Question What CPU + GPU combo for QHD gaming ~$1500 budget for the system?

[Barry_4]

Budget is for the entire system. I can maybe stretch it a little bit for a very compelling component.

I play mainly single player at 60-100 fps. Some games are CPU intensive, such as Total War, Cities Skylines, etc. AMD X3D chips are best in class, but I'm not looking for reasonable value for the money, not the absolute best.

I'm looking at mid-range CPUs at ~$250 like Intel 14600K or AMD 9600X to pair with 4070 GPUs (maybe stretch to a TI or Super if I catch a good sale). What do you think? Should I go with Intel or AMD?

I'm leaning Intel because 14600K is cheaper and faster than the 9600K, albeit with a higher power consumption. The Intel platform being dead is not a major concern. I built my current system on a 6600K, 9 years ago and never bothered to upgrade the CPU.

 

[Lutfij]

QHD = I'd avoid Intel, until they sort themselves out. Ryzen 5/7's and RTX 4070 Super/RX 7800XT

What CPU + GPU combo for QHD gaming ~$1500 budget?
$1500 for both the CPU and GPU? If so, what motherboard, ram did you pick out for the above DDR4/DDR5 platform? If you're recycling your PSU, please mention the make, model and age of the unit and what it'd powered throughout it's tenure.

If $1500 is for the entire build, you might want to stylize your thread with info asked of in this thread;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

and the community can chime in with constructive suggestions.

 

[Eximo]

I suppose it depends exactly what you already have.

If you are keeping the chassis and power supply, any storage?

4070 Ti Super, 7700, CPU cooler, Motherboard, Ram will fit under $1500, a little room for an SSD or bumping up to the 9700X.

If you need a power supply, chassis and storage, than 4070 Super/ 5070 / 9070XT seem to be the logical choice.

 

[Barry_4]

QHD = I'd avoid Intel, until they sort themselves out. Ryzen 5/7's and RTX 4070 Super/RX 7800XT

What CPU + GPU combo for QHD gaming ~$1500 budget?
$1500 for both the CPU and GPU? If so, what motherboard, ram did you pick out for the above DDR4/DDR5 platform? If you're recycling your PSU, please mention the make, model and age of the unit and what it'd powered throughout it's tenure.

If $1500 is for the entire build, you might want to stylize your thread with info asked of in this thread;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

and the community can chime in with constructive suggestions.

$1500 for the entire build. I've clarified the title to make it more clear.

What's wrong with Intel? I thought their degradation issue has been fixed? I'm leaning Intel actually, given their 14600K is cheaper and faster than the 9600X (I can also use cheaper DDR4 with Intel).

 

[artk2219]

Their degradation issue MAY be NEGATED, but it hasn't been fixed in silicon. It hasn't been long enough to be certain that the bios patches have negated the issue.

 

[Barry_4]

I suppose it depends exactly what you already have.

If you are keeping the chassis and power supply, any storage?

4070 Ti Super, 7700, CPU cooler, Motherboard, Ram will fit under $1500, a little room for an SSD or bumping up to the 9700X.

If you need a power supply, chassis and storage, than 4070 Super/ 5070 / 9070XT seem to be the logical choice.

I will carry over a Gen 4 SSD only. 4070 Super looks good, the 5070/9070XT sounds great too, and I can wait a bit for a good price.

 

[Barry_4]

Their degradation issue MAY be NEGATED, but it hasn't been fixed in silicon. It hasn't been long enough to be certain that the bios patches have negated the issue.

Damn, Intel really screwed it up this time. They claimed it was fixed 4 months ago:
https://www.techradar.com/computing...ly-fixed-but-some-owners-may-still-be-worried

 

[logainofhades]

I would stick with AM5. You get upgrade path, and no worries about whether Intel's fix worked or not. I also would wait for new cards to release, but I put in a 7900xt as a placeholder.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor ($324.13 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B850 Pro-A ATX AM5 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Speedster MERC 310 Black Edition Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card ($689.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850e (2023) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $1494.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-13 15:41 EST-0500

 

[Eximo]

Well, they also extended the warranty. So if it fails within 5-years they will have to give you something if not a replacement.

 

[artk2219]

Damn, Intel really screwed it up this time. They claimed it was fixed 4 months ago:
https://www.techradar.com/computing...ly-fixed-but-some-owners-may-still-be-worried

They may not be wrong, its just that that issue took at least months, to over a year for it to effect chips, it'll take at least as long to be sure that the bios patches have actually worked. I would wait on getting a GPU, but for the rest of your system, something like whats below would work fine for years to come.

