I'm putting together my first gaming PC and would appreciate feedback before I purchase the remaining parts. I already bought the Ryzen 5 7600X3D, Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX V2 motherboard, and memory as a Micro Center bundle. The system will mainly be used for open-world and RPG games such as Elden Ring, Skyrim, and Baldur's Gate 3, with a total budget of about $1,800 including a 1440p monitor. Will everything work together, and are there any parts I should replace or reconsider? The current list includes a Ryzen 5 7600X3D, an inexpensive tower cooler, 16GB of DDR5-6000 memory in a single stick, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, an RX 9070 16GB graphics card, an ATX case, an 850W Gold power supply, Windows 11 Home, and a 27-inch 1440p 240Hz monitor.
3 Answers
The RX 9070 is a strong choice for 1440p and should handle Elden Ring, Skyrim, and Baldur’s Gate 3 very well. You don’t strictly need a 9070 for Elden Ring, though. An RX 9060 XT 16GB could run those games and save money, but the 9070 gives you more performance headroom for demanding titles, higher settings, and future games. The right choice depends on whether you want to maximize value or keep the stronger GPU within your budget.
I would reconsider the storage price and possibly the cooler. That 1TB SSD looks expensive for its capacity, so compare it with other reputable 1TB or 2TB PCIe 4.0 drives. A 2TB drive may be worthwhile because modern games take up a lot of space. Also, make sure the cooler is a proven AM5-compatible model with adequate mounting hardware; the 7600X3D benefits from a decent tower cooler. Finally, the Windows listing is a DVD version, so you would need an optical drive to install it from the disc. You can instead create a Windows installation USB and activate it with a legitimate license later. An 850W Gold unit is more than sufficient for the RX 9070.
The CPU, B650 motherboard, graphics card, power supply, and case should be compatible, so you don’t need to replace the motherboard just because a newer B850 model exists. B850 would offer newer features, but it isn’t necessary for this build, especially since the board was part of a bundle you already purchased. The bigger concern is the memory: one 16GB stick runs in single-channel mode. Ideally, use a matched 2x16GB DDR5-6000 kit, or add an identical second module if the bundle’s exact memory is available. That will improve performance and give you 32GB, which is a better target for modern games.
I already bought the motherboard through the Micro Center bundle, and an employee recommended it. Would it be worth returning the bundle for one with a newer board?
I’d prefer to spend less if the experience would be similar. Do you think a 16GB RX 9060 XT would be good enough for those games, or would dropping from the RX 9070 be noticeable?