My cousin is finally upgrading his PC after about 10 years, and he's curious if the new build he's considering will last him another decade. Here's what he's looking at: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor paired with a Noctua NH-D9L CPU cooler, an Asus B650E MAX GAMING WIFI motherboard, 32 GB of TEAMGROUP DDR5-6000 memory, a 2 TB Western Digital WD_Black SN850X NVMe SSD, an ASRock Steel Legend Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card, and an MSI MPG A850G power supply. He's aiming for 1440p gaming at 120fps, and maybe transitioning to 4K gaming in the future. His total budget is around $1,800, trying to stay under $2,000. What do folks think? Will this setup work for his needs now and in the future?
5 Answers
It looks solid overall! For 1440p at 120fps, this build should perform pretty well. As for longevity, no one can predict the future, but if your cousin is okay with dropping detail levels as games evolve, he should be fine for a while! I’d say it's good enough to run even 4K if he’s not too picky about settings.
Just a heads up on the cooler; the D9L is typically used for compact builds due to its height. If your cousin loves Noctua, consider the U12A for better performance. It'll help with cooling over the long run.
Thanks, I’ll definitely check out the U12A! I just picked the D9L because it was budget-friendly and highly rated.
Make sure to choose a motherboard that would allow future upgrades, especially with WiFi 7 and PCIe 5.0 in mind. You might want to consider an 8xxE series chipset for better compatibility later on. That's something easy to overlook!
Good point, I hadn't thought about future-proofing the motherboard. I'll suggest upgrading that aspect, thanks!
Honestly, if he’s looking for a 10-year lifespan, he might want a better GPU. The 9070XT could struggle as games push graphics further in 5 years. It’s tough to predict exactly, but keeping an eye on tech trends is key!
I get that. We're still figuring out the best parts to get. If 5 years is reasonable, that sounds okay.
10 years is a stretch for any gaming rig these days! With the budget he has, aiming for 4K gaming might be a lot; he’s likely to need to make some adjustments in few years. If he focuses more on the types of games he enjoys, he might find he can keep it going for a good while without major upgrades.
Awesome, thanks! Glad to hear it should handle even 4K well. It seems like game requirements just keep going up, huh?