Builds Introduction

The purpose of this page is to guide you through the PC build that's most suitable for pure gaming and possibly educate people on possible hardware configurations for different budgets and performance requirements. This build may not be the perfect suit for other uses, although it is still possible.

The $500 "Starter" is the most popular, as it's the one build on the page that outperforms the next-gen consoles. However, as you increase the resolution and refresh rate of your monitor for an improved gaming experience, the performance of the PC required to push the images to the monitor would also increase.

Tips

Remember to always peer-review your builds with communities such as /r/PcMasterRaceBuilds or /r/PCMasterRace. Never buy public or example starter builds exactly as-is, there are always personal improvements and 24-hour sales that can lower the price while simultaneously improving price-performance even further beyond what a build committee like ourselves can offer.

Always click on "PCPartPicker part list" instead of simply buying what's in the table. The reason is to let PCPartPicker use its sophisticated algorithm to pick the cheapest part that's still compatible.

If you don't live in the US, no problem. Simply click the "PCPartPicker part list" link, then change the country to your country on the top right corner. PCPartPicker will use its sophisticated algorithm to pick the cheapest compatible part that's available in your country.

While we try to avoid mail-in rebates, consider taking advantage of them, as they can help reduce the overall cost of your build.

Buying used can save you money, but you may have trouble with it later on and no warranty to lean on! See /r/HardwareSwap.

The feeling of nerve-wracking fear and simultaneous excitement is normal for first-time builders. Just remember that these things were made to be put together by humans like you. Just take your time and don't force square pegs into round holes and you'll be installing your OS and drivers within the hour!

The Builds

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, prices might be slightly inflated from our target budgets. These builds will be adjusted regularly to reflect any future price changes.

Starter (~$500) The best bang-for-your-buck build in this entire page. It goes neck-and-neck with the PS4 Pro and XBOX One X in gaming performance while offering the flexibility you need, such as if you prefer fancier graphics or frame rate smoothness. 60 FPS Ultra Build (~$750) This build is suitable for playing at "Ultra" graphics settings for most games, on 60 Hz refresh rate. The base build offers 1440p (QHD) resolution, while the augmentation offers an option for 1080p. High Refresh Rate Ultra Build (~$1000) This build is suitable for playing at "Ultra" graphics settings for most games, on refresh rates higher than 60 Hz. Zero Ultra Build (~$2500) This build is suitable for playing at high resolutions such as 1440p/4K and high frame rates such as 144 Hz and 240 Hz.

Starter

Lastrefreshed:July29th2020.Version1.20,latestrevisionby/u/E-Man1864.Providefeedbackhere.

About

The best bang-for-your-buck build on this entire page. It goes neck-and-neck with the PS4 Pro and XBOX One X in performance while offering the flexibility in your gaming experience, such as if you prefer fancier graphics or frame rate smoothness. This build is suitable for running most modern games at 1080p/60fps/medium settings.

It provides for PC versatility, as well. Do you want to play at 144 fps on a 144 Hz monitor for your First-person shooters? Perfect. Lower your settings and your frame rate shoots up. Do you care less about the frame rate than the extreme-quality visuals? Wonderful. Crank those dials up and witness the glory.

This build originally targeted pretty strictly around $500, but it's been adjusted various times to include slightly more expensive parts deemed important.

PCPartPicker Part List

Keep in mind this build will list a compatibility error about needing a BIOS update. All new stock of B450 boards have a compatible BIOS for Ryzen 3000 series processors, so do not worry about this error.

Do not forget to overclock the memory, as every memory always runs at JEDEC 2133 MHz by default. Especially on AMD Ryzen computers as they would take a massive hit in performance without the overclock. Depending on the motherboard, the memory overclock may be called DOCP (Direct Over Clock Profile), EOCP (Extended Over Clock Profiles), or XMP (eXtreme Memory Profile).

Augmentations

Benchmarks

60 FPS Ultra Build

Lastrefreshed:July29th2020.Version1.18,latestrevisionby/u/E-Man1864.Providefeedbackhere.

About

A quality mid-range computer in the $750 range. This build is suitable for playing at "Ultra" graphics settings for most games, on 60 Hz refresh rate. With the components in this build, it will be able to support VR.

