PC Upgrade Ideas (Around $1,200 Budget)

Hey everyone,

So, I’m looking to build a new rig for some serious Gaming, and I was wondering if you guys could help me put something together for about $2333. My big priority is finally making the jump to a smooth 144Hz experience.

Here’s the stuff I’ve already got in my current setup that I’m planning to carry over:

Corsair Carbide Series case
650W power supply
An aftermarket CPU cooler
A 240GB SSD and a 1TB HDD

What I really need help with is picking out a new monitor, a GPU, a processor, a motherboard, and some RAM. Ideally, I’d like to keep the total cost around $2833, and I definitely want to look into financing options—monthly installments are a huge deal for me here.

Oh, one more thing! Audio quality is pretty big for me too. I’m looking for a sound card, or maybe just a motherboard with a really solid built-in audio chip, because I’m planning to upgrade to a full 5.1 surround sound system. If anyone knows exactly what hardware I should be hunting for to get that setup running perfectly, please let me know!

Thanks in advance for the help!

Depends on what you're playing.

Just checked Best Buy. If you're looking to drop an NVIDIA RTX 2070 in here, you're realistically looking at over $8,500 if you finance it—though the cash price shows up as $8,500.

If you aren't playing anything heavy on graphics—just competitive stuff like Overwatch or Fortnite—then save some money and grab a cheaper card.

But, if you're chasing 100+ FPS in AAA titles, then yeah, you need that NVIDIA RTX 2070. Problem is, once you buy that, there's nothing left in the budget for a decent CPU and whatnot.

Here's what I put together. Cash price hits $8,500, so with the cards included, it’ll probably push north of $9,000. Not sure off the top of my head.

You could go with 2x4GB sticks or just grab one stick of this Aegis and add the matching one later. Honestly, very few games are going to bottleneck you on RAM.

1 * Inno3D NVIDIA RTX 2070 Twin X2 8192MB
Part Number: INO-N20702-08D6-1160 - $1351

1 * GSkill Aegis 16GB (2x8) DDR4 3000MHz Memory
Part Number: F4-3000C16D-16GISB - $333

1 * ASUS VG248QE
Part Number: 0225142 - $546

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
Part Number: 0400345 - $400

1 * Asrock AB350M-PRO4, AM4 Socket
Part Number: ASR-AB350M-PRO4 - $209

Total: $2840

Thanks John,

So, are we looking at some of the absolute best value picks on the market right now?

Also, do you think there's any chance we might see these prices take a dip in the next three or four months?

Honestly, the NVIDIA RTX 2070 isn't really worth it when you compare it to the NVIDIA RTX 2060. I'm guessing you're running at 1080p on a 144Hz monitor? If so, the AMD Ryzen 5 1600X might struggle to actually push that NVIDIA RTX 2060/2070 to its full potential.

RAM prices will definitely keep dropping. Plus, some much faster AM4 Socket processors are hitting the market in about four months. When were you planning on pulling the trigger?

crimsonstag84 said:Honestly, the NVIDIA RTX 2070 isn't really worth it when you compare it to the NVIDIA RTX 2060. I'm guessing you're running at 1080p on a 144Hz monitor? If so, the AMD Ryzen 5 1600X might struggle to actually push that NVIDIA RTX 2060/2070 to its full potential.

RAM prices will definitely keep dropping. Plus, some much faster AM4 Socket processors are hitting the market in about four months. When were you planning on pulling the trigger?

Depends on what they play!

If they're playing Overwatch, then yeah, the CPU is gonna be the bottleneck.
But if they go for AAA titles, the GPU will be the bottleneck most of the time, so pairing an NVIDIA RTX 2060 with a faster processor would actually drop performance.

I mostly stick to AAA titles, though my main rotation is usually Rocket League, Fortnite, and Dota 2. That said, I definitely want to drop some heavy hitters on there every now and then.

For Gaming, I’m looking at 144Hz at 1080p. Honestly, I don't see much point in pushing for anything higher than that right now.

So, if I decide to go with an NVIDIA RTX 2070, should I just start with 8GB of RAM and put those $167 extra bucks toward a beefier CPU instead? If I go that route, which CPU would actually be worth the upgrade?

silentcobra3 said:I mostly stick to AAA titles, though my main rotation is usually Rocket League, Fortnite, and Dota 2. That said, I definitely want to drop some heavy hitters on there every now and then.

