First PC Build

[New_to_This]

Budget (including currency): 4,000 CAD$

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Fortnite, War Thunder, Dark souls series, Risk of Rain 2, Streaming, and Recording.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

I have 0 experience with building a PC, I already have a Razer Basilisk X Hyperspeed mouse for my laptop but no other parts or peripherals. I would like 1440p at 240Hz and am ready to buy now.

[MadAnt250]

I think you have a good starting budget, but I'm having a hard time looking for decent RAM for you. Even some of the good value motherboards seem to be out of stock right now.

 

I really hate to say this, but if you want a PC right now, it might be best to find a used system or buy a new pre-built system with the proper specifications that fit your needs. My gut hurts just saying that right now, but this is the reality we are facing right now. You can wait a few months, but we don't know if the "RAM shortages" will get worse, which I think it will not get better for a longer time.

 

[Why_Me]

20 hours ago, New_to_This said:

Budget (including currency): 4,000 CAD$

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Fortnite, War Thunder, Dark souls series, Risk of Rain 2, Streaming, and Recording.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

I have 0 experience with building a PC, I already have a Razer Basilisk X Hyperspeed mouse for my laptop but no other parts or peripherals. I would like 1440p at 240Hz and am ready to buy now.

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

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($484.96 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler  ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: *Asus TUF GAMING B650E-PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($239.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: *Western Digital Blue SN580 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($215.96 @ shopRBC) 
Video Card: *Gigabyte WINDFORCE SFF GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card  ($1049.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: *ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($101.89 @ Vuugo) 
Monitor: *LG UltraGear 27GR83Q-B 27.0" 2560 x 1440 240 Hz Monitor  ($540.00 @ Amazon Canada) 
Total: $3247.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-12-17 18:58 EST-0500

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($608.96 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool LS720S ZERO DARK 85.85 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($134.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Motherboard: *Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($288.99 @ PC-Canada) 
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: *Western Digital Blue SN580 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($215.96 @ shopRBC) 
Video Card: *Gigabyte WINDFORCE SFF GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card  ($1049.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: *ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($101.89 @ Vuugo) 
Monitor: *LG UltraGear 27GR83Q-B 27.0" 2560 x 1440 240 Hz Monitor  ($540.00 @ Amazon Canada) 
Total: $3505.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-12-17 19:00 EST-0500

[MadAnt250]

29 minutes ago, Why_Me said:

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

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($484.96 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler  ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: *Asus TUF GAMING B650E-PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($239.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: *Western Digital Blue SN580 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($215.96 @ shopRBC) 
Video Card: *Gigabyte WINDFORCE SFF GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card  ($1049.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: *ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($101.89 @ Vuugo) 
Monitor: *LG UltraGear 27GR83Q-B 27.0" 2560 x 1440 240 Hz Monitor  ($540.00 @ Amazon Canada) 
Total: $3247.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-12-17 18:58 EST-0500

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($608.96 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool LS720S ZERO DARK 85.85 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($134.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Motherboard: *Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($288.99 @ PC-Canada) 
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: *Western Digital Blue SN580 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($215.96 @ shopRBC) 
Video Card: *Gigabyte WINDFORCE SFF GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card  ($1049.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: *ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($101.89 @ Vuugo) 
Monitor: *LG UltraGear 27GR83Q-B 27.0" 2560 x 1440 240 Hz Monitor  ($540.00 @ Amazon Canada) 
Total: $3505.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-12-17 19:00 EST-0500

To tell the truth, I gave up on trying to put together a list after seeing how much was out of stock and how awful the value was for motherboards and RAM that was in stock. I know the OP has plenty of budget, but looking at everything just made me feel sick. If the OP wants to spend on one of the two lists, then I recommend they do it without regret, not look back to think about if the deal could have been better, and just enjoy their new PC.

 

Sorry for the response, lol. Anyway, if it helps, going with a 2TB NVME drive is probably a smart move going into 2026, with these newer games taking up more storage space. Good choice

[New_to_This]

2 hours ago, MadAnt250 said:

To tell the truth, I gave up on trying to put together a list after seeing how much was out of stock and how awful the value was for motherboards and RAM that was in stock. I know the OP has plenty of budget, but looking at everything just made me feel sick. If the OP wants to spend on one of the two lists, then I recommend they do it without regret, not look back to think about if the deal could have been better, and just enjoy their new PC.

 

Sorry for the response, lol. Anyway, if it helps, going with a 2TB NVME drive is probably a smart move going into 2026, with these newer games taking up more storage space. Good choice

That's exactly what I want to do, I've been wanting to build a PC for a while now and just never had the space for it. I knew it was going to be painful with all the price increases I've been hearing about so I just wanted to bite the bullet and build i before stuff gets worse. I'll be going with the second build list thank you both.

[New_to_This]

4 hours ago, Why_Me said:

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

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($484.96 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler  ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: *Asus TUF GAMING B650E-PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($239.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: *Western Digital Blue SN580 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($215.96 @ shopRBC) 
Video Card: *Gigabyte WINDFORCE SFF GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card  ($1049.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: *ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($101.89 @ Vuugo) 
Monitor: *LG UltraGear 27GR83Q-B 27.0" 2560 x 1440 240 Hz Monitor  ($540.00 @ Amazon Canada) 
Total: $3247.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-12-17 18:58 EST-0500

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($608.96 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool LS720S ZERO DARK 85.85 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($134.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Motherboard: *Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($288.99 @ PC-Canada) 
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: *Western Digital Blue SN580 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($215.96 @ shopRBC) 
Video Card: *Gigabyte WINDFORCE SFF GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card  ($1049.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: *ASRock Steel Legend SL-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($101.89 @ Vuugo) 
Monitor: *LG UltraGear 27GR83Q-B 27.0" 2560 x 1440 240 Hz Monitor  ($540.00 @ Amazon Canada) 
Total: $3505.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-12-17 19:00 EST-0500

Forgot to ask this, but what brand for a keyboard and headset would you recommend? 

[Why_Me]

3 minutes ago, New_to_This said:

Forgot to ask this, but what brand for a keyboard and headset would you recommend? 

I tend to favor Logitech keyboards and mice. I use an older Sennheiser headset so I'm not much help there.

[FreddyWestside]

6 hours ago, Why_Me said:

I tend to favor Logitech keyboards and mice. I use an older Sennheiser headset so I'm not much help there.

Man after my own heart!

 

My only input on your list is that I don't really trust WD SSDs anymore, between the problems with the mis-sized components on their entire line of portable SSDs and spinning the SSD division off into an independent company that could go any direction from here... I'd rather buy Samsung, Nextorage (Phizon now that Sony left the partnership), Crucial until this week, or even one of the bigger budget brands (Teamgroup, ADATA, Silicon Power) with a little research on the exact model. I was a WD fanboy for a long time, and still prefer their spinning disks; but they bought Samsung, screwed up their designs, and now just buy components from the new company they have no control over.