MID-RANGE BUILD

Our recommended build for playing the latest games

X370 SLI Plus MSI $136 MSI’s X370 SLI Plus is identical to the gaming series motherboard that costs not a lot more, so why waste money?

Ryzen 5 1400 AMD $166 Four cores, eight threads, and half the price of the Intel equivalent. Gaming performance is solid, and streaming capability is robust.

Windforce GTX 1070 8GB Gigabyte $380 The 1440p killer, Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1070 will run quiet, cool and absolutely keep you at 60fps, even at WQHD.

Kraken X31 NZXT $80 To get the most out of a good CPU you need a cooler to match. The Kraken X31 is powerful, quiet, and great for overclocks.

Fury 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 - 2666 HyperX $136 Ryzen demands high-spec memory, and you can’t get better than adding a dash of HyperX to your build.

RMx 650W Corsair $114 Nothing like having a quality power supply. Get a decent cable kit for this one, and you can easily spice up your rig.

850 EVO 250GB Samsung $108 Samsung retains its top spot on the SSD pile with the fantastically priced, very speedy 850 EVO. Still the best price/performance.

Caviar Blue 1TB 7200RPM Western Digital $49 SSDs are great, but they’re still far from cheap. This 1TB HDD will hold as many games as you can handle.

Eclipse P400S TG Phanteks $90 The clean lines, intuitive build features, and fantastic price cements the Eclipse as our midrange case of choice.

Q2778VQE AOC $250 This entry-level 1440p monitor is perfect for those looking to upgrade from 1080p. It’s cheap and still looks sleek.

K70 LUX RGB Corsair $130 Available in red, brown, or blue switches, with a USB passthrough and all the features we loved the original K70 for. Almost perfect.

Castor Mionix $59 Mionix’s Castor is a dream to use, supportive like a glove. With clutter-free software and an optical sensor, it’s hard to go wrong.