I'm putting together my first gaming PC and want to make sure the parts work well together. I mainly play Dead by Daylight right now, but I'd also like enough performance to run the next GTA game on PC, even if I need to use lower settings. I'm not very familiar with PC-building terminology, so I'd appreciate advice on anything I'm missing or should change.
My planned parts are:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
- GPU: Radeon RX 7700 XT
- Motherboard: AM5 board supporting Ryzen 9000 processors, with a 14+2+1 power design and PCIe 5.0
- Memory: Corsair Vengeance DDR5, 16GB total as 2x8GB, rated up to 6000 MT/s for AMD
- Storage: Lexar 1TB SSD
- CPU cooling: Two 120mm coolers
- Power supply: 650W
With the case included, the build costs about $1,385. Is this a sensible setup, and are there any compatibility, cooling, power, or value issues I should address before buying?
2 Answers
The RX 7700 XT should be a good match for 1080p or 1440p gaming, but make sure the SSD isn’t taking too much of the budget. $180 for a 1TB drive sounds high unless it’s a particularly fast model; a reliable mainstream NVMe SSD could leave money for 32GB of RAM or a larger 2TB drive.
A good-quality 650W power supply is generally enough for this CPU and GPU, but don’t choose based on wattage alone. Check the exact model’s reviews and protections, and avoid an untested unit. Also confirm what you mean by “two 120mm CPU coolers”—the processor needs one proper CPU heatsink or liquid cooler, while case fans are separate. The motherboard should support the processor out of the box or have a BIOS-update option.
The overall platform is solid, but I’d make 32GB of RAM the first change. Two 16GB sticks will give you more room for newer games and background programs, while 16GB may become limiting. DDR5-6000 is a good target for this AMD platform as long as the motherboard supports it.
The Ryzen 9 600X is a good processor, but check the price difference carefully. A Ryzen 5 7600X or 7500F may offer nearly the same gaming experience for less, especially when the graphics card is doing most of the work. If the 9600X is only about $20 more, keeping it is reasonable.
I was considering the 7600 because it’s only slightly slower, but it’s just $20 cheaper where I’m shopping, so I thought the 9600X might be worth it.
The 1TB SSD is listed at about $180, and I’m mostly shopping through larger electronics stores since I don’t have a specialist PC shop nearby. I’ll compare other reputable NVMe drives and put the savings toward 32GB of memory.