I'm putting together a new PC with a budget of roughly £2,000–£2,500. It will mainly be used for competitive FPS games, with some AAA titles as well. I already have a 1440p 144Hz monitor.
The current build uses a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, Radeon RX 9070 XT, 32GB of DDR5-6000 CL30 memory, and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. Before buying, I'd appreciate advice on whether the selected RAM is overpriced, whether a particular RX 9070 XT model is worth choosing, and whether the case needs any additional fans. I also have another 1TB SSD from an older PC that I could reuse as secondary storage.
4 Answers
The memory is dramatically overpriced at that listing price. A reputable 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 kit should cost much less, and you won’t notice a meaningful difference between most brands or between CL28 and CL30 in gaming.
The Sapphire Pulse is already a perfectly good RX 9070 XT. Different versions generally perform within a couple of percent of each other, so I’d normally choose the cheapest model with acceptable cooler noise, dimensions, warranty, and the ports you need. PowerColor, XFX, and Sapphire all have reasonable options.
The Pure Base 501 DX includes enough fans for a normal gaming build, so extra fans aren’t essential. You could add one rear exhaust fan later if temperatures or airflow turn out to be less than ideal.
Since you already have another 1TB SSD, you could keep the new drive at 1TB and use the older one as secondary storage. Otherwise, switching to a reasonably priced 2TB drive gives you more room for modern games without increasing the total cost much.
The proposed RX 9070 XT models are all close in performance. The cheaper PowerColor Reaper or XFX Swift versions can be good value, while the Sapphire Pulse you selected is also a solid choice. I’d compare current prices, cooler reviews, card length, and the number of HDMI and DisplayPort outputs rather than paying a large premium for the brand.
I was planning to reuse that older 1TB SSD, so I’ll probably keep the new drive at 1TB unless the price difference for 2TB is especially good.
The stock fans in the 501 DX should be fine to start with, so there’s no need to buy a full set of extras. Just make sure the airflow is arranged sensibly, with front intake and rear exhaust. If you want an inexpensive improvement, add a single matching rear exhaust fan, but it isn’t required immediately.
The main issue with the current list is the RAM price. DDR5-6000 CL30 kits are available far cheaper, and the savings would be better spent on additional storage or simply kept in your budget.
That makes sense. I’ll start with the included fans and only add another if temperatures or noise suggest it’s needed.
You can get more for the money by changing a few parts. The 1TB T500 is also unusually expensive; for gaming, a cheaper 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive is usually a better choice, since an expensive DRAM-equipped drive provides little practical benefit in this use case.
A cheaper B850 motherboard with Wi-Fi should be sufficient, and the Phantom Spirit cooler is a good alternative to the Peerless Assassin at about the same price. You could also save money on the graphics card without giving up noticeable performance. Make sure the power supply has a listed price and is a good-quality 850W ATX 3.1 model.
I was considering a mid-tower mainly because I don’t want the PC taking up too much desk space, but I’ll compare the alternative motherboards, coolers, and cases.
Thanks! I had no idea the RAM price was so far outside the normal range, so I’ll definitely replace it.