Build a Diablo 3 PC that can withstand the fires of Hell!

One of the most rewarding parts of our job is empowering people to build their own PCs. Diablo 3 is one of those games that a lot of former PC gamers (and mouse-curious console owners) are going to be making the jump in order to play. Is that you, or someone you know? We've taken the liberty of building a rig that will guarantee you an excellent demon-slaughtering experience and comfortably hits the game's recommended specs. We've also included a few choice upgrades, if you have piles of gold you don't know what to do with.

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ( $169.99 @ Microcenter )

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing ( $19.99 @ Newegg )

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ( $147.86 @ Newegg )

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ( $46.99 @ NCIX US )

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ( $89.99 @ Newegg )

Optical Drive: Samsung SN-208BB DVD/CD Writer ( $28.98 @ Newegg )

Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card ( $109.99 @ Amazon )

Case: BitFenix Outlaw ATX Mid Tower Case ( $46.80 @ NCIX US )

Power Supply: Antec 500W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ( $49.99 @ Amazon )

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ( $99.99 @ Newegg )

Price summary

GPU: $110 — Radeon HD 7750

CPU: $170 — Intel Core i5 2500K

Mobo: $148 - ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX

RAM: $47 - Corsair Vengeance 8GB

HDD: $90 - Seagate Barracuda 1TB

DVD: $29 - Samsung SN-208BB

Cooler: $20 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

PSU: $50 - Antec 500W ATX12V

Case: $47 - BitFenix Outlaw ATX Mid Tower

OS: $100 - Windows 7 Home Premium

Total: $810.57

(Price includes estimated domestic shipping in North America and discounts when available.)

Upgrade options

Got some extra cash and looking to boost the system's performance? Here are your best upgrade options. They are listed in the order that will get you the biggest improvement for your investment. (It's no surprise that upgrading your GPU is the best move).

Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ( $259.99 @ NCIX US )

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ( $159.99 @ NCIX US )

Hard Drive #2: OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ( $99.99 @ Newegg ) - Pair with the above for maximum speed and storage

Power Supply: Antec 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ( $101.99 @ SuperBiiz )

Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ( $99.99 @ Amazon )

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ( $354.48 @ eCost )

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ( $93.99 @ NCIX US )

Price summary

GPU: $260 — Radeon HD 7850 2GB

CPU: $354 — Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz

Mobo: $148 - ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX

RAM: $94 - Corsair Vengeance 16GB

SSD: $100 - OCZ Agility 3 120GB

HDD: $160 - Seagate Barracuda 3TB

DVD: $29 - Samsung SN-208BB

Cooler: $20 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

PSU: $102 - Antec 650W ATX12V

Case: $100 - NZXT Phantom 410 ATX Mid Tower

OS: $100 - Windows 7 Home Premium

Total with all upgrades: $1467.24

Dave has been gaming since the days of Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, and code books for the Commodore Vic 20 (Death Race 2000!). He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later. When he dropped it out of the window. He first started writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World many decades ago, then moved onto PC Format full-time, then PC Gamer, TechRadar, and T3 among others. Now he's back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.

With contributions from

PC Gamer Team