Best gaming PC under $3000 – 3K PC build & prebuilt

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Our $3000 Custom Gaming PC
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Best Gaming PC Under $3000

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Today we’re going to be looking at our best gaming PC for under $3000. It’s a build that can handle pretty much anything you have to throw at it, including 4K gaming and virtual reality.

We’re talking about a PC build that has one of the best graphics cards money can buy paired with high-speed RAM, and quality components across the board. At this price point, you leave behind compromises and concentrate on extracting the maximum amount of performance and aesthetics from your build.

With a $3000 price budget, you have the luxury of being able to tailor this build to your exact specifications. We’ve opted for a system that has maximum performance power, and beautiful aesthetics rolled into one. Before we take a look at what’s in this build, let’s go over exactly what we expect from this goliath gaming PC.

What You Get For Your $3000

The first thing most of us consider when looking to build a new gaming PC is the budget. It pretty much dictates what performance your new build will be capable of and how aesthetically pleasing it will be.

Having said that, with a budget of $3000, those compromises and sacrifices become much less frequent. Want a powerful GPU? No problem. What about the best CPU on the market? That’s absolutely fine as well. With a $3k budget, you have the freedom to create a build that suits your requirements to the absolute tee.

Performance

After you’ve established what budget you have to play with, the next most important aspect to consider is the performance. Let’s be honest, this is a gaming PC, and you want the absolute best performance for your money. You’ll be glad to know that at $3,000, performance is not something you need to worry about.

From a gaming point of view, the $3k build is going to be able to handle anything you throw at it. Yes, that means gaming at 4k in ultra settings, play any VR game you can think of, and multitasking to your heart’s content. This thing can do it all.

At the heart of this build lies one of AMD’s powerful Ryzen CPUs. Paired alongside that is the best consumer-grade graphics card, this combination has enough power to run every AAA game title at 4k in ultra settings. Furthermore, streaming, multitasking, and hugely taxing workloads will become a seamless, enjoyable task on this rig.

With this build, you won’t have to worry about game specs for quite some time; it’s the definition of an ultimate gaming PC.

AMD Vs. Intel

Thanks to the huge budget given to us, we had a chance to explore an AMD build and an Intel build, both of which showcased hugely impressive in-game and workload performance. Ultimately, we decided to run with the AMD build as it beats the competition in a number of different gaming/workload scenarios.

How We Choose

Our team has years of experience behind them, building PCs for a range of needs and budgets. All this knowledge, combined with hours of research, user feedback, and onsite benchmarking, is what goes into choosing the best components for our builds.

We look for value for money, how the components perform together and focus on gamers’ needs to make sure our builds are the best your budget can buy.

We build all these PCs ourselves, in-house, so trust us when we say we want to make them as good as possible. We actually use all these builds ourselves day-to-day in the WePC offices.

How We Test

We build each of our selected PC’s from scratch to make sure all the parts we recommend work well together, fit into the selected case, and provide the best performance possible for the price range.

Once built, the PCs are used in the office for everyday work as well as a range of games from light to heavy-duty. While we test, we also run benchmarking tests to see how well our builds perform, all while keeping an eye on the temperature of the components themselves.

We tested our AMD builds against their Intel counterparts and found that these CPUs performed better across the board, and for a lower price. This is why we only recommend an AMD version.

NOTE: Due to the ongoing effects of the global coronavirus pandemic, some retailers are experiencing stock issues. WePC constantly updates our pages to reflect current availability, so if the PC you want shows as out of stock, check back later or check out these alternatives.

Prebuilt Gaming Desktop Under $3000

By now, you should have a pretty good idea of whether or not you’re going to be able to tackle this $3,000 custom build. If you’ve gotten to this stage and you think it might be too big of a challenge, then fear not, we have you covered. I mean, custom PC building isn’t the easiest thing to do if you’re a newbie.

For people who want the same punching power as our $3k build, along with software and a warranty, then why not check out this list of suitable prebuilt gaming PCs that take the stress of PC building away.

