I'm planning my first gaming PC and want to play at 1440p. My current games include Minecraft, Call of Duty, The Last of Us Part II, and Red Dead Redemption 2. I'd prefer not to increase the budget much beyond $2,156 AUD. Because DDR5 memory is expensive, I selected a single 16GB stick with the idea of adding another later, although that may not happen immediately. Are these parts well balanced, and are there sensible ways to lower the cost without hurting 1440p performance?
3 Answers
The build can be improved by using a less expensive but still capable motherboard and power supply, along with a cheaper SSD. You could also choose a slightly weaker CPU and put the savings toward a Radeon RX 9070. At 1440p, the GPU upgrade should provide a much larger performance improvement than spending extra on the motherboard or CPU. A Ryzen 5 9600X, B650 board, 1TB PCIe 3.0 SSD, and RX 9070 can fit for around the same total price.
The memory choice is the biggest concern. One 16GB DDR5 stick runs in single-channel mode and can noticeably reduce performance, especially in some games. Try to buy a matched 2x16GB kit if possible, or at least plan to add an identical stick soon. Also double-check the listed memory price, since $322 AUD for 16GB appears unusually high and could be a pricing or listing error.
Check whether there are any cheaper X3D processors available. If not, a Ryzen 5 7500F could save money. It would also be worth comparing the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, although pricing may make the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB the better choice.
The 7500X3D is the cheapest X3D chip I could find. The 16GB 5060 Ti is roughly $300 AUD more, while the 8GB model costs about the same as the RX 9060 XT 16GB.