While PC builders are almost always interested in price-performance more than anything else, many of us are equally interested in building an aesthetically-pleasing machine that can sit on our desk without being an eye-sore. Creating a ‘battlestation’ that is eye-catching and as exciting to look at as to use allows us to enjoy our hobbies as more than simple tools, but as expressions of our hobbies.
And while every person’s aesthetic is different, most of us look to add a little personal flair with some RGB, matching colors, an overall theme, or generally pleasing products. They might cost a bit more than the simples, no-frills, budget components, but if you plan on keeping your computer for years at a time, the joy of using it might be worth the extra dollars.
White-themed PC’s are popular for people focusing on a certain aesthetic for several reasons:
- White components allow for almost any combination of RGB lighting to reflect easily and avoid conflicting colors;
- White goes with everything, so simply changing your RGB coloring or swapping out less-expensive colored components over the years won’t create conflicting color schemes if you decide you no longer like blue but prefer orange;
- For RGB-haters or minimalism fans, white and black builds offer a very zen style build that fits with almost any décor scheme for your office or battlestation.
That’s not to say that some people will not go for a black/red or black/yellow themed build, but once you go down that road, it becomes difficult to adjust. White offers a flexibility that can range from an all-white LED setup for an elegant, clean look to a unicorn-vomit, RGB-rainbow, all-out color extravaganza without too much difficulty.
So for this build guide, we will focus on that upper mid-range machine that offers a strong aesthetic while still giving you enough horsepower to maintain 1440p 100-144hz in the majority of games available today.
Ultimate 1440p 144hz White Ryzen 5 3600 Gaming PC Build – The Parts List
| Component | Design | Model | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU |  | Ryzen 5 3600 | $198 |
| CPU Cooler |  | Corsair H100i Platinum SE | $155 |
| RAM |  | Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro White 3200MT/s CAS16 | $100 |
| SSD |  | Intel 660p 1TB NVMe | $95 |
| GPU |  | Gigabyte 2070 Super Gaming OC White | $530 |
| Motherboard |  | ASRock X570 Steel Legend WiFi | $210 |
| Power Supply |  | Corsair RM750x White | $130 |
| PC Case |  | Lian-Li O11 Dynamic White | $135 |
| Case Fan(s) |  | Corsair LL120 White (3-pack) | $120 |
| Fan Hub |  | Corsair Commander PRO | $65 |
| Total Price | $1735 |
CPU – Ryzen 5 3600
The heart of any PC is the processor. The processor, or CPU, is the starting point for any build and the piece that will lay the foundation for the other pieces, based on the planned usage of the computer. For gaming, the CPU is one of the two most critical components in determining the FPS, or frames per second, of which the build will be capable.
As this is a gaming build and not a workstation build, more than 6 cores will not be useful. In the future, games may be optimized for multi-core usage, but for now, 4 cores or more are more than enough, especially if those cores can hit higher clock speeds. So to balance more cores in case of future optimization with high single-core boost speeds, and all at a great price, this build uses the Ryzen 5 3600. With six cores and 12 threads, and a 4.2ghz all core boost speed, this processor will push 100+ frames in almost all games, and 144+ frames in more than half of current titles. At $200, this processor is an absolute steal for the modern gaming PC.
If you think you may also do some productivity workloads and have $130 more to spend, upgrading to a Ryzen 3700x will help with some applications like video/photo editing, but wouldn’t impact gaming to any noticeable degree.
CPU Cooler – Corsair H110i Platinum SE
As this is an all-white themed build and aesthetics are important, this build uses an AIO (all-in-one) CPU Cooler. AIO coolers are expensive, but subjectively look much nicer than bulkier air coolers, and offer quieter performance in the majority of cases. This build went for one of the top-rated white AIO’s on the market today: the Corsair H100i Platinum SE. The special edition white 240mm cooler uses a high-quality ASETEK pump, is backed by the strong Corsair warranty, and features enough RGB to make any rig explode with colors or simmer in elegant white light. This baby isn’t cheap at $155, but it certainly is a statement in the beauty of the right components.
As an alternative, if you don’t like AIOs or just prefer a cheaper, high-performance option, the Noctua DH-15 with the white Chromax frame is a very elegant, minimalist CPU cooler (although very large in pure size) that should offer top-of-the-line performance to keep your 3600 very chilly under even the heaviest loads. For around $100-$110 total on sale, not a bad option at all.
RAM – Corsair RGB Pro White 3200MHz CAS16
Ryzen processor discussions almost always include sections on which RAM to use to make the most out of your system. According to AMD, the sweetspot for RAM is 3600MT/s with CAS 16, but that requires either a bit of luck with the silicon lottery with a chip like Micron E-Die, or a Samsung B-Die RAM module. As both of those options can be expensive, especially when adding in the requirements for a white, RGB RAM that fits our white-themed PC, alternatives seem to a better choice. For that reason, we recommend Corsair RGB Pro White 3200MT/s CAS 16. The difference in clock speed will be insignificant for the vast majority of users, and if you really want to raise that clock speed, a small overclock should get you close. The RGB on this RAM and its easy compatibility with Corsair iCue make it the most reliable RAM module available that mixes high performance with absolutely stunning aesthetics.
If you really want to try and hit that Ryzen sweet spot, the 3600MT/s CAS 18 version of this RAM is a great alternative, although the extra $40 is a steep price for what should amount to a very minor difference in almost all games.
