The idea is to design a system that will give you a reasonable degree of future-proofing and the ability to handle both gaming and content creation tasks, all for a reasonable price.
For each category of components - processor, RAM, storage - we’ve given our top value-for-money recommendation, plus more options if you want to save money or go for higher-grade components than our suggested spec. At the end of the piece, you’ll have a balanced build with components that should work together well.
AMD vs Intel: We’ve chosen an AMD Ryzen CPU and a matching motherboard for our ‘default’ build, thanks to Ryzen’s generally lower cost of entry, higher core count and PCIe 4.0 support. These characteristics make it a good choice for mixed use, where your PC is used for gaming and streaming or content creation.
However, Intel’s processors tend to offer slightly better raw gaming performance, especially at lower resolutions like 1080p. Therefore, we’ve included an equivalent Intel build towards the end of the article which keeps the majority of our components but swaps out the processor, motherboard and cooler.
Let’s take a quick look at our recommendations summarised in handy table form, then we’ll move onto the reasoning behind each component choice - plus alternative picks for saving money or getting faster components as your budget allows.
Click the links below to jump straight to the component recommendation you’re interested in, or scroll on to see the whole build!
Recommended CPU Recommended CPU cooler Recommended motherboard Recommended RAM Recommended storage Recommended PSU Recommended case Recommended fans
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If you want to spend less: The Ryzen 5 3600 is the standout member of AMD’s 3rd-gen desktop processor lineup, with more cores than corresponding Intel parts and a very reasonable price point. It’s cheap enough that you could later upgrade to a faster 3rd-gen or 4th-gen Ryzen processor, but not so cheap that you’d feel obligated to do so right away! If the 5600X is too expensive, this is the best choice.
If you can spend more: The 5800X and 5900X offer meaningful upgrades, providing more cores and faster single-core performance at justifiably higher price points. Consider these if your machine will be used for rendering videos, 3D modelling or gaming and streaming at the same time.
If you want to spend more: If you want better thermal performance at lower noise levels, it can make sense to upgrade to a AiO (‘All in One’) liquid cooler. These generally provide better thermal performance than the Wraith at lower noise levels, while providing better access to the area of the motherboard near the CPU socket than a typical air cooler. However, you will need to dedicate more space in your case to mounting a radiator and fans. Most cases support 120mm, 140mm or 240mm radiators without much problem, but larger 280mm, 360mm and 480mm mounting positions are less commonly available - so always check what radiator mounts your case supports.
Another option is a better air cooler. These tend to heat up more quickly than an AiO but will provide about the same overall cooling performance and noise levels. They’re easier to install, but take up more space near the CPU socket which can make swapping out RAM or plugging in some fan headers more difficult. Before buying, check your case’s CPU height clearance.
When choosing a motherboard, we recommend sticking to the lower end of the market unless you plan on heavy overclocking, using super-fast RAM or installing a large number of PCIe drives. Basically all of the mainstream manufacturers produce good stuff - Asus, Gigabyte, MSI - so don’t worry too much about your choice if you can see it has the features you might want (Wi-Fi, enough NVMe drive slots, USB-C and so on). You can always check for reviews of your chosen motherboard as a sanity check before you buy!
If you want to spend less: Get a cheap B450 board, preferably a board with a 32MB BIOS that’s confirmed to support Ryzen 5000 CPUs like MSI’s B450 Max series. You’ll give up PCIe 4.0 support, but save a decent amount.
If you can spend more: Get a fancier board, but be reasonable - each dollar spent here could almost be certainly used elsewhere if you can bump your graphics card or processor up a tier!
If you want to spend less: Slower RAM isn’t any cheaper these days, so your only option here is to stick with 8GB of memory. If you think you’ll be able to upgrade soon, get one 8GB stick and then get another exactly the same when you can to reach our original planned configuration. Otherwise, go for two 4GB sticks, as running only a single stick results in a noticeable performance penalty that’s best avoided.
For more RAM buying advice, check out our guide to RAM speeds on Ryzen and on Intel systems, where we test RAM frequencies up to 4000MHz in games and content creation, plus the effect of latency and Infinity Fabric overclocking (on Ryzen).
If you can spend more: You could opt for 32GB if you’re doing content creation, or higher frequency sticks if gaming is more the focus. Anything up to 3600MHz CL16 should be a reasonable price; beyond this the performance gains get pretty small.
