This document provides guidance on how to build a capable gaming PC for under $1200. It recommends patience when shopping for parts to take advantage of sales. Consider AMD CPUs and SSD storage to maximize performance within a budget. An example build includes an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 CPU, Radeon RX 580 GPU, MSI B450 motherboard, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD for around $1155 total, leaving room in the budget for other components like a case, power supply, and Windows license. Building incrementally allows utilizing existing hardware where possible.

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How to Build a Gaming PC for Under $1200
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Alex Kidman
Published 14 hours ago: July 9, 2020 at 11:03 am -
Image: Getty
PC gaming can be cheap when it comes to buying games, thanks to endless Steam and Epic sales, but it’s less
forgiving on your wallet when it comes to buying the actual hardware, right? Not if you build your next gaming PC
with a little smart shopping and planning.
This year will see the launch of new consoles promising amazing visual power – but they won’t be cheap,
especially for the early adopters who must have them on day one. It’s the same story with PC gaming, right? Those
brand-new top-tier GPUs can seriously deplete your bank account just by themselves.
It’s true you can spend an awful lot of money on getting a gaming rig together that combines the very best cutting-
edge GPU, processors, storage and memory, not to mention monitors, keyboards, game controllers and more.
Filed to: AFFILIATE

2. But you don’t have to.
If your budget knows no limits, go nuts and buy me one while you’re at it, but in the world most of us occupy, there
are serious limitations on what you can a ord to throw into a gaming PC at all. All those other pesky real world
needs like food and rent seriously cut into your hardware budget. But the good news is you don’t have to spend an
absolute fortune to get a quite capable gaming rig, especially if you plan out your purchases and make the most of
your buying dollar.
It’s even feasible to build up a quite capable VR-ready rig for under $1,200, though you’re likely to hit a few visual
limits that those on higher budgets will sail past.
So what should you consider when trying to build a more budget-centric gaming PC?
Patience is your best friend
If there’s one tip to keep in mind, it’s this: don’t buy everything all at once. Waiting around for parts to drop in
price helps you to economise not once, but twice. Over time, component prices drop, so you win there, but being
patient also allows you to take advantage of spot sales for just about every part you might need. You can always
safely store away that bargain CPU you scored while you wait for your GPU of choice to dip in price.
Consider upgrade paths
It’s trickier when you’re buying budget parts, where older motherboards might not support future processors quite
as well, but one of the joys of building your own gaming PC – beyond the challenge itself – is that you can then
provide it upgrades in the future to keep it ticking along. That’s as long as your system can take those upgrades, so
check motherboard and processor roadmaps carefully before making your buying choices. AMD is typically a little
friendlier to the budget buyer in this regard than Intel.
Intel or AMD?
This may come down to what you can get at the right price when you’re clicking on that online checkout button,
but typically speaking AMD has served the budget market a little better with its Ryzen processor lines than Intel’s
Core equivalents, which tend to be pricier. On the other hand, Intel’s CPUs often overclock and perform better for
gaming tasks at the top end. It’s a balancing act with both firms competing for gamer dollars.
SSD over Mechanical drives
We’ve pretty seriously switched in terms of price and performance for gamer needs towards SSDs, although it can
be tempting to opt for a cheaper mechanical hard drive. If you do plan on having lots of games installed at any one
time because you adore staring at your pile of shame or something, then the higher capacities you can score for the
same money with a mechanical drive can be tempting. However, that’s going to incur a really serious performance
penalty on your whole system, which is a price that most gamers aren’t going to want to pay.
Use what you’ve got, but be smart
Unless you’re absolutely brand-spanking new to the PC gaming scene, chances are that you’re upgrading from an
existing PC. In that case, the temptation to use existing components that you already own to save money can be
strong. It’s not a bad move either if you’ve got, for example a desktop case going begging. That’s money saved right

