Best gaming PC builds: budget, mid-range and high-end recommendations

For those about to body a gaming PC, we address you. We're big admirers of architecture your own PC actuality at PC Gamer—not alone is it generally cheaper than affairs a pre-built but you get to apprentice all about how a PC is disconnected together. That can be abundantly accessible ability if you anytime charge to advancement or troubleshoot your machine.

The aboriginal footfall to architecture your own PC is allotment your components. Beneath you'll acquisition three gaming PC builds, starting from a sub-$900 body to an absolute abstract rig at over $4,000. All the accouterments in this adviser are the genitalia I'd aces if I were architecture my own PC, and application my own acquaintance and our able reviews to adviser me. The key apparatus accept been activated on our analysis bank to ensure they accommodated expectations.

If this isn't what you're attractive for, you can skip the accomplished architecture affair and get one of the best gaming PCs prebuilt or breeze up a cheap gaming PC instead. But assurance me, PC architecture can be a accomplished lot of fun and it's usually the far cheaper option. Go on, accord it a go.

Best account gaming PC build

For this account build, I'm opting for one of my favourite processors appropriate now, the Intel Amount i5 13400F. It's a adventurous dent because its amount point, and Intel has bumped the cardinal of E-cores on the dent compared to the 12th Gen model. That makes it a appropriate multithreaded processor, while accompanying the speedier P-cores favoured for gaming accumulate things buttery bland fps-wise.

The added account of this 13th Gen Intel dent is that we can opt for a motherboard with DDR4 support. Nowadays, DDR5 is the anamnesis of best for high-end machines, but back you get bottomward to a account akin it's not absolutely as affordable. DDR4 RAM, and RAM in general, is acutely bargain nowadays, and that's why we're capacity 16GB of 3,200MHz RAM into this machine, with a CAS cessation of aloof 16.

I've approved to save as abundant banknote as accessible in this body to absorb that money on one key component: the cartoon card. Nvidia's RTX 4060 is a appropriate all-rounder for the money, and while we would adulation it to be a little cheaper, it does appear with the account of DLSS 3 and acceptable ray archetype chops.

There are a brace of another GPU picks: either activity cheaper with a last-gen RDNA 2 GPU like the RX 6600 XT or bumping up to the RX 7700 XT begin in our mid-range PC build, admitting the closing is about $150 added big-ticket than the RTX 4060 and, to be honest, we ambition it were the RX 7800 XT. But now I'm aloof day-dreaming of bigger GPUs.

For the purpose of this build, I appetite to attach 1080p performance. The RTX 4060 does aloof that.

One key basic I don't acclaim you skimp on is the ability supply. We acclimated to accept a somewhat cheaper XPG PSU in our body guides, the Pylon 450, but it's mostly bare nowadays—at atomic for a fair price. That's why I've bumped up to the Be Quiet! Authentic Ability 12 M 550W—another PSU maker we've reviewed able-bodied in contempo years. It's abundant abstract for this GPU/CPU combo, while advancing with some avant-garde features. Be Quiet! use a solid belvedere for their ability supplies, so you can blow accessible alive that your PC is safe from dodgy power.

As for storage, I've autonomous for our favourite SSD on the cheaper ancillary of things: the WD Atramentous SN770. Now don't let this SSDs amount fool you, it's acutely fast. It's activity to be a superb and abrupt cossack drive, and you absolutely can't accountability it on price. Originally I had a 500GB drive in here, alongside a 1TB HDD, but as the 1TB SN770 isn't abundant added money so I dead the HDD for the beyond solid-state storage. A accord I'd accomplish every time.

Lastly, the chassis. This is a catchy one, as if you absolutely appetite to save pennies I acclaim the Aerocool Zauron that I advised in 2022. Affair is, that isn't the easiest case to acquisition in the US anymore, and alike in the UK it appears to be in the action of actuality replaced by newer models. You can't absolutely go amiss with best of Corsair's cheaper Carbide cases in my experience. If in doubt, booty a attending into the Carbide 175R.

Overall, this account PC doesn't bead the brawl on any of its components. It's absolutely bigger than what you'd buy for the aforementioned banknote pre-built, and I'm abiding it'll aftermost you years to appear after active into trouble. Admitting I can't vouch for your architecture ability. Backbone and care—two actual important aspects of PC architecture any of us would do able-bodied to remember.

Best mid-range gaming PC build

For our mid-range build, I'm advising the aforementioned processor as the account build: the Intel Amount i5 13400F. Yep, I'm afraid to my accoutrements here, and there's acceptable acumen for it. I appetite the account of this cheaper processor and money-savvy DDR4 RAM to accumulate affluence of banknote abreast for the cartoon card.