For Gaming, I’m looking at 144Hz at 1080p. Honestly, I don't see much point in pushing for anything higher than that right now.

So, if I decide to go with an NVIDIA RTX 2070, should I just start with 8GB of RAM and put those $167 extra bucks toward a beefier CPU instead? If I go that route, which CPU would actually be worth the upgrade?

Yeah, I'd save on RAM now and dump more into the CPU.

You've got two paths.

1) i5 8400
It's slightly faster than the Ryzen 5 1600 and 2600 in a lot of games.
Costs about $567 (it's 1800 at Walmart, find it elsewhere).
Pair it with a B360 motherboard.

2)
A slightly better or similar AM4 board and a Ryzen 2600.

The 2600 is only $50 more expensive than the 1600, so with a similar motherboard, you'll have more cash left over (you're closer to $2833), and if you take the difference from $117 and put it into the motherboard, you'll have a much better foundation for later.

I’d go that route because the upgrade path is way better; they're dropping those new Ryzen chips on the 7nm process this year that will work on existing boards.
You can easily overclock a Ryzen 5 2600 to 4.0 GHz (can go higher, but 4.0 is basically always stable).
On average, it's a bit slower than the i5 8400 in games, but once you move away from stuff like Overwatch where both CPUs hit over 150FPS, the gap isn't huge—maybe 5%.
Plus, the 2600 has more "breathing room" than the 8400 since it has 12 threads.

Check this review; I'd be happy with those FPS numbers compared to the i5 8400.



Something like this.

1 * Inno3D RTX2070 Twin X2 8192 mb
Part number: INO-N20702-08D6-1160 - $1351

1 * ASUS VG248QE Ultimate gaming 144 Hz
Part number: 0225142 - $546

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor (6C/12T, 3.9GHz, 19MB, 65W, AM4) box, Wraith Stealth
Part number: YD2600BBAFBOX - $453

1 * G.Skill Aegis 8GB DDR4 3000MHz CL16 RAM
Part number: F4-3000C16S-8GISB - $166

1 * MSI B450M Mortar, AM4, DDR4, U3, m.2, mATX
Part number: msi-b450m-mortar - $290

Total: $2807 (cash price)

Might not look like a massive leap, but I'm telling you, you'll be GPU bottlenecked in most AAA titles if you push max settings, and in Fortnite etc., you'll be hitting 120+ FPS regardless.

P.S.

Check other shops for card prices; Best Buy adds a heavy markup for credit card payments.

wiredotter14 said:Yeah, I'd save on RAM now and dump more into the CPU.

You've got two paths.

1) i5 8400
It's slightly faster than the Ryzen 5 1600 and 2600 in a lot of games.
Costs about $567 (it's 1800 at Walmart, find it elsewhere).
Pair it with a B360 motherboard.

2)
A slightly better or similar AM4 board and a Ryzen 2600.

The 2600 is only $50 more expensive than the 1600, so with a similar motherboard, you'll have more cash left over (you're closer to $2833), and if you take the difference from $117 and put it into the motherboard, you'll have a much better foundation for later.

I’d go that route because the upgrade path is way better; they're dropping those new Ryzen chips on the 7nm process this year that will work on existing boards.
You can easily overclock a Ryzen 5 2600 to 4.0 GHz (can go higher, but 4.0 is basically always stable).
On average, it's a bit slower than the i5 8400 in games, but once you move away from stuff like Overwatch where both CPUs hit over 150FPS, the gap isn't huge—maybe 5%.
Plus, the 2600 has more "breathing room" than the 8400 since it has 12 threads.

Check this review; I'd be happy with those FPS numbers compared to the i5 8400.

Something like this.

1 * Inno3D RTX2070 Twin X2 8192 mb
Part number: INO-N20702-08D6-1160 - $1351

1 * ASUS VG248QE Ultimate gaming 144 Hz
Part number: 0225142 - $546

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor (6C/12T, 3.9GHz, 19MB, 65W, AM4) box, Wraith Stealth
Part number: YD2600BBAFBOX - $453

1 * G.Skill Aegis 8GB DDR4 3000MHz CL16 RAM
Part number: F4-3000C16S-8GISB - $166

1 * MSI B450M Mortar, AM4, DDR4, U3, m.2, mATX
Part number: msi-b450m-mortar - $290

Total: $2807 (cash price)

Might not look like a massive leap, but I'm telling you, you'll be GPU bottlenecked in most AAA titles if you push max settings, and in Fortnite etc., you'll be hitting 120+ FPS regardless.

