Only with phones...

I took my entire PC apart and gave it a full deep clean. Checked the water block, removed all 9x fans and cleaned them individually, and repasted both the GPU and CPU with PTM790. I also replaced the VRAM thermal pads, swapped the thermal pads on all my SSDs, and took the GPU apart to clean the fans and the heatsink. On top of that, I "cleaned" the PSU, wiped down the case, cleaned the glass, and replaced all the dust filter screens.

Usually I just hit it with a hand blower, air it out along the the dust filters every month or so. After three years though, it felt like time for a full refurb. Was every aspect necessary? No. Was it worth it? Yes. It was MUCH dirtier then I expected even with my monthly "maintenance". I actually still had good thermals before (and yes, it runs even cooler now), just felt like a responsible thing to do considering the price of the computer market right now, I want- no, I NEED her to last a few more years!

I have heard some horror stories, just wanted to share one with a good ending, it's possible!

From Twonks on Insta

Video by: retrotechlab

Silly question but who was it that woke up back then and decided "ahh yes, this particular beige color shall be perfect for all computers".

Note: please ignore the image, I realized too late I used a fake photo and reddit won't allow editing.

I like Linux, it's quite reliable, robust etc. If you know what you're doing and if you care for the kde or whichever type of the desktop and file manager environment that you have... awesome for large variety of sp titles, awful for some specific titles, terrible for online games and all that jazz... good for that one online game that works, probably warframe or sh\*t like that...

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BUT FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING SACRED, please do not shove linux os suggestions in my inbox and on this thread just because you see a mere 2% improvement over the default w11 performance!

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I get it, you're sick of telemetry, ads, spyware, obligatory ai features... its all been long established but when you just come in with an attitude of "theres absolutely no reason not to switch" you just instantly turn into vegan preacher for me. Like, for real stop... i got a job which I need adobe and autocad to work with. I do use maya and blender from time to time which is fine BUT IM NOT ASKING for your help nor am I freakin' interested in trying to completely relearn the entire ecosystem just to be able to prove a point to a marginalized vegan community... STOP.

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I am, in fact also not interested in buying steam deck or steam machine. It is my choice to continue playing WoW as well as BF, CoD and the rest of the mainstream "slop" you guys are mocking.

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Great what you're doing! I'm happy you managed to revive a thinkpad from 30 years ago and got a dosbox emulator running on it!!!

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Awesoooomeee dude!

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But pleeeeaaasee, leave me tf alone !

Game X Change had (for two weeks until I saw it) this 32GB stick of DDR5 SODIMM RAM priced at $100. I got another matching stick for $215, and everything is working!

Old Cooler couldnt handle 9800x3d playing cs2

I had my PC off for a day and when I turned it back on, I noticed these strange white smudge marks on the screen. They’re more visible from an angle. I tried cleaning the monitor to see if it was a smudge from the top layer, but it wasn’t. What are these?

And why does it perform so poorly

Source : https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/06/20/microsoft-is-killing-office-2021-in-october-to-push-you-onto-microsoft-365-how-to-fight-back/

Microsoft has officially confirmed that Office 2021 will reach end of life on October 13, 2026, meaning no more security patches, no bug fixes, and zero technical support. This affects anyone who bought the one time purchase version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. After that date, your software still works but runs unprotected, making it a sitting duck for security vulnerabilities. Microsoft’s pushed solution is Microsoft 365, a cloud based subscription starting at around $70–$100 per year, where your documents sync to their online servers by default. Essentially, Microsoft is turning your paid, private, offline software into a liability so you feel pressured into a subscription that never ends and puts your data in their hands.

A Hard-off in Akihabara had this blue bin just full of DDR4 4GB RAM, I bought 2 boxes... and the best part, each was just for 1100 JPY...

I have always loved pcs and have wanted to build one since I was like 10, but it’s always been too expensive, especially now with RAM, Storage and GPU prices. But about 2 months ago I realized how much usable stuff people throw away or don’t use. So I have spent the last 2 months scouring my city and searching for people getting rid of stuff and then I went and picked it up. The only costs were #1. the monitor/monitor stand (I bought a 1050 TI for $35 and traded it for two 1080p monitors and the monitor stand but I only use one of the monitors in the setup and I replaced the top one with an old tv hooked up to an Apple TV.) and #2. The GPU (a 1650 I bought from my friend for. $40) Almost every part has its own story and I figured at least some people here would find it cool. I have a parts/specs list and then the cool stories for all of the parts down below.

PARTS/SPECS
MOBO: custom one from the HP prebuilt that’s kinda the base for this whole thing (B350 chipset)
CPU: Ryzen 5 1500
GPU: GTX 1650
RAM: 32gb ddr4 2400
Storage: 256gb PCIe gen4 x 4 ssd and a 870 EVO 2TB SATA SSD
PSU: the one that came in the prebuilt (350W)
Case: same thing as PSU and MOBO

STORIES
MOBO, RAM, CPU, CASE, and PSU: they all came from an hp omen prebuilt (Hp Omen 880-058 I believe) that i got from a random Walgreens employee. They doubled the RAM that was in the prebuilt from 16GB - 32gb. I had to spend several hours in my garage cleaning the case + parts because they all smelled like cigarettes.
GPU: bought it for $40 off of my friend
256gb NVME ssd: stole it from my old laptop and reinstalled windows for my pc
2TB SATA SSD: someone else gave me another old prebuilt that didn’t have anything good in it really besides this, so I wiped it and use it as my main game drive
MONITOR/STAND: I traded a 1050 TI for it along with another monitor
TV: it was my old family tv from the garage that I hooked up to an Apple TV
APPLE TV BOX: got it from the same guy who gave me the prebuilt with the ssd.
KEYBOARD: same thing as Apple TV box
Mouse: my friend gave it to me because they didn’t use it anymore
MOUSEPAD: my dads new job gave it to him for free and he gave it to me because he didn’t want it
CHAIR/DESK: I got these as hand me downs from my dad after he got an actual big desk and comfy chair

It runs all the games I’ve played on it at abt 80-140fps with med-high settings (I mostly have played Fortnite, poppy playtime chapter 5, and subnautica)

Yeah, so that’s my PC setup! If you have any questions about it or questions on the best way to find free pc parts leave a comment or DM me! I’m happy to answer anything I can. Let me know what you think!

Is this technically water cooling?