If you are looking to almost max out games at 1080p resolution, then our $700 gaming PC is what you should look at. Getting 60+ fps in every game is not possible with a $300-$500 gaming PC as there are limited options to choose from. With 700 dollars in hand, it is totally possible to get a gaming PC that can have a powerful CPU and GPU without compromising on other parts as well.
With our recommended parts list, you can not only have a PC that will last a couple of years but you can also upgrade any part according to your need without changing other parts. With our guide, you won’t need to waste your precious time researching what parts you should get. We have done all the research for you and we update our guides regularly to provide you with the best bang for the buck.
Is $700 Good For A Gaming PC?
For 700 dollars, the gaming PC you can get can literally max out many games at 1080p. Some games might require you to lower some settings but the overall visuals will be close to Ultra. The framerates will be consistent throughout the gameplay and you will see more than 60 fps in AAA titles and well above 100 fps in eSports and older titles.
It is important to distribute 700 dollars properly for all the components to have the most balanced configuration. The first and foremost is our CPU-GPU combo on which our entire gaming and non-gaming performance depend. From $700, we can reserve up to $120 for the CPU and up to $270 for the GPU, sparing at least $300 for other parts. Our reserve for the CPU and GPU might change depending on the quality of other components as it is also important to have decent-sized RAM, good storage, a spacious PC case, and a reliable PSU.
How much you should expect and what can you get under $700 in each component will decide the performance and upgradability of our PC.
It is best to get a six-core processor for this build but a 4-core/8-thread CPU from one of the latest generations from AMD or Intel will also do the job fine especially if it has a superb single-core performance as games love that. The better the CPU, the more future-proof your PC will be.
The motherboard should get all of your components installed and should have enough ports and slots to allow an easy upgrade. I generally recommend getting a basic one if the budget is low but if the processor is overclockable, I highly recommend an unlocked chipset that has a powerful VRM and sufficient PCI-E lanes to have the maximum bandwidth for our expansion cards.
16GB RAM is what you should always look for. While 8GB will do the job just fine, spending $10-$20 will make your PC future-proof for many years and your PC won’t suffer from multiple chrome tabs.
The most important component of every PC is its graphics card. The GPU gets the most stress from games as it is responsible for rendering several frames per second. Your target should be a GPU that can play games on ultra settings with 60+ fps and should have at least 4GB-6GB of VRAM.
The minimum storage for a $700 gaming build should be 1TB. Moreover, it should be either a SATA or an NVME SSD as they are several times faster than the mechanical hard drive. 1TB of storage should be enough to store your OS and a couple of big games.
To make sure your components get enough power, I recommend at least 600W of a reliable power supply with all the necessary cables for your components. You should never cheap out on your PSU as the entire system depends on it and the PSU should be at least 80 Plus rated for higher efficiency.
For the PC case, you should not look for less than a mid-tower. While a micro-ATX tower will do the job, it won’t be as upgradable as a mid-tower and you will have limited space to work with. You should look for a good design, higher airflow, pre-installed fans, and enough clearance for cable management.
Parts List For $700 Gaming PC
Processor
Clock- 3.3/4.3GHz
TDP- 58W-89W
Overclocking- No
Currently, the Core i3 12100F is the fastest gaming processor for just over $100. This processor is so good that it beats the i5s of the previous generations in gaming. Core i3 12100F is a locked chip but features a base/boost clock speed of 3.3/4.3GHz which means, when required, the CPU will automatically boost its clock frequency to the max without any manual tweak.
It features 4 cores and 8 threads that are enough for any modern title and can support most mid to high-end GPUs easily without bottlenecking them. This CPU is compatible with the LGA 1700 socket and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM out of the box making it a better option than almost every budget Ryzen CPU from the 5000 family.
Graphics Card
Stream Processors- 1792
Clock- up to 2491MHz
VRAM- 8GB GDDR6
For the GPU, we chose the AMD Radeon RX 6600 GPU which is very capable of playing games at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions. The RX 6600 is based on the RDNA 2 architecture and features 1792 Stream Processors. This is the perfect GPU for achieving the sweet spot gaming experience as it is powerful enough to max out graphics at 1080p and can still provide above 60 fps. However, it doesn’t stop there as it is able to deliver the same performance with high settings on 1440p.
It has a big memory of 8GB clocked at 14Gbps on a 128-bit giving you a total of 224GB/s of memory bandwidth. This memory configuration is more than adequate for any game and for any graphical settings. This means you can have the best visuals in games and will continue to have such a performance for a couple of years easily.