P.S.

Check other shops for card prices; Best Buy adds a heavy markup for credit card payments.

Yeah, I think I'm probably gonna roll with that plan.
I’m looking at pulling the trigger on this in about a month. If I end up having a little extra wiggle room in the budget by then, I might just go all out and grab the 2700x too, but honestly, I'll just play it by ear and see how things shake out.

Thanks, everyone! 👍

The 2700X isn't worth it for gaming. You'll end up seeing basically the same performance as the 2600(X) but you're paying $333 more
.
If you've actually got the cash for a 2700X and you're chasing high FPS gaming, you might be better off just grabbing an i5 8600K.

Right now, the 1600X or 2600 are total best-buys. Getting 6 cores and 12 threads for under $200
is a steal.

wiredotter14 said:Depends on what they play!

If they're playing Overwatch, then yeah, the CPU is gonna be the bottleneck.
But if they go for AAA titles, the GPU will be the bottleneck most of the time, so pairing an NVIDIA RTX 2060 with a faster processor would actually drop performance.

Where did you even get that idea?



They used a 1600X paired with a V64 LC (which sits right there between an RTX 2070—slightly weaker—and an RTX 2060—slightly stronger), so obviously, they didn't test it with anything more powerful. Regardless, there's zero loss at 144Hz.

In this section they show the 2xxx series running with a GTX 1080Ti; you see a tiny dip in minimum FPS when using standard RAM, but it still stays well above 144Hz. At the end of the day, they aren't even looking at the 1080Ti/RTX 2080 performance levels anyway.

Then look at Fortnite at the 10:20 mark in the same video; there is absolutely no loss in FPS, even with the GTX 1080Ti at 1080p/144Hz.

Basically, my point is that for the types of games people actually buy 144Hz monitors for, they usually aren't CPU-bound, and honestly, most of them can run at over 100 FPS even on a potato PC.

Kimberly Gomez34 said:Where did you even get that idea?

They used a 1600X paired with a V64 LC (which sits right there between an RTX 2070—slightly weaker—and an RTX 2060—slightly stronger), so obviously, they didn't test it with anything more powerful. Regardless, there's zero loss at 144Hz.

In this section they show the 2xxx series running with a GTX 1080Ti; you see a tiny dip in minimum FPS when using standard RAM, but it still stays well above 144Hz. At the end of the day, they aren't even looking at the 1080Ti/RTX 2080 performance levels anyway.

Then look at Fortnite at the 10:20 mark in the same video; there is absolutely no loss in FPS, even with the GTX 1080Ti at 1080p/144Hz.

Basically, my point is that for the types of games people actually buy 144Hz monitors for, they usually aren't CPU-bound, and honestly, most of them can run at over 100 FPS even on a potato PC.

👍👍

Thought the CPU would bottleneck before the GPU.

Sharkoon BW9000-W case
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (6x 3.4GHz / 3.9 Turbo)
Alpenfoehn Brocken 3
MSI X470 gaming Pro 16
16GB (2x8GB) GSkill DDR4 3000MHz AEGIS
250GB SAMSUNG 970-EVO M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVME (L 3400MB/s ; S 1500M
SSD 480GB Patriot Burst (560MB/s - 540MB/s)
8GB Powercolor RX580 RedDevil graphics card
500W be quiet! PurePower 11 power supply
DVD
minimum 2 years warranty
Software
Windows 10 Home 64-bit (OEM)

$1,185 including shipping ($22)
Ordered through Newegg—you can pretty much swap out the components yourself if you want.

gentleraven172 said:Sharkoon BW9000-W case
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (6x 3.4GHz / 3.9 Turbo)
Alpenfoehn Brocken 3
MSI X470 gaming Pro 16
16GB (2x8GB) GSkill DDR4 3000MHz AEGIS
250GB SAMSUNG 970-EVO M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVME (L 3400MB/s ; S 1500M
SSD 480GB Patriot Burst (560MB/s - 540MB/s)
8GB Powercolor RX580 RedDevil graphics card
500W be quiet! PurePower 11 power supply
DVD
minimum 2 years warranty
Software
Windows 10 Home 64-bit (OEM)

$1,185 including shipping ($22)
Ordered through Newegg—you can pretty much swap out the components yourself if you want.

