Playing games at 4K hasn’t been entirely possible on a single graphics card up until recently. Thanks to the new GTX 1080 Ti, this is the first single card 4K-capable gaming PC that I’ve been able to put together!

Packing an 11GB GTX 1080 Ti, a brand new i5 8600K, 16GB of DDR4 RAM and 1.25TB of storage, this build comes in at right around $2000. It’s definitely capable of playing AAA games at 4K resolutions with awesome frame rates and blowing your mind at the same time!

If you have any questions about this build, feel free to ask me in the comment section! 

Below you’ll find some suggested add-ons for this build, some I’ll mention more in-depth further down this page, but some are pretty self-explanatory like optical (DVD/CD) drives. Although not entirely necessary, optical drives can sometimes come in handy and I strongly recommended having one; if you have an old PC kicking around, its optical drive will more than likely work for you and you won’t need to buy a new one.

GPU Shortage 2018

Due to a recent and major GPU shortage, almost all graphics cards from the GTX 1050 Ti and up have become all but impossible to buy. This includes both AMD and Nvidia cards and there’s no way to say when the shortage will end.

That being said, building a gaming PC is going to be difficult right now if you can’t buy the graphics card you need. So, you have basically 3 options, assuming you need a gaming PC right now. 

Option 1 is waiting until the shortage ends, whenever that might be. It could be a couple of weeks or it could be a couple of months, there’s no way of knowing. This definitely will not get you a PC right now.

Option 2 is buying a preowned GPU either locally or through a site like eBay. This option can be risky, tread carefully! 

Option 2 is buying a prebuilt gaming PC. There are some really great prebuilt options that offer really decent value. It won’t be of the exact same quality as if you built it yourself, but it’ll come with Windows installed and ready to fire up right out of the box.  Sometimes, you have to take the good with the bad. 

Below you’ll find some options that I’ve hand-picked for this level of build. They range from $1000-$2000 in price and are ordered from cheapest to most expensive. 

High-end Desktops ($1000-$2000):
– iBUYPOWER AM002i (i7 7700 + GTX 1070 + 8GB RAM)
– iBUYPOWER AM900Z (i7 7700K + GTX 1070 + 16GB RAM)
– CYBERPOWERPC GXiVR3000CPG (i7 8700 + GTX 1070 + 16GB RAM)
– CYBERPOWERPC GXiVR8140A (i7 8700K + GTX 1080 + 16GB RAM)
– CYBERPOWERPC GXiVR8080A2 (i7 8700K + GTX 1080 Ti + 16GB RAM)

This is the ultimate single GPU 4K gaming PC build, without a doubt. It hasn’t been until the release of the GTX 1080 Ti that a single card 4K build was even really possible without lowering the settings so low that gaming wouldn’t be enjoyable anyways.

Keep in mind that the price listed above is just for the core components and you will still need to add anything that you don’t already have; mouse, keyboard, audio, those kinds of things.

The case in this build is an awesome one from Corsair’s Graphite lineup. The 760T is a full sized case that has tons of room for everything in this build and any future upgrades you might want to add. It comes with 3 120mm fans from the factory, but you can always upgrade those as you see fit. As far as cable management goes, the 760T is awesome and offers a good amount of options as well as rubber grommets for all cable-routing holes.

The ASUS Z370-A is a top-rated motherboard that’s perfectly suited for this build. It has all of the ports, headers and slots you’ll need for everything in this build and then some. Along with the basics, this board also boasts integrated RGB lighting, amazing 8-channel audio, reinforced PCIe slots, 3D-printing mounts and tons of other features. 

Intel’s brand new 6 core/6 thread i5 8600K is a complete and utter beast when it comes to pretty much anything. It readily blows the old i7 7700K out of the water and is an all-around incredible CPU regardless of what you’re using it for. That said, if you’re the kind of person who has to have the best of the best, then the i7 8700K is definitely what you want. 

Since the i5 8600K does not come with a stock CPU cooler, I’ve added on a Cryorig H7 CPU cooler to keep you covered. It’s an awesome air CPU cooler and will keep your 8600K cool, even while overclocked. If you would prefer a closed loop liquid cooler instead, I’d suggest checking out something like the NZXT Kraken X52! 

The 11GB GTX 1080 Ti is a complete and utter powerhouse when it comes to gaming. It completely blows away the last generation Titan X Pascal as well as its little brother the GTX 1080. Simply put, the GTX 1080 Ti is the best card you could buy right now in terms of price vs performance. MSI’s GTX 1080 Gaming X is no exception and it’s easily one of the best options on the market. 

EVGA’s 650 G3 is an absolutely amazing power supply that offers a platinum level of efficiency for the cost of a gold-rated supply. It offers 90% efficiency or higher under typical loads, an amazing 7-year warranty, and it also comes with a self-tester so you can test it for faults on the off chance there is one. I use a G3 unit and I really think you should to!

16GB of DDR4 RAM is more than enough for most dedicated gaming PCs, even those that are aiming for 4K. That being said, I picked you a dual channel pair so you can easily upgrade to 24 or 32GB if you wanted to by simply adding more sticks of the same 3200MHz speed. If you’re feeling flashy, there’s also RAM available with RGB lighting – something to keep in mind!

As far as storage goes, 1.25TB spread across a WD Black HDD and a Samsung 960 EVO NVMe SSD is going to make sure that you don’t run short anytime soon. There’s also a reason for the two drives, the SSD is meant to be your primary boot drive (where Windows and your primary programs are installed) and the HDD is meant to be used as a mass storage drive (for the bulk of your games, etc); this will ultimately make your PC perform better than having everything on a single drive.

This build is completely capable of playing AAA games in 4K at 60fps, less intensive games will run at much higher frame rates and you might even hit 144+ depending on the game!

When it comes to picking out an operating system, you pretty much have two options.

Windows, or Linux.

Windows is the better of the two when it comes to out-of-the-box compatibility with programs and games; but Linux is favored by more advanced PC users for its heightened security and its ability to be heavily modified.

The choice comes down to which one you prefer. Generally speaking, I’d recommend going the Windows 10 route unless you’re already familiar with Linux. 

If this is your very first PC, chances are you’re lacking things like a mouse, keyboard, monitor and some kind of audio peripheral. If that’s the case, take a look through the items listed below for some of my recomendations.