The Best $1750 Advanced Gaming PC Build – October 2023

By Ari Altman | Published October 11, 2023 | Updated October 11, 2023

Note: This guide is no longer updated. Please see our $1500 Build or $2000 Build for the most current component recommendations.

High-End Performance with a Touch of Class!

If you’re after the perfect blend of power, efficiency, and usability in a PC, look no further than our $1,750 Advanced Gaming PC. This system combines some of our favorite components to deliver what we believe is the ideal all-around PC. Yes, this system can run all the latest games with ease, but what’s really great about this system is that it offers a fantastic balance of speed, silence, and style.

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

For October 2023, the $1,750 Advanced Gaming PC Build starts with Intel’s shockingly-fast Core i5-13600KF 14-core, 20-thread CPU. It’s by far the best gaming processor in its price range, clobbering everything AMD offers. It’s backing up an absolute beast of a GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT 16GB, which may be a generation old now, but thanks to a steep price cut, delivers incredible performance per dollar, far more than the competing RTX 4070!

This system also features a huge number of hop-ups versus previous months, thanks to price drops. That includes 32GB of high-speed DDR5-6400 RAM, along with a high-performance 2TB PCIe Gen 4 solid-state drive, perfect for all your gaming or productivity needs. Topping it all off is an efficient 850W power supply, a highly-effective 120mm tower cooler, and an awesome high-airflow tempered glass case from SilverStone!

Parting Thoughts

If you need to accessorize your new build, you’ll find our top picks for a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to pair with this system. For even more ideas, check out our Monitor Buyer’s Guide and Peripherals Buyer’s Guide! Throughout our guides, we provide direct links to Amazon, which will auto-convert for readers in the UK, Canada, and many countries in the EU. Your use of these links helps support continued development of these guides!

The Pre-Built Option

Click to Buy

The Premium Gaming PC –
Skytech Chronos 12700F/RTX 4070 Ti
$1700

Hot DEAL! Jump into high-end gaming today without needing to build your own rig! Featuring a liquid-cooled Intel Core i7-12700F 12-core, 20-thread processor, the awesome GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB GPU, plus 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 1TB NVMe solid-state drive, it’s ready to take on the latest games!

The Guru’s Tip
As of our latest update, this is a shockingly good deal, and well worth considering over our DIY build below.

The DIY Option

Click to Buy

CPU –
Intel Core i5-13600KF
$207

The 13600KF is simply revolutionary in terms of performance across the board. With a total of 14 cores (6 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores), and a total of 20 threads (yes, it’s getting hard to keep up!), it can handle just about anything. And for gaming in particular, it offers simply incredible performance per dollar, beating everything AMD has, while nearly matching its big brothers in the Core i7/i9 lines.

The Guru’s Tip
This CPU does not come with a cooler, so make sure to get the aftermarket model we recommend later in this guide!
Click to Buy

Motherboard –
Gigabyte Z790 UD AC
$180

Gigabyte packs tons of value into its Ultra Durable “UD” series motherboard, and this Socket 1700 model is a perfect match for Intel’s latest CPUs. It features three M.2 slots (all being Gen 4 x4), a PCIe Gen 5 video card slot, ten USB ports (including a Type-C port), and integrated WiFi.

The Guru’s Tip
We recommend DDR5 boards exclusively at this point, so of course we match this with DDR5 RAM later in this guide.
Click to Buy

Video Card –
XFX Radeon RX 6950 XT 16GB MERC319
$621

Step into gaming today with a video card that puts Nvidia high-end GPUs to shame, the RX 6950 XT from AMD’s partner XFX. This card can take on any game and put up amazing framerates! Plus, the custom triple-slot, triple-fan cooler looks great and works even better! It offers performance equal to the GeForce RTX 3090 and better than the RTX 4070!

The Guru’s Tip
This card is much faster than the RTX 4070, on the order of 20% in typical games.
Click to Buy

Memory –
G.Skill 2x16GB Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6400 CL32
$115

For the ultimate in speed, you must go with DDR5 RAM, but not just any DDR5 RAM, because you need high-frequency DDR5 to blow past DDR4 RAM performance. And that’s what you get with G.Skill’s Trident Z5 kit running at DDR5-6400 with timings of 32-39-39-102 at 1.40V. This is the real deal when it comes to DDR5 performance!

