For now, theRyzen 9 7000series remains the best value for core-heavy tasks.
Meanwhile,SSD priceshave stabilized.
We provide explanations for each of our choices, so you’re free to make informed alternative purchases.
With a 65W TDP, it can be cooled adequately by the stock cooler in a well-ventilated case.
The AsrockB650M Pro RSalso offers decent thermal performance, four memory slots, and three M.2 slots for storage.
DDR5-6000 is the sweet spot for Zen 4 processors when it comes to memory speed.
With small price differences between same-speed kits, you might as well chooseone of the kitswith the lowest latencies.
It’s not one ofthe best SSDson the market, but it’s close enough.
TheThermaltake Smartis our budget PSU recommendation, with ratings of 500W and 80 Plus efficiency, and 5-year warranty.
If you prefer USB-C out of the box, check out theOkinos Aqua 3.
The LG 27UK650-W is a solid 4K option for$247.
More options for different budgets can be found in ourbest monitorsfeature.
The RazerDeathAdder Essentialand LogitechWave Keysis our recommended keyboard and mouse combo at this price point.
For more options, see our lists of topkeyboardsandmice.
Our CPU of choice ships with the middlingWraith Stealthcooler, which you should probably replace with something better.
However, you don’t need a heavy cooler that hides half of the motherboard.
TheArctic Freezer 34 eSports Duoand theNoctua U12S Reduxwould also work fine.
A2 x 16GB memory kitis more than enough for modern games.
TheSK Hynix P41 Platinumis one ofthe best SSDson the market, with bus-saturating PCIe 4.0 performance.
The Radeon RX 6600 willconsistently outperformNvidia’s current version of GeForce RTX 3050 by a large margin.
For our build recommendation we pushed things a bit further though.
Thanks to recent discounts, theRadeon RX 6750 XTis a good upgrade option.
The case we chose for this build is theFractal Design North.
Our best cases guide includesmore solid optionsfor under $100.
TheMSI G274QPXwill let you do all of that on a 27" IPS display for a fair price.
The RazerDeathAdder V3is a safe bet for a mouse, and so is the CorsairK65 Plusfor a keyboard.
Once again, our bestmiceandkeyboardsguides include more options for more specific needs and budgets.
Our RAM and storage recommendations remain the same as in the previous build.
Again, ourbest casesguide includes more good options.
The best gaming monitor for you will depend on the games you play.
Similarly, the RazerHunstman V3 Prokeyboard uses analog optical switches with an adjustable actuation point.
Our bestmiceandkeyboardguides include more options.
It can also handle gaming on par with the best gaming PCs when paired with a fast GPU.
While it’s not inexpensive, it offers excellent value for its capabilities.
We like the incredibly-priced ThermalrightPhantom Spirit 120 SE.
For future upgrades, we chose 64GB of RAM in just two sticks.
TheCorsair MP600 Prois one of the best SSDs for creators, with great sustained write speeds.
Notice that it’s often priced differently with different heatsink shapes and colors.
A 2TB drive should be sufficient for regular work unless you have very specific storage demands.
An archive of all your work will probably be safer onexternal drivesoron a NAS.
Choosing the best graphics card for this system greatly depends on the programs you’ll be working with.
We recommend that you search the web for relevant benchmarks before making your choice.
As always, ourbest casesguide includes more options.
As with storage, choosing a monitor will depend if you have special needs and requirements for work.
It also has a true 10-bit panel, and can display colors that very few monitors can.
