I'm planning my first PC build and have a budget of roughly £1,300–£1,500. I'm buying in the UK, mainly through Amazon and eBay, and would appreciate advice on compatibility, value, and any parts worth changing.
My current list is an AMD Ryzen 5 9600X, Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE cooler, MSI PRO B650M-P motherboard, ASUS RTX 5070 12GB, 32GB of DDR5 memory, a Kingston NV3 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, Montech SKY TWO case, and an MSI MAG A750GLS 750W Gold power supply. I can get around £75 off the graphics card, so I'm wondering whether the 12GB model is still sensible or if I should stretch to a card with 16GB of VRAM. I'm also considering a white case with black components and would like to know whether that affects cooling in any meaningful way.
3 Answers
The overall build is sensible and the parts should work together. The main thing I’d reconsider is the SSD: the Kingston NV3 is a budget drive, so look for a 1TB TLC-based NVMe model with better endurance if the price difference is reasonable. Also check that the motherboard is actually available and has the features you need. A 650W or 750W quality Gold PSU should be enough, so there’s no need to overspend there.
The 9600X doesn’t need a large dual-tower cooler unless you prefer the appearance or want very quiet operation. A decent single-tower cooler should handle it and could save some money. The white case is fine with black parts; case colour has a very small effect on temperatures, so airflow, fan placement, and the quality of the cooler matter much more. Just make sure the case has good intake and exhaust fans.
If you can fit it into the budget, a graphics card with 16GB of VRAM would give you more breathing room for newer games and higher-resolution textures. That said, £75 off the RTX 5070 makes the 12GB version a reasonable buy, especially if you’re gaming at 1440p and the alternative costs significantly more. Compare the final prices rather than choosing based only on VRAM.
I can probably stretch a little, but the discount makes the 12GB card tempting. I’ll compare it against the 16GB options at their actual prices.
Thanks, I’ll compare some better TLC SSDs and check the motherboard availability before ordering everything.