End of Year PC Build

That's a lot of failed CPUs.

I actually haven't had any CPUs failing on me yet. I've got plenty of dead GPUs but CPUs? Not even one.

The hottest CPU I've ever used is actually my current Ryzen 9 5950X. It is my first CPU that actually hits 70-80C consistently in games. Still, I haven't gotten any thermal throttles yet. This thing just loves to draw power and boosts to 4 to 5ghz even without any manual overclock.

The only Ryzen 5000 desktop CPU that comes with a stock cooler is the 5600X. So if you get a 5800X, 5900X, or 5950X, it doesn't come with any cooler. Just a flimsy paper box.

I'm using an EK 360 AIO because the Noctua NH-D15 Chromax was out of stock everywhere and I also wanted to use Lian Li's O11 XL case. You can see the cooler on the first page. I posted everything already.

Just like Intel's Turbo Boost, there is no lag or stutter when the boost kicks in. Everything just works seamlessly.

Due to the difference in silicon quality, some cores can boost higher than others and your system knows it. In apps that benefit more from higher single-threaded performance, the system would automatically select the those cores and boost them to the highest frequency that's possible given the current thermal and power limit. AMD calls it Precision Boost and Intel calls it Turbo Boost Technology. Keep in mind that this kind of boost only selects a limited number of cores to boost the frequency and it doesn't happen to all cores.

For more aggressive boosting, you can use AMD's Precision Boost Overdrive. It basically boosts beyond the advertised frequency of your CPU, so it's a very easy way to overclock your Ryzen system without doing any manual overclock. If you're lazy like me, you can just use Precision Boost Overdrive and then play with the Curve Optimizer options in the BIOS to undervolt your CPU to squeeze out the most performance.

If you want to dig deeper into Ryzen overclocking, you can check out AMD's Ryzen Master and 1usmus' DRAM Calculator for your memory timing tuning.



1usmus also has a great utility called Clock Tuner that works even better than AMD's Ryzen Master. It actually tests each CCX automatically and then adjusts the frequency individually.



It's a fun tool to play with, but I don't like having too many apps running in the background when I play games. So I'm sticking with using Precision Boost Overdrive and undervolting with Curve Optimizer in BIOS. Here's a video about it.

Webcams are dirt cheap, and they have their uses, these days especially.

I actually get bored in a lot of Assassins Creed games pretty easily. I couldn't even finish Odyssey.
Personally, I much prefer open world games like Grand Theft Auto.






Red Dead Redemption 2 is next.

You shouldn't ask me because I'm partial to GTA V. I've spent about 500 hours in GTA V and more than 8000 hours in GTA Online. In fact, I even built my previous PC just to play it.

GTA V is currently the most profitable entertainment product ever made. More than any films, books, or video games. Despite that, I can't tell you whether or not you'll enjoy it.

A lot of the friends that I've made in GTA Online are moving on to Red Dead Redemption 2. I'm not a big fan of Western-themed video games, but I'll give it a shot and test out Resizable-BAR while I'm at it.



I doubt it will make any difference but let's have fun with this gaming PC.

GTA V used a completely different game engine than GTA 3. It was called the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine aka RAGE, and it also included a proprietary physics engine which was a huge improvement over GTA 3, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas. Still, random physics anomalies would still happen in GTA V all the time. It's part of its charm at this point.

As for the multiple life mechanic, I don't quite understand what you meant by that. If you're referring to dying without much consequences, GTA V was pretty much the same as GTA 3. Whenever you died, you would just respawn right away. If you're referring to the multiple protagonists in GTA V, some people loved it and some people didn't.

In the end, it's a little silly to compare a game made in 2001 to one made in 2013. Don't forget GTA V was remade in 2014 for PS4/Xbox One, and soon to be remade again this year for PS5/Xbox Series X. I don't even remember what GTA 3 was like because last time I played it was almost 20 years ago. So you just have to experience it yourself.

My PC hasn't crashed yet since I built it. Not even during any stress tests. I haven't encountered any random restarts, BSOD, or WHEA errors either.

Everything just works.

I still wouldn't leave it on 24/7 because it pulls about 300 watts on idle and more than 700 watts in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It is ridiculous.

More like heat. Higher wattage means more heat generated.

I had to turn off my heater and keep my windows open even during winter when I played games.