This Zen 4 chip is still among the fastest gaming CPUs on the market. It's got 96MB of L3 thanks to AMD's explosive 3D V-Cache, along with eight cores and 16 threads. It also features a maximum boost clock of 5.0 GHz.
A basic air cooler for this processor is totally adequate, and the Cooler Master Hyper 212 in stealthy black is something of a household name round these parts.
A powerful AM5 motherboard that will host our CPU and DDR5 RAM without breaking a sweat. This board gives us Wi-Fi 7 performance, plenty of USB ports, good PCIe expansion, and more.
A major upgrade in our build this time around is this 9070 XT, a fully-fledged 4K GPU that elevates our rig to full 4K gaming readiness.
Yes, you're reading that right, 32GB of DDR5 RAM now costs $272.99. This is one of the best and cheapest kits we could find on the market right now.
A welcome upgrade from our summer build, this 990 Pro is still one of the best SSDs out there, and now just $169, making it excellent value in the 2TB category. You can always go for 1TB if you want to save even more money. Price increases are starting to impact SSDs, so this is another sore point over previous builds.
The Corsair Frame 4000D is a case with some great new design characteristics. An emphasis on modularity lets you swap out parts of the case and choose different fan sizes to suit your preferences, thanks to Corsair's InfiniRail system.
Mesh panels and three included 120mm fans allow high airflow for cooling, and inside the case, there are cutouts for motherboards with backside cabling and a built-in GPU support bracket.
Montech's Century II PSU provides us with more than enough power at 850W capacity to power everything onboard here. You can always bump up to the 1050W model, but there's really no need to.
This is more than we've priced out for our "mid-range build" in the past, so we're in at around $1,800 rather than the $1,600 of previous attempts. Crucially, however, the extra cash spent on that 9070 XT is going to pay dividends in real 4K gaming performance. If you have to swallow RAM and SSD price increases, we figure you may as well get 4K gaming readiness in the bargain. Check out our best monitor deals this Black Friday season if you need a great display to go with this powerful build.
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/we-put-together-an-usd1-800-4k-gaming-pc-built-completely-with-parts-on-sale-for-black-friday#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- Colossal Seagate 26TB HDD drops to $249.99, just over $9 per TB — shuckable high-capacity external drive smashes all-time Amazon low
- Thieves are starting to steal RAM now that it's as expensive as gold — a memory kit disappears in the snail mail at four in the morning with a bogus signature
- We put together an $1,800 4K gaming PC built completely with parts on sale for Black Friday
- Pulsar releases Bruce Lee-themed peripherals to celebrate his 85th birthday — options include keyboard, mice, and mouse pads
- Revitalize your gaming PC with a 1000W power supply at a special 35% discount — Corsair RM1000x drops to an all-time low of $119
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.