whaling

If you can say one thing about my computer building decisions it's that they take forever. I've put together a few draft options using some of the recommendations I've received here and elsewhere (unfortunately a few of them weren't available or too expensive - 6800 and 5800x3D). I'd love for people to critique. My intent was to get the best combination I could out of my $3k max, based on what's available in Australia. The DDR4 option has the 7900XT instead of the 4070TI as it seemed like the best use of the money I saved from downgrading from DDR5. The 7900XT seems to be a marginal performance increase though, so would DDR5 be a better choice? I haven't put a CPU cooler in the i5 build because I've never had a problem with the stock coolers, unless this is likely to impact performance? I haven't noticed it in the past. Finally, I intend to spend less on the monitor than that. I'm thinking the Gigabyte G27Q IPS which retails here for $399. It's the best value 1440p, 120hz+ IPS panel I've been able to find. That would give me some money in the budget to grab an M2 SSD. With no further rambling here are the PCPartPicker lists: i5 DDR4 AMD Ryzen 5 i5 DDR5 i7 DDR5 - as far as I can tell an i7 seems like overkill for the gaming I do. I just wanted to see how much it would cost. Thanks in advance for any improvements you can make or flaws you find!

1. Budget & Location It seems like the sweet spot these days before diminishing returns is 1440p/120fps. I lost track of part releases a long time ago so I have no idea what's required for this. I'd like to spend $2000 but I'm guessing I'll need to go up to $3000, particularly if I include a monitor in the budget. And GPUs are so much more expensive than when I last bought one! I'm located in Australia. 2. Aim The most demanding thing I will be doing is gaming. I typically play indie games, though am currently playing Overwatch 2 (would like 120fps for this) and have played some triple A titles recently like Dark Souls and It Takes Two. I guess I don't tend to stretch the capacity of my builds, but building something decent has meant it's lasted a long while. And who knows, maybe I'll get into new release triple A games if my computer can actually run them? I'd like this build to last as long as my current build (see point 5.) 3. Monitors I currently have 2 1080p monitors (Philips PHL246v5). I'm not against keeping these but I would like the primary gaming monitor to be 1440p 120fps. I would like to retain a multi-monitor setup. 4. Peripherals I need the above monitor and a copy of Windows. I would like to keep my case if I can (Fractal Design Define R5) as it looks clean and works well. I have a 256GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD and a Western Digital Black 2TB drive. I'm happy to reuse these as well, though it seems high capacity M2 drives are relatively affordable now, so perhaps it's better to use my current drives as storage only? I have a PCIE Wifi card too (Archer T4E), so don't need Wifi included with the Motherboard, if that's even an option anymore. 5. Why are you upgrading? My current build is: i5-3330, 8GB ram, GTX 770. I... haven't upgraded in a while. Ideally the new build would last as long as my current one has. I'm also having issues with my GPU malfunctioning. The crashes have gradually increased over the years to the point that it's quite frequent. Let me know if I've forgotten any info!

Can anyone who's currently using Windows 10 tell me what PCI Wifi card they're using? I need to buy a replacement for a USB Wifi thing and I'd rather not have to buy another card in a few weeks if the one I buy now turns out not work in Windows 10. Am I likely to have more luck buying a Windows 8 compatible card or will that not make a difference? This is basically what I have to choose from.

I have a Microsoft mouse that I found once (along with a keyboard) when I opened my bin once that's missing the piece of plastic that holds the batteries in. Besides that, the FinalMouse...s mice... mouses look pretty slick.

Thanks for the response! The health of the drive is fine, as are speeds. I took it back to the store just in case and they said it wasn't unusually noisy, it's just louder than what I'm used to. The noises that I am hearing don't appear to be case vibration or the drive itself spinning, it's the intermittent clicks when reading or (especially) writing data. I could still hear them when I tried using the drive outside the case. Also, it would be more accurate to describe the 'grinding' noise as 'chattering'. I couldn't think of the term when I first posted here!

I recently bought a 2TB WD Black HDD and I'm finding it frustratingly loud: the ticking and/or grinding which occurs while writing and sometimes while reading. Does anyone have this drive in a case that makes it quiet? The problem isn't case vibration, though that does occur when doing a drive test. The other option I've found is a product like this. Anyone have any experience with them? I might need a new case anyway, as my (old, old) current case doesn't have any fans blowing directly on the 5.25" bays which this drive silencer might require to keep the drive inside cool. I'm in Australia which might affect what's available. Thanks in advance for any advice!

I'm building a PC for a friend. Lowish budget (sub $600) for some gaming, some architectural rendering (mostly CAD) and Photoshop/Illustrator work. Located in Australia so parts will mostly be purchased from PC Case Gear. We already have an old GPU and PSU. The GPU is a different brand to the one on the PC Part Picker list but according to case measurements it will fit. PC Case Gear Build List PC Part Picker List Any advice is welcome as I haven't build a new computer for a couple of years. Thanks in advance!

Any clues? (bump)

I've created a custom keyboard shortcut by attaching a shortcut key to a shortcut file on my desktop (lot of 'shortcut's in that sentence). It works fine until I enter a full screen application be it game or otherwise. Anyone know of a solution? For reference I'm using NirCmd to mute sound output on Skype only. This is the shortcut target: C:\Windows\nircmd.exe muteappvolume Skype.exe 2 The keyboard shortcut doesn't work for a short time after exiting a full screen application but directly opening the shortcut file does so I'm fairly sure it's not NirCmd causing the issue.

I've created a custom keyboard shortcut by attaching a shortcut key to a shortcut file on my desktop (lot of 'shortcut's in that sentence). It works fine until I enter a full screen application be it game or otherwise. Anyone know of a solution? For reference I'm using NirCmd to mute sound output on Skype only. This is the shortcut target: C:\Windows\nircmd.exe muteappvolume Skype.exe 2 The keyboard shortcut doesn't work for a short time after exiting a full screen application but directly opening the shortcut file does so I'm fairly sure it's not NirCmd causing the issue.

Odd question, but (if you've used them) does the leatherette get uncomfortable with extended use? Does it cause ear sweat is what I'm asking, I guess.

The ModMic looks really great, though I'm in Australia. Hope the shipping isn't too high...

I didn't explain myself very well: I actually meant that I don't like when the mic's still in my peripheral vision while in use. My old headset (now broken) had a mic that was much closer to the side of my head and I could rotate it so it was to the left of my mouth instead of in front of it. I don't know why but I find having a little black lump in the corner of my vision terribly annoying. Probably should've been more specific. I guess I'm aiming for below $100? Thanks for all the recommendations so far everyone!

I'm looking for decent sound quality (primarily for games and some voice chat) and comfort. I'm not inclined to spend a lot of money. What would you guys recommend? If it's a gaming headset I'd like the mic to be particularly manoeuvrable because most of the headsets I've found leave the mic in my peripheral vision which is frustrating. I know a lot of people recommend headphones and a separate mic. I'm open to this though I have no idea about mic options and I'd prefer not to have something bulky. Is there a separate mic that attaches to headphones? Thanks in advance!