Another Monday, another round of news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has four deals for us:

• The first of the two Deals of the Day is Cloudpunk: Ultimate Edition, 62% off during 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/cloudpunk_ultimate_edition
• The second DotD is Syberia: The World Before, with a 65% discount until Wednesday: https://www.gog.com/en/game/syberia_the_world_before
• I don't know which kind of calendar is CDP using, but they've launched the Autumn Sale, with more than 4000 titles on sale with up to 90% discounts until September, 11th. Check it out here
• And with every new big sales there's always a GIVEAWAY: Hero of the Kingdom II can be yours for free during the next 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hero_of_the_kingdom_ii

Steam has one new deal: There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension will be 30% off until the 3rd of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1240210/There_Is_No_Game_Wrong_Dimension/.

And Fanatical has a new Star Deal: GRIME will be 65% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/grime.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

20 minutes of new gameplay from the Oblivion Remake in Skyrim, Skyblivion
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/20-minutes-of-new-gameplay-from-the-oblivion-remake-in-skyrim-skyblivion/
The modding team behind The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remake in Skyrim, Skyblivion, has released a new video, showcasing 20 minutes of gameplay from it.
This video shows off one of Oblivion’s most iconic side quests, Mazoga the Orc. And, since this gameplay video is from the latest build of this project, it can give you an idea of what the game currently looks like.

PureDark adds a DRM to his Red Dead Redemption 2 DLSS 3 Mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/puredark-adds-a-drm-to-his-red-dead-redemption-2-dlss-3-mod/
A few days ago, PureDark issued a new update for his Red Dead Redemption 2 DLSS 3 Mod that added a DRM to it. This DRM requires you to authenticate your license, otherwise, you won’t be able to use it.
At this point, we should note that you only have to authenticate only one time. After your first authentication, the mod won’t ask you to re-authenticate it. Moreover, any account that has subscribed to PureDark’s Patreon will be able to pass the authentication. In other words, you don’t need an active membership. If you have subscribed and then unsubscribed from his Patreon, you’ll still be able to pass the authentication.
PureDark has implemented this DRM in preparation for the upcoming Starfield DLSS 3 Mod. The modder knows that a lot of people will be interested in it, so he’s doing everything to combat its illegal distribution. And what better way to protect a paid mod from piracy? But to add a DRM of course.
>> Mods with DRM... this is nuts.

It took modders less than a day to add CJ from GTA: San Andreas to Armored Core 6
https://www.pcgamer.com/it-took-modders-less-than-a-day-to-add-cj-from-gta-san-andreas-to-armored-core-6/
It's not quite at the level of "can Doom run on this potato", but putting GTA: San Andreas protagonist CJ in games is its own kind of meme. You can play Dark Souls as CJ, you can watch CJ and Big Smoke duel it out in Sekiro, and modders even managed to put CJ in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
FromSoftware's Armored Core 6: The Fires of Rubicon has only been out since yesterday, and in that time modders Dropoff and TKGP had just one thing in mind: mecha-CJ. The mod unfortunately doesn't yet appear on NexusMods or other sites, which may be just as well. This thing is deeply, deeply cursed (video below). I thought seeing CJ as a cat in Stray was bad but as a mech it's somehow even worse, with our young hero's proportions stretched-out and twisted into a weapon that can surpass Metal Gear.
>> The video is almost 3 minutes long.

Baldur's Gate 3⁠ already has a ton of custom dice mods—here's 8 of our favorites so far
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-already-has-a-ton-of-custom-dice-modsheres-8-of-our-favorites-so-far/
Baldur's Gate 3 has an easy-to-miss setting that lets you change the color of your skill check d20, but the official options are pretty limited. I've been rocking "Behir Blue" for about 140 hours or so, and I'm ready for a change.
Thankfully, it seems pretty simple to get your own custom dice working in-game (check out Anecx's Dice Sprites Generator for help on that front), and even easier to install other people's creations. All of these dice mods require LaughingLeader's handy BG3ModManager, and while some do not demand Djmr's ImprovedUI mod, I've read that it is required to have multiple custom dice at once.
As an added note: even a cosmetic mod like this will disable Steam and GOG achievements for BG3 at the moment, but dukethedropkicker's Achievement Enabler mod will pop them right back up. It's on the honor system to only use duke's mod with dice skins and not like, something that gives you every weapon in the game. Paladins, remember your oaths! And now, the dice.

