It doesn’t get much better than having a sweet gaming desktop that can handle any game you throw at it with ease. But the good life comes with a costs, and many gamers may be wondering how much it costs to get the gaming setup of their dreams. There is no one size fits all number, but it is possible to build a great PC for a not so absurd price.
How much does it cost to build a gaming PC? Gaming PCs use specialized hardware, such as powerful discrete graphics cards that deliver far more performance than what you would get with your average office computer or laptop. These systems are built to meet the requirements for PC gaming, and this higher performance hardware comes at higher cost. You can create a great gaming setup without completely emptying out your piggy bank. There’s two ways you can go about this. You can select each component, and then build the PC yourself. Our you can opt for PC builder, like ourselves to send you a completed system. This saves you the headache of shopping around for deals, having to assemble everything yourself (a nerve racking experience for complete beginners), and not having a comprehensive system warranty. Plus our website offers a configuration tool to select each individual component that goes into your gaming PC, so you still get to experience the magic of specc-ing out your perfect build.
With this article, we take a look at everything that goes into building a gaming pc. We’ll break down costs, how to pick a great PC throughout a range of budgets, and perhaps provide an alternative to building a PC yourself.
Table of Contents
What Parts do you need to build a gaming pc?
Let’s break down the components that go into forming a gaming PC. Eight essential parts are needed to build a gaming pc. Also when building your own gaming PC you cant forget the cost of downloading Windows.
Here is the 8 essential components that make up a gaming pc.
CPU – The Processor
The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the primary component of a computer that performs most of the processing inside the system. It executers instructions from programs, such as your operating system or any applications you use.
For gaming, the CPU handles game logic, calculates physics simulations, and handles interactions between the game and the rest of your system. Faster, more powerful processors improve game performance by reducing lag, support faster frame rates, and ensuring smooth gameplay in CPU-intensive games or those with complex simulations.
Motherboard – A Home for your Components and Connections
Your computer’s motherboard is a printed circuit board that connects all of the components. In gaming PCs, the motherboard ensures that all hardware components communicate effectively and work together. It provides expansion slots for additional gaming peripherals or hardware.
GPU
The graphics card (graphics processing unit, GPU) handles rendering images, videos, animation, and games. The GPU is crucial for processing and displaying the high-quality graphics you see in games. They ensure smooth framerates and ensure features like realistic lighting and textures. A more powerful graphics card will be able to deliver better performance at more detailed resolutions, making games look better and run more smoothly.
RAM – Random Access Memory
RAM is Random access memory, which serves as temporary storage for running applications on your PC. In gaming, RAM helps load game assets quickly – things like textures, maps, models and more. This can speed up loading times and reduce stuttering. Sufficient RAM in general ensures smoother multitasking and better performance in resource-intensive games.
Storage – SSDs & Hard Drives
SSDs and hard drives are where you store all of your data and files. From Windows to games, movies, and word documents, any file you need lives in your storage.
Case – The Home for All of Your Components
The case, or chassis, is the physical box that all of PC components live inside of. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, as well as styles to suite any aesthetic.
PSU – Power Supply
The PSU is what will power your gaming pc. PSU is an acronym that stands for power supply unit. The power supply converts AC power to DC power, so that you can plug in your PC to an outlet and power it. Typically higher end components will have higher power draws, so a more powerful PSU that can output more wattage will be needed.
Power Supply’s also come with a variety of efficiency ratings. Corsair, who also makes great power supplies that we use in our own systems, has a great article that explains these efficiency ratings. Basically you’ll see an efficiency rating on power supplies that reads “80 PLUS _____ PSU”. There are several tiers that go from bronze, to silver, to gold, up to platinum. Platinum is the highest tier that has the best power efficiency. Why do you want better efficiency? This can translate to a lower energy bill at the end of the month, as gaming PCs can use a good deal of electricity.
CPU Cooler
CPU Coolers, as the name suggest, keep your CPU from overheating. There are two kinds of coolers used, air coolers and liquid coolers. Air coolers use heat sink and a set of fans to radiate heat away from the processor. Liquid coolers do the same thing but use the higher heat conductivity of liquid to more effectively remove heat from the CPU. Many gaming PCs these days use AIO liquid coolers, which use a heat plate that attaches to the top of the PC, and a set of flexible tubes that bring heat away from the CPU to radiator where a fan exhausts that heat. AIOs are highly effective.
More expensive PC gaming hardware will use more electricity and operate at higher frequencies, so as expected they will produce more heat. Many higher end gaming PCs need a great air cooler or even liquid cooling to deliver on this great performance. In general liquid cooling solutions will costs more than air coolers.
Building a Gaming PC – Costs
The price of building a gaming pc varies widely, because different performance level components cost different amounts of money. High end, and thus high performance systems, will cost more than more entry level hardware.
An entry level gaming PC will start at around $500. A more mid range system will run you anywhere from $1000 to $1500. From $1500 upwards you are reaching the enthusiast space where the price can keep rising higher and higher depending on how high end the components you are getting are. For example the top of the line NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card starts at $1599.00. That is just for the graphics card. So yeah you can see how things can get pretty expensive pretty quick with the best hardware. ????
That doesn’t mean you need to spend a ton to get gaming performance in modern day games. By allocating more budget towards the CPU and GPU, you can build a great gaming pc on a budget. This may mean you need to make some sacrifices on other components, but that’s the price you pay when you have strict budget.
There’s also various cost saving measures you can take. Waiting for the components you want to be on sale, buying used components, or purchasing bundle deals are all ways you can save when building your gaming pc.
The alternative to building your own gaming PC is buying one from a trusted PC building brand, such as ourselves. Here you have two options. One – our website allows you to select each individual component and then we build a gaming PC for you with those parts. This allows you to still engage in “building” your PC, without the hassle of actually assembling it. The PC will arrive to you fully built and ready to play. Don’t just take our word for it, Forbe’s considers our gaming PCs as one of the best you can buy.
Option 2 is going with a prebuilt system. This systems are boxed and ready to ship out upon you placing an order, so they arrive quickly to you. Or you can purchase one of our prebuilt PCs at one of our retailers, such as Best Buy, Walmart, or Amazon.
Final Question Answered
What is the most expensive component of a gaming PC?
The most expensive part of your gaming PC will probably be the graphics processing unit – especially if you are working with one of the higher budgets. CPUs would most likely be you next big ticket item in the gaming pc.
