The last time I did a full PC build was about 9 years ago. I think I built it for The Witcher 2 if I remember right. It has been a good one. But I think it is going to hit its limit with Cyberpunk 2077 and other games I want to play this year. The United States government also sent out stimulus checks. So I had some extra money for a new build.
My theory is as long as you keep your PC specs above consoles you can play anything you want. So I wanted to be better than any current-gen or next-gen consoles.
My Thoughts on Video Cards
I’ve been hearing a lot about ray tracing. I feel like that’s only going to become more popular over time so I wanted to have that ability in my computer build. I also hear Cyberpunk 2077 will be able to take advantage of ray tracing.
My Thoughts on CPUs
The last time around I put an AMD Phenom with 6 CPU cores in my PC build. A few people told me I was crazy because games do not use more than 2 cores. But I had a feeling that would change and it has. I think this is one of the main reasons my old PC was able to last so long.
CPU speeds do not really grow anymore so in my opinion cores are what matter. With that being said I want more cores. At least 8 without going too crazy on the price.
My Thoughts on Memory
You don’t think about memory until you run out. On my last build, I went with 8GBs. I remember I wanted 16GBs but it cost a lot at the time.
9 years later 8GBs is not really that much. I almost went for 16GBs this time but then I remembered 9 years ago. I had the extra money so I decided on 32GBs.
My Thoughts on Storage
I’ve been behind the curve on storage for a while. I only got my first SSD a few years ago and the boost it gave my current computer was amazing. But at 500GBs it is not that big. The last 3 games I played were all over 40GBs in size and new ones are getting even bigger.
NieR Automata = 48 GBs
Fallout 76 = 58 GBs
Final Fantasy XV = 105GBs
So I went with a 1TB SSD.
I am saving some money going with a SATA type. I’ve seen some blind tests were people can’t tell a difference with game loading times between a SATA or the “faster” M.2. So SATA it is.
My Thoughts on Computer Cases
Cooling and airflow are all I care about. I can care less about RGB. In fact, I think it just makes extra heat and uses up extra power. I guess I am more of a minimalist.
My PC Build for Cyberpunk 2077 and beyond
Now that you know my thought process here is the build I’ve gone with. The prices I list are what I paid at the time. Some stuff was on sale. Hopefully, they drop for you too!
Update: Prices have changed a lot since I posted this.
CPU = AMD Ryzen 7 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3.2 GHz base clock. – $249.99
Motherboard = MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS – $169.99
Memory = G.SKILL TridentZ Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3200 – $147.99
Video Card = GeForce RTX 2070 8GB – $399.99
Storage = Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB SATA III – $163.40
Power Supply = CORSAIR CX-M Series CX750M 750W – $121.11
Case = Phanteks Enthoo Pro series PH-ES614PC_BK Black Steel – $96.99
I already have Monitors, Keyboards and all of that.
Performance
The Start of Another 9 Years!
Maybe this computer will last me another 9 years of gaming! I hope so. I feel like it will at least play Cyberpunk 2077 well.
I have some M.2 slots on the motherboard in case that becomes a bigger deal down the road. But I think the rest of it is pretty future proof for a while. What do you think? Let me know in a comment below.
