Today we’re going to build a budget Gaming PC for you that costs around $1000 it has the latest features and will be upgradable long into the future!
MOTHERBOARD
Let’s jump straight in and show you the Motherboard! I’ve gone for the ASUS ROG Strix Z690-F Gaming with WiFi 6, it supports DRR5, the latest Intel processors ( LGA 1700 ) and will support the next-gen of Intel processors. Now, this is quite a big chunk of the budget here, but I managed to snag this with 16 GB of DDR5 RAM (single stick) for around $300 (about £250).
CPU
Ok so what CPU did we go for in this build… well this may surprise you but I went for the cheapest option! The i3 12100f! Bear in mind I got this just for gaming… if you plan to do video editing etc then maybe a 12700k might be better with its efficiency cores. It comes with 4 cores and 8 threads and I have heard good things about this budget CPU from the Alder Lake range. I didn’t think this version got a stock cooler but there is no reason why you can’t use this cooler and save yourself $60–80 while you save for another cooler etc.
Ok, let’s go ahead and install the CPU. It’s fairly straight forward just make sure you line up the corner with the mark on the corresponding mark on the motherboard socket.
Right now the CPU is installed, let’s put the single stick of DDR5 RAM in. Just a note here if you find a good deal on some dual DDR 4 ram then you can go ahead and buy that for now until you are ready to make the move to DDR5. I got this as a bundle and plan to buy another stick to match at some point down the line. Again this is a budget build with future-proofing in mind.
RAM
Firstly, always check the manual to know which slot you should put the DDR RAM in first, in this case, the RAM should be installed in B1 not A1 as shown here. DDR5 RAM can work quite well with a single stick as it works slightly differently from DDR5. However, you are better off having matched pairs of DDR5 RAM too.
CPU Cooler
As I said earlier you can save yourself a bit of money by using the stock cooler. Of course, it may be a bit louder and have slightly higher temps… but it should work fine. But today I’m going to install a Be Quiet fan. If I upgrade the CPU in the future I may get myself an NZXT Kraken AIO, but for now, this will keep costs down. It’s fairly straightforward to install, just follow the instructions provided, but I have to say I think this will look nice with RGB.
PC CASE
I have chosen the NZXT H510 FLOW case, this is a revised design of the H510 elite but now has a mesh front to allow air to flow through better. My first impressions of the case are good, nice and compact and look modern. The glass is dark and gives it a nice touch… but if you prefer cases with clear glass maybe go for a Corsair case. You can see they have added some nice cable tidies on the back of the case and tbh it wasn’t too bad running the cables.
PSU
Ok so next we have the PSU. It is an NZXT 750W PSU which should be plenty and will allow upgrades going forward. This one is fully modular which is great for minimising the number of cables in your system. This PSU also has the option to disable the fan to keep it super quiet, I’m not fully sure of the implications of that. Maybe it will just run hotter, I think I will keep it on just to be safe.
Install into CASE and add FANS & Cabling
So let’s get the guts in here and add some RGB fans to the font! Again these are not needed and you could save yourself a bit more money here just by using the stock fan. It comes with one at the front and back. You will also need the NZXT RGB fan controller to use these new fans, so again not a necessary cost here so can save a bit more on that.
2060 GPU
Ok so now for the Budget GPU. GPU prices have been coming down recently and I noticed the 2060 GPU on Amazon ( Brand New ). It is almost as comparable to a 3060 and I would say better than a 3050. So if you need something to get you started grab yourself something like this. It fits easily into the case and I will do some tests at the end to show how it performs in 2022.
BOOT & BIOS SETTINGS
Ok so next you want to enable a couple of settings in the Bios and make sure everything is running ok. I won’t be overclocking the RAM or anything as it’s in single mode and DDR 5, but I will be enabling 4G decoding and also disabling legacy boot so I can run Win 11 using Secure Boot. Also, make sure you have the latest BIOS so you can ensure you have the latest performance and compatibility with your components. Luckily mine was up to date so let’s get Windows on here and do some tests!