I'm moving from a laptop to my first desktop and would like some advice before buying parts. The main uses will be gaming and 3D modeling in Blender, with Windows and Linux installed in a dual-boot setup. I'm shopping in South Africa and comparing prices and availability from local retailers.
My current parts list is:
Case: Montech XR ARGB Tempered Glass Black ATX Mid Tower
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8700G
Cooler: DeepCool Assassin VC Elite dual-tower air cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte B850 Gaming WiFi 6
Memory: 32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 CL38
Graphics card: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
Power supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GT 850W 80 Plus Gold
Storage: Two Crucial P310 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
I don't have a strict budget, but I want strong performance without overspending. I'll also need to buy new peripherals later. Are there any obviously mismatched parts or better-value alternatives I should consider?
3 Answers
The Ryzen 7 8700G is an APU, so it includes a relatively powerful integrated GPU. That makes sense in a system without a dedicated graphics card, but most of that feature is redundant when you’re already installing an RTX 3060. A Ryzen 5 7600 or 7500F would usually be better value, while a Ryzen 7 7700, 7700X, or a Ryzen 7 9700X would give you more CPU performance for Blender and multitasking.
A few other parts are worth reconsidering. The large DeepCool cooler may be more expensive than necessary; a good dual-tower cooler such as a Phantom Spirit-class model should handle these CPUs well if one is available locally. Two 1TB SSDs aren’t required for dual booting—you can partition one 2TB drive, or use separate drives if you prefer easier operating-system management. Also, the Crucial P310 uses QLC flash. It’s fine for ordinary use, but sustained Blender writes can exhaust its cache and cause a major speed drop, so a TLC-based NVMe drive would be a better choice for active project files.
I chose two drives mainly to keep Windows and Linux separate, but I’ll compare that cost with one larger drive. I’ll also look for TLC storage and a less expensive cooler with similar performance.
The RTX 3060 is still usable for 1080p gaming and Blender, especially because of its 12GB of VRAM, but it’s becoming an older choice. Since the rest of the system is fairly modern, compare its price against newer RTX 4000- or 5000-series cards, or any similarly priced current-generation option. The best choice will depend heavily on South African pricing and availability.
That makes sense. I’ll remove the 8700G and compare the 7000- and 9000-series alternatives instead.