3. there… with some caveats. Bear in mind that an older desktop might not have a power supply unit capable of
powering your new setup appropriately, or it may just be on its last legs.
If it’s a mass produced brand-name PC case, it may have an unusual or outdated rear panel setup which may not fit
your choice of motherboard appropriately for the rear ports you’re going to want. For peripherals you can always
make do with existing mice, keyboards and controllers if you’ve got them, or budget for future upgrades, but
there’s less reason to hold onto an older monitor, especially if it’s not capable of supporting modern refresh rates.
Pairing up an old monitor and a new gaming PC is going to rob you of the precise benefits that you’re spending on a
gaming PC for!
Don’t forget to budget for the OS!
Sure, Steam has Linux support, but it’s a smaller subset of available titles, and the same is true on the Mac side of
the equation. With macOS going all ARM with macOS Big Sur, the market for Hackintoshes is likely to dry up very
quickly. That means that Windows 10 is your OS of choice, and if you’re building a new PC, you’ve got to factor in
the cost of that OS licence. There’s nothing specifically illicit about using an OEM copy, typically much cheaper
when bundled with hardware components that you’re buying anyway, but Microsoft does tend to be more
restrictive when you do upgrades on home-built systems around those licences.
Example Build: Total Cost: ~$1155
Any listed build is going to date over time, but as an example of what you could build up for a moderate price,
here’s a decently specified PC for under $1,200 at the time of writing. I’m only listing out the desktop case
components, so you’ll need to budget extra for operating system, monitor and peripherals of course.
Amidst coronavirus it’s also a reality that some parts are easier to get than others, and you may have to wait a
while for anything on back order.
CPU: AMD Ryzen5 2600 ~$200
If you’re building to a budget, you’re not looking at top-tier CPUs, but you can get a decent quantity of power for
not that much money these days. The 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a good choice for budget buyers, and it’s pretty
easily available for around $200 or so. The newer Ryzen 3100 and 3300X CPUs are also a nice choice.
GPU: Radeon RX 580 8GB ~$300
You can save a few bucks by opting for a graphics card with less than 8GB of RAM, but you really shouldn’t if you
want your new gaming system to have any kind of lasting power. The Radeon RX 580 is a solid choice at a decent
price, and a good match with that AMD CPU.
Motherboard: MSI B450 Gaming Plus ~$250
You can get cheaper AM4 socket motherboards, and it does depend on precisely how you’re going to configure it
internally, but the MSI B450 Gaming Plus is well regarded in terms of value for money with support for memory
speeds up to DDR4-3466, SLI/Crossfire compatibility and M.2 support for quicker SSD compatibility.
Memory: 16GB DDR4-3000 (or better) ~$150
Memory prices fluctuate a lot, and there’s a lot of good quality brands to consider, but what we’re looking for here
is good quality DDR4 memory with a decent speed rating so that you’re not creating a memory bottleneck for either

4. your CPU or GPU. If budget or specials allow, jumping up to 32GB would be even nicer for a gaming PC, but 16GB is
a good bedrock place to start.
Storage: 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD $150
Picking up an M.2 NVMe SSD will maximise the speed of your primary drive, and 512GB gives you a little room to
play with when you’re juggling game installs, although obviously if your funds permit dropping in a secondary
larger storage drive of another type would be ideal. It’s well worth checking maximum transfer rates, however, as
the pace at which SSDs are improving is quite rapid. That does create a balance between buying the fastest – which
will cost you more – or saving a little on slightly older models.
Case: $50-$100
There’s no shortage of good gaming cases to house your new PC, with brands such as Corsair, Cooler Master,
Thermaltake, Lian Li and plenty more besides all jostling for your case dollar. It can be tempting to go for that
decked out RGB look, but arguably that’s money better spent on other components. It’s certainly pretty easy to
score a case for under $100 at any time of the year, and this is also a top pick for repurposing your old case too.
PSU: $50-$100
Again, you’re awash with choices when it comes to getting those precious electrons to your new gaming PC; the key
factor here is ensuring that your power supply can manage the power needs of the components you’re matching it
up with. Again, you can repurpose existing gear here, but then you’re not only taking on matching up power needs
but also possibly factoring an aged or worn out PSU into the bargain.
READ MORE One Of The Best Gaming Monitors Just Got A Serious Discount
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