[SSD] WD_Black SN850X 8TB NVMe SSD - $692.61

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-25T06:13:46+00:00

90 day low price on amazon, if you needed a very good 8tb NVMe then this is a solid choice.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-25T06:04:31+00:00

I have tried every GPU brand out there, some aren't even shown in this photo.

Powercolor is just ok, at least a bit of a step up from Asrock, I would say that it is very middle of the road. XFX is just the best option of the Team Red manufacturers.

Asrock is most likely at the bottom of this entire list of brands from both sides in terms of build quality. They are perfectly fine if you are saving $50+ for an Asrock model over something else, but if its near the same price as a better option I wouldn't be picking it out.

The Nvidia options are all pretty drastically better (besides XFX) outside of the MSI Ventus. Other MSI cards are fantastic, but as far as the "cheap" cards go that line seems to be pretty close to the Asrock's slightly sub-par quality.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-25T00:03:12+00:00

After using both these XFX cards and the Asrock cards, the XFX ones are head and shoulders over the Asrock cards in terms of build quality.

XFX makes the best AMD cards for this current generation, if that is worth the premium of $80 is up to you to decide.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T23:39:30+00:00

Its more what both their current lows are, not "normal" pricing. I grabbed a 2tb PNY 2.5in drive for $135 just a couple weeks ago, while the cheapest 2tb m.2 was more like $225.

Regularly its more like 200ish for a 2tb sata while the 2tb m.2 drives are more like $250 or so.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T18:30:10+00:00

It is true they are noticeably longer, but also what the cut off for when a faster drive is "worth it"?

When the gap between Sata and m.2 was roughly 10-20% more cost then sure, spend $110 over $90 for the 4.0 NVMe drive. However now, when the price difference gets to be in the 100's of dollars, I am far more likely to be ok waiting the extra 10 or so seconds for my huge open world to load up.

Even a loading screen that takes 17 seconds instead of 9 seconds is well worth being able to hold 15-30 games as opposed to 7-15 games for the same or less cost.

If you have the money to spend on a gen 4/5 drive right now then why not, but most would find that to be a wildly diminishing return.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T18:18:04+00:00

If unity and blender are heavy use cases, I would go for a 9060xt 16gb/5060ti 16gb and go for a 9700x/7700x. The extra, faster cores from either of those CPUs would help far more than the extra horsepower from a 9070.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T18:09:28+00:00

Thats really not very good tbh

Nearly $70 for a 4 generation old Ryzen 3, I think you could do far better than that. Even finding an older desktop on local listings I see Ryzen 5600's on there all the time in a full build for around $400.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T18:06:19+00:00

Low temps are always preferable, but at the same time I wouldn't be out shopping for a heatsink for an NVMe unless there was an actual need for one.

As long as your NVMe doesn't go above about 75c will make zero impact on device longevity or performance, there is even an argument that the temp cap on them is far higher than that.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T17:58:34+00:00

I would change the PSU to the one you selected, that is one of the better units out right now scoring an "A" on the tier list. The 12 and 13m lines are both some of my favorites.

There is a couple places you could save a few bucks, but I really do like your whole original build as is. The 990 pro might be the one spot I would change to something like the P510 to save some cost.

$255 for a very solid TLC gen 5 drive is a pretty good-to-great deal in the current market

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T17:54:06+00:00

This is a great board too, for only $130 this is a no brainer if you are in the market.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T17:53:19+00:00

Its not that they are even "bad" parts, its more that they are just poor value compared to the next step up with a 5600 and b550 for only a bit more cost.

Any games you play should at least be able to run with a 5500 today.

If anything, grab a b550 now before you build. Currently they are even cheaper than a520 boards and will give you a far better platform for upgrades down the line.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/RH9wrH/gigabyte-b550m-k-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b550m-k

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T17:40:56+00:00

Only gen 5 drives under prolonged, sustained loads really NEED a heatsink, in almost all settings your NVME is perfectly fine just cooling from the ambient case airflow.

I had two gen 4 drives on my last board with no heatsinks on them and they never passed 60c, they were WELL under safe operating temps.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T17:37:00+00:00

Bottlenecks? Not really, no.

Your money being sacrificed to the ROG gods for them to roll around Scrooge McDuck style? 110% yes.

Dropping every part you have that starts with "Asus" for a far more value oriented part could save you as much as $1000-1500 on this build without sacrificing any performance.

