In this FAQ I try to answer most of the regular questions about problems. How to buy and how to build or upgrade your own PC. I can't guarantee that this thread will be up-to-date 100% all the time but I try to maintainace it as good as possible. If you find something to add or correct, please point it out and I will take it in to consideration for changing in this topic. If you find an error including grammer or spelling mistakes, please point it out aswell.


--->>> Monitor/Display related problems <<<---

This is a problem that is hard to pin point as it can have multiple reasons at once. Mostly it is because simply the hardware is not up to the intended task. For the reason to keep it as small as possible I will not explain the reason behind it and just provide you with a checklist:

• Does the CPU fullfill the minimal requirements?
  
• Does the GPU fullfill the minimal requirements?
  
• Is the Monitor connected to the GPU?
  The monitor should always be connected to the graphics card and not the motherboard or the monitor will use integrated graphics. If you are unsure what the graphics card and what the monitor is then just take a look on both monitor ports. The motherboard contains despite the monitor ports also USB ports and a LAN port. The graphics card doesn't.
  
• Are the GPU drivers up-to-date?
  Please remove old drivers with DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) and install the latest drivers from the manufacturer website.
  AMD: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
  Nvidia: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
  
• Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU?
  Lower the resolution and/or lowering graphics settings and if the FPS stays about the same it’s most likely CPU bottleneck. Also you can monitor the CPU with monitoring software such as MSI Afterburner, NZXT CAM, HWMonitor, Corsair Link or similar Software. If at least 1 CPU core runs at 100% it can be a CPU bottleneck.
  
• Is V-Sync, G-Sync or Freesync activated
  You can check both the graphics control center or the ingame graphics settings for it. Deactivate that setting if you want to have higher fps on the cost of screen tearing.
  
• Does the game have a FPS limiter active
  Some games have a video setting to limit the FPS on a certain number mostly stated as Hz (30Hz, 59Hz, 60Hz, 75Hz 144Hz...). Change those settings to unlimited or higher. The game may have a FPS cap which however should not be lower then around 100 FPS.

The question is, if what you’re suffering with is really screen tearing. See an example below what screen tearing really is. If it actually is screen tearing that this is because you’re pushing more FPS through the monitor than the monitor can actually display which creates those screen tears. The only way to prevent that is by capping the FPS to the refresh rate (Hz) of the monitor by using V-Sync for example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing#/media/File:Tearing_(simulated).jpg


--->>> Crashes and reboots <<<---

A random reboot of the PC can have many issues. Mostly it is an indicator for a failing PSU (Power Supply Unit) and appearing during power demanding tasks like gaming.
Another problem that can causes this are Windows Updates that normally giving you a push message that you might miss. That however should not happen frequently.
Last but not least it also can be an overheating problem but in that case the PC mainly stays shut down.

The major contributer to random PC shutdowns are overheating problems. When overheating a PC shuts down to pevent damage to the hardware. This can be because of a failing cooling system. It also most likely is just caused because teh cooling solution is no longer sufficient enough. Reapplying the thermalcompound or cleaning the heatspreader or radiator often fix that.
You can check tempretures by using monitoring software as MSI Afterburner, NZXT CAM, HWMonitor, Corsair Link or simliar Software.
To reapply the thermal compound you just need to remove the CPU cooler and clean both, the cooler and the CPU IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader / metal side) with 100% alcohol or destilled water. After that apply a pee drop of thermalcompound (it does not matter which one) in the cenetr of the CPU and just remount the CPU-Cooler. The pressure will evenly destribute the thermalcompound.
To clean a heatsing or radiator you can use cans of compressed air or an electric leaf blower. For safety reasons please do not use the vacuum cleaner, hair dryer or air compressor at the gas station.

This might be also an overheating problem. For the solution try the same thing as above (PC randomly shuts down).

BSOD (Blue SCreen of Death) can heavy many reasons that I do not want to get into the detail. However all BSOD have one thing in commen, they appearing because of a System instabelbility. This either can be Software related or Hardware related. Hardware related it is mainly because of an instable overclock either of the CPU (Mainprocessor) or the RAM (Random Access Memory). If you recently overlocked your PC you should try to revert this overclock.


