If you are planning to build a powerful computer that will handle games and professional software without any hiccups, then you’ve come to the right place, because in this guide we’ll show you how to build a killer gaming PC for less than $1,300 in 2022. The PC build we are about to present to you is primarily designed to be used by hardcore gamers and PC enthusiasts, but will also be useful to content creators, and users who need a PC for professional applications.
Read also: The Best 144 Hz Gaming Monitors Under $200 in 2022
For a long period of time, PC components have had sky-high prices and suffered from limited availability, but with cryptocurrency craze winding down, things are finally getting back to normal. This means that with a budget of $1,300 you can now build a pretty powerful PC that will serve you well for years to come. However, if you have been out of touch with the trends in the PC DIY market, or you’re simply a newcomer to PC building, then you might feel frustrated with finding the right components for your next PC build. But don’t fret! We have done the toughest part for you, since we thoroughly researched what is now available on the market, and what you can actually buy.
Part List for $1,300 PC Build
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core, 4.6 GHz Processor | View |
| Motherboard | MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK | View |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz 16GB (2x8GB) | View |
| Graphics Card | Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Elite 8G R2.0 | View |
| Solid State Drive | Samsung 980 PRO 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD | View |
| Power Supply | NZXT C750 80+ Gold | View |
| Case | Phanteks Eclipse P300A | View |
Grand Total: $1,230-$1,350
*The shown grand total price is purely informative and is subject to change.
**The estimated price includes only PC components. Costs of Windows operating system license, and other peripherals are not included.
Our $1,300 PC build features the latest hexa-core AMD Ryzen 5000 series processor, 16GB of DDR4 memory, and a powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti graphics card that supports raytracing. We’ve opted for these components as right now they offer best bang for the buck, and successfully combine high performance with the best security protection (Intel’s CPUs suffer from some vulnerability issues).
Expected Gaming Performance
| Game | 1080p @ Ultra | 1440p @ Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Assassin’s Creed Odyssey | 62 FPS | 70 FPS |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | 142 FPS | 101 FPS |
| Cyberpunk 2077 (RT) | 55 FPS | 67 FPS |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 110 FPS | 72 FPS |
| Metro Exodus (RT) | 66 FPS | 105 FPS |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator | 52 FPS | 67 FPS |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 90 FPS | 74 FPS |
| Watch Dogs: Legion (RT) | 57 FPS | 64 FPS |
As you can see, our $1,300 PC is well-suited for 1440p gaming on ultra settings. It can run most first-person shooters at frame rates higher than 100 fps at 1440p resolution, and can even deliver excellent performance in the most demanding PC games such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Cyberpunk 2077, and Microsoft Flight Simulator. Thanks to the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which also supports raytracing, this PC can also smoothly run games with raytracing on ultra settings at more than 60 fps in 1080p resolution. Even at 1440p, it is powerful enough to deliver excellent performance, provided that you tone down graphics settings a bit.
PC COMPONENTS LIST
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Cores/Threads: 6C/12T | Base Clock: 3.7 GHz | Boost Clock: 4.6 GHz | TDP: 65 W | PassMark Score: 22,150
When it comes to gaming, the new AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is unrivaled. It is one of the greatest all-around CPUs on the market right now, and most significantly, it can deliver competitive-class performance at an accessible price. This CPU can easily handle whatever you throw at it, thanks to its 6 physical cores and 12 threads, as well as a boost clock speed of 4.6 GHz.
Featuring strong single-threaded performance, this CPU can be paired with a high-end GPU such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. Besides being able to provide great gaming performance, this CPU also performs well in other tasks, such as video encoding and 3D rendering. Although the Ryzen 5 5600X comes with its own cooler, we strongly recommend buying an aftermarket cooler for this CPU, especially if you plan to overclock it. Overall, this is without a doubt the best mainstream gaming CPU currently available on the market.
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK
Form Factor: ATX | Socket: AM4 | Chipset: AMD B550 | Memory Support: 4 x DDR4 5100 MHz (O.C.) | Features: 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16, 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1, 6 x SATA3, 2 x M.2
The MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK is a reliable and durable mid-range motherboard for AMD Ryzen CPUs. It supports the latest Ryzen 5000 series processers, and it features full support for the PCIe 4.0 bus interface. The board can also boast with advanced VRM and PCH heatsinks which improve cooling, high-quality PCB components, steel PCI-E brackets, and vibrant RGB lighting.
Besides featuring support for 2-way CrossFire GPU configurations, this motherboard also comes with two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, and two M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs. Connectivity-wise, there is one onboard 2.5G and one Gigabit LAN controller, as well five USB ports, and one USB Type-C port. The motherboard is also well-suited for overclocking, thanks to its 10+2+1 power stages VRM which is able to deliver plenty of power to the CPU.
