$2500 Build (Canada)

[knight_40k]

My brother is looking to buy a PC for around $2500 CAD. I think he's currently on a 2500K/Radeon 7950HD system. His demands aren't that high, he just wants Minecraft for the kids and Helldivers 2 / Space Marine 2 for our friend group. He will also do some word/excel and large PDF files for work.

 

I put this together for him (will get Windows11 from CDkeyoffer). A 'nice to have' would be front panel USB-C, I didn't spend much time on the build, I just figured 9800X3D/9070XT was the way to go, or alternatively 7800X3D being last generation is still perfectly viable assuming there is a deal to be had. His monitor is not the best, 60Hz (24"-27" I think but has DP and HDMI) though I may be able to convince him to stretch the budget for a new one. 
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/3pqvJn

 

Open to critiques/alternatives. (He does not care about RGB, but if it's there so be it)

[FilipposTechGR]

8 minutes ago, knight_40k said:

My brother is looking to buy a PC for around $2500 CAD. I think he's currently on a 2500K/Radeon 7950HD system. His demands aren't that high, he just wants Minecraft for the kids and Helldivers 2 / Space Marine 2 for our friend group. He will also do some word/excel and large PDF files for work.

 

I put this together for him (will get Windows11 from CDkeyoffer). A 'nice to have' would be front panel USB-C, I didn't spend much time on the build, I just figured 9800X3D/9070XT was the way to go, or alternatively 7800X3D being last generation is still perfectly viable assuming there is a deal to be had. His monitor is not the best, 60Hz (24"-27" I think but has DP and HDMI) though I may be able to convince him to stretch the budget for a new one. 
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/3pqvJn

 

Open to critiques/alternatives. (He does not care about RGB, but if it's there so be it)

That’s a solid parts list overall The 9800X3D is definitely strong for gaming + light productivity, but given your brother’s use case Minecraft, Helldivers 2, Office/PDFs, you could save quite a bit by going with a 7800X3D instead, it’s still excellent for 1440p/4K gaming and frees budget for a better GPU or monitor.
GPU: The 9070XT or even an RTX 4070 Super would be more than enough for those titles, unless he wants max settings at 4K.
Monitor: Since he’s on 60Hz now, upgrading to a 144Hz+ panel would actually be a bigger quality-of-life jump than overspending on CPU.
PSU: Your wattage is only 545W, so a good 750–850W Gold unit is plenty. No need to overspend.
TL;DR: 7800X3D + mid-range GPU + monitor upgrade = more balanced build for the budget. No need to throw cash at high-end parts if the workload doesn’t demand it.

[RockstarArthur]

Choose the 7800X3D and a 9070/4070 Super. Most panels provide type c ports in the front these days. Choose a high quality 750W PSU from the cultists.network tier list shared below.

 

https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

[Why_Me]

You want DDR5-6000 CL30.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($499.00 @ Newegg Canada) 
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler  ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: *Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($249.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($119.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: *Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($137.97 @ Newegg Sellers) 
Video Card: *Asus PRIME OC Radeon RX 9070 16 GB Video Card  ($873.40 @ Vuugo) 
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: *MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($124.48 @ Canada Computers) 
Total: $2134.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-09-07 05:14 EDT-0400

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-11-free-or-cheap 

 

https://www.montechpc.com/air-903-base 

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/montech-air-903-base/ 

 

http://www.idcooling.com/product/detail?id=496&name=FROZN A620 PRO SE 

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/id-cooling-frozn-a620-pro-se-cpu-air-cooler/6.html 

 

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B850-GAMING-X-WIFI6E-rev-1x 

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/silicon-power-ud90-ssd-review  

 

https://www.msi.com/Monitor/G272QPF-E2

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Monitor: *MSI G272QPF E2 27.0" 2560 x 1440 180 Hz Monitor  ($209.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Total: $209.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-09-07 05:20 EDT-0400