-rascal-

All those 8-pin connections can be used for both CPU or PCIe for the graphics card. It doesn't matter which ones you use, or in which order. They are all the same. You also don't *NEED* 2x 8-pins for the CPU. One is usually enough, unless you are doing some world record smashing overclock... Each 8-pin CPU cable can supply up to 384W to the CPU... However, DO NOT force a 8-pin cable into a 6-pin SATA / PATA connection. DO NOT force a 6-pin cable into a 8-pin CPU / PCIe connection.

What motherboard are you using? From the sounds of it, you are using some kind of pre-built system (i.e. Acer, HP, Lenovo, etc) where the motherboard BIOS has overclocking features disabled.

Personally, yeah, me too. I'd be willing to not buy Starbucks (or whatever) for 3 ~ 4 days for the extra ~$30.

The 6700 XT Pulse is a good card as well. You don't *NEED* the NITRO+, however, it does have a bigger, higher performing cooler, and a separate heatsink for the VRMs / Memory chips, etc.

Yes. NITRO+ or Toxic for Sapphire.... StriX or RoG for ASUS.... or Kingpin Edition for EVGA. It's not necessary/needed, but if you want to pay a bit extra for those extra features, you can.

The RTX 3000-series is known to have high transient spikes in power draw. A quality 850W is recommended, so it can handle the power spikes. Otherwise, when that power transient happens, it would trip the PSU, and it would shut the system down .... like if someone unplugged the power cord.

WHICH model "Seasonic 550W" ? Do you also see any critical / errors in Event Viewer around the time the system reboots?

There should also be settings in the Intel and/or nVidia drivers.

@Ashino No, flashing/updating the BIOS does not void warranty....since when did it ever?? Updating the BIOS is like updating the OS / iOS on your phone; does that void warranty? It is more like regular software updates. You cannot install DDR4 memory into a DDR5 motherboard. DDR4 and DDR5 are physically different. They did this on purpose since... DDR1. Having no components connected ... I don't where you read the bit where other components MUST be removed. That feature, ASUS, MSi, Gigabyte, each calls it differently....but allows you to flash / recover the BIOS with a USB, in case something happens. The MINIMUM required is just motherboard + power. You can STILL have all the other components connected. The last 4? 5? ASUS + Gigabyte motherboards I've owned have this feature... and I've used that feature probably 4 ~ 6 times now. In most of my use cases, I corrupted the BIOS through overclocking and doing stupid things. The best, at least right now for DDR5 motherboards, is to buy memory kits listed on the Qualified Vendor List (QVL). Those exact memory kits have been tested and confirmed working with that motherboard. This is testing / verification, in your case Gigabyte, has done on their own time, in their own testing labs. Gigabyte GIVES you that info: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z690-AORUS-PRO-rev-1x/support#support-memsup

The 6800 XT Pulse uses a different PCB; the 6800 XT NITRO+ should have higher end electrical components (i.e. caps, etc). If you go Sapphire's Pulse and NITRO+ 6800 XT webpages, they offer a blown-up view of the GPUs, and you can see the PCB is different. 6800 XT Pulse: You can see the long row of cylindrical caps, which resembles a bit of the reference RX 6800 PCB. Where as the NITRO+ PCB looks like this: As already mentioned by the others, higher binned chip, slight factory OC, RGB, etc. Cooling fans are also different on the Pulse vs the NITRO+; Pulse has 3x 9-blade fans that are the same size vs 2x larger 12-blade fans on the NITRO+. Pulse cooler also has 1 less heatpipe vs the NITRO+. 6 heatpipes visible on the back of the NITRO+ vs 5 on the Pulse. NITRO+ has a total of 16 power stages, 13 going to the GPU. The Pulse appears to be equipped with a couple power stages less. If the 6800 XT NITRO+ is anything like the 5700 NITRO+, its VRM and overall design is robust enough to put under heavier overclocking under water. (According to Gamers' Nexus' tear down and overclocking of the NITRO+ 5700 XT) With that all said, the Pulse should be more than capable. I may be a bit biased, since my go-to for AMD graphics cards have been Sapphire, but they do an amazing job with their GPUs. The NITRO+ and TOXIC cards are way over-built. $36 difference is pretty small. If they were charging an extra $100+ .... probably not worth it. I have a Sapphire NITRO+ 6800 XT SE still in-box .... haven't found the time to actually put it into my system yet. .... replacing a NITRO+ 5700 XT SE

If your friend is using a motherboard that has debug LEDs, you can see which step it's getting stuck at while going through the POST. Hence, a parts list would help. Since there is a motherboard speaker connected, it should also give off a POST error beep codes.... a chain of short + long beeps. You can then look up what the beep codes mean (i.e. RAM issue, GPU error, etc).

