Is This €3,000–€4,000 High-End PC Build Balanced for Gaming and Creative Work?

Be careful with premium X870E boards if you plan to install multiple PCIe 5.0 NVMe drives. Some layouts share CPU or chipset lanes, which can reduce the graphics slot to fewer lanes when certain M.2 slots are populated. Check the motherboard manual's lane-sharing diagram rather than relying only on the feature list.

For a single graphics card and one SSD, this usually will not matter. A more modest B850/X870 board with the required number of M.2 slots, Wi-Fi, USB ports, and a BIOS supporting the chosen processor would likely be the best value.

The build is broadly compatible, but the motherboard is far more expensive than necessary. A solid B850 or X870 board around €200–€300 should run the 7800X3D and RTX 5080 just as well. Keep the premium board only if you specifically need its extra USB ports, PCIe features, networking, or multiple high-speed storage options.

The 1200W power supply is also excessive for this system. A quality 850W unit should be sufficient, while a good 1000W model gives comfortable headroom. The 360mm liquid cooler is not required for a 7800X3D either; a capable air cooler such as the Thermalright Phantom Spirit would be cheaper, simpler, and reliable.

Since this PC will also be used for animation, editing, and development, consider a Ryzen 9 9950X or 9950X3D if the extra multicore performance is more valuable than the 7800X3D's gaming focus. The 7800X3D remains excellent for gaming, but eight cores may be less attractive for heavier production workloads.

For a new build, 64GB of DDR5-6000 CL30 is a sensible starting point, and 2x32GB is preferable to four modules. If your applications use large scenes or complex video projects, leaving room in the budget for 96GB or 128GB later may be worthwhile.

The Fractal Torrent has excellent airflow, but check the exact mounting support before committing to a 360mm radiator. It is particularly well suited to a large front-airflow setup, so a strong air cooler may make more sense than liquid cooling and avoids pump-failure concerns over a long lifespan.

The Samsung 990 Pro is a fast SSD, but you probably will not notice much difference from a good, cheaper PCIe 4.0 drive in gaming or normal development work. A 2TB system drive plus a second reasonably priced SSD can sometimes offer better value than buying one expensive 4TB model.