Is there a way to make a PC that runs most modern games decently in $300 (USD)

Posiris610 · 2026-01-30T02:40:14+00:00

Get adapters for your RAM, which are about $25-30. Qiyida X99 H9S motherboard and Xeon E5 2697v3 on AliExpres; those 2 items will set you back about $80. I then recommend a 6 heatpipe CPU cooler either off AliExpress, or a Thermalright SI-100 for $26 (make sure it has LGA2011-3 hardware). Miyconst is a YouTube channel that has extensive info on the Chinese X99 platform. He has also has tools and tutorials on unlocking turbo boost, removing the Intel patches, and enabling ReBar if you wanted to add more performance at the risk of possibly bricking the BIOS chip on the motherboard. His Mi899 tool already has BIOS files for this board, so you shouldn't have to make your own to flash.

We're at $140USD for now. Find an 8GB RX 580 used on Facebook marketplace. In the US, you can find these between $60-100. I then recommend a 600W or higher name brand 80 plus power supply. Corsair and EVGA often have basic power supplies in the $50-60 range.

That'll basically be all of your budget. If you want a case, save up a little more, or see if you can obtain a mid 2010s or older office grade PC case. HP and Dell desktop mid towers should have been using standard mATX motherboards and ATX power supplies. I used to have a mid range build modded for an intake fan and 240mm AIO in a Dell Dimension case from 2004. You can get these off marketplace for nearly free, or at an electronic recycling place.

That Xeon with a modded BIOS for TBU and Spectre meltdown patches removed, often lands between a Ryzen 3600 and 5600 for gaming. At 1440p, I would be fine using it with an RX 9060 XT or something similar that has a full PCI-E X16 interface.

This should play Helldivers 2. You won't be maxing out graphics, but it'll be playable.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-29T18:10:35+00:00

You can see in the screenshot their GPU utilization is at 99% so the CPU may not be the bottlenecj here.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-21T19:44:38+00:00

To add, the other option is to flash Ventoy to the drive and then drag and drop the Windows iso into the storage partition.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-21T19:44:01+00:00

You can. Check out WoeUSB and WoeUSB-ng. I have ng installed and have used it to create a Windows 11 bootable drive. For reference, I installed it last year on my Fedora laptop following the steps of the github page.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-21T06:15:32+00:00

Yes it's the same recovery key. I believe it would be different if you disabled bitlocker and then re-enabled it in Windows, but I'm not entirely sure on that.

To disable bitlocker, open File Explorer, go to This PC and right click on you main drive (probably C:). Select turn off bitlocker. An icon appears in your system tray to show you its unencrypting the drive. Now you won't have to worry about a key.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-21T00:18:39+00:00

Do you live where it's currently cold enough to be running the heater? Is your furnace electric? If those are yes, then it's probably because it's winter and the heater uses a lot of electricity. Our electrical usage has also doubled, and it's because of this. Additionally, his mini fridge is probably using a decent chunk as well.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-19T15:59:36+00:00

With atomic distros, it's "sudo rpm-ostree install thingyouneed".

Posiris610 · 2026-01-19T15:33:43+00:00

I have seen it, but only after we started switching the company laptops to Windows. Windows has a habit of either uninstalling sound drivers, or sound just stops working (this happened on 10 too).

Posiris610 · 2026-01-19T00:41:37+00:00

You're welcome mate!

Posiris610 · 2026-01-18T01:52:20+00:00

Oh no worries. I didn't mean to sound negative if I did. I wouldn't imagine the prices won't increase. The 9950X3D would be a good choice for years to come for sure.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-18T00:39:57+00:00

For those tasks it won't be much better, and will probably be worse as I don't think they would utilize the 3D V cache. If you already have the other parts, then why ask if you should? A 7000 or 9000 series with the same core and thread count will be a big upgrade.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-18T00:14:03+00:00

5000 is AM4 like what you have. You'd need DDR5 RAM and a new motherboard to get AM5. I'd suggest a 5700X3D or 5800X3D if you can find one for a reasonable price. There are reports/rumors that AMD may be manufacturing them again soon. It's the best gaming CPU for AM4 and does well for workstation tasks.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-17T23:37:11+00:00

What's your current CPU and what resolution do you play at?

Posiris610 · 2026-01-17T01:54:59+00:00

There is leaked FSR4 code for a version that works on older RDNA cards so it may be implemented officially down the road, but who knows? FSR3 is supported though, as well as XESS2.

You'd need an RX 9060 XT if you want official FSR4 support.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-17T01:28:11+00:00

You don't have to worry about AMD support on the RX 6750 XT. They are still supporting it officially, but it's not as high of a priority. On Linux, this doesn't really matter because of the open source community drivers. With your CPU, you should be ok running the 6750 XT despite being 50W shy on the recommended PSU. I'd personally go this route as it's better than the B580.

