Contrary to what many people think, you don't need to spend a fortune on building a PC. Sure, I've written about the right budget for a modern gaming PC, but a large section of gamers don't even need to spend $1,200 on a PC for the kind of games they play the most. At the same time, you might belong to the group that wants a 1440p 60+ FPS experience in the latest single-player games.

Whatever your performance goals, I think most of us want to squeeze every bit of performance out of the budget. Of course, this calls for making certain "compromises", prioritizing certain aspects of the PC over others, and overcoming some performance myths when it comes to picking components.

5 Don't try to perfect everything

Performance over aesthetics

I'm the biggest proponent of a good-looking PC, as I believe that aesthetics matter just as much as performance. However, you need to keep looks on the back burner when the mission is to maximize performance. If a better-looking component costs about the same, by all means, pick that one, but nailing the perfect look shouldn't be top of your mind.

The biggest culprits that can hijack your gaming PC budget are expensive motherboards, huge fish tank cases, fancy CPU coolers, and overspecced power supplies. Pick a budget case that fits each of your components, and keeps things relatively cool. A well-built, compatible motherboard that has the features you need is all you should target. The power supply is a crucial component, but you don't need a 1600W 80+ Platinum unit to keep your PC safe.

Lastly, capable CPU coolers can cost as little as $40 for a mighty air cooler, around $80 for a budget AIO liquid cooler, and as much as $300 for a 360mm AIO with an LCD. Most 65W and 105W CPUs will be fine with the budget air cooler, and an $80-$100 AIO cooler will keep your mid-range 8-core chips running cool enough.

4 Take future platform upgrades into account

Think about the total cost of ownership

When maximizing FPS per dollar, you'll be motivated to go with the cheaper overall build. This could be an AMD AM4 build vs. a modern AM5 build, and you would save around $150-$200 in the short term. If you instead consider the long-term cost over the next, say, 2 to 3 years, the "more expensive" AM5 build would turn out to be a better investment. This is because a few years down the line, you'll be able to upgrade your CPU without buying a new motherboard and memory kit.

Keeping everything else identical, an AMD AM4 or Intel Raptor Lake DDR4 build will cost less than a comparative DDR5 system, but the latter will still save you a lot of money over the life of the system. The only case where I'd recommend a new DDR4 build over a DDR5 one is if your budget is strictly $700-$800, and you're okay with not upgrading it for the next 3 to 4 years.

Do note that you'll miss out on the latest technologies like faster DDR5 RAM, and any innovative microarchitecture that comes with future CPUs during the next 3 to 4 years. Moreover, you'll also likely be bottlenecked by your AM4 CPU if you decide to make a GPU upgrade 1 or 2 generations later.

3 Don't waste money on blazing-fast RAM

The diminishing returns of DDR5

Even if you decide to build a more "future-proof" AM5 gaming PC, don't go overboard on RAM. DDR5 memory is already much faster than DDR4, and beyond 6,000-6,400MT/s, any FPS gains don't justify the premium you pay. Most new gaming PCs should be totally fine with a 6,000MT/s CL30 DDR5 kit for around $100. Spending more on a 7,200MT/s or 8,000MT/s kit won't magically improve your gaming performance.

All you need to ensure is you're ideally buying a 32GB kit so you don't run out of memory in some of the latest games. You can buy an RGB kit if it's almost the same price as a non-RGB kit. Also, the brand and model won't make much difference in performance, as long as you're buying a kit from one of the reputable memory manufacturers, such as Corsair, G.Skill, Crucial, Kingston, TeamGroup, and some others.

Another precaution you should take is making doubly sure that the memory kit you're buying will work with your motherboard. You can check the Qualified Vendors List (QVL) on your motherboard manufacturer's website for this information. Your specific RAM model might not be listed, but it's likely to work just fine if kits with similar specs are on the QVL. RAM and motherboard incompatibility usually only becomes a concern on high-speed and high-capacity RAM anyway, so a two-DIMM 6,000MT/s kit should work without issues.

2 Don't buy a faster SSD for more FPS

Don't get a Gen5 SSD for the wrong reasons

In 2024, you should definitely stay away from hard drives (for a gaming PC), picking a decent NVMe SSD instead. Even a SATA SSD will do just fine, but prices of NVMe SSDs have fallen to a point where you shouldn't consider SATA models in most cases. The real conflict you'll probably face is between a PCIe 3.0, PCIe 4.0, and PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD.

Strictly speaking about gaming performance, even a Gen 3 SSD is just fine, but if you're getting a 1TB Gen4 SSD for around $50-$60, you should definitely get the latter. A Gen5 SSD, on the other hand, will cost you almost double that of a Gen4 model, for the same capacity. And it won't affect your gaming FPS in any way, so you're just paying for having the latest and greatest standard (plus better productivity performance, of course).

So, a Gen3 SSD isn't worth it anymore (since it costs the same as Gen4), and a Gen5 SSD isn't worth the premium yet (DirectStorage might change that in the future). A Gen4 SSD (1TB or 2TB, depending on your budget) with read/write speeds of around 5,000MB/s (beware of slower Gen4 drives) is the easy pick for gaming PC builders right now.

1 Get the fastest GPU you can

While avoiding a CPU bottleneck

You probably know this one, but I had to save the best for last. The graphics card has the greatest impact on the kind of gaming performance you'll get from your system. You shouldn't skimp on the CPU or RAM either, but if you really have to, invest the bulk of your budget on the fastest graphics card you can find.

Generally, allocating around 40-50% of your budget to the GPU is recommended. For a budget of around $600-$800, this will be possible only if you go DDR4, building on AMD's AM4 or Intel's LGA 1700 socket. If you have a higher budget of around $1,200-$1,500, you can easily spend $600+ on a GPU and the rest on a DDR5 system (ideally AM5). For those working with $2,000 or more, an $800-$1,000 graphics card is a good target.

You can obviously stray from these thumb rules to squeeze in a monster GPU, but it shouldn't come at the cost of the CPU. A processor that's too weak will hold back the performance of your GPU, so try to get a modern 6-core or 8-core CPU to pair with your graphics card. You should also not cheap out on other components like the RAM or SSD — using the guidelines I've mentioned above should come in handy.

Building a value-for-money gaming PC

Not everyone might subscribe to the policy of maximizing FPS per dollar when building a gaming PC. People have different definitions of "value", and spending on the looks and good-to-have features of a PC can be equally important for some builders. By and large, though, most people want the maximum performance out of their budget, so the tips outlined above should easily apply to them.

With PC building fast becoming an expensive hobby, consumers are always looking for components that strike the balance between affordability and longevity. Not everyone can afford to upgrade every generation, so building a gaming machine that can reasonably last you for years becomes paramount. And that's what I've tried to advise you on with this article.