8-Bit Ninja

It'll boot, displaying a message something along the lines of " Error CPU Fan Not Detected ", you can fix this by entering the bios, finding the fan control section and just telling it to ignore the CPU fan header.

As for @treefroggy I think you've been plenty reasonable, giving them first a chance to rectify the issues by replacing the item before asking for a refund. Them asking you to pay for shipping isn't unusual, however every time I've seen it the company will refund the entire cost of shipping once the item is returned. Perhaps an email to someone higher up (You can usually find the email addresses of seniors on the internet)?

IDK what the law in the US is, but in the UK credit card company's won't cover anything under £100. I'd assume the US has a similar law to stop people buying an obvious scam on the off chance its legit, and when it is just getting their bank to refund it.

Have you got a rough budget in mind?

Depends on the motherboard and CPU, most "gaming" motherboards and cpu's don't support quad channel RAM, meaning the only advantage of buying 2x16gb (assuming you are running a more consumer based CPU) is the ability to upgrade to 64gb of ram down the road without having to replace the ram already in the system. So in short, if you don't think for the life of the PC you'll need more than 32gb of RAM, save yourself the money and buy the 4 sticks.

If its only happened twice in 8 months I wouldn't worry about it. Given how uncommon it is its not worth the time solving.

GPU

At £300 you're not going to be able to switch to intel and get an improvement. What motherboard do you have?

The head of the screw only half sits on the m.2, its a kind of crappy mounting system in my opinion. As for force, until its tight, the standoff isn't long enough to overtighten the screw

What's the point of buying parts over several months? If you wait 7 months and then find something was DOA your gonna have a struggle returning it in store, meaning you'll have to RMA, which could take weeks depending on the manufacture. Not to mention the fact that in several months time new hardware will likely be out, meaning you paid full price for "old" hardware. If its a question of funds I'd suggest setting a budget, saving till you achieve said budget and then assembling a build, sure you get the occasional deal, but not enough to justify what your planning. If you already have the money, or when you do, given the current GPU shortage I'd suggest first hunting down the GPU. As its the only part you'll struggle to find at or near retail price, once that's done the rest will be easy.

I've got a gpro, and I purchased before returning the superlight, its definability lighter, and there's no side buttons (which didn't bother me as i have mine blocked off on the gpro). But i didnt feel any real advantage vs my gpro and given how much more expensive the superlight is id just get a normal gpro.

First step would just be to plug the ps4 into the monitor, if that works plug the ps4 into the monitor using the the hdmi cable that is current connecting the monitor to the PC. At least then we know where to start.

How big is huge? Have you checked the XMP profile is still enabled in the bios?

Way ago I was taking apart one of those disposable cameras to learn how they worked, ended up discharging the capacitor inside into my finger. Was never going to kill me, but 7 year old me learnt about capacitors that day

I haven't had this on my current build (Zen 3) Yet, but it happened very infrequently on my 4790k & 6700k systems, except in my case it would completely lock and require a reboot. Interesting that it happens at 100%, I never looked into it, but that would explain why I'm not seeing the issue anymore.

Idk what your CPU is, but if its a consumer chip then it wont support quad channel, so it'll run in duel. As for the mhz enable XMP and the BIOS will default to the lower speed.

Yes you can combine them, however the 3600mhz will only be able to run at 3200mhz, so given its cheaper you're better off just buying another 16gb of 3200mhz ram

Do you need to upgrade? I see this a lot, if you're currently happy with the graphical settings, FPS and resolution your playing with then what's the point upgrading? Especially right now given how inflated a lot of PC hardware is.

you cant format the drive unless windows can detect it, and if it could formatting would delete everything on it. So a no go on both fronts.

Strange, id suggest removing the actual hard drive from the external enclosure and plugging it in internally.

Are you plugging it into the same USB slot each time? It could possibly be a short on that USB slot, which would explain the other behaviour your seeing.

The drivers have deffinaltly installed properly? Did you used DDU to uninstall the old ones before installing the new ones?

that depends on the GPU, but ignoring that in 15 minutes. Pretty much nothing, a 3090 will make around $7 a day, before you account for energy usage.

Sorry should have been more clear, a set would be the same RAM, so the corsair pair are a set and the Adata are the other.

Looks identical to mine, these Zen 3 chips idle pretty high. Are your clock speeds acceptable?