I'm planning my first serious gaming PC in Ireland and would like feedback before buying. My maximum budget is €1,700 delivered for the tower, with roughly €89 reserved separately for an MSI MAG 244F 23.8-inch 1080p 200Hz Rapid IPS monitor. I do not need any other peripherals.
The PC will mainly be used for demanding AAA games at high or ultra settings and competitive games such as CS2 at very high frame rates. I'm deliberately staying at 1080p and want strong performance headroom for several years without paying for unnecessary overkill. I prefer an AMD processor and NVIDIA graphics card.
The current parts list is a Ryzen 5 7600X, Thermalright Frozen Notte 360 Black ARGB V2 cooler, MSI B850 Gaming Plus WiFi6E ATX motherboard, 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6000 CL36 as temporary placeholder memory, an Acer Predator GM7 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, an ASUS Dual OC RTX 5070 12GB, NZXT H5 Flow (2024) case, and an ASUS TUF Gaming 750W Bronze EVO power supply. Windows will cost nothing initially.
The RTX 5070 and 750W power supply are part of a bundle costing about €699 delivered. I plan to replace the placeholder memory with 32GB, ideally 2x16GB DDR5-6000 CL30 to CL36, once pricing becomes more reasonable.
The 360mm liquid cooler is not being considered because the 7600X needs one. It currently costs around €48 and includes three front fans, so I was thinking of mounting it at the front as intake, moving the case's included front 120mm fan to the bottom for GPU intake, and leaving the included rear fan as exhaust.
Prices are based partly on Irish checkout pricing and manually entered UK listings, so they are only planning estimates because import and VAT charges may be shared across items. I will check final Irish prices and compatibility again before ordering in one or two months.
Does the Ryzen 5 7600X make sense with an RTX 5070 for 1080p at 200Hz, or would an X3D or newer eight-core processor be worthwhile? Is the motherboard, SSD, case, or power supply a poor choice, and is the proposed front-radiator and bottom-intake airflow setup sensible? Should I buy 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 or CL32 when prices improve, and is there anything important I should change before ordering?
4 Answers
Go straight to 32GB when you buy. DDR5-6000 with timings around CL30 or CL32 is a good target for Ryzen, although CL36 is still perfectly usable if it is substantially cheaper. I would not overpay €200–€220 for a basic 32GB kit unless local pricing leaves no better option; keep checking prices before ordering.
The 750W capacity is enough for a 7600X and RTX 5070, but I would verify the exact ASUS TUF Gaming 750W Bronze EVO model rather than judging it from reviews of similarly named power supplies. Check its independent testing, protections, warranty, connector arrangement, and whether it includes the appropriate native GPU cable. If the bundled unit has questionable testing or costs little less than a better-reviewed supply, changing the PSU would be worthwhile.
The 360mm cooler is unnecessary for the 7600X, but at roughly €48 it can still be reasonable if the radiator and pump are reliable and it is cheaper than buying three separate fans. Front mounting it as intake should work in the H5 Flow, while a bottom fan aimed at the GPU and the rear exhaust provide a sensible airflow path. Just confirm radiator, tube, and GPU clearance, and remember that a basic tower air cooler would be simpler and have fewer failure points.
The 7600X is a reasonable choice for this target. A 7800X3D or newer X3D chip can improve minimums and average FPS in some CPU-heavy games, but the premium is difficult to justify if you are not chasing 400–500 FPS in esports titles. At 200Hz, the 7600X paired with a 5070 should be a sensible balance, especially if you are willing to use High rather than Ultra settings when needed.
The 12GB of VRAM is probably the part I would watch most closely over the long term. At 1080p it should be manageable for now, and lowering a few settings usually has a small visual impact, but it is worth checking game-specific VRAM usage.
I checked a power-supply tier list but could not find this exact TUF 750W Bronze EVO model, only other TUF variants. I will verify the precise model and independent reviews before relying on the bundle.