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 16GB (2 x 8GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz Scan £70
Motherboard Asus TUF B450M-Plus Gaming (micro-ATX) Scan £79
Storage 500GB WD Blue SN550 (M.2 NVMe) Amazon £58
Total £351

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 AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Amazon £120
CPU cooler ARTIC Freezer 7 X (air cooler) Amazon £18
GPU PowerColor Radeon RX 5600 XT CCL £253
Memory 16GB (2 x8 GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX Pro 3200MHz Scan £70
Motherboard Asus TUF B450M-Plus Gaming (micro-ATX) CCLonline £79
Storage WD Blue SN500 NVMe 500GB (M.2 NVMe) Ebuyer £58
Total £608

Upgrades

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
Swap Graphics card Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Ebuyer £369

Best Gaming PC for £1200 ($1400)

Get into ray tracing with this entry-level RTX gaming system.

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Scan £469
CPU cooler Antec Neptune 240 scan.xo.uk £80
GPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition Overclockers.co.uk £338
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB) Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3600MHz Scan £81
Motherboard MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon WiFi (ATX)* Box £160
Storage 1TB Gigabyte Aorus NVMe Gen4 M.2 SSD (M.2 NVMe) Amazon £140
Total £1,229

Upgrades

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
Add secondary storage Western Digital Blue 4TB Amazon £108

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 5800X Overclockers £450
CPU cooler Antec Neptune 240 (240mm AIO liquid cooler) CCLonline £80
GPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition Scan £649
Memory 16GB (2 x 8GB) Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3600MHz Scan £81
Motherboard Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming (ATX) Ebuyer £300
Storage 1TB Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 Amazon £180
Total £1,730

Upgrades

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
Swap CPU AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (12 cores) Amazon £560
Swap CPU cooler Corsair H100i RGB Platinum (240mm AIO liquid cooler) Amazon £125
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 5900X 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) Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3600MHz Scan £81
Motherboard MSI Prestige X570 Creation (E-ATX) Overclockers £440
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 NZXT Kraken X63 (280mm AIO liquid cooler) Overclockers £130
GPU Zotac Gaming GeForce GTX 1660 6GB CCLonline £230
Memory 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 3200MHz Scan £269
Motherboard ASRock TRX40 Taichi (E-ATX) CCL £470
Storage 1TB Samsung 980 Pro (M.2 NVMe) Amazon £182
Total £2,531

Upgrades

Component Name Supplier Price (inc VAT)
Swap Graphics card Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition Scan £469
Swap CPU AMD Threadripper 3970X Amazon £1,800
Add secondary storage 4TB Western Digital Blue Amazon £95

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.

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