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Join me as I build a wicked gaming PC for ~$1,000 out of Prime Day sale parts
Let's build ourselves a tasty machine that'll play the latest games at 1440p or better.
Ready to take the plunge on a new gaming PC but fancy building it yourself? You've come to the right place.
There's nothing like the feeling of pressing the power button for the first time on your shiny new gaming PC, built by your own two hands, and watching it whir to life. There's also nothing like when you hit the power button and nothing happens and you realise you've messed something up along the way—but less said about that the better.
If you're new to this, don't worry. I'll make it easy for you. I've been building PCs for years and I'm going to use that experience and our expert reviews here on PC Gamer to pick out the best PC components from the remains of the Prime Day sales (which are now over, sadly) and beyond. I'll make sure it all works together and will offer you top performance.
Below you'll find my recommendations for a gaming PC build around the $1,000 mark (almost to the dollar) and targeting both excellent 1440p performance, longevity and dashing good looks. I'll also post live updates to this page further down with recommendations for further deals on PC parts that catch my eye as I find them.
The $1,000 Prime Day gaming PC build
Category | Part | Current price (US) |
---|---|---|
Motherboard | ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi | $140 |
Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | $245 |
Graphics card | PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 7700 XT OC | $361 |
Cooler | BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 | $64 |
Memory | Lexar Thor OC DDR5-6000 32 GB (2x 16 GB) | $85 |
Power supply | Corsair RM750x power supply | $85 |
SSD | Lexar NM790 1TB | $70 |
Case | Fractal Design North chassis | $110 |
I've not cut corners on this PC build. I've chosen parts I would want in my own gaming PC. These are components that will deliver high frame rates today and overhead to deal with the next-generation of demanding games; that look fantastic together and should keep relatively quiet while gaming.
Processor
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | eight cores | 16 threads | 105 W | 4.5 GHz boost | $399 $244.99 at Newegg (save $154.01 with code FANDUA595)
AMD has gone from strength to strength with its desktop CPUs. The 7700X scored a solid 83% in our review, however, with this new low price it's even more of a win for PC builders.
Price check: Amazon $244.99
The first decision for any PC build is which CPU to go for: Intel or AMD?
I've sided with AMD here. The Ryzen 7 7700X is my chip of choice. There are a few reasons for that.
Firstly, it's hugely discounted down to just $245 today. You can buy it at Newegg or Amazon for that price, though it's a Prime only deal on the latter.
Secondly, AMD's AM5 platform will have more room to grow with support for future generations of AMD chips. With eight cores and 16 threads of Zen 4 at its disposal, you won't have to worry about replacing the 7700X anytime soon, but should you want to, you need only ensure your BIOS on your motherboard is up-to-date and replace the CPU with any other AM5 compatible chip.
We know the 9000-series will use the same AM5 socket as the 7000-series, so that's one upgrade you could make. I'd wager future 3D V-Cache processors would also make for a tasty upgrade if you can spare the cash.
Graphics card
Powercolor Radeon RX 7700 XT | 12 GB GDDR6 | 3072 shaders | 2,584 MHz boost | $399.99 $360.90 at Amazon (save $39.09)
The Radeon RX 7700 XT might lose out to its bigger brother, but if you're building a system on a budget it still makes a great mid-range card for solid 1440p gaming, as we found in our review of the Sapphire model.
RX 7700 XT price check: Walmart $379.99
I'm also choosing AMD for the graphics card in this PC. The PowerColor Radeon RX 7700 XT found over at Amazon (now sold out at Newegg) is an excellent price to pay for a modern GPU with 12 GB of VRAM. This card will roundly beat the similarly priced RTX 4060 Ti at 1440p and offers great bang-for-your-buck at 1080p, too.
Motherboard
ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi | Micro ATX | 8+2+1 phase | 3x NVMe slots | $149.99 $139.99 at Newegg (save $10)
It may be compact but it offers plenty of connectivity. It offers Wi-Fi 6E, three NVMe slots, two PCIe slots and support up to DDR5-7200.
Price check: Amazon $159.99
For the motherboard, I've opted for the ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi. It's a compact Micro ATX motherboard but it offers all I could ask for at this sale price. The VRM is a suitable 8+2+1 design, there are plenty of USB ports (including USB Type-C) and three NVMe SSD slots. One of which is also PCIe 5.0 compatible, though I won't be taking advantage of that for this build.
This motherboard comes in a white and black colourway, which will be important once we talk about the chassis later on.
