I'm planning my first gaming PC and aiming for a roughly £1,000 white-themed AM5 build. Here's the current parts list: Colourful Battle-AX B650 White WiFi V15 motherboard (£87.69), Ryzen 5 7600X (£127.99), Patriot Viper Venom RGB EXPO/XMP 16GB (2x8GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 (£203.99), AGI AI298 1TB NVMe SSD (£86.09), Gigabyte P650SS ICE 650W 80 Plus Silver power supply (£50.94), Kolink Unity Solar ARGB Mesh white case (£39.99), Thermalright AssassinX120 SE ARGB white CPU cooler (£15.99), five additional Thermalright 120mm ARGB fans (£14.90), and a Gigabyte RTX 5060 Aero OC 8GB (£324.98). The prices are in GBP. I'd appreciate feedback on compatibility, value, and any parts that should be changed. I'm fine with blunt criticism if something is a poor choice.
4 Answers
The graphics card is probably the weakest part of this budget allocation. If you can stretch the budget by around £100, a Radeon RX 9060 XT with 16GB of VRAM would be a much better long-term choice. The extra cost is relatively small compared with the performance and memory advantage, especially for newer games. If that still doesn’t fit, an Intel Arc B580 is another card worth considering.
Also check the memory pricing carefully. £203.99 for 16GB of DDR5 is extremely high, and 32GB is usually the better target for a modern gaming build. Look for a 2x16GB DDR5-6000 EXPO kit with reasonable timings instead of paying that much for 2x8GB. Make sure the motherboard’s BIOS supports the Ryzen 5 7600X and verify that the case has enough fan headers or an ARGB hub for all the lighting.
I’d prioritize upgrading the GPU rather than spending extra on decorative parts. The RTX 5060 is usable, but moving up to a stronger card would give the build a noticeable performance increase. The case and fans are fine if the white RGB look matters to you, but they shouldn’t come at the expense of graphics performance.
I would replace the AGI AI298 SSD. It uses QLC flash, which generally has lower endurance and can slow down more noticeably when the drive is heavily filled or under sustained writes. A 1TB TLC-based NVMe drive would be a safer choice for the operating system and games. Models such as the Patriot P400 Lite, Lexar NM620, or Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 would be better alternatives if priced competitively.
That makes sense. I’d rather spend a little more now than end up replacing the graphics card sooner than expected.