Building your own gaming PC allows you to tailor it to your precise needs and budget. You have full control over each component, from selecting the motherboard and case design to determining the arrangement of RGB (or non-RGB) fans. While the convenience of purchasing a pre-built gaming PC is undeniable, it often comes at the cost of relinquishing control and paying a premium.
Jan 9, 2024 - 00:12
Jan 10, 2024 - 00:19
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Navigating the Selection and Pricing of PC Builds
We understand that selecting the right components for your PC build is a critical decision. Our recommendations are grounded in our expertise in the components market, extensive market research, and thorough testing of key components such as CPUs, GPUs, and SSDs. However, it's important to note that while we strive to create builds that hit specific price points, we may not have tested all the components together as a single unit due to the dynamic nature of prices and availability.
Additionally, when recommending GPUs, we focus on the GPU itself rather than specific makes and models of graphics cards. In the ever-changing landscape of graphics cards, price fluctuations and stock availability can vary widely. Therefore, we recommend selecting any reputable third-party or first-party card that is available with the desired GPU at the best price when you make your purchase.
It's important to mention that our build recommendations do not include the cost of an operating system, as there are options to obtain Windows for free or at a lower cost. Peripheral costs, such as the best gaming monitors, best gaming keyboards, and best gaming mice, are also excluded. If you're new to building a PC, refer to our guide on how to build a PC for step-by-step assistance.
Exploring Budget-Friendly PC Builds
For those working with a budget of approximately $500, building a PC with a dedicated graphics card is within reach. While you won't secure the fastest GPU available, you'll still be able to enjoy gaming at 1080p with modest settings—a substantial improvement over relying on integrated graphics.
In this build, we've selected Intel's Arc A380 as the graphics card. Despite our initial reservations at launch, this card is now readily available at Newegg and has proven its worth over the past few months. It outpaces AMD's competing RX 6400, offers more VRAM, and crucially, boasts full video encoding/decoding acceleration, including support for AV1—a forward-looking feature.
Our benchmarks show that this card achieved an average of 54.7 fps at 1080p medium settings, with updated drivers potentially yielding a further 5–10 percent improvement. If you're looking for a slightly faster option and can expand your budget slightly, the RX 6500 XT card, priced at around $146, can provide up to 65.8 fps in 1080p medium settings.
A CPU to Match: Intel Core i3-13100F
To complement our GPU choice, we've opted for Intel's Core i3-13100F CPU. Priced just over $100, this CPU delivers commendable performance for its cost. Boasting four cores, all of which are performance-oriented, and a robust boost clock of 4.5 GHz, the 13100F offers an attractive balance of performance and affordability. It even includes a stock cooler, eliminating the need for a third-party cooling solution. In our testing, we found the 13100F to be on par with AMD's Ryzen 5 5600, which carries a $30 higher price tag.
Selecting the Right Motherboard
To pair with our Intel 13100F CPU, we've identified an Intel 700 series motherboard at an attractive price point of $89. The ASRock B760M-HDV, a microATX board, offers DDR4 RAM support (a cost-effective alternative to DDR5) and accommodates M.2 PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 SSDs—an essential feature for storage enthusiasts.
Storage Solution: Crucial P3 Plus SSD
Our choice for storage is the Crucial P3 Plus, an affordable PCIe 4.0 SSD boasting impressive sequential read speeds of 5,000 MBps and sequential write speeds of 3,600 MBps. While our testing of the 2TB P3 Plus revealed good value, its performance falls in the middle range due to the use of QLC NAND and the absence of a DRAM cache. If you're willing to stretch your budget slightly further,
