I'm building my first gaming PC after moving on from Xbox and have already purchased a Ryzen 7 5800XT and an RX 7800 XT 16GB. My total budget is under $1,000 for the complete system, excluding peripherals, and I've spent about $603.58 so far. I'm located in the United States, specifically Nebraska.
I'm looking for the smallest reasonably priced case I can use. It needs at least 155mm of CPU-cooler clearance and 340mm of GPU clearance, and I'd strongly prefer an all-black design. I'll mainly be playing games such as Helldivers 2, Mortal Shell 2, Elden Ring, and competitive esports titles. Recommendations for affordable peripherals are welcome too.
3 Answers
The Cooler Master Q300L V2 could be a good fit, especially if you find an open-box one around $40. Some people criticize its airflow, but it can work fine with sensible fan placement. Just verify the exact cooler and graphics-card clearances before ordering, since they can vary by component and configuration.
For a gaming-focused build, 16GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD may be more useful than 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD right now, especially if you’re trying to stay under budget. You can always add another memory kit or storage drive later. For an inexpensive mouse, the Logitech G305 is a solid option and is often available for under $30.
Since you’ve already spent roughly $603.58 on the CPU and GPU, you have about $396 left for the rest of the system. Used and open-box parts could help a lot, particularly for the motherboard, memory, storage, power supply, and case. Buying from reputable retailers or checking local listings carefully is a better approach than overpaying for brand-new parts.
Both the CPU and GPU were purchased used, so I’m comfortable considering used parts where it makes sense. I’ll still avoid anything suspicious and inspect listings carefully.