I'm building my first PC and would appreciate a sanity check before spending around $1,750. I'm planning to buy the parts from a local computer retailer because of its bundle deals, and I'd like to run Bazzite as the operating system. Gaming is the main goal, including titles such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Just Cause 3, and Baldur's Gate 3. I'll also use the system for everyday browsing, light 3D modeling, and game development.
My current parts list is:
- Ryzen 7 7800X3D
- Gigabyte X870 Gaming WiFi6 motherboard
- Radeon RX 9070 GRE Reaper
- 32GB G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5 memory
- Crucial P310 1TB SSD with heatsink
- Corsair RM750e 750W power supply
- Thermalright Peerless Assassin 140 cooler
- NZXT H6 Flow RGB case
Does this look balanced, and are there any parts I should change for better gaming or productivity performance?
3 Answers
I’d take a close look at the graphics card choice. The RX 9070 GRE is noticeably slower than the RX 9070 XT and also has less VRAM, so the XT would be a better long-term option if the extra roughly $200 fits your budget. If it doesn’t, the GRE can still work well, but you’re accepting a fairly significant performance compromise.
For light modeling and game development, check which rendering tools you expect to use. Some applications work better with Nvidia features, while others are perfectly fine on Radeon. Rendering and compiling can also benefit from additional CPU cores, so a higher-core-count processor could be worth considering if those workloads become important. Since your retailer doesn’t seem to stock the Intel model you were researching, compare whatever current Intel Core Ultra 7 or Ryzen 9 options are available rather than changing platforms automatically.
I was considering Intel because of the extra cores, but I couldn’t find that particular processor in the available listings. I’ll compare the other current options.
The overall build looks sensible. The SSD probably doesn’t need its own heatsink because the motherboard should provide one, but keeping the heatsink is harmless if that version is actually cheaper.
That’s why I was looking at it—the heatsink version costs less in this case.
I considered the XT, but the additional cost is difficult to justify within my budget.