Power On Self Test = P.O.S.T. See if your friend's PC can make it to the BIOS splash/menu screen, and (start to) load into Windows.

Print Screen button on the keyboard. Or use the Snipping tool. Okay, definitely a lot more useful information from your last update. So we know you are running a newer AMD system, given the B450M motherboard. What happens? When you press the power button, it does nothing, and the system does not turn on? The problem, might not be the motherboard; it can be the power supply, the Processor/CPU.

Are you able to ask your nephew for the components used in that PC? Since the system won't power on properly, you cannot run any software on it. As for the Salvation Army system, like @bmx6454mentioned, if you run HWiNFO, and check the 'System Summary' menu, it should give you MOST of the information Such as: Processor / CPU make + model Motherboard make + model Memory / RAM configuration (i.e. speed, the number of physical modules) Graphics Card information Storage / Hard Drive size and information Example: Buying a ... random motherboard, in hopes it would fix the problem, was not a smart idea. The motherboard might not even be compatible with the components. Just like car parts, you first need to know what the make + model of the car first.

What are the rest of your system specs? What case / chassis are you using, and how is the fan / airflow configuration? It might be time to remove the CPU cooler, clean off the old pre-applied thermal paste, and put a new on. Or replace the CPU cooler with a higher performing aftermarket cooler.

How much did you get the system for? Just seeing the CPU / Processor....it's not going to be good. The Intel G3240 is already.... 8 generations old, and it was an entry level 2-core / 2-thread chip at it's prime, which will struggle in gaming. What are the system specifications of the system that your nephew built for you? If it is 3 years ago, THAT system could very be more powerful than the Salvation Army PC.

You have a SINGLE stick of memory? Optimal performance is in pairs (i.e. 2 or 4 sticks). Also, DDR4-3000 is okay, but on the slower side for Ryzen. Again, optimal is DDR4-3600. Are you running the game in Windowed Mode / Borderless, or Full Screen? Windowed / Borderless can sometimes mess with the system's CPU and/or GPU, making them run at 2D power states. What frequency are you seeing your CPU and GPU hitting while in-game?

Ah okay. The total maximum the board will support is 8GB. The best (and max) config is 4 x 2GB.

Yes, that is normal for the Intel stock cooler of that generation of CPUs. The stock cooler is pretty....mediocre, and those are the expected temperatures. CPU is not overheating until you start to see ~90*C+. That said, if you are not comfortable with ~74*C, you can consider getting an aftermarket CPU cooler.

What CPU are you using? Which version of the Maximus Extreme? The ASUS Maximus Extreme I through Extreme VI supported DDR3, but across different Intel CPU generations and sockets.

That's a...funky setup. Corsair AIO for the CPU? And customer loop for the 2x HD 7970's? I don't know why the pre-build company just went with a full custom loop. If the GPUs are DEFINITELY in a custom loop, THAT needs to be maintained, at least once a year. If you haven't flushed the loop out and drain + refill the coolant, it is probably gunked up to hell and back by now. EDIT: Hold on, there's some Tom Foolery going on here. @LIGISTX @Mick Naughty I thought the OP looked familiar. He started THIS thread earlier, saying his DAD built this PC. There was an undetermined number of HD 7990's in this build, along with an undetermined amount of RAM (128 or 64?), and an undetermined Intel CPU (i9 or i7).

Nope, it shouldn't. C:\ , D:\, Z:\ whatever, is within the OS. Moving the SSD into a different slot, should not affect it.

SSD / storage should NOT affect performance, FPS wise -- if it does, it is going to be very very very very small. It would affect load times / texture loading, level loading, etc. Since you have a 10th Gen CPU, the top M.2_1 slot does nothing. M2._2 shared PCI-E bandwidth with the PCI-E X16 slots, which those are supplied through the CPU. M.2_3 and M.2_4 is through the Z590 chipset. I would use the M.2_3 or M.2_4 slot.

Not necessarily pirated. If you download a LEGITMATE copy of Windows 10/11 through Microsoft, install it onto a PC, and don't enter in a Windows key, it WILL show that watermark. By the way, you can download Windows 10/11 directly from Microsoft for FREE. One of my systems ( ) has been running Windows 10 since 2017 without a key, and it works fine. I get the monthly Windows updates / patches, can install and run all programs just fine, connect to Blueetooth and WiFi, etc. Heck, it even tells me to update to Windows 11.

Do you see more temperature readings if you scroll down? HWMonitor might show it as a "TMPIN#", or it will actually read "VRM". Otherwise, you can try using HWiNFO instead, since it is able to read / show A LOT more information than HWMonitor. AsRock says the motherboard uses a 8+2 phase VRM, but my guess it is not a TRUE 8-phase, but a 4-phases and using a doubler. The VRM could be thermal throttling. EDIT: Yes, it is a 4+1 VRM, running a doubler to get so-called "8+2"