If you're trying to build yourself the best possible 4K gaming PC for around $2000, this is it! It's packing more than enough power to completely destroy 4K gaming and easily get 60fps+ in practically all of your favorite games.
This build is packing an RTX 2080 Super, an insanely powerful i9 9900K, 16GB of DDR4 RAM and 1.5TB of pure SSD storage. This build is easily capable of playing most AAA games on great settings in 4K at 60fps without a problem. It'll also work great for streaming your gameplay as well as recording/editing.
Best Prebuilt Desktop Under $2000
If you'd rather skip the build process and just order a PC that's ready to go. Here's a prebuilt gaming PC with similar specs. The parts used probably won't be of the same quality and the price might be different, but it'll be ready to turn on the second it arrives!
Omen Desktop by Obelisk Gaming
Ultimate 4K Gaming PC build for $2000
NZXT H510i
An awesome mid-tower ATX case with a tempered glass side panel and tons of room for all of your hardware. Comes with a built-in RGB/fan controller + 2x 120mm Aer fans.
Gigabyte Z390 Aorus PRO
LGA 1151 socket Z390 chipset ATX motherboard with built-in RGB lighting. Comes with high-quality 7.1 audio, 10x USB ports including 2.0, 3.1 Gen 1, and 3.1 Gen 2.
Intel i9 9900K
An unlocked 5GHz 8 core/16 thread CPU. Great for workstations and gaming builds alike.
Does not come with a CPU cooler.
be quiet! Dark Rock 4
Since the i9 9900K does not come with a stock CPU cooler, you need an aftermarket cooler. The Dark Rock 4 is a great option, but you have plenty of others to choose from!
ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2080 Super
8GB GDDR6 VRAM, factory overclocked by Gigabyte. 2x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C. Fully supports VR headsets.
Seasonic Focus+ Gold 650
650W Gold-rated fully-modular power supply. Up to 90% efficiency. Comes with a 10-year warranty.
16GB HyperX Predator DDR4 RAM
16GB dual channel 3200MHz DDR4 RAM, CL16. Has RGB lighting.
Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SATA SSD
SSDs are without a doubt the way forward. HDDs are quickly becoming obsolete and there’s no question why!
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD
M.2-based NVMe SSDs are the fastest option on the market right now and the 970 EVO is especially fast.
REQUIRED TOOLS
The tools you need:- A small Phillips screwdriver
Size #2 works well as a general rule. - An anti-static wristband
Optional but recommended. - Patience And 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...
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/upgrades
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 and your operating system.
Windows 10 (USB Installer)
Windows 10 is your best bet when it comes to picking an operating system. This version is a USB installer.
Asus RTX 2080 Ti ROG Strix
They’re expensive, but an RTX 2080 Ti is the best GPU on the market right now.
NZXT Kraken X62
Instead of air cooling, another option is an all-in-one liquid cooler like the 240mm NZXT Kraken X62.
Samsung Ultra-Slim External CD DVD±R/RW
A lot of people are moving away from internally mounted optical drives, and it’s easy to see why! This one is definitely one of the cheaper & better external optical drives to consider.
Build Breakdown
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 anyway.
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.
Case: NZXT's H510i is an upgrade on their previous H500i and before it, the S340 - some of the best cases of previous years. The H510i improves on the old design and offers great airflow options as well as a great layout that caters to clean cable management.
The best PC fan is super important to protect your gaming rig. This case comes with a built-in RGB/fan controller, 2x Aer F120mm fans, and RGB light strips to add some feature lighting. It's built entirely from steel and although that makes it heavy, it also makes it very durable and gives it the high-quality feel this case deserves.
Motherboard: The Gigabyte Z390 Aorus PRO is a high-end LGA 1151 socket, Z390 chipset, ATX motherboard that's perfectly suited for this build.
The Z390 Aorus PRO has all of the ports, headers and slots you'll need for everything in this build, and then some. Including built-in 7.1 audio, an Ethernet controller, a total of 10x USB ports, 2x M.2 slots, numerous case fan headers, support for custom watercooling, and even built-in RGB lighting.
