cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/44235097
I’ve been a long time Linux user on laptops, but this will be my first time putting hardware together and running a dedicated gaming rig on Arch. I’m aiming for a high end 1440p ultra wide gaming experience and some light Davinci Resolve work. Want to make sure I haven’t made any “first timer” mistakes with compatibility or bottlenecks.
I divided the purchase in 3 phases (Let me know if this approach is correct). 1- Get the parts that I can immediately use with my current laptop (Webcam and Monitor). 2- Get a working system w/o the dGPU (As it is the most expensive part.) 3- Get the GPU. So Phase 1 is done and now will save money for phase 2 by May (although I have already secured the SSD and the RAM for the cheapest I could find — It is arriving today so I will check the RAM on my SIL’s prebuilt AM5 build and the SSD via usb-c adapter with my laptop).
Below is the table of the parts. . These prices are somewhat close to INR (Indian Rupee).
Type Item Price CPU AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor $303.00 @ Amazon CPU Cooler Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler $52.00 Motherboard MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard $169.99 @ Amazon Memory G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory Purchased For $387.75 Storage Western Digital WD_BLACK SN7100 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive Purchased For $294.50 Video Card ASRock Challenger Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Video Card $729.99 @ Amazon Case NZXT H5 Flow RGB (2024) ATX Mid Tower Case $94.99 @ Amazon Power Supply MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply $118.50 @ Amazon Monitor Dell Alienware AW3423DWF 34.2" 3440 x 1440 165 Hz Curved Monitor Purchased For $784.00 Webcam NexiGo N60 Webcam Purchased For $46.00 Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts Total $2980.72 PC PartPicker just gives these warnings which are pretty self-explanatory.
Warning: The MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard supports the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor with BIOS version 7E26v1C. If the motherboard is using an older BIOS version, updating the BIOS will be necessary to support the CPU.
Disclaimer: Some physical constraints are not checked, such as RAM clearance with CPU Coolers.
The CPU Cooler has a height of 160mm so it leaves a 10mm gap between it and the case. I was wondering if I should go with a Liquid Cooler like the Arctic Liquid Freezer III because the summers are HOT AF over here like 40-45 degrees C during day and 30 at night and also for the RAM Clearance whose height is 33mm. But then I don’t know how reliable the idea of water running in your system is.


Everything looks good to me. You should be pretty happy with the performance given what you’ll be using it for. It looks like your system bottleneck is your cpu, which is just something to keep in mind for potential upgrades if the performance gets to you enough and you have enough extra spending money to justify dropping another 400-500 for a new processor/aio. Not sure it’d really be worth it since it sounds like the most cpu intense thing you’ve mentioned is characterized as light usage anyway. The thing I’d be concerned about is thermals if it’s getting to those temps in the room you’d be using the desktop in during sustained graphic intense sessions at higher resolution. You might see about throwing in another fan or two in the case.
As for cooling the cpu, you should be fine with what you have considering it’s generally pretty thermally efficient. Just be sure to have a good thermal paste that’s actually spread well over the cpu before attaching the heat sink. Don’t just smush a random dab like I’ve seen way too many people do before. As for an AIO like the Liquid Freezer III(great choice, btw), I doubt it’d be necessary unless your cpu usage gets more intense than you anticipate. I’d keep an eye on the thermals as you go just to be sure things don’t get too out of control. I wouldn’t worry about the reliability of throwing an AIO in the system, they’re specifically made to be pretty maintenance-free outside of blasting dust out of the radiator every now and again. The biggest thing is good EVEN contact between the cpu and heat sink no matter what solution you end up with.
Very good bang for your buck on the video card, however, I’d be sure to have some kinda gpu holder in the case since it’s a long boi. At around 300mm, sag will definitely be an issue in the long run. GPU holders are real cheap anyway, unless you’re a trash panda like me who likes having the pretty lights hold up their oversized gpu.
So yeah, everything looks good, good/decent manufacturers where it counts, everything should play nice together, everything should bench well especially for their price point, and you’ve got good headroom for any upgrades you may want to add. Things I’ve suggested(if you haven’t considered them already): good thermal paste like Artic Silver 5(I’ve sworn by this for like 25 years), gpu holder, add like two case fans(one more up front, one below gpu). Ideally, you would want to add as many case fans as you can fit, so theoretically 6 more than what comes with the case, but I don’t know if you’d be able to get one or both of the top fans in depending on clearance with the cpu cooler. Just be sure the fan orientation makes air flow in from the bottom/front and out the back/top, the rear fan probably being the most important.
Anyway, sorry this is so long, hope this helps.