The Best Gaming PC Build For $1000 in 2021 – 1440p at 60fps!

With a budget of $1000, you can pretty much guarantee that the computer you build can handle 1080p and should also be capable of putting out 1440p if you don’t mind lower fps or lower than max settings. 1080p gaming is not even an issue. This is basically a perfectly balanced price-point for building your own gaming PC, it’s enough to get you amazing hardware while still maintaining a reasonable budget.

Best Pre-Built Gaming PC Under $1000

Skytech Archangel Gaming Computer PC Desktop specs:

•  AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core 12-Thread 3.6GHz (4.2 GHz Max Boost) CPU
• 500GB SSD
•  8GB DDR4 3000MHz
• Windows 10 Home 64-bit
• Free Gaming Keyboard and Mouse
• 3 Display ports an 1 HDMI port

If you’re trying to build a powerful gaming PC for $1000 then this is exactly what you need to see! It an i5 9600K, an 8GB RX 5700 XT, 16GB of RAM and 500GB of SSD storage!

The Skytech Archangel is a really good gaming pc for under $1000 that you can’t go wrong with.

That all said, if you’re looking for a build running an AMD Ryzen processor then you might want to check my other $1000 Ryzen build out instead! It comes with an R5 3600 + RX 5700 XT + 16GB of RAM; definitely a beast worth checking out!

Have a question? Read our frequently asked questions or Ask me in the comment section!

Best $1000 Gaming PC Build And Under

Phanteks Eclipse

A great mid-tower ATX case with a clean layout, and good cable management options! Comes with a single 120 mm fan.

Gigabyte Z390 UD

LGA 1151 socket ATX motherboard, Z390 chipset. Equipped with 6x USB, 6x SATA, and 1x M.2 slot. Comes with built in audio support and integrated ethernet. Supports CPU overclocking.

Intel i5 9600K

6-core/6-thread 3.7GHz (base clock) processor that boosts up to 4.6GHz. The 9600K fully supports CPU overclocking. Does not come with a stock CPU cooler (see below).

Arctic Freezer 34 eSports

Since the i5 9600K does not come with a stock CPU cooler, you’ll need an aftermarket one. Arctic’s Freezer 34 is an awesome option.

XFX RX 5700 XT Thicc III Ultra

8GB GDDR6 graphics card. 4 display outputs (3x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0b). Great 1440p (and even 4K) performance!

Corsair CX650M

650W semi-modular 80+ Bronze power supply. Rated up to 85% efficiency. Comes with a 5-year warranty.

16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 RAM

2x8GB 2666MHz DDR4 RAM, CL16. Dual channel pair.

WD Blue 500GB SSD

An incredibly fast SSD! Currently one of the absolute best options.

REQUIRED TOOLS

The Tools You Need:

• A small Phillips screwdriverSize #2 works well as a general rule.
• An anti-static wristbandOptional but recommended.
• PatienceAnd lots of it.

That’s really all you need to assemble your new desktop. All of the mounting hardware and cables will come with the parts listed above. The only time you might need something extra is if you’re modifying the build on this page.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR PC

Super Simplified Build Steps:

1. Install the power supply into the case
2. Install the processor (CPU)
3. Seat RAM in the motherboard
4. Mount the CPU cooler (don’t forget thermal paste if you’re not using a stock cooler!)
5. Insert the motherboard’s rear I/O plate into the case’s rear I/O slot
6. Mount the motherboard in the case (get your i/o ports through and use the middle standoff as a guide)
7. Plug your graphics card into the motherboard
8. Install storage drives
9. Plug all power and data cables in where they’re required (storage, case, motherboard, graphics card, etc)
10. Turn your PC on
11. Install your OS
12. Install and update ALL drivers
13. DONE!

In-depth Walkthrough

If you’ve never built a computer before, then you probably want to take some time to learn the basics before getting ahead of yourself. To do that you have a couple of options you can choose from.

