Custom PC

Best Gaming PC Components - The Elite List

By Edward Chester. Posted

Finding the right balance of PC components to build the best gaming PC for your budget is a tricky task. So to make things as easy as possible we've done the hard work for you. Below you'll find six different gaming PC builds that showcase what we feel is the best hardware selection for a range of budgets.

Each build specifies the best CPU, graphics card, memory, motherboard and storage for any given price range. We don't include power supplies and cases so you'll need to factor in the extra budget for your preferred case and power supply, and double-check there's room in your case for your chosen components, especially the GPU cooler and graphics card.

We've largely stopped reviewing power supplies, as the 80 Plus certification scheme has now effectively eliminated unstable PSUs. Instead we've recommended the wattage and minimum 80Plus certification you should consider for each component bundle. You can then choose whether you want a PSU with modular or captive cables.

We update each recommended build every month.

Best Gaming PC for under £350 ($400)

The integrated graphics of the AMD Ryzen 3 3400G provides enough performance for some basic gaming while also delivering quad-core CPU performance. Needs a micro-ATX or ATX case. We recommend a 350W 80 Plus power supply.

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Amazon £129
CPU cooler AMD Wraith air cooler included with CPU N/A N/A
GPU AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 integrated into CPU N/A N/A
Memory 8GB (2 x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz Scan £48
Motherboard MSI B450M Mortar (micro-ATX) Scan £90
Storage 500GB Crucial MX500 (SATA 2.5in) Amazon £69
Total £336

Best Gaming PC for under £600 ($800)

This quad-core PC provides enough performance for entry level gaming. Needs an ATX case with room for a 150mm-tall air cooler. We recommend a 450W 80 Plus Bronze power supply.

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
CPU Intel Core i3-8100 Amazon £107
CPU cooler Raijintek Juno Pro RBW (air cooler) Amazon £12
GPU Palit GeForce GTX 1660 StormX 6GB CCL £205
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz Scan £87
Motherboard Gigabyte B360M DS3H (micro-ATX) CCLonline £80
Storage WD Blue SN500 NVMe 500GB (M.2 NVMe) Ebuyer £69
Total £519

Upgrades

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
Swap Graphics card Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Ebuyer £270

Best Gaming PC for under £1000 ($1200)

Needs an ATX case. We recommend using a 550W power supply with 80 Plus Bronze certification.

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Scan £155
CPU cooler Artic Liquid Freezer II 240 scan.xo.uk £60
GPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super Mini Overclockers.co.uk £338
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB) Adata XPG Spectrix D60G 3600MHz Scan £109
Motherboard MSI X570-A Pro (ATX) Box £99
Storage 500GB WD Blue SN500 (M.2 NVMe) Amazon £69
Total £1,026

Upgrades

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
Swap Graphics card Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super Scan £468
Upgrade CPU cooler Deepcool Gammaxx GT Scan £90
Add secondary storage Western Digital Blue 4TB Amazon £160

Best Gaming PC for under £1500 ($1800)

Needs an ATX case with room for a 240mm all-in-one liquid cooler. We recommend a 600W 80 PLus Bronze power supply.

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
CPU AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Overclockers £300
CPU cooler Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 (240mm AIO liquid cooler) CCLonline £60
GPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super Scan £468
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB) Adata XPG Spectrix D60G 3600MHz Scan £109
Motherboard Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming (ATX) Ebuyer £300
Storage 1TB Corsair MP600 (M.2 NVMe) Amazon £197
Total £1,404

Upgrades

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
Add secondary storage Western Digital Blue 4TB Amazon £190

Best 4K Gaming PC for under £2500 ($3000)

A 12-core CPU, 4K gaming-capable graphics card and real-time ray-tracing are all possible with this build. Needs an E-ATX case with room for a 240mm-all-in-one liquid cooler. We recommend a 650W 80 Plus Gold power supply.

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Overclockers £560
CPU cooler Corsair H100i Pro RGB (240mm AIO liquid cooler) CCLonline £120
GPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Scan £1040
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB) Adata XPG Spectrix D60G 3600MHz Scan £109
Motherboard MSI Prestige X570 Creation (E-ATX) Overclockers £420
Storage 1TB Corsair MP600 (M.2 NVMe) Amazon £197
Total £2,306

Upgrades

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
Add secondary storage Western Digital Blue 4TB Amazon £90

Best Workstation PC

The serious multi-threading power of the Threadripper 2950X makes this a massively capable workstation PC. Needs an ATX case with room for a 240mm all-in-one liquid cooler. We recommend a 700W 80 Plus Gold power supply.

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
CPU AMD Threadripper 3960X Amazon £1350
CPU cooler Enermax Liqtech II TR4 240 (240mm AIO liquid cooler) Overclockers £110
GPU Zotac Gaming GeForce GTX 1660 6GB CCLonline £205
Memory 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 3200MHz Scan £315
Motherboard ASRock TRX40 Taichi (E-ATX) CCL £470
Storage 1TB Corsair MP600 (M.2 NVMe) Amazon £197
Total £2,507

Upgrades

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
Swap Graphics card Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super Scan £468
Swap CPU AMD Threadripper 3970X Amazon £1,890
Add secondary storage Seagate Barracuda Pro 6TB Amazon £216

We’ve included links to products on online retail stores like Amazon. If you click and make a purchase, Custom PC may receive a small commission. We only include links to relevant products from reputable stores.

More articles from Custom PC magazine

See more articles

Subscribe