PCPartPicker Part List

Keep in mind this build will list a compatibility error about needing a BIOS update. All new stock of B450 boards have a compatible BIOS for Ryzen 3000 series processors, so do not worry about this error.

Do not forget to overclock the memory, as every memory always runs at JEDEC 2133 MHz by default. Especially on AMD Ryzen computers as they would take a massive hit in performance without the overclock. Depending on the motherboard, the memory overclock may be called DOCP (Direct Over Clock Profile), EOCP (Extended Over Clock Profiles), or XMP (eXtreme Memory Profile).

Augmentations

Benchmarks

High Refresh Rate Ultra Build

Lastrefreshed:July29th2020.Version1.20,latestrevisionby/u/E-Man1864.Providefeedbackhere.

About

This build is suitable for playing at "Ultra" graphics settings for most games, on refresh rates higher than 60 Hz. While not a guarantee for 144 FPS in every game, this build gets as close as possible without spending a large amount of money.

PCPartPicker Part List

Keep in mind this build will list a compatibility error about needing a BIOS update. All new stock of B450 boards have a compatible BIOS for Ryzen 3000 series processors, so do not worry about this error.

Do not forget to overclock the memory, as every memory always runs at JEDEC 2133 MHz by default. Especially on AMD Ryzen computers as they would take a massive hit in performance without the overclock. Depending on the motherboard, the memory overclock may be called DOCP (Direct Over Clock Profile), EOCP (Extended Over Clock Profiles), or XMP (eXtreme Memory Profile).

Augmentations

Benchmarks

Zero Ultra Build

Lastrefreshed:July29th2020.Version1.10,latestrevisionby/u/E-Man1864.Providefeedbackhere.

About

A zero compromises build capable of handling any game you throw at it with the highest resolutions and frame rates. This build is suitable for playing at high resolutions such as 1440p/4K and high frame rates such as 144 Hz and 240 Hz.

PCPartPicker Part List

Do not forget to overclock the memory, as every memory always runs at JEDEC 2133 MHz by default. Especially on AMD Ryzen computers as they would take a massive hit in performance without the overclock. Depending on the motherboard, the memory overclock may be called DOCP (Direct Over Clock Profile), EOCP (Extended Over Clock Profiles), or XMP (eXtreme Memory Profile).

Augmentations

Benchmarks

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Lastrefreshed:July9th,2020.Version1.4,latestrevisionby/u/E-Man1864.Providefeedbackhere.

Q: Why don't you recommend <insert any newly released Intel/AMD/NVIDIA CPU/GPU here>?

The availability of those products is extremely scarce at the moment. They are fantastic products no doubt, but due to the shortages, they often carry a huge markup, and therefore no longer make sense in price-to-performance anymore (assuming you can find one available in the first place).

Q: Should I get AMD Ryzen or Intel Core?

TLDR: Overall, Ryzen is a great choice for anyone who wants strong performance at an affordable price. For example, the Ryzen 3600 offers around 90% the gaming performance of the Core i7-8700K for just 2/3 of the price all things considered (e.g motherboard, cooler, etc.). However, the ultimate gaming experience is still held by an i9-10900K, which is what we would exclusively recommend if you want the best gaming experience money can buy.

More details: Pure multi-threaded applications such as video rendering greatly benefit from Ryzen, due to the number of cores and threads. Meanwhile, Intel focuses on higher per-core performance. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Intel, games are not one of those that can linearly be spread across many cores and threads. Traditionally, games have always favored fewer stronger cores (Intel) over more weaker cores (AMD), although we are seeing a shift now as games started distributing their workloads across many CPU threads. Nevertheless, single core performance is still king currently for gaming, assuming you got at least 4 cores.

One thing to note though, Ryzen CPUs take a large hit in performance when the RAM is not overclocked. Thankfully, some RAM comes with an overclocking profile, although you still need to manually configure the RAM profile in the BIOS, or if the memory does not support it, set up the memory frequency and latency timing manually. If you don't know what this means, feel free to take some time to do some research, or ask for an Intel version of the build.

Q: Should I get AMD Threadripper?

TLDR: No.