If you want to spend less: Swap that NVMe SSD for a SATA SSD. Boot and game load times will be marginally slower, but you’ll be able to get the same capacity at a much lower price. Don’t go for an HDD though - come on, it’s 2020.
If you can spend more: There are lots of options here. The obvious one is to add a secondary SATA SSD or spinning disk hard drive for media/game storage, but you could also opt for a larger NVMe drive to allow more games to be installed at once. Finally, you could also upgrade to a faster PCIe 4.0 drive, which is useful in the here and now for content creation like 4K video editing - and may become better utilised by games over the next few years.
If you want to spend less: you’d probably be able to get away with a 650W PSU here if you stick to the rest of our component recommendations, but you might have less headroom for future upgrades. Whatever you do, don’t sacrifice on brand and get a no-name option - in our view, it’s better to make cuts elsewhere in your build than take the risk.
If you can spend more: You can get a higher-spec power supply, but Nvidia still only recommend a 750W PSU even with a Core i9 10900K and an RTX 3090, so there’s no massive need to push the boat out beyond 750W for a standard system, even if you plan to overclock. You could opt for a more premium brand, like Seasonic, or a higher efficiency rating instead.
We like the Fractal Design Meshify C and the Lian-Li O11 Dynamic XL because they emphasise airflow; great if you’ve got a power-hungry GPU like the RTX 3080. However, you might prefer a quieter case like the Phanteks P400A or NZXT H510, so do a bit of research and pick the one you like best. Note that some cases won’t come with all the fan slots filled (or, in the case of the O11 Dynamic XL, any fans at all!) so bake in the cost of at least a couple of fans into your calculations - see below.
Alternatively, if you need cheap RGB fans and don’t care that they’ll run at full blast the whole time, these EZDIY fans ones in the move a lot of air and look great.
Other good case fan brands to look out for are Noctua, Arctic and BeQuiet! Of course, ditching the RGB requirement makes buying fans considerably cheaper, so do consider it. You can also just stuck with the fans that come with your case and upgrade down the road if needed.
The Z590 platform provides all of the features you’d want, including memory overclocking and PCIe 4.0 support with an 11th-gen Intel processor, although it does cost a fair amount. You’ll also need an air cooler or AiO - we recommend something by Noctua, a classic CM Hyper 212 Evo or an AiO from the likes of Alphacool, Corsair or NZXT.
While 4K performance isn’t hugely different between similarly-priced Intel and AMD systems, your processor will make more of a difference at lower resolutions (1440p and 1080p) and higher frame-rates (144, 240 or even 360Hz). This is where Intel still holds onto a small advantage in some games, so a pure gaming build designed to operate at 1080p or 1440p might be better served by choosing Intel parts.
Going up a ’tier’ to a new model (eg RTX 3070 to RTX 3080 or Ryzen 5 5600X to Ryzen 7 5800X) will normally provide the biggest benefit, compared to getting a more expensive version of the same model (eg choosing a premium Asus ROG Strix RTX 3080 instead of a cheaper Asus Tuf 3080, or a Ryzen 3600X over a Ryzen 3600).
If we instead opt for the Intel-based system - with Core i5 10600K, Hyper 212 Evo cooler and Z490 motherboard, but otherwise the same parts - it comes to around £775, about £100 more expensive, plus the RTX 3080’s cost of around £650. That brings the Intel system’s total cost to around £1425.
Neither of these are insignificant chunks of change, but you’ll be left with a powerful gaming PC that should cope easily with the latest games for at least a few years, whether you’re gaming at 1080p, 1440p or even 4K.
Remember that this is for a complete desktop PC, but we haven’t included an operating system (as Windows 10 can be bought online for relatively cheap these days and Linux works nicely for gaming) or peripherals (so you’ll need to keep your existing monitor, keyboard,mouse and headset, or buy them fresh if you don’t have any!).
We’ve only had a chance to do this for our UK (🇬🇧) picks so far, so apologies to any Americans in the audience - do let us know if you want to see an American equivalent of this table!
Choosing just the right build will always depend on your own circumstances, preferences and market conditions, so don’t be afraid to take our recommendations with a grain of salt and forge your own path. There isn’t a 100 per cent perfect build for every person at every time, but hopefully these picks will give you at least a good starting point. Of course, this is far from a definitive guide, so feel free to post your own component recommendations in the comments that would make this build even better. We’ll keep things updated going forward, so check back if you’re not quite ready to pull the trigger yet - we’ll be waiting for you.
