The Best $1000 eSports Mini-ITX Gaming PC Build – February 2023
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 February 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 a fast 1TB PCIe-based solid-state drive, along with 16GB of DDR4-3200 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
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CPU –
AMD Ryzen 5 5600
$140 The Guru’s TipThis CPU includes a 55mm-tall cooler that will work perfectly in this system!
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Motherboard –
ASRock A520M-ITX/AC
$137 The Guru’s TipNote that ITX boards are always in short supply, so a backorder may be necessary.
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Video Card –
PowerColor Radeon RX 6650 XT Fighter 8GB
$300 The Guru’s TipThis model is just 7.9" long, meaning it will easily fit in the case, which has a 10.6" limit.
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Memory –
Corsair 2x8GB Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200
$49 The Guru’s TipDDR4-3200 is a sweet spot for price/performance.
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Solid-State Drive –
Silicon Power 1TB NVMe
$52 The Guru’s TipDue 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!
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Case –
SilverStone SG13
$65 The Guru’s TipCPU 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.
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Power Supply –
SilverStone SX500-G
$110 The Guru’s TipThis PSU requires the adapter below to be mounted in our recommended case.
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Adapter –
SilverStone PP08
$13 The Guru’s TipThis bracket is required to mount the power supply we recommend. It provides up to 82mm of clearance for CPU coolers.
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Operating System –
Windows 11 Home USB
$139 The Guru’s TipWin11 opens up whole new opportunities for gaming and productivity, and it's what you want on your new PC!
Optional Products
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The Budget Wireless PC Headset –
HyperX Cloud Stinger Core
$79 The Guru’s TipThis is the best wireless headset available for under $100!
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The Budget Gaming Keyboard –
Logitech G213 Gaming Keyboard
$40 The Guru’s TipNote 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!
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The Pro Gaming Mouse –
Razer Basilisk X HyperSpeed Wireless
$35 The Guru’s TipThis 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!).
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The 24-inch 144Hz Gaming Monitor –
AOC G2490VX 24″ 144Hz
$131 The Guru’s TipOnce you've experienced a frame-synced image, you'll never want anything else!
Total Cost: $1005
The DIY Build
- CPU – AMD Ryzen 5 5600 ($140)
- Motherboard – ASRock A520M-ITX/AC ($137)
- Video Card – PowerColor Radeon RX 6650 XT Fighter 8GB ($300)
- Memory – Corsair 2x8GB Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 ($49)
- Solid-State Drive – Silicon Power 1TB NVMe ($52)
- Case – SilverStone SG13 ($65)
- Power Supply – SilverStone SX500-G ($110)
- Adapter – SilverStone PP08 ($13)
- Operating System – Windows 11 Home USB ($139)