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Average Gaming PC/Components

Lenes

Lenes

Lenes

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Joined
15 Jul 2026
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5
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United Kingdom
Hi all, I've been pondering with the idea of building my own PC for a few years and have finally decided to go for it. I've had my ASUS ROG 750 laptop for 12 years now and it's time to retire it for general usage only. Plus I can't even upgrade it to Win 11 so I'll take that as a sign. I went over the Advice Template on the forums and these are the main points I'm taking into consideration with my build:

Purchase Timeframe: End of the Year
Budget: Approx. 2k with a bit of wiggle room
Usage: Average Gaming (Non-competitive), Video-editing, General use
Preferences: None
Current Hardware: MSI MPG A850GS PCIE5
Peripherals: This can wait as I already own an external KVM Switch Setup that I use with my current laptop. Ideally I will get better screens down the road but I'm not in any rush.

I purchased the PSU a few months ago (MSI MPG A850GS PCIE5) as I was looking o buy components that would last for a while as they went on sale since I wasn't in a rush. I am hoping to do the same and to manage to grab the rest of the components as they go on sale throughout the rest of the year. I'm not an expert at what is what in current landscape when it comes to computer, but I should be able to understand and put together the computer as I built my own computer when I was younger. I've done some research regarding the components that would fit around my budget and narrowed down the option to a few in each case. What I would need assistance with is trying to fine comb this list further considering how the components mesh with each other, value vs. performance vs. price. So if a component costs £100 more than the other option but adds minimum value, maybe I could use that £100 to upgrade another of the components. Got a bit flustered with all the options out there so will only list the generation of each component rather than every brand I am considering. But overall I am looking at MSI, Gigabyte and Asus brands.

I'm also not super locked onto gaming.. I would like to think I am, but had a child a few years ago and gaming has been very sparse. Between my two jobs and babysitting I hardly have time for gaming, but I would like to have the option if I want to and I am thinking for my build to be reliable for the next 5-8 years without requiring a lot more upgrades.

Motherboard:
B850 / X870E

CPU:
Ryzen 7 9850X3D / Ryzen 9 9950X3D

GPU:
RTX 5070 Ti
Was considering also 5080 but that would push the budget quiet a bit. Not sure if it's worth it.

SSD:
WD Black SN850X 2TB

RAM:
No idea! There are so many options I just got completely lost in it. Ideally 32GB DDR5-6000. No idea what the different CL mark-ups do.
Also, when did RAM get so expensive?! 400-500 for RAM is just ridiculous. Is this due to current AI demand and am I better to wait a bit before buying? Not sure how cyclical the prices are.

CPU Cooler:
No idea, but from reading a bit Thermalright or Arctic seems to pop up as an option a lot.

Case:
Doesn't matter, this should probably be the last piece to grab depending on what components I end up with.

Would appreciate a bit of assistance in what would make sense to go up or down from the list above, or any other suggestions.
Thank you!
 
Lenes said:
CPU:
Ryzen 7 9850X3D / Ryzen 9 9950X3D
Click to expand...
Lenes said:
Usage: Average Gaming (Non-competitive), Video-editing, General use
Click to expand...
What video editing software do you use? How's the balance between CPU/GPU?

A 9950X3D sounds like a very expensive CPU if you're not doing a lot of multithreading. 9850X3D is a supreme gaming CPU, but again, if gaming is light, doesn't seem worth the cost.

I'd consider a 250K or 270K instead, unless you're bothered about the dead platform.

Lenes said:
GPU:
RTX 5070 Ti
Was considering also 5080 but that would push the budget quiet a bit. Not sure if it's worth it.
Click to expand...
It depends on the price, but for gaming, neither of those are great value right now and are both likely to be overkill.

I'd generally only recommend the step up to a 5080 for that extra bit of grunt at 4K+ resolution.

Lenes said:
Is this due to current AI demand and am I better to wait a bit before buying? Not sure how cyclical the prices are.
Click to expand...
Yes. No. Nobody knows, but predictions were originally 2028 and now they're being pushed back to 2029/2030.

If the bubble pops tonight then memory could be on firesale tomorrow, if it doesn't, it might have doubled by 2028.
 
I wouldn't bother with a 9850X3D/9950X3D. For casual/non-comptetitive gaming with a 5070Ti a 9600X will do just fine and save you £200. If video editing performance is then called into question then maybe Intel is the better play.
Remember X3D chips are essentially slower per ££ when not playing games. Look at the 8 core 5.2GHz 9800X3D (£350) vs the 12 core 5.6GHz 9900X (£300) and tell me which is better for video editing...

Also bear in mind that Zen 6 is slated for release in "early 2027" so you could pick up a bargain 9xxx chip if you time it right, or splurge on a shiny new gen CPU. Either way I'd be hesitant to invest in a high end Zen 5 chip at the end of this year.