Processor (CPU): Intel's 8 core/16 thread i7 9700K is a complete and utter beast when it comes to pretty much anything. It's unlocked, so you can overclock it if you wish, but you won't have to because it readily blows most other CPUs clean out of the water. The i9 9900K is an all-around incredible CPU regardless of what you're using it for.
Since the i9 9900K does not come with a stock CPU cooler, I've added on a be quiet! Dark Rock 4 to keep you covered. It's an awesome air CPU cooler and will keep your 9900K cool, even while lightly overclocked. If you would prefer a closed loop liquid cooler instead, I'd suggest checking out something like the NZXT Kraken X62!
Graphics Card (GPU): The 8GB GDDR6 RTX 2080 Super is a complete and utter powerhouse when it comes to gaming. It completely blows away the last generation's GTX 1080 Ti and especially its little brother the GTX 1080. Simply put, the RTX 2080 Super is one of the best cards you could buy right now in terms of sheer gaming performance! It's only outmatched by the far more expensive RTX 2080 Ti or a $3000 Titan.
Asus's ROG STRIX RTX 2080S is absolutely no exception. It comes factory overclocked and features some of the best cooling you could have on a GPU - plus some decent RGB lighting. For connectivity, it has 2x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C, making it 100% VR ready.
As I mentioned, the only way to get a stronger GPU is upgrading to an RTX 2080 Ti, but on its own, it costs a little over 50% of what this entire build does.
System Memory (RAM): 16GB of DDR4 RAM is more than enough for any dedicated gaming PC. With that in mind, I picked you out 16GB of Kingston's HyperX Predator RGB RAM at 3200MHz.
If you feel that you might need more than 16GB, maybe because you want to try streaming or something like that, I'd suggest grabbing the 32GB kit instead.
Power Supply (PSU): Seasonic's Focus+ Gold 650W is a top-level fully-modular power supply that offers a platinum level of efficiency for the cost of a gold-rated supply. It can reach 90% efficiency at 50% load and 87% efficiency at 100% load, it also boasts heavy-duty OVP, UVP, OCP, OPP, and SCP protections.
At only 140mm deep, the Focus+ 650 can easily fit inside of practically any case you might want to use. Its fully-modular platform allows for clean and concise cable management. On top of all of that, it even features a lengthy 10-year warranty just-in-case something not-ideal were to happen.
Storage: As far as storage goes, 1.5TB of pure SSD storage is either really excessive or not excessive enough. Depending on which way you see it, this build has an insane amount of potential in terms of storage configurations. So, feel free to customize it as you see fit!
There's also a reason for the two drives, the faster NVMe SSD is meant to be your primary boot drive (where Windows and your primary programs are installed) and maybe a couple of your more load-intensive games. Then, the SATA SSD is meant to be used as a mass storage drive (for the bulk of your games, etc). This type of setup 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!
Operating System
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.
Peripherals
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.
BenQ EL2870U
A great 28-inch 4K monitor with HDR10, Freesync, and a 1ms GTG response time. Has both HDMI and DisplayPort.
Corsair K95 Platinum
Cherry MX RGB Brown mechanical switches, per-key RGB backlighting, made from aircraft-grade anodized aluminum!
Logitech G502 HERO
Easily one of the best mice you could be using. The G502 HERO features a high level of accuracy, 0 smoothing, 0 filtering, 0 acceleration, and customizable weight.
Kingston HyperX Cloud II
The best gaming headset you can get, in my opinion.
WiFi
WiFi is never the ideal solution for a gaming PC's internet connection. Just due to the nature of how WiFi works, it will almost always be inferior to a wired connection. That said, if you absolutely need/want to use a WiFi connection, you're going to need a WiFi adapter.
TP-Link Archer T6E
Internally mounted dual-band AC1300 WiFi adapter. Operates on both 2.4 and 5GHz bands.
TP-LINK T3U
One of the best USB-based AC1300 dual-band WiFi adapters.
Conclusion
This is the ultimate single card 4K gaming PC build this far into 2018. It'll handle AAA games at 4K resolutions while putting out 60fps or better, less intensive games are going to run at significantly higher fps and you'll exceed 144fps in quite a few.
