The $1000 price point for a gaming PC build may just be one of the most contested out there easily, because of how many different combinations of components you can fit in such a budget. It all depends on the use really. For example, if you want to get the best performance for triple-A Ultra graphics gaming you will need to get the most powerful GPU since even lower-end CPUs can handle 60 fps easily nowadays; on a different perspective, if you’d like to use your system for productivity, editing, rendering or general number-crunching tasks, you’ll need to get the most powerful multi-core CPU you can a cheap GPU that will handle the display capabilities.
Today though we’re going to be focusing on something else. High refresh rate gaming is getting more and more popular, many console users coming to PC just for the experience of smooth gameplay with no compromises. If you’re among them, that’s great because we have the right build just for you! We’re going to recommend a list of parts that assembled together will result in one of the most compelling $1000 high refresh rate gaming builds on the market. Our main benchmark will be Call of Duty: Warzone as its one of the most popular shooters out there with fast gameplay and good graphics; we will be aiming to get 144+ FPS in this game with the build coming ahead.
$1000 Warzone High FPS (144+) Gaming PC Build – The Parts List
| Component | Design | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU |  | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | $166 |
| Motherboard |  | MSI B450 Tomahawk Max | $114 |
| Memory |  | Team T-FORCE DARK Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 | $59 |
| Storage |  | Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME SSD | $99 |
| Storage (Additional) |  | Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" SSD | $114 |
| Graphics Card |  | MSI Radeon RX 5700 8 GB MECH OC | $304 |
| Case |  | Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh | $68 |
| Power Supply |  | Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze | $66 |
| Total: | $990 |
At PremiumBuilds we thrive to give you the best-intended performance for your money. We take pride in offering you an informed look at what your next system should look like; research is done continuously in our team in order to be able to pass as much relevant information to our readers as possible. We write these build guides in such a way for our readers to understand the decisions we take at each step. We’re certainly not leaving you in the dust with scattered information that you may or may not find informative; we’re your building buddy for the whole journey of you accomplishing the building of your dream system, whichever that may be!
In the following sections, we will show you each chosen component for this high FPS Warzone build and why it’s earnt its place.
CPU
Every so often there comes a processor that captures the market. AMD’s Ryzen 5 3600 is really that right combination of price, cores, efficiency, frequency, performance, features and compatibility that combined with the right motherboard is something of undeniable value to the market. The Ryzen 5 3600 is Amazon’s best seller CPU and it really does have the right to fly off the shelves like that. It offers six high-performance Zen 2 cores, 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes and it debuted at just $199; you can get it around $169 now . The hype with this CPU is real as it allows tighter budgets to build incredibly strong systems with it.
Just three years ago, the Ryzen 5 3600 would have been the best consumer CPU on the market and today you can have that kind of performance for just $166. AMD’s new Zen 2 microarchitecture allows this to happen with its incredible versatility, efficiency and powerful IPC; it pushes the performance boundaries clock for clock against Intel’s other desktop offerings.
Some of you may remember of the popularity of Intel’s Sandy Bridge i5 2500K; it was essentially such a good leap forward by the blue team that people still use it in their PCs as a decent performer. We see the R5 3600 ageing the same or even better than the 2500K with its 6 unlocked cores and 12 threads. The majority of the market will still be thoroughly satisfied with the incredible performance and stellar value the Ryzen 5 3600 offers years and years after its summer 2019 launch.
Motherboard
This versatile B450 motherboard, the MSI B450 Tomahawk Max, can be easily recommended in a wide variety of PC builds due to its excellent value, VRMs, build quality and all-around features. It strikes the balance absolutely perfectly and only boards that are twice and upwards more expensive will offer you additional features; it’s that good.
The rear IO panel features a BIOS Flashback button with which you can safely roll back the default BIOS in case of an update or tweak failure, two USB 2.0 ports, PS/2 keyboard/mouse, DVI port, HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, USB 3.1 type-A, USB 3.1 type-C, Gigabit LAN, and 7.1 channel gold plated audio jacks. Its a solid I/O and I can’t see people other than true enthusiasts needing more than this on the back of their systems. Considering the price of the motherboard you can’t expect to find six fan headers on board but MSI made an effort to add in the headers and they are all hybrid! The Tomahawk also has some awesome aesthetics, the grey heat sinks on the motherboard looking really high-end; the matte black PCB with the silkscreen make the motherboard look durable.
The MSI B450 Tomahawk is actually a very impressive motherboard for a product that comes in just under $100. It has a very color neutral look, which adds a lot of value in this price segment. The large VRM heat sink is also very effective in lowering VRM temperatures and that means the Tomahawk is also great if you think about upgrading your CPU in the future.
