Join me as I build a wicked gaming PC for $1,000 out of Prime Day sale parts
Ready to take the plunge on a new gaming PC but fancy building it yourself? You've come to the right place.
There's nothing like the feeling of pressing the power button for the first time on your shiny new gaming PC, built by your own two hands, and watching it whir to life. There's also nothing like when you hit the power button and nothing happens and you realise you've messed something up along the way—but less said about that the better.
If you're new to this, don't worry. I'll make it easy for you. I've been building PCs for years and I'm going to use that experience and our expert reviews here on PC Gamer to pick out the best PC components from the Prime Day sales. I'll make sure it all works together and will offer you top performance.
Below you'll find my recommendations for a gaming PC build around the $1,000 mark (almost to the dollar) and targeting both excellent 1440p performance, longevity and dashing good looks. I'll also post live updates to this page further down with recommendations for further deals on PC parts that catch my eye as I find them.
The $1,000 Prime Day gaming PC build
I've not cut corners on this PC build. I've chosen parts I would want in my own gaming PC. These are components that will deliver high frame rates today and overhead to deal with the next-generation of demanding games; that look fantastic together and should keep relatively quiet while gaming.
Processor
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | eight cores | 16 threads | 105 W | 4.5 GHz boost | $399 $244.99 at Newegg (save $154.01 with code FANDUA595)
AMD has gone from strength to strength with its desktop CPUs. The 7700X scored a solid 83% in our review, however, with this new low price it's even more of a win for PC builders.
Price check: Amazon $244.99View Deal
The first decision for any PC build is which CPU to go for: Intel or AMD?
I've sided with AMD here. The Ryzen 7 7700X is my chip of choice. There are a few reasons for that.
Firstly, it's hugely discounted down to just $245 today. You can buy it at Newegg or Amazon for that price, though it's a Prime only deal on the latter.
Secondly, AMD's AM5 platform will have more room to grow with support for future generations of AMD chips. With eight cores and 16 threads of Zen 4 at its disposal, you won't have to worry about replacing the 7700X anytime soon, but should you want to, you need only ensure your BIOS on your motherboard is up-to-date and replace the CPU with any other AM5 compatible chip.
We know the 9000-series will use the same AM5 socket as the 7000-series, so that's one upgrade you could make. I'd wager future 3D V-Cache processors would also make for a tasty upgrade if you can spare the cash.
Graphics card
Powercolor Radeon RX 7700 XT | 12 GB GDDR6 | 3072 shaders | 2,584 MHz boost | $399.99 $359.99 at Newegg (save $40 with promo code FANDUA5672)
The Radeon RX 7700 XT might lose out to its bigger brother, but if you're building a system on a budget it still makes a great mid-range card for solid 1440p gaming, as we found in our review of the Sapphire model. Use promo code FANDUA5672 for the full discount.
RX 7700 XT price check: Amazon $389.99 | Walmart $379.99View Deal
I'm also choosing AMD for the graphics card in this PC. The PowerColor Radeon RX 7700 XT at Newegg is an excellent price to pay for a modern GPU with 12 GB of VRAM. This card will roundly beat the similarly priced RTX 4060 Ti at 1440p and offers great bang-for-your-buck at 1080p, too.
Motherboard
ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi | Micro ATX | 8+2+1 phase | 3x NVMe slots | $149.99 $139.99 at Newegg (save $10)
It may be compact but it offers plenty of connectivity. It offers Wi-Fi 6E, three NVMe slots, two PCIe slots and support up to DDR5-7200.
For the motherboard, I've opted for the ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi. It's a compact Micro ATX motherboard but it offers all I could ask for at this sale price. The VRM is a suitable 8+2+1 design, there are plenty of USB ports (including USB Type-C) and three NVMe SSD slots. One of which is also PCIe 5.0 compatible, though I won't be taking advantage of that for this build.
This motherboard comes in a white and black colourway, which will be important once we talk about the chassis later on.
Cooler
BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 | dual-tower | seven heat pipes | 2x Silent Wings fans included | $89.90 $63.92 at Amazon (save $25.98)
Forget liquid cooling, we can get by just fine with good ol' traditional air. Not only is air cooling often better value than liquid cooling, it's nice and quiet too. This BeQuiet! cooler is pretty much brand new, by the way.
Price check: Newegg $69.90View Deal
You could opt for a cheaper cooler to save some cash here, though in the interests of noise levels under load I've decided to opt for the brand new BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 5. A chunky air cooler capable of dissipating up to 270 W, it won't struggle to keep this 105 W Ryzen chip under control. There are two Silent Wings PWM fans included with this cooler and designed to keep noise to a minimum.
For the avoidance of doubt, I do like a liquid cooler. However, I have an air cooler in my personal PC and they're often fantastic value for the performance on offer.
The Dark Rock Pro 5 offers 45 mm of clearance for the RAM and shouldn't pose an issue with my 40 mm tall pick below. It's also 168 mm tall, which will just slide in perfectly into the Fractal chassis (max cooler size for the case is 170 mm).