If you came here looking for an awesome build for $2000, or you want the best single card 4K build you can find, this one is it, without a doubt.
If you have any questions about the build or the suggested peripherals, feel free to ask me in the comment section or check out this FAQ!
Hey Branton! how is the i9-9900k compared to the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X? which would be better in terms of gaming performance and longevity?
Hey! Looking to build my first 2020 gaming PC! I bought a prebuld PC in 2018 to stream and play but now I want something stronger to handle any games on high settings and my own build. I like the $2000 set up. However , do I just upgrade my pre build pc or wait for the RTX ?
Are all this computer components upgradable?
And how far past can 60fps can the games actually go? For a $2000 computer games should be running in 120 fps
theyre talking about high res games at max settings, on a game like fornite this could asily run 300fps on low and probably 200 on epic
Really depends what games you’re playing and what build you have right now. If you have a lower end pre-built then I would just upgrade your PC build.
I’ve been a long time fan of the Total War series but could never play any of the games on the highest graphics settings. Would this be able to run the newest game (Total War: Three Kingdoms) on its highest setting?
Hey Mike,
You and me both! The TW series is one of my all-time favorites.
This build is definitely capable of maxing out Three Kingdoms, but not quite at 60fps in 4K if that was your goal. Not even an RTX 2080 Ti is capable of that. But, it’ll still run at roughly 40fps in 4K, about double that in 1440p.
Hope that helps!
Good to hear! In that case it looks like I’ve found my build haha. Really love this site and the builds put on it, makes things so much easier for the less PC savvy people like myself haha.
Awesome Mike, glad to hear it! If you have any other questions moving forward, don’t hesitate to ask!
Hi I’m going to be buying all these parts sometime this weekend and I had 3 questions
1) Can you change the resolution on a 4K monitor to get higher fps in game?
2) I noticed that water cooling was much more expensive than the CPU cooler. Is this due purely to aesthetics or to performance too?
3) As I am a beginner in the PC building group , do you have any recommendations on what build tutorial or set of instructions I should follow for this build?
Hey Rob,
1.) You can, but it wouldn’t look great. Generally speaking, it’s often better to turn down a couple of settings than it is to turn the resolution down. A build at this level will be able to play the vast majority of games at 4K with good settings at 60fps+.
2.) It mostly comes down to the cost of manufacturing. It costs a lot more to make an AIO liquid cooler than it does to make a heat sink and fans, so they cost more to buy. In terms of performance, liquid AIO can sometimes offer more consistent temps. They also look a lot cooler and often leave you with more space around your motherboard.
3.) I would definitely check out BitWit’s walkthrough. Kyle does an awesome job of explaining the process.
Hi, I’m looking to build something similar next spring. Looking to push 1440p on a 144hz monitor. Obviously new tech comes out all the time . But I wonder if a 2080/s or 2080ti will last me a couple years into the new console generation? They’re are rumors of rtx 3000 being released next year. Should I just wait till then and buy the new cards? Or once I’m ready to buy , get the best gpu that’s available at that time I can get for my budget?
Hey M.A,
Since you won’t be building for quite some time, I’d hold off on looking into parts too much just yet. The RTX 3000 rumors might turn out to be true, or they might not be. If they are true, they would probably release around the time you’d be getting ready to build. If there’s nothing official (or really reliable leaks) by the time you’re ready to build, then you might as well buy the best card possible within your budget and you’d be good to go for a couple of years at least.
Hope that helps!
Branton,
I am ready to build my first pc! Since im 16 and only got a job i want to start saving, in about 6-8 months i think ill start to build one, but i do have a question or two.
Do you update these builds monthly? Because im sure new pc parts will be out by the time i am able to buy the parts. Also are these builds able to run AAA games 60 fps on a 1440p monitor?
Thank you if you answer, i would love to build a first pc with no problems!
Hey Christian,
Awesome! Good to hear! Ask as many questions as you need to.
I update them anywhere from bi-weekly to monthly depending on major price shifts and new releases. This build could definitely run any game you want at 60fps on a 1440p monitor – it could even manage 4K @ 60fps.
Hope that helps!