If you're going to be playing at 4K then the 5080 is worth the extra money; IMO it's overpriced and largely pointless at 1440p and below.

Lenes said:
RAM:
No idea! There are so many options I just got completely lost in it. Ideally 32GB DDR5-6000. No idea what the different CL mark-ups do.
Also, when did RAM get so expensive?! 400-500 for RAM is just ridiculous. Is this due to current AI demand and am I better to wait a bit before buying? Not sure how cyclical the prices are.
Click to expand...

You should get 32GB DDR5 6000 C32 for comfortably under £400.
The CL (or just C) timings are the ram's latency. It can be a very complicated topic but long story short is "small number good. Big number bad". The speed/20 is a good benchmark, so 6000MHz C30 or 6400MHz C32, but you can go 6000MHz C36 to save some money and probably wouldn't see any difference. I wouldn't go any higher than that at 6000MHz though.
 
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Thank you both, I will review and consider my options when I get a bit of free time as I am having a bit of a hectic week right now.
 
If going amd route, I'd just get the below for £350. it's 6000c30 amd expo which is pretty much the sweet spot for am5. Then you can decide about whether to go for a x3d cpu or not later (a non x3d cpu will want the tighter timing...which the 'c30' part gives you. x3d cpu's don't require the tighter timings to perform as they use the extra l3 cache of the cpu itself, sop negating the need for tight timing, but it doesn't hurt having the nice stuff. I'm running 6000c30 on my 9800x3d atm. I don't think you're going to find 6000c30 ram much cheaper anywhere atm unless picking up 2nd hand...last few month 6000c30 ram was north of £400

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £349.99 (includes delivery: £0.00)​
 
Requisite "why not a 9070 xt?" question.

Don't get a 5080. It's quite literally the worst price/performance value card in history. Literally.
 
For video editing X3D cache does nothing apparently.

It really boils down to just how much gaming vs how much editing you do and at what resolution. The biggest benefit to editing video at 4k is 64gb of memory. As that costs £750+ it makes no sense for a casual weekend project or home use.

If I was only editing video with casual gaming, I would not be too bothered with AMD currently. The Intel 250K is actually a better performer at editing video than the 9900x, and if you game at 4k and cap your FPS to the monitor refresh rate, there is little difference in games. Due to the 32gb memory cap, you may well not benefit from a 270k or even a 5070ti in editing due to how much memory 4k files and effects can take up, in effect bottle necking, you can look up how editing 4k 10 bit 4.2.2 video at 60fps can hog memory.
If you game at 4k and set FPS caps to match the monitor refresh rate, you may not even need a 5070ti.

From a purely editing video with occasional casual gaming, a 250k with a 5070 may well be enough, but of course it will depend on the games and resolution as well as other priorities, given the cost of storage are new drives another consideration or do you already have this. 2tb doesn't go far with 4k video.
If doing production work that requires storage capacity I would most likely prioritize storage with a 2tb NVMe for the main drive OS and editing software, a second identical drive for active projects, raw footage etc, then your cold storage HDD in the PC, with an external desktop for back up.


My basket at OcUK:

Total: £2,163.90 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

If you dropped the 5070ti, going with a regular 5070 plus two 2tb NVMe and a 4tb HDD would cost £2343.88 but you could get Acer Predator GM7000 2tb NVMe drives at £240 which also have a cache. This would save around £80 per NVMe.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,389.96 (includes delivery: £0.00)​
 
I don't expect we will see Zen 6 until around the third quarter of 2027, and even at that, video editing 4k with 32gb of memory is not really going to fully utilize a 9950X3D.
 
Aleksas123 said:
6000 CL30 seems like a sensible sweet spot for AM5. For a build that’s also going to be used for some video editing, would you still stick with 32GB or consider 64GB?
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C30 is considered the sweetspot. More latency with C40 over C30 can apparently affect video. But as for 64gb, well that is costs quite a bit at £1000, but certainly can make editing 4k and 8k raw footage easier. It would be better to have 32gb of memory with an RTX 5080 than 64gb of memory with a 5060ti as an example.

As always it can depend on the rest of the system and what your doing with video and the software used, and what you use the PC for outside of video editing as well as budget.
 
Aleksas123 said:
6000 CL30 seems like a sensible sweet spot for AM5. For a build that’s also going to be used for some video editing, would you still stick with 32GB or consider 64GB?
Click to expand...
You'd have to be really sure you want it, to eat the costs :o

Would potentially hobble the rest of the build too, unless that's coming out of an extra budget.
 
Troezar said:
I'd go midrange CPU for now and swap out when Zen 6 drops. I wouldn't be dropping cash on a 9950X3D at this point.
Click to expand...

I think the 9950X3D is a relative bargain right now. Especially for a system that’s an editing rig by day and gaming system at night.

It’s a lot of chip for the money compared to the 8 core X3D and 16 core X3D2.
 
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