Cooler
BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 | dual-tower | seven heat pipes | 2x Silent Wings fans included | $89.90 $63.92 at Amazon (save $25.98)
Forget liquid cooling, we can get by just fine with good ol' traditional air. Not only is air cooling often better value than liquid cooling, it's nice and quiet too. This BeQuiet! cooler is pretty much brand new, by the way.
Price check: Newegg $69.90
You could opt for a cheaper cooler to save some cash here, though in the interests of noise levels under load I've decided to opt for the brand new BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 5. A chunky air cooler capable of dissipating up to 270 W, it won't struggle to keep this 105 W Ryzen chip under control. There are two Silent Wings PWM fans included with this cooler and designed to keep noise to a minimum.
For the avoidance of doubt, I do like a liquid cooler. However, I have an air cooler in my personal PC and they're often fantastic value for the performance on offer.
The Dark Rock Pro 5 offers 45 mm of clearance for the RAM and shouldn't pose an issue with my 40 mm tall pick below. It's also 168 mm tall, which will just slide in perfectly into the Fractal chassis (max cooler size for the case is 170 mm).
Memory
Lexar Thor OC | 32 GB (2x 16 GB) | DDR5-6000 | CL32 | AMD Expo | $99.99 $84.88 at Amazon (save $15.11)
There's really very little to complain about here. Speedy DDR5 memory with low latencies and AMD Expo sign-off. For not much more than some 16 GB kits, in fact.
I've opted for 32 GB of genuinely fast DDR5 RAM for this build. In the interests of saving money, I had expected to go for 16 GB, though a Prime Day deal on Lexar's 32 GB Thor OC DDR5-6000 kit was too tempting to resist. It is asking little more than some 16 GB kits, and yet it's genuinely speedy memory at 6000 MHz (effective) at CL32 and officially certified for AMD Ryzen systems through AMD Expo.
SSD
Lexar NM790 w/heatsink | 1 TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,400 MB/s read | 6,500 MB/s write | $109.99 $69.98 at Amazon (save $40.01)
For anyone looking for a cheap, spacious drive with serious performance, here you're getting a genuinely brilliant SSD for the money, and you can see this for yourself with our review of the 4 TB version.
Price check: Newegg $90.75
For storage, I've chosen the 1 TB Lexar NM790 solid state drive. This NVMe SSD is currently discounted with a heatsink attached, though one is included on the ASRock motherboard. It might be an idea to use this Lexar drive in one of the non-heatsink slots on the motherboard and use the motherboard's heatsink for an upgrade down the line.
I reviewed the massive 4 TB version of the Lexar NM790 and came away thoroughly impressed with the performance it delivers.
Power supply
Corsair RM750x power supply | 750 W | 10-year warranty | 80 Plus Gold | $139.99 $85.49 at Amazon (save $54.50)
I need 700 W for the RX 7700 XT—the extra 50 W is a small amount of overheard should it be required down the line. Corsair is one of the best in the biz for building PSUs and its 10-year warranty offered here backs that up.
Price check: Newegg $89.99
Powering the lot is the Corsair RM750x power supply, currently on offer at Amazon. This fully-modular power supply is from a dependable manufacturer and rated to 80 Plus Gold and Cybenetics Gold standards. It also comes with a ten-year warranty for peace of mind.
Nothing makes me more uncomfortable than a thousand dollars worth of PC parts plugged into a no-name PSU with lacklustre electronics. Not on my watch.
Case
Fractal Design North| ATX, micro, mini-ITX mid-tower | 2x 140mm fans included | USB-C front panel | $139.99 $109.99 at Amazon (save $30)
Celebrated for both aesthetics and performance, the Fractal Design North's wooden front panel and mesh side offer tons of airflow and top-class looks. We're not in the black monolith era of PC case design anymore.
Price check: Newegg $109.99
Lastly, the chassis into which it all slots in. The Fractal Design North case is held in high esteem by the PC Gamer team and further afield. You can pick it up in black or white for the same price in the sales, though I'm opting for white to match my pick of motherboard. Either way, it looks excellent with that wood finish up front. It also comes with two fans pre-installed for adequate cooling without spending any extra.
LIVE: Latest Updates
Hey, welcome to the live page covering the best component deals from Prime Day and beyond. I'm Jacob, senior hardware editor here at PC Gamer.
I'll post any great deals I find on components right here, including any alternatives for the build above. The page will automatically update, so stay right here.