The mod that saves one of the best RPGs ever made quietly added a mini-campaign where you play as the 'good guys'
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-mod-that-saves-one-of-the-best-rpgs-ever-made-quietly-added-a-mini-campaign-where-you-play-as-the-good-guys/
It's always a good time to play Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, but especially now⁠—Halloween season is practically upon us, and VTMB's expansive, open-ended roleplaying makes a great follow-up to Baldur's Gate 3.
Modder Wesp5's Unofficial Patch is essential to having the best Bloodlines experience today, both to get it working on modern PCs, and to fix all the issues the ill-starred Troika Games never got around to. The Unofficial Patch team continues to tweak the game and even produce new content for it, and in the 11.3 patch at the end of last year they introduced a level pack come mini-campaign where you play as a Vampire Hunter.
In the base game, the Vampire Hunters of the Society of Leopold are pure antagonists: culty zealots who kidnap an archeologist, torture Vampire River Phoenix, and just generally get in your way. The World of Darkness tabletop setting, however, isn't nearly as restrictive, allowing you to play as Vampire Hunters or even Werewolves⁠—there's precedent here.
>> There aren't any screenshots or videos.

GAMING NEWS

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will support both DLSS and FSR 2.0
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-will-support-both-dlss-and-fsr-2-0/
Ubisoft has just revealed that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will support both DLSS and FSR 2.0 PC upscaling techniques. Additionally, the team has released a beautiful PC trailer that you can watch below.

Immortals of Aveum Patch 1 released, full changelog revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/immortals-of-aveum-patch-1-released-full-changelog-revealed/
Ascendant Studios has released Patch #1 for its latest magic FPS game, Immortals of Aveum. According to the changelog, this first update improves the shader compilation screen. Moreover, it packs a number of fixes and may slightly improve performance.

Here are 13 minutes of gameplay from Path of Exile 2 Gamescom 2023 Demo
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-13-minutes-of-gameplay-from-path-of-exile-2-gamescom-2023-demo/
Grinding Gear Games has shared a new video, showcasing 13 minutes of new gameplay footage from the Gamescom 2023 Demo of Path of Exile 2. This video focuses on the Druid class and highlights some of the skills and abilities that you can use.

Valheim Patch 0.217.14 released and here’s its full changelog
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/valheim-patch-0-217-14-released-and-heres-its-full-changelog/
Iron Gate has released Patch 0.217.14 for Valheim which adds new content to the game, and revealed its full changelog. According to the devs, this latest update adds a new NPC, Hildir the merchant. Moreover, it brings to the game new locations, new items, new hair and beard styles, as well as world modifiers and two new crafting extensions.

Persona 3 Reload will use Denuvo, gets official PC requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/persona-3-reload-will-use-denuvo-gets-official-pc-requirements/
SEGA and Atlus revealed that Persona 3 Reload will be using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech, and shared its official PC system requirements.

Starfield planet boundaries showcased in new leaked video
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/starfield-planet-boundaries-showcased-in-new-leaked-video/
Starfield releases in a few days and in case you weren’t aware, it won’t allow for seamless exploration on its planets. Instead, the game will divide the planet surfaces into big cells, and below you can find a video that showcases the planet boundaries that players may encounter.
>> The video in the article is no longer available, but you may find it somewhere else if you're interested.

Over Jump Rally, unofficial remake of Sega Rally in Unreal Engine 5, gets new beta gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/over-jump-rally-unofficial-remake-of-sega-rally-in-unreal-engine-5-gets-new-beta-gameplay-trailer/
In September 2022, we informed you about Over Jump (which is now called Over Jump Rally). So today, we are happy to report that a new beta gameplay trailer has been released for this Sega Rally-inspired game that will be using Unreal Engine 5.

Monday news, part two:

Final Fantasy 14's first shapeshifting mount will let you blow yourself up, and it's free until October
https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-14s-first-shapeshifting-mount-will-let-you-blow-yourself-up-and-its-free-until-october/
Final Fantasy 14 has a lot of cool mounts up for grabs—there's a cosmic jellyfish that makes your character tiny, the Regalia from FF15, a tiny fluffy sheep, and even one where your character gets trapped in a T.V. They all share one thing in common, though: your character's there, either riding them or caged inside them like the victim of some cautionary fairy tale.
(...)
This year you'll be able to claim the Rising Phoenix mount. Instead of keeping your poor warrior of light trapped in some digital prison, though, it'll turn just straight-up turn you into a bird. All traces of your adventurer vanished, consigned to a feathery fate. The implications are somehow more concerning than being locked behind a T.V screen.

