When PlayStation 5 came out in 2020, the entire gaming community was terrified the latest entry in the PlayStation console lineup could mean the end of the PC Master Race. The console was very powerful, and at a meager price tag of $500, it packed a GPU equivalent to that of the RTX 2070 Super. Back in 2020, the RTX 2070 Super GPU was a very powerful graphics card, and it still shows off its capabilities in every gaming scenario.
But, with the launch of Nvidia’s RTX 30 series, the PC Master Race became sure that the performance crown was going nowhere away from their beloved gaming behemoths. These cards were a sweet mix of performance and price points. What could be a gaming PC that can level the PlayStation 5 in terms of performance, and for $1000? Let’s build such a machine for your convenience.
CPU: Intel Core i5-11400
Starting with the CPU, we are going with Intel’s Core i5-11400, 6C/12T, at 2.6GHz. Now, you might ask why we went for this processor. Well, the 5600X gives more performance for sure, but the price gap is very significant. The i5 comes for $184. The 5600X is almost twice the price, but the performance increase isn’t that noticeable at times—it’s just 5-10 frames more in most scenarios. Just look at Cyberpunk—at 1080p, the Ryzen 5600X just gives a mere 6 frames more than the 11400F, while coupled with a 3080.
CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Full White Edition
Also, I have chosen the Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Full White Edition CPU cooler. But since the 11400 ships with a stock cooler, you can easily use that, and it will be sufficient. The new 11th generation of Intel processors also come with their new all-black coolers, which provide better performance while at the same time looking significantly better than the Blue-Black-Silver colored coolers we have seen packaged until the 10th generation of Intel CPUs.
This cooler costs around $42, and offers great performance without breaking the bank. It comes with full die support and will be overkill for the Intel Core i5-11400 to say the least. It is a great product on a budget and will keep your CPU cool in every possible situation.
Motherboard: ASRock B560 Pro4 ATX
Next is our motherboard. We have gone for ASRock B560 Pro4 ATX here. This motherboard has that PCIe slot for Gen4 SSDs, all the same time supporting 4K @60Hz output—which is what we need for running games at par with the PS5. All this is aided by a bit of RGB on this board, which is sweet.
Also, the heatsinks on this thing make this a go-to if you are on a budget. This thing also has a dedicated M.2 slot for installing a Wi-Fi card. Wi-Fi cards cost just 20 bucks but will provide a lot more stable connection if you are into it. Additionally, we have 4 DIMM slots, thus we can leave enough room for upgrading to 32 GB later down the line. It comes for $110.
RAM Sticks: Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB
Moving onto our RAM, we have gone for the Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB. This kit has 2 sticks of 8 GB each, which will let us enjoy dual-channel memory. This particular kit is clocked at 3200 MHz and has a CAS latency of 16—which is pretty sweet. They also come with a bit of a robust design with heatsinks, but you miss out on RGB indeed. All this while adding $76 to our build.
Storage: Mushkin Pilot-E 1 TB NVMe
Okay, moving onto our storage—I have opted for the Mushkin Pilot-E 1 TB NVMe drive. A 1 TB storage will be enough to store some games as well as the operating system without a hiccup. Also, if you want to add hard drives or SSDs later, there are 6 SATA ports in the motherboard to do so. The Mushkin Pilot-E has a read speed of 3500 Mbps and writes speed of 3000 Mbps, which is ultra-fast.
Video/Graphics Card: Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti Founder’s Edition
Okay, moving onto our video card—the core of a gaming system, we have chosen Nvidia RTX 3060Ti. The RTX 3060Ti graphics card smoothly delivers 4K at almost 60fps while gaming, at the same time costing way less than its last-gen competitors. We have gone for the Founder’s Edition card, which costs $400. The Founder’s Edition is the only card you can get at MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) because Nvidia directly sells it.
You can directly contact the company or any of their verified sellers to score one of these cards for your build. Aftermarket RTX 3060 Ti cards will come with better thermal performance, thermal limits, and slightly improved performance metrics. But, spending over $900 for a card that costs less than half of that price does not make any sense. Therefore, we would recommend you to be patient for a while and score a Founder’s Edition at MSRP.
Case: NZXT H510 White Edition
Moving onto the case, I have chosen the NZXT H510 White edition, which matches the aesthetics of the PS5 hugely. Now, I know that this case doesn’t have a lot of airflow. However, the machine we are building will be well off with what this case can provide. This particular case comes for around $92 or 6800 INR.
Power Supply: Enermax Revolution D.F. 750W
Moving over to the power supply, I picked Enermax Revolution D.F. 750W. Now, you might say, 750W is an overkill for this system. However, the 750W version costs $3 more than the 650W, so why not? Also, the Enermax PSU has the 80+ Gold certification, which is pretty sweet. Also, Enermax is a very reputed company when it comes to power supply units. Thus, you can rely on this model to take care of your costly components.
Conclusion
That’s it! The PS5 still offers more value, as it costs half of this price—but a PC’s a PC. Well, I am not getting into any controversies, but this is how much you’ll have to spend to get a PS5 level performance. While the RTX 3060 will hold up well with the PS5, the RTX 3060 Ti GPU eases out and beats the PS5 to an extent. Consequently, you can easily opt for the former if you are tight on budget.