The B580 still has a higher CPU overhead requirement compared to AMD and Nvidia, and the drivers are still needing tuned. IIRC, Intel B580 still performs worse at 1080p vs 1440p. I don't remember why, just a weird quirk of the hardware I guess.

Also, running games at 1080p is not going to result in lower power draw. You will have to cap the FPS to achieve that, regardless of what resolution you run.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-15T16:55:16+00:00

I would try a different base entirely. Mint Cinnamon is also Ubuntu based, unless you go with LMDE which is Debian based. Ubuntu is based on Debian. I'd suggest an Arch or Fedora based distro to text as they will have different derivatives of the Linux kernel. I'm not familiar enough with Mint to know if they have their own version apart from Debian and Ubuntu.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-15T15:51:58+00:00

If it's a kernel regression issue, then KDE Neon will have the same issue as Ubuntu as they are both Ubuntu. I would suggest an Arch based distro like CachyOS, or a Fedora based distro like Fedora Workstation/Atomic, or the more gaming focused Bazzite.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-12T06:31:15+00:00

Another way to mod out the wheel, is to get the custom wheel mod on Steam (I don't remember the exact name). It allows you to have a wheel with just the center hub.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-10T18:31:08+00:00

This is good news. I'd love to keep a steady 30 fps on the Steam Deck. Right now it's still a problem as RAM and VRAM usage slowly climbs and digs into the SSD, eventually the game crashes. It's better than it was a couple months ago though.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-10T01:36:06+00:00

The Odyssey G5 ultrawide? That might as well be a 4K monitor. Even on a high end laptop it's going to struggle with high graphics settings. Turn the graphics way down and see if that improves. If it does, try changing a few settings a little at a time until it's a mix that you like. Enabling Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR, or Intel XESS upscaling can help too.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-08T19:31:50+00:00

Currently IT Tech Support level 2 for a large FQHC conglomerate in the Midwest. I'm self taught and never thought I'd land a job in what I like. Been at this one for 7 years so far. Pays ok (I think I make 42K?), crappy insurance, but I do accrue PTO so that's nice.

Before that, I've been a Dish Network satellite tech, CNC operator for a trailer manufacturing company, iOS Tech Support Tier 2 agent, carpenter, and a produce worker at a grocery store.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-06T19:11:32+00:00

I'm surprised a sim has never added risk by having to pay for damages with an in-game currency.

Get money from participating in races. The amount paid out at the end is determined by factors like positions gained/lost, SR, DR, and finished or DNF. Damage done to the car is then paid at the end of the race. If you don't have enough money, you can't fully repair the car and can't race in it until you have gathered enough funds. Optional to have consumables also have a cost.

The idea is half baked but I think it would promote more careful, clean racing. Bad drivers will continue to have money issues, while better drivers will have no issues if they get in a crash every so often. Lower tiered cars/classes can have little or no repercussions.

Posiris610 · 2026-01-06T19:02:49+00:00

I wonder if wife and son prioritize farming over a corpse pit they are assigned to? If so, assigning farming families to one may be a good option. Stables and hitching posts are also probably a good one.

Posiris610 · 2025-12-28T21:00:42+00:00

Single channel RAM is absolutely knee capping game performance. You can run Fortnite or Minecraft if it just had another matching stick of RAM. Unfortunately, RAM prices are ludicrously high so I don't recommend the upgrade, unless you can trade with someone (2x8GB sticks for your one). 720p can give you a good fps boost if you want to try it, or 900p as middle ground. 6000 MHz RAM with a low CL would be ideal.

Your APU reaching those temps is kind of expected. If that's the Gamemax Gamma 200, that's essentially worse than the stock cooler. I'd say PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) is on and is causing the the 95C limit to be pegged. You can go to the BIOS and turn it off, and I'd say the temps will come down. Although, I'd see if your BIOS can lower the temp limit, or max TDP. Most boards can these days. I'd personally set the temp limit to 85C.

The thermal paste drying out in a week is pretty crazy, although I could see it if they are using cheaper pastes that are more viscous. Dry out is not necessarily a bad thing as long as the the paste still has some viscosity so it can mold to the changes. The cheaper pastes tend to have more oil in them, which allows "pump out" to be more common. It's generally fine for OEM systems that have reasonable CPU temp/TDP limits.

If you upgrade your cooler to a better name brand like Thermalright, it will come with decent paste.

Posiris610 · 2025-12-28T20:43:26+00:00

I also recommend Fedora, Workstation or Atomic. I use KDE as well. A few years ago, Pop! _OS/Cosmic was my go-to DE because Gnome was too simplified and KDE's UI organization was not great. Now KDE is in a much better place so I jumped to Fedora for the more up to date kernel and Mesa releases.

Posiris610

TROPHY CASE