Best gaming PC build under $1500 of 2023
Built & Tested By Our Team
Best gaming PC build under $1500
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The best gaming PC under $1500 gets you a PC that can handle almost anything. With a $1500 PC build, you will be able to play any game you like, no matter the settings, even with some 4K performance. 1440p is where this PC build will thrive though, offering high FPS in most games and giving you the ability to take full advantage of a high refresh rate monitor too.
What you get for your $1500
When you are spending around $1500, you are pretty much guaranteed to give yourself a high-end PC with an array of top-shelf features. For this amount of money, you can expect a fast CPU that will enhance your gaming experience and also perform without question when multitasking. You will also benefit from a high-end graphics card, capable of high frame rates in glorious detail. Overall, a PC build under $1500 brings some of the very best components together and puts you in the upper mid-tier bracket, ideal for 1440p gaming on a high refresh rate monitor.
Performance
This $1500 gaming PC build features the latest next-gen components, ensuring you get high performance that will last for years. With an RTX 40-series GPU, you are guaranteed high frame rates in most titles in 1440p and below, with some 4K performance viable through the odd settings tweak.
Sup[porting the CPU and GPU, this $1500 build also comes with a rapid 1TB NVMe SSD to take care of your operating system and games. This storage solution will give you faster boot times than your standard HDD and will also improve your FPS in-game too. We also see 32GB of fast DDR5 RAM in this PC, making it feel snappy for years to come.
AMD or Intel for your $1500 PC build?
Both AMD and Intel offer incredible results from their latest lines of processors. We currently recommend Intel but this CPU and the accompanying motherboard can be switched out for an AMD equivalent if you so preferred. This PC build provides you with one of the best gaming CPUs on the market and its multithreading capabilities will stand the test of time.
How we choose
Our team has years of experience behind them, building PCs for a range of needs and budgets. All this knowledge, combined with hours of research, user feedback, and onsite benchmarking, is what goes into choosing the best components for our builds. We look for value for money, how the components perform together, and focus on gamers’ needs to make sure our builds are the best your budget can buy.
We build all these PCs ourselves, in-house, so trust us when we say we want to make them as good as possible. We use all these builds ourselves day-to-day in the WePC offices.
How we test
We build each of our selected PCs from scratch to make sure all the parts we recommend work well together, fit into the selected case, and provide the best performance possible for the price range. Once built, the PCs are used in the office for everyday work as well as a range of games from light to heavy-duty. While we test, we also run benchmarking tests to see how well our builds perform, all while keeping an eye on the temperature of the components themselves.
We know how much some of our readers enjoy overclocking their PCs, so we made sure to test that out too. So, you can feel safe knowing that these machines can be pushed beyond their basic capabilities. But, please make sure you know how to overclock before trying to over-task your builds.
Prebuilt Gaming PC Under $1500
Skytech Nebula Gaming PC Desktop (R5 5600X, RTX 4070)
CPU
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
GPU
RTX 4070
RAM
16GB DDR4
Storage
1TB NVMe SSD
Not everyone can build a new gaming PC from scratch, so we have included some premium prebuilt options for your consideration. While building your own is always going to be the best choice for both your experience and wallet, we understand this can be a daunting task for some. It is worth noting; we select our prebuilt PCs from reputable custom PC builders that you can trust.
This post recommends the best gaming PC you can build for under $1500. If you’re looking to buy a prebuilt gaming PC instead, we recommend the Skytech Nebula gaming PC. It’s powered by anAMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU and the RTX 4070 GPU, that can run AAA games at high settings without breaking a sweat.
Best gaming PC build under $1500
- Last Updated - Aug 7, 2023
This $1500 computer was designed to bring out all the power you’ll need to play any game in high settings on larger resolutions, while also providing silky-smooth streaming/ rendering performance.
With the best gaming PC build for around $1500, you’ll enjoy a high level of performance, productivity, and content production. In the $1500 range, you can expect every game to run without any issues and a system that won’t let you down for years to come. This is the best gaming PC you can buy for the price, and it comes packed with serious ability across the board.