With the default TDP of 132W, all you need is a reliable 450W power supply, however, we will go with a bigger one for future-proofing our build for a bigger GPU upgrade.
RAM
Type- DDR4
Clock- 3200MHz
CL Timings- 16-18-18-36
16GB is the way to go if you want to eliminate all sorts of bottlenecking from the memory side. 16GB DDR4 RAM from Corsair is what we are going to use in our build that features a fast clock speed of 3200MHz on tight CL timings of 16-18-18-36. We are going for a dual channel configuration and therefore, 2x 8GB sticks will be better than a single 16GB module.
With this much RAM, you can open up multiple Chrome Tabs and still run a few light applications in the background without worrying about your PC getting frozen. 16GB RAM is also more than enough for both 1080p and 1440p gaming as most games don’t require more than 6-8GB of RAM on the max settings on these resolutions.
Motherboard
RAM support- 64GB, 3200MHz
Storage- 4x SATA, 21x M.2
PCI-E slots- 1x PCI-E x1, 1x PCI-E x16
Unfortunately, due to investing the most money on the GPU, we are not going with a very good motherboard but I promise your PC won’t suffer with this one at the least. The Core i3 12100F is a 12th gen CPU and requires an LGA 1700 socket. As it is locked it is best to go with either an H160 or a B660 chipset motherboard. I chose the H610 from MSI as it is cheaper than most motherboards and comes with all the necessary ports and slots for installing our components.
There are 2x DIMM slots for installing our 16GB RAM, 1x PCI-E x16 slot for the GPU, 4x SATA slots for SATA drives, and a single M.2 connector for fast NVME SSD. The motherboard features EZ Debug LEDs for troubleshooting which is the most dominant advantage of MSI budget motherboards and it is very handy when you need to troubleshoot your PC in case it fails to boot.
Storage
Capacity- 1TB
Interface- NVME
Read/Write- 2200/1600MB/s
Fast storage is everything and if the capacity is sufficient you will be able to store and load a lot of games quickly. One of the best affordable choices today includes SSDs from Silicon Power, a brand that offers competitive performance without a premium price.
The A60 1TB SSD is an NVME storage drive with sequential Read/Write speeds of 2200/1600MB/s. This helps load the Windows and games quickly. 1TB of capacity will also be sufficient for a while and you can have a good number of games in your library as always, you can add another storage drive in the future.
Power Supply
Power Efficiency- 80+ Gold
Type- Non-Modular
Warranty- 5 years
To protect the components from faulty currents and voltages and to provide them with sufficient wattage, I chose the Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 600W PSU. It is an excellent PSU that won’t break the bank and bring some premium features to the table. You will get an 80 Plus Gold rating for efficiency that provides up to 90% efficiency on Typical loads.
The voltage regulation is tight, the operation is noiseless, and all other metrics of this PSU are excellent. It will provide you with all the cables for powering the parts and will be sufficient for further upgrades. So, whether you add a few more drives or change your graphics card to something like an RX 6750 XT or RTX 3070 Ti, you will be good to go.
Case
Dimensions- 460 x 210 x 428mm
Weight- 6.6Kg
Material- SGCC Steel
For hosting all the components, what can be better than the NZXT H510? It fits our budget perfectly and provides ample space for everything. It is enough spacious from the inside that you can install CPU coolers up to 165mm in height and graphics cards up to 381mm in length The case also supports AIO cooling with radiator support of up to 280mm at the front.
The design of the case is what appeals to us the most. It is simple yet elegant. The material quality is high and you get a tempered glass side panel to look at your components. For managing your cables, it comes with a dedicated cable routing area at the back where you can secure your ATX cable and other cables together and at the bottom, you have a big PSU shroud to hide the PSU and the extra wires.
As it is a mid-tower case, you can install an ATX motherboard in the future without changing it and as it supports AIO cooling, you can have an overclockable processor with either an air or AIO cooler installed for a premium look and high-performance cooling.
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Links to Amazon UK and Amazon CA may contain different components depending on the availability and pricing. Most of the time these components will be RAM and Power Supply. Please review the components on Amazon before purchasing.
Is $700 Gaming PC Upgradable?
Definitely! We make sure that our builds are easily upgradable in the future and this one is no exception. We chose the best parts available in each category especially the chassis which allows the installation of better and bigger components. For upgrading this system, you need to know what you should upgrade first. While most users think of upgrading the GPU first, it is not always wise to do so as you need to look at your storage, CPU, power supply, and RAM before getting a better GPU.
