I haven't built a gaming PC for over fifteen years; I defected to PlayStation in '08 when the constant upgrading got too expensive to really justify, but now I'm looking to come crawling back.
I am finding it easy enough to find build ideas for very capable (and expensive) machines but I am that out of touch with "what's good" that I no longer have any idea of what would be "good enough" (to play most modern games at "high" settings and at 60fps).
Basically, I would like help in avoiding an attempt at going back to my old ways and building some kind of pie in the sky setup like this:
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
CPU fan NZXT Kraken 360 RGB
MB Asus Prime X670E-Pro WiFi 6E
GPU Gigabyte Aero GeForce RTX 4090 24GB
RAM G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB Series 64GB DDR5-6000
SSD Samsung 990 Pro 2TB
PSU Corsair RM1000x Shift 1000 W
Perhaps the could serve as a starting point - what could you cut from the above build and what would you substitute?
Sub the 7950x3d for a 7800x3d, and swap the GPU for a 4070 or 7800 xt. You can likely swap the MB, but I’ll let someone else speak to that one.
Where I would spend money is with two NVMe drives. A 1TB drive for the OS and a 2TB game drive. You can add a spinning HD for mass storage if needed.
If you really want to save some money, go with an x570 MB and a 5800x3D. But I’d stay with the GPUs from this gen. Downside is you have no room for upgrades down the line.
For reference, I have an x570 MB, 5800x3D, and a 6750xt GPU. I’m not having issues running games.
Definitely agree that 7800x3D is better value for gaming. Depending on the games played and choice of GPU, the 7600 could provide an even better value option. The 4090 is the only offering from Nvidia that makes sort of sense IMO (and only if you want to spend a lot for the best) with 7900 xtx > 7900 > 7800 the better choices in order of higher to lower performance and lower to higher value.
That being said, all the components are way overkill for 60 fps at 1080p. If you are not going to capitalize on the performance with a higher framerate and resolution monitor, there really is not a need for this tier of components at all. A used B550/B450 board and a 7600 could easily drive modern gamed with lower settings at 60fps/1080p at a fraction of the price.