Memory
We love our systems to have plenty of memory for their intended use. People don’t realize the importance of RAM until the operating system maxes it out and you then get a freezing and slow system. What’s also important is the speed of the RAM which you might not notice in daily tasks such as browsing or watching videos but during games and productivity tasks, each and every additional drop of speed from the memory modules help performance.
These Team T-Force Dark 2 x 8GB modules come in at just $60 and are an incredible bargain considering their 3200MHz tuned clock speed and respectable CL 16. Especially with Ryzen builds, RAM plays an important role in providing consistent frame times and FPS smoothness by keeping the 1% and 0.1% lows in check; in other words, fast RAM like this kit we’re using here will not allow games to jump between high and low FPS values thus ruining your game experience by stuttering.
Dual Channel 2 x 8GB is incredibly important for having double the bandwidth of a single 1 x 16GB RAM stick so we highly recommend always getting two or more sticks instead of just one, especially at this great price! This RAM kit that we’re using is also highly tweakable thanks to its great factory binning; anyone will be able to understand the uses for his system and adapt RAM for specific applications. If that seems hard to you, check out our memory tweaking guide! Changing memory latencies and speeds is very easy through the motherboard’s BIOS and will definitely impact your overall user experience.
Storage
Thanks to the incredible value the Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and RX 5700 GPU offers, we also have the budget to splurge into superior storage devices. For this build we chose the Samsung 970 EVO 500GB for the system device since operating system speed is of utmost importance for the user experience. Its still one of the fastest NVMe drives out there with speeds around 3.5 GB/s read and 3.3 GB/s write; those are insane numbers for such a small footprint device and we can easily fit it into this $1000 gaming build! We are not joking around, this drive will contribute to the highest level of responsiveness you ever felt in a system and your PC will be faster than you can think; it will be done with any task you’ve assigned it before you even decide for the next move. That is the power of going from SATA to M.2.
But we’re not done yet! We do realize 500 GB is far from the amount of space many of you will eventually use on your systems and this is why we chose the Crucial MX500 SATA SSD for an additional 1 Tb of fast storage. This drive may not have all the bells and whistles of the 970 Evo but its a sturdy and consistently fast storage device that doesn’t slow down during high load operations thanks to its added cache. The MX500 will make for a great secondary disk where it will work together with the main system NVMe to store your other applications, files and games that won’t fit on the OS drive. 1.5 Tb of disk space split into an ultra fast 500 GB for the OS and fast 1 Tb extra SSD should be enough for the majority of people and their virtual needs.
Graphics Card
For this build, we chose the best GPU we could fit in a $1000 budget without compromising too much on the other components. The RX 5700 is based on AMD’s new NAVI architecture and is built on 7nm. Its good value, great performance and stellar efficiency are some of the advantages AMD has over the other mid-range competitors like the RTX 2060 Super. As stated in other reviews already, RX 5700 sits at the Vega performance level, the improved architecture being sound and pretty fast. The realm AMD is sitting in performance-wise with the RX 5700 series is the models 2060 and 2070 with exceptions here and there; while the RX 5700 doesn’t come with Ray Tracing features, it still outperforms the Nvidia cards by 10 to 15%.
The AMD RX 5700 AIB implementation we’re using in the build comes in the form of the MSI Mech OC series, which carries a dual-slot, dual-fan configuration – very similar to MSI’s Ventus graphics cards but with a darker color palette. The design is appealing, even if fully in plastic save for the backplate, which is full black and has some white strips to add a little more interest to the otherwise blank surface.
The MSI Radeon RX 5700 Mech OC graphics card ships with 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 and 1 x HDMI 2.0 ports, and will join other MSI custom design mainstays in the company’s portfolio for AMD-based hardware. Its cooling performance is sufficient and properly silent for the money you’re paying.
Gaming performance will definitely leave you satisfied, this card being able to easily hold above 144 fps in any current eSport game, at 1080p. The main focus of this build though is Call of Duty Warzone and this card performs especially well in this title thanks to it being AMD Optimized. You can say goodbye to sluggish performance and stuttery gunfights because you’ll be in for a treat.
PC Case
A rather new mid-tower case from Phanteks, the Eclipse P300A Mesh, features a much-improved airflow over other similarly priced competitors in its price range; the letter A in the P300A name stands for airflow so we know Phanteks means business! This case is packed with quality materials and features that you will find only in much more expensive cases. Its edge to edge tempered glass side panel, PSU shroud and mesh front are just some of them. Space for additional fans, easy cable management with lots of tie-down points, great airflow and a solid metal build; really, what’s not to like?
