Where should I start when building a high-end gaming PC with a $5,000 budget?

Common retailers such as Amazon, Newegg, and nearby computer stores are reasonable places to shop, but check whether the item is sold directly by the retailer or by a third-party marketplace seller. Compare prices, read the return policy, and verify the warranty before buying. Local stores can also assemble the system if you aren’t comfortable doing it yourself.

Before buying anything, watch a few complete beginner build guides and learn the basics of installing the CPU, cooler, memory, storage, and graphics card. For an $8K/60 FPS target, make sure the display actually supports that resolution and refresh rate; otherwise, a strong 4K high-refresh setup may offer a much better experience for substantially less money.

For a high-end build, you could look at a current gaming-focused CPU, 32–64 GB of DDR5 memory, a fast NVMe SSD, a high-end graphics card, and a quality 850–1,000 W power supply. You probably don’t need the most expensive motherboard or PCIe 5.0 storage to get excellent gaming performance, so put most of the budget toward the GPU and monitor.

Start by defining the resolution and frame-rate target, since “max settings” can mean very different things. For comparing parts and checking compatibility, a build-planning site such as PCPartPicker is a good starting point. A $5,000 budget is extremely high for a gaming PC, though the very top-end graphics card may consume a huge portion of it because of current pricing.