I'm tired of my laptop and want to build my first desktop gaming PC. I mainly play Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight, and League of Legends, and I'm aiming for a stable 120 FPS at 1080p on medium to high settings. I'd also like the system to stay reasonably quiet rather than sounding like a jet engine under load.
There isn't a strict budget, but I'd like to spend as little as reasonably possible without cutting corners on important components. Around €800–€1,000 would be ideal if that's enough for these goals. I'm located in Germany and still need a case recommendation. I may also be able to reuse the 1 TB SSD from my current laptop, although its SO-DIMM memory cannot be used in a standard desktop build.
4 Answers
If you want to avoid used parts, there are still sensible builds in this price range, but compare current German prices carefully. A Ryzen 5 5600 with a compatible AM4 board and DDR4 memory is a strong value option. AMD graphics cards generally offer good performance per euro for this kind of gaming, so an RX 9060 XT-class card is worth considering. For the case, choose based on appearance, but make sure it has a ventilated front and room for your graphics card; something like the Fractal North is attractive, though there are much cheaper practical options.
Prices for RAM, SSDs, and graphics cards can make a brand-new build less attractive, so checking reputable secondhand listings may reduce the cost substantially. Older cards such as an RTX 3060 or RTX 3070 could also be worth considering if the condition and price are good. Just test used hardware where possible and don’t compromise on the power supply.
A balanced new build around €900 could use a Ryzen 5 5600-class processor, a B550 motherboard, 16 GB of DDR4-3200 memory, a 1 TB NVMe SSD if you need one, and a midrange Radeon graphics card such as an RX 9060 XT. Add a 650 W Bronze-rated power supply and an affordable airflow-focused case. That combination should be well suited to 1080p gaming and your 120 FPS target, especially in League of Legends and Dead by Daylight.
Before finalizing the parts list, reuse anything useful from the laptop. Laptop SO-DIMM memory usually won’t work in a desktop motherboard, but a recently purchased 1 TB SSD may be reusable if it is a standard M.2 drive. That could free up money for the graphics card, which will matter most for reaching high frame rates at 1080p.
The laptop memory is SO-DIMM, so I can’t use it with a normal desktop board. The SSD is fairly new, though, and I’ll reuse that 1 TB drive in the new system.