I'm building my first gaming PC and would appreciate some advice before buying the parts. I mostly play Dead by Daylight, but I'd also like the system to handle the next GTA game on PC, even if I need to use lower settings. I'm not very familiar with PC-building terminology yet.
My planned parts are:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
- GPU: Radeon RX 7700 XT
- Motherboard: AM5 board supporting Ryzen 9000, with 14+2+1 power phases and PCIe 5.0
- Memory: Corsair Vengeance DDR5, 16GB total (2x8GB), up to 6000 MT/s, AMD-compatible
- Storage: Lexar 1TB SSD
- CPU cooler: 120mm SE tower cooler
- Power supply: 650W
The total is around $1,385 including the case. Is this a balanced setup, and is there anything important I'm missing or should change?
2 Answers
The Ryzen 5 9600X and RX 7700 XT should make a solid combination for 1080p or 1440p gaming. You could save some money with a Ryzen 5 7600X or 7500F, since they should perform similarly in games, and put that money toward other parts. The 9600X is still perfectly reasonable if it’s only about $20 more.
I would definitely change the memory to 32GB, ideally a 2x16GB DDR5-6000 kit with decent timings. Sixteen gigabytes can work today, but newer games may benefit from having more. Also confirm the exact motherboard model and make sure it has the BIOS version needed for Ryzen 9000 processors.
The SSD price is worth checking carefully. If that 1TB drive really costs about $180, it may be overpriced unless it’s a particularly high-end model. A good 1TB NVMe SSD is often available for substantially less, and the money saved could help pay for 32GB of RAM or a larger 2TB drive.
A quality 650W power supply should be enough for a 9600X and RX 7700 XT, but don’t choose based only on wattage. Pick a reputable unit with strong reviews and the appropriate PCIe power connectors. Also make sure the case has good airflow and include enough case fans; the CPU cooler alone does not ventilate the case.
The SSD is currently listed at about $180, so I’ll compare other NVMe options. A newer Radeon card was around $530, while the RX 7700 XT was about $430, so I’m trying to keep the graphics card cost under control.
I found that the 7600 is only around $20 cheaper, so I was leaning toward keeping the 9600X for the small performance improvement. I’ll look into 32GB kits and check the BIOS support.