Best PC Builds for Gaming: From Sub $500 Budgets to $3000+
While you can buy one of the best gaming PCs and resolve your dilemma about whether to buy or build a PC that way, putting together your own system is almost always more rewarding. When you build a gaming PC yourself, you get total control of everything from the exact make and model of motherboard to aesthetics of the chassis and how many RGB fans you want.
Depending on what type of computer you create, you may also be saving a few hundred dollars over the cost of buying a prebuilt system, though in today’s market that’s not always the case. OEMs such as Dell, Asus and HP can easily get their hands on the best graphics cards without overpaying like consumers do, so the price discrepancy between prebuilts and DIY systems has shrunk dramatically. On the other hand, OEMs tend to skimp out on memory and storage or charge huge markups on them.
To help you assemble the best PC build for gaming or productivity on your budget, we've created a set of recommended parts lists below for different builds. We've identified budget builds that cost less than $500 and less than $1,000, along with mid-range, high-end and super high-end gaming rigs.
Caveats for Best PC Builds
As most hardware enthusiasts know, this is a somewhat challenging time to buy PC components, particularly graphics cards. Fortunately, the situation is improving and you can often find GPUs for sale at major online retailers, but usually marked up above the original MSRPs. Our GPU price index shows this situation in detail by tracking the selling prices on eBay
Prices change so rapidly that we are only trying to come up less than a specific price point with the $500 and $1,000 builds. Note that the prices we list below were current at publication time but could be different right now.
We are also going to recommend GPUs rather than specific makes and models of graphics cards. For example, we'd recommend an RTX 3070 Ti and link to a list of available cards rather than, for example, the Asus TUF Gaming RTX 3070 Cards with the same GPU perform similarly enough that, given supply issues, you should get whichever is available for the best price at the time you read this.
Also note that we don't include the cost of an operating system, because you can get Windows for Free or Cheap. Nor do we include the price of peripherals such as the best gaming monitors, best gaming keyboards or best gaming mouse.
Best $500 PC Build for Gaming
| Component Type | Model | Price (at Pub Time in USD) |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Ryzen 5 5600G | $163 |
| Motherboard | ASRock B450M Pro4 | $79 |
| RAM | TeamGroup T-Force Zeus DDR 16GB Kit (2 x 8GB) 3200 MHz | $47 |
| Storage | TeamGroup MP33 (1TB) | $63 |
| Case | Zalman S3 | $60 |
| PSU | Cooler Master MWE 450 | $33 |
| Cooler | N/A, comes with CPU | |
| Total | $445 |
We hate to say it, but even with GPU prices declining, it’s impossible to fit a discrete graphics card into a $500 build--or at least a gaming-class card. Because of that, we’re recommending that you go with the best possible integrated graphics you can afford. On the CPU side, that means an AMD Ryzen 5 5600G . The Ryzen 5 boasts AMD Radeon Vega 7 graphics, 6 CPU cores and a boost clock of 4.4 GHz. That APU also comes with AMD's Wraith cooler in the box, so that's one place where we'll save some money.
We don’t expect fantastic frame rates in games, but you should be able to game at 720p and perhaps step up to 1080p with low-to-medium settings on some less-demanding games. You can always save your pennies for a future GPU upgrade.
For the motherboard, any budget B450 or B550 board with an M.2 slot should do, but we’ve chosen the ASRock B450M Pro4 because of its relatively affordable price more than any of its features. If you can spring for a B550 board, you'll get better GPU bandwidth and also get the ability to someday upgrade to a speedy PCIe Gen 4 SSD, something that's way too expensive for this build and not at all a priority.
To milk the maximum performance out of our integrated GPU, which relies on system RAM, we need relatively-fast, but inexpensive RAM, so we’re going with a TeamGroup 16GB (8x2) kit running at 3200 MHz. Any pair of two 8GB DIMMs running at 3200 MHz will do, but this kit was cheapest when we wrote this.
