How To Build A $999 AMD Ryzen, Liquid-Cooled, Overclocked 6-Core Gaming PC

If you have around $1000 to spend on a new powerful gaming PC, then there are a number of decisions you have to make. Do you go Intel or AMD for your processor? Nvidia or AMD for your graphics card? Which case do you buy? I'll be looking at all these choices in this article, but ultimately picking my favorite components that are available at the moment to create a super-compact micro-ATX gaming rig.

I'll be looking at a number of different component choices for each piece of hardware. The specification I've used comes in around $1150, but it's simple to change a few components to get under $1000 for your gaming machine. I'd like to thank In Win, AMD, NZXT, Corsair, WD, G.SKill and Gigabyte for providing the hardware for this feature, which I requested specifically based on its own merit.

The case: In Win 301, Price $99.99 / £76.99

To start with, there are clearly thousands of different cases to choose from, but I've gone with something that's a little more compact than usual, but equally, it's one of the most talked-about cases at the moment. In Win's 301 is a tempered glass panel case that's compatible with micro-ATX motherboards, which are a little smaller than their ATX counterparts, but still offer enough expansion slots for sound cards and even two graphics cards if you have plenty of cash to spent. It costs $100, but if you want a case that stands out from the crowd and doesn't take up an entire room it's perfect.

The processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600, Price ($209.99 / £199.77) or 1600X ($228.66 / £227.53)

Now for the big decisions and I'll start with the processor. For a purely gaming system, Intel does have a small edge in some games thanks to better optimization, but AMD is quickly making up ground, posting as recently as last week about performance improvements in Rise of the Tomb Raider. For this system, I've gone with AMD and for several reasons. It's sweet-spot six core models retail for less than Intel's four-core overclockable model - the Core i5-7600K, and while the latter can overclock further, the extra performance offered by the additional cores and threads of the Ryzen 5 1600 or 1600X in areas such as video encoding, creating videos for YouTube, rendering or streaming, mean that AMD's processors are much better bang for your buck here.

If you don't want to overclock the system, then the Ryzen 5 1600X is the one to go for. It costs a little more, but offers higher clock speeds. If you're willing to play around and follow my overclocking guide, then the Ryzen 5 1600, while sporting lower frequency, can be overclocked to similar levels, saving you some cash.

The graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 580, Price $429 / £263.83

The current craze of crypto currency mining has seen stocks dwindle of AMD's excellent mid-range Radeon RX 580, but if you can find one, it does often better the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB. However, the latter is the one to go for if you can't find any RX 580s when you come to build your PC or they're considerably more expensive. The prices are fluctuating a lot too, so don't take the figure here as gospel.

The motherboard: Gigabyte AB350M- Gaming 3, Price $94.99 / £79.99

As we know our case is micro ATX, we need a micro-ATX motherboard. There's aren't too many around at the moment, but I've personally used Gigabyte's AB350-Gaming 3, which is a fantastic board for the money, so it stands to reason its smaller brother, the AB350M-Gaming 3 should be just as good, and it costs less than $100 too.

The processor cooler: NZXT Kraken X31, Price $79.55 / £52.50

If you're looking for a high performance, quiet all-in-one liquid cooler, NZXT's Kraken X31 is hard to beat. It costs just $80, but has a 120mm radiator and offers some the best cooling you'll find for the money. It's handy in tight spaces too, although there's plenty of room in the In Win 301. You'll need to contact NZXT to obtain a bracket that fits the new AM4 socket, but it's free and you can do this here. The stock cooler is also able to cool the processor relatively well, so you can try it first to save some cash.

The storage: WD Blue 250GB SSD, Price $89.99 / £79.97

While our motherboard can handle the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, they don't offer as much storage for your cash as a traditional 2.5in SSD. However, I'd always recommend steering clear of hard disks for your Windows/OS drive. If you need more space, add one for extra storage, but keep your games on flash-based storage. One of the best value SSDs out there at the moment is WD's Blue range and for Windows plus a few games, the 250GB model is perfect.

The memory: Corsair 8GB DDR4 3000MHz Vengeance LPX, Price $94.50 / £70.98 or G.Skill 16GB FlareX 3200MHz, Price $208.00 / £179.99

You RAM is one place you could potentially save some cash. If you want to get the PC under $1000, then you can opt for 8GB instead of 16GB and go for a cheap kit like Corsair's 3000MHz Vengeance LPX. This works in most boards I've used including the Gigabyte AB350M-Gaming 3. However, if you want to guarantee 3,200MHz compatibility, then I can recommend a G.Skill FlareX kit. However, with the latest BIOS versions, most 3,200MHz are now widely supported.

The power supply: Corsair CX450M, Price $46.99 / £48.39

As the system won't draw more than 400W even under extreme loads and less in games, a 450W power supply will be fine. Corsair's CX450M is semi-modular so you can remove unwanted cables to reduce clutter and it's very quiet too. Don't be tempted to spend less - the power supply isn't an area you should skimp on.

