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- $1500 Gaming PC Build (Less than $1400 this Month!)
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October 2018 Gaming PC Builds | What’s New?
The October 2018 gaming pc builds of the month are here — and not much has changed. The pc build/hardware market has been stagnant at its current great prices. This is a good thing, considering prices are right where you want them to be!
If you are in the market for a brand new gaming pc right around the budgets of $700, $1000 or $1500 and anywhere in between, then you are at the right place. The pc builds in this article will give you a near best price for your dollar spent for pure gaming performance.
This month there are some newer pc cases included to jazz things up and some shuffling around with the hardware based on some current price changes. As well, the $700 gaming pc build has a newer processor included in the base build. The general rule of thumb with these builds a which pc builds may be right for you really depends on a couple of things: First is your budget and exactly how much you are willing to actually spend. And second, is your performance goals. Such as, are you fin gaming at standard HD resolutions? If so start with the cheaper $700 build and if you are wanting higher frames per second and wanting to play at the highest settings, then move into the $1000 build and beyond.
Coming up over the next month or so you’ll start to see some of the newer NVIDIA RTX graphics cards rolling out, which means we will see prices of the current graphics card drop (wahoo!) and if you have the money to spend, maybe you could get your hand on either the RTX 2070, RTX 2080 or the RTX 2080 Ti.
Questions? Please leave them in the comments below!
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The Best $1500 Gaming PC Build | October 2018
Performance: Game with Extreme settings and High FPS at resolutions of 1920×1080 (1080P) & 2560×1440 (1440p) + good gameplay at 4K
*This PC Build is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 2700K CPU and GTX 1080 GPU
*This PC Build is Currently less than $1400
| Hardware Link | Price | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processor |
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Processor with Wraith Prism LED Cooler – YD270XBGAFBOX |
$299.99 |  |
| Cooler | *Included: The cpu comes with a Wraith Prism RGB Cooler
Need more cooling? See the hardware alternatives table below. |
-Included |  |
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING (AMD Ryzen AM4/ X470/ USB 3.1 Gen 2 Front Type C/ ATX/ DDR4/ Motherboard) | $131.58 |  |
| Graphics Card | GTX 1080 – Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Windforce OC GV-N1080WF3OC-8GD Graphics Cards | $469.00 |  |
| RAM | $154.99 |  |
|
| SSD | Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD – CT500MX500SSD1(Z) | $89.00 |  |
| Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA 750 P2, 80+ PLATINUM 750W, Fully Modular ECO Mode, 10 Year Warranty, Includes FREE Power On Self Tester, Power Supply 220-P2-0750-X1Corsair | $129.99 |  |
| Computer Case | Corsair Carbide SPEC-06 RGB Mid-Tower Gaming Case, Tempered Glass (Comes in White or Black) | $89.99 |  |
| Estimated Price : | $1380 – (2018)
|
Overview | Best Gaming PC Build for $1500
October 2018 Update: What’s to update? Not much, other than the $1500 being prices at way below budget. To give you a bit of background, this very similar build setup was significantly more expensive just a few months ago and significantly more in terms of cost before that. All in all this build is a fantastic cost overall for the massive performance you’ll get being able to game in any pc game way over 60fps at even 1440p resolutions and plays games quite well even at 4K.
The AMD Ryzen 7 2700X CPU comes in with eight cores and 16 threads and comes with a decent Wraith Prism (with RGB lights) CPU cooler. And should you want to upgrade to something like a higher-performing liquid CPU cooler, you now have more funds to do so, which you could consider if you wanted to overclock the heck out of this thing.
The graphics card recommended for this gaming pc build is the GTX 1080 (Gigabyte Windforce), which will get you phenomenal gaming results in resolutions anywhere from 1080p, to 2K and even good gameplay at 4K – this graphics card has also dropped in price again this month, most likely having to do with NVIDIA’s announcement of their new RTX graphics cards. The GTX 1080 however, is a fantastic graphics card that will cush any game you throw at it and it priced very fairly at the moment.