--->>> RAM / Memory related <<<---

The question is where it says that there is not all RAM available. If you look into Task Manager it may tell you that 32GB are installed but only 28GB are availible. This is not because you miss 4GB RAM then, but because 4GB are already in use. Make sure to add the used RAM to the available RAM.
If you only have about 3.6GB check if you are using a 64 Bit OS. A 32 Bit OS can only use 4GB RAM.
If you have less RAM accessible then it is installed but already using a 64 Bit OS you might want to lower the pressure the CPU cooler is mounted. If to much pressure is applied to the memory controller in the CPU it can cause that not all RAM is recognized. YOu also should check if all RAM modules or DIMM-Slots (the slots where you put in the RAM) are working. You do that by using every single RAM module in every DIMM slot.

If the RAM frequency is half of the specified frequency in certain programs as in CPU-Z then this is not a mistake. its because DDR stand for Double Data Rate and those programs doesnt double that on the benchmark/read out.
If the RAM is just lower like at 2133MHz for DDR4 instead of e.g. 3200MHz then this is also not a mistake. In the exmaple of DDR4 the JEDEC Specifictaion are 2133MHz standard. If you want to go beyond that or reach the promised 3200MHz in example you need to overclock the RAM by enabling XMP in BIOS/UEFI under frequency settings.

Please note RAM limitations on DDR4 Platforms:

• H110/B150 Motherboards: RAM is not abe to OC on those boards even not with XMP. You are limited to 2133MHz
  
• B250 Motherboards: RAM can only Overclock even with XMP to 2400MHz if you have a Kaby Lake or upward generation CPU. In case of a Skylake CPU you are limited also to 2133MHz.
  
• A320 Motherboards: You are limited to 2666MHz as this board does not allow you to overclock.

Ryzen currently has a lot of problems with RAM faster then 2933MHz. You need to look closely into the supported list for the specific motherboard or stay at 2666MHz which always will work. However you alsoc an overclock manually to 2933MHz with faster RAM safely tho you might need to change the timings to higher values.

There is still no game on the market that doesnt run with 8GB RAM fine. However there are multiple games that would Profit much from having more then 8GB RAM. The current standard already reached 16GB RAM which is not Close to be maxed at this time. With 16GB RAM you're fine for a long time.
Opening many tabs in browsers, streaming or video rendering will not profit from having more RAM. Games or programs will not Profit from having more RAM unless you run out of RAM.

Yes generally you can mix RAM but it is not recommended. You can only mix same RAM classes. Meaning you cant mix DDR3 with DDR4 RAM or mix SODIMM with DIMM RAM aswell as DDR3 with DDR3L. You can mix RAM with different capacity, speed and latency/timings.
If mixing different timigns and speed then the lowest speed and highest Timings will be applied to all modules.
If mixing different capacity size in dual channel setup then the dual channel will be applied for the capacity of the lowest capacity module and the rest runs in single challange.
However it is highly recommended not to mix different RAM modules or types for easier and trouble free installment.

As every modern platform supports dual-channel it is highly recommended to use 2 or 4 identical RAM modules which in best case should be exactly the same type.


--->>> Cooling <<<---

The CPU-Coolers that come with a CPU are always sufficient enough tho not always the best. AMD Ryzen stock CPU-Coolers are even really good and allow for light overclocking. You should check the description as I won't garuntee that this list will always be correct.

• Intel X-CPU (Tray) - No Cooler included
  
• Intel K-CPU (Tray) - No Cooler included
  
• Intel K-CPU (Boxed) - No Cooler included
  
• Intel non-K-CPU (Tray) - No Cooler included
  
• Intel non-K-CPU (Boxed) - Cooler included
  
• AMD Ryzen X-CPU - No Cooler included
  
• AMD Ryzen non-X-CPU - Cooler included

This highly depend on the CPU and if you want to overclock and how heavily you want to overclock. In general stock CPU coolers will do the job for non overclocked CPU's. If you want light overclocking you can even do this with cheaper CPU-COolers where I recommend something like the "Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo" (not for Intel Coffee Lake recommended) or "Cyrorig H7".
For higher overclocking you should go with good CPU-Coolers like the Noctua NH-D15 or High-End water cooling AiO like "NZXT Kraken" or "Corsair H115i" or custom loops.