Bandai Namco reckons Armored Core 6 will do well because after Elden Ring, FromSoftware's name is 'a guarantee of quality'
https://www.pcgamer.com/bandai-namco-reckons-armored-core-6-will-do-well-because-after-elden-ring-fromsoftwares-name-is-a-guarantee-of-quality/
FromSoftware's upward trajectory with first the Souls series and now Elden Ring has publisher Bandai Namco feeling bullish about its return to Armored Core, a mech series that began in 1997 but had been dormant since 2013's Armored Core: Verdict Day. It may be on to something, because our own Wes Fenlon described Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon as "Top Gun: Maverick for anime nerds like me who grew up enraptured by Mobile Suit Gundam instead of F-14s" on the way to awarding a shining 87 score. I mean, that sounds pretty great.
Bandai Namco Europe CEO Arnaud Muller has been doing the rounds at Gamescom, and told GamesIndustry.biz he thinks the shift in audience expectations for the publisher and "a new dimension" for the game itself will see Armored Core break through to the mainstream.

7 years after launch, No Man's Sky adds its first new race in its biggest update of the year
https://www.pcgamer.com/7-years-after-launch-no-mans-sky-adds-its-first-new-race-in-its-biggest-update-of-the-year/
Two years before Starfield was announced, the sprawling sci-fi epic No Man's Sky launched to a decidedly mixed reaction: It really wasn't quite what was promised by the pre-release hype. Seven years later, Starfield is just a week away from release, and No Man's Sky has evolved into a genuine hit, and has now dropped yet another major update, Echoes, that adds an all-new race of robots to the game with "rich new story content" for players to explore.

Baldur's Gate 3 players continue to find little surprises: Astarion the vampire has rare voice lines if you nuke him with a sun ray
https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-players-continue-to-find-little-surprises-astarion-the-vampire-has-rare-voice-lines-if-you-nuke-him-with-a-sun-ray/
We all know by now that Baldur's Gate 3 is a huge game, but weeks after release I'm still surprised not just by how much good stuff I've seen, but how equally much I've missed. It speaks to Larian's confidence in its breadth of stories that it's so easy to choose dialogue or take routes that lock off entire chunks of the game, not least of which the stories of its six core companions.
>> By the way, Larian used motion capture on 248 actors.

Starfield leaker who tried to sell multiple copies of the game online has been arrested and charged with theft and possession of marijuana
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-leaker-who-tried-to-sell-multiple-copies-of-the-game-online-has-been-arrested-and-charged-with-theft-and-possession-of-marijuana/
A Tennessee man who leaked 45 minutes of Starfield gameplay earlier this week, and was selling copies of the game online more than a week before its release date, has been arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and possession of stolen property.

This Wordle-like game makes you catch and guess Stardew Valley's fish
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-wordle-like-game-makes-you-catch-and-guess-stardew-valleys-fish/
If you thought every variation on Wordle had already been done, well you didn't have enough faith in the internet or videogames because there's now a Wordle-like for Stardew Valley. Specifically, it's Pufferdle, in which you guess the fish in Stardew Valley. Oh, and it makes you actually play Stardew's fishing minigame too.

Killing Floor 3's gruesome art was inspired in part by a Thanksgiving dinner: 'My wife was like, please just cook the turkey already'
https://www.pcgamer.com/killing-floor-3s-gruesome-art-was-inspired-in-part-by-a-thanksgiving-dinner-my-wife-was-like-please-just-cook-the-turkey-already/
It's funny now to think about the hysteria that followed Scorpion cartoonishly ripping someone's spine out in the original Mortal Kombat, but as graphical fidelity in games continues to improve, the line between simulated gore and the real thing can get blurry. Some developers embrace those advances—developers on The Callisto Protocol reportedly studied "real-life examples of horror and gore"—but Tripwire Interactive is taking a different sort of approach with the upcoming zombie shooter Killing Floor 3.