Originally I had best the RTX 4060 Ti for this build. Mostly because, at the time, it was the alone accepted bearing GPU in the actual amount bracket, and chiefly exhausted out the RTX 30-series and RDNA 2 cards it alone competed with. However, AMD aloof alone the RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT, which are priced as such to absolutely aphorism out the RTX 4060 Ti from any of my builds.

Now, I'd adulation to say the RX 7700 XT is a home-run, but it's not. It's priced so carefully to the RX 7800 XT that I'd wholly acclaim aqueous out on the higher-end card. That said, I accept to confine myself to some array of account for these machines, and the RX 7800 XT angled this body adviser over the edge.

For now, we'll stick with the RX 7700 XT, but apperceive if you accept any additional account for this machine, I'd aboveboard acclaim spending it on swapping to the RX 7800 XT.

For RAM, I've ashore with a approved and activated dual-stick kit of Corsair's Avengement DDR4, rated to 3,200MHz. It's a fast, dependable kit that looks nice to boot.

Since we charge a bit added ability account for this body against the account build, I've gone with the Be Quiet! Authentic Ability 12 M 650W here. It's a abundant platform, and a trusted manufacturer. You absolutely don't appetite to compression too abounding pennies back it comes to your ability supply—that can accept acute consequences. Best to comedy it safe and absorb a little added for accord of mind.

The WD Atramentous SN770 circuit out this build. It's a abundant little NVMe that will assignment as an accomplished cossack drive with allowance to additional for your gaming library.

Lastly, the NZXT N7 case. If you're spending this array of account on a gaming PC, you appetite it to attending acceptable too. The NZXT is an complete stunner, and it's able-bodied accomplished to attending abundant beneath your board or on it. The added account is NZXT's abundant cable administration in the rear of the case and the tidy shrouds in the front, which beggarly you don't accept to anguish about too abounding zip ties or animal cable runs arresting through its choleric bottle ancillary panel.

Best high-end gaming PC build

This is it, the amoroso of PC builds. I've absolved no amount putting this one together, and was abundantly afraid it only amounted to a air-conditioned $4,000 back I totalled all the genitalia up. Oof. It may not be the cheapest but this PC will breach through any bold you bandy at it, any video alteration assignment you appetite to get done, and accomplish abbreviate assignment of at atomic a scattering of Google Chrome tabs.

At its affection lies the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D. What can't this dent do? It's a mega-multitasker, with 16 Zen 4 cores able of active up to 32 threads—your assignment administrator won't apperceive what to accomplish of all those cores. 

What makes the Ryzen 9 7950X3D a gaming assertive is the added 3D V-Cache ample aloft of its cores. This dent comes with 128MB of L3 cache, bifold the approved Ryzen 9 7950X. Amateur can't get abundant of the stuff, and this dent is demonstrably quicker in gaming than any added about today. It's the absolute dent to brace with a high-end cartoon card, and I accept aloof the affair in mind.

The RTX 4090. Did you apprehend annihilation less? Of advance not. This cartoon agenda offers angry performance, and bluntly it's a bigger deal, in agreement of achievement per dollar, than the RTX 4080 that sits beneath it in the stack. While equalling the bulk some would absorb on a car, it is an acutely accomplished cartoon agenda that makes abbreviate assignment of 4K gaming.

There are no absolute surprises for the blow of the build, either, besides maybe the SSD. I've autonomous for 2TB of our favourite PCIe 4.0 accumulator here, the WD Atramentous SN850X, rather than a 'just-for-the-sake-of-it' PCIe 5.0 drive. We will ability a time back PCIe 5.0 makes added sense, but it's not absolutely today. This drive, commutual with addition 2TB of decently-quick Acute storage, will action affluence of amplitude for your Beef library.

I couldn't absolutely opt for annihilation beneath than 32GB of DDR5 here, and accomplish no aberration we are activity all-in on the newer anamnesis accepted here. Prices accept appear aerobatics bottomward for DDR5 as of late, so it's not such a hit on our account as it already was.

The PSU affairs for a lot with this build, as it's the aspect of all these big-ticket components. I've autonomous for the Seasonic Prime TX-1000 to ensure a able-bodied belvedere with acutely aerial efficiency.

All that is captivated up in the Bandit 5000D: a admirable attractive case with bags of amplification room. I additionally accept the Bandit 5000T for my PC body at home, and I'd acclaim that as an another for the RGB obsessed. Either way, there's affluence of airflow accepting to those aerial achievement parts.

There's affluence of befalling to configure this body to your affection with a brace tweaks actuality or there, but the important affair is it's activity to complete drove any bold you bandy at it.

Monitors, peripherals, and added important bits

Below are a few of our favourite monitors and peripherals you may ambition to analysis out if you're absolutely starting from blemish in PC gaming.

High-end picks

Budget picks