The Tech Buyer's Guru

The Best $1000 eSports Mini-ITX Gaming PC Build – April 2023

The Best $1000 eSports Mini-ITX Gaming PC Build – April 2023

By Ari Altman | Published April 16, 2023 | Updated April 16, 2023

SilverStone SG13 The Super-Compact Powerhouse!

While sales of PCs have been up and down over the past few years, there’s one area that’s growing at an amazing rate, and that’s eSports gaming PCs. What makes a gaming PC an eSports gaming PC? It’s simple: hitting the sweet spot on portability, price, and performance. This build will give you all that, along with the win in your next competition!

This Month’s Build, Powered by AMD

For April 2023, the $1,000 Mini-ITX Gaming PC Build starts with AMD’s value-packed Ryzen 5 5600, a six-core, 12-thread CPU that offers tremendous gaming performance per dollar. It’s by far the best value in its price range! We’re recommending you pair it with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT 8GB GPU for this build, which has dropped way down in price, making it the best budget GPU on the market!

In terms of storage, this build gets upgrades over past months thanks to falling prices, going with a faster 1TB PCIe-based solid-state drive, along with faster 16GB of DDR4-3600 RAM. Once you have all your new gear in hand, you’ll be powering it up with a 500W Gold-rated power supply and installing it in the easily portable SilverStone SG13 chassis, which clocks in at just 11.5 liters (that’s small!). Learn more about building a system in the SG13 from our hands-on how-to guide!

Parting Thoughts

We also list some of our very favorite peripherals for gamers looking for maximum performance at a fantastic price. Scroll all the way down to check them out! And if this build isn’t quite what you’re looking for, we have a feeling we have another solution that will for for you, so just flip over to our Introduction to Small Form Factor PCs to learn more about our other compact options.

We provide Amazon links for our readers in the United States, which will auto-convert for readers in Canada, the UK, and parts of the EU, with automatic substitutions made where necessary. If you decide to purchase any of the products listed below, please use the links provided, which helps support continued development of this guide.

The DIY Build

  • Click to Buy
    CPU –

    AMD Ryzen 5 5600

    $141
    AMD’s Zen 3 architecture made a huge splash in the PC industry. It beat Intel on a clock-for-clock basis for the first time in decades, and with far lower power consumption. The Ryzen 5 5600 is the perfect CPU for this build, thanks to its 6 fast cores and 12 total threads.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This CPU includes a 55mm-tall cooler that will work perfectly in this system!
  • Asrock B550m
    Click to Buy
    Motherboard –

    ASRock B550M-ITX/AC

    $130
    This B550-based mini-ITX board packs in a ton of features for the price. That includes full support for the latest AMD processors, overclocking capability, six USB ports (including a Type-C port), built-in 802.11ac wireless networking plus Bluetooth, and an M.2 SSD slot with integrated heatsink.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This board supports overclocking of the CPU, which has a lot of untapped potential!
  • PowerColor RX6600
    Click to Buy
    Video Card –

    PowerColor Radeon RX 6650 XT Fighter 8GB

    $280
    Get into your serious PC gaming today with the Radeon RX 6650 XT 8GB. It has plenty of power to tackle any modern game, easily beating every Nvidia GeForce GPU in its price range. And this model has a  powerful yet quiet dual-fan cooler to keep the GPU running at maximum boost!

    The Guru’s Tip

    This model is just 7.9" long, meaning it will easily fit in the case, which has a 10.6" limit.
  • G.Skill RipjawsV
    Click to Buy
    Memory –

    G.Skill 2x8GB Ripjaws V DDR4-3600 16-19-19

    $54
    To get the most out of DDR4 memory, you want high frequencies, and G.Skill’s Ripjaws V 2x8GB DDR4-3600 CL16 kit delivers! DDR4-3600 is the sweet spot in terms of compatibility with the majority of DDR4-based systems, but most kits have weak timings. This one, on the other hand, is the real deal: 16-19-19 at 1.35V, to be exact.

    The Guru’s Tip

    DDR4-3600 is a sweet spot for price/performance.
  • WD Blue SN570
    Click to Buy
    Solid-State Drive –

    WD Blue SN570 1TB NVMe

    $46
    WD knocked it out of the park with its high-performance yet bargain-priced SN570. Optimized for excellent real-world performance thanks to WD’s years of SSD development, it easily keeps up with much more expensive drives. This 1TB model can provide sequential read speeds of 3500MB/s and write speeds of 3500MB/s. Note that you’ll need a jeweler’s-type screwdriver to affix it.