Now here's a Gamescom trailer no one will accuse of looking like other Gamescom trailers
https://www.pcgamer.com/dome-king-cabbage-gamescom-trailer/
One trailer at this week's Future Games Show (embedded above, or on YouTube) was not like the others. Outside of some obvious throwbacks to classic game genres, particularly retro RPGs, Dome-King Cabbage bears little resemblance to the other games we've seen at Gamescom so far. It's described on its Steam page as "a visual novel set in the world of a monster-collecting RPG," but that phrase does little to indicate the surreal mixed media variety show the trailer makes it out to be.

The Starfield Constellation Edition came with a nifty little smartwatch, and people seem to dig it
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-starfield-constellation-edition-came-with-a-nifty-little-smartwatch-and-people-seem-to-dig-it/
I forever live in the shadow of pain and regret over my purchase of the Dragon Age: Inquisition - Inquisitor's Edition. For well-north of a hundred clams I got a cheap plastic box full of cheap plastic crap, as well as a download code for a pretty good follow-up to Dragon Age 2.
I've been burned by collector's editions before, but it helps heal my soul when other people have better luck, and the $300 Starfield Constellation edition seems to be treating people well.

That stylish-looking Hellboy roguelike will release on October 4th
https://www.pcgamer.com/that-stylish-looking-hellboy-roguelike-will-release-on-october-4th/
Get ready for action brawling in the shoes of the big red guy himself, Hellboy, as Hellboy Web of Wyrd has a proper release date: October 4, 2023. The release date trailer dropped this week from developer Upstream Arcade and publisher Good Shepherd Entertainment, and frankly that's pretty dang exciting.

And yes, today there's a part three:

Factorio's giant Space Age expansion is coming in 2024
https://www.pcgamer.com/factorios-giant-space-age-expansion-is-coming-in-2024/
Sound the factory-sirens, folks, Wube Software has announced that expansion Factorio: Space Age is coming in 2024. The expansion will make the immensely popular Factorio roughly double in size, Wube has previously said, and the concept has been in the works since at least 2016.

Here's a really weird puzzle platformer where you're a hand
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-a-really-weird-puzzle-platformer-where-youre-a-hand/
Have you ever thought "Wow! I love 3D Platformers, but I really don't need this entire character. Perhaps I could get by with just one of the character's hands!"?
If so, please seek professional help, but also here's your game: Super Adventure Hand, set to release next month on Steam, is a game where you're a crawling, flicking, pulling hand on a rollicking adventure to defeat some evil... feet. There's a lot of goofy physics puzzling and a truly outrageous number of hand puns.

Blasphemous 2 lands with yet more disturbingly Catholic horrors to kill
https://www.pcgamer.com/blasphemous-2-lands-with-yet-more-disturbingly-catholic-horrors-to-kill/
The souls-like metroidvania world of Blasphemous 2 dropped this week and it's already doing pretty dang well, with a peak player count of nearly 10,000 tripling the first game's top pop number. Blasphemous got a lot of praise for its twisted, dark-fantasy adaptation of the strange and fascinating world of Spanish Catholicism, with developers The Game Kitchen based as they are in Seville, Spain.

All the Warframe news out of TennoCon 2023, like about that guy that lives in your wall
https://www.pcgamer.com/all-the-warframe-news-out-of-tennocon-2023-like-about-that-guy-that-lives-in-your-wall/
Warframe's big TennoCon event for the year has come, and the announcement of new expansions, skins, frames, and more are rolling in hot and fresh. That includes a new story arc, Whispers in the Walls, a new frame in the Abyss of Dagath update, and some kind of wild prequel event in Warframe: 1999.

Soulframe's shaping up to be a slower-paced, more grounded fantasy from Warframe studio Digital Extremes
https://www.pcgamer.com/soulframes-shaping-up-to-be-a-slower-paced-more-grounded-fantasy-from-warframe-studio-digital-extremes/
We've finally got an extended look at Soulframe, the upcoming fantasy action RPG from Warframe developers Digital Extremes. This weekend's TennoCon saw a short gameplay spotlight trailer, above, and a thirty-minute extended reveal of gameplay and character options, below. In that we got a picture of a fantasy world about player Envoy characters reclaiming the natural world of magical ancestors from a controlling, corrupting force.