The Guru’s Tip
Remember to engage the XMP profile in the UEFI to take advantage of the full speed of this RAM kit.
Click to Buy

Solid-State Drive –
Lexar NM790 2TB
$148

Lexar knocked it out of the park with its ultra-high-performance, bargain-priced NM790 PCIe Gen 4 drive. Optimized for excellent real-world performance, it easily keeps up with much more expensive drives. This 2TB model can provide sequential read speeds of 7400MB/s and write speeds of 6500MB/s.

The Guru’s Tip
While a high-capacity Gen 4 drive was once nothing but a luxury, the prices have dropped so much that you might as well splurge!
Click to Buy

Case –
SilverStone FARA 514X
$100

The FARA 514X offers awesome style and great performance at a very impressive price. It has four high-quality 120mm ARGB fans plus a built-in ARGB hub, and a tempered glass side panel to show off your components. And up top it features dual USB Type-A ports plus a Type-C port. It also features a couple of upgrades you don’t typically see on cases at this pricepoint, including a built-in GPU support bracket to prevent sagging, plus a full metal mesh front panel for looks and durability. This is an all-around winner!

The Guru’s Tip
The RGB lighting on the case's fans can be controlled via the motherboard using the 3-pin ARGB header.
Click to Buy

Power Supply –
Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 850W 80+ Gold
$110

While nearly all high-end units from reputable manufacturers have increased dramatically in price over the past few years, this 850W Gold-rated model from Thermaltake is a true value, despite top-end specs. That includes a 140mm fan with fluid dynamic bearings, a zero-fan mode for silence at low load levels, and fully-modular cables.

The Guru’s Tip
This high-quality unit vastly undercuts the competition in price, and the components will make good use of its capacity - this system will pull nearly 600W at load!
Click to Buy

CPU Cooler –
Scythe Fuma 3
$50

With the Fuma 3, the best gets better, and amazingly enough, cheaper too! Perhaps the most innovative of all 120mm tower designs, the third incarnation of the Fuma returns to its roots, coming in at a price very similar to the original Fuma, but with far greater performance, better looks, and the best compatibility of any high-performance cooler. Thanks to its offset design, it’s just 154mm tall, and completely clears the RAM slots on any board. The Fuma 3 improves upon even the Fuma 2 with its on-trend blacked-out look, along with its updated Kaze Flex II fans that spin at up to 1500RPM. They continue to feature a trick no other manufacturer has grasped – counter-rotating blades for a “vortex” effect. Frankly, this is our favorite cooler at any price!

The Guru’s Tip
This cooler includes the socket 1700 mounting kit you'll need to use it with the modern Intel CPU.
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
Windows 11 is what you want on your gaming PC to get maximum performance!

Optional Products

Click to Buy

The 27" 2560x1440 Gaming Monitor –
Sceptre E275B-QPT168
$250

Sceptre is all about deliver inconspicuously-named monitors with out-of-this-world value! This one packs in a big 27″ 2560 x 1440 IPS panel, a 165Hz refresh rate and FreeSync Premium for ultra-smooth framerates, dual Displayports (which support that 165Hz refresh rate), dual HDMI 2.0 ports (which run at 144Hz), plus built-in speakers. To get it set up just right, it has a height-adjustable stand, unheard of in this price range. It even includes a Displayport cable in the box, which is what you want to use to get the most out of this monitor!

The Guru’s Tip
This model will pair perfectly with the video card we recommend!
Click to Buy

The Mechanical Gaming Keyboard –
SteelSeries Apex 7
$149

SteelSeries has always delivered an amazing blend of performance and value for gamers, and the stylish and responsive Apex 7 is a perfect example of that. It has Cherry MX Red linear switches, an aircraft-grade aluminum alloy chassis, RGB illumination, and a premium magnetic wrist rest. And it has one thing none of its competitors offer: an OLED smart display for adjusting and tracking settings.

The Guru’s Tip
Once you go mechanical, you won't go back!
Click to Buy

The Pro Gaming Mouse –
Razer Basilisk V3 X HyperSpeed Wireless
$45

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
Razer's Hyperspeed wireless technology makes the Basilisk more responsive than most wired mice!
Click to Buy

The Budget Wireless PC Headset –
‎SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless
$95

SteelSeries has made a name for itself in the gaming headset world with its no-nonsense focus on performance. The Arctis 1 follows in this tradition with high-end drivers, lossless 2.4 GHz wireless for ultra-low latency wireless connectivity on both PC and PS4/PS5, a detachable bidirectional microphone, and 20 hours of battery life.

The Guru’s Tip
There are few peripherals that benefit more in terms of usability from going wireless than a headset!