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 | Six-core | 12-thread | 65 W | 3.8 GHz boost | $229 $193.49 at Newegg (save $35.51)
The Zen 4 architecture and AM5 socket make this a mighty modern CPU on a slim budget. The lower TDP than most means you can make it work with a cheap air cooler, too. You're in luck, actually, as the boxed version comes with just the ticket: a Wraith Stealth air cooler. It's not amazing but it'll do in a pinch.
Price check: Amazon $193.49
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D | 8-cores | 16-threads | Loads of L3 cache | 4.1 GHz boost | $249 $183 at Amazon (save $66)
If you're looking for an AM4 socket upgrade or just want to save some pennies, the last-generation 3D V-Cache chips are where it's at. They're blisteringly fast in games and still retain the multicore goodness required for more heavy duty tasks, like Blender.
Price check: Newegg $183
So, you want something cheaper.
If you can't stretch your budget to the above, I've some cheaper CPUs for your consideration. The Ryzen 5 7600 is a six-core, 12-thread processor with all the benefits of the Zen 4 architecture and AM5 socket still intact.
A 65 W TDP means the 7600 is happier with a cheaper cooler, such as the Hyper 212. Though you can also get by with the entirely free cooler included in the boxed version of the chip. Neat!
There are other options available to you, however. Intel makes a mean CPU in the Core i5 13400F, though it will require a complete rethink of the motherboard. As will one of AMD's last-generation 5000-series chips, which are on the AM4 socket.
Though many Ryzen 5000-series chips are incredibly affordable for what you get. You can score one of the best gaming CPUs of the AM4 generation, the Ryzen 7 5700X3D, for less than the 7600 today—no cooler included on that one, however.
Lexar NM790 | 2 TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,400 MB/s read | 6,500 MB/s write | $134.75 at Amazon
This SSD is a great deal right now, compared to slimmer sales elsewhere, and Lexar has put together a superb SSD in the NM790. Thanks to high-layer NAND and a low-power controller, you can get tons of storage here on an energy-efficient and great-performing drive for not much cash. Often much less cash than the competition, even. Read our Lexar NM790 (4 TB) review for more.
Price check: Newegg $149.99
Nextorage NEM-PA | 2 TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300 MB/s read | 6,900 MB/s write | $249.99 $135.99 at Newegg (save $114)
You can expect top performance out of this drive, which is impressive for the price. It's actually frequently faster than some pricier drives, and we've generally been very impressed with Nextorage's drive in our review. Unfortunately, the price for this drive is really volatile but it's still one of the better-value 2 TB drives with a heatsink right now.
Price check: Amazon $159.99
WD Black SN850X | 2 TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300 MB/s read | 6,300 MB/s write | $189.99 $132.99 at Amazon (save $57)
Our favorite SSD for gaming right now encapsulates the best PCIe 4.0 offers in terms of performance (check out our review). That makes it a great fit for a boot drive with space to spare for your game library, and at this price, we're happy to pay the premium for its higher speed.
Price check: Newegg $132.99 | Best Buy $148.99
Eyeing up more storage space?
While it used to be the done thing to buy a Samsung SSD and be done with it, we actually prefer some other brands of SSDs for straightforward gaming use. Such as the WD Black SN850X, Lexar NM790, or Nextorage NEM-PA. All three are quick, effective and cheaper than the Samsung 990 Pro.
We gave all three drives high scores in our reviews, as you can check out for yourself below.
Nextorage NEM-PA review
WD Black SN850X review
Lexar NM790 review
Acer Nitro RX 7900 GRE | 16 GB GDDR6 | 5,120 shaders | 2,395 MHz boost | $539.99 $509.99 at Newegg (save $30 with promo code FANDUA5753)
The RX 7900 XT is one of the more recent releases out of AMD, at least in the global market. It started out as a special edition for the Chinese gaming market, but it was rolled out globally to help the red team compete with the green guys. It's a good deal, too, being big chunks of the RX 7900 XT but with a little bit less of everything, to make a very performant but cheaper GPU. Use promo code FANDUA5753 for the full discount.
Price check: Amazon $529.99 | Best Buy $529.99
Gigabyte RTX 4070 | 12 GB GDDR6X | 5,888 shaders | 2,565 MHz boost | $559.99 $499.99 at Newegg (save $60 with promo code FANDUA5762)
The RTX 4070 is a popular card and can be difficult to find at a discount, but it's important to remember that this price is cheaper than it was at launch. You're getting nearly RTX 3080 performance but with all those nice RTX 40 features. This Gigabyte model uses the traditional 8-pin PCIe power connector, rather than the new 12VHPWR one, which makes it far easier to install as an upgrade. Use promo code FANDUA5762 for the full discount.