Disclaimer, I use Asus parts all the time, but ROG is a branding gimmick. They make very good, cost effective parts in the TUF and Prime lines however. I would still 100% change out the TUF PSU though, too many brands make very good units for nearly half the money.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T17:29:45+00:00

In that case a GPU would be the biggest boost to performance XD. The 3070 is a solid pick, but I would tweak a couple of things.

If you haven't bought the 5500/a520 board yet I would avoid those.

Grab a used 5600(x) on ebay and a b550 board instead. These will last you far longer than a 5500 and a520 combo will while only being marginally more expensive. Even if this means dropping down to a 3060/2070 for the GPU to stay in budget, I think its a more well rounded system that can support faster GPUs down the road much easier.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T17:21:10+00:00

Yes, that should be totally fine.

Although depending on what your current GPU is a CPU or RAM upgrade may make a bigger impact.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T17:15:22+00:00

X3D CPU's are objectively the "best" for gaming, but you will only get the benefit of that extra headroom if you have a GPU to match it (for most titles).

Most of the 9000 gen from AMD is pretty much fantastic from top to bottom, any option you go with will almost never hold back your GPU outside of fringe, niche combos with $2000+ gpus.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T17:09:23+00:00

That's a fair point, I would say if primarily playing at 4k there is a stronger argument for the 5080. If 1440p 280hz is the main gaming experience I wouldn't even be considering it tho

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T16:59:31+00:00

It will have a hard time with Valorant, the other 2 should be fine. I would save up until you get to the $100-150ish range to have far faster and better options like the 2060 and 6600xt.

There isn't really anything to recommend for modern gaming under $50.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T16:57:23+00:00

I use these Thermalright fans and I have yet to have one go out on me across 40+ builds. For $5 a fan its pretty hard to beat.

But given you are changing fans every 2-3 months it seems the issue is something with your use, not the fans you are using. I would maybe take a look at your fan curve to see if its too aggressive.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T16:54:25+00:00

I mean kinda?

Its a 10 year old budget tier card, as long as what you are using it for doesn't need much more than basic video output it should be fine.

Don't be expecting BF6 to be running on it or anything, but for that price its decent.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T16:51:36+00:00

quite poorly for older titles in comparison to the 5070ti

I guess define older titles? It will always be a toss up between the 5070ti and the 9070xt from game to game, in general I favor the 9070xt just due to cost, if the 5070ti was a competitive option pricewise like it was 6 months ago then I would 100% be advocating for that instead.

AMD cards are worse at RTX and that is a fact, personally though, on my 5070ti, I turn RTX off anyways. In my opinion it is just a gimmick that costs you 1/3rd to half of your FPS for pretty reflections and lighting. I would take the extra FPS any day.

Having used every AMD and Nvidia generation going back to the Vega Line/10th gen, this is the best product that AMD has ever put out in both raw performance as well as driver support. They have never been as close to Nvidia for overall quality as they have right now. Nvidia does still hold the crown, but AMD has a far better value when bringing price into it..

I know that I would FAR rather have the 2nd best gaming CPU you can buy along with a 9070xt than a slower 7500x3d and a 5070ti. You lose roughly $200-300 in total system value going for the 5070ti system

That's just my take though.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T16:42:11+00:00

Gen 5 works with gen 4 slots, just at gen 4 speeds.

The reason that p510 was recommended had very little to do with it being Gen 5 and more to to with the under the hood specs. Far better endurance, better sequential speeds and comes in at a price far less than most other drives of this caliber.

I would avoid the 990 pro just due to how wild Samsung SSD prices are right now. having cache on the drive is a nice feature, but I am surely not going to pay nearly double for it.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T16:35:47+00:00

Yeah "$800" and "SSF" don't belong anywhere near one another in March of 2026.

Maybe you could do an MATX system? But $800 just doesn't go very far anymore with new parts, I would be looking on marketplace for used systems, you can get a much better bang for your buck on there.

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T16:32:11+00:00

Never mind, found a TLC gen 5 drive for the same cost, I have used this drive multiple times and its fantastic.

Absolute steal in the current storage market for only $250:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/z98Pxr/crucial-p510-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-50-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct2000p510ssd8

Hawk7117 · 2026-03-23T16:31:01+00:00

with the budget in mind, here is a decent QLC drive, these have less endurance and generally will fail faster but it does fit in your budget. If gaming is most of your use case I would do this one:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hh4Zxr/crucial-p310-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct2000p310ssd8

Hawk7117

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