I'm in the USA and putting together a new gaming PC with a budget of about $1,300. I want it mainly for 1440p gaming. My current draft includes an ASUS Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB, Ryzen 7 7700X, Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite motherboard, Corsair 850e Gold power supply, Musetex ATX case, Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 cooler, 32GB Corsair Vengeance memory, and an SSD that may be a Western Digital model. I'm not sure whether the RAM is DDR4 or DDR5. Also, my previous PC was damaged by a power-supply surge. Is it safe to reuse that computer's RAM and SSD in the new build?
5 Answers
The RX 9060 XT 16GB is a reasonable choice for 1440p. A GeForce RTX 5060 Ti offers features such as DLSS, but its raw gaming performance is generally in the same range, so switching makes sense only if you specifically want those Nvidia features or find it at a similar price. Also consider a higher-quality power supply model, since some 850e units have been reported to develop fan-bearing noise.
Make sure the memory is DDR5. A B850 motherboard uses DDR5, so DDR4 modules will not fit or work. Check the label on the sticks or the exact model number before buying anything else.
The 7700X and a 360mm liquid cooler are probably more than you need for a $1,300 gaming build. A Ryzen 5 7600X or 7500F with a good air cooler would usually be enough, letting you put more money toward the graphics card or storage. A stronger CPU can help in CPU-heavy games, but the 7700X generally isn’t necessary for a 1440p-focused system.
Avoid using an unverified or no-name SSD. Pick a reputable TLC NVMe drive instead and check its health before reusing the old one. For parts exposed to a power-supply surge, especially the SSD and RAM, there’s no guarantee they’re safe. Inspect them carefully and test them separately if possible; replace anything that causes errors or instability. Important data should be backed up before testing.
A complete new build can fit the budget with a less expensive CPU and cooler. One example is a Core i5-14400F, a basic air cooler, a compatible DDR4 motherboard, 32GB of DDR4 memory, a 1TB SSD, an RX 9070 GRE, a 750W Gold power supply, and an affordable case. The exact parts and prices change, but the general approach prioritizes the GPU while staying near $1,300.
That makes sense. I was wondering whether the extra CPU performance would noticeably improve games that are more processor-heavy.