RTX 4070 price check: Best Buy $554.99 | Walmart $534.99 | Amazon $529.97
If you want to improve your frame rate above and beyond what the RX 7700 XT can muster, you might want to check out the RX 7900 GRE. Launched exclusively in China for a short while, this model has since been released to the rest of the world. It's on the cheaper end of 4K capable—though would make a superb GPU for 1440p or ultrawide performance.
The alternative from the green team is the RTX 4070, if we're talking a straight price comparison. The GRE does generally outdo the RTX 4070 in rasterised performance, though as with most AMD vs Nvidia battles, turn on ray tracing and Nvidia claws back performance. That's especially true of the RTX 4070 Super, which is more competitive versus the RX 7900 GRE across the board, though costs quite a bit more.
Check out our RX 7900 GRE review for more.
Time for an upgrade.
We've spoken about saving cash, but what if you wanted to spend more of it on this gaming PC build? You have a couple of options for a drop-in CPU upgrade, all on sale right now.
The best of the lot for gaming, courtesy of a huge Prime Day discount, has to be the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. This is the fastest gaming CPU on the planet right now, so for pure performance in games, go for this.
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D | 8 cores, 16 threads | 5.0 GHz max boost | 96 MB L3 cache | 120 W TDP | $449.99 $385 at Amazon (save $64.99)
This CPU isn't just the best gaming processor you can get for your money, it's simply the best there is. It's just as fast as anything Intel has to offer and consumes far less power to boot. Of course, this isn't the best CPU at everything, as it's designed to be brilliant at gaming (check out our review here). For content creation and productivity tasks, you'll want a CPU with more cores and threads. Normally, the biggest downside to choosing the Ryzen 7 7800X3D was its price, but this deal counters that problem immediately.
Price check: Best Buy $399.99 | $386.99 at Newegg
If you prefer to prioritise performance in heavy multicore applications, you might want to look into the Ryzen 9 7900X. This is a multitasking champ.
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 12 cores, 24 threads | 5.6 GHz max boost | 64 MB L3 cache | 170 W TDP | $549 $329.99 at Newegg (save $219.01 with promo code FANDUA596)
This CPU is probably the most underrated in AMD's Zen 4 line-up and it's because each CCD chiplet has six cores, 12 threads instead of the full eight-core, 16-thread total. Lots of folks think this is a bad thing but until you've tried one, it's hard to appreciate just how capable it is.
Price check: Amazon $342
Finally, if you prefer a blend of productivity and gaming, it's the Ryzen 9 7900X3D you're after. This offers the higher cache quantity of the 7800X3D with all the extra cores of the 7900X. You might think this is the clear winner of the lot, considering it's one of the cheaper chips, too, and I'd agree with you. However, it's worth pointing out that the 7800X3D is reliably a teeny bit quicker in games and the 7950X is reliably a teeny bit quicker in CPU tests. I mean, it's marginal either way, so imma say pick this and don't sweat it.
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D | 12 cores, 24 threads | 5.6 GHz max boost | 128 MB L3 cache | 120 W TDP | $599 $327.98 at Amazon (save $271.99)
If the normal Ryzen 9 7900X isn't gamer enough for you, then get one with 64 MB of 3D V-cache bonded to one of the CCDs and enjoy a healthy performance boost in lots of games. Again, most folks will head for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D but that's $60 more expensive.
Price check: Newegg $379.99
Our Nick has searched across the web to find the five deals on PC cases worth buying this Prime Day. He's made some good picks here—which I say as someone that has built PCs into the Corsair 5000D and Lian Li O11 Dynamic. The former is wicked for cable management and tidy builds, the latter for customisation options with fully liquid cooled machines.
Corsair 4000D Airflow | ATX Mid-tower |Up to 360 mm fans front | Up to 280 mm fans top | 120 mm fan rear | 7.85 kg | $104.99 $79.97 at Amazon (save $25.02, Prime member exclusive deal)
Corsair's compact PC case is pretty basic but has plenty of room inside for lots of fans and graphics cards up to 360 mm (14.2 inches) in length. It's on sale pretty much everywhere and at this price, it's a veritable bargain.
