What you get for your $700
The more you move down the price ladder, the more the value matters. You can’t just spend an extra $50 on a flashier memory kit, or $100 on a more potent cooling solution, what you’re looking for is the best bang for the buck for all of your hardware put together. Despite the budget limitations, we have managed to create the best custom PC build that we could for $700. One that’s easy to put together, performs at the highest levels at 1080p, and doesn’t break the bank in the process. Of course, compromises had to be made, but we’ve made sure that the impact on gaming wherever possible is minimal to non-existent.
One area we have had to compromise on is storage space, specifically with the SSD. Ideally, we recommend updating this later down the line. That being said, there is still plenty of room for your operating system and favorite games to get you started. This mid-level PC can not only handle the lat best games at 1080p with ease but on top of that, looks the part!
Despite that $700 price tag, you will get some awe-inspiring gaming performance from this gaming PC. This custom PC handles 1080p gaming in max settings with most titles. In our testing, we saw all of our game benchmarks, sit steadily above the 80 fps mark across the board. Admittedly some titles were below that average of course, Hogwarts Legacy, was one, along with CyberPunk.
The Intel Core i5-12400 isn’t the absolute monster that its 14th gen younger sibling is, but it is more than potent enough for this build, coming complete with six cores, and 12 threads. Its hyper-threading grunt makes it ideal for any workload, whether gaming or otherwise, you’ll be all set. Combine that with 960 GB of PCIe 3.0 Western Digital M.2 goodness, and this custom PC will be sailing.
As mentioned, the $700 custom gaming PC used to sit at the lower end of our mid-level builds but due to the current market, it has slipped further down. An important area for your consideration is the cost, as a gamer, you need to ensure that the PC meets your requirements. This gaming PC will perform at 1080p resolutions and despite what some may think, won’t be smashing 4K any time soon. You may want to think about our $800 PC and above for anything higher. It is worth noting that due to Amazon’s price fluctuations, the build price can sometimes change. We do our best to ensure we keep this build as close to $700 as possible, with regular updates.
Upgradability and Future-Proofing
Future upgrades will always be in the back of a PC builder’s mind. How easily upgradeable a PC is, thanks to our choice of components, this PC will be very easy to upgrade when the time comes. While making compromises to get this PC within that $700 target, we left room for future improvement. While these components may not be the newest releases, they still offer excellent gaming performance that will last you for years.
If you were to upgrade anything on this build it would be to a larger storage solution or a newer CPU. Remember, any upgrade will enhance performance but it will bring extra costs.
Overclocking on a $700 budget
Overclocking your PC can give you a free increase in performance. Boosting your clock speed or overclocking RAM has been shown to give you that little extra. Of course, when overclocking a CPU you bring about extra heat, so consider adding a CPU cooler to your basket to keep things chilled.
This $700 gaming PC features fast RAM but, unfortunately, RAM kits don’t come at these speeds out of the box, so you will need to overclock them in the BIOS. Luckily motherboard manufacturers have made the RAM overclocking process significantly easier to do in the BIOS.
How easy is it to build a $700 PC?
First-time builders should always consider how difficult it is to build a PC. Generally speaking, the PCs on the lower end of the budget spectrum tend to be easier to build as they contain fewer complex components. With this in mind, we carefully selected a beginner-friendly PC case that simplifies the whole process. The case is from a manufacturer you can trust and one that has building and cable management as a primary concern. The case does a good job of hiding cables with little fuss on your end, however, for those that wish to spend time on it, there is plenty of room to create something excellent.
Our recommended CPU comes with a stock cooler as standard. These stock coolers will handle your cooling efficiently and reliably. The stock coolers come with thermal paste pre-applied, saving you a job. That being said, we recommend you purchase some aftermarket thermal paste to replace it. Replacing the thermal paste will often bring better thermal performance and provide you with lower operating temps, you will need to replace it in future intervals.
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