I'm close to buying a new PC with a budget of around £2,000 for gaming and some streaming. The current build uses a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, Radeon RX 9070 XT, 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory, a 2TB NVMe SSD, an AM5 motherboard, a large air cooler, an 850W power supply, and a well-reviewed case with included fans.
I'm mainly deciding between different RX 9070 XT models, including the XFX Swift and Asus Prime versions. The XFX may be a little louder but runs cooler, while the performance difference between cards should be minor. I've also heard good things about the KLEVV BOLT memory, the selected motherboard and SSD, and the case's cooling and noise levels.
I'm new to building PCs, so I'd appreciate any final advice about compatibility, value, cooling, storage, memory, graphics card models, or parts that would be worth changing before I place the order.
4 Answers
The build looks solid overall, and there aren’t any obvious compatibility problems. The main place you could save money is the SSD. PCIe 5.0 storage generally won’t feel faster than a good PCIe 4.0 drive in current games, so a cheaper 2TB Gen4 NVMe drive would probably be better value. That said, choosing a reasonably fast drive rather than an extremely slow budget model could make sense if future games start taking better advantage of SSD throughput.
The memory price is the biggest concern to me. Nearly £390 for 32GB is difficult to justify, even for a fast DDR5-6000 CL28 kit. A reputable 2x16GB DDR5-6000 CL30 kit should perform almost identically in games and could save a substantial amount. The Phantom Spirit-class air cooler is already more than sufficient for the 9800X3D, so there’s no need to switch to an expensive liquid cooler.
For the graphics card, choose between the XFX, Asus, Sapphire, or PowerColor models based on the current price, warranty, cooler design, and noise reviews. Real-world performance differences will be very small, while coil whine can vary between individual cards.
I was considering a cheaper DDR5-6000 CL30 kit, but I was told the KLEVV kit was faster and better value. I’ll compare the prices again, since saving money there may be more worthwhile than the small latency improvement.
If you’re interested in a white-themed build, there are also alternative cases and components available without changing the core CPU and GPU choices. The current parts should still work well if appearance isn’t a priority.
The CPU and graphics card pairing is excellent. I would double-check the motherboard, though: some B850 models with Wi-Fi 6E use PCIe 4.0 for the main graphics slot, while competing boards provide PCIe 5.0. It won’t make a meaningful difference with the current GPU, but a board with PCIe 5.0 could offer more flexibility for future upgrades. A different motherboard may also provide faster networking for roughly the same overall build price.
The case is perfectly reasonable, but it’s worth comparing it with alternatives that include several high-quality 140mm PWM fans. Adding or replacing fans can improve airflow without significantly increasing noise.
Thanks, I’ll check the motherboard’s graphics-slot specification and compare a few cases with better included fans. I hadn’t considered that detail.
That makes sense. I may still choose a decent midrange drive rather than the cheapest option, but I’ll compare the prices of Gen4 models before deciding.