I'm planning a gaming PC costing roughly £1,400. The parts are an RX 9060 XT 16GB for £425, Ryzen 7 7800X3D for £300, MSI B650 WiFi motherboard for £138, 32GB DDR5 memory for £230, Crucial P3 Plus 2TB NVMe SSD for £120, MSI MAG A850 GL 850W PSU for £95, a Montech Air 903 case with fans for £50, and a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE cooler for £35. I play various games, but iRacing is one of my main titles and is particularly CPU-dependent. Is this a sensible build, or would I get better results by changing the CPU, graphics card, storage, or memory?
5 Answers
The 7800X3D is a strong choice for iRacing because of its extra cache, so keeping it makes sense if that is one of your main games. If you can stretch the budget by around £100, moving from the RX 9060 XT to an RX 9070 would give a worthwhile graphics performance boost without downgrading the CPU. A 9070 XT would be even faster, but it may require more compromises elsewhere.
I’d be cautious with the storage and memory deals. The unusually cheap 32GB kit is used, so confirm the exact model, condition, warranty, and return policy. Buying new may be worth the extra cost for peace of mind. Also, the Crucial P3 Plus uses QLC NAND and is not an especially strong drive for the money; a reputable TLC-based PCIe 4.0 SSD would be a better long-term choice if you can find one at a similar price.
If you want to keep the budget close to £1,400, the current parts should work well, but I would prioritize reliable, warrantied components over small savings. A new DDR5-6000 kit and a better TLC SSD would be safer purchases. If the budget can increase, upgrade the GPU to an RX 9070; otherwise, retain the 7800X3D for the best iRacing-focused balance.
The overall build is well balanced, and the cooler and 850W power supply are sensible choices. Check the memory specifications carefully, though. DDR5-6000 with fairly tight timings, ideally around CL30 or CL32, would be preferable for AM5. The listed kit is 5600 MT/s, which will work, but faster memory may offer slightly better results if the price difference is reasonable.
The memory is listed as 5600 MT/s, but the exact timings still need checking before buying.
The 2TB capacity is a good starting point, and you can add another SSD later. The Montech case should be functional, although spending a little more on a case with better build quality or airflow is reasonable if you care about appearance and noise. Before ordering, verify that the suspiciously cheap memory and SSD are actually in stock, since deals like these can sometimes disappear at checkout.
I’d probably prefer adding around £100 for the RX 9070 rather than replacing the 7800X3D, since iRacing is such an important part of what I play.