I'm starting my gaming setup from scratch and have about $1,200 NZD to spend on the PC, which is roughly $700 USD. I mainly want to play Valorant, Fortnite, Minecraft, Rainbow Six Siege, and similar games at 1080p. I'm based in New Zealand, so local pricing and availability matter. I only have a desk and mouse so far, and I'd prefer an all-white build with a Ryzen processor rather than Intel. Any advice on parts or prebuilt options would be appreciated.
2 Answers
Since you mostly stick with a small selection of games instead of needing to run every new release, you can focus on strong 1080p performance rather than buying the newest parts. Fortnite and Minecraft can benefit quite a bit from CPU performance, but an older graphics card paired with an expensive high-end Ryzen chip may not be the best-balanced use of the budget. Try to split the money fairly evenly between the CPU, GPU, and the rest of the system, and check New Zealand retailers for bundle deals or used graphics cards.
$1,200 NZD is a tight budget for a complete build, especially with white parts and current memory and graphics-card prices. You may need to compromise on the color scheme, choose a more affordable case and motherboard, or consider a reputable prebuilt or second-hand GPU. For 1080p esports games, prioritize the graphics card and make sure the system has at least 16GB of RAM, with 32GB being preferable if the prices work out.
Memory prices have made this especially difficult lately. Even a basic 16GB DDR5 kit can take a surprisingly large portion of the budget, so comparing several stores is important.
I generally stick with the games I already enjoy, so I’m not too concerned about playing every major new release.