I'm planning to build a gaming PC for around $700, with an absolute budget under $1,000. I'll be assembling it myself and don't live near a major computer-parts retailer, so I'll need to order everything online. The current parts list is a Ryzen 5 5600, Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE, Gigabyte B550M K motherboard, 16 GB of DDR4-3200 memory, a 128 GB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD, an RX 6600 graphics card, a Montech XR case, and an 850 W Gold-rated modular power supply. The SSD will be completely clean because I already have a 2 TB external SSD for storage. Are there any compatibility, value, or longevity issues I should know about before buying?
4 Answers
The RX 6600 is still a solid budget 1080p card, but check its actual price carefully. If a used RX 6700 XT or similar card is close in price, it could be a much better performance deal. Otherwise, the 6600 paired with the 5600 should handle 1080p gaming well.
AM4 is an older platform, so there isn’t much CPU upgrade path left beyond chips such as the Ryzen 7 5700X3D. That isn’t necessarily a reason to avoid it at this price, but don’t overspend on the motherboard. The B550M K is fine for a stock Ryzen 5 5600, though its power delivery is not ideal for heavy overclocking. You could also consider 32 GB of DDR4 if the price difference is small.
The parts should work together, but the 850 W power supply is much more than this system needs. A good 550–650 W unit would be plenty for a Ryzen 5 5600 and RX 6600, so moving to a smaller quality PSU could free up money for more storage or 32 GB of RAM.
The biggest issue is the 128 GB SSD. Windows and a few updates will use a large portion of that space, and you’ll have very little room for games or applications. I’d get at least a 512 GB drive, preferably 1 TB if the budget allows. Try to keep the drive below roughly 80% full for better performance and longevity.
That makes sense. I was mostly choosing the 850 W model because it was available, but I’ll compare it with a good 650 W unit and put the savings toward the SSD.