For those about to build a gaming PC, we salute you. We're big fans of building your own PC here at PC Gamer—not only is it often cheaper than buying a pre-built, even with price increases all round, but you also get to learn all about how a PC is pieced together. That can be incredibly helpful knowledge if you ever need to upgrade or troubleshoot your machine.
It's worth mentioning, however, that RAM and SSD pricing is nothing short of ridiculous right now. It's had quite the knock on effect on the overall price of our builds, although we're still doing our darndest to find the best deals on components that we can. It's looking like a rough year for pricing on anything with a memory module, so shop carefully, and make sure you compare prices before laying down your cash.
The first step to building your own PC is choosing your components. Below you'll find three gaming PC builds, starting from a sub-$1,200 build to a high-end rig at over—maybe it's best you don't know—$3,600. All the hardware components in this guide are parts I'd pick if I were building my own PC, and using our expert reviews to guide me. The key components have been tested on our test bench to ensure they meet expectations.
Best budget gaming PC build
Category | Part | Current price (US) | Current price (UK) |
|---|---|---|---|
Motherboard | Asus TUF Gaming B650 Plus WiFi | ||
Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | ||
Graphics card | AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB | ||
Cooler | Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE | ||
Memory | Kingston Fury 16 GB | ||
Power supply | Be Quiet! Pure Power 12 750 W | ||
SSD | WD Black SN7100 1 TB | ||
Case | Phanteks Eclipse G400A | ||
Total | Row 8 - Cell 1 | $1,192 | £1,143 |
For this budget build, I'm opting for our top pick for budget CPUs right now, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X. It's a speedy six core chip with plenty of gaming grunt, and can be found for very reasonable prices given the performance it delivers.
We've swapped to the AM5 platform and DDR5 RAM for our budget picks, as it's now the place to be for the best value/performance metrics.
It's still horribly expensive though thanks to the current memory crisis, so here's where I'd shop around a bit to try and save some cash. RAM pricing is fluctuating on a daily basis, so keep your nose to the ground for anything less than silly money. Although it must be said, the Kingston kit I've recommended here is still usually the cheapest. I know. I wish it wasn't so, either.
For the GPU, I've gone for AMD's budget wonder-card, the RX 9060 XT. Sure, it's not the most exciting of GPUs, but for around $300 it sure does put Nvidia's RTX 5060 in it's place when it comes to excellent 1080p and 1440p performance for a minimal outlay.
I've opted for the 8 GB variant to keep costs as low as possible, but those of you concerned about future VRAM requirements might want to spend a bit extra on the 16 GB version instead. That extra VRAM might not come into play for 1080p and 1440p gaming just yet, but if you can find one for reasonable money, why not.
One key component I recommend you don't skimp on is the power supply. We used to have a somewhat cheaper XPG PSU in our build guides, the Pylon 450, but it's mostly unavailable nowadays—at least for a fair price. That's why I've gone with a Be Quiet 750 W unit. It's a solid PSU from a reputable manufacturer, so you can rest easy knowing that your PC is safe from dodgy power supply unit. 750 W is a little more than you really need but it gives you headroom for a more powerful GPU in the future.
As for storage, I've opted for an old stalwart, the WD_Black SN850X. It might have been around for a while, but this Gen4 drive still shifts like a good 'un for gaming and all-round productivity usage and it can still be found for reasonable cash. Just about.
Lastly, the chassis. I've shifted this over to the Phanteks Eclipse G400A. It's a sizeable chassis with plenty of included fans. You can go cheaper, of course, but buying a good case from the outset means you should have plenty of room for future upgrades.
Overall, this budget PC doesn't drop the ball on any of its components, although it's not as a budget as it used to be thanks to those pesky RAM and SSD price rises. Still, building your own gaming PC is well worth doing. Take your time, shop and build carefully, and you should end up with a fantastic machine.
Best mid-range gaming PC build
Category | Part | Current price (US) | Current price (UK) |
|---|---|---|---|
Motherboard | Asus TUF Gaming B650-E WiFi | ||
Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | ||
Graphics card | RTX 5070 | ||
Cooler | Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE | ||
Memory | Kingston Fury Beast 16 GB | ||
Power supply | Be Quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750 W | ||
SSD | Crucial P310 (2 TB) | ||
Case | Corsair Frame 4000D | ||
Total | Row 8 - Cell 1 | $1,579 | £1,436 |
For our mid-range build, I'm recommending the Ryzen 7 7700X. This AMD processor offers plenty of firepower for gaming and more, but importantly the AM5 platform it's compatible with will likely be supported for a good while yet. That means there's scope to upgrade this processor without having to buy an entirely new motherboard or new RAM.
For the GPU, I've picked the RTX 5070, as it's finally dropped down to prices that make it a sensible pick. It's not the massive upgrade over the RTX 4070 we were hoping for, but the DLSS and Multi Frame Generation support, along with its wide availability and now-reasonable pricing, means it's the mid-range pick for the here and now.
For RAM, I've stuck with the 16 GB Kingston kit from our budget build. RAM prices are soaring through the roof, and concessions to cost must be made somewhere, even if this cheaper kit is still eye-wateringly expensive at the moment. Still, I'd raise this to 32 GB if you can afford it, as 16 GB is a little tight (although perfectly fine) for gaming in 2025.