Here are our best $3000 prebuilt gaming PC recommendations:

Our Recommended Custom Build Details

  • Last Updated - Jul 17, 2023

If you’re looking for the absolute best results, whether that be gaming or workstation tasks, then look no further. The $3000 high-end gaming PC will handle everything you have to throw at it, and all in stunning 4K high-definition visuals. Let’s check out the parts that make this build in a little bit more detail.

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Our $3000 Custom Gaming PC

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At this price range, no compromises need to be made to accommodate the budget. The best gaming PC under  $3000 literally does it all. It comes equipped with one of the best GPUs money can buy – paired alongside a stunning CPU that is the best in its class.

The Ryzen 9 7900X is, without a doubt, one of the best all-round CPUs on the market right now.

The powerful chip is part of AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 lineup, which is slowly becoming renowned for knocking Intel off the CPU top spot for the first time in, well, as long as I can remember.

It boasts an impressive 12-core/24-thread design, which makes it more than capable of handling the most intensive workload scenarios. Its single-core performance is still extremely high and is generally considered the best CPU currently available for the price.

Asus is no stranger when it comes to providing high-quality motherboards. Their ROG Strix X670E-E gaming WIFI 6E moderl is a fine example of premium. It might be one of the best X670 motherboards currently available thanks to the excellent build quality, high performance, and features.

This board features excellent VRMs, a bunch of M.2 slots for future upgrades, and plenty of PCI-e lanes, including PCI-e 5.0, and wifi6E.

We have selected the Corsair H150i Elite Capellix to take care of your 7900X. This AIO liquid cooler features three 120mm fans, which are, of course, quiet and RGB. The radiator is 360mm, giving you plenty of room for heat dissipation and keeping those fierce temps down, and installation is very straightforward.

When you look up the perfect RAM pairing for a Ryzen 7000 CPU, fast speeds are easy to come by, however, the G.Skill Trident Z5  NEO RGB 6000MHz RAM kit is an excellent choice for this type of build.

With 32GB at your disposal, you’ll be able to run every game you could imagine, plus stream, multi-task, and do plenty of heavy workloads too.

The $3000 build was designed with gaming performance in mind, for that reason, the first component that was chosen for this build was the immensely powerful RTX 3090. It comes to the table boasting an impressive 24GB of GDDR6X VRAM and an impressive cooling solution.

If you’re after one of the best consumer-grade graphics cards money can buy, look no further, this will play any game, in any setting, at any resolution.

Having a rapid SSD for your operating system and primary games is essential in the modern age of PC gaming.

SSDs, on average, offer massively increased performance over their HDD counterparts. The same difference can be said for M.2 SSDs over SATA ones. This Sabrent Rocket  M.2 is one of the highest performing SSDs on the market and has a 1TB storage capacity, which is more than enough for your O/s, most of your games, and some backup media storage as well.

Corsair is widely known as one of the biggest case manufacturers in the business.

They offer extremely high-quality cases with superb aesthetics and endless features geared towards gamers. This case makes building the $3000 custom PC a joy even if you’re a newcomer to custom builds.

Aesthetically, we haven’t got a bad thing to say about this case. The tempered glass works superbly with the RGB components inside and the airflow can be increased with removable panels.

A safe and efficient PSU is essential for a build of this quality, and that’s why we’ve gone for the popular Crossair RMx 850W gold-rated PSU. It offers superb efficiency and enough power to allow maximum overclocking potential from this PC.

It is gold-rated, which means it’s extremely safe and efficient, exactly what a PC of this quality deserves.

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Things To Consider

Budget

As we mentioned earlier, budget is a huge factor in any hardware purchase. It’s even more important when you’re in the process of putting eight components together in a custom PC build. Your budget can dictate your PC’s performance, aesthetics, future expansion, and features. Thankfully, our $3k build doesn’t have to compromise in common areas as we can pretty afford the best components out there. You’re in the premium-tier price spectrum now, and you’re able to tailor this build to your exact needs.

Upgradability & Future-Proofing

One of the most critical areas to consider after budget is the future-proofing and upgradability of your build. At lower budgets, such as $500-$800, you need to take this into consideration as your custom build will quickly become outdated. However, at $3,000, you don’t need to worry as much.

