Ultimate Gaming PC Build under $2000

[matt_gamer]

Hi, I heard gaming PC desktop can outperform high-end gaming laptops. So I did alot of research on PC hardware but I'm having doubts about the hardware I chose, so I need someone experienced to recommend or help me.

End of this year I'm going to do my first Gaming PC build. In this build I want a i7 or i5 CPU and MSI GTX780ti. Also, it can run games such as Battlefield 4, Crysis 3, etc at Ultra settings, running above 40 FPS.

PS: 1440p or 1080p Single Monitor, Gaming Keyboard and OS included.

Thank You for answering! PC GAMING FTW!

[David (PassMark)]

There are going to be some better CPUs & RAM released in about 2 to 3 months. I don't know the pricing as yet however. But for $2K, you should be able to get something good.

So if this was for Christmas then I would consider, a Haswell-E CPU, with DDR4 Memory on a X99 motherboard with a PCI-E SSD that supports NVMe.

[matt_gamer]

Haswell-E CPU? I thought it's said to be very expensive considering it as a very powerful cpu. Your suggestion might be over my budget, we don't know yet about the pricing. But thanks for the heads up on the new hardware coming soon.

Yes, I'm going to get it before Christmas since the hardware would on be on sale.

Thank You for replying.

[frosty555]

Alright I'll put together a build for you.

IMHO the most important thing to realize with gaming rigs is that you want to invest your money in places where you'll see the most benefit. That means don't throw you money at components that are not the bottleneck for your system. You should focus on the graphics card and hard drive. Don't stress over frills like LED lighting, fancy chassis, or water cooling. You want a gaming rig that is upgradable, reliable, and quiet and will play games extremely well. Don't try to overclock or mod it.

So here's a set of components that tries to get you the best value for money around the $2000 price point.

First of all, I'd forget about the MSI 780Ti. It is overpriced because it is the most powerful card on the market. You don't need it and it is not worth the price tag. Don't blow your whole budget on the video card, go a couple notches down so you have some room to invest in other stuff, too.

You can find all of these components on NewEgg.com:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4820K 3.7Ghz LGA2011 CPU ($325)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X79 LGA2011 Motherboard ($315)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaw X Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600 RAM (F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL) ($165)
Hard Drive: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB Solid State Disk (MZ-7TE250BW) ($140)
Video Card: EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2765-KR GeForce GTX 760 2GB ($260)
Chassis: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0 ($100)
PSU: CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ($130)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO ($35)
CD/DVD Drive: ASUS DVD-Writer 24X DRW-24F1ST - OEM ($20)
Monitor: ASUS VS24AH-P Black 24" IPS Display ($230)
Keyboard: Das Keyboard DASK3MKPROCLI Black Wired Standard Professional - Click Pressure Point Mechanical Keyboard ($140)
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit OEM Key ($140)

Total price before tax and shipping: $2000


If you want to bring the price down a little bit, you can cut about $300-350 by downgrading some of the more optional, luxury components, which will limit your upgradability but won't really affecting your raw FPS very much:

- Corsair CX series Bronze PSU instead of Gold (save ~$40)
- Cheaper gaming keyboard (save ~$50)
- TF-based LCD monitor instead of IPS display (save ~$50)
- 120GB SSD instead of 250GB (save ~$40)
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM key (save $30)
- Cheaper motherboard e.g. ASUS P9X79 (save $80)
- Cheaper CPU e.g. Intel Core i5-4670K (save $80)