I've finally purchased all the parts for my new gaming PC! Given the current market conditions, I feel like I got a decent deal, but I'm looking for suggestions since I can still return some items. I'll be using it mainly for gaming at 1440p, streaming with Moonlight, and for coding/game development with tools like Blender and Godot. My budget is around $1400 before tax.
I was considering either the Ryzen 7 9700X or the 7800X3D, and I ultimately went with the 9700X because I need it to handle more than just gaming. For the GPU, I was torn between the RTX 5070 and the RX 9070, but the 9070 was about $50 more, and I read that NVIDIA performs better for Moonlight, which I'll be using quite a bit for streaming to my living room. This is still the most crucial part I'm unsure about. I'm also thinking of setting up Hyper-V GPU partitioning to game with my brother who doesn't have a gaming rig.
Here's a breakdown of my parts:
|Part|Item|Cost|
|:-|:-|:-|
|CPU|Ryzen 7 9700X|$300.00 (Bundle)|
|Motherboard|Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX V2|$120.00 (Bundle)|
|RAM|G Skill Flare X5 32GB|$130.00 (Bundle)|
|Storage|2 TB SSD WD Blue NVME|$125.00|
|GPU|RTX 5070|$550.00|
|PSU|Montech Century II|$90.00|
|Cooler|Thermaltake Phantom Spirit 120|$37.00|
|Case|Thermaltake View 270 TG|$70.00|
|Total||$1,422.00|
5 Answers
I suggest just picking whichever parts are the best you can afford without going into debt. Enjoy your new build!
If it were me, I'd switch the WD Blue SSD for a WD Black. There's a noticeable difference in performance.
I'd go with the RX 9070XT. While NVIDIA is indeed stronger with Moonlight, the 9070XT is overall a more powerful card and competes well with the 5070Ti. Check out some reviews from users who’ve tested Moonlight using the 9070XT!
Overall, this looks like a solid build! Maybe you were a bit limited by the bundle options, but you've done a great job aggregating the parts.
True, the bundle options were pretty limited, but I think it's around what I would have chosen anyway. I wanted 32GB, so I felt restricted to the 9700X and 7800X3D bundles. It's wild that the 9700X bundle is $550 while the individual parts would be over $900!
I built a similar machine for $1210 back in July before prices shot up. You did really well staying close to budget considering today's prices!
Thanks! That comparison is reassuring. Only $200 difference doesn’t seem too bad, especially since it could get worse. How are you finding the 9700X/5070 combo?

Yeah, but the 9070XT is actually $150 more than what I'm paying for the RTX 5070.