After nearly a decade of unbelievable service, and with price increases likely on the horizon, it’s finally come time to retire my old desktop.

After some analysis, here’s what I’ve settled on:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5 GHz 8-Core Processor	$250.00
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$39.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX V2 ATX AM5 Motherboard	$179.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws S5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory	$189.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$0.00
Storage	Western Digital Red Pro 2 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	$0.00
Video Card	Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB Video Card	$799.99 @ Amazon
Case	Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower Case	$94.00 @ Newegg Sellers
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 850 GT 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.99 @ Amazon
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total	$1663.86
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-13 19:11 EST-0500

Some quick explanations on decision making:

• Primary usage is a mix of gaming and CAD / 3D modeling / rendering.

• After Intel shit the bed one too many times, I’m definitely taking an AMD CPU. I could be convinced to go to the 7600X3D, but there seems to be a noticeable dropoff on non-gaming tasks, such as 3D modeling, and some debate about the viability of a 6-core CPU going forward.

• The two hard drives are listed as $0 because I already own them, and will be transferring them into this unit.

• 850W power supply should give me ample room for overclocking, adding future components, while still staying under that 80% load limit.

Open questions / things I’m uncertain on:

• CPU Cooler: I’ve heard that Ryzens can run hot, but I’m unsure if I need such a beefy one. For a 7700X, is it too much?

• RAM: Is 64GB a lot? Yes. RAM shortages plagued me until I brought my current machine up to 48GB. I thought 64 would carry me forward with room to spare. Is this silly?

• Went with a 4070 Ti Super for the 16GB RAM. Is it too much GPU for the rest of this rig?

Now, here’s my big question: Micro Center nearby me is running combo deals for a 7700X or 7600X3D, Gigabyte or Asus motherboard, and 32GB RAM. Looking at what I’m trying to build, does that make sense? Would upgrading to 64GB with 4 sticks later be a problem?