Intel Core i5-12600KF
Boost clock speed (single core)
4.9 GHz
Total Cores / Threads
10/16
P-cores
6
E-cores
4
Socket
LGA 1700
Overclockable
Yes
The Intel i5-12600KF was one of Intel’s most successful 12th-gen processors largely down to its price to performance. While we would love to fit a 13600K into this build, we have compromised to get a better GPU inside. The 12600KF comes to shelves with an impressive 10 core/16 thread makeup, beating its predecessor convincingly.
It has a potential of 4.9GHz boost clock and is still a great option for gamers at its current price. The rest of the build features next-gen components and you will be able to upgrade to a 13th gen CPU with the motherboard below.
MSI PRO Z790-P Wifi DDR5
Form factor
ATX
Power stages
14+1+1 DRPS with 55A DrMOS
Connectivity
PCIe 5.0, M.2, 2.5Gbps LAN, USB 3.2 Gen2
Wifi
Wi-Fi 6E
To match the potential of the CPU, you are going to need a reliable motherboard. The MSI PROI Z790-P is a DDR5 option that offers a nice balance of affordability and quality. This board is packed with features for the price, supporting overclocking, fast RAM speeds, Wifi6E, PCIe 5,0, and more.
While you may of expected a liquid cooling solution for this i5, the DeepCool AK620 is more than OK for this. Again, we are trying to save money for the better GPU but this cooler will take care of the 12600K and the 13600K if you ever decided to opt for the latest gen SKU.
Affordable, beefy and effective, just what you need.
TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) 5600MHz
Capcity
32GB (2x16GB)
Speed
5600MHz
Timings
CL32
RGB?
Yes
This 32GB RAM kit from TEAMGROUP comes with an abundance of speed and quality for both the this next-gen build under $1500. Whether you are gaming, streaming, or working, we wanted to make sure you have more than enough RAM capacity and speed to get things done effectively.
We have gone for a RAM kit with a speed of 5600MHz to give you optimal speeds for gaming and to future-proof your system a little bit more. With speeds like this, you are guaranteed to avoid being bottlenecked by the RAM.
MSI Gaming Ventus 3X RTX 4070 Ti 12GB
Clock Speed
2655 MHz
VRAM
12GB GDRR6X
Output
DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a) / HDMI 2.1 x 1
To power your graphical needs we have gone for one of the latest GPUs from Nvidia’s RTX 40-series – The RTX 4070 Ti. While pushing your frames in esports titles exponentially in high settings, this card will also smash through your favorite AAA titles and more when playing in 1440p. There is also some decent 4K performance from the 4070 Ti with the odd settings tweak.
The build quality of this SSD is unquestionable, and the boost in performance it gives makes it a no-brainer for this $1500 gaming PC. While testing, the benchmark results showed us that there is little difference between SATA SSDs and M.2, however, the WD Black SN770 NVMe 1TB M.2 is of the highest quality and is well-priced at the moment.
This SSD has a 1TB capacity, is from a reputable manufacturer, will enhance your gaming experience, and give you speedy boot times.
Corsair 4000D Airflow
Type
Mid-tower
Motherboard Support
ATX, mATX, Mini-ITX
Dimensions
17.83 x 9.06 x 18.35 inches
Included Fans
2 x 120mm AirGuide fans
Last but not least is our case. The Corsair 4000D Airflow is one stylish PC case for the price and has been built using the highest quality materials to ensure this case will stand the test of time. This case boasts a tempered glass side panel for you to view your build.
With two 120mm included fans and an open-airflow design, you get excellent cooling performance out of the box. Alongside the airflow and aesthetics, the 4000D is also very builder-friendly, offering plenty of options for cable management, drive mounting, extra fans, and room for a liquid cooling setup. This is far from a budget case, and once you get your hands on it you’ll know why.
Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 850W
Wattage
850W
Efficiency
Gold
Modularity
Fully
ATX 3.0/PCI-E 5.0 compatibility
Yes
When building a PC of this value, you want to ensure you have a stable and reliable power supply to power your new components. This is where the Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 850W PSU comes in, with its gold efficiency rating. The amount of Watts on this PSU is going to be more than enough to power the build, giving you a little more for future upgrades, plus it features ATX 3/ PCIe 5 compatibility.
