If you’re looking to build a powerful gaming PC easily capable of maxing games out in 1440p for $1200, we have some options for you! Finding high end graphics cards at a reasonable price has made many of the builds difficult to fit in our budget so we have done our best to wittle the list down. The powerful RTX 3060 is well-equipped to handle 1440p-4K gaming and it’s seriously going to blow your mind when paired with the AMD R5 3600 and 16GB of DDR4 RAM!

On our latest update we have had to bump up the build price to about $1300. You could compromise on the graphics card if you want to drop your price but we think the extra 100 bucks is worth it. 

This build is exactly what you’re looking for if you want to build a strong PC capable of delivering smooth, immersive gameplay AND being able to tackle some streaming and things like that. When it comes to this build, there really aren’t many ways it could be improved upon without spending a lot more.

Without drawing this introduction out any longer, let’s get down to the build!

If you have any questions check out our FAQ and feel free to ask them in the comment section!

Complete Build Breakdown

For right around $1200 (well actually $1300!), this R5 3600 + RTX 3060 Super-powered gaming PC is absolutely insane! It has more than enough power to completely blow your mind over and over again as you try your favorite games on it in either 1440p or even 4K!

Keep in mind that the price above is for the core components only, you will still need an operating system, and any other peripherals you don’t currently have.

Case: The NZXT H510i is an good mid-tower ATX case that takes everything the S340 did well and improves almost everywhere. It comes with everything you’ll need right out of the box, including the mounting hardware you’ll need and 2x 120mm fans. It can easily support custom or AIO watercooling setups with radiators up to 280mm.

That all being said, there are lots of other cases that would work great for this build, so to make sure that your build is really your build, make sure you pick the case that you like best!

CPU & Cooler:  AMD’s Zen 2 processors are complete and utter beasts; the R5 3600 is absolutely no exception. This 6-core/12-thread monster has a boost clock speed of 4.2GHz across all 6 cores which results in a ton of gaming potential. The R5 3600 is a unlocked CPU meaning it can be overclocked without an issue.

Although the R5 3600 comes with a fairly good stock CPU cooler from AMD, upgrading it would not be a bad idea by any means – especially if you want to push really high overclocks. If you want to do that, check out my list of the best air and liquid CPU coolers!

Motherboard: MSI’s B450 Tomahawk Max is a great ATX sized, AM4 socket, B450 chipset motherboard. It comes with everything you’ll need for the components in this build as well as the majority of any future upgrades you might want to undertake.

It gives you a plethora of USB options including multiple USB 3.1 ports, 6x SATA ports, an M.2 NVMe slot, and room for 4 sticks of RAM just to name a few. On top of that, you’re also getting on-board RGB lighting, support for Crossfire GPU configs, and high-quality integrated 7.1 audio as well as Ethernet. This board does not come with integrated WiFi, so if you need WiFi you’ll also need an adapter.

Graphics Card: The 12GB RTX 3060 is a complete and utter powerhouse when it comes to 1440p or even 4K gaming. The Zotac RTX 3060 is turning out to be a great performer with solid cooling and it’s easily one of the best-priced options available right now.

An RTX 3060 will perform similarly to an RTX 2080 (non-Super) in both 1440p and 4K.

Note: Due to their popularity, all models of the RTX 3060 Super are fairly difficult to find right now.

RAM: 16GB of RAM is the perfect amount for a gaming PC at this level. With that in mind, this build is running 2x8GB sticks of Corsair Vengeance LPX at 3000MHz. This leaves you with lots of room for future expansion and if you wanted to run more than 16GB that’s completely possible – when you do upgrade try to stick to the same speed as your RAM will automatically change its speed to match your slowest stick.

Power Supply: EVGA’s 550 BQ fully-modular power supply is a good, reliable, power supply. It’s rated to 80+ bronze and comes with a 5-year warranty + 24/7 technical support from EVGA. Being fully-modular, you don’t have to worry about hiding unused cables – you just plug in what you’re using and leave everything else in the box.

Storage: As far as storage goes, I picked you out the best 500GB SSD you could own – Samsung’s 860 EVO. Although 500GB is a fair amount of storage, you may want to consider adding more. With that in mind, you should know that it’s very easy to do. All you have to do is buy more drives and plug them in. The motherboard in this build will support up to 6 total drives between M.2 and SATA.

Peripherals

Operating System

WiFi

Conclusion

For right around $1200, this build will keep you comfortably gaming for years to come. No big upgrades will be needed for a reaaaaally long time, and it’s not going to have any issues running games maxed out for the same amount of time. The RTX 2070 Super is a complete beast and it’s going to blow your mind, I just know it!

This PC is really a thing of beauty, you would be seriously hard-pressed to find a better $1200 build anywhere. This badass build is using some of the newest and best hardware that you could use, and it’s going to be noticeable from the first time you boot up your favorite game!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or whatever else, feel free to leave it below!