What should I buy? A good computer for a budget. It needs to run at 1080p and be affordable, not too expensive.
What should I buy? A good computer for a budget. It needs to run at 1080p and be affordable, not too expensive.
I am looking at purchasing the parts in this PC Part Picker list , minus the case and PSU which I already have. Current PC: Core i5-4460 GTX 1050 Ti mITX motherboard Thermaltake Core V1 mITX case Used for 1080p gaming (WoW mostly) Upgrading because: I want to do media preservation / Plex server, so I am moving to a case with space for HDDs and space for a BluRay drive. I want to use this opportunity to upgrade the gaming capabilities, both FPS and loading screen times. Criteria: ~$1000 budget. Already have case and PSU. Prefer Amazon or NewEgg. US-Based. AM5 socket for upgradability. I know a true budget build would be on AM4, but I think I'll get better long-term value by bumping up to low-end AM5 parts. mATX motherboard. I don't want the drawbacks of mITX (cost, cramped to work with), but I want some flexibility in case size that I won't get with full ATX. Low TDP on CPU & GPU for quiet, cool operation. OS & games on NVME storage for fast load times, media on HDDs for economical storage. At some point in the future I might split the media storage into a dedicated NAS and gaming into an mATX desktop, but for now I'll take the convenience and simplicity of a single machine. GPU Decision: I'm having a hard time understanding the GPU market. I'm considering dropping the $360 Gigabyte RX 7600 XT 16GB for a $220 ASRock Radeon RX 6600 8 GB. Anything will be a significant upgrade over my current GTX 1050 Ti I don't think I'll notice a difference in the games I play It doesn't seem like the extra $140 buys me a meaningful amount of future-proofing whether I spend it on a 7600 XT 16GB or a newer 8GB card. Reviews seem adamant that the processing power of new cards is wasted without 12-16GB. Proposed build: CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9S chromax.black 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M GAMING WIFI6E Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard Memory: Crucial Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL46 Memory Storage: Western Digital Blue SN580 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive GPU: Gigabyte GAMING OC Radeon RX 7600 XT 16 GB Video Card OR ASRock Challenger D Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case (already own) PSU: Corsair RM550 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (already own) I'm still researching what HDDs are best for a Plex server. I plan to use drives I already have for storage for initial learning and experimenting with setting up and running Plex. That said, I'm open to any recommendations. Is this a good build for my goals? Am I overspending on anything, and conversely is there a place where spending just a little more yields significantly better value?
I want to buy these parts from this PC Part Picker list, but not the case or power supply because they already have them. The parts are private and I want to upgrade my gaming so that frame rates go up and loading screens take less time. If you mainly play 1080p games on World of Warcraft, you should be okay just check something important: you need to update your BIOS before putting the new Ryzen 5 9600x into the socket. Since you have an ATX case, I think you should pick a standard motherboard like B850 because those older chipsets will stop being made soon. For power, I'd choose a Corsair RM550 550-watt supply that is Gold certified and fully modular since it already belongs to the computer. How old is this PSU? If you bought it in 2013 or later, it's time for a new one because they were released then.
You should get DDR5 memory at speeds of 6000 if you are playing games. You can check these reviews on the RX 9060 XT card it comes in different sizes like 8GB or 16GB. Go to this link for more info: You could save a little bit of money by picking a B850 board instead. Here is what you need for the build: CPU Cooler: * ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon) Motherboard: * Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E ATX AM5 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Amazon) Memory: * TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($92.99 @ Amazon) Total: $302.97 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-02 16:01 EDT-0400 PCPartPicker Part List Motherboard: * Gigabyte B850M GAMING X WIFI6E Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Amazon) Total: $169.99 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-02 16:59 EDT-0400
Thanks for the advice. Motherboards are the stuff I don't really understand well and feel like they're the hardest thing to compare in quality versus value. Long story short, I'm planning ahead so this machine will split into a smaller gaming computer (mATX) and a bigger home network storage device (NAS) at some point. At first, I thought I'd just buy one motherboard for both builds, but now it makes more sense to get an ATX board right away since that case is already set up. If I decide later to build the mATX machine, I'll buy another board then. @Lutfij Oops, thanks! I saved a copy of the link and made it public so you can see it updated too. Thanks for your help on figuring out chipsets. There are lots of choices now for the B850 that cost the same or even less than the old B650. My power supply is from 2014, so I didn't really care back then. Is there a simple way to tell how long a power supply actually lasts? @Why_Me Thanks for pointing out the difference between CL30 and CL46 timings; that was very helpful. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the 9060XT. It says it's an upgraded version of the 7600XT at the same price point, so I guess I'll wait to see what happens. If the 9060XT is actually $350 like they claim, I might just go for that one. But if the regular street price is way higher than its official MSRP and the 7600XT drops in price later, then the 7600XT would look better. On the other hand, if the 9060XT is also overpriced and the 7600XT doesn't drop soon, I'll probably go with the 6600 and wait to upgrade it later. I know this isn't a fair comparison, but I'm struggling to believe that a mid-range GPU costs more than an entire Xbox or PS5 in total value.
The power supply in this list is an ADATA XPG Core Reactor II VE with 750 watts and a Gold certification. It fits the ATX standard and is fully modular, making it easy to connect. This item costs $89.99 at Amazon and includes shipping, taxes, and discounts if they exist. The parts were picked using parametric criteria by PCPartPicker on June 2nd, 2025, between 17:34 EDT-0400 hours.