The motherboard included in an X470 chipset motherboard, the GIGABYTE X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING motherboard. Alternatively, if you have more moola to throw at a motherboard, you could consider the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 Wi-Fi instead, which is more pricey but has more features including built-in wifi and better audio. This motherboard basically has more than most gamers with probably utilize including (see the full list of features at gigabyte.com):
- Chipset AMD X470
- Form factor ATX
- CPU support AMD Socket AM4
- Memory support Dual-channel, four slots, max 64GB
- Sound Eight-channel Realtek ALC 1220
- Networking 1x Intel Gigabit Ethernet
- Ports 1x M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 32Gbps/SATA 6Gbps up to 22110, 1 x M.2 PCIe 2.0 x4 16Gbps up to 2280, 6 x SATA 6Gbps, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C header, 8 x USB 3.0 (4 via headers), 8 x USB 2.0 (4 via headers), 1 x LAN, audio out, line in, mic, Optical S/PDIF out
- Dimensions (mm)305 x 244
Included in the high-end build is 16GB total in memory, a kit of two 8GB sticks of Kingston HyperX 2400. RAM prices are a tad better now, so don’t be too shy to get what you need.
The storage solution is a Crucial MX500 500GB – which is simply a quality 500GB Solid State Drive (SSD) that comes at a very affordable cost, so don’t be shy to upgrade to the 1TB version should you think you need the space right away. If you want to get the best of the best in terms of fastest read/write speeds, then you could go with a PCIe SSD, included in the additional hardware recommendations in the table below.
Corsair Carbide SPEC-06 RGB
The included power supply unit (PSU) this month is back to the quality EVGA SuperNOVA 750 P2, 80+ PLATINUM 750W, which is a bump up from last months included PSU in terms of power efficiency. Overall this is a very solid power supply.
The gaming pc case included in the $1500 gaming pc build is the brand new Corsair Carbide SPEC-06 RGB – an RGB illuminated case that takes the Corsair SPEC line into a more aesthetic direction with tempered glass and more. This case has two 120mm pre-installed with room for up to six and there is RGB lighting controlled by a three-switch controller allowing you to control the lighting effect.
The Corsair Carbide SPEC-06 RGB specifications (learn more at corsair.com):
- Beautiful tempered glass side panel shows off your system in style
- Integrated RGB front lighting adds dramatic illumination to your system, powered by a built-in three-switch controller
- Versatile cooling options with room for up to six 120mm fans and multiple radiator configurations
- Ample of room for additional drives with room for up to four 2.5in SSDs and two 3.5in HDDs
- Builder-friendly with simple and intuitive internal layout
Upgrade Suggestions | Best $1500 PC Build Upgrade Suggestions 2018
| STORAGE UPGRADE | Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD – CT1000MX500SSD1(Z) |
$159.99 |  |
| GRAPHICS CARD UPGRADE | ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Ti AMP Edition 11GB GDDR5X 352-bit PCIe 3.0 Gaming Graphics Card VR Ready(ZT-P10810D-10P) | $649.99 |  |
| CPU COOLER UPGRADE | Purchase a liquid CPU cooler: Corsair Hydro Series Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler H100i |
$138.78 |  |
| STORAGE UPGRADE | PCIe SSD (faster): XPG SX8200 480GB 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (ASX8200NP-480GT-C) |
$139.99 |  |
The hardware upgrades you see above are recommendations for the best October 2018 gaming PC builds $1500 build. That is if you have more cash to spend or want upgrade ideas, here they are.
If you think you’ll want more than the included 500GB of storage, you could opt for the 1TB version of the Crucial MX500 SSD instead for slightly more in cost.
If you want to further increase your overall gaming performance in the $1500 pc build, then you could opt for a GTX 1080 Ti graphics card. This card is recommended to those who first, want to maximize their FPS, and secondly for those who think they will gaming at 4K or doing a lot of Virtual Reality gameplay.
The above pc build does include an SSD, which is perfectly suited for most gamers and pc builders, but if someone were searching for the fastest and one of the most efficient methods of storage, you could consider a premium PCIe Solid State Drive, such as the XPG SX8200 480GB SSD above.
If you want more than the included air CPU cooler included in the main build, the above is the Corsair Hydro Series H100i liquid CPU cooler. This cooler would be a substitute for the stock AMD Wraith Prism CPU cooler, should you feel you need it.