Unless you want to do insane overclocking you dont need a water cooling. Water cooling despite the exeption of custom loop mostly has no advantage over cheaper air coolers like the Noctua NH-D15. They are also not more silently then air coolers because the water is also cooled with fans. However water cooling surely does look better then air cooling.

There mainly 2 different type of fans. Sp (Static Pressure) which are better for radiators and AF (Air Flow) which are better as Case fans for the better air flow. Reality however has shown that the difference in cooling by taking the "wrong" fans is less then 2°C. So actually it does not matter so much.
Next is the size of the fans where you can generally say the larger the fans the less RPM they need for the same cooling effect which is important because higher RPM equals to more nocie production.

The CPU-Cooler should be mounted that the CPU-Fan pulls air from the front intake through the heatspread to the rear of the case where in the best case the rear case fan will pull that air and pushes it outside of the case.
The direction of the air flow of a fan is inprinted on the fan case itself next to a 2nd arrow indictating the turning direction.

The CPU-Fan should always connected to the CPU-Fan header while the rest can be connected to any other fan header. In case you have a 3-Pin fan you can connect them to a 4-Pin fan header without problem. Those fan headers are keyholed that the fan only will fit in the right way and be used without issues.
You may connect extension cables or splitter cables to mount multiple fans to 1 fan header if you ahve not enough fan headers.
In every acse you should prioritze the fan ehaders of the motherboard to be able to control the fan speed from BIOS or motherboard software. If you however have or want to use a fan controller you can do that without issue too in which case they will be controlled through the fan controller only which may can also be software controlled like the "Corsair Commander Pro".


--->>> Power Supply Units <<<---

this is a very unspecific question as the power consumption depend on all used hardware including the extra power suage you might sue up with overclockign your rig. As thump rule however you will be below 500W when not using SLI or Crossfire. AMD has a tendency to use more power but even then you normally will not cross the 500W line.
If you calculate your maximum power suage you might have an incredible high number which however is not the real power usage as it is far below that. And even thos some cards like the GTX 1080 is listed to be able to use 375W cant sue that much because of missing ATX power pins.

The rating has nothing to do with the quality but the power that is pulled out of the wall. An 800W PSU will always be able to provide 800W with no issue. The rating of 80% for example means that the PSU can convert 80% of the power that come out of the wall to usable power. Meaning in case that the PSU when it provides 800W it will pull 1,000W out of the wall. So rating unless you want to save a bit on the power bill does not matter at all.
However you want to aim for at least bronze rating as every quality PSU has at least a bronze rating.


--->>> CPU & Motherboards <<<---

To be compatible you basically need to look if the CPU and the motherbaord share the same socket. If they dont then they are not compatible and there are no work arounds for this like adapters. Be aware that choosing a compatible motherboard not always will be the best idea since Skylake generation as for Intel only Z-Motherboards can overclock incl. using faster RAM. This limitation does not exist for Ryzen AM4 Platform with the exption of the super budget A320 Motherboard chipset.

Side note warning:

• Coffee Lake is only compatible with Z370 and B360 chipset. They are not compatible with older H110, B150, B250, Z170 or Z270 Motherboards as Coffee lake thos stated as LGA-1151 socket is technically using LGA-1151(-v2) socket. Intel missed to rename the socket.
  
• To use a Kaby Lake Processor on H110, B150 or Z170 Motherboards a Bios update is required. You might need a Skylake CPU to do this update unless you using a Gigabyte Motherboard which are able to update without CPU through Q-Flash.

