When it comes to gaming, everything that's great about the 5900X rings true for this more affordable Zen 3 chip as well. However, if you are strictly in an Intel camp, Intel Core i5 12400 and B660 motherboards are good choices. Remember, you can get by with a smaller SSD or slightly slower RAM and upgrade those later to save a few bucks. The Ryzen 5 5600X is the best choice for a CPU for this build because of its price, performance, and overclocking potential.

And with the help of upscaling tech like DLSS, 4K gameplay is within reach on some games. Speaking of budget, the cost for this gaming PC build is $1,000, with around $400 (keep an eye out for deals) reserved for an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti that should provide an excellent framerate for most games at 1080p (and even 1440p). PC building is about having fun and making something that caters to you this list is a cheat sheet and by no means a rule book. You don't have to pick up every piece of hardware in this list, but each one will give you a good idea of what to look for and why certain things are better than others. This guide is your reference for building a reliable gaming PC.

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