I'm planning my first serious gaming PC with a budget of about €2,000, using current prices from Italy. My main priorities are gaming performance, especially 1440p high-refresh-rate gaming at roughly 240–260 Hz, followed by longevity, thermals/noise, and then aesthetics. I'll mainly play AAA games and competitive Fortnite, and I may stream occasionally.
My proposed build is:
- Intel Core i5-14600KF — €236
- Gigabyte B760 Gaming X DDR4 GEN5 — €186
- 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 CL16 — €239
- XFX Radeon RX 9070 XT Swift Gaming 16GB — €829
- Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 A-RGB — €89
- Crucial P310 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD — €154
- Reused 500GB Samsung SATA SSD
- NZXT C750 Gold Core 750W ATX 3.1 — €99
- Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini V2 — €89
- Six Arctic P12 Pro Reverse A-RGB fans — €72
I chose the 14600KF for its strong gaming and multitasking performance, although I'm unsure whether buying into Intel's DDR4 platform makes sense compared with moving to AMD or DDR5. I like the O11 case and the AIO for aesthetic reasons, but I don't want to sacrifice too much performance for appearance.
The graphics card is my biggest question. The RX 9070 XT costs around €829, while the more expensive XFX Mercury version is about €899. I'm wondering whether the premium model offers any meaningful real-world benefit, or whether I should choose a different GPU in the €600–€1,000 range.
I'd appreciate feedback on whether the build is balanced, whether DDR4 is still reasonable, whether the 14600KF is a good choice, if 750W is sufficient, and whether any components should be replaced for better value. I'm also interested in whether the SSD, cooler, case, and fans are reasonable purchases or excessive for a gaming-focused system.
4 Answers
A 750W quality ATX 3.1 PSU should be enough for this CPU and GPU combination, assuming the unit is well reviewed and connected correctly. It may be adequate for future upgrades too, but a 850W model would provide more flexibility if you later move to a significantly more power-hungry graphics card. The 360mm AIO is not necessary for gaming, but it’s defensible if you value the appearance and want to experiment with overclocking. Just remember that a B760 board generally isn’t the ideal platform for serious CPU overclocking.
The 9070 XT is a reasonable 1440p choice, but €829 is a fairly high price for that model. The difference between the Swift and Mercury versions is usually limited to cooler quality, noise, temperatures, and factory tuning rather than a major FPS increase. Unless the Mercury has a substantially better cooler or warranty, I’d buy the cheaper card or look for a higher-tier GPU at a similar price. Also double-check the RAM price: €239 for 32GB of DDR4-3200 is unusually high and is one of the easiest places to save money.
At this budget, I’d seriously compare the total cost of a DDR5 platform. 32GB of DDR5 can fit within €2,000, especially if you choose a sensible motherboard and avoid paying a premium for cosmetics. DDR5 won’t transform every game, but it gives you a newer upgrade path and avoids investing heavily in a platform that is effectively at the end of its CPU lifecycle.
The 14600KF is still a capable gaming CPU and should pair well with a 9070 XT, particularly at 1440p. However, the argument that it is more future-proof than AM4 is not very convincing: Intel’s LGA1700 platform is also essentially finished. If you want a meaningful upgrade path, AM5 with a Ryzen 7000 or 9000 processor is the more sensible direction. An X3D chip is especially attractive for competitive games, but only choose one if the extra platform cost doesn’t force you into a weaker GPU.
The 14600KF still has excellent core count and single-threaded performance, so it isn’t a bad choice at the right price. I just wouldn’t pay a premium for it over a comparable AM5 setup, since future CPU upgrades are limited.
I checked several Italian retailers, but many prebuilt systems around €2,000 cut corners with 16GB of RAM or a much weaker graphics card. I’m still comparing individual parts to see whether DDR5 can fit without downgrading the GPU.