The Best $1000 Gaming PC Build | October 2018
Capability: Game with Extreme settings at 1920X1080 (HD) resolutions up to Higher Settings at 2560×1440 (2K)
Powered by the Intel i5 8400 and the RX 580 8GB Graphics Card
| Hardware Link | Price | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated Price: | $922.89 (2018) | ||
| Processor | Intel Core i5-8400
|
$204.99 |  |
| Cooler | Included | ||
| Motherboard | $103.95 |  |
|
| Graphics Card
|
RX 580 8GB: XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition 1386MHz OC+, 8GB GDDR5, AMD Graphics Card (RX-580P8DFD6)
*For even greater performance could consider a GTX 1070 |
$249.99 |  |
| RAM | $83.99 |  |
|
| SSD | $89.99 |  |
|
| Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA 650 P2, 80+ PLATINUM 650W, Fully Modular, EVGA ECO Mode, 10 Year Warranty, Includes FREE Power On Self Tester, Power Supply 220-P2-0650-X1 | $109.99 |  |
| Computer Case | $79.99 |  |
Overview | $1000 Best Gaming PC Build 2018
October 2018 Update: Are you wanting to game with superb 60+ fps anywhere from 1080p into 1440p resolutions? Then this is the best bang for your buck per performance build for you! The under $1000 gaming pc build includes Intel Core i5 8400 and the RX 580 graphics card, which are the power driving houses behind its gaming performance capabilities. This month the build has come down in price yet again, with no changes in the hardware.
The included gaming CPU is the Intel i5 8400. This CPU is a great choice and purchase for the cost. If you have a little more to spend on the CPU, check the alternatives tables below where we include the Intel i5 8600K, which gives you more performance potential.
For the gaming graphics card, we have an AMD RX 580 graphics card, of which you should expect to play pc games phenomenal at resolutions of 1080p and great into 2K. If you have a little more to spend and want to invest in what will guarantee you the most performance in terms of your dollars spent, then you could consider a GTX 1070 (see the hardware upgrades table below).
The motherboard included in the $1000 gaming pc build is the MSI Z370 GAMING PLUS CFX, which is fully compatible with the included Intel i5 8400 CPU and comes with the following specifications (learn more at MSI.com):
- Supports 8th Gen Intel® CoreTM / Pentium® Celeron® processors for LGA 1151 socket
- Supports DDR4 Memory, up to 4000+(OC) MHz
- Lightning Fast Game experience: 1x TURBO M.2, Intel Optane Memory Ready.
- AUDIO BOOST: Reward your ears with the studio-grade sound quality for the most immersive gaming experience
- DDR4 Boost: Fully isolated, shielded and optimized DDR4 PCB design to give your DDR4 memory a performance boost.
- GAMING LAN, powered by Intel®: The best online gaming experience with the lowest latency and bandwidth management.
- MULTI-GPU: With STEEL ARMOR PCI-E slots. Supports 2-Way AMD Crossfire™
- VR Ready: Best virtual reality game experience without latency, reduces motion sickness
- Military Class 5, Guard-Pro: Latest evolution with high-quality Japanese components for best protection and efficiency
- In-Game Weapons: Game Boost, GAMING Hotkey, X-Boost, WTFast
- EZ Debug LED: Easiest way to troubleshoot
- Click BIOS 5: Award-winning BIOS with high-resolution scalable font, favorites, and search function
- GAMING CERTIFIED: 24-hour on- and offline game and motherboard testing by eSports players
Corsair Carbide 275R
The RAM kit included is the affordable kit of Kingston HyperX Fury 8Gb kit, which is enough memory for most gaming pc builds, and you always have the option to upgrade more in the future if need be with the extra couple of slots on the included motherboard.
For storage, this gaming pc build uses a Crucial MX 500 500GB SSD. This is an upgrade from previous months as the cost for this SSD is really a great buy right now.
For the second month in a row, the $1000 gaming pc build is using a CORSAIR CARBIDE 275R, which comes in your choice of white or black. The Carbide 275R is a minimalistic designed pc case with an edge to edge tempered glass. The specifications of the Carbide 275R include versatile cooling, expansive storage space, direct airflow path cooling and built-in cable routing (to learn more visit corsair.com). The Corsair Carbide 275R is a newer case as of 2018 as a budget-friendly pc case and has had great reviews all around.
