Black Friday has landed countless PC upgrade deals in my lap, and many people are reaching out to ask for help assembling a new gaming PC on the cheap.
Discounts from Newegg, Amazon, and Best Buy have made it relatively easy to spend about $800 on a complete system that can handle 1440p gaming. This isn’t just some random PC I cobbled together with the cheapest parts — it has AMD’s Ryzen 7 5700X3D CPU, NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU, 1TB Crucial SSD, and 32GB of G.Skill RAM.
Everything is guaranteed to work together, and I’ve even included PSU, case, and motherboard in the price. Just add Windows (or make peace with the “Activation required” note on your screen) and you’re ready to go. The parts I’ve selected here come out to $793.80 while the Black Friday deals are still live.
Black Friday gaming PC build quick links
🔥The hottest Black Friday deals🔥
Can I play at 1440p with this setup?
The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D CPU and NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU will run your games at 1440p, especially with 32GB of DDR4 RAM on board. You won’t be able to max out in-game settings in demanding games at the higher resolution, but it will certainly keep up with your QHD monitor.
If you’re targeting 1080p, this build will easily run any games on the market today. The newer RTX 4060 really isn’t much of an upgrade over the RTX 3060, and the 12GB of VRAM certainly helps with modern titles.
The 5700X3D is designed specifically for supreme gaming performance thanks to the 3D V-Cache, and it’s currently the cheapest way to get ahold of the tech. The chip was released by AMD in 2024 as a more affordable X3D option, with Ryzen 7 7800X3D only available at MSRP or higher, and the 9800X3D sold out everywhere unless you want to spend big on a pre-built gaming PC.
What are my options for Windows?
I didn’t include a copy of Windows 11 in this list as you might have your own cheaper way to get ahold of a copy for this PC.
Worst case scenario, you can use Windows 11 without a license indefinitely; there will be a watermark on your screen, but it’s easy to ignore until you find a great deal on a real copy. You’ll miss out on some personalization options, but it won’t get in the way of gaming.
Is there enough cooling in this PC?
The Phanteks XT Pro case I chose comes with just one exhaust fan at the back, so I strongly suggest adding some extra fans along the front to increase airflow.
You’ll hopefully have some extra fans lying around that you can use in this new PC, but compatible fans — either 120mm or 140mm — are always inexpensive. For example, this three-pack of 120mm RGB fans from Corsair is down to $44.99 at Newegg with a Black Friday deal.
Those upgrading from an older PC might even be able to use the current case and cooling that’s already in place for this new build. As for the CPU, Thermalright’s Peerless Assassin 120 SE will easily handle the heat from the Ryzen 7 5700X3D.
🍁More great Black Friday deals🦃
- Best Buy: Big savings on video games, accessories, and more
- Amazon: Constantly rotating sales on everything you can imagine
- Walmart: Huge savings on practically everything
- Target: Live deals on a huge range of products
- Dell: Top deals on laptops, gaming PCs, accessories, and more
- HP: Save big on laptops, desktops, accessories, and more
- Lenovo: Doorbuster deals on all PCs, monitors, accessories, and more
- Newegg: Save on PC gaming accessories, components, and more
- Razer: Discounts and free gifts for Razer hardware, gear, and more
- Samsung: Holiday deals on laptops, TVs, phones, and more are live
When is Black Friday?
Black Friday is technically on Nov. 29, 2024, but this sales event seems to start a little earlier each year. Retailers increasingly get more aggressive in terms of when discounts start in order to entice consumers ahead of the main event, so you can see early Black Friday deals as soon as October. Black Friday itself can feel overwhelming and be limited by stock shortages, so it’s often a great idea to take advantage of those early sales ahead of time.
When is Cyber Monday?
This year, Cyber Monday falls on Dec. 2, 2024. This continuation of the Black Friday weekend was once the online-version of the aforementioned sales event, but as more retailers go online it’s not uncommon to see Black Friday and Cyber Monday blend into one another. If you miss out on sales on Black Friday, you may have another chance on Cyber Monday. Better yet, though, is staying ahead of the curve and getting your holiday shopping done weeks in advance.
