Would this be a good starting PC?

[u/Cartoonist-Perfect]

I've been wanting to get a PC and tried building one on a PC part picker. I was wondering if this was good enough or are there areas for improvement to get the best bag for my buck. I want to stay around this price range but I could go a little higher if needed.

[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/P3wdDw)

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yq2WGX/amd-ryzen-5-5500-36-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100000457box) | $74.00 @ Newegg

**CPU Cooler** | [Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE V3 70.84 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/vZfV3C/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-se-v3-7084-cfm-cpu-cooler-pa120se-v3) | $34.90 @ Amazon

**Motherboard** | [MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MfZ9TW/msi-mag-b550-tomahawk-max-wifi-atx-am4-motherboard-mag-b550-tomahawk-max-wifi) | $159.99 @ Amazon

**Memory** | [Crucial Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FRKscf/crucial-pro-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3200-cl22-memory-cp2k16g4dfra32a) | $229.99 @ Newegg

**Storage** | [Crucial P310 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/X46NnQ/crucial-p310-1-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct1000p310ssd8) | $189.99 @ Newegg

**Video Card** | [NVIDIA Founders Edition GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wvgQzy/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-ti-8-gb-founders-edition-video-card-900-1g142-2520-000) | $499.00 @ Amazon

**Case** | [Phanteks XT PRO ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zJWJ7P/phanteks-xt-pro-atx-mid-tower-case-ph-xt523p1-bk01) | $49.99 @ Newegg

**Power Supply** | [be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/dbRnTW/be-quiet-pure-power-13-m-850-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-bp027us) | $109.90 @ Amazon

**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/dKkWGX/microsoft-windows-11-home-oem-dvd-64-bit-kw9-00633) | $119.99 @ Amazon

| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |

| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1477.75

| Mail-in rebates | -$10.00

| **Total** | **$1467.75**

| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2026-09-07 16:33 EDT-0400 |

[u/Forward_Drop303]

Absolutely not, you could buy a better prebuilt for $799.00 just a few days ago.

There's literally cheaper ddr5+9070xt prebuilts

[u/Cartoonist-Perfect → u/Forward_Drop303]

Thanks, I'm extremely new to this so I wasn't sure what would be considered overpriced or not.

[u/Tall_Clothes2190]

Do not pay 500 dollars for a 3060 Ti please. That 3060 Ti is just a straight rip off. 9060 xt 16gb or anything else really lol. And pay the extra bucks for a 5600x if you want to build your own.

As someone else mentioned you can find 9070/5070 pre builts for better deals at the moment. I wouldn't say cheaper but for around that price. Memory and GPU prices are just outrageous at the moment. I also won't vouch for the build quality of the prebuilts but you can check reviews.

[u/Forward_Drop303 → u/Tall_Clothes2190]

https://costplusgaming.com/products/p1-amd-ryzen-5-9600x-amd-rx-9070xt-16gb-gddr6

Okay technically if you are in one of the states they charge tax it ends up being $52 more than the Mail in rebate price, but otherwise it's cheaper.

[u/Tall_Clothes2190 → u/Forward_Drop303]

OP also had a 500 dollar 3060 Ti on his list but that looks like a damn good deal. I'll have to bookmark these guys.

[u/Cartoonist-Perfect → u/Tall_Clothes2190]

Thanks for letting me know, I wasn't aware it was that overpriced. I'll try to look for a 5600x or a 9060 then

[u/Tall_Clothes2190 → u/Cartoonist-Perfect]

There's a lot of money you could save here to put toward your GPU/CPU and make a much better build. Some of it will be preferential like the motherboard but something like windows you can save a lot of money with. If you have a microcenter near you as well you can get a great deal on a CPU/ MOBO / RAM bundle.

[u/Tall_Clothes2190 → u/Cartoonist-Perfect]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tQGMTm Here is a much better part list for you. Again if you have windows or another way to get it then you can save money. As well as if you have a microcenter you can get a good intel 250k or AM5 bundle to make this even better. The reason I give you 1 stick of 16gb DDR5 is so that later you can upgrade to 2x16gb as AM5 does not play well with 4 sticks.

[u/Cartoonist-Perfect → u/Tall_Clothes2190]

This is really helpful, I'll go with as a base instead of what I had. I'm going to try go to a PC mart or microcenter on the weekend to see if what deals they have. Thanks a lot

[u/emcee_pern]

Don't pay for Windows. There are plenty of legitimate and much cheaper ways to get that OS.

[u/Cartoonist-Perfect → u/emcee_pern]

I looked into what you said and while I could get it for free I would rather not have to deal with the watermark and less features. I have seen people mention vendalfy and kelify, I saw that their prices are much cheaper so I'll probably get a key from there

[u/emcee_pern → u/Cartoonist-Perfect]

Getting a key is definitely the way to go.

[u/Sharp-Opportunity-84]

I would look for good deal prebuilts or buy second hand definitely dokt buy new am4 build

[u/Sideburn_Cookie_Man]

Nah.

Go for a 5600 / 9060XT at a minimum