I'm diving into the world of PC building and I've decided to create my first setup! A friend of mine is selling me an extra RTX 3080, and I want to build my rig around that. I have a budget of around $2,000 to $3,000, but I can stretch it a bit if necessary. I'm not aiming for the highest specs, but I definitely want to avoid anything that's underwhelming in performance. Ideally, I'd like to run games at 1440p, but I can manage with 1080p if needed. Any suggestions for parts or complete builds would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
3 Answers
With a budget like yours, you can definitely put together a fantastic PC! You'll find that even with brand new components, you can build something really solid around the RTX 3080. It will handle 1440p gaming pretty well, and at your budget, you're in a great spot for performance.
Your budget is actually quite generous! If you're snagging the RTX 3080 for a good price, consider that you could build a complete rig for under $2,000. A competing GPU like the RTX 5070 Ti can outperform the 3080 in some cases, yet you might still want to take your friend's offer if it’s cheap. For something like a Ryzen 9600X paired with the 3080, you could potentially keep your build around $1,000, which is an awesome deal!
You could assemble an impressive setup for that price! For example, I recently built a powerful rig that can handle both 1440p and even run at 4K for most games. Here's a solid parts list I recommend:
- **CPU**: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- **CPU Cooler**: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE
- **Motherboard**: Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7
- **Memory**: Patriot Venom 64 GB DDR5
- **Storage**: Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2 TB M.2 NVME
- **Video Card**: MSI VENTUS 3X OC GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
- **Case**: Montech AIR 903 MAX
- **Power Supply**: Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 850W
This build totals around $1,936.63 (prices vary). It's capable of great performance at high resolutions!
He mentioned he's getting the 3080 for about $260. Do you think that's a fair deal?