You don’t need to spend more than $1,200 for a high-end 4K gaming PC in 2025.
For years, 4K gaming has been this elusive dream that budget gamers have been chasing every generation. Many powerful GPUs came and went, but building a gaming PC capable of smooth 4K gaming on a reasonable budget seemed impossible. Till last year, you had to pay at least $800 for the GPU alone (RTX 4070 Ti) to ensure a smooth 60+ average FPS (native) at 4K ultra/very high settings in the latest titles.
With the launch of the RX 9070 XT at $599, however, the entry barrier for 4K gaming has been lowered significantly. Pairing this powerful GPU with an AMD Zen 4 processor can ensure 4K 60+ FPS (on average) native performance in the latest games (not including ray tracing). After enabling the much-improved FSR 4, you can leverage upscaling and frame generation to boost framerates even further. 7
CPU
Six Zen 4 cores are all you need
For a 4K gaming PC, you don’t need to overthink the CPU. The Ryzen 5 7600 can easily keep up with the RX 9070 XT, while offering all the benefits of the AM5 platform. The bundled Wraith Stealth cooler will easily tackle the 65W TDP of this chip. AMD’s latest Ryzen 9000 chips perform virtually the same as the Zen 4 CPUs, so there’s no real benefit in going with the newer models.
Besides, you’re going to be GPU-bound in most cases at 4K. Upscaling can leverage a stronger CPU, but the RX 9070 XT and Ryzen 5 7600 combo will still offer over 100 FPS with FSR 4 enabled in most titles (not including ray tracing). 6
Motherboard
Budget DDR5 boards have come a long way
To keep the budget as close to $1,200 as possible, I decided to pick a budget B650M motherboard for this build. To my surprise, the ASRock B650M PG Lightning WiFi didn’t cut many corners when it comes to features or connectivity. You get three M.2 ports, one of which is a Gen5 port, along with WiFi 6E, 2.5G LAN, and BIOS flashback. You also get a decent selection of USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 (Gen1 and Gen2) ports, and all of this for only $120.
