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(Image credit: Tom's Hardware) Everyone's been trying to get around the fallout on DDR5 prices, but you can score a 32GB kit for less by going with a prebuilt desktop. There's no better evidence of that than the MSI Codex R2 with an RTX 5060, Core i5-14400F, 2TB of storage, and 32GB of DDR5, which is on sale for just $899.
For the price, the specs all add up here. The Core i5-14400F is behind Intel's current best gaming CPU, the Core i7-14700K, and the RTX 5060 is mostly suited for 1080p gaming, bolstered by DLSS Super Resolution and Multi-Frame Generation. The two points that are surprising are RAM and storage. You get 2TB of storage — 1TB is more common at this price — and 32GB of memory.
It's no surprise that RAM prices are surging , with most 32GB kits going for around $350 to $450 over the holiday weekend. Shave that cost off the price of the MSI Codex R2, and you're getting the rest of the components for around $500. That's an incredible deal.
The MSI Codex R2 B14NVL5-449US comes with an Intel Core i5-14400F, Nvidia RTX 5060, 32GB of DDR5 memory, and 2TB of storage. You can save $200 on it for Cyber Monday, bringing the price down to $899.
For 1080p gaming, this configuration is just about perfect. The RTX 5060 currently ranks as our best value GPU in our GPU hierarchy when looking at FPS per dollar. It's hamstring by an 8GB frame buffer, but thankfully, that limitation doesn't impose itself too often at 1080p.
You could run into VRAM limitations if you step up to 1440p, though it's hard to say for sure. Different games and engines stress VRAM in different ways, and using tools like upscaling or frame generation can throw off the frame buffer math, as well.
On the CPU end, the Core i5-14400F is great for a 1080p gaming rig. Although we weren't positive on the CPU in our Intel Core i5-14400 review , that was mainly due to its last-gen comparison. The Core i5-13400 (and its F-series variant) offers performance within a point or two of the Raptor Lake Refresh chip.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) As you can see from our benchmark results, the Core i5-14400F sits at the bottom of our results for gaming performance . It's certainly the weakest link in this system, but the LGA1700 motherboard allows you to easily slot in something like the Core i7-14700K for an in-place CPU upgrade down the line.
The important thing when looking at this PC is that DDR5. Given where prices are, and where they're headed over the next several years , securing a 32GB kit gives you a ton of flexibility for upgrades in the future.
You can pick up the MSI Codex R2 B14NVL5-449US for $899 at Newegg now. It's backordered until December 4 at the time of writing.
If you're looking for more Black Friday savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals , Gaming Monitor Deals , Graphics Card Deals , Gaming Chair , Best Wi-Fi Routers , Best Motherboard or CPU Deals pages.
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/avoid-the-ram-apocalypse-with-this-usd899-msi-desktop-get-32gb-of-ddr5-and-an-rtx-5060-for-usd200-off#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.