Please help me select parts for a "competent" gaming PC

I haven’t built a gaming PC for over fifteen years; I defected to PlayStation in '08 when the constant upgrading got too expensive to really justify, but now I’m looking to come crawling back.

I am finding it easy enough to find build ideas for very capable (and expensive) machines but I am that out of touch with “what’s good” that I no longer have any idea of what would be “good enough” (to play most modern games at “high” settings and at 60fps).

Basically, I would like help in avoiding an attempt at going back to my old ways and building some kind of pie in the sky setup like this:

CPU AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

CPU fan NZXT Kraken 360 RGB

MB Asus Prime X670E-Pro WiFi 6E

GPU Gigabyte Aero GeForce RTX 4090 24GB

RAM G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB Series 64GB DDR5-6000

SSD Samsung 990 Pro 2TB

PSU Corsair RM1000x Shift 1000 W

Perhaps the could serve as a starting point - what could you cut from the above build and what would you substitute?

Nevrome,
@Nevrome@lemmy.ca avatar

First, you want to play on high/60fps but at what resolution? Paying over 1700$CAD for a RTX4090 GPU seems overkill while a RX6800 or a RX7700/7800 would let you play at 1080p/1440p at high settings at a fraction of the price.

SSD is fine.

PSU could be reduced to 850W.

64GB RAM is overkill for gaming right now but potentially useful in the upcoming years.

Bottom line, you could save here and there and still have a capable AM5 machine.

If you want value for your buck, build yourself an AM4 machine. Yes, AM5 is out now but your rig could still last you many many years with the right AM4 components.

C4d,

Sorry, I should have specified; I already have the 4K monitor that I would like to use.

qwertyqwertyqwerty,

Yeah that changes things a bit. What type of games do you plan on playing? 4K or not, if you’re playing eSports or strategy games, it still will be overkill. My wife’s rig is a 5800X (not 3D), and a GTX 1070, and she plays SIMS 4 and Diablo IV at 4K 60+ FPS.

thejevans,

Another data point: I have a Ryzen 5900x and an RTX 3080. In BG3 I average 80-90 fps with 1% lows over 60fps on a 4k screen with ultra settings and DLSS quality setting.

C4d,

I’ve got my eyes on AC Mirage.

qwertyqwertyqwerty,

Agreed with the above, especially need to pay attention to your resolution to figure out GPU needs. To add to this, you would probably be fine with a 7800X3D, unless you really need the extra CPU cores for non-gaming related tasks.

For reference, I have a 5800X3D, 32GB RAM, 970 1TB SSD, and a 6700XT, and I’m playing 60+ FPS on high on most games at 3840x1600. Nowhere near the budget you’re looking at. That being said, AM4 socket is EOL’d, so stick with the Ryzen 7000 series if you want AMD.

mosiacmango,

The samsung 990 is fine, but a bit overpriced. Something like this sabernt is also a high quailty gen 4 drive, and running under $100 for 2TB with a heatsink.

Id actually recommend going for the 4TB of that same model for $210. By far the most bang for your buck.

shakcked,

Resolution (1080, 1440, etc) will be critical for your high and 60fps qualifier. Is RTX a deal breaker for you? Are you looking to produce content (or edits videos, 3d rendering, stable diffusion, etc)?

Without knowing any of that I can still identify CPU, ram, and GPU you listed are overkill for gaming purposes.

Edit: Gamers Nexus YouTube and Website is a great for getting rundown of current gen hardware and their capabilities. They typically give really good recommendations based on value instead of just raw performance.

C4d,

I have little doubt that the above setup is overkill for my purposes. My difficulty is that I am so far behind and out of date in my knowledge of what constitutes a decent baseline specification that I am having to approach this from a position of embarrassed ignorance.

A couple of folks have recommended PCPartPicker so I will give that a go.

bl00dmeat,

Short answer: good plan. Check PCPartPicker. Your build is definitely overkill for most people, and you can easily get away with consistent 4k gaming for much cheaper.

Anissem,
@Anissem@lemmy.ml avatar

Second the PCPartPicker recommendation. You can also share your build ideas with people via that site, very useful.

bl00dmeat,

What I usually tell people is "set a budget". You can always fall in to the trap of $20 more here, $40 more there...etc and explode your budget.

If you can keep moving the needle, you can keep dumping more into better components in different areas.

Use PCPartPicker to make sure everything is compatible, check the price history to see if there's a similar component available for cheaper or if you're getting a good value, and make decisions on what is necessary. Also, pick a date. You can hang around for MONTHS waiting on a certain part to hit a price drop.

bl00dmeat,

Going back through your specs...bro a 4090 costs basically the same as my whole PC that's running games at 120 FPS+ on a 4k monitor with no issues.

Check out combo deals on Newegg for Mobo+RAM+CPU, or Microcenter if you have one nearby (I don't). Your biggest factor for gaming will be the GPU. You can run 60+ FPS on a 1080P monitor on 5 year old midrange GPUs. If you need 4k res, ask on PCPartPicker forums.

C4d,

The above build (with a suitable NZXT H7 case) can be built for around £3,800; such a generous budget might be doable but deep down I know this build is over the top and that I cannot really justify ploughing that much into something like this. Thank you for the PCPartPicker recommendation; I will try that.

bl00dmeat,

I got mine for just under $1800 US early this year, with just online deals available at the time, no waiting for better pricing (honestly PSU prices were INSANE at the time and that made a difference). I wouldn't change a single part today. It does everything I need (including video editing/rendering)

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • [email protected]
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • Socialism
  • KbinCafe
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • Ask_kbincafe
  • oklahoma
  • feritale
  • SuperSentai
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines
    •