This $900 1440p gaming PC shines in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

If you’re in the market for a new PC, your bravery is commendable. It’s not the best of times to be a PC builder right now, considering the abject state of gaming GPUs. It doesn’t look like we’ll get graphics cards at MSRP again any time soon. Still, if you can’t live without a new gaming PC, and want to experience the latest and greatest titles, such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, it’s possible to build a DDR5 future-ready machine on a budget.

This PC won’t exactly let you push path tracing settings to the maximum, but you can easily get 60 to 80 FPS at Very Ultra settings at both 1080p and 1440p. Even with path tracing turned on, you can expect a 1080p 40 FPS experience. While that isn’t ideal at all, you can easily upgrade your GPU when the market settles down. Built on AMD’s AM5 platform, you can also drop in a newer CPU down the line if the 6-core chip I’m using starts showing its age (which won’t happen for a very long time).

7

CPU

The best Zen 4 chip for most gamers

Choosing the Ryzen 5 7600 for this budget build isn’t just a cost-reduction measure — this 6-core chip is currently all the CPU power you need for any gaming PC. Moving to an 8-core won’t move your FPS by a lot, and the Ryzen X3D chips offer around 40% more performance for a whopping 166% more money. The Ryzen 7000 CPUs are also better than the Ryzen 9000 chips, since they’re equally fast while being cheaper. So, in a nutshell, the Ryzen 5 7600 becomes an easy choice, whether you’re building a $1,000 or a $1,500 gaming PC.

It also comes with the Wraith Stealth cooler that can easily handle the 65W chip, but if you want better thermals and a more silent PC, then something like the Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120SE air cooler is a great upgrade for only $35. You can upgrade from the Ryzen 5 7600 down the line if you really wish to experience one of the Ryzen X3D CPUs, thanks to the longevity of the AM5 socket.

AMD Ryzen 5 7600

$185 $229 Save
$44

AMD’s Ryzen 5 7600 remains one of its most popular gaming CPUs for a reason. The 6-core chip with a 65W TDP is plenty fast for any modern GPU, and comes with a bundled cooler.

6

Motherboard

Gen5 M.2, Wi-Fi, and BIOS flashback under $150

You don’t need to get lost in the marketing around motherboards to pick the right one. Just focus on the basics — 4 RAM slots, multiple M.2 slots with at least one Gen5 slot, onboard Wi-Fi, BIOS flashback, support for your memory kit, at least USB 10 Gbps ports, and sufficient fan and RGB headers. And, fortunately, you don’t need to spend more than $150 to get that, since the affordable Asus Prime B650-Plus WiFi packs in all of these features, plus it’s often on discount for around $125.

You don’t even need to drop to the mATX form factor to save money on your motherboard. This ATX board has a decent 12+2 phase VRM solution, a 6-layer PCB, and an M.2 heatsink for the Gen5 slot. And it’s not too bad in the looks department either. Overall, it’s one of the best value DDR5 motherboards you can buy right now.

Asus Prime B650-Plus WiFi

$125 $150 Save
$25

The Asus Prime B650-Plus WiFi is one of the most value-for-money money DDR5 motherboards on the market. Its ATX form factor comes with two M.2 slots, one of which supports Gen5 NVMe drives. With integrated Wi-Fi 6E, BIOS flashback, 2.5G Ethernet, and 10Gbps USB ports, it’s a well-rounded package for the price.

5

RAM

32GB of solid yet affordable DDR5-6000 RAM

The RAM sweet spot for Ryzen 7000 CPUs is still the same — 6,000MT/s CL30 memory. While the Crucial Pro Overclocking DDR5-6000 is a CL36 kit, you’ll be hard-pressed to notice a difference. For around $80, this kit offers a stable, fast, and reliable gaming performance. The design is not bad, and you’re buying from one of the better-known brands on the market. Running memory faster than 6,000MT/s on Ryzen CPUs is a gamble, so saving your money for other components is the wise move to make here.

Crucial Pro Overclocking DDR5-6000 kit (2x16GB)

$82 $105 Save
$23

The Crucial Pro Overclocking DDR5-6000 32GB is an affordable and fast memory kit for DDR5 gaming PCs, falling into the frequency sweet spot for AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPUs.