As the name implies, Threadripper benefits programs that use a lot of threads (cores), and as mentioned above, games are not one of them. Some games will even outright refuse to boot without "Game Mode" enabled, which disables half of the cores and essentially turns Threadripper into a much-cheaper Ryzen.

Q: Should I get an AMD Radeon RX or NVIDIA GeForce GTX/RTX?

In general, gaming performance is pretty similar to the same price point. It depends more on which games you play more than anything. On average, they perform within the margin of errors from each other (less than 10% difference)

There are some subtle differences outside of performance:

FreeSync monitors are cheaper but less consistent. If you do proper research, you save money over G-SYNC with minimal gap. Consequently, you need an AMD video card UPDATE: Since driver version 417.71, NVIDIA graphics cards (GTX 10 series or newer) support both FreeSync and G-SYNC monitors.

UPDATE: Since driver version 417.71, NVIDIA graphics cards (GTX 10 series or newer) support both FreeSync and G-SYNC monitors. You can play your PC games on phones, tablets, etc. only if you have NVIDIA GPU Since the release of Steam Remote Play Together, you can now achieve the same functionality with any GPU brand.

Since the release of Steam Remote Play Together, you can now achieve the same functionality with any GPU brand. NVIDIA has a noticeably better video encoder, and is therefore a better option for streaming.

Source: AMD vs NVIDIA from another point of view for more details.

Don't care about any of that? Just get whichever is cheaper, as they are both solid options.

Q: Do I need an SSD?

TLDR: Yes.

SSDs improve the load times in day-to-day usage. Loading Windows, Firefox, or Word, for example, are another order of magnitude faster. However, it has minimal impact on gaming performance apart from slightly decreasing the loading time.

Refer to this video to see the difference in real-time.

Q: I just saw that video. What to do if I want an NVMe SSD?

Make sure that your motherboard has the correct slot. Go to the PCPartPicker build by clicking "PCPartPicker part list" of the corresponding build, click on the small "From parametric filter" link of the motherboard row, and slide the slider on "M.2 Ports" to 1-2 instead of 0-2 on the left side of the screen.

Here are the NVMe SSDs that are available. We would recommend any of the NVMe SSDs listed in the Zero Ultra build.

Q: Why don't you include an Operating System?

There are far too many options out there when it comes to choosing and obtaining an OS. For macOS fans, there's Hackintosh configurations. For Linux, you have a plethora of amazing, fast, and free distributions like Ubuntu, Elementary OS, and Steam OS. For Windows, you have Windows 10 or Windows Home Server (for hosting), etc. On top of that, obtaining Windows can be done in many different ways.

If you don't have a working Windows license, you can still run Windows 10 with the condition that you see an "Activate Windows" watermark and you are not allowed to personalize your computer. (e.g. changing the wallpaper)

If you need a single Linux distro for a recommendation, you can't go wrong with Ubuntu MATE. It has the popularity and support of Ubuntu, but the appearance and behavior similar to Windows, assuming that you are familiar to Windows.

Q: Where can I get a Windows or Linux installation USB?

For Windows, you can use Windows Media Creation Tool.

For Linux, you download the disc image (.iso) then write it to a USB using a tool such as Balena Etcher.

Q: Windows 7, 8, or 10?

We would recommend Windows 10 as it supports all the latest technologies, such as DirectX 12 and DXR. The CPU of the builds that we recommend here are also only officially supported by Windows 10.

Q: How about the privacy and spying issues with Windows 10?

First of all, if you use an Android phone or perhaps have a Facebook account, you can stop worrying now, as you can rest assured that Google has taken away more of your privacy than Windows 10 ever will. Also do keep in mind that a lot of people, including government agencies and large corporations all around the world, do get by with Windows 10 so far.

If you are really concerned about privacy, there are free utilities to disable the privacy-related features such as WPD or ShutUp10.

Q: Why don't you include an optical drive?

Aside from installing the operating system (sometimes not even then), an optical drive is a dead and obsolete piece of technology. The PC industry has long since migrated completely to the faster, cheaper, and simpler digital distribution method. Also, keep in mind that you can always buy a portable external USB one later down the line when you really need it.

Q: Why don't you include a keyboard and mouse in each build?