The frequency of a CPU does not matter. The frequency is pretty meaningless. It is like comparing the power of engines through the RPM accoirding to which a ships engine would be weaker then a sports car engine. Same counts for CPU's as the IPC is what matter not the clock frequency.

This is highly depanding on what you do. Generally you can say that you dont need mroe then 4 cores. How every games and technology starts to shift towards 6 cores. Most games still only running on 1 core so you should take a stronger quad core or the new 6 cores over stuff with many cores but weak single core performance like the AMD Threadripper or Intel i9. If you do streaming or really much 3D animations rendering you might profit from more cores in which case you shoul look toward stuff like i7's or AMD Ryzen 1700.

Side note: Be aware that AMD FX-CPU's are not offering as many cores as stated in the specifications. The FX-8350 for example tho stated as Octa-Core architecture wise only is a quad core simliar to i7's Hyper Threading technology.

Hyper Threading is a technology where a physical core emlutes to be 2 cores. Every core has a lane to push data through. With hyper threading a core does 2 task (threads) instead of 1 while pushing the data of both task through the same lane. This si possible as data not getting constantly pushed through but with little gaps that will befilled with another task. For this reason hyper threading only extend the performance of a Quad Core to about 30% and no where near a real Octa Core.


--->>> Drives <<<---

Simple awnser is no but you would profit from a SSD when you OS is installed on it. Also being at 2018 it is already standard to use the OS on a SSD which profit much from the faster access times and higher speed.

Games mainly will profit from faster loading times. However the advantage in most games despite games with many or high loading times is minor and not worth the extra cost.
Despite to general believe installing games on a SSD like PUBG does not help directly with stuttering. In case of PUBG stuttering does not appear because the game is not installed on a SSD but ebcause of missing VRAM. If you video card does not offer enough VRAM then the game needs to constantly load the textures from the drive in which case a SSD will be helpfull. However, if you not run out of VRAM you not need to load textures while gaming and not a SSD in the first place.

This depends on the usage but any half decent SSD should theoretically live longer then any HDD. The 2 livelimiting factors of SSD are the lifespan which is about 1.5 million hours (~200 years) and the more likely to encounter line: TBW (total bytes Writen). TBW does not eman the direct EoL (end of Life) of a SSD but the incability to write anything further on the SSD (you can still read from it). Good SSD's have up to 400 times as much TBW then they have space. So an 1TB Samsung 960 Evo can be written with 400TB befor you are incable of writing any further data on it. The chance to reach TBW are lower then the chance that you going to upgrade the SSD because of missing space.

Yes and No. First of all M.2 is a form factor and not an indicator of the speed. The speed of a SSD is limited by the badnwidth which in case of SATA III will be 6Gb/s = ~550MB/s. However M.2 as form factor can also be able to use NVMe which using 4 PCIe 3.0 lanes and has a speed of 30Gb/s = ~3,500MB/s.
With that said it depends if the M.2 Port or the M.2 SSD will using SATA III or NVMe. A M.2 SATA III will only be as fast as any other SATA III 2.5" SSD.

Site note:

• Be aware that you need to format a NVMe drive as NTFS GPT partition to being able to sue its full speed.
  
• Also be aware that Samsung 960 SSD line needs to have the Samsugn drivers installed to use its full speed.
  
• Be aware that using NVMe will in most cases disable 2x SATA III ports. Check your manual for furtehr information

Well despite the size a 2.5" HDD will be slower purely because of its size. It also will have mostly only 5400 RPM with a few exeptions. Despite that there is no difference and a 2.5" HDD will work with the same connections as a 3.5" HDD. You can sue adapters to mount 2.5" HDD's into a 3.5" bay.

No Even good SSDH's as the Seagate FireCuda doesnt come close to dedictaed speed of a SSD for the OS. It surely is faster then anormal HDD while fofering simliar Speed but since it can't get Close to SSD performance it is not worth the cost to run it as alternative to SSD + HDD combo.








__________

Still on working on it but I have a rbain freeze, meanwhile please add other frequent questions in comments so I can add them. Your help will be much appriciated!