If you are in the market for a new gaming PC and you are comfortable getting inside a PC, I would definitely recommend building your own gaming computer. Building your own gaming PC will get you the most bang for your buck out of the hardware. It is also fun and a great learning experience.
In this post, we give a suggested build for an Intel based gaming PC. For $1000, you will be able to build a pretty powerful PC. In this budget range, you won’t be able to afford the top of the line CPU or video card, but you can still get really solid ones. For lower budgets, you might find yourself skimping on the hard drive or RAM. However, in this price range, you should definitely opt for an SSD hard drive and 32GB of RAM.
Using the hardware recommendations below, you should be able to run non-demanding games such as LoL, Fortnite, Rocket League at ultra or high settings depending on your resolution and if you are using 1080P or 1440P. For more demanding games, you should still be able to get solid performance. Depending on your monitor/resolution/etc, you should be able to run these games, getting high FPS, on medium to high settings.
Disclaimer: At the time of writing, this build was under $1000. However, prices change and we can’t predict when they will go up or down. We also aren’t including the price of any software, such as the OS into this build.
CPU and Motherboard – Intel Core i5-12400 and the GIGABYTE B660M DS3H DDR4
For this build, I picked the Intel Core i5 12400F with the Gigabyte 660M. The i5 12400 is a super fast CPU that can handle the latest games with ease and the motherboard is solid and will future proof your setup for awhile. This combo pack saves you a bit of money and varies anywhere from $310-350.
RAM – Kingston FURY Beast RGB 32GB
As mentioned above, at this price point, I recommend going with 32GB of ram. I picked the Kingston FURY Beast RGB 32GB. This is solid memory at a pretty good price. It usually varies between $130-$190. When you can find it at the lower end of this range, it is a great deal. If you wanted to go with a higher end GPU, you could certainly find some decent budget RAM for under $100.
Hard Drive – EVO 870 500GB SSD
You can easily get a 500GB SSD into this build. Samsung makes great SSDs, so this build recommends the EVO 870 500GB SSD. This should only set you back about $60 give or take. If you find yourself with a bit more money in your budget, I would definitely recommend going with a bit bigger hard drive. Many games these days take up over 100 GBs of data. However, this is also something you can add later to your setup as you need more space.
Case – Zalman S2 ATX Mid Tower Computer PC Case
For the case, we went with the Zalman S2. This is a solid all-around case with a 4.4/5 rating on Amazon with over 1,000 reviews. This case has great airflow and is quite affordable at around $60. This case is simple yet solid overall.
GPU – ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3050 Twin Edge OC 8GB
We are using a lot of the budget for this gaming build on the video card. We went with the ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3050 Twin Edge OC 8GB GDDR6. This video card is quite powerful and is capable of running the latest games with ease. This card currently goes for around $300 and has 4.6/5 rating on Amazon.
PSU – Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 750W
For the PSU, we are going with a 750W PSU from Thermaltake. The Thermaltake Toughpower 750W will make sure you have enough power for whatever upgrades you may go with in the future. It is also considered a very durable PSU and should last a long time.
Adding it up
Overall, this build comes in at $980. Keep in mind, you will need to grab some thermal paste as well when you are ready to build.
If you end up having a bit more budget to work with, a larger SSD and a better video card would be the first two things to think about when it comes to upgrades. If you find yourself with a bit less than $1000 to work with, you could certainly go with budget friendly RAM and PSU to safe a little bit of money. You could also go with a less expensive video card now with the plan to upgrade it in the future.
What do you think about this build? Are there any parts you would switch out? Let me know in the comments!