I'm putting together my first PC and would appreciate a second opinion before I start buying components. I'm in the United States and plan to purchase the parts individually over the next few months instead of ordering everything together. My current list is a Ryzen 7 5800X, ASRock B550M Steel Legend motherboard with an Intel AX210 Wi‑Fi card, 32GB of DDR4-3600 memory, a 1TB WD Black SN850X NVMe SSD, an AMD Radeon RX 6600, an MSI MAG A650BN 650W power supply, a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Pro, an Okinos Aqua Uno Micro-ATX case, and Windows 11 Home OEM. I may also add a 27-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 monitor. My target budget is $1,350–$1,600 for the PC, or $1,750–$2,000 including the monitor. Does the build look compatible and balanced, or are any parts mismatched, excessive, or too weak for the rest? Are there risks to buying parts over several months, such as warranty or return-window issues? I was thinking of buying the RAM and SSD early because I've heard those prices can fluctuate. I'd also appreciate advice about common first-build mistakes and any parts you would replace with better-value alternatives.
1 Answer
The parts should generally be compatible, but the build is uneven. The 5800X is still capable, while the RX 6600 is more of a 1080p card and may feel underpowered for a high-refresh 1440p OLED monitor. If gaming is the priority, I’d put less money into the CPU and SSD and move up to a stronger graphics card. A Ryzen 5 5600 or 5700X paired with a faster GPU would likely give you a better experience. Also check that the motherboard has a BIOS version supporting the 5800X, that the Hyper 212 includes the correct AM4 hardware, and that the case supports the cooler and graphics card dimensions. The 650W supply is enough for an RX 6600, though I’d consider a higher-quality unit if the price difference is reasonable. You don’t necessarily need to buy RAM or storage first; prices change, and buying too early can leave you outside the retailer’s return period before you know whether everything works.
The SSD is also much faster than the RX 6600 can take advantage of for most gaming. A less expensive 1TB NVMe drive would free up money for the GPU without making the system feel slower in normal use.