I'm planning to build a gaming PC in the USA with a budget of about $1,500, though I may have another $400 after selling my current system. I've been using a GTX 1080 Ti for roughly four years and want a major upgrade for Rust, Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch 2, Apex Legends, Arma, Dota, and Valorant. Rust is my main concern because it relies heavily on the CPU, and I'm hoping for around 140–250 FPS at 1080p. I already own all my peripherals and don't care much about the case's appearance.
My current parts list is a Ryzen 7 7800X3D for $350, a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE cooler for $35, a Corsair RM750e 750W ATX 3.1 power supply for $90, an Aerocool P300C case for $60, a 1TB SUNEAST PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD listed at $170, a used RTX 3080 Founders Edition for $390, an ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi motherboard for $120, 32GB of PNY DDR5-6000 CL36 memory listed at $290, and a $20 RGB controller kit. The total comes to slightly over $1,500. Are there any compatibility, reliability, or value issues I should address before buying these parts?
2 Answers
The Peerless Assassin is already a strong choice for the 7800X3D, especially if you plan to use PBO. It offers plenty of cooling for the chip and should fit in the selected case, but confirm the case’s maximum CPU-cooler height before ordering. Also double-check the unusually high RAM and SSD prices, since 32GB of DDR5-6000 and a good 1TB PCIe 4.0 drive can often be found for much less, leaving more room for a newer graphics card.
The parts are generally compatible, but I’d take a closer look at the motherboard choice and its BIOS version before pairing it with an X3D processor. Some people have reported problems with certain AM5 boards and X3D chips, so make sure the board has a current BIOS and check its support history. You could also compare it with a similarly priced board from another manufacturer if you want extra peace of mind.
That’s a helpful warning. I’ll check the BIOS support and compare a few other B650 boards before deciding.
Got it—I didn’t realize the Peerless Assassin was the cooler being recommended. I’ll verify the clearance and look for better prices on the memory and SSD.