I'm planning my first PC build in several years and would appreciate some feedback. The system is mainly for 1080p gaming, with occasional 1440p on lower settings or older titles. My current parts list is: Ryzen 5 9600X, Thermalright Assassin X 120R SE cooler, Asus GeForce RTX 5060 Dual OC 8GB, 16GB (2x8GB) Patriot Viper Venom DDR5-6000 CL36 with plans to upgrade later, MSI B850 Gaming Plus WiFi 6E motherboard, Asus Prime 650W 80+ Bronze power supply, Crucial P310 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, and an Ansaite C9 case with seven PWM ARGB fans. I'm also considering a Corsair RS120 PWM three-pack. Will anything significantly bottleneck this setup, and would there be better ways to balance the budget? I chose AM5 so I have a good upgrade path in the future, especially given current UK memory and graphics card prices.
2 Answers
For gaming, you could save money with a Ryzen 5 9600X and put the difference toward a graphics card with more VRAM, such as a 16GB Radeon RX 9060 XT. That would generally be a stronger long-term choice for newer games than an 8GB card, particularly if you eventually move to 1440p.
The build should handle your stated target well and is a reasonable starting point. Just make sure the processor is actually the Ryzen 5 9600X—the listed 9800X appears to be a typo or nonexistent model. Also, 2x8GB is usable, but 2x16GB would be preferable if the budget allows; adding four memory sticks later can sometimes require lower speeds or extra tuning.
Thanks, I’ll compare the 9600X and the 16GB graphics card option before finalizing the parts.