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200 MHz 16GB Kit
Speed: DDR4 3200 MHz | CAS Latency: CL16 | Operating Voltage: 1.35V | Capacity: 2 x 8GB
Simple, affordable and reliable – these are the words that best describe the Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 memory kit. Consisting of two 8GB memory sticks, this kit is perfect for gamers who want fast and straight-to-the-point memory modules. Featuring a clock speed of 3,200 MHz, the Vengeance LPX memory kit is well-suited for high-end Ryzen CPUs, such as the Ryzen 5 5600X. Besides featuring low-profile design, these modules are also easy to overclock. Another great thing about them is that they support XMP profiling, which allows you to increase their operating frequency without manually adjusting timings and voltage.
Graphics Card: Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Elite 8G R2.0
Boost Clock: 1785 MHz | Memory: 8GB GDDR6 | Power Connectors: 1 x 8-pin + 1 x 6-pin | Outputs: 2 x DP, 1 x HDMI
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is simply the best card in this generation of graphics cards. It has everything you need: 8GB of VRAM, plenty of CUDA cores, fast GPU, support for raytracing, DLSS, and resizable BAR technologies. It easily beats the previous generation NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super for half of the price. The RTX 3060 Ti is only 9 percent slower than the RTX 3070, but costs 20 percent less.
When it comes to real-world performance, the RTX 3060 Ti is a blast. It can easily run the latest AAA games at more than 60 fps on ultra settings in 1440p resolution, and its raytracing performance is simply outstanding. This card is also great for mining, if that is something that you find interesting. Overall, this is a very good graphics card that is able to offer great bang for the buck.
Solid State Drive: Samsung 980 1TB PRO NVMe M.2 SSD
Capacity: 1TB | Interface: M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 | Max. Read Speed: Up to 7,000 MB/s | Max. Write Speed: Up to 5,000 MB/s
From applications to games and file transfers, the Samsung 980 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD will take care that everything loads and performs as fast as possible. Being an M.2 NVMe SSD, this device offers significantly faster read and write speeds compared to classic SATA3 hard drives, as well as ordinary 2.5″ SSDs.
Featuring high-end V-NAND memory modules, this drive can boast with great performance and reliability, which is no surprise given the fact that Samsung is well-known for producing high-quality NVMe SSDs. The 980 PRO offers blazingly fast read and write speeds for a reasonable amount of money, and offers enough storage space to accommodate an operating system, as well as few of your favorite games and apps.
Power Supply: NZXT C750 80+ Gold
Form Factor: ATX | Capacity: 750 W | Efficiency rating: 80 PLUS Gold Certified | Modularity: Fully modular
The NZXT C750 is a premium 80+ Gold certified power supply unit that can boast with 90.5% efficiency at 50% power load, and can deliver 62.5 amps of power over +12V rail. The PSU features fully modular design, which is great for conducting proper cable management, and comes with sleeved main cables, and dynamic 120 mm fluid-dynamic bearing fan. The NZXT C750 also comes with 10-year limited warranty, which is a huge plus. Overall, this is a great high-quality PSU that is able to offer plenty of power, and is very easy to install.
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A
Form Factor: Mid Tower | Motherboard Support: ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX | Dimensions: 200 × 450 × 400 mm | Radiator Support: 1 x 240 mm | I/O Ports: USB 3.0 x 2, HD Audio x 1, Mic x 1 | Drive Bays: 2 x 3.5″, 1+2 x 2.5″
Phanteks Eclipse P300A is an elegant and simplistic PC case that is very DIY friendly, and it enables you to easily install all of your PC components without too much hassle. The Eclipse P300A can accommodate ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX motherboards, and it offers 355 mm of clearance for installation of high-end graphics cards. It features tempered-glass side panel, and it also allows you to install liquid cooling radiator of up to 280 mm in size. At the front panel you’ll find two USB 3.0 ports, an HD audio and mic jacks, as well as RGB control button which enables you to easily change RGB lightning of your components inside the PC case. Featuring high-quality materials, and great airflow, this very affordable case offers enough features to accommodate a high-end gaming rig.
Conclusion
With our $1,300 gaming PC build you’ll be able to achieve the ultimate 1080p gaming experience without having to worry about lowering your graphics settings in order to maintain stable FPS. Our build is also great for streamers, as well as for tech enthusiasts who like overclocking and squezzeing out the maximum performance possible out of their systems. We hope our buying guide helped you in search of the information you were looking for. If you still feel confused, and need advice about buying, feel free to post a comment below. We will try to help you.
