I’m considering buying a pre-built PC for around $850 aimed at competitive gameplay. Here’s what it includes: a B550 ATX motherboard for AM4 socket, AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (8 cores), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, NZXT Kraken 360 AIO liquid cooler, Crucial P3 Plus 1TB SSD, Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4 RAM, and a Corsair CX750M PSU. Wondering if this is a good deal for the price and suitable for competitive gaming, or if there are things I should be wary about or upgrade.
5 Answers
I’d check if this system is brand new or used. Around $1000 you might find newer builds with a Ryzen 5 7600X or 9600X and RTX 4060 that come with warranty, which can be a better bang for your buck in terms of future upgrades and support. If the system you’re looking at is used, $850 might be a bit on the pricier side. Also, make sure to verify the total component quality.
The Ryzen 7 5700X paired with the RTX 4060 and 16GB DDR4 RAM is a solid combo for competitive gaming, handling most titles with ease on high settings. The NZXT Kraken 360 AIO cooler is a nice touch to keep temps low during long sessions. The PSU is decent, though it’s a bit on the edge capacity-wise, but should be fine for this build overall. If you can grab it around $850, it seems like a good deal to me.
What’s wrong with the RAM? Is it mostly because it’s DDR4 and not DDR5, or because of the capacity? Just trying to figure out if the RAM is really a bottleneck here.
Honestly, the biggest area for improvement here would be the RAM. While 16GB is enough, switching to DDR5 would give you better future-proofing and performance, especially with newer games and multitasking. Also, the AIO cooler might be a bit overpriced for what you get, so you might save a bit by going with a good air cooler instead if you can find a better RAM deal with the savings.
Yeah, the main concern is DDR4 vs DDR5. DDR5 RAM offers better bandwidth and efficiency, which can help in some games and future-proofing. The 16GB size is generally enough right now, so it’s mostly about the speed and platform longevity.