I've also gone with the Be Quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W here, as it's a great modular platform from a trusted manufacturer. You definitely don't want to pinch too many pennies when it comes to your power supply—that can have dire consequences. Best to play it safe and spend a little extra for peace of mind.
I've picked the 2 TB variant of the Crucial P310 for the SSD choice, as its one of the very few larger-capacity drives that hasn't been hit massively hard by price increases. The good news is that it's a plenty-fast Gen 4 drive with room for lots of games, and one I'd be more than happy to run myself.
Lastly, a stalwart addition comes in the form of the Corsair Frame 4000D case. It's a handsome beast, complete with a side fan/radiator mount, plenty of room to build in (although cabling can get a bit tight) and a clever rail mounting system. It's also remarkably cheap for what you end up receiving, meaning you can free up some money for peripherals and other assorted extras without sacrificing on quality.
Best high-end gaming PC build
Category | Part | Current price (US) | Current Price (UK) |
|---|---|---|---|
Motherboard | MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk | ||
Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D | ||
Graphics card | Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 | ||
Cooler | BeQuiet Light Loop 360 mm | ||
Memory | Crucial Pro 32 GB DDR5-6000 | ||
Power supply | Seasonic Prime TX-1300 | ||
SSD | Crucial T710 4 TB | ||
Case | HAVN HS 420 | ||
Total | Row 8 - Cell 1 | $3,685 | £3,498 |
Surprise! I bet you were expecting the RTX 5090 to be in the GPU spot here—but alas, even high-end builders now need to think very, very carefully about their graphics card choices.
You might have plenty of cash to spare (and the RTX 5090 is still the fastest graphics card on the market by a significant amount), but now the cheapest ones are the best part of $4,000, I can't in good conscience recommend one. Nope, the RTX 5080 it is, as while it's not the fastest GPU you can buy, it just about makes sense with its current price tag. Even if it is well over $1,000.
Oof. Still, while this PC is definitely not the cheapest, it will happily tear through any game you throw at it, any video editing task you want to get done, and make short work of at least a handful of Google Chrome tabs.
Just kidding. It will handle many, many tabs, while spinning a plate and doing magic tricks. By which I mean, gaming.
At this system's heart lies the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D—one of the very best gaming CPUs money can buy. While it's not a mega-multitasker, as it only has eight Zen 5 cores capable of running up to 16 threads, it will absolutely blitz through any gaming task you ask of it.
What makes the Ryzen 7 9800X3D a gaming powerhouse is the extra 3D V-Cache, neatly packaged underneath its cores. This chip comes with 96 MB of L3 cache, 64 MB more than the regular Ryzen 7 9700X. Games can't get enough of the stuff, and this chip is demonstrably quicker in gaming than almost anything else you'll find today. It's the perfect chip to pair with a high-end graphics card, and yep, here it comes again:
The RTX 5080. Now, this comes with a caveat: if you've got absolute mega bucks, you'll still want to consider the RTX 5090. It's the speediest gaming GPU money can buy, after all. But now the cheapest versions are nearly the same price as a whole high-end system, I've made a tactical decision to go for the second-tier Nvidia card instead.
The RTX 5080 is no slouch, and while it still needs some DLSS help to game at 4K with the settings turned up, I can't ignore the fact that it's roughly a third of the price of the big -90 card. Upgrade it if you wish, but you'd better invite me to your next yacht-based champagne party while you're at it. Mines a Dom Pérignon, leave the bottle.
There are no real surprises for the rest of the build, though, besides maybe the SSD. I've opted for 4 TB's worth of the Crucial T710. The brand might not be long for this world, but while this Gen 5 drive is still around, we'll take it. It's massively pricey, but it's not like anything else in this machine is cheap, and it's a brilliant performer with oodles and oodles of storage.
I couldn't really opt for anything less than 32 GB of DDR5 here. Prices have been soaring recently, but you're still going to want a hefty stack of RAM to compliment such a high-end build, so 32 GB it is.
The PSU matters for a lot with this build, as it's the lifeblood of all these expensive components. I've opted for 1300 W power version of the Seasonic Prime TX-1000 to ensure a robust platform with extremely high efficiency.
All that is wrapped up in the Havn HS 420 VGPU chassis, a fantastic looking modular case wrapped in oodles of sparkly glass. It's a bit heavy, and the motherboard airflow could be a little better, but either way it's pretty much the best high-end case we can think of right now. It'll look gorgeous with all your ultra-fast components inside.
There's plenty of opportunity to configure this build to your liking with a couple tweaks here or there, but the important thing is with this CPU and GPU combination, is that it's going to absolutely crush any game you throw at it.
Monitors, peripherals, and other important bits
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Of course, just buying the parts to build a fantastic gaming PC is only half the battle. You'll also want a great gaming monitor, keyboard, mouse, and various other bits and bobs to complete the experience.
Luckily, we curate comprehensive (and regularly updated) lists of the best products money can buy, from budget offerings all the way up to the tippity-top of the high-end.
We review every piece of hardware we can get our hands on to keep these guides fed, so you can rest assured that everything that makes the cut on these hallowed pages is well worth your time.
Below is a list of guides for some of the best extras you might need to go with your fantastic new gaming PC.
