Best Gaming PC Build Under $1,000: Max Out Any Game

With a GTX 1070 8GB graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and an AMD Ryzen 5 2600, the sky is the limit with this $1,000 gaming PC build.

If you have right around $1,000 to spend on a new gaming PC build, you have enough to build a really solid system. For $1,000 you can build a gaming computer that can max out anything on a 1080P monitor easily. However, $1,000 in components will also allow you to max out most games on a 1440P monitor as well as serve as an entry-point into 4K gaming.

In this guide, we’re going to give you a powerful $1,000 gaming PC build, including all of the components and parts you’ll need to get it up and running.

Or, read our guide on the Best Gaming PC Builds for more options.

I. $1,000 Gaming PC Build Overview

You’re not messing around anymore. No more consoles. No more cheap laptops. No more 10-year-old desktops that can barely run Minecraft. It’s finally time to ascend.

This $1,000 gaming PC build is no joke. This thing is ready to handle anything you throw at.

Want to hook this build up to a 1080P monitor and never have to think about your framerates again? Well, sorry, that won’t happen with this build. You will be thinking about your framerates…

…and, how ridiculously high they are.

This build can also handle gaming on a 1440P monitor with ease and will serve as a nice entry point into 4K gaming as well. So, even if you do start out with a 1080P monitor, this build can easily handle a monitor upgrade in the future, too.

Ultimately, this $1,000 gaming computer is a powerful machine that will allow you to max out your favorite games for years to come. Check out the part list below:

$1,000 Gaming PC Build Part List

Grand Total: $970-$1,030

*Component prices fluctuate daily. Click here for current pricing.
**Price includes the components that make up the tower only. Windows 10 is included in the list, but will cost extra—and you will definitely need an operating system one way or another.

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II. Component Breakdown

We chose each of these components for a reason—but there are viable alternatives. Below, we discuss why we chose the components listed above for this build and what other alternatives there are…

1. AMD or Intel Processor?

Listen, nobody is a bigger Intel fan than I am. But, when it came down to finalize this part list, I felt like AMD’s Ryzen 5 2600 offered the better value. For me, there’s a lot of reasons why the 2600 makes sense over the Intel alternatives…

• The Ryzen 5 2600 can be overclocked
• The Ryzen 5 2600 comes with a better stock cooler
• The Ryzen 5 2600 is better-suited for content creation

The Ryzen 5 2600 comes in at $170. That makes it a direct competitor to Intel’s ~$180 i5-8400. It’s important to note, though, that when you consider the motherboard options available, the i5-8400 is actually less expensive to build with, since there are no budget-friendly chipsets available for the Ryzen 5 2600. (Technically, the Ryzen 5 2600 will work on a B350 chipset motherboard, but a lot of B350 motherboards need a BIOS update in order to accommodate them—and that’s not something that can be done without some hassle. The good news, though, is that AMD’s B450 chipset motherboards should be hitting shelves soon.)

While the i5-8400 has the better single-core performance, in terms of in-game performance, the real world difference between the Ryzen 5 2600 and i5-8400 at stock speeds will be negligible at best. The reality is that gaming is so GPU-bound nowadays, that the edge that the i5-8400 has over the Ryzen 5 2600 will not come into play.

So, yes, you could go with an i5-8400 in this situation. However, the Ryzen 5 2600 has a better stock cooler—both from a performance standpoint and an aesthetics standpoint—and it can be overclocked, whereas the 8400 cannot.

Also, as so many gamers these days are doing gameplay videos and streaming, having a system that can also work well for editing and content creation is a big plus. And, since the Ryzen 5 2600 outperforms the Intel Core i5-8400 in those types of tasks (editing, rendering, etc.), it just helps give the 2600 a little more of an edge.

You could, of course, go with the i5-8600K as well. However, the 8600K costs ~$250 right now and will require a more expensive third party cooler, too. So, with all of that extra cost, you’d likely have to downgrade the graphics card in this build to a GTX 1060 6GB or RX 580 8GB in order to fit the 8600K in. And, again, since gaming is so much more GPU-bound, going with an i5-8600K and downgrading your GPU will leave in-game performance on the table.

2. GTX 1070: Perfect for this Budget Right Now

I think with this build a GTX 1070 makes the most sense at the moment. I think you could fit in a GTX 1070 Ti, but you’d likely have to remove the SSD and just stick to a traditional 1TB hard drive for now.

