If you want to build a desktop that can play games at 1080p resolution, you can do it for less than $500 (shown on our best PC builds page). fps on high settings. But getting smooth gameplay at 1440p resolution (2560 x 1440, also known as 2K) usually requires spending close to $1,000 on parts. Not today: All Black Friday deals on components like graphics cards, CPUs, and SSDs let you build gaming PCs that hit 60 fps at 1440p resolution and ultra settings.
Below, we’ve compiled a parts list for a 1440p gaming PC build under $700. These prices are based on sales at the time of publication, so your mileage may vary slightly depending on when you read this. Also, OS (you can get Windows for free or cheap) and peripheral prices is not included. As is often the case, building your own PC saves money. I looked at various retailers and found that pre-built desktops with similar (but not exactly the same) specs cost at least $999.
| component | model | sales price | old price | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Risen 5 5600 | $118 | $135 | row 0 – cell 4 |
| GPUs | Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6700 | $299 | $349 | Use promo code VGAEXCAA338 |
| motherboard | Gigabyte B550M DS3H AC AM4 | $99 | $129 | row 2 – cell 4 |
| sheep | Team T-Force Vulcan Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 | $42 | $47 | row 3 – cell 4 |
| SSD | Critical P3 1TB | $62 | $73 | row 4 – cell 4 |
| case | Gamdias Argus M1 | $39 | $48 | row 5 – cell 4 |
| PSUs | Thermaltake Smart BM2 650W 80+ Bronze | $39 | $64 | Use promo code BFDBY2A335 |
| total | row 7 – cell 1 | $698 | Row 7 – Cell 3 | row 7 – cell 4 |
So let’s talk about why we chose the parts we went for, and how you can change your choices to save more money or improve performance.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 ($118 at Amazon (opens in new tab)usually about $135) – as mentioned elsewhere (opens in new tab), AMD Ryzen 5000 series chip prices are incredibly low right now due to the recent arrival of the very expensive new 7000 series. The Ryzen 5 5600 has 6 cores, 12 threads and a max boost clock of 4.4 GHz, more than enough for gaming at 2K, especially when paired with a powerful graphics card. There is an ice pack in the box, so you don’t have to buy it.
Our review of the Ryzen 5 5600 returned an average frame rate of 156 fps in a suite of 1440p games, and that number jumped to 159 fps with Precision Boost overdrive (kind of like an overclock) enabled. To see what the CPU is capable of, we tested it with a high-end GPU in the form of the RTX 3090, so you won’t get those frame rates with the graphics card recommended for this build, but you can rest easy with the Ryzen 5. The 5600 is never a bottleneck.
- GPU: Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6700 ($299 at Newegg (opens in new tab), was $349) – In this price range, AMD’s Radeon RX 6700 offers better performance than Nvidia’s RTX 3060, which costs over $350 and usually approaches $400.
On the GPU benchmark tier, the RX 6700 is actually eight orders of magnitude ahead of the RTX 3060, delivering an average frame rate of 87.7 fps on the 1080p Ultra setting in our test suite compared to 70.2 fps on Nvidia’s card. . At the 1440p Ultra setting, the RX 6700 delivers an average of 63.5 fps. This is very smooth and matches the 3060 mark of 52.6 fps.
If you want to drop the price of this build below $600, replace your graphics card with the MSI Mech Radeon RX 6600. Only $189 (opens in new tab) Newegg has reduced the price from $279. However, we do not recommend playing 1440p games on the RX 6600 as it averages 46.1 fps at 1440p Ultra. Playback at 1080p Ultra was fine, though, averaging 66.7 fps.
In the chart below you can see how these two cards performed when playing Flight Simulator at 1080p.
- Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H AC AM4 ($99 at Newegg (opens in new tab), was $129) – in theory any motherboard with a B550 or X570 chipset should be fine. However, many AMD boards require an update of his BIOS (see how to enter the BIOS) before they can recognize the Ryzen 5000 chip, and knowing the version of his BIOS shipped with the motherboard is you can’t.
If you’re using an old BIOS that doesn’t recognize the new CPU, you’ll need to upgrade the firmware before booting with the new CPU, but what if you don’t have an old CPU to update with? Gigabyte B550M DS3H AC AM4 has a feature called Q Flash Plus (on other boards known as BIOS Flashback) that allows you to update the firmware without using the CPU. With this, you just have to plug in a USB flash drive and hold down the button with the update. motherboard.
After updating to the latest BIOS, you can enjoy more features of this motherboard such as built-in Wi-Fi 5, 4 DIMM slots, 2 M.2 sockets and more.
- RAM: Team T-Force Vulcan Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 ($42 for new eggs (opens in new tab), was $47). You need at least 16GB of RAM and a dual channel kit with two 8GB DDR4 sticks running at up to 3200 Mhz. This is the cheapest set we can find and comes from a reputable brand.
- SSD: Crucial P3 1TB NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD ($62 at Amazon (opens in new tab), was $73) – We reviewed the Crucial P3 in September and praised its solid performance for the price. It’s not the fastest drive on the market, but it’s good enough if you’re looking to save money.The 1 TB model promises sequential read and write speeds of 3,500 MBps and 3,000 MBps respectively. We tested the drive’s 2TB capacity, which didn’t quite perform as well as the 1TB model, but was slightly worse than more expensive drives like the SK hynix Gold P31.
If you can afford a little more budget, we recommend the SK hynix Gold P31 (Now $83 at Amazon (opens in new tab)was about $130) because it is noticeably faster.
- Case: Gamdias Argus M1 ($39 at Newegg (opens in new tab)was $48): This case works well for under $40. With tempered glass side panels, his RGB light strip on the front, and three illuminated USB ports on the front panel, it’s very attractive considering the budget situation. It includes an RGB rear fan with space for a radiator up to 280mm (two 140mm fans or two 120mm fans) on the top or front.
- PSU: Thermaltake Smart BM2 650W 80+ Bronze ($39 at Newegg (opens in new tab)was $64) – A name brand 650 watt power supply for less than $40? Her PSU from Thermaltake is semi-modular, has a 140mm silent fan, and has an 80+ bronze efficiency.
As you can see, we made some compromises to get a 1440p gaming rig for under $700. If you want to step up and spend more, you can go with more expensive CPUs, GPUs, and SSDs, but I hope this parts list gives you some ideas. There is a more complete set of parts lists on the page.