4

SSD

1TB of fast Gen 4 NVMe storage

I would have loved to add a 2TB NVMe SSD to this build, but keeping the budget as low as possible forced me to go with the 1TB Silicon Power UD90 Gen4 SSD. It’s a well-reviewed model and offers around 5,000MB/s read speeds with its Gen4 NVMe interface, which is plenty fast for gaming. Gen5 SSDs don’t offer much gaming performance over Gen4 models right now, and the 7,000MB/s Gen4 SSDs cost slightly more than the UD90. 1TB is enough to store a few games at a time, and you can always add another SSD later (a Gen5 model, if you like) when you run out of space.

Silicon Power UD90 1TB

$55 $65 Save
$10

The Silicon Power UD90 1TB NVMe offers affordable Gen4 performance that’s more than enough for modern gaming PCs. Its 5,000MB/s read speed isn’t the best, but the value it offers at the price is unbeatable. 
 

3

PSU

750W of Gold-certified power

The GPU I’ve picked for this build doesn’t require more than 650W of power, but having some headroom is always recommended for future upgrades. The Thermaltake Toughpower 750W 80+ Gold semi-modular PSU is a great unit for budget as well as mid-range PCs, thanks to its wattage and efficiency ratings. It’s a well-reviewed unit by consumers, and features flat cables and a silent fan. Skipping an ATX 3.0 PSU won’t affect the functionality or performance of the build, since you can use an adapter to connect a 12VHPWR GPU later.

Thermaltake Toughpower 750W

Thermaltake’s Toughpower 750W Gold power supply is perfect for budget-friendly builds, with more than enough power available for demanding graphics cards.

2

Case

Good-looking value case with RGB fans

Going with a cheap PC case is tricky, since you risk compromising on one or the other necessary features. The Zalman i3 Neo isn’t the cheapest case on the market, but it isn’t expensive either. It supports ATX motherboards, features pre-installed RGB fans, and has a front mesh intake for airflow. I wanted a case with 3 or 4 fans, so you don’t have to buy fans separately. Plus, the white design looks good and helps create a dual-tone theme with the rest of the components.

The hinged side panel makes it easy to access the internals, unlike in some other cases in this price range. And even if you decide to upgrade your GPU to a bigger model, this case will easily fit GPUs up to 355mm in length.

Zalman i3 Neo

$68 $75 Save
$7

The Zalman i3 Neo is an affordable case that comes with 4 RGB fans and a hinged, tempered glass side panel. With a front mesh, space for GPUs up to 355mm in length, a good-looking design, and support for 240mm (top) and 360mm (front) radiators, it more than justifies its asking price. 

1

GPU

The people’s GPU with 12GB of VRAM

Finally, the graphics card at the heart of this PC is the popular RTX 3060, a 12GB VRAM GPU with enough power to tackle even the most demanding games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The Asus Dual model is compact yet cool and silent, thanks to a decent cooling solution, and it gels well with the dual-tone theme of the build. You’ll not need any fancy connectors for this card, since all it needs is a single 8-pin PCIe cable.

In most titles, you can expect a consistent 80+ FPS experience at 1080p. Even at 1440p, you can cross 50 FPS in demanding scenarios. And thanks to the optimization of Indiana Jones, even 1440p 80 FPS is possible without enabling path tracing. The RTX 3060 is quite old at this point, but it’s still a great performer for sub-$1,000 builds like this one. You can always save up for an upgrade, and thanks to AMD’s RX 90 series, even 4K Ultra gaming is now possible on sub-$600 GPUs.

Asus Dual GeForce RTX 3060 V2 OC

The Asus Dual GeForce RTX 3060 is a relatively small, two-slot GPU with 12GB of GDDR6 memory and enough performance to drive modern titles at 1080p and 1440p. You might need to lower ray tracing settings, but it shines in everything else.

Conclusion

At the time of writing, this build costs just over $920, a fantastic price considering its performance in one of the latest games of this generation. If you opt for an aftermarket cooler, and the prices of the RAM and SSD fluctuate a bit, the total price might touch $1,000, but even then, the build offers great performance per dollar. The AM5 platform allows you to swap in a newer CPU at any time for the foreseeable future. Upgrading the GPU to something like the RX 9070 XT or RTX 5070 will net you a significant boost without changing your PSU or any other component.