Things to consider
Budget
We separate our builds into different categories, all based on a specific budget. Regardless of this, it is still important to consider if this is the right budget for your gaming needs. When talking about a gaming PC in this price category, you can be sure to get high-end gaming performance that will handle any game you can think of. If you are looking to play AAA titles in high settings and achieve relatively high FPS, then you are in the right place. For the more casual gamers that only play less taxing indie games, this could potentially be overkill. While we do our best to bring you a high-quality system that remains within our budget parameters, Amazon’s prices can fluctuate from time to time.
Upgradability & Future-Proofing
Even though this is a $1500 gaming PC and considered high-end, there is still some room for improvement. Upgrades in the right areas can potentially give you an improved gaming experience, and a greater life span out of your PC build, so certainly worthy of consideration. Upgrades will come at a significant extra cost for that boost in performance, but if you can accommodate it, go for it! For a significant upgrade, at a little extra cost, consider our $2000 gaming PC.
Overclocking
Some gamers and plenty of enthusiasts love to overclock their gaming rigs, so we have included components that can cater for this. Overclocking can squeeze extra power out of your system and provide you with even better performance.
If you are considering overclocking your system, remember to include an aftermarket cooler upgrade to handle the extra heat produced. The fast RAM included in this build will not run at 3600MHz out of the box, so remember to overclock this in your BIOS. It is worth noting that the motherboard selected is capable of handling these speeds without any issues, so no need to worry.
Ease of Building
This build comes with a high-quality case, so as you can imagine, it was a dream to build. There were no clearance issues when putting this machine together, and the whole process was stress-free. If you are concerned about damaging any of your components, then you may want to consider investing in antistatic equipment, but it isn’t a requirement. The most important tool to have is, of course, the screwdriver, which will take care of most aspects.
The case, as mentioned, is manufactured by a reputable company that has cable management in mind. Thanks to the design, it was really easy to tuck away those cables and improve the airflow inside the machine. Both CPUs come with stock coolers, and they will have thermal paste pre-applied. That being said, you may want to consider buying a tube of thermal paste and replacing this at your earliest convenience, as this will often improve thermals.
Non-Gaming Performance
Both builds are going to provide you will all the gaming performance you could need, but how do they stack up in other areas? While both CPUs will perform well with multitasking, the AMD build path is a clear winner in this area. The AMD CPU attributes this to its multithreading capabilities with twice as many threads as the Intel build path. Regardless of which you decide to choose, you can be sure of a good level of performance for all your streaming and home entertainment needs.
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Best Prebuilt Gaming PC Brands
Every recommended prebuilt gaming PC in this article is from a reputable manufacturer. You are probably wondering how we know what the best gaming PC brands are? Well, we have done our research and purchased PCs from these brands.
Most notable brands:
Alienware
Corsair
CyberPowerPC
SkyTech
iBUYPOWER
Thermaltake
MSI
Scan 3XS
Overclockers UK
Aesthetics
Making sure your PSU provides the correct amount of wattage to your custom build PC is an essential part of the build process. For that reason, we’ve created a handy PSU calculator which will work out exactly what PSU wattage your components require – no matter how many changes you make.
- Last Updated - Aug 7, 2023
Upgrade options
Whether you choose the AMD or Intel build path, both are going to bring you a lot of joy without any additional components. That being said, even this powerful $1500 gaming PC has some wiggle room for upgrades. Upgrades will bring you better performance and further future-proof your system but, of course, at an extra cost.
Note: These will raise the price of the build!
ASUS TUF Gaming Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 OC
Clock Speed
1815MHz Boost Clock (OC)
VRAM
10GB GDDRX
Thermal Design
Axial-tech Triple Fan
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Speed
3.7GHz/ 4.8GHz
Core (Threads)
12/24
Socket
AM4
TDP
105W
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Operating System & Peripherals
Since you’re buying the best $1500 PC build, you might already have your OS and peripherals from your old PC. If you don’t, however, we’ve written up this section to help point you toward what you need.
Note: These will raise the price of the build!
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Building Tips
When spending this much money to get the best $1,500 gaming desktop, you want to make sure you’re doing everything right. So, to keep you from making the same mistakes every other newb PC builder makes, you’ll want to familiarise yourself with common PC building concerns.