I'm building my first computer and haven't purchased any parts yet. I want it to run Cities: Skylines smoothly, handle games across the Total War series, and support office and CAD work. I'm comparing two CPU platforms: a Ryzen 7 7700X with an ASUS B650E motherboard and 32GB of RAM, or a Micro Center bundle with a Ryzen 7 9700X, Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX V2 motherboard, and 32GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6000 memory. The 9700X bundle costs about $699, while putting together the 7700X option with comparable parts would cost around $787, mainly because of the RAM. I'm also considering a Radeon 9060 or RTX 5060 graphics card. I'd like to keep the total below $2,000, preferably around $1,600, and would appreciate advice on which option offers the better value and performance for my needs.
3 Answers
The 9700X bundle is the better choice at those prices. It uses a newer and faster processor, includes a solid motherboard and 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory, and actually costs less than the comparable 7700X setup. Since Cities: Skylines and Total War can be fairly CPU-heavy, the stronger processor should help, especially in larger or more complex saves.
Choose the graphics card based on current pricing, game benchmarks, and the features you care about. For your games, the GPU will matter most for resolution and visual settings, while the CPU is especially important for simulation speed and large Total War battles. Make sure the final build also includes a quality power supply, a suitable CPU cooler, and a fast NVMe SSD rather than spending the entire budget on the processor.
The 9700X is newer and somewhat faster, but the difference from the 7700X is not enormous. If the 7700X build were significantly cheaper, it would still be a perfectly capable option. In this case, though, the bundle is about $88 less and gives you the newer CPU plus the RAM and motherboard, so it makes the most sense financially.
That helps a lot. I wasn’t sure whether the newer processor would make a noticeable difference, but the lower bundle price makes the decision easier.