For our storage drive, we've chosen the TeamGroup MP33, which is an incredible value, considering its speed and capacity. For $63 (at pub time), the drive offers rated sequential read and write speeds of 1,800 MBps and 1,400 MBps respectively which is way faster than a SATA drive and really strong for this price range. This is a DRAMless drive so it's not quite as fast as one which has the memory, but in our tests, it was just a tiny bit slower than pricier drives. For example, it loaded a Final Fantasy XIV level in 11.42 seconds while the WD Blue SN550, which costs more than $100 for 1TB, loaded the same level in 11.04 seconds. Most importantly, if you're installing more than a couple of games, you'll need 1TB of storage.
Our case is the Zalman S3, because it provides a tempered glass side panel and premium looks for less than $60 (at pub time). It comes with three fans (one rear and two front intake), which should be more than adequate for cooling this build. Any decent 450W PSU should be able to handle this build and the Cooler Master MWE 450 not only comes from a very reputable brand, but also is 80+ Bronze certified for added efficiency.
Best $1,000 PC Build for Gaming
| Component Type | Model | Price (at Pub Time in USD) |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (AMD) or Intel Core i5-12400 (Intel) | $169 - $198 |
| Motherboard | ASRock B450M Pro4 (AMD) or Gigabyte H610M S2H (Intel) | $79 - $89 |
| GPU | AMD RX 6600 XT or 6600 | $299 - $399 |
| RAM | TeamGroup T-Force Zeus DDR 16GB Kit (2 x 8GB) 3200 MHz | $47 |
| Storage | Samsung 970 EVO 1TB | $114 |
| Case | NZXT H510 | $79 |
| PSU | Corsair CV550 | $49 |
| Cooler | N/A, comes with CPU | |
| Total: | $850 - $1000 |
If you can stretch your budget up to around $1,000, you can build a PC with the ability to play games reasonably well at 1080p resolution, often with high settings. At press time, you could grab an AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT for less than $350, a card that offers excellent mid-range gaming performance, with the reference card getting an average of 83.7 fps in our 2K resolution gaming tests and 115 fps in our 1080p tests. This card even outpaces Nvidia's more-expensive RTX 3060. If you want to save even more, consider the RX 6600, which offers really solid 1080p gaming and is available for as little as $299.
Our recommended CPU for this build is the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. This 6-core, 12-thread CPU can operate at up to 4.6-GHz and uses a modest 65W of juice. We're pairing it with the same B450 motherboard we used on our $500 build, but any B450 or B550 AMD board will get the job done. It comes with a decent air cooler in the box so you don't have to spend money on one of the best CPU coolers.
Give or take, the Ryzen 5 5600X is about the same speed as the Intel Core i5-12400, which is about $30 cheaper but requires a more expensive motherboard. So, if you prefer Intel, you can grab the Core i5-12400 and an H610 motherboard. However, if you get pair a Radeon GPU and the Ryzen CPU, you get up to a 15 percent performance boost thanks to AMD's Smart Access Memory (SAM) feature, which allows the processor faster access to the GPU memory.
We're also sticking with the same 16GB of RAM as our less-expensive build. There's no real need to go faster or increase the capacity at this price point.
For storage, we're stepping up to a 1TB drive and a faster one in the form of the Samsung 970 EVO Plus. The 970 EVO Plus boasts read and write transfer rates of 3,300 and 1,700 MBps respectively and a 1GB DRAM cache which is a nice step up from the DRAM-less WD Blue SN550, which claims speeds of 2,400 and 1,750 MBps respectively.
Our case is The NZXT H510. We like the clean, classy aesthetic of this case, which is available in black, black and red or white. It also has a USB-C Gen 2 (10 Gbps) front-panel connector, along with a Type-A connector and a headphone jack. It comes with two case fans and has room for a 240mm front radiator if you want to go that far.
Finally, we've stepped up to a 550-watt power supply and we're again going with a Corsair CV550, but any decent 80-plus Bronze model would get the job done.