For me, the performance difference between the 1070 and 1070 Ti is fairly small—especially when considering the real world difference between the two on a 1080P monitor.

I do think, though, that when AMD finally releases budget-friendly B450 motherboards, there will be enough room in the budget to fit a GTX 1070 Ti (or even a GTX 1080) into this build. So, if you are reading this post and the B450 motherboards have released, you might want to go that route and upgrade the GPU to a 1070 Ti.

3. 8GB or 16GB?

While the growing consensus among gamers is that “you need 16GB of RAM in 2018,” in testing that I’ve done and the benchmarks I’ve seen, the extra 8GB of RAM doesn’t provide a huge performance increase in most cases.

However, as memory and GPU prices have started to come down to normal levels, there is now plenty of room in a $1,000 budget to be able to fit 16GB of RAM into your system. And, while there still isn’t a significant difference in performance between running 8GB of RAM and 16GB of RAM in the majority of games, by adding 16GB of RAM now, you will be more future-proofed for when games can fully utilize that extra memory.

4. Storage Options

For this build, we went with a 240GB SATA SSD and a 1TB hard drive for mass storage. This will give you a good mix of balance and performance in your storage drives as you can install Windows and a few of your favorite games/applications on the SSD, and then use the 1TB hard drive for everything else.

5. Plenty of Case Options

There are so many different gaming cases available in the ~$45-$75 price range that would work for this build. We chose the Thermaltake G21 mid tower case, though, because of its price, air flow potential, and aesthetics.

The case is fairly compact for a mid tower case, but it has plenty of room to house the components of this build. It also comes with dual tempered glass side panels (which means your cable management needs to be on point behind the motherboard as well), a full length PSU shroud, and a grilled front panel that cand hold three 120mm fans for excellent air flow.

6. How Big of A Power Supply

We use Outervision’s PSU calculator to determine the power consumption for each of our builds. Accoding to Outervision, even in the most extreme scenarios, this $1,000 gaming PC will require a maximum of a quality 450W power supply.

So, we went with a little bit of extra headroom with the Corsair CX550 to ensure there would be no problems down the road. The CX550 is one of my favorite budget power supplies because it has all-black cabling (great for aesthetic purposes), provides more than enough power for most single-GPU setups, and is very affordable.

The semi-modular version, the Corsair CX550M is also a solid option here, too, if you don’t want a mess of molex and SATA power cables stuffed under the G21’s shroud.

Check out our guide on How to Choose the Right Power Supply for Your Build.

III. Peripherals & Accessories to Go With Your New Gaming PC

If you don’t already have a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, you’ll definitely need them to pair with your new system. And, since you’re spending $1,000 to build a high-end gaming computer, you’ll want peripherals that match.

So, below we’ve given you a few different options to choose between for each peripheral:

Gaming Monitor Pick

Dell S2417DG

1440P 165Hz 1ms GTG 24″ Display

9.2/10

Check Price

Lenovo Y27g

1080P 144Hz 4ms GTG 27″ Display

8.8/10

Check Price

See more affordable G-Sync gaming monitor options by following the link.

Gaming Keyboard Pick

HyperX Alloy Elite

Red LED 101-Key Mechanical 6′ Cable

9.2/10

Check Price

Redragon K552 KUMARA

Red LED 87-Key Mechanical 6′ Cable

8.5/10

Check Price

Gaming Mouse Choices

Razer DeathAdder Elite

7 Buttons 16,000 DPI RGB Lights 6′ Cable

9.0/10

Check Price

Logitech G402

8 Buttons 4,000 DPI RGB Lights 6′ Cable

8.6/10

Check Price

Conclusion: A $1,000 Monster That Will Max Out Any Game You Throw At It

Really, if I had to choose what the perfect budget was for building a gaming computer in terms of value, I would probably say right around the $1,000 mark. As you can see, in this price range you can afford a list of components that will allow you to play any game out there on the highest settings on a 1080P or 1440P monitor.

These parts are also good enough to handle most games at 4K resolution as well.

And, you also get a good mix of storage options (a fast SSD and a 1TB hard drive), too. Finally, if you can get the cable management right on this build, and maybe throw in some RGB fans on the front and back of the inclued Thermaltake G21, this build will look really nice, too.

So, overall, for ~$1,000 this gaming PC build has everything most gamers could ever want or need.

If you have any questions about the build, or need help choosing components, leave a comment in the section below and we will help you out.