I’ve enabled parametric filters and choices for some sections. A quick note on the motherboard: make sure you get one with solid VRMs. It should be able to handle a potential future 170W+ CPU with 12+ cores(11700x3d or whatever they call it) without breaking a sweat. I'm avoiding asrock for the time being due to high instances of X3Ds burning with no resolution.
For CPUs, the Ryzen 5 9600X / 7600 / 7600X are excellent AM5 starters. They give you a cheap, powerful entry point now while leaving the door open for an eventual upgrade to something like the 11700X3D or 11800X3D. Just don’t miss out on deals like the 5700X3D at $140,that’s the kind of value that disappears fast(just look at the number of people asking if they should get a $250 5700x3d or upgrade to AM5 rn). On the flip side, overspending on a 7800X3D or 9800X3D doesn’t make sense for most people. Modern demanding titles are still GPU-bound, especially once you crank up ray tracing and upscaling. The only exception is if you can snag a heavily discounted 7800X3D at Microcenter, but that doesn’t apply to most.
The Thermalright Royal Pretor is currently one of the best air coolers on the market, and for $45 it’s basically a no brainer. It’s a solid step up from the Phantom Spirit in performance.
On the GPU front, the RX 9070 16GB at $600 is fantastic value. With a little undervolting/overclocking, it can perform close to a 9070XT. If you can stretch your budget, the 5070 Ti is another stellar option at MSRP. DLSS, path-tracing performance, and Frame Generation are often underrated, especially combined with Reflex 2, which massively reduces latency. Just make sure your native framerate sits at 45 FPS or higher before enabling Frame Gen, and you’ll be golden.
For storage, a 2TB Gen4/Gen5 NVMe SSD is the sweet spot. Game load times aren’t sensitive to NVMe speeds, and the handful of DirectStorage titles out there barely show a difference between Gen3 and Gen4 anyway. Grab whichever is the best deal.
Cases are down to personal preference. I’ve picked airflow-focused and well-priced options, but MATX is also a fantastic choice if you want to keep things compact. The Dan A3 didn’t make it into this list, but it’s still one of my personal favorites.
Power supplies are simple: grab an 850W 80+ Gold ATX 3.1 unit with at least a 10-year warranty, Tier B+ or higher. The 750W variants are often just $10-$15 cheaper, so it’s worth stepping up to 850W for peace of mind.
PCPartPicker Part List
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | *AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor | $179.90 @ Amazon |
| CPU Cooler | *Thermalright Royal Knight 120 80.45 CFM CPU Cooler | $34.59 @ Amazon |
| Motherboard | *Gigabyte B850M GAMING X WIFI6E Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard | $159.99 @ Amazon |
| Memory | *Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory | $86.99 @ Newegg |
| Storage | *Western Digital WD Blue SN5000 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive | $117.99 @ Amazon |
| Video Card | *PNY OC GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB Video Card | $542.99 @ Best Buy |
| Case | *NZXT H5 Flow (2024) ATX Mid Tower Case | $59.99 @ Amazon |
| Power Supply | *Montech CENTURY II 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $89.90 @ Amazon |
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts | ||
| Total | $1272.34 | |
| *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria | ||
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-09-30 12:34 EDT-0400 |
Videos
I’m looking for a good prebuilt for my boyfriend. He deserves a nice pc for gaming, but I don’t know anything about computers. He plays games like Destiny, Overwatch, and BG3. I’d like to be able to get him something to where he can enjoy these games without worrying about his little laptop giving out on him. Buying for Christmas, so figured I’d go ahead and ask. Want to buy him games & a new mouse, so I cannot go over $1500.