Price check: Newegg $79.99 | Walmart $79.99 | Best Buy $79.99
Corsair 5000D Airflow | ATX Mid-tower |Up to 360 mm fans front | Up to 360 mm fans top | 120 mm fan rear | 13.8 kg | $174.99 $104.99 at Newegg (save $50 plus a further $20 with a rebate card)
If the 4000D Airflow is a little too small for you, then for just a handful of dollars more, you can get its bigger brother, the 5000D Airflow. Same design, same features, just a roomier, with space for 420 mm (16.5 inches) graphics cards.
Price check: Amazon $124.99 | Walmart $124.99 | Best Buy $124.99
Fractal Design North | ATX Mid-tower |Up to 360 mm fans front | Up to 280 mm fans top | 120 mm fan rear | 7.7 kg | $139.99 $109.99 at Newegg (save $30)
One of the best-looking PC cases around, Fractal Design's North is also a great little chassis to use. It's not quite as roomy as the 4000D Airflow but it does support graphics cards up to 355 mm (14 inches) in length. Why should your PC look boring when it could be stylish instead?
Price check: Amazon $139.99 | Walmart $109.99
Be quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX | ATX Mid-tower |Up to 420 mm fans front and top | 140 mm fans rear and bottom | 13.6 kg | $219.99 $131.39 at Amazon (save $88.60, exclusive to Prime members)
Living up to the vendor's name, the Shadow Base 800 FX is a great choice for PC builders who need lots of airflow and space, but don't want to compromise on noise. The included fans are impressively quiet and you even get a sheet of acoustic-damping foam in the rear panel.
Price check: Newegg $149.99 | Best Buy $211.78
Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO RGB | ATX Mid-tower |Up to 420 mm fans front, side, and bottom | 120 mm fan rear | 17.2 kg | $159.99 $139.99 at Newegg (save $20)
Should the wood look of the Fractal Design be a little too staid for you, then how about this Lian Li model? Glass panels akimbo, RGB lighting strips, and space for more fans and radiators than you could possibly ever need. It's a fabulous, highly-adjustable PC case, with room for 455 mm (17.9 inches) graphics cards.
Price check: Amazon $139.99 | Walmart $164.58
We don't often talk about power supplies much. We should, they're underrated, but we don't. And that's sad.
So here are a few prime picks from Prime Day (and beyond):
BeQuiet! Straight Power 12 1200W | $179.99 at Newegg (save $70)
Corsair RM1000x 1000 W | $123.49 at Newegg (save $66.50)
Corsair RM850x 850 W | $94.99 at Amazon (save $55)
BeQuiet! Pure Rock 2 | tower | 4 heat pipes | 1 Pure Wings 2 fan included | $44.90 $34.90 at Amazon (save $10)
This smaller version of the cooler we featured above is rated to 150W TDP, easily powerful enough to cool your average i5, i7 or Ryzen chip and save you a bit of cash in the process. We awarded it the honor of our favorite quiet CPU cooler, and not just because of its brand name.
Hey, check it out: our favorite quiet air cooler is on sale for a nice little discount for Prime Day. Here's what we had to say about it in our guide to the best CPU coolers:
"It's a single-tower cooler with the company's highly regarded Pure Wings 2 PWM fan, with a low 26.8dB(A) noise rating. That means it's very quiet indeed. It feels excellent, too, an indicator of good build quality... The Pure Rock 2 will keep your chip cool and quiet for anything other than high-end CPUs. If you're interested in bling and want something that's a step up from bundled coolers, the Pure Rock 2 is a fantastic choice. It will cool out of sight, mind, and earshot."
These 6 Prime Day PC gaming deals under $50 are like a quality of life patch for my actual life
Lauren put together this fun (but also practical!) list of affordable accessories no PC gamer should be without. Well, maybe you can do without the rabbit-eared charger, but a mic arm, better cable management gear, and a compressed air duster for keeping your computer and keyboard clean? Vital tools, and they're all cheaper than usual.
If you're going to pick just one, I gotta recommend the cable management kit.
Yecaye cable management kit | PVC | 30MM adhesive mount | 6 pack | $26.99 $16.98 on Amazon (save $10)
If you don't have cable management, you need cable management. And if you do have cable management you probably need better cable management. I personally need a better solution than the, admittedly very nice, velcro cable ties I'm currently using and an adhesive cable track is the next move up the ladder. This Yecaye set comes with 6 cable channels, which should be enough to cover even an excessively long 7-foot desk like mine.
Hey, Jacob here again for the morning shift. Prime Day may be over but don't fret: there are still plenty of deals available across the web.
Newegg's Fantastech sale is still on for another day, which means many of my picks here are still live and kickin'.