Best Mid-Range PC Build For Gaming
| Component Type | Model | Price (at Pub Time in USD) |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-12400 | $169 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte H610M S2H | $89 |
| GPU | RTX 3070 Ti | $675 - $799 |
| RAM | Patriot Viper Steel DDR4 32GB (2 x 16GB) 3600 MHz | $104 |
| Storage | SK hynix Gold P31 2TB | $198 |
| Case | Phanteks P360A | $89 |
| PSU | Cooler Master MasterWatt 650 | $72 |
| Cooler | N/A (included) | |
| Total: | $1500 - $1700 |
As we step up to a build that should be really strong for 1080p gaming at high settings and cross over into decent 2K gaming, we're looking at around a $1,500 budget, depending on the current price of the GPU. We recommend going with an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti, which is excellent not only at 1080p and 2K gaming but also at ray tracing. It currently goes for between $675 and $799.
On our regular gaming tests, an RTX 3070 Ti averaged 104 fps at 1080p Ultra resolution and a solid 82.6 fps at 2K Ultra. When ray tracing was enabled at 2K Ultra, that dropped to a still-strong 54.5 fps.
Our CPU for this build is Intel's Core i5-12400, which was our alternative choice for the $1000 build but is an even stronger choice here where we're using an Nvidia GPU and so can't benefit from AMD's Shared Memory Access.
The Core i5-12400 has 6 performance cores and 12 threads, but none of the efficiency cores we see in most Alder Lake processors. The 12400 cannot be overclocked and tops out at a boost speed of 4.4 GHz, but at this price, we're not looking to overlock anyway. Intel's processor comes with its own cooler in the box so you don't need to pay for a third-party one.
We're going with a relatively-inexpensive motherboard with Intel's mid-tier H610 chipset. The Gigabyte H610M doesn't have PCIe Gen 4 SSD support and it only has two DIMM slots but it should work well enough for this build.
With our increased budget, we're stepping up to 32GB of RAM with the well-known and respected Patriot Viper Steel series. We're also going to a 2TB SSD that has really strong performance in the SK hynix Gold P31. This M.2 drive promises sequential read and write speeds of 3,500 and 3,200 MBps respectively.
Our chassis of choice is the Phanteks P360A, which offers excellent thermals, a premium tempered glass side panel and two included RGB fans. Our power supply is a 650-watt Cooler Master MasterWatt. This 80 Plus Bronze certified PSU is fully modular so you can only attach the cables you actually need.
Best High-End PC Build for Gaming
| Component Type | Model | Price (at Pub Time in USD) |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-12600K | $279 |
| Motherboard | ASRock Z690M Phantom Gaming 4 | $149 |
| GPU | Nvidia RTX 3080 | $799 - $969 |
| RAM | Patriot Viper Steel DDR4 32GB (2 x 16GB) 3600 | $104 |
| Storage | Samsung 980 Pro (2TB) | $269 |
| Case | Fractal Design Meshify 2 | $178 |
| PSU | Corsair RM750x | $120 |
| Cooler | Corsair iCUE H100i PRO XT RGB Liquid CPU Cooler 240mm | $109 |
| Total: | $2000 - $2200 |
At a current price of $2,000 to $2,200, our high-end gaming PC build should provide enough performance to play games at 2K ultra settings with strong frame rates, and 4K ultra with playable frame rates. The system gets its GPU muscle from an RTX 3080 card, which currently goes for $799 to $969, backed by the Intel Core i5-12600K, which is one of the best CPUs for gaming.
In our tests, an RTX 3080 card achieved an average frame rate of 61 fps at 4K resolution with Ultra settings. If you drop down to 2K resolution or 1080p, those numbers jump to 96 or 173 fps respectively. With ray tracing enabled at 2K, the average was 66 fps, which is behind only the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 cards.
The Intel Core i5-12600K has 6 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, which make it capable of using 16 threads at once (two for each P core). It carries a top boost frequency of 4.9 GHz and can be overclocked to higher frequencies than that. We easily overclocked it to 5-GHz where it averaged 186 fps on our Windows 11, 1080p gaming suite (which uses an RTX 3090 card). That's only a little bit behind more expensive CPUs such as the Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
In order to make the most of our CPU overclock, we need a Z690 motherboard and the ASRock Z690M Phantom Gaming 4 fits the bill. This Micro ATX board has a 7-phase power design, support for PCIe 4.0 SSDs and Nahimic audio.
