What’s the best AMD gaming PC build around a $1,000 budget?

You can save some money on the case and power supply, then put the difference toward a Ryzen 5 5600 instead of the Ryzen 5 5500. The 5500 is noticeably weaker because it has less cache and is closer to a laptop-oriented design. A 5600 would be a better match for gaming while still keeping the build comfortably under budget.

With a $1,000 budget, it may be worth considering an AM5 system rather than investing in the older AM4 platform. Even if you start with a single 16GB memory stick, adding another module later would give you more capacity and dual-channel performance. For the graphics card, a used RX 6750 XT or RTX 3080 could offer considerably more performance than an RX 7600, although you should check condition and power requirements carefully. If buying new, a card with more VRAM would also be a sensible choice for longer-term use.

Another balanced configuration can fit just under $1,000 by allocating more of the budget toward the graphics card while using reasonably priced supporting parts. That should provide a better gaming experience than overspending on the motherboard or power supply. If your friend can stretch the budget to around $1,100, stepping up to a higher-tier card such as an RX 9060 XT-class model could be worthwhile, especially for newer games.