thread in SA-Mart, lots of people upgrade their GPUs every few years and have old ones lying around that they'll let go for a bit less than the going rate.
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Jan 20, 2026 03:25
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I'll go with the 3060ti, one of those eBay sellers has a $210 entry with 99.9% positive ratings. I've run the CPU/RAM stability tests and no errors were detected. All other metrics that I can run on my SSD, fans, etc have been coming up green for a while so I'm going to try and preserve this system and write this whole ordeal off as a freak accident. I'll try not to check back in here unless/until something else explodes.
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Jan 20, 2026 04:35
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