The Tech Buyer's Guru

The Best $1000 Mid-Range Gaming PC Build – April 2025

The Best $1000 Mid-Range Gaming PC Build – April 2025

By Ari Altman | Published April 7, 2025 | Updated April 8, 2025

SilverStone PS15 RGB

A Mainstream Gaming PC to Grow With!

Looking to build the best gaming PC possible for $1000? This guide will set you up! We recommend components that offer excellent performance, quiet operation, and ease of assembly, all at a great price. If you’re ready to build a PC that can handle any game you throw at it, just follow this guide to get the best component picks.

This Month’s Build, Powered by Intel and AMD!

For April 2025, the $1000 Gaming PC Build goes with what may be Intel’s best ever value, the legendary Core i5-12400F, a six-core, 12-thread CPU that beats anything AMD currently has in its price range. It will be supporting the best GPU available for around $400, this one from AMD: the Radeon RX 7700 XT 12GB. It easily beats Nvidia’s RTX 4060 Ti 8GB at the same pricepoint, while offering 50% more VRAM for much better future-proofing. Simply put, the 12400F/7700 XT combination provides unbeatable gaming value.

But this system is about more than a fast CPU and GPU. Keeping this build fed are 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, plus a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 solid-state drive, which provides plenty of fast storage to get your system running. This build is housed in an affordable and high-airflow SilverStone micro-ATX case and powered by an efficient, high-output 550W power supply.

Parting Thoughts

If you need a monitor or peripherals, you can check out our dedicated guides, although we also have some great recommendations for you at the end of this guide. Note that we provide dedicated links to Amazon in the US, which will auto-convert for readers in Canada, the UK, and parts of the EU, with regional substitutions made based on availability. To support this site, please use these links if you purchase any of the products we list.

The Pre-Built Option

  • Skytech Nebula
    Click to Buy
    The Mainstream Gaming Desktop –

    Skytech Nebula 5600/RTX 4060 Ti

    $1100
    Start gaming today on this great pre-built system from Skytech. It features the impressive AMD Ryzen 5 5600 6-core, 12-thread CPU, along with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB video card. Also onboard are 16GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB solid-state drive, and wireless networking.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This pre-built will perform very similarly to what we spec out as a DIY build below, offering speed that's within 10% overall.

The DIY Option

  • Intel Core i5
    Click to Buy
    CPU –

    Intel Core i5-12400F

    $109
    The 12th-Gen “Alder Lake” CPUs are Intel’s most impressive release in a decade, and the Core i5-12400F offers the best value not only among Alder Lake CPUs, but among any CPU ever released! Packing in 6 performance cores and 6 additional threads, it can easily beat any CPU at its pricepoint, including everything from AMD! The “F” version of the 12400 does not include onboard graphics, but that’s fine for this build, which uses a separate video card.

    The Guru’s Tip

    Note that this CPU includes a cooler, and we recommend you use it to keep the budget in check.
  • H610
    Click to Buy
    Motherboard –

    MSI PRO H610M-G WiFi DDR4

    $120
    This board is an amazingly low-cost way to step into Intel’s socket 1700 platform. It’s the perfect match for a budget build, offering up a PCIe x16 Gen 4 slot for graphics cards, a PCIe x1 Gen 3 slot, an M.2 slot, two RAM slots, and six USB ports. This model also has built-in WiFi 5.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This board is an mATX model - make sure not to purchase an ATX board, which will not fit in the case we recommend.
  • RX 6700 XT
    Click to Buy
    Video Card –

    Sapphire Radeon RX 7700XT 12GB Pulse

    $460
    The Radeon RX 7700 XT 12GB has impressive gaming power, beating Nvidia’s similarly-priced offerings by a huge margin. Plus, it has the added advantage of 12GB of VRAM, which makes it much more future-proof too!

    The Guru’s Tip

    This video card is just over 11" long, so it will fit easily in the compact case we recommend, which has 12.3" of clearance. Note that many 7700XT models are too long! Also keep in mind that video cards are selling out daily at retail, so you may wish to go for the pre-built system we list earlier in this guide to get gaming faster!
  • Silicon Power
    Click to Buy
    Memory –

    Silicon Power 2x8GB DDR4-3200

    $27
    You can now squeeze a whole lot of performance and capacity into your system by going with this budget-priced 16GB DDR4-3200 kit. It will help you make the most of your snazzy new system!