Upgrade Suggestions | Best $1000 PC Build Upgrade Suggestions 2018
| CPU UPGRADE | Add a Better CPU (This one can be overclocked for further performance. *Note: You will need to also purchase a CPU cooler like this Hyper 212 EVO): Intel BX80684I58600K 8th Gen Core i5-8600K Processor | $250.91 |  |
| GRAPHICS CARD UPGRADE | GTX 1070: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition, 8GB GDDR5, LED, DX12 | $379.99 |  |
| RAM UPGRADE | Add More RAM (16GB) – HyperX Kingston Technology Fury 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 2400MHz DRAM | $154.99 | |
| CPU COOLER UPGRADE | Corsair Hydro Series H80i v2 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler, Black- Add a liquid CPU Cooler for a quieter, more customized and efficient cooling experience. |
$94.99 |  |
Above are the suggested upgrade ideas for the best October 2018 $1000 gaming PC build, these are recommended if you have a larger budget or want some upgrade suggestions later on.
If you wanted to easily upgrade your CPU, you could simply swap for the Intel i5 8600K. The 8600K gives you the potential to further overclock your CPU for a slightly higher cost. You do have to keep in mind though that if you go with the 8600K, you will need to add a CPU cooler (such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212).
If you want this biggest bang for your money spent in terms of performance, then you could consider going straight for a GTX 1070 graphics card. This could max those games out in 2K resolutions without a problem, which will enable higher frame rates in more demanding games.
Since the $1000 pc build above includes 8GB of RAM, you could bump this up further to 16GB with a kit of Kingston HyperX Fury RAM.
You could also go with a liquid CPU cooler such as the Corsair Hydro Series H80i V2 in place of the included air cooler already included in the above build above. This could help keep things quiet and a tad cooler when overclocking and it offers a more customize the cooling experience — this could also be used if you decided to go with the Intel 8600K CPU upgrade as it doesn’t come with a cooler.
The Best $700 Gaming PC Build | October 2018
Capability: Game at Smoothly with High settings and FPS at 1920X1080 resolutions in most games.
| Hardware Link | Price | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated Price: | $692.65 (2018) | ||
| Processor | $165.99 |  |
|
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE GA-AB350-Gaming AMD RYZEN AM4 B350 SMART FAN 5 HDMI M.2 SATA USB 3.1 Type-A ATX DDR4 Motherboard | $89.99 |  |
| Graphics Card | GTX 1060 (3GB): EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB GAMING, ACX 2.0 (Single Fan), 3GB GDDR5, DX12 OSD Support Graphics Cards 03G-P4-6160-KR | $209.99 |  |
| RAM | Kingston HyperX FURY Black 8GB Kit (2x4GB) 2133MHz DDR4 Non-ECC CL14 DIMM Desktop Memory (HX421C14FBK2/8) | $83.99 |  |
| SSD | Kingston Digital, Inc. 120GB A400 SATA 3 2.5 Solid State Drive | $27.99 |  |
| Power Supply | Corsair CX Series, CX500, 500 Watt (500W) Power Supply, 80+ Bronze Certified | $58.66 |  |
| Computer Case | MasterBox 5 Mid-tower Computer Case – BLACK | $56.04 |  |
Overview | Best Gaming PC Build for $700
October 2018 Updates: The October under $700 gaming pc build has seen the most, even if minor changes this month. The CPU has officially been upgraded to a Ryzen 5 2600, which is a better upgrade over the previous Ryzen 1600. You could also consider upgrading to an X370 board to enable further overclocking (see the hardware upgrade table below for more details).
The newly included Ryzen 5 2600 cpu is a superb value coming in with 6 cpu cores and 12 threads at 3.4Ghz. For the $700 gaming pc build this is a very good cpu.
For the graphics card, we have a GTX 1060 3GB graphics card, which is a great GPU that provides you with awesome 1080p performance. If you need to further boost your graphics performance you could consider and RX 580 graphics card as you see included in the $1000 gaming pc build.
For the motherboard, we had to include a new one to accommodate the inclusion of our Ryzen CPU, we have an included an AMD B350 chipset motherboard — the GIGABYTE GA-AB350-Gaming. This motherboard is perfect for the included build included in the above under $700 gaming pc build as is, however, if you did have a little bit more to spend, you could consider an upgrade to an AMD X470 chipset motherboard; that way you could overclock quite easily.
The RAM included is a kit of Kingston HyperX Fury (the same as in the $1000 pc build) which is enough memory for most gaming pc builds, and you always have the option to upgrade more in the future if need be with the extra couple of slots on the included motherboard.
