I'm looking to build my first gaming PC after using an underpowered prebuilt roughly ten years ago. I already have a large game library and would prefer not to move to a console ecosystem. My budget is around £1,000–£1,200, and I'd like to achieve about 60 FPS at 1440p in most games.
I'm aiming to use DDR5 for better upgrade options in the future. I considered using one 16GB memory stick because a matched 2x16GB kit costs considerably more, and this would let me add another 16GB stick later. I'd appreciate a general sense check of the following parts list and any advice on where the budget could be improved:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
- CPU cooler: Arctic Freezer 36
- Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M S2H
- Memory: 16GB DDR5-6000 CL30, single stick
- Storage: Kingston NV3 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
- Graphics card: PowerColor Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB
- Case: NZXT H3 Flow
- Power supply: MSI MAG A650BN 650W
The current total is approximately £1,110. Is this balanced for 1440p gaming, or would it be worth reallocating money toward a more powerful graphics card?
1 Answer
The build is generally sensible for the budget, but the graphics card is the part most worth reconsidering. Since you can spend up to about £1,200, check whether a Radeon 9070 GRE fits after comparing current prices. It has a more powerful GPU, although it comes with 12GB of VRAM instead of 16GB. That extra performance may be more valuable for 1440p gaming than keeping the higher VRAM capacity.
Thanks, I appreciate the suggestion. I’ll compare the 9070 GRE prices and see whether I can fit it into the budget.