PCPartPicker Part List
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Qv9kDj

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/66C48d/amd-ryzen-5-7600x-47-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100000593wof) | $198.95 @ Newegg
**CPU Cooler** | [Thermalright Burst Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/sysV3C/thermalright-burst-assassin-120-se-argb-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-ba120-se-argb) | $20.39 @ Amazon
**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CvcgXL/gigabyte-b650-eagle-ax-atx-am5-motherboard-b650-eagle-ax) | $159.99 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mhJgXL/gskill-trident-z5-rgb-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr5-6000-cl36-memory-f5-6000j3636f16gx2-tz5rk) | $87.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Crucial P3 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yGZ9TW/crucial-p3-plus-2-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct2000p3pssd8) | $117.99 @ Best Buy
**Case** | [Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2MwmP6/montech-air-903-max-atx-mid-tower-case-air-903-max-b) | $74.98 @ Amazon
**Power Supply** | [Cooler Master MWE Gold 850 - V2 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/tWMTwP/cooler-master-mwe-gold-850-v2-850-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-mpe-8501-afaag-us) | $89.99 @ B&H
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$750.28**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2025-01-13 15:41 EST-0500 |

 

[Barry_4]

I would stick with AM5. You get upgrade path, and no worries about whether Intel's fix worked or not. I also would wait for new cards to release, but I put in a 7900xt as a placeholder.

This is very reasonable. Thank you for this. Do you feel the 9700X is worth it over the 9600X? I see very little difference in benchmarks.

I'm not too concerned with a dead platform though. CPUs are good enough for so long that by the time I want to upgrade the platform is dead anyway and I'm too lazy to take out the motherboard.

 

[Why_Me]

https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nvidia-has-revealed-the-prices-for-the-rtx-5090-5080-and-5070/
RTX 5070 12GB MSRP: $549

Intel

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-13700F 2.1 GHz 16-Core Processor ($250.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: *Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: *Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($92.97 @ B&H)
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 - TT Premium Edition 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $747.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-13 18:40 EST-0500

AMD

PCPartPicker Part List

Motherboard: *Asus PRIME B650-PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $129.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-13 15:44 EST-0500

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 7700 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($299.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: *Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: *Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($92.97 @ B&H)
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 - TT Premium Edition 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $646.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-13 18:41 EST-0500

 

[MEMOFLEX]

I would stick with AM5. You get upgrade path, and no worries about whether Intel's fix worked or not. I also would wait for new cards to release, but I put in a 7900xt as a placeholder.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9700X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor ($324.13 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B850 Pro-A ATX AM5 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Speedster MERC 310 Black Edition Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card ($689.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850e (2023) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $1494.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-13 15:41 EST-0500

This is probably as good as you will get for the money in my opinion if buying now. I would wait until the AMD 9070 / 5070 / 5070ti are released though just to make sure you are not hit in the face with a big buyers remorse cream flan straight out the gate haha 😜

 

[helper800]

In my opinion, the following is the best perf/$ you can get. Intel CPUs are perfectly fine, and if they are not, they would show signs in the 5 year warranty period for replacement. There is no better performance per dollar that a 14600k right now.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-14600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($224.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO 69 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-7000 CL32 Memory ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial T500 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($145.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Asus TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB Video Card ($579.99)
Case: Fractal Design Pop Air RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1460.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-13 17:07 EST-0500

 

[Barry_4]

This is probably as good as you will get for the money in my opinion if buying now. I would wait until the AMD 9070 / 5070 / 5070ti are released though just to make sure you are not hit in the face with a big buyers remorse cream flan straight out the gate haha 😜

I have an idea what parts to look for now. It's probably wise to wait a couple months for 5070/9070. I've waited a long time for the upgrade, what is a few months longer? 😀 Although, prices don't always go down, especially if the new gen turns out disappointing. 7800X3D went down to $350 last summer, it's shot back up to $450 now after the launch of 9800X3D.

 

[Barry_4]

In my opinion, the following is the best perf/$ you can get. Intel CPUs are perfectly fine, and if they are not, they would show signs in the 5 year warranty period for replacement. There is no better performance per dollar that a 14600k right now.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-14600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($224.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO 69 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-7000 CL32 Memory ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial T500 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($145.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Asus TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB Video Card ($579.99)
Case: Fractal Design Pop Air RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1460.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-13 17:07 EST-0500

I agree 14600K is the best value, with the possible exception of 13600KF, but we will be splitting hair at that point. Is it worth it to go with a DDR4 platform to save even more or is DDR4 only worth it for people with existing components? I heard DDR4/5 make no difference in gaming.

 

[MEMOFLEX]

I have an idea what parts to look for now. It's probably wise to wait a couple months for 5070/9070. I've waited a long time for the upgrade, what is a few months longer? 😀 Although, prices don't always go down, especially if the new gen turns out disappointing. 7800X3D went down to $350 last summer, it's shot back up to $450 now after the launch of 9800X3D.

I would expect that it will only be just over a month before we will know the performance of both cards. Mid February is my best guess so not too much longer to wait.

Regarding your other question I would not invest in a ddr4 system at this stage. There are some games that take advantage of the additional speed and bandwidth but this will only increase as we go along. The same happened with ddr3 to ddr4. Not much at the beginning but became a much wider gap in time. How long? Who knows but it will happen and going ddr4 now will only mean spending more money down the line