Our CPU doesn't come with a cooler in the box and we plan to overclock it to more than 5-GHz anyway, so we're using the Corsair iCUE H100i PRO XT RGB, a 240mm AIO liquid cooler, to keep its temperature down. We're using 32GB of Patriot's Viper Steel DDR RAM again, but this time our kit is 3600 MHz rather than 3200 MHz.
To take advantage of our motherboard's PCIe 4.0 support, we're throwing in a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB NVMe SSD. This powerful drive, which is among the best SSDs, promises read and write speeds of 7,000 and 5,100 MBps respectively.
Our case for this build is the $159 Fractal Design Meshify 2, which combines fantastic thermals, a classy design and strong cable management. It also comes with three non-RGB case fans and plenty of room for our radiator.
To power all these high-end components, we're using a Corsair RM750x PSU which is 80+ Gold certified and fully modular. You might be able to economize by going for a slightly-cheaper unit that
Best Super High-End PC Build for Gaming
| Component Type | Model | Price (at Pub Time in USD) |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | $448 |
| Motherboard | Asus X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi | $395 |
| GPU | Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti | $1089 - $1349 |
| RAM | TeamGroup T-Force Xtreem ARGB 3600MHz 64GB (2x32GB) | $299 |
| Storage | Kingston KC3000 (2TB) | $299 |
| Secondary Storage | SK hynix Gold P31 2TB | $198 |
| Case | Corsair iCUE 5000T RGB | $399 |
| PSU | Corsair HX1000 | $243 |
| Cooler | Coolermaster MasterLiquid ML360R RGB | $144 |
| Total: | $3500 - $3700 |
For our super high end build, we've got a system that's capable of playing high-end games in 4K at ultra settings and delivering smooth ray tracing. This is made possible thanks to the RTX 3080 Ti card which serves as our GPU. We could get slightly better performance out of an RTX 3090 card, but the price jumps from $799 - $969 up to $1089+ for just a tiny bit of boost. In our tests, the RTX 3080 Ti averaged 66 fps at 4K Ultra resolution, 103 fps at 2K Ultra resolution and 73 fps at 2K Ultra with ray tracing enabled.
Our CPU is AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which uses 96MB of cache memory to dominate our gaming benchmarks. It's a modest $449 and yet overpowers Intel's top-of-the-line, Core i9-12900KS to lead our list of best gaming CPUs. In our tests, this chip averaged 201 fps in 1080p gaming and 177 fps at 2K resolution (tested with RTX 3090 graphics).
We're building the system around an Asus X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi motherboard. The board has a 14-phase voltage regulator that should allow you to push the CPU to its limits. It provides 12 different USB ports, 8 of which can run at 10 Gbps and it even has built-in Wi-Fi 6 connectivity should your desktop not be close enough to your router to use the 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port.
To cool the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, we're using a Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML360R ARGB AIO cooler. The cooler has a 360mm radiator and offers an impressive light show.
Because we're fattening our budget for this build, we're going with 64GB of RAM, specifically TeamGroup's T-Force Xtreem 3600 MHz ARGB RAM. Unfortunately, AMD's platform doesn't support DDR5 so we have to go with DDR4 memory for now.
We're taking a small step up in storage speed, going with Kingston's blazing-fast KC3000 NVMe SSD in a 2TB capacity. Thanks to its Phison PS5018-E18 controller, the KC3000 can both read and write at up to 7,000 MBps. Because 2TB is may not be enough storage for a gamer with a lot of titles, we will add in a secondary 2TB SSD for data, the SK hynix Gold P31.
Our chassis choice is the Corsair iCue 5000T, which comes loaded with three brilliant RGB fans and plenty of room for our 360mm radiator. It also has a great selection of ports on the front panel, including four USB Type-A connectors, a single USB Type-C and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It had excellent airflow in our tests.
With these high-end components, we don't want to skimp on the power supply, and having something that's fit for a future graphics card upgrade makes sense. We're going with a full 1000-watts of power and the Corsair HX1000. This power supply is 80+ Platinum certified and fully modular.
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