    The Guru’s Tip

    Due to this drive's M.2 form factor, it will slip right into the motherboard, taking up zero space in your case, and eliminating typical SATA cable clutter!
  • Click to Buy
    Case –

    SilverStone SG13

    $65
    Coming in at under 12 liters, the SG13 created a whole new class of high-performance cases, and it’s still the only one available at a reasonable cost! There are smaller “kick-started” cases out there, but they often come with a whole lot of “gotchas”, one of which is always an exorbitant price! The SG13, on the other hand, is a value-packed option supported by the biggest name in the ITX industry, SilverStone. It can fit video cards up to 10.6″ long, and in its default configuration, CPU coolers up to 61mm tall.

    The Guru’s Tip

    CPU cooler clearance is bumped up by a few millimeters when using the slimmer SFX power supply and its included adapter, listed below, although for this build, we recommend sticking with the stock Intel cooler.
  • Click to Buy
    Power Supply –

    SilverStone SX500-G

    $125
    To power up this build, we recommend this awesome SFX unit. It’s fully modular, offers Gold-rated efficiency, and at 500W, has more than enough power to support this system.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This PSU requires the adapter below to be mounted in our recommended case.
  • Click to Buy
    Adapter –

    SilverStone PP08

    $16
    This nifty little component is what allows you to use an SFX-class power supply in this build, despite the case having only an ATX power supply bracket.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This bracket is required to mount the power supply we recommend. It provides up to 82mm of clearance for CPU coolers.
  • Microsoft Windows 11
    Click to Buy
    Operating System –

    Windows 11 Home (USB)

    $136
    Windows 11 take everything people loved about Windows 10, and then takes it to 11! It adds significant under-the-hood changes to make it faster and more secure, and of course, the interface is sleek too! This version ships on a convenient USB stick, allowing it to be easily installed by just plugging it in.

    The Guru’s Tip

    Win11 opens up whole new opportunities for gaming and productivity, and it's what you want on your new PC!

Optional Products

  • HyperX Cloud
    Click to Buy
    The Budget Wireless PC Headset –

    HyperX Cloud Stinger Core

    $60
    HyperX absolutely revolutionized the budget gaming headset market with the Stinger series, and the Cloud Stinger Core is its budget wireless offering. It has an ultra-lightweight design, 40mm drivers, and a convenient swing-down mic for better control. With up to 17 hours of battery life, it will go all day and then some!

    The Guru’s Tip

    This is the best wireless headset available for under $100!
  • Click to Buy
    The Budget Gaming Keyboard –

    Logitech G213 Gaming Keyboard

    $45
    Pick up a great keyboard at a great price with the G213. It’s quick, quiet, and responsive, and it also has sweet RGB backlighting, of course!

    The Guru’s Tip

    Note that while we really like wireless mice, we typically recommend wired keyboards unless you're shopping in the ultra-premium market, as wired keyboard don't need to move around much!
  • Razer Basilisk V3
    Click to Buy
    The Pro Gaming Mouse –

    Razer Basilisk V3 X HyperSpeed Wireless

    $69
    Offering cutting-edge performance, there’s nothing like the Basilisk V3 for anywhere near the price. Ultra-sensitive 18K sensor, mechanical switches, Razer’s awesome HyperSpeed wireless system with up to 285 hours of battery life, and perfect ergonomics. It’s a great mouse!

    The Guru’s Tip

    This mouse is priced like bottom-basement clones, but has the specs to compete with the very best! Don't be fooled into buying the no-name gear for a few dollars less (or more!).
  • AOC G2490VX
    Click to Buy
    The 24-inch 144Hz Gaming Monitor –

    AOC G2490VX 24″ 144Hz

    $120
    If you want to pick up a true “gaming” monitor, you want something with a high refresh rate. Luckily for you, AOC has been busy breaking down price barriers for high-refresh-rate monitors. This model features a 24″ 1920×1080 VA panel capable of displaying images at up to 144Hz, which makes it infinitely smoother than a standard 60Hz monitor that costs just a bit less. And thanks to its FreeSync technology, it will run with zero lag or screen-tearing.

    The Guru’s Tip

    Once you've experienced a frame-synced image, you'll never want anything else!

Pin It on Pinterest