I'm choosing the parts for a friend's first gaming PC and put the build together myself. The budget is around €3,000, and the main target is 1440p gaming at roughly 144 Hz. The system currently uses a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, an Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 mm cooler, an MSI B850 Tomahawk Max Wi-Fi motherboard, 32 GB of DDR5-6000 CL30 memory, a 512 GB NVMe drive for the operating system, a 2 TB NVMe drive for games and other files, a Radeon RX 9070 XT, an 850 W Gold-rated power supply, and a Fractal Design North XL case. The goal is good price-to-performance rather than flashy looks. Is this a sensible parts list, and are there any components I should change before buying?
4 Answers
Yes, the core combination is very strong and should be excellent for 1440p high-refresh gaming. The CPU, GPU, 32 GB of memory, AM5 platform, and 850 W power supply are all appropriate. The main question is whether you want to spend extra on premium cooling and a large full-tower case when less expensive options would perform just as well.
The graphics card model is worth comparing with other RX 9070 XT versions. Look at reviews for cooler performance, noise, warranty, and current pricing rather than choosing only by brand. Models from XFX, Sapphire, and PowerColor may be worth considering if they cost about the same. The SSD choices will work, but a good 2 TB drive with stronger sustained performance or a DRAM cache could be a better single-drive option if the price difference is reasonable.
You probably don’t need a separate 512 GB boot drive. Installing Windows on the 2 TB SSD is simpler and gives you more useful space. A 9800X3D also doesn’t require a 360 mm liquid cooler; a quality dual-tower air cooler would be cheaper, quieter, and easier to maintain. The motherboard’s non-Max version may also offer essentially the same experience for less money.
Don’t rely on bottleneck calculators. They usually oversimplify the situation, and the 9800X3D and RX 9070 XT are already a well-matched pairing for 1440p. You could cut several hundred euros by using a cheaper cooler, motherboard, case, memory kit, and SSD without noticeably reducing gaming performance. An 850 W quality PSU is enough; 1200 W would be unnecessary unless there is a specific future upgrade planned.
That makes sense. I mainly chose the larger cooler because I wanted to avoid temperature issues, but saving money and reducing maintenance would be better if an air cooler is enough.