What Kind Of High-End PC Build Can You Afford?

Not all PC builds are created equally, and neither are budgets. This makes it important to have a plan when choosing what to include in your next system. After all, the system you build will ideally last 3-5 years. You’ll also want to consider future-proofing and upgrading for upcoming game releases along the way. 

Generally, you can split PC builds down into four categories: 

  • Budget
  • Medium 
  • High 
  • Ultimate

Budget PC Builds 

What You’ll Be Looking To Achieve

The main thing you’ll be looking at here is the price per performance or bang for your buck, so to speak! If you know you won’t be pushing the boat out, then a budget PC build of around $400 or $500 is a great way to get started. You can run this alongside your console and be easily upgraded later on if needed. 

Expandability is key here, as you may need to make upgrades sooner on budget builds. 

Budget builds are esports kings at the moment. If you’re not looking to push your graphics to the max or run insane framerates, then a budget build will likely have you running most eSports titles at 60FPS on a 1080p resolution. Games such as CS: GO, League of Legends, and Dota 2 will be well within your grasp.

How You’ll Get There

A rough build to aim for would be:

  • CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor 
  • GPU - XFX Radeon RX 570 RS XXX
  • RAM - Corsair LPX Vengeance 3200mhz 16GB 
  • SSD - Crucial BX500 240GB SSD' 
  • PSU - Corsair CX Series 450 Watt Power Supply
  • MOBO - MSI ProSeries B450M PRO Max
  • CASE - Thermaltake Versa H22

This system will have you up and running in no time! It’s also easy to upgrade if you want to play some AAA titles in the future. Check out this handy guide for further recommendations. 

Medium Tier PC Builds

What You’ll Be Looking To Achieve

This is where it starts to get interesting. When aiming towards a medium-tier build, you’ll likely be looking at playing some AAA titles to go along with it. A good aim for this build is to get most titles running at 60FPS at 1080p resolution. 

That isn’t the end of it though, with an increased budget comes increased customization. You’ll be able to splash out for some fancy RGB lighting if you want, or even a processor that can be easily overclocked.

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How You’ll Get There

The below components would be a great start to a medium-tier system:

  • CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 2600 
  • GPU - Sapphire Radeon Nitro+ RX 590 8GB 1560Mhz
  • RAM - Corsair 16GB DDR4 3200Mhz 
  • SSD - Kingston A400 SSD 480GB 
  • PSU - EVGA BT 500W 80+ Bronze Certified 
  • MOBO - MSI ProSeries B450M PRO Max
  • CASE - AeroCool Cylon RGB Mid Tower

As well as running 1080p 60FPS gaming, you can also make the VR jump on this budget. Games such as The Witcher 3, GTA V, and Battlefield 1 will run great on these builds, and there are always upgrade options available if you want to take your build further. Want some further advice and guidance on your medium-tier build? Check out this PC build walkthrough  here.

High Tier PC Builds

What You’ll Be Looking To Achieve

Pushing toward a high-end system will allow you such luxuries as better overclocking potential and significantly increased performance.

These builds are also great to make the leap into higher resolution gaming. Although you will need a monitor to support this, gameplay at increased resolutions and framerates can look stunning. 

How You’ll Get There

These components below are a solid foundation to start on: 

  • CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-core 
  • GPU - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660TI Windforce Gaming OC 6G 
  • RAM - Corsair 16GB DDR4 3200Mhz 
  • SSD - Crucial BX500 480GB 
  • PSU - Corsair CX Series 550W 80+ Bronze-Certified Semi-Modular 
  • MOBO - MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
  • CASE - Phanteks Eclipse P400 Steel Mid Tower 

This system will really hit the sweet spot where price vs. performance comes into play. A great example of a build can be seen here. Newer titles such as The Outer Worlds, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Ghost Recon Breakpoint will all run seamlessly on a system of this caliber.

Ultimate Tier PC Builds

What You’ll Be Looking To Achieve

If you’re really committed to getting the best possible build for your money, prepare your wallet. Extraordinary results can be had for around a $2000 budget

Systems on this end of the spectrum will last for years with few changes needed. They’ll be able to handle games at 4k resolution as well as having massive overclocking potential.

How You’ll Get There

These high-end components would be a great start:

  • CPU - Intel Core i9 9900K
  • COOLER - be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler
  • GPU - EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti XC2 Ultra Gaming 
  • RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz
  • SSD - Samsung SSD 860 QVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA
  • PSU - EVGA 850W B3 80+ Bronze Modular 
  • MOBO - ASUS TUF Z390-Plus Gaming
  • CASE - NZXT H510 - Compact ATX Mid-Tower Case

There’s no need to list games this system will handle. In short, it will tackle anything you throw at it. However, gaming isn’t the only thing you can achieve with a build like this. This system will be an excellent workhorse, handling rendering, streaming, and VR effortlessly.

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Don’t forget the essentials!

Having a budget and main goal in mind when building a system is essential. It’s all too easy to get sucked into the allure of clock comparisons and which fan is quieter than another. 

It’s very easy to forget that once you’ve built this PC, you’re going to actually have to use it! You will need to purchase peripherals and a new monitor if you’re going for 4k gaming! This can easily add another $1000 to your system if you’re not careful, so take this into account. 

Other things to consider are that you’ll also have to purchase a copy of (we assume) Windows 10, as well as the games you wish to play. With new releases coming in at around $60, this can get expensive fast. 

Remember, you don’t have to invest vast amounts of money into your system to get the best results. All games can be tweaked to run on your system; there’s no shame in having to disable a couple of features to get a title to work. You can also check this useful tips on building your gaming pc to make sure that you have the best gaming setup.

If you have extra leftover from your budget, don’t feel obligated to use it, this can be handy when shopping for a new keyboard, or even kept aside for future upgrades.

We hope this article has cleared up any questions you had about PC building. With a clear set of goals in mind and a rough idea of a budget, you’ll be creating a console killing system in no time!



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