The CPU a modern AMD processor, which is widely considered as the best processor money can buy. The same can be said for the GPU and motherboard, as well. The motherboard has a tonne support, along with PCI-e 4 compatibility as well. The GPU is hugely powerful and comes with real-time ray tracing technology for the next generation of games. This means you won’t be needing to upgrade any of your major parts for the foreseeable future.

Overclocking

In modern computing, overclocking is one of the most sought-after features in any custom PC build. It’s an easy way to increase your computer’s performance at no additional cost. Win-win right? Sort of.

When you have the punching power of the CPU and GPU in this build, you don’t really need to overclock. That being said, thanks to the hugely impressive motherboard, this build is well ready for any level of overclocking you wish to throw at it, thanks to a powerful VRM design.

Ease Of Building

Thanks to the PC case in this build, the process of putting this build together just became a whole lot easier. It has a ton of room for cable management and plenty of room to maneuver parts as well. It’s worth mentioning that, poor cable management can actually affect your build’s airflow, which in turn, can reduce how efficient the hardware runs. The motherboard is also designed for an easy building experience. It has endless features, connectivity, and headers, meaning you’ll never be left short when expanding this build.

As a general rule of thumb, we would recommend using some form of anti-static device when building this PC, especially if you’re new to building. It might be necessary, but it certainly reassures your mind and you can concentrate on more important build aspects.

Non-Gaming Performance

Primarily, this is a custom build that was designed for maximum gaming performance, having said that, thanks to its monster CPU, 32GB of system memory, and large SSD, this build has a lot of potential outside of gaming.

It can handle almost any workload task you can throw at it, thanks to the powerful multi-threaded design. Pair that with the SSD’s rapid load times and 32GB of fast RAM, and you have a hell of a workstation as well.

Aesthetics

You always want your PC looking good, even more so when you’re spending three grand on one. We understand the importance of aesthetics and considered that when building this PC.

The case is one of the finest to date. What better way to showcase your new $3,000 build than through tempered glass and the vibrant glow of multiple RGB zones? The case fans and components offer RGB, which further increases the overall look of this build.

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Related Prebuilt Gaming PC Guides

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Best Prebuilt Gaming PC Brands

Every recommended prebuilt gaming PC in this article is from a reputable manufacturer. You are probably wondering how we know what the best gaming PC brands are? Well, we have done our research and purchased PCs from these brands.

Most notable brands:

Alienware
Corsair
CyberPowerPC
SkyTech
iBUYPOWER
Thermaltake
MSI
Scan 3XS
Overclockers UK

Calculating The PSU Wattage

Making sure your PSU provides the correct amount of wattage to your custom build PC is an essential part of the build process. For that reason, we’ve created a handy PSU calculator which will work out exactly what PSU wattage your components require – no matter how many changes you make.

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Related Custom PC Builds

Operating System & Peripherals

We’ve decided to include this section as the budget only includes the component list for this build. A lot of people will already have an operating system, and if that’s the case, you should be able to transfer that over to your new PC. However, for those that don’t, here’s our top contender for an operating system.

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Building Tips

Having all the parts is the most important step in building your new custom PC. However, having the right building tips could be the difference between setting them up correctly and being left with a pile of parts that simply don’t work. Below are a couple of the most commonly asked questions and tips to help you have a smooth build.

Closing Thoughts

So, there you have it, our comprehensive guide to the best custom PC for under $3000. Of course, this build is tailored towards high-end gaming, heavy workloads, and multitasking scenarios, and performs them with the minimum of fuss. It will give you a truly immersive gaming experience, especially if you pair it with the premium monitor it deserves and will perform any game you throw at it with spectacular results.

Why not drop us a comment in the section below, letting us know what you thought of our build and what you would change (if anything). Better still, why not head over to our Community page where you can join in local threads and give you advice on what to buy and what not to!

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The Team That Worked On This Build

Team Shaun
Custom Build Specialist
at
WePC

Shaun Conroy

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Shaun is a gaming enthusiast and computer science graduate who has been working with computers for the last 15 years. He took a shine to competitive FPS back in the mid-2000s and hasn’t looked back since.

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