Diablo 4's toning down monsters' power to slow, stun, chill and otherwise cramp your style
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4s-toning-down-monsters-power-to-slow-stun-chill-and-otherwise-cramp-your-style/
This week's Diablo 4 patch will tone down the ability of monsters to control players, nerfing a variety of crowd control effects across the entire game. The variety of cold-enchanted elites with exceptionally quick attacks will no longer pop you with the cold enchant every single hit, Cold Spiders will chill you less, Cold Goatmen will drop ice pillars slower, and chilling winds will overlap its nasty walls less often. That's in addition to a variety of slows and stuns getting shorter durations or more easily avoided animations.

David Gaider says Baldur’s Gate 3 is a 'monumental achievement'
https://www.pcgamer.com/david-gaider-says-baldurs-gate-3-is-a-monumental-achievement/
Dragon Age's lead writer has taken to Twitter (sorry, X) to sing the praises of Baldur’s Gate 3. Having completed the game, David Gaider has made clear to the world his appreciation for the writing skill, and the love and care the devs at Larian Studios have put into the vast branching narratives of this true Game Of The Year contender.

The time of Warhaven is almost upon us
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-time-of-warhaven-is-almost-upon-us/
For anyone awaiting the "full contact sword action" free-to-play PvP game that is Warhaven, you’ll be best pleased to hear that this "visceral medieval-fantasy sword fight experience" finally has a release date.
Having been working on Warhaven for three years now, Nexon has graced us with a date on which to rally the troops for some olde worlde multiplayer slashing, piercing, and magic-wielding fun.

Deep sea deception game Underlab is Among Us but with flamethrowers
https://www.pcgamer.com/deep-sea-deception-game-underlab-is-among-us-but-with-flamethrowers/
Coming at us with a reveal trailer from the recent Future Game Show, mysterious underwater deception game Underlab is the sister game of Project Winter. It reeks of Among Us-esque chaos, but with a few key differences.
Similar to Among Us, Underlab is a game based on social deception. Unlike Among Us, this one involves big ol' guns—flamethrowers included.

AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 10 GB GPU Said To Be Slower Than The RX 6700 XT

https://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-6750-gre-10-gb-gpu-said-to-be-slower-than-rx-6700-xt/

Faster than 6700 10GB but slower than 6799XT apparently

Alleged Intel 14th Gen Raptor Lake CPU Prices Show A 15% Hike Over 13th Gen CPUs

https://wccftech.com/intel-14th-gen-raptor-lake-cpu-prices-15-percent-hike-over-13th-gen-cpus/

Take it with a grain of salt as it's likely just a place holder

NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 Upscaling Shown To Be Vastly Superior To DLSS 3.1 In Cyberpunk 2077

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-dlss-3-5-upscaling-vastly-superior-to-dlss-3-1-in-cyberpunk-2077/

Intel Could Dish Out An Estimated 365,000 Next-Gen Meteor Lake CPU Tiles Per Month

https://wccftech.com/intel-could-dish-out-an-estimated-365000-next-gen-meteor-lake-cpu-tiles-per-month/

Only 1,000 wafers per month for Intel 4 this year is a bit sad, TBH, and makes me seriously doubt a desktop or HPC release in any improved node for the next 18 months at least. Just so we can compare, TSMC was outputting 150,000 5nm wafers per month last year.

The 7700 is a fine CPU choice, and faster than the 7800X3D in games that prefer frequency over cache. Not sure where Skylines 2 will land, tho.

The GPU situation in that "middle-end/mainstream" market is too convoluted at the moment. There's no right nor wrong choice. If you want to bet on upscaling techs, then the 4060 might work, but if you want a card that gives you performance without tricks, then the 6700XT is a better choice.
And who knows, maybe with the imminent launch of the 7700XT and 7800XT cards, plus the "back to school" deals some stores make, you may find an unexpected deal.

If you're worried about PCIe 5.0 and future proofing your system, maybe going with a B650E or X670E motherboard is your best call, at least those that support PCIe 5.0 for both GPU and storage. And some are reasonable priced. Club386 has reviewed the soon to launch ASRock B650E Taichi Lite, that's much, much cheaper than the none-lite model, but it's E-ATX.

Tallking about mobo sizes, are you also getting a new case? And, if so, what are you looking for? The Lian Li Lancool 216 is well priced and has a front USB type-C 3.2 connector and has room for all kinds of motherboard & GPU sizes.