While many manufacturers took the route of giving edgy aesthetics & RGB to people interested in mid-range cases, Phanteks focuses on functionality and a simple trusty design where performance and cooling power are of utmost importance. This case is a great example of an evolutionary case design packed with quality components and a well thought out layout. The mesh material in the front paired with the dust filters around the case allows the air to pass freely through the build while doing a great job at keeping it as clean as possible. During performance testing, this case maintained one of the most consistent temperatures in its price range and this is why we’re going to be using it in our build!
Power Supply
The RX 5700 GPU we are using pulls around 165W in the most heavy gaming situations while the Ryzen 5 3600 pulls a max of 88W during heavy so we will be very safe to use a 550W PSU that may also host another system upgrade down the line.
Introducing the Corsair CXM 550W, a very popular PSU that stands out as a high quality and well-revised product from a reputable company. Its good efficiency and semi modularity are great features at this price range, allowing you to keep your case tidy by only using the cables that you really do need; all the others can go back in the box for future use. The 24 PIN is not modular but that’s not a problem because you’re inevitably going to use to power the motherboard.
The presence of 2 x 6+2 PCIe cables means that you can easily upgrade your GPU in the future without the need to get a new PSU if the wattage capacity is within limits. The Corsair CXM 550W consists of quality sleeved cables, modularity, 80+ efficiency and a reputable brand name with a great track record and warranty. There are other decent PSUs at this price range that you may use instead of the CXM, especially if you can’t find it but try to compare features and get something similar for the money.
How will this build perform on Warzone and other eSports games?
Finally, we can get down to the performance figures after planning out our build. Lets see if it was worth it! From the get go and from our testing we can see that the Ryzen 5 3600 and RX 5700 combo is a strong one, all high refresh rate games in our list performing smoothly like they should. We guarantee you’ll be thoroughly impressed with the capabilities of this $1000 build. You may find other similarly priced builds out there from OEMs like Dell/HP that claim great performance out of their overpriced systems but if we break down the components, you will undeniably realize that they use cheaper parts in order to get as much margin back from their sales. We don’t do that here!
This build is just another researched build from us that will definitely put a smile on your face; and we do it free of charge! What’s left for you is to just buy the parts and assemble them, which is most of the time an easy but intriguing process.
With every build that we plan and recommend, we prepare a set of helpful benchmarks in order for you to understand the performance of the build and to be able to compare it with other performance figures online. We know that you’re most likely using other resources besides Premium Builds but we thrive to be as complete as we can! Here’s some helpful benchmarks of this very system, with its Ryzen 5 3600 + RX 5700 combo:
| Title | Graphics Quality | Resolution | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valorant | Ultra | 1080p | 193 | 141 |
| Valorant | Competitive Settings | 1080p | 251 | 163 |
| GTA V | Ultra | 1080p | 101 | 76 |
| GTA V | Medium Settings | 1080p | 145 | 93 |
| Rainbow Six Siege | Ultra | 1080p | 212 | 151 |
| Rainbow Six Siege | Competitive Settings | 1080p | 268 | 187 |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | Ultra | 1080p | 132 | 91 |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | Competitive settings | 1080p | 177 | 125 |
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | Ultra | 1080p | 247 | 182 |
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | Competitive Settings | 1080p | 301 | 258 |
| Battlefield V | Ultra | 1080p | 134 | 92 |
| Battlefield V | Competitive Settings | 1080p | 171 | 109 |
Solid performance numbers all around. Besides the build, we would also recommend getting a 1080p 144hz+ monitor in order to take advantage of this high-performance build. If your monitor is stuck at 60hz, you won’t be allowed to profit and lose some of the smooth experience.
Conclusion & After Thoughts
When planning to do this build we were deciding between the Ryzen 5 3600 + RX 5700 combo and the new Intel Core i5 10600K + GTX 1660 Super. We ultimately came to the conclusion that the first CPU-GPU combo would perform better in the majority of situations; and it also comes at a cheaper price because of the more expensive CPU and the need for both a higher end motherboard and a cooler heatsink capable of dealing with the 10600K when overclocked.
While the second combo you may have gotten better performance out of lightly threaded games like CS:GO but ultimately, performance would’ve been bottlenecked by the GTX 1660 Super which is essentially 20% slower than the RX 5700 we’re using in our build of choice. You can, of course, go for either combo but in our testing, the upper build performed better and more consistent overall.
We appreciate that you stuck with us till the conclusions; that means we didn’t do this boringly and we thank you! Now its probably time to start to order your parts because its a very good time to do so; the market is more competitive than ever and pricing offers good value. We also hope that the sections and explanations we chose to include in this article were helpful to you and you weren’t left with many unanswered questions; if you’d like further help, we love to help in the comment section below!
Complete building video guides are coming in the near future so definitely stay tuned for them!