I have a total budget of about $1,500–$2,000 for a complete desktop setup, including the tower, keyboard, and two monitors, so ideally I'd like to keep the PC itself near $1,000. Most of my gaming would be relatively light, but I'd also like to occasionally stream SteamVR games to a Quest headset and play demanding titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 at decent settings. My last PC build was around $1,000 nearly ten years ago, and I'm out of touch with current hardware and pricing. My current laptop has become painfully slow, and I've heard that graphics cards and memory have become especially expensive. Is roughly $1,000 enough for a respectable gaming PC that can handle VR, or should I plan on spending more or buying used parts?
4 Answers
For VR, Nvidia is generally the safer choice because of encoder quality and compatibility when streaming to a Quest headset. A new build around $1,000 would likely require compromises, especially with current GPU prices, but a used Nvidia-based system could provide much better value. Look for complete systems and compare the parts rather than judging only by the advertised graphics card.
The used market may be your best option, especially for the graphics card. In the U.S., you can sometimes find systems with an RTX 3060 or 3070 and a decent processor around this price, depending on the deal. Since you have access to a steady stream of local listings, it’s worth checking complete PCs as well as individual parts. Just test everything carefully and verify the exact components before buying.
Buying a complete prebuilt or used system can sometimes be cheaper than purchasing every component separately, particularly when sales or clearance pricing are involved. It’s still important to check the power supply, motherboard, cooling, upgrade options, and whether the advertised memory and storage are actually sufficient. For occasional VR and demanding games, prioritize the GPU and avoid spending too much of the budget on cosmetic features.
A $1,000 tower is possible, but fitting two monitors and peripherals into a $1,500–$2,000 total budget means making compromises. Keyboards and mice can be found for roughly $40 each, while decent high-refresh IPS monitors are often around $150 apiece. That leaves much more room for the tower if you use the full budget, and saving closer to $2,000 would make the build considerably easier. A modern midrange CPU, 32 GB of DDR5 memory, a 1 TB NVMe SSD, and a strong graphics card can make a very capable system, but current memory pricing is worth checking before finalizing the parts.
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