What is the best possible mostly gaming PC I can get with a budget of around $1,200-$1,250?

Methodz

I am looking into getting my first custom PC and my budget is about $1,200-$1,250. So I am wondering what the best possible PC I could get with that budget.

TheITDad

So I went with ryzen for this build mostly for two reasons.  The cost right now, and the ability to upgrade to ryzen 4000 series next year or further down the road.  Which means this Mobo could in theory last for quite some time.  And by doing this I was able to get you a 2070 super as your GPU which will get you in the door to decent 1440p gaming, and allow for any game max settings well above 100fps at 1080.  Now I didn't include any peripherals or a copy of windows 10.  So if you need those we would have to redo the build because it will take more than just swapping some parts to squeeze a monitor and keyboard/mouse in here.  But if you want a win10 key, I would suggest dropping down to a 2060/2060 super.  With 2060's going as low as 300 you should be able to get a win 10 key for 140 or less.  But if you don't mind a water mark then there are other ways.  Enjoy and have fun.

Configure Your PC: https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=9ad19607-996c-4ffd-9df4-f9a452d75bec

CPU: (1) AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Matisse 3.6GHz 6-Core AM4 Boxed Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler ($159.99 EACH)

Motherboard: (1) ASUS X570 TUF Gaming Plus (WI-FI) AMD AM4 ATX Motherboard ($189.99 EACH)

RAM: (1) G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3600 PC4-28800 CL16 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit F4-3600C16D-16GVKC - Black ($82.99 EACH)

Case: (1) Lian Li 205 Tempered Glass ATX Computer Case - Black ($69.99 EACH)

Power Supply: (1) EVGA SuperNOVA 550 G3 550 Watt 80 Plus Gold ATX Fully Modular Power Supply ($119.99 EACH)

Video Card: (1) EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER BLACK GAMING Overclocked Dual-Fan 8GB GDDR6 PCIe 3.0 Graphics Card ($519.99 EACH)

M.2 SSD: (1) Inland Premium 256GB SSD 3D NAND M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive ($41.99 EACH)

Hard Drive: (1) Seagate BarraCuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA III 6Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 EACH)

Total: $1,239.92

PowerSpec_MichaelB

Once again, @TheITDad hits it out of the park with his recommendations. To add on to what he mentioned in his post, if you do not have any peripherals (mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc) it may be worth compromising a little on the graphics card for a better overall experience. An RTX 2070 Super won't do you any good if you are gaming on an old 1080p 60hz display with no variable refresh technology (Freesync, G-Sync). The RTX 2060 can be found for around $300 on average, and the $200-$220 saved can be put towards a good gaming monitor as well as a keyboard/mouse. https://www.microcenter.com/product/618231/evga-geforce-rtx-2060-ko-overclocked-dual-fan-6gb-gddr6-pcie-30-graphics-card paired with https://www.microcenter.com/product/609372/asus-vg248qg-24-full-hd-165hz-hdmi-dp-dvi-freesync-g-sync-compatible-led-gaming-monitor gives you a solid 165hz buttery smooth 1080p gaming experience, which the RTX 2060 can easily do. It also supports G-Sync compatible mode, which you can enable on your Nvidia GPU: https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/2833/tech-article-how-to-enable-nvidia-g-sync-compatible-mode

If you already have a gaming monitor and a solid keyboard/mouse, the RTX 2070 Super is about 30% faster than the standard RTX 2060, so its definitely worth the investment, especially if you want to play AAA titles at a higher resolution or higher settings on your games while maintaining a solid refresh rate.