SSD – Intel 660p 1Tb
While storage is important, gaming simply isn’t the most demanding in terms of constant loading or unloading. Most SSD’s today will be perfectly adequate for gaming and will offer very fast load times and strong reliability. However, as this build is meant to also be beautiful, we recommend choosing an NVMe drive to take away those extra cables and improve that minimalist look. But since we do not need anything too fancy, we recommend the affordable, reliable, and still shockingly fast for 95% of users, Intel 660p 1Tb.
The 1Tb option is the sweet spot for many because the 660p is a better performer at higher capacities (over 512GB), and because of the very attractive price of the 1tb option (regularly around $85 on sale). So we say go for the 1Tb NVMe storage now and have no regrets later, letting you have one drive for both booting and game storage.
Graphics Card – Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC
Aside from the CPU, the GPU is the other major component in determining the FPS you will push for any given title. While the CPU is often more important in getting from 60FPS to 144+ FPS, the GPU is largely responsible for the resolution you will be able to support. To hit 1440p and not experience difficulty maintaining high FPS, the GPU will need to be one of the higher-end models. And while white-themed GPU’s exist, they are few and far between. With all those criteria, our recommendation is the Gigabyte 2070 Super Gaming OC which combines a beautiful white backplate and shroud with very high performance.
The 2070 Super is one of the new Super-line graphics cards that are essentially refreshes to last years Nvidia Turing release that bump each model one rung up the stack. A 2070 Super should perform like a 2080 and be able to maintain 1440p and keep frames above 100 FPS in almost all titles, with most hitting between 120-144 frames with High/Ultra graphics, depending on the detailed choices you select.
If the 2070 Super is outside of your budget, a Gigabyte 2060 Super Gaming OC should be able to achieve close to 144 FPS at 1440p for eSports titles and older games and will keep over 60 FPS even in ultra-quality for almost all games available today. Check out our article for some strong 1440p 144hz alternatives to the GPU in this build.
Motherboard – ASRock X570 Steel Legend Wifi/ax
This section will be a bit shorter since we recently put out an article talking about strong budget X570 motherboards that goes in-depth on our recommendations. For the motherboard of a white-themed build, there are only two quality options out there for the X570: the ASUS X570 Prime Pro, and the ASRock X570 Steel Legend WiFi ax. Between the two, the Steel Legend is quite a bit cheaper and offers almost all of the features while sporting VRMs that will have no trouble with our recommended Ryzen 3600 (or Ryzen 3700x) processors, even with a significant overclock. So for this white-themed gaming build, we recommend the ASRock X570 Steel Legend WiFi ax. For more information, check out the dedicated article.
Power Supply: Corsair RM750X
The PSU is the behind-the-scenes hero of any build. A strong build is always at risk of failure if you choose a weak PSU, so we recommend being sure to go for a high-quality warranty backed by a 10 year (or at least 7 year) warranty from one of the major manufacturers. For this build, the fit the white theme, we chose the Corsair RM750x. This PSU will give you plenty of power, has an 80+ Gold efficiency rating, a 10-year warranty, and those sweet, sweet white cables to match with your build.
PC Case Case Fans, and Fan Hub
Finally, we need something to put all these components in. And since you spent so much time and money choosing components that are beautiful, the case needs to showcase (see that pun?) your parts and highlight the white elegance and RGB. The fans need to provide some extra RGB to top-off your build color flexibility while also offering strong cooling and avoiding too much noise.
So to satisfy all those needs, we recommend the Lian-Li 011 Dynamic White and 3 x Corsair White LL120 fans. The case has two tempered glass panels that will allow your guests to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over your beautiful build, and the fans offer the best RGB/performance/noise value on the market, and luckily come in a great matte white version perfect for this build. With the 240mm AIO Radiator (and its two included LL120 fans) on top and the 3 x LL120 fans serving as cool air intake on the side of the Lian-Li Dynamic, your case will look great and keep all the components nice and cool.
Because the Corsair LL120s offer so many lighting options and plenty of fan curve customization options, we recommend getting the Corsair Commander Pro hub to hook up all your fans to the iCue software, giving you total control over your builds performance and lighting.
Summary
| Component | Design | Model | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | | Ryzen 5 3600 | $198 |
| CPU Cooler | | Corsair H100i Platinum SE | $155 |
| RAM | | Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro White 3200MT/s CAS16 | $100 |
| SSD | | Intel 660p 1TB NVMe | $95 |
| GPU | | Gigabyte 2070 Super Gaming OC White | $530 |
| Motherboard | | ASRock X570 Steel Legend WiFi | $210 |
| Power Supply | | Corsair RM750x White | $130 |
| PC Case | | Lian-Li O11 Dynamic White | $135 |
| Case Fan(s) | | Corsair LL120 White (3-pack) | $120 |
| Fan Hub | | Corsair Commander PRO | $65 |
| Total Price | $1735 |
There you have it, our recommendations for building a beautiful, powerful, 144 FPS-pushing, 1440p high-definition resolving, $1750 gaming PC. The different pieces of this build will often go on sale, so keep an eye out for any deals to ensure your gorgeous PC will be as affordable as possible – if you time it right, the whole rig can be had for around $1500. Of course, if you are looking for pure performance, take a look at our GPU guide for 1440p 144hz gaming as well.
White-themed PCs are certainly beautiful, but they also cost quite a bit more than your average color-agnostic build when speaking about the same computing power. If you want to achieve performance that is still very good but at about 2/3 the price, check out our article on another great gaming build guide. And if you are looking to upgrade your monitor to take full advantage of your new gaming PC, check out our article on 1440p 144hz monitors.