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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 such as what OS you're using, what you've tried so far, and exact circumstances to replicate your issue.Check out these resources before asking for help in case you can troubleshoot further:
/ / Toms Hardware Troubleshooting PC Gaming WikiCommon 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.For immediate help visit us on our Discord server!
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I thought this was a PC gaming subreddit... Do people often ask for tech support here?
ID: gpvpqy6
I browse new fairly often and there are posts there that have to be removed pretty regularly. The PCMR subreddit has no such rule and despite having a pretty active pinned thread just like this one, the new section there is about 90% tech support questions.
I am trying to start my PC I built and when I go to manually start through the motherboard, I just hear a click, the GPU fans spin for half a second and it stops. (I don’t have a case yet) anyone know how to fix
Make sure every PSU cable is connected correctly.
first, why don't you have a case?
and 2nd, is everything plugged in correctly?
It's not getting past POST, either you have some cables that aren't plugged in correctly or some dead hardware.
Unplug everything except your PSU and motherboard and see if that will POST (if you can get to the BIOS you're in good shape). After that, keep adding one hardware component after another to see what's causing it to crash. With luck, it will just be a loose connection and re-plugging everything will take care of it.
When replacing a CPU which I overclocked, do I have to set it back to default settings before putting the newest chip in?
I'm going from a i5 9600k to i9 9900k. I don't wanna mess anything up.
I honestly don't know and imagine it would really depend on the motherboard you're using, that being said I would suggest defaulting everything first just to be safe.
Rest assured though that in most cases, the only risk you run is the system crashing. It's not likely that you'll set your CPU on fire because you had the voltage slightly off or a clock speed set too fast.
So my poor laptop is legit on it’s last legs. The hinge to open the legs has broken, it’s missing one of the Ctrl keys, the mouse “pad” continually freezes and stops working...
My question is - should I wait to invest in a PC for gaming (the only thing I’ll upgrade to) or is the current cost/availability likely to continue after the pandemic and I should just buy a ready built available in store?
Tyia!
It is unlikely for the inflated prices issue to be resolved in the immediate future. If you need a new rig in the next month or two, your best bet to get a video card is with a pre-built.
I never looked at those in my life so no idea what brand to look at etc. If you are savvy enough to build a PC, you probably know what to look for.
My friend is offering his lightly used Gigabyte Geforce RTX 3070 Gaming OC gpu for $610 USD. Is this a good deal?
Yes given the current lack of availability it's a steal, just make sure your friend is willing to give you the original reciept in the event you need a warranty.
Hello recently ive been getting thesebweird things when my monitor goes black screen then the gpu goes at full fan speed and idk what to do to fix this so pls help me out here!
Sounds like the GPU is having issues, might be bad drivers, might be underpowered, might be dying hardware.
Is there any correlation between what you're doing and when this happens? Say like if it only happens when playing a certain game?
Hey guys,
I know this isn’t gaming related but I’m gonna try anyway. I don’t really know any other place to ask this.
I want to get Cyberlinks Power DVD 20 (the one time license), and they offer me a backup CD (for an additional 12€) at the check out. Is this needed? Usually with other software you get a license key, and if say i get a new pc or I do a fresh Windows install I can just use that license key to reactive the program. Is that not the case here? This backup CD offering kind of confuses me, as I thought the license key is basically function as a backup if you will.
Or is this just a relic of old times?
Pretty much yea, some people like having a physical disk they can toss in a filing cabinet "just in case".
You will want to keep a copy of the installer somewhere though, as some software companies won't let you download the software from their website indefinitely. But if you have a copy of the installer and your license key you shouldn't run into any issues if you need to install the software again in the future.
Might be a stupid question, but I get low ping on every other game but Valorant (the highest demanding game for my 10 year old PC). If I upgrade to a mid-range gaming PC, will my ping problem be solved or at least not as bad?
Hard to say without more information. Generally speaking, "ping" refers to how long it takes for your computer to talk to the game's servers, which is mostly determined by your internet connection.
That being said, if say your CPU is running at 100%, that can prevent your computer from making full use of your internet connection.
It may be as simple as you're connecting to servers that aren't as geographically close to you as they are for other games. I haven't played Valorant but do you have the option of choosing which servers you play on, say like North America vs Europe vs Asia?
What's the best controller to get? I have a Steam controller but I honestly don't like it and was looking at Xbox controllers but wasn't sure if a basic one is fine or if I should go for an Elite 2.
I've been using my PS4 controller for some games but the button layouts are always set up for Xbox controllers and I keep mixing up the buttons..
It's for stuff like RPGs or racing, m+kb for shooters all day.
my buddy uses a scuff and he loves it. warranty is great too. I've head great things about there customer suport
Maybe xbox
Can anyone point me to a PC noob-friendly guide on setting up an SSD as a cache to improve load times?
The only game I really play is Total War: Warhammer II. My only performance complaint is very long load times (booting up a campaign, transitioning from campaign to battles and back again, etc.). After doing some research it seems that using an SSD is a good way to address this. Since my laptop already has a 128 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD, it seems like a good idea to try to configure the SSD as a cache before I try spending money on new components.
But I have no idea how to actually do this. I get the impression I need to download certain software to tell my computer to do this, but I also have basic questions like: should the game be installed on the HDD or SSD? Right now the program is installed on the SSD. Does that mean I'm already getting the best load performance I can out of this machine? If I move the program to the HDD will I lose all my saved campaigns?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
If it's slow on the SSD then moving it to the HDD will be even worse.
Hi, I recently bought a pc but it makes a squeaky noise when I play rainbow 6 siege. Anyone know why? Much appreciated 🙂
thats a very unhelpful description, My guess is that it's coil whine from the GPU.
Is it worth going from 1050p 60hz to 900p 75hz for gaming purposes?
What kind of setup is that? If you have a weak system, lowering the resolution will gain you some fps, but don’t know how you would increase the display’s refresh rate.
I would certainly not buy a 75Hz screen when there are plenty of adorable 100+ options out there.
My wife and I both game in the same room, and a lot of the time we are playing in the same party. We both have the Blue Snowball mics currently, with arm and a soft foam covering and pop filters. We use Krisp and both still hear echo from each other. We are looking for either better mics that won’t pick up each other’s voices, or some ideas to lower the echo picked up by our current mics. We would rather not build a barrier dividing the room into halves if possible, but aren’t completely against it. Any help is greatly appreciated
Yes, the thread is replaced every few days. I check it all the time and help where I can as well as several other regulars.
The sub also has rules against putting up tech support threads on the general queue and there are plenty that do, do this thread is here to help with that.