    The Guru’s Tip

    The motherboard we recommend uses DDR4 memory - and that's of course what we spec here.
  • MP44L
    Click to Buy
    Solid-State Drive –

    TeamGroup MP44L 1TB PCIe 4.0

    $60
    The MP44L PCIe 4.0, which blows past previous PCIe Gen3-based drives by harnessing the power of the PCIe Gen4 interface, is an absolute bargain of a high-end drive. It can hit up to 5,000MB/s in sequential operations!

    The Guru’s Tip

    This drive gives you plenty of storage for games at a great price!
  • SilverStone PS15 Pro
    Click to Buy
    Case –

    SilverStone PS15 Pro

    $84
    This stylish, modern mATX case offers great performance and flexibility in a compact package. Mesh panels in the front and top provide great ventilation, and the three included 120mm fans (two with ARGB lighting) will make the most of it! On top you’ll find two USB ports plus microphone and headphone jacks, and on the side is a tempered glass panel that offers great views of the interior. It has space for a CPU cooler up to 154mm tall, and a video card up to 12.3″ long.

    The Guru’s Tip

    Being a micro-ATX case, this will only fit micro-ATX motherboards, which is what we spec for this build.
  • Click to Buy
    Power Supply –

    SilverStone ET550-B

    $63
    The ET550-B offers up 550W of Bronze-rated power, a quiet 120mm fan, and an all-black flat cable design, and comes from one of the respected names in the PC industry.

    The Guru’s Tip

    Please avoid no-name PSUs from brands like RaidMax, Apevia, and Aresgame. They are complete junk, but this one is the real deal!
  • Microsoft Windows 11
    Click to Buy
    Operating System –

    Windows 11 Home (USB) @Newegg

    $139
    Windows 11 built on everything people loved about Windows 10, and then took 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! Note that we’re linking to Newegg, because Amazon long ago stopped selling this physical USB version of Windows, which is the most convenient one to use.

    The Guru’s Tip

    With the end of support for Win10 having been announced, Win11 is definitely what you what you want on your new PC!

Optional Products

  • E248B-FPT168
    Click to Buy
    The 24-inch 165Hz Gaming Monitor –

    Sceptre E248B-FPT168 24″ 165Hz

    $120
    If you want to pick up a true “gaming” monitor, you want something with a high refresh rate. Luckily for you, Sceptre has been busy breaking down price barriers for high-refresh-rate monitors. This model features a 24″ 1920×1080 IPS panel (superior to TN or VA!), capable of displaying images at up to 165Hz, 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

    A monitor like this would have cost well over $200 a year ago!
  • Apex 3
    Click to Buy
    The Budget Gaming Keyboard –

    SteelSeries Apex 3

    $43
    Pick up a great keyboard at a great price with the Apex 3. It’s quick, quiet, and responsive, and it also has sweet RGB backlighting, of course!

    The Guru’s Tip

    There are a lot of knock-off keyboards on the market selling for around the same price - our advice: avoid them!
  • Click to Buy
    The Mid-Range Gaming Mouse –

    Logitech G502 Hero

    $38
    Get a jump on your competition with this awesome gaming mouse from Logitech, which features a next-gen 16,000dpi sensor and a classic ergonomic shape!

    The Guru’s Tip

    This mouse has been copied but never duplicated!
  • HyperX Cloud Stinger 2
    Click to Buy
    The Bargain Gaming Headset –

    HyperX Cloud Stinger 2

    $40
    HyperX absolutely revolutionized the budget gaming headset market with the original Cloud Stinger, and has taken it up a notch with the Stinger 2. It retains the original’s big 50mm drivers, but has an updated rotating cup design and swing-down mic for better comfort and control. It also adds DTS Headphone:X for virtual 7.1  surround sound, making it is an unbeatable value.

    The Guru’s Tip

    This headset's ultralight weight makes it easy to wear all day!