Keyboards and mice are a tough thing to include since the majority of people have one or the other already, sometimes even both. If they don't, it's still a bit too subjective to just point people to a single keyboard and mouse. There's a lot of options out there for keyboards (mechanical, rubber dome, backlighting, size, noise, etc) as well as mice (laser, optical, wireless, etc). If you are interested in mechanical keyboards, this sub and /r/MechanicalKeyboards should be able to help you out.

Q: Why don't you include a monitor in the builds?

Consoles don't come with displays and neither should these individual builds. Displays are a separate thing. For example, you can hook your PC up to your existing monitor or TV just like you could with a console. Monitors (and TVs) vary extensively, and it would be a bit unfair to try and predict what someone's needs and preference would be.

Q: Why don't you include a cooler in the builds?

The cooler that comes with the processors in the box is sufficient enough for gaming and even light overclocking. If you are interested in hitting high overclocks or simply want lower temperatures/acoustics, consider investing in either a quality air cooler such as the Noctua NH-D15 or the Phanteks PH-TC14PE or an AIO liquid cooler such as the Arctic Liquid Freezer II or the EVGA CLC.

Q: Overclocking, yes or no?

TLDR: If possible, yes.

Long answer: It always depends on each individual product, as not everything can be overclocked, and overclocking also follows the diminishing return formula. In addition, not all products are overclockable. You can't, for example, overclock a Hard Drive. You also can't overclock an Intel CPU that's not a K-series (e.g i7-10700 is not overclockable, i7-10700K is overclockable)

In addition, Ryzen CPUs take a massive hit in IPC (Instruction-Per-Clock, or loosely translated to performance-per-gigahertz) when the memory (RAM) is not overclocked. Therefore, overclocking is standard practice for Ryzen-based gaming computers in order to achieve decent performance.

Q: How to Overclock?

First of all, overclocking follows the 80/20 rule, where the first 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort.

The way to overclock is varied from one platform to another, but the general idea is what's shown below. We only show the first part of the 80/20 rule here, or the "low-hanging fruit" if you will. For a more detailed look at overclocking, go to the /r/overclocking wiki.

CPU and RAM (2 variables: Voltage and Clock) Go to the BIOS Increase the voltage to a safe amount (CPU: ~1.3V for AMD and ~1.4V for Intel, RAM: No more than 1.5V.) Increase the clock gradually until the system becomes unstable Revert back to the fastest clock that's still stable Decrease the voltage gradually until the system becomes unstable Revert back to the lowest voltage that's still stable

For Ryzen 3000 CPUs, we recommend enabling PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) and Auto OC as manual overclocking will not yield significantly better results



GPU (4 variables: Power Limit, Voltage, Core clock, Memory clock) Download MSI Afterburner (even if your GPU is not an MSI) Max out the Power Limit, usually it's between 108% to 150% On modern GPUs (particularly NVIDIA's GTX 10 series and newer), you can stop here as they can automatically overclock based upon available thermal headroom , and what you get from the following points might not have a perceptible difference. You have done the 80/20 rule here. Increase the voltage to a safe amount (if it's measured in %, and defaults in 0% instead of Volt, you can max it out safely) Increase the clock gradually until the system becomes unstable Revert back to the fastest clock that's still stable Decrease the voltage gradually until the system becomes unstable Revert back to the lowest voltage that's still stable



Monitor (1 variable: Refresh Rate) If you don't have an NVIDIA GPU, download CRU (Custom Resolution Utility). If you have an NVIDIA GPU, open the NVIDIA Control Panel. Insert a custom resolution Put the same number of resolution as your monitor supports (typical monitor is 1920 x 1080) Put the Refresh Rate to be slightly higher than your current refresh rate (typical monitor is 60 Hz. If that's the case with your monitor, you can put 70 Hz) Set the timing to "CVT blank" Enable the new resolution Repeat the same until the monitor becomes unstable, shows a blank image, or artifacts



Q: Why did you do the massive revamp? Where are my Crusher and Annihilator?

We noticed that the old page was massively bloated, with literally ten different builds at different price points, despite the vast majority of people only build 2-3 most popular ones. That was our main intention to shorten the build list. We also try to not be too constrained by the budget, but instead the expected performance of each particular build. That is precisely why we renamed the builds to more meaningful names instead of the "cooler" names that we had before.