In our $700 gaming build, the first upgrade you should think of is the motherboard. The Core i3 12100F is powerful enough to handle any mid-end and most high-end GPUs. The motherboard I used is a very entry-level chipset board that has only 2x DIMM slots and doesn’t support overclocking. By upgrading to a Z690 or Z790 motherboard in the future, you can easily upgrade to an Alder Lake or a Raptor Lake Core i5, i7, or an i9 CPU that can be overclocked as well.
With such a CPU, it is recommended to get a powerful Air or AIO cooler that will help you reach higher clocks without thermal throttling. This directly impacts gaming performance and beautifies your gaming build from the inside.
The next upgrade can be your storage which you can do by adding another 1TB or 2TB of SSD to store more games and files. For the GPU, you can upgrade to something like an RTX 3070 or RX 6700 XT if you want no compromise performance at 1440p resolution, however, as I said before, you should always try to maintain balance in your configuration. While the Core i3 12100F may handle these high-end GPUs, an i5 or i7 will do a better job.
Additional upgrades that will further improve your computer’s functionality and aesthetics include chassis fans, RGB LED strips, and a PCI-E Wifi card for wireless internet connectivity.
Best PreBuilt PCs Under $700
We highly recommend going with custom gaming PCs and building one on your own. Custom gaming PCs give you a much higher value than the PreBuilt ones and they are easily upgradable. However, we understand that not everyone has the skills or the knowledge to build one for themselves and if you fear that you might break something, it is totally OK to get a PreBuilt gaming PC.
For under $700, there are a couple of PreBuilts I recommend that will play most games at 1080p high to ultra settings. These won’t be as good as our custom $700 build, but you will save time, effort, and money on the Wifi and Windows operating systems.
We have a dedicated post on PreBuilt gaming PC under $700 which you can find below-
The Best PreBuilt Gaming PC Under $700 In 2023
Final Words
Whether you are planning to build our $700 gaming PC by yourself or get a PreBuilt one, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We will try to assist you in the best way possible for absolutely free. Use the comments box below if you need any help or suggestions regarding building your own PC or choosing a PC component.
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I want to build one like this… so for what I’ve been reading…. I can make a nice build
cheap one:
Corsair Vengeance 8gb ddr3 = 33,66£
CiT G Force White Tower Gaming Case (purchase today) = 40,50£
Gigabyte GV-N730-2GI GT730 = 52,98£
Hard Drive Western Digital Blue 1TB = 41,99£
Intel Pentium g3258 = 55,44£
Motherboard ASUS Z97-P = 70,60£
Not sure witch PSU to purchase, maybe EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750B = 70,11£
TOTAL = 365,28£
and then upgrade
Intel Core i5 4690K = 177,92£
ASUS Z97-PRO GAMER = 109,99£
Sapphire Radeon Nitro R9 380 4gb = 182,99£
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO = 29,99£
This build should be a good base ? opinions?
could I get a cheapper PSU for this buiild?? like a 500w?
thanks
Hi..
1. Which is best for 1080p gaming.. GTX 960 or Gtx 970 or R9 380 or R9 390….?
2. I really need a DDR4 Ram…So…Do i hav to wait till AMD releases Zen CPU or i5-6600k is better with it…?
3. Why people prefer Intel even if AMD is lot cheaper with better clock speed and OC capabilities…?
Hi Sam,
1. for 1080p r9 380 is best but if you want more fps and also want decent 1440p gaming R9 390 is better than all you have mentioned. Gtx 960 and gtx 970 are also good but R9 380 and R9 390 are faster then both of them respectively.
2. i5 6600k is really the best mid end gaming cpu. Do not wait for the Amd processors, just get the i5 and ddr4 memories.
3. Intel offers more performance per watt and more performance per core and amd with even 8 cores cannot compete with i5’s with only 4 cores. That’s why people prefer going with intel. Otherwise the Amd processors are good for budget builds below 600 dollars.
Hope it helps:)
And Also Recent news from AMD told that ZEN architecture CPU will 1. Have 10-30% increase in per core performance.
2. 16 Cores hyperthreaded to 32 threads…
Still do u prefer Intel?
I m going to build a pc by April.. Can I get a benchmark on upcoming CPU before that
you don’t need 16 cores. That’s too much. For playing games 4 cores are enough. Now if the amd processors will have 16 cores and 32 hyperthreads, you can also estimate their price. But let’s see.
But How…?
Intel uses HyperThreading i.e 1 Core carries two works.
But..
AMD has Multi Core…
How can Intel deliver more performance than AMD?
Yes you are right. Hyperthreading reduces the single core performance but the real life benchmarks have shown that with hyperthreading Intel processors still perform better than amd processors in games and applications. We cannot judge the performance only by theory.