$1000 Build Guide
With $1000 to spend, we’re now in the 1440p category of gaming. This will be a significant boost compared to the $750 template.
This is a tough choice for $1000 builds. You can certainly make the case to stick with the AM4 platform so you can spend more money elsewhere, but I personally recommend jumping on the newest AM5 at this point. The Ryzen 5 7600 is very powerful, and won’t bottleneck high end 1440p cards.
Keep an eye out for pricing of the Ryzen 5 7600X as well. The 7600X is slightly faster out of the box, and sometimes it’s actually cheaper than the 7600. If the price difference between the 7600X and 7600 is less than $10, then I would recommend the 7600X.
I would not consider Intel right now for this price bracket.
With the Ryzen 5 7600 you can still get away with the stock cooler, but if you go with the 7600X or if you want to play it safe, a solid sub-$30 air cooler is a good choice. The ID-Cooling FROZN A410 Black is always under $30, but you can also go with a DeepCool Gammaxx AG400 ARGB if you want the extra RGB lights.
We need to sacrifice a bit of quality here so that we can afford our GPU choice with $100. I would recommend getting the cheapest B650M mATX board that you can find with 4 RAM slots. If you have a non-restrictive budget, spending an extra $20-$30 for a better board would definitely be worth it. You can get better VRM cooling and built-in WiFi with a better motherboard. The MSI Pro B650M-P is usually available at the cheapest, and I like the Gigabyte B650M D3HP AX for a little bit more money.
DDR5 pricing is much different compared to DDR4. There’s very few 16GB kits available for DDR5, so the standard has become 32GB. We’re specifically looking for a 2x16GB kit that’s clocked at 6000MHz, with the lowest CL rating as possible. Usually you’ll be able to find a 600MHz CL30 or CL32 kit pretty easily for less than $100. The G.Skill Flare X5 kit is usually available.
Prices of storage have gone up recently, and might continue to do so. Right now for a PCIe Gen 4 NVMe 1TB drive we’re looking at around $60. SSD pricing usually stays very “grouped up” so there’s usually a lot of models around the $60 mark. For Gen 4 drives, I typically use the Silicon Power UD85, but I also like the Silicon Power UD90, Klevv CRAS C910, and the Teamgroup MP44L.
After adding up our core components, we’re left with around $380-$400 left for the graphics card, which is the perfect amount to squeeze in AMD’s RX 7700 XT. This GPU plays every game in 1440p with High or Ultra settings, and it’s one of the best “price to performance” cards on the market right now. There are several models dipping below $400, but the ASRock Challenger is almost always the cheapest model available.
For our CPU and GPU combo, I’d recommend a 700W+ power supply. We’re specifically looking for a Tier B or A rated unit and the MSI MPG A750GF is usually the most affordable option and it’s fully modular which is great. Another great option that’s been available at this price range is the Be Quiet Pure Power 12 M 750W.
The case selection is always personal preference, but one of the best models for this price range is the Sama ARGB-Q5-BK. It comes preinstalled with 3 ARGB fans, and it’s one of the cheapest cases available that’s full of fans, regardless of RGB. The DIYPC ARGB-Q3 v2 is another affordable mATX option if you prefer the “fish tank” design. It also includes 3 ARGB fans and has a dual-chambered design.
Last updated: August 6, 2024