I think my GPU broke. I have a plan, but need a sanity check!
My computer crashed yesterday and now has no display output. After the crash, I tried booting it and smelt a burning smell. I power cycled it, and let it sit for a while. Currently, It boots up but I get no display. I can press caps lock and num lock and it seems to register. It can also go into sleep and wake from it after a mouse click.
I'm pretty sure that its the GPU, but im going to get it looked at. I know my set up is overkill for what I actually do (I inherited the setup), so I'm planning to part it out and rebuild.
Current system:
Threadripper PRO 3995WX (64-core) on an ASUS WRX80 board
256GB DDR4 (8 × 32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro, 3200)
RTX 3090 24GB (status TBD)
5 × 1TB NVMe ( currently on an ASUS Hyper M.2 card
Windows 10 Home (moving to Windows 11)
What I actually use it for:
Gaming: WoW now, and Star Wars Zero Company, GTA 6 when it hits PC
Hosting a modded ARK: Survival Ascended server (one map, small group) while playing on the same PC
No longer doing heavy AI or rendering work
The plan:
Sell: 192GB RAM (keeping 64GB), plus the 3995WX, board, cooler, and Hyper card as a combo
Keep: 64GB DDR4, all 5 NVMe drives, the case, and the 3090 if it's alive
Buy (Canada Computers, CAD pre-tax):
Ryzen 7 5800X3D: $499.99
MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk: $229.99 (or something else, not sure yet)
be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 850W: $144.99
Dual-tower air cooler: ~$60
RX 9070 XT: $999.99, only if the 3090 is dead
My questions:
Resale pricing: I'm thinking ~$450–550 CAD per used 2×32GB pair, and ~$3,300 CAD for the CPU, board, cooler, and Hyper card combo. Realistic, or too high or low?
AM4 vs AM5: I'm going AM4 to reuse my DDR4 given current DDR5 prices. Would you do the same, or sell all the RAM and go AM5?
Board choice: I'd like to keep all 5 NVMe drives. Which AM4 board handles that best, or should I plan on an active NVMe expansion card?
Anything I'm missing? I'm a bit inexperienced in this area, and Claude has been helping me with the build. Need some human input.
Thanks!
Posted Sep 25, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC