I'm planning my first custom PC after using a prebuilt system with a GTX 1060 6GB, a 256GB SSD, and 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory. I'm trying to stay within budget and would appreciate advice on where I can save without hurting performance. My planned parts are a Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX ICE motherboard, Aorus Waterforce II 360 Ice AIO cooler, Samsung 990 Pro 1TB SSD, Zotac Gaming RTX 5070 Ti, Ryzen 5 7600X, and Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 CL40 memory. The total is about 2,651 SGD, or roughly 2,100 USD. I mainly want to play Marvel Rivals, Counter-Strike 2, and Valorant, and some parts may be purchased second-hand. Are there any compatibility or value concerns with this build?
3 Answers
The Ryzen 5 7600X is plenty for competitive games, but check whether the memory kit is a single 16GB module or a 2x8GB kit. Ideally, use a matched 2x16GB DDR5-6000 kit for dual-channel performance and better capacity. CL40 is also relatively slow for DDR5, so a reasonably priced CL30 or CL36 kit would be preferable if available.
For the games listed, a 5070 Ti is probably more graphics power than you need unless you’re targeting high-refresh 1440p or want to keep the card for more demanding future games. A less expensive graphics card could still deliver excellent performance. You could also reduce spending on the CPU and cooler, while making sure the memory is 32GB rather than 16GB.
The 360mm AIO and Samsung 990 Pro are more expensive than necessary for this system. You could use a good air cooler and a less expensive NVMe SSD, then put the savings toward 32GB of RAM. Also compare the RX 9070 XT, since it offers similar performance to the RTX 5070 Ti in many games and may be better value depending on local pricing.
That makes sense. I’ll compare those alternatives, especially since I may be buying several parts second-hand.
Good point. I’m mainly trying to avoid overspending, so I’ll look at a cheaper GPU and cooler while keeping an upgrade path.