Memory
Lexar Thor OC | 32 GB (2x 16 GB) | DDR5-6000 | CL32 | AMD Expo | $99.99 $84.88 at Amazon (save $15.11)
There's really very little to complain about here. Speedy DDR5 memory with low latencies and AMD Expo sign-off. For not much more than some 16 GB kits, in fact.View Deal
I've opted for 32 GB of genuinely fast DDR5 RAM for this build. In the interests of saving money, I had expected to go for 16 GB, though a Prime Day deal on Lexar's 32 GB Thor OC DDR5-6000 kit was too tempting to resist. It is asking little more than some 16 GB kits, and yet it's genuinely speedy memory at 6000 MHz (effective) at CL32 and officially certified for AMD Ryzen systems through AMD Expo.
SSD
Lexar NM790 w/heatsink | 1 TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,400 MB/s read | 6,500 MB/s write | $109.99 $69.98 at Amazon (save $40.01)
For anyone looking for a cheap, spacious drive with serious performance, here you're getting a genuinely brilliant SSD for the money, and you can see this for yourself with our review of the 4 TB version.
Price check: Newegg $90.75View Deal
For storage, I've chosen the 1 TB Lexar NM790 solid state drive. This NVMe SSD is currently discounted with a heatsink attached, though one is included on the ASRock motherboard. It might be an idea to use this Lexar drive in one of the non-heatsink slots on the motherboard and use the motherboard's heatsink for an upgrade down the line.
I reviewed the massive 4 TB version of the Lexar NM790 and came away thoroughly impressed with the performance it delivers.
Power supply
Corsair RM750x power supply | 750 W | 10-year warranty | 80 Plus Gold | $139.99 $85.49 at Amazon (save $54.50)
I need 700 W for the RX 7700 XT—the extra 50 W is a small amount of overheard should it be required down the line. Corsair is one of the best in the biz for building PSUs and its 10-year warranty offered here backs that up.
Price check: Newegg $89.99View Deal
Powering the lot is the Corsair RM750x power supply, currently on offer at Amazon. This fully-modular power supply is from a dependable manufacturer and rated to 80 Plus Gold and Cybenetics Gold standards. It also comes with a ten-year warranty for peace of mind.
Nothing makes me more uncomfortable than a thousand dollars worth of PC parts plugged into a no-name PSU with lacklustre electronics. Not on my watch.
Case
Fractal Design North| ATX, micro, mini-ITX mid-tower | 2x 140mm fans included | USB-C front panel | $139.99 $109.99 at Amazon (save $30)
Celebrated for both aesthetics and performance, the Fractal Design North's wooden front panel and mesh side offer tons of airflow and top-class looks. We're not in the black monolith era of PC case design anymore.
Price check: Newegg $109.99View Deal
Lastly, the chassis into which it all slots in. The Fractal Design North case is held in high esteem by the PC Gamer team and further afield. You can pick it up in black or white for the same price in the sales, though I'm opting for white to match my pick of motherboard. Either way, it looks excellent with that wood finish up front. It also comes with two fans pre-installed for adequate cooling without spending any extra.
Hey, welcome to the live page covering the best component deals from Prime Day and beyond. I'm Jacob, senior hardware editor here at PC Gamer.
I'll post any great deals I find on components right here, including any alternatives for the build above. The page will automatically update, so stay right here.
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 | Six-core | 12-thread | 65 W | 3.8 GHz boost | $229 $193.49 at Newegg (save $35.51)
The Zen 4 architecture and AM5 socket make this a mighty modern CPU on a slim budget. The lower TDP than most means you can make it work with a cheap air cooler, too. You're in luck, actually, as the boxed version comes with just the ticket: a Wraith Stealth air cooler. It's not amazing but it'll do in a pinch.
Price check: Amazon $193.49View Deal
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D | 8-cores | 16-threads | Loads of L3 cache | 4.1 GHz boost | $249 $183 at Amazon (save $66)
If you're looking for an AM4 socket upgrade or just want to save some pennies, the last-generation 3D V-Cache chips are where it's at. They're blisteringly fast in games and still retain the multicore goodness required for more heavy duty tasks, like Blender.
Price check: Newegg $183View Deal
So, you want something cheaper.
If you can't stretch your budget to the above, I've some cheaper CPUs for your consideration. The Ryzen 5 7600 is a six-core, 12-thread processor with all the benefits of the Zen 4 architecture and AM5 socket still intact.
A 65 W TDP means the 7600 is happier with a cheaper cooler, such as the Hyper 212. Though you can also get by with the entirely free cooler included in the boxed version of the chip. Neat!
There are other options available to you, however. Intel makes a mean CPU in the Core i5 13400F, though it will require a complete rethink of the motherboard. As will one of AMD's last-generation 5000-series chips, which are on the AM4 socket.
Though many Ryzen 5000-series chips are incredibly affordable for what you get. You can score one of the best gaming CPUs of the AM4 generation, the Ryzen 7 5700X3D, for less than the 7600 today—no cooler included on that one, however.