The first, and probably the easiest way for most people to learn is finding a walkthrough on YouTube from a reputable tech channel. Here’s one by BitWit as an example.

Alternatively, I’ve put together an in-depth guide on how to build a PC as well as a FAQ to address the most common questions and problems. I’ve also put together a short post covering 10 of the most common mistakes people make when building.

Recommended Add-ons

One of the best parts of building a PC is being free to customize your build as you see fit. Below, you’ll find some potential upgrades as well as items you could (or should) add to your build. Not all of these are necessary, but add-ons (like an SSD) are definitely suggested as they will improve your experience a lot.

Windows 10 (USB Installer)

Windows 10 is your best bet when it comes to picking an operating system. This version is a USB installer.

Corsair H80i Liquid CPU Cooler

Instead of air cooling your CPU, why not try a closed loop liquid cooler?

Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe SSD

A 250GB M.2-based NVMe SSD like the 970 EVO Plus is a step up from basic M.2 or SATA SSDs. They offer significantly more speed, but at a higher price /GB in comparison.

Samsung Ultra-Slim External CD DVD±R/RW

External optical drives are generally just as good as their internally-mounted counterparts, and in some cases it’s necessary to go external over internal.

Build Breakdown

This $1000 gaming PC build is going to absolutely dominate anything you throw at it in both 1080p and 1440p. It’ll even work for some 4K gaming if you don’t mind turning your settings down lower than ultra.

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 Phanteks Eclipse P300 is an awesome mid-tower ATX case. You get a handful of premium features without spending a premium price. The P300 comes with a full PSU shroud, a big tempered glass side panel, good airflow, and clean cable management options.

If there’s one downside to the P300, it’s that it only comes with a single 120mm fan. Although it would work well to exhaust hot air from your case, adding 1-2 more 120mm fans to pull cool air in would be a good idea.

Motherboard: Gigabyte’s Z390 Ultra Durable is an overall great ATX motherboard, especially for the cost. It supports the LGA 1151 socket and runs on the Intel Z390 chipset – meaning it fully supports CPU overclocking. It also has fairly decent VRMs and can handle a pretty good overclock without heating up. This is great because the i5 9600K can be overclocked quite a bit.

The Z390 Ultra Durable comes with 6x USB ports, 6x SATA headers, an NVMe M.2 slot, and support for up to 4 sticks of DDR4 RAM. It also comes with integrated audio as well as a built-in ethernet controller.

Processor (CPU): Intel’s 6-core/6-thread i5 9600K is a processor that won’t have any issues with gaming, light content creation, or anything else. The i5 9600K has a base core clock of 3.7GHz that can extend all the way to 4.6GHz under load; that’s a lot of processing power slapped across 6 high-performance cores!

Being a K model, the i5 9600K is completely unlocked and fully supports CPU overclocking. Also, being a K model, it does not come with a stock CPU cooler. For that reason, I’ve included Arctic’s awesome Freezer 34 eSports as the default CPU cooler.

Graphics Card (GPU): The 8GB RX 5700 XT is a great GPU – the best available at this level. It’s easily capable of handling any game in 1440p at 60fps+. It’s also capable of 4K gaming if you don’t mind running high-ish settings in those more graphically demanding titles to maintain 60fps+.

XFX’s RX 5700 XT Thicc III Ultra comes with a great cooling profile, a sleek design, and 4 display outputs including 1 x HDMI and 3 x DisplayPort. It’s undeniably one of the most unique looking cards to hit the market this year and I’m personally a huge fan.

System Memory (RAM): 16GB of 2666MHz RAM in a dual channel setup from Corsair’s Vengeance LPX lineup of DDR4 RAM is the perfect amount – for a build at this level. Any more than 16GB and you probably won’t notice a difference in the vast majority of games, but if you’re a heavy-duty multi-tasker or you use your PC for demanding workloads, more RAM might be a good idea.