Q: How do I perform a BIOS Flashback?

Performing a BIOS Flashback allows you to update your BIOS on compatible motherboards without needing an older generation CPU. First, you need to download the latest BIOS from the manufacturer's website and load it on to a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive (smaller flash drives work better). Be sure to rename it to what your motherboard manufacturer specifies (for MSI motherboards, rename the file to MSI.ROM and when prompted, change the file extension). Next, with only power connected to the motherboard, insert the USB flash drive into the motherboard's port for BIOS Flashback and press the BIOS flashback button. Wait for the BIOS update to complete (the process may take up to 5 minutes or so) and then once completed, the LED will stop flashing and you can then disconnect your flash drive and install your components.

Q: What if I need wireless internet connectivity?

By default, our builds do not come with wireless connectivity as most users generally use an Ethernet cable to get on the internet. If wireless is something you need in your build, we recommend adding a PCIe wireless card with at least 5GHz dual band connectivity such as these wireless cards. Keep in mind there are other options such as Powerline Ethernet, but we recommend you research not only specific units, but also if one will work with your residence's wiring.

Questions, comments, concerns related to the page or the builds? If you want to visit the builds subreddit, go to /r/PCMasterRaceBuilds. To just simply message us click here for an integrated contact form!. Do not PM us for build requests, if you have a build request, please make a thread in /r/PcMasterRaceBuilds! You can also always consult your final draft with /r/BuildAPC or /r/PCMasterRace!

Meet (some, not all) of the builders:

/u/RandomDudeOP Just some random person on the internet SK picked up. Longtime PCMR builder and Steam moderator, but started out designing custom builds in a Battlefield forum way back and it grew from there. More of a lurker but I'm more than willing to help if needed. I go by a number of nicknames and Kansas Cowgirl (ask SK about that) is one of them ;-) .

/u/ptrkhh He started tinkering with PCs with a bunch of old PCs that his aunt left in the basement. Since then, he's been building PCs with various hardware, though in particular, he's an SFF enthusiast. He once ran a Core i7 without a fan and broke three SATA cables while doing it. Often found on Reddit and eBay, either learning more about PC or scourging PC parts he can't afford. Also, he wrote this entire bio himself in the third person.

Hardware: Intel Core i7-6700K processor | Gigabyte Z170N-WiFi mainboard | 2x 8 GB RAM with green PCB | EVGA GTX 1070 SC graphics card with the fans removed | Samsung SM951 256 GB SSD | WD Green 2 TB HDD | Thermaltake Smart PSU because I live life dangerously | Silverstone RVZ01-E case

/u/E-Man1864 My love of computers started back around 2006 when I received my mom's old Gateway PC with a Pentium 3. Back in the day, I would just mess around with various programs and play some games on it. In 2007, I received my first IBM computer with a Pentium 4 and my passion for computers took off there. Hours were spent tinkering whatever little E-Man could get his hands on in the OS until the PSU stopped working. I then received an HP prebuilt, which I had until I switched to Mac in 2010. Fast-forward 4 years and my best friend successfully convinced me to build my own computer (though I have always wanted to). Thousands of dollars later, I now have a hobby that I hope turns into a lifelong career.

Current setup: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X | ASUS ROG Ryujin 360 | ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula | G.Skill Trident Z RGB 64GB DDR4-3200 CL14 | 2TB Sabrent Rocket 4.0 NVMe | 4TB Samsung 860 QVO SSD | 4TB HGST DeskStar NAS 7200 RPM | ASUS ROG Strix Gaming OC RTX 2080 Ti | Cooler Master H500M | ASUS ROG Thor 850W 80+ Platinum

/u/Mevin1 Aka Bestion on Discord. I'm relatively new to the scene, born in 2000 and didn't build a PC until 2015. Got a bit bored one day, joined the Discord and hung around, now I'm a mod. Tech has always been pretty straightforward to me, naturally talented I guess. Anyways, if you want some on-demand input on your build list come see us in #builds-help at https://discord.gg/pcmr

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This page supports calls. You can also call AutoModerator to print out an individual build, but you must call it by name. Example: "Show me the builds/show him the builds".