The storage included is a Kingston Digital 120GB solid state drive SSD. This is a great start in terms of storage speed and capacity, however, if you do think you’ll need more storage right away, you could consider a 256Gb or larger SSD as well — or heck throw in another Kingston 120GB SSD for another $30 or so.
The included power supply unit in this pc build is the reputable and affordable Corsair CX Series, CX500, with enough juice to power this build and for a good cost.
The pc case has also changed this month to the Cooler Master MasterBox 5. I have always loved this pc case for its quality and simplicity for such a budget-friendly case. The MasterBox 5 is built for enthusiasts and makes for easy building and expansion for anything from a basic build to DIY water cooling. Learn more about the Masterbox 5 at coolermaster.com.
Upgrade Suggestions | Best $700 PC Build 2018
| CPU Upgrade | AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Processor with Wraith Spire Cooler – YD260XBCAFBOX | $209.99 |  |
| MOTHERBOARD Upgrade | MSI X470GPLUS Performance GAMING AMD X470 Ryzen 2 | $117.58 |  |
| GPU Upgrade | RX 580 8GB: XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition 1386MHz OC+, 8GB GDDR5, AMD Graphics Card (RX-580P8DFD6) | $249.99 | |
| STORAGE UPGRADE | Samsung 860 EVO 250GB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E250B/AM) |
$55.99 |  |
The above are upgrade ideas should you have more to spend than the allotted $700 for this gaming pc build. There are some significant performance upgrades above including the CPU and graphics card – and even further, if you upgrade the CPU you could also upgrade the motherboard for an even more overclocking capability for even more of a performance boost.
The CPU upgrade suggested is an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X, this could be a slight upgrade in computing power and it overclocks quite nicely.
The motherboard upgrade suggestion is an AMD socketed X470 board — the MSI X470GPLUS Performance GAMING motherboard. This motherboard can further leverage the included Ryzen cpu by providing an easier overclocking experience.
If you are looking the simplest performance upgrade, then you could consider upgrading the graphics card to an RX 580 8Gb GPU, which should enable quality PC gaming performance well over 1080p resolutions.
You could also increase your storage space by going with a larger capacity Samsung 860 EVO SSD or even the 500GB one. This would be recommended if you think you will need more than 120GB as included in the SSD in the base build above.
Additional Gaming PC Components
There is a lot more additional PC components that you may or may not need for your gaming pc build, and below are some suggestions. Such as you may want to add wireless internet functionality, which isn’t inherently included in the above builds, and you may not already have an operating system to install on your new rig.
Furthermore, you will need peripherals such as a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. For suggestions for these please head over to the Gaming PC Peripherals page.
Operating System | What will you run Your Gaming PC Build With?
You will need an operating system (OS) for your gaming pc build and If you don’t already have one laying around, then you’re going to have to purchase a standard OS such as Windows 10 or check out some free alternatives that you could consider. Keep in mind that it is recommended to purchase Windows online or as a USB stick and install it that way as optical drives are not included in any of these builds and nor would you generally need one for any modern gaming pc.
Included below is a USB copy of Windows 10, which is probably what most people need. I have also included two other operating systems that are both currently free – so could be worth the time trying out. Ubuntu is a Linux based operating system. The last OS is SteamOS, which is also a Linux OS being developed by Valve Corporation.
| OS Link | Price | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 | Microsoft Windows 10 Home USB Flash Drive | $119.99 |  |
| Ubuntu | Ubuntu – Desktop | Free |  |
| SteamOS | SteamOS – “Build your own Steam Machine” | Free |  |
Network Card/USB | Add Wireless Internet to Your PC Build
Not all gaming pc motherboards have wifi, in fact not many do unless you are willing to purchase a more expensive board. So if you want wireless internet (wifi), then you will need to either purchase a wireless PCIe card or USB dongle. Whichever you choose is up to you, but essentially a wireless PCIe card plugs directly into your motherboard and usually has antennas that come out of the back of your PC case, and a USB dongle simply plugs directly into your PC case via a USB port.
Here are a couple examples:
| Link | Price | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCIe Card | TP-Link TL-WN881ND N300 PCI-E Wireless WiFi network Adapter card | $17.99 |  |
| USB Adapter | Linksys AE1200 Wireless-N USB Adapter | $17.99 |  |
Comments 1
i salute your hardwork .. on this field thanks a lot