$2667 man, just an RX580. You spent way too much on those SSDove while the GPU took a massive hit. You should've at least thrown in a 1660Ti, seriously. 🍿

Adam Moore3 said:$2667 man, just an RX580. You spent way too much on those SSDove while the GPU took a massive hit. You should've at least thrown in a 1660Ti, seriously. 🍿

He would've been better off grabbing this one from the homepage

https://www.newegg.com/GAMING-PC/Game...060::3644.html

wiredotter14 said:He would've been better off grabbing this one from the homepage

https://www.newegg.com/GAMING-PC/Game...060::3644.html

Even a pre-built rig ends up being cheaper. 🤦 Such a shame...

Adam Moore3 said:$2667 man, just an RX580. You spent way too much on those SSDove while the GPU took a massive hit. You should've at least thrown in a 1660Ti, seriously. 🍿

I actually bought this for my son—I figured I might upgrade the graphics card later on.

Adam Moore3 said:Even a pre-built rig ends up being cheaper. 🤦 Such a shame...

Sure, the GPU is better, but you're looking at a weak power supply, no extra SSDove, no CPU cooler, no Windows 10 Home 64-bit, a lower-tier motherboard, and a budget case.
Everything comes with its own extra costs—plus shipping is already included in that price, which saves about $20.

Maybe turn off CAPS LOCK? No need to shout.

An NVMe Samsung won't make a difference here. If you're building a $1,000 gaming rig, two separate drives just don't make sense.
The motherboard won't feel any different either, unless you're planning on overclocking—and even then, you can get decent results with this B450.

The PSU is from the same lineup (EVGA SuperNOVA), so the quality is comparable. Plus, 400W is plenty since this build won't pull more than 300W under full load.

You can grab Windows 10 online for less than $10, so it's hardly a major cost factor.

Look, I'm not saying the build I linked is perfect; it's a pre-configured setup, and you shouldn't expect much from those.

The bottom line is that you picked a drastically weaker GPU for roughly the same price.

That build wouldn't have been half bad if there was a higher budget—like if you'd just gone for a GTX 1660Ti instead of cutting corners.

You can grab Windows 10 for free directly from Microsoft's site, and honestly, running an unactivated version works just fine if that's what you want. If you do decide to activate it, you can find licenses on eBay for basically pocket change.
An optical drive—do people actually still use those?
Besides the fact that you could have squeezed a noticeably beefier GPU into that budget, you also picked a Red Devil, which is pretty much one of the worst versions of that specific card you could have gone with.
As for that Patriot Burst, if it doesn't die on you within two to six months, consider yourself lucky. It’s easily one of the worst choices for a Samsung.
You don't need an X470 for a Ryzen 2600. Any decent B350 or B450 board will keep a Ryzen 2600 sitting comfortably at 4-4.1GHz as long as your cooling is up to par.

When you can get a much better build for the same price here in the States, you realize how much you missed out. $2.75 Including shipping, you paid that amount, but for $27 more, you could have built something significantly stronger over here with a 250GB NVMe Samsung plus a 1TB SATA3 Samsung:

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor (6C/12T, 3.9GHz, 19MB, 65W, AM4) box, Wraith Stealth
Part #: YD2600BBAFBOX - $466

1 * ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 34 Cooler, fits 1150/1155/1156/2011/2011-3/2066/AM4, black
Part #: 050.903.387- - $66

1 * Gigabyte B450M DS3H AMD B450, AM4, 4xDDR4, DVI-D/HDMI, 2xPCIe x16, 1xPCIe x1, 1xM.2, 4xSATA, mATX
Part #: B450M_DS3H - $200

1 * GSkill Aegis 16GB (2x8) DDR4 3000MHz
Part #: F4-3000C16D-16GISB - $316

1 * Palit GF RTX2060 Gaming Pro OC, 6GB
Part #: pal-2060-gpr-6gb - $1033

1 * Kingston A1000 NVMe 240GB, R1500/W800, M.2 2280
Part #: king-a1000-240g - $153