 Build guide, step 1: Insert the processor

Be super-careful not to drop the processor as its gold pins are easily bent. Leave it in its plastic housing, plave this on the motherboard, open it and slowly insert the processor into the socket with the latch open, before closing it.

Step 2. Insert memory and install cooler

Install the memory modules in slots two and four - they're the second and fourth furthest slots away from the CPU socket. Now install the processor cooler. Remove the plastic mounts on the PCB by undrewing them, then insert the pins that came with your cooler/adaptor kit. Slot the cooler into place and secure the four thumb screws.

Step 3. Install radiator fan

The Kraken X31 comes with a single 120mm fan that needs to be attached to the radiator. The screws are included - just be sure to install it so the fan front is facing upwards like this.

Step 4. Install motherboard into case

Use the included case screws to install the motherboard into the case. With the the In Win 301 these are labelled so it's very easy. Be sure to install the rear I/O shield first.

Step 5. Install radiator into case

The rear 120mm fan mount is perfect for the radiator of the Kraken. Use the four short screws included in the box to do this, ideally with the tubes positioned on top.

Step 5. Install motherboard into case

Use the included case screws to install the motherboard into the case. With the the In Win 301 these are labelled so it's very easy. Be sure to install the rear I/O shield first.

Step 6. Install power and USB cables

You need to connect the front panel power, reset and hard disk light cables - these are labelled on the PCB amongst a while connector in the corner of the motherboard. There's more information on where this is and which connectors to use in the motherboard manual. The Kraken X31 cooler also needs to be connected to a USB 2 header like this, plus the case has a USB 3 header cable too.

Step 7. Connect the motherboard power cables

Feed the motherboard power cables into the case and connect them to the 8-pin CPU connector and 24-pin ATX connector. You can then install the power supply into the roof of the case.

Step 8. Install the graphics card

Remove the bracket on the rear of the case then install the RX 580 before securing it with screws. Attach the PCI-E cables from the power supply to the connectors on the graphics card.

Step 9. Install SSD

the WD Blue SSD fits into a removable caddie located in the top of the case. Use the small screws included with the case to secure it, then place it back into its slot.

Step 10. Connect SSD and case power cables

We're nearly done - now connect the SSD SATA power cable to the power supply and also connect the case power cable, which also requires a SATA power connector. You can then tidy up the cables. The roof and front section have some handy places to stow cables.

Step 11. Connect the SATA cable

Finally, run a SATA data cable from the SSD to the motherboard and tidy up the cables and tubing. Keep things neat will help to promote airflow.

Step 12. Power up the system

Before you can start gaming, we need to head into the BIOS/EFI and tweak a few settings. Start by connecting the power lead and fire up the system

Step 13. Update the BIOS

Grab the latest BIOS from Gigabyte's website, then head into the EFI by tapping the 'del' key as soon as you see an image on the screen. Then find the Q-Flash option at the bottom, select the BIOS file from  your USB stick and click update. The latest BIOS improves stability and memory compatibility so it's important to install it.

Step 14.  Set the memory speed

This is easier than it sounds - all you need to do is head to the M.I.T section, then memory frequency, and select Profile1 under the X.M.P setting. This will load the correct memory settings - in this case 3,200MHz.

Step 15 Overclock the processor

Now it's time to overclock the processor. I'm applying a fairly conservative one here, but still a massive boost over the stock speed frequency. Find the processor frequency settings and under CPU clock ratio, type in 38. This gives a clock speed of 3.8GHz.

Step 16. Increase the voltage

You'll need to push the voltage up a bit to deal with the overclock. 1.4V should be fine. Unfortunately this motherboard needs you to add a specific amount - you can't type the new voltage in, but this is easy to do. Go to the system health screen and find out the CPU voltage. In this case it was 1.22V. Work out what you need to get to 1.4V - in this case 0.18V, and add this under Dynamic Vcore or whatever your CPU voltage is called. Press F10 to save and exit then install Windows.

Step 17. Check your overclock

It's important to check your overclock settings are applied and stable. Download CPU-Z. It can tell you the CPU and memory frequencies. As you can see, our Ryzen 5 1600 is sitting at 3.8GHz and our memory is at 1600MHz, which is effectively double-pumped to 3,200MHz. To check your overclock is stable, head here and grab Prime95. Run the smallFFT torture test and use AMD's Ryzen Master utility to check the temperature. So long as things stay below 90°C, this will be fine. Don't forget to download NZXT's CAM software for the cooler as it will allow you to tweak the fan speed.

That's it, you're done. You can go ahead and install your games and marvel at how much quicker your videos can be encoded and edited if you previously had a quad-core processor. If you have any questions or comments about the build, feel free to get in touch here on Forbes, on Facebook or Twitter.