Power Supply (PSU): Corsair’s CX650M is an awesome semi-modular Bronze-rated power supply that won’t let you down. Being semi-modular, this supply will make your cable management much cleaner and easier to work with – no more hiding a dozen unused cables!

It’ll consistently deliver more than enough power to this build regardless if you’re running base clocks or you’ve overclocked everything to sky high numbers. It’s capable of delivering up to 85% efficiency under typical loads and comes with a 5-year warranty just in case the worst were to happen.

Storage: This build is running a 500GB WD Blue SSD by default. For a lot of people, this will be plenty. But, if you’re in the group who need more, you should know that it’s really easy to upgrade storage. Basically, it’s no different than installing your first drive; buy the new drive, connect power + data, and then you’ll have more space!

If you’re on a budget of $1000, you’re in luck, because that’s the perfect amount to spend on a DIY gaming PC build. If you were to go to Best Buy and pick a prefab PC up for $1000, you wouldn’t get anything near the level of this beast.

Operating System

When it comes down to picking an operating system for this build, you have a couple of options. One is free, the other is about $100.

The best choice if you want access to the widest array of compatible programs & games is going to be Windows. There are a few different versions available, but the one you’ll want to look at is Windows 10 – especially if you want to take advantage of DirectX 12, and you do.

Your free option would be to grab yourself a copy of Ubuntu and run that. It’s a solid Linux-based OS which is widely supported by most Windows based programs and games, although you might have to run some in a program called Wine.

When it comes to actually installing your OS, you basically have 2 choices. You can either do it the old fashioned way by using the retail DVD, or you could create your own bootable flash drive. If you’re planning to use Linux you can also burn an installation DVD. For instructions on how to create your own bootable flash drive, check here.

Peripherals

If you don’t already have things like a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and some kind of audio, you might want to take a look at some of my suggestions. They’re hand-picked to match this budget level, and they’re all great peripherals.

Since picking a monitor can be difficult with all of the different features to consider, check out my guide on how to pick the best monitor for gaming.

Even more important than picking out the right monitor is picking out the right chair. With all of the options available, it’s easy to get lost and make a bad decision. To make sure that doesn’t happen, I’ve put together this list of the 16 best gaming chairs!

Acer ED273 1080p 144Hz monitor

A great 27″ 1080p 144Hz monitor with a curved VA panel that’s G-Sync compatible!

Corsair K70

Cherry MX Silver mechanical switches. Customizable RGB backlighting. All-around amazing keyboard!

Logitech G502 Hero

Clean RGB lighting, very comfortable to use, great sensor accuracy, adjustable weight.

HyperX Cloud 2 Gaming Headset

The HyperX Cloud 2 is my top rated gaming headset for under $100 and for good reason!

Logitech Z623 2.1 speakers

2.1 channel, 200W RMS/400W peak speaker setup. If you like bass and lots of it, this is an awesome choice.

WiFi

Since the motherboard in this build comes equipped with an ethernet controller, it can easily connect to the internet via a wired connection. But, if your only option is WiFi, then you’re also going to need a WiFi adapter.

There are a couple routes you can choose. An internally mounted WiFi adapter is often faster and more reliable than a USB option. But, the USB option is often quite a bit cheaper. Ultimately, the choice is yours. But, here’s what I’d pick.

TP-LINK Archer T6E

One of the best internally mounted AC1300 dual-band WiFi adapters.

TP-LINK Archer T3U

An awesome dual-band USB WiFi adapter.

Conclusion

For around $1000, this gaming PC build will last you well into the future of modern games and continue to give you a seriously incredible gaming experience. If you need to game on the highest settings then you’ve found the right build because I’ve set you up with a rig that is definitely delivering a lot of bang for your hard-earned bucks.

This build can easily handle any game you can throw at it in 1440p on high settings or better without breaking a sweat. In 1080p, you could easily max (almost) anything out and get 100fps+ without a problem.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or otherwise, feel free to leave them in the comment section and I’ll answer them ASAP! 

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