I've been testing a non-working gaming desktop computer for a customer. Turns out that both the CPU and motherboard are no longer working. That's unusally, as I rarely see CPU failures.
I'm guessing that it was the small AIO watercooler. That could have plugged up and caused the CPU to overheat. I've seen that kind of thing before. I'll be recommending an air cooler when rebuilding this PC.
Rebuilding. Since both the motherboard and CPU need to be replaced, the cusomter wants to go with something higher end and recent. I have barely touched Intel 8th gen stuff, though I do have a few 10th gen CPUs and motherboards, but haven't used them yet.
I was barely aware of what the new stuff from Intel has been. Turns out the 13th Gen is already out. Who knew!
For this rebuild, I am probably going to get a B760M motherboard, Intel 12th gen i7 cpu, 512GB nVME SSD and Noctua air cooler.
In the last couple years, the higher end custom PCs I've built have been AMD Ryzen, so I am having to do some research on these components to make sure I don't miss any thing.
Only for gaming
This PC's primary purpose is for gaming. I'm not much of a gamer and the vast majority of the hardware I use is quite old. Most of my customers also do not need the latest and greatest. Everyone once in a while I take on something with new (or newer) components. Usually, there's some sort of unexpected pitfall or "gotcha".
Most people's computer needs are met perfectly fine with even a 4th gen Intel CPU and a decently fast SSD. It is only games that really need the most recent powerful new hardware.
In short, I welcome this challenge of building with newer hardware, but it is not something that I would do for my own use.