After about 10 years, my AMD Phenom II and GeForce GTX 960 are struggling badly with newer games, especially Cities: Skylines 2. I'm planning a new gaming PC that should handle current and upcoming AAA games at high settings and remain upgradeable for several years. I'm in the US and mainly shopping through Amazon and Newegg. My current list is: Gigabyte B650 AORUS Elite AX motherboard ($149.99), Ryzen 5 9600X ($175), ASUS RTX 5060 Ti 16GB ($579.99), Corsair DDR5-6000 16GB (2x8GB) ($264.99), Kingston NV3 1TB NVMe SSD ($156.99), Cooler Master Hyper 212 PRO ARGB ($19.98), Corsair RM850e power supply ($119), and a Lian Li V100 case ($74.99). I also have thermal paste and a GPU support stand ready to buy. Are these parts compatible, and did I make any poor-value choices? I'm especially unsure about the CPU cooler, SSD, memory pricing, and whether I should spend more on the graphics card now rather than upgrade later.
4 Answers
If your budget allows, putting more of it toward the graphics card could make the biggest difference for high-settings gaming. A faster Radeon option, such as an RX 9070-class card or a similarly priced model available in your area, may provide substantially more performance than the RTX 5060 Ti. Another possible saving is using a Ryzen 5 7500F if it’s much cheaper, since the money saved could go toward the GPU. A 16GB graphics card is still useful for modern games, so compare actual performance, features, and pricing rather than focusing only on the amount of VRAM.
Several parts look overpriced for the performance. The memory listing is especially concerning: 16GB is a little limiting for a new gaming build, and $265 is far too much for a 2x8GB DDR5-6000 kit. Look for a reasonably priced 32GB 2x16GB DDR5-6000 kit instead. The Kingston NV3 is also a mediocre choice for a primary drive because it uses QLC in many versions; a similarly priced TLC-based SSD would usually be preferable, particularly as the drive fills up. Brand-name parts are fine, but the Corsair and Kingston names don’t necessarily justify those prices.
I didn’t realize the SSD used QLC or that the memory price was so far out of line. I’ll look for a 32GB kit and a TLC drive at a better price.
The Hyper 212 should be adequate for the 9600X, but it’s no longer a particularly good value. Modern budget tower coolers generally perform better for similar money, such as the ID-Cooling A620 Pro, Thermalright Peerless Assassin or Phantom Spirit, or a comparable Frozn or Montech model. There’s no real need for an AIO unless you specifically want one for appearance or noise reasons.
That makes sense. I’ll compare some of those newer air coolers before buying instead of automatically going with the Hyper 212.
The motherboard will work with the AM5 processor, but it may be worth comparing newer B850 boards or other models that include a PCIe 5.0 graphics slot if they’re available for about the same price. PCIe 5.0 isn’t essential for this graphics card today, so the B650 board isn’t automatically a mistake; it’s just worth checking whether a newer board offers better value. The 850W power supply is more than enough for this build, although there may be less expensive quality units from other manufacturers.
I chose familiar brands because unknown power supplies make me nervous, but I’ll compare reviews and warranty support instead of looking only at the logo.
The faster GPU options look tempting, especially if spending a little more now avoids replacing the card soon. I’ll compare current prices before deciding.