A good gaming PC for your favorite games doesn’t have to cost a fortune. We’ll show you how to put together a gaming computer for your needs as cheaply as possible. With example configurations for gaming in 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p – including recommendations for gaming peripherals.
Gaming PCs that you build yourself usually offer the best price-performance ratio – and you can tailor the hardware perfectly to your needs. Configuring cheap but still good hardware is not always easy. The choice of graphics card and processor in particular needs to be carefully considered. To ensure that you get the best performance for your money, we have put together gaming PC builds for you in a wide range of price and performance categories. For the optimal gaming PC setup, we also give purchase recommendations for gaming monitors, gaming mice, gaming keyboards, and gaming headsets in this paragraph. To keep the configurations up to date, PC-WELT updates the lists regularly.
- The best gaming PC configurations 2023 in every price range for 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p resolutions
- Regularly updated purchase advice (as of September 11, 2023)
- Including recommendations for gaming peripherals and gaming monitors
When selecting the GPU, processor, and RAM, we base our decision on our graphics card comparison 2023, the CPU benchmark 2023, and the RAM test respectively. At the end of the article, we have also linked all individual tests for the current components.
Note: Since the price and availability of a product can change daily, it is possible that the hardware we link to is no longer available or is listed at a different price than the one we specify. All of our compilations are only recommendations that aim to provide the best possible gaming performance in the respective price range. If you need more storage space and RAM or simply value a nice look with RGB lighting or a different cooling solution, you can of course adapt our compilations accordingly.
Gaming PC for 1080p very low ($345)
Since the graphics card prices for entry-level models are still quite high, we are using an APU from AMD for our cheapest configuration, specifically the Ryzen 5 5600G. If you want to invest 50 euros more, you can also go for the Ryzen 7 5700G with eight cores and a slightly more powerful iGPU. Without a dedicated graphics card, you can’t really call it a gaming PC, but the integrated graphics unit is sufficient to play most current games at least in 720p. In addition, the hexa-core is a good basis for upgrading to a dedicated GPU at a later date. An additional CPU cooler is not necessary, as the included boxed cooler does its job well.
We installed the CPU on the MSI B450M Pro-VDH Max, one of the cheapest B450 motherboards with four RAM slots. For an additional charge of around 30 euros, you can also get a B550 motherboard that supports PCIe 4.0. With the 16 GB RAM, we ensure a high clock speed of 3600 MHz, as the integrated graphics unit benefits significantly from this. A 1 TB PCIe SSD is used as system memory. The power supply is provided by a 450-watt model with 80 PLUS Bronze certification from be quiet! A power supply with less power would also be sufficient, but this way you have reserves for retrofitting a dedicated graphics card. The housing is of course a matter of taste, we paid particular attention to good ventilation and upgrade options and opted for the AeroCool Hive FRGB with a glass window.
Gaming PC for 1080p low – medium ($670)
Let’s move on to the cheapest gaming PC configuration with a dedicated graphics card. For the GPU, we’re using a somewhat older model, the RX 580 8 GB from AMD. Compared to other equally expensive entry-level models such as the RX 6400, RX 6500 XT, GTX 1650, and A380, the Polaris GPU is the first choice, as it not only offers more performance but also more video memory than the competition. The computing power is sufficient to be able to play current games at least on low to medium settings. For the CPU, we’re using our current price-performance winner, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600, with six processing cores and a clock speed of up to 4.4 GHz. A CPU cooler is included in the delivery.
The 16 GB of built-in RAM, which runs at 3600 MHz, can be easily upgraded to 32 GB if required. The system memory is a 1 TB M.2 SSD and can just as easily be expanded with an additional M.2 SSD, SATA SSD, or HDD. The gaming PC therefore offers an inexpensive entry-level model with many upgrade options for the future. The 550-watt power supply with 80 Plus Bronze certification also ensures this. The hardware finds its place in the well-ventilated AeroCool Hive FRGB.
Gaming PC for 1080p medium-high ($650)
For the next configuration, we’re using a GPU model that has dropped significantly in price in recent months, the AMD Radeon RX 6600. The computing power is sufficient for medium to highest graphics settings, depending on how demanding the title is. However, if ray tracing is activated, you’ll have to accept compromises.
We use the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 for the GPU, which we put on an ASRock B550M Pro4 with four RAM slots so that the RAM can be easily upgraded later. The size of the installed RAM, which clocks at 3600 MHz, is 16 GB. As with our configuration for around 525 euros, we use a 1 TB PCIe SSD as system memory. If the storage space is not enough for you, you can of course go for a larger model or add another SSD or HDD. For the power supply, we use an energy-efficient 500-watt model from Kolink with 80 PLUS Gold certification. The DeepCool CC560 with four pre-installed 120 mm fans is used as the case.
Gaming-PC 1080p hoch – ultra ($800)
The differences in our configuration for 735 euros concern the CPU, the GPU, and the case. We opted for a more powerful graphics card, which is a big upgrade in terms of gaming performance. The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT offers an average of around 21 percent more performance in 1080p than the RX 6600, meaning you can play almost all games smoothly in full HD with high to ultra settings. This also works in some cases with ray tracing activated, although you usually have to reduce the settings a bit to do this.
The CPU is an eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 5700X with a clock speed of up to 4.6 GHz is used on the ASRock B550M Pro4, which has four RAM slots so that the RAM can be easily upgraded if necessary. As usual, we use a 1 TB PCIe 3.0 SSD for the system memory. The power consumption of the RX 6650 XT is 180 watts, which means that a 500-watt power supply provides more than enough power. Our case recommendation for this configuration is the ENDORFY Ventum 200 Air with a side glass window and four pre-installed 120 mm fans. For cooling the Ryzen 7 5700X, we can recommend the ENDORFY Spartan 5 Max.
Gaming PC for 1440p medium ($950)
There are also important differences in our recommendation for around 915 euros. For the CPU, we are again using the Octa-Core Ryzen 7 5700X. Alternatively, you can also go for the 12600K or 13500, but the combination of the Intel CPU with a good B660 motherboard is a bit more expensive to buy. For the AM4 platform, we opted for the Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 motherboard. The RAM is now 32 GB and clocks at 3600 MHz. For the system memory, we are using a 1 TB PCIe Gen 3 SSD as usual.
The graphics card has been upgraded to the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT. This offers almost 25 percent more performance in 1440p than the RX 6650 XT and is therefore not only able to play all current games smoothly in full HD with the highest details, but you can also play smoothly in 1440p at least with medium settings. In this price category, we also use a fully modular 600-watt power supply with gold certification from Kolink for greater energy efficiency. The case remains the ENDORFY Ventum 200 Air with good ventilation thanks to four built-in fans. The ENDORFY Fera 5 is responsible for cooling the CPU.
Gaming PC for 1440p high ($1100)
Our gaming PC promises a decent upgrade for a good 1,000 euros. The brand new AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is responsible for the image output, which is on average 33 percent faster than the RX 6700 XT. As usual, the graphics card is supported by the eight-core Ryzen 7 5700X paired with 16 GB DDR4-3600 RAM on the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite V2.
The ENDORFY Fera 5 is responsible for cooling the CPU. A 1 TB PCIe Gen 3 SSD is available as system memory. The 80 PLUS Gold-certified 600-watt power supply ensures high energy efficiency. The hardware finds its place in the Phanteks Eclipse G300A, which is equipped with three fans ex work for the best possible airflow.