I'm putting together a gaming PC for my girlfriend, and I'd love your feedback on my parts selection. This will be her first gaming rig, and I've built a few PCs in 2020, but I'm looking for advice on components for this generation. I've chosen the AMD Ryzen 5 9600 processor and paired it with a Gigabyte B650M D3HP motherboard and some fast DDR5 memory. My budget started at £800, but I feel like I'm hitting the limits without sacrificing quality. Here's the full spec list: CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600, Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M D3HP, Memory: 32GB DDR5, Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD, GPU: MSI VENTUS 2X PLUS OC GeForce RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB, Case: GameMax Spark Pro, and a Corsair RM650 power supply. I went for AM5 and PCI-E 4.0 to ensure it lasts a while. Any advice for tweaks or improvements?
2 Answers
I was looking at your build, and I think switching to the Ryzen 7600 is a solid choice—better efficiency and essentially the same performance. Just be sure that the motherboard supports all the features you want since some don’t come with WiFi. Also, about your VRAM comment—while 16GB is a lot, some newer games are starting to require more VRAM, so it might not be that far off to get it if she's planning to play those kinds of titles. Different people have different opinions on that, though!
Honestly, I’d recommend getting the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 instead of the 9600. They’re very similar in performance, and the 7600 is more energy-efficient too. Just a heads up, the motherboard you picked doesn’t have built-in WiFi, so if she’ll need that, plan on a wired setup. Also, the 16GB VRAM on the 5060 Ti might be overkill for its performance capabilities—8GB could be sufficient for most games. If you’re aiming for budget-friendly performance, consider that!
Thanks for the heads-up on the 7600! I’ll definitely look into it. I’ve noticed others recommending it as well. As for WiFi, I actually prefer wired connections too, but I thought it’d be a nice convenience. I'll check out some 8GB cards since you've made a good point about VRAM.
Definitely good to know! I guess it really depends on what games she's interested in playing. Maybe sticking with the 7600 and 16GB is the way to go for future-proofing.