How to Build a Gaming PC under $1000

So you’ve run into a little bit of cash and the gamer inside you is itching to spend it on something. You look around your room and notice that your desk could do well with a new paperweight to keep you entertained. Preferably, a paperweight that can run 1440p at 60fps and one that weighs under $1000. But where do you find such paperweight?

The answer shines upon you in the form of a custom PC. Not only do you have complete control over which components you choose, but you also get to peek under the hood and see what makes your PC tick.

To tackle your paperweight crisis, we’ve come up with a list of items you’ll need on how to build a gaming PC under $1000.

Tip: If you’re building this PC to play a particular game, check that game’s recommended system requirements and plan accordingly. Also, Visit the best free VPN for android.

Tip: Complete your build list before making any purchases — and crosscheck that all components are compatible with all the other components.

• CPU

  The days of Intel dominating the CPU market are long gone with AMD stepping up its game in recent years. We suggest the AMD Ryzen 3600 over the Intel i5 9400F, even though the Intel processor offers slightly better gaming performance, the Ryzen is the better overall package. A bonus is that it comes with one-click activation for overclocking in Ryzen Master.

• Motherboard

  An A320 chipset will be lighter on the pocket, however it is ineffective if you want to unleash your CPU’s full potential. With a B350 or B450 chipset, you will get the added ability to overclock your Ryzen processor, extracting the most out of your CPU. A good suggestion would be to go for any B350 or B450 motherboard from a reputable brand such as Asus, Gigabyte, MSI or Asrock, with all of them offering similar specifications and are within the same price bracket. Our pick is the MSI B450 Pro-M2.

• RAM

  Ryzen CPUs perform better in a dual-channel configuration, what that means is that it is better to buy 2 RAMs instead of one with a larger capacity. 16GB of memory would be more than enough for your gaming needs and those few and far between productivity tasks. G.Skill Ripjaws V 2x8GB DDR4 3200MHz CL16 is an affordable and proven solution for all your memory needs. 

• GPU

  The crème de la crème of every How to Build a Gaming PC guide, a solid suggestion would be the Nvidia RTX 2060 to top off your PC build. Even though the 1660Ti offers a cheaper alternative, the RTX 2060 is in a different league altogether. 

Specifications – 

• CUDA Cores 1920
• Boost Clock (MHz) 1695
• 1-Click OC Clock (MHz) 1710 (by installing Xtreme Tuner Plus Software and using 1-Click OC)
• Memory Speed 14Gbps
• Standard Memory Config 6GB
• Memory Interface Width 192-bit GDDR6
• Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) 336
• A Display Port 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0b, 1 x HDCP 2.2

Our suggestion is the Galax RTX 2060 for the ultimate gaming performance.

• Storage

  With an SSD of sufficient capacity proving to be too expensive for such a build and HDD being to slow to boot up quickly, our advice is to go for a hybrid SSD + HDD configuration, which should offer the best of both worlds. For C: drive we suggest the WD Green 240GB M.2 2280 Internal SSD and to fulfil the rest of your storage requirements, a WD 1TB Hard Disk Drive should suffice.

Do keep in mind that storing your games in SSD will not improve gaming performance, but should improve upon the loading time.

• Power Supply Unit

  With so many parts involved in building your typical PC, a crucial component that often goes overlooked in a How to Build a Gaming PC guide is the Power Supply Unit. Unless you’re a fan of spontaneous rebooting or sporadic lockups during your everyday use, we would suggest that you opt for the Corsair 550W Active 80 Plus PSU, which has a three-year warranty included. 

• Case

  More often than not, case selection for a gaming PC gets way more attention than it deserves, even though it offers little improvement to your gaming experience, other than airflow. But we gamers being gamers, are the reason that case selection gets the attention it otherwise wouldn’t get. Being an intensely personal choice and based on an individual’s taste, we cannot do justice to it by offering just one suggestion, so we’ve multiple suggestions lined up for you to choose from.

This is our definitive guide to How to Build a Gaming PC under $1000. However, this is suited more towards 1440p gaming, and if you’re okay with 1080p, you can go for cheaper alternatives instead of the components mentioned above.