1 * Kingston SSD A400, R500/W450, 960GB, 7mm, 2.5
Part #: king-sa400-960 - $354

1 * Seasonic SS-520GB Power Supply, 520W
Part #: 0150793 - $150

1 * Zalman S2 Case, 2x120mm, USB3.0
Part #: ZAL-S2-1 - $98

Total: $2838 (-2%=$2.75)
Free assembly and shipping

swiftfalcon89 said:You can grab Windows 10 for free directly from Microsoft's site, and honestly, running an unactivated version works just fine if that's what you want. If you do decide to activate it, you can find licenses on eBay for basically pocket change.
An optical drive—do people actually still use those?
Besides the fact that you could have squeezed a noticeably beefier GPU into that budget, you also picked a Red Devil, which is pretty much one of the worst versions of that specific card you could have gone with.
As for that Patriot Burst, if it doesn't die on you within two to six months, consider yourself lucky. It’s easily one of the worst choices for a Samsung.
You don't need an X470 for a Ryzen 2600. Any decent B350 or B450 board will keep a Ryzen 2600 sitting comfortably at 4-4.1GHz as long as your cooling is up to par.

When you can get a much better build for the same price here in the States, you realize how much you missed out. $2.75 Including shipping, you paid that amount, but for $27 more, you could have built something significantly stronger over here with a 250GB NVMe Samsung plus a 1TB SATA3 Samsung:

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor (6C/12T, 3.9GHz, 19MB, 65W, AM4) box, Wraith Stealth
Part #: YD2600BBAFBOX - $466

1 * ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 34 Cooler, fits 1150/1155/1156/2011/2011-3/2066/AM4, black
Part #: 050.903.387- - $66

1 * Gigabyte B450M DS3H AMD B450, AM4, 4xDDR4, DVI-D/HDMI, 2xPCIe x16, 1xPCIe x1, 1xM.2, 4xSATA, mATX
Part #: B450M_DS3H - $200

1 * GSkill Aegis 16GB (2x8) DDR4 3000MHz
Part #: F4-3000C16D-16GISB - $316

1 * Palit GF RTX2060 Gaming Pro OC, 6GB
Part #: pal-2060-gpr-6gb - $1033

1 * Kingston A1000 NVMe 240GB, R1500/W800, M.2 2280
Part #: king-a1000-240g - $153

1 * Kingston SSD A400, R500/W450, 960GB, 7mm, 2.5
Part #: king-sa400-960 - $354

1 * Seasonic SS-520GB Power Supply, 520W
Part #: 0150793 - $150

1 * Zalman S2 Case, 2x120mm, USB3.0
Part #: ZAL-S2-1 - $98

Total: $2838 (-2%=$2.75)
Free assembly and shipping

Point taken, that's why I mentioned it. But keep in mind, shops over in Germany don't just let you pick whatever components you want for free. You have to use sites like this where you configure it and they offer what they've got available.

That said, you can put together a pretty decent build here:

1 (ID: 194844)

Configuration:
Main Components
Sharkoon S25-W with AMD Ryzen 5 2600 window
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (6x 3.4GHz / 3.9 Turbo)
COSMO COOL LC-CC-120
MSI B450 Tomahawk
16GB (2x8GB) GSkill DDR4 3000MHz AEGIS
500GB Crucial MX500 M.2 SATA-SSD ( L 560MB/s ; S 510MB/s)
1000GB SATA 6GB/s 7200rpm
no Hard Drive/SSD
6GB KFA RTX2060 OC
400W be quiet! Seasonic Prime Gold 2-year warranty
no drive
Warranty and Service
Seasonic Prime Gold 2-year warranty

This comes out to $1048.50, or roughly $2600 with shipping.

Windows 10 is an extra $50 if you don't feel like messing around with the installation.

P.S.

I personally own that AMD Radeon RX 580 PowerColor Red Devil; picked it up right before that massive price spike in 2017 during some sale.
The cooler design and everything is solid—it's massive, temps are fine—but the GPU itself isn't anything special. They use chips that aren't exactly top-tier when it comes to holding clocks and voltage.