Finally, I wouldn't go with a Gen 5 SSD. While sequential reads/writes are impressive, the random numbers aren't that impressive to justify the cost and extra heat.

https://store.steampowered.com/category/strategy/

Yeah, I noticed it's a bit different elsewhere. For some reason, it's pretty bad here. Prices also tend to have some extra, probably due to relative remoteness compared to most of Europe, and for some reason, the 7700 is quite skewed towards the 7800X3D too.

I don't really want to either, but I'm not too fond of the options either. I still have yet to look up it in more detail, but cheaping out a bit now and getting a GPU upgrade in a gen or two might be the bullet I'm going to bite. Did I mention I have a GTX 1650 Super at the moment, and I intended to upgrade to the RTX 3060 when it came out and then things happened? I think I can get by for a few years with a fairly new GPU, even if it's not great.

I double-checked, and you're absolutely right. I guess I messed up my search term or the RX 6700 somehow showed up anyway and I missed it. Anyway, judging by reviews, I'm not actually sure an RX 6700 XT is worth the extra price here then. Seems a bit so-so, so cheaping out a bit might make more sense for my needs. Also kind of seems it's a bet about the direction games are going to evolve in, and Chazore here has been sharing some of my concerns regarding upscaling, I think. FSR improvements are actually seeming quite promising, but on the other hand, AMD doesn't exactly have a great track record, so I'm not sure I'd want to bet on that just yet. It's a bit of a poor time to be upgrading at this price range, I suppose, but it is what it is...

Ah, thanks for the tips! Yeah, it's a bit of a gamble with C:S2 too, but with the first one being my most-played game on Steam and the second one seeming even better, I just don't see a world when I'm not buying it very close to release. Ideally I'd wait of course, but there's the Starfield deal as well, and it might be worth more to me than any potential gains I might get by waiting.

'Convoluted' is exactly the right word, I'd say... I mean it's pretty clear where things are now, but it's much less clear where things are going to be moving to.

Schools actually start a bit earlier here in Finland, around mid-August, so the back to school deals are already gone. I didn't notice anything interesting there though, otherwise I might have made by move already.

I don't think I'm going to be needing PCIe 5.0 for a GPU, considering I probably won't be getting any 500+ € GPUs any time soon. Depending on how things go, it might be worth it for an SSD even in my case though. I've actually looked up some motherboard with those finer chipsets, but it's probably not worth the extra cost to me.

Lancool 216 seems like a relatively reasonable option, although I'm trying to avoid a side window, and it kind of looks like a speaker to me. I've kind of been thinking about Fractal Design Define 7 Compact and Fractal Design North, but they're a bit on the pricier side, and I'm not 100 % happy with their features either - but I don't think I've found any decent-looking case with perfect connectivity at an acceptable price, so I'll just have to decide which bullet to bite I guess. But yeah, I'm getting a new case and everything inside it basically, but I'll be keeping pretty much everything else.

Definitely not getting a gen 5 SSD yet. I'm not a fan of the prices, and I'm hoping they'll somehow mature a bit more, e.g. to help with the heat. I'm more interested in future-proofing so I can upgrade if I want to without having to rip everything out. I'm probably getting an WD Black SN850X, which seems like a significantly better investment at the moment.

Yeah the 60 class cards from both AMD and Nvidia aren't that ideal this gen. I'd argue that last generation stuff makes more sense from a value point of view but there are a few positives like better power consumption and features from the RTX 4000 series that are good, and useful (frame gen, better RT etc). I do think it may be worth waiting a bit for Black Friday sales if you can, as I can see Nvidia lowering prices of both 4060's (after AMD's launches).. and you potentially get a better card like a 4060Ti for not much more and maybe the 4060Ti 16GB closer to 400 euros which would be a compelling buy at that point.

But yeah thats just my opinion and I guess lowering a few settings here and there you can get by with lower RAM capacity. Especially if you plan on upgrading sooner rather than later. And in any case would be a massive upgrade from your GTX 1650.

CPU: You could just go with the 7800X3D, it's just 62€ more last time I checked and miles above the 7700.

GPU: You could have a look at the 6700XT. 4060 might be good enough for RT right now, but it's already getting limited in that regard. And to be fair, having to dial down the details for RT is a bit nonsensical. Plus, the 6700XT has more VRAM, so should last longer.

SSD: PCi-E 5.0 SSDs are overpriced, just marginally faster than 4.0 SSDs right now, and often come with bulky coolers, making it difficult to actually fit them under the GPU where their slot often is. Better go with a PCI-E 4.0 SSD right now.