I'm helping my brother build a new PC so he can play Borderlands 4 in 4K when it comes out this year. He's been saving up and is really excited about this upgrade. We did some research and put together the following build, but since we're not experts and it's been a while since our last upgrade, we would love your feedback! Is there anything we should change, downgrade, or improve? Here's what we have planned:
**Components:**
- **CPU:** AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- **CPU Cooler:** Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360mm
- **Motherboard:** ASUS ProArt X870E Creator WiFi
- **GPU:** ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7
- **RAM:** G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5-6000 CL28
- **Storage:** 1x Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB Gen 5 + 1x Samsung 990 Pro 4TB Gen 4
- **PSU:** Seasonic Vertex PX 1200W (ATX 3.1, 80+ Platinum)
- **Case:** Fractal Design North XL
- **Monitor:** ASUS ROG Swift PG27UCDM – 27" 4K 240Hz QD-OLED (DP 2.1)
- **Sound Card:** Creative Sound Blaster AE-9 PCIe Hi-Res DAC
3 Answers
If you're focused mainly on gaming, the Ryzen 9950X3D is pretty great, but you could drop down to the 9800X3D and still get superb performance for less. Just a thought!
Honestly, it feels like you might be going a bit overboard with this build just for gaming. For 4K gaming, you could consider scaling back to something like the 9800X3D. You'll save a ton of cash this way! You might also think about a good PCIe Gen 4 SSD instead and a cheaper power supply if you're looking to save a bit more. That way, you could use the extra money to invest in a future GPU like the 5090!
Totally get it! If you're planning on future-proofing your setup, though, you might want to hang tight and see what the future GPUs can do.
It looks solid, but keep in mind that there’s a lot of money tied up in these components if gaming is your main focus. Also, for audio, you might want to consider an external DAC instead of a sound card for better quality.
Good call! High-quality audio can make a huge difference, especially if you're into immersive gaming!
We're also planning to do some video editing and rendering on this machine, so we want a solid CPU for that as well!