After having a good talk with a few folks, I've decided to buy a gaming PC and build it myself. I have everything I need, including all of the necessary equipment and accessories. I don't want to buy anything from NVIDIA because of some of its controversial decisions, its drivers' poor performance on Linux, and its high price. I'm going full red (AMD). Keep in mind that I will not be using Windows on this PC at all and will be running Pop OS on it as my primary operating system. I am also buying all the parts from Bestbuy. My budget is not to go completely over $2000
Two questions
- Will everything work properly with all of the PC accessories I'm getting, and is there anything I should replace? (not including the CPU or GPU)
- Do you think it will be enough with three fans, or do I need five for extra cooling?
Everything is linked here: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Crafted_104/saved/XcZCrH
The current price for everything is $1716.78
Spending $1.7k for a 7600xt is not the way, anything below 12gb vram is going to be very quickly unable to run new releases at 60fps. You ideally wanna allocate between 40 and 60% of build cost to the GPU.
CPU: fine
Cooler: Phantom spirit will be LOUD with an x3d under full load, swapped to a 360mm aio
Mobo: unneccessarily expensive, there are b550 boards wih the same features for less. RAM: Picked a cheaper kit with the same timings
Storage: Don't pay extra for "performance ssd", the only thing that has the potential to impact perf is cache and interface. Cache will only matter when the drive is nearly full, which you should avoid for other reasons.
GPU: 7900 gre should last at least two gens before it starts to feel long in the tooth. Don't buy 8gb cards new.
Case: Swapped to one with better airflow, I had the meshify mini and it was a joy
PSU: Be Quiet! Is cheaper and a top tier brand.
Headset: Don't spend 140 USD on a gaming headset under any circumstances lmao. You will have much better incoming and outgoing fidelity with midrange headphones and a desktop mike. In lieu of that, the Hyperx cloud series are well reviewed and half the price.
Mouse: for FPS the sensor on what you chose will be quite frustrating. I chose a wireless one from the same brand for less with a perfect tracking sensor.
Keyboard: entirely taste, what you chose is fine.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/r8JWh3
I appreciate you finding cheaper versions of items such as the power supply and graphics card, but the major point is that I am not trying to purchase anything from Amazon, HP, or NVIDIA because I am following a boycott list. I am only buying parts from Bestbuy, and several of the brands you mentioned in your PC listing were either not available or out of stock. However, I was able to find cheaper items such as the CPU cooler, and I was surprised that the 7900 was the same price as the 7600.
Here's my updated version https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Crafted_104/saved/XcZCrH
In my experience, the convenience of buying everything from one vendor is rarely worth it unless you are taking advantage of bundle discounts.
The silicon is the same, and stock issues mean that you could easily end up paying $30+ premiums on every part.
A 120mm AIO is only worth it for tiny PCs, they generally have cooling power a little worse than a high end air tower.
For an x3d chip you would want 280mm or 360mm to have acceptable noise levels. Later in the day I can do some price hunting with the vendor set to Best Buy only.
I would definitely appreciate if you did some price hunting on Bestbuy. I'm trying to find the best parts and for the best price and performance for my Gaming PC. I'll definitely look around for a 280mm or 360mm x3d chip
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nNDggB - All In-stock now Best-Buy prices
Had to downgrade the GPU a bit due to stock issues, and a properly sized AIO was more than double the price than Amazon.
I would really recommend waiting for a 7900GRE to come back in stock, it's usually less than $60 more, but is a pretty significant bump in performance due to the extra shader cores. 7800xt isn't bad, just is cheaper with a slightly worse perf/dollar ratio.
Logitech had a much better priced wireless headset, but I'll reiterate my suggestion of mid-range wireless headphones from a brand such as AKG or Audio-Technica and a desktop mike such as the Blue Snowball offering much better sending and receiving fidelity.
I made the call to swap the monitor to a curved 170hz 2K panel from MSI. It's subjective, and will be more demanding of the GPU, but going from 1080p to 1440p was like night and day for me. It's also about the same price.
ThermalTake is a well reviewed brand, and their 750w fully modular offering was a little cheaper than the Corsair you initially had.
After 6% sales tax this would be USD 1987.57 which is juuuuust under your $2000 budget. I personally think that using the thermal grease included with the AIO should probably be fine, as the $5.49 shipping on the $20 tube of thermal grease makes me
Thank you very much! I'll save as much money as possible and acquire all of these parts. I truly appreciate you helping me out here, and I hope to talk to you again!
I'll be sure to wait for the 7900GRE to come back in stock!