I'm building a PC myself for the first time and want to make sure I haven't overlooked any major compatibility or value issues. My goal is at least medium settings at 1080p in most games, especially Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. I'm in Canada and would prefer to stay under CAD$2,000 before tax, though going slightly over after tax is acceptable. The current parts list is a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, Thermalright Assassin X 120 cooler, MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk Max WiFi motherboard, 32GB of DDR4-3200 CL16 memory, a 1TB Patriot P400 Lite NVMe SSD, an ASRock RX 7700 XT 12GB, a Phanteks XT Pro case, and an MSI 750W Gold fully modular power supply.
4 Answers
That combination should handle 1080p medium without much trouble, and it may be capable of considerably higher settings depending on the game. The 750W power supply also leaves some room for a future graphics-card upgrade.
If you want to stay with AM4, the RX 7700 XT generally does not require a 5800X3D; a Ryzen 5 5600, 5600X, or Ryzen 7 5700X would usually be a more balanced pairing. Then you could put the savings toward a faster GPU. It is also worth comparing the current prices of the RX 9060 XT models against the 7700 XT before buying, since the newer card may offer better value depending on local Canadian pricing.
The main concern is value rather than performance. A new build centered on the 5800X3D and older AM4 platform can be expensive for what it offers, especially when paired with an RX 7700 XT. The 5800X3D is a great upgrade for someone who already owns an AM4 system, but it is a less attractive starting point for a completely new PC.
For a brand-new system, compare the total cost of an AM5 build using a lower-cost Ryzen 5 processor and DDR5 memory against this AM4 setup. Even if the AM5 CPU is not as fast as the 5800X3D, the newer upgrade path may make more sense. Also double-check the cooler choice, since the Assassin X 120 may be a little light for sustained heavy workloads with a 5800X3D; a stronger tower cooler would be safer.
What parts or platform would you recommend for this budget? I’m worried that moving to AM5 will leave me without enough graphics performance for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II at medium settings.