Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
PC components are always on sale for Black Friday, and this year’s no different. There are enough deals on components that you can build yourself a powerful gaming PC for much less than you would any other time of the year.
We’ve scoured the internet, dug through digital sales bins, and looked at all the Black Friday ads we can find, to put together a PC gaming build made only of sale items from Black Friday 2018.
The build and what it can do
We’ll go into more detail about the different components we’ve chosen below, but here’s a quick summary of the parts we’ve picked.
Note: All components can be purchased via Amazon and were found there by us during our research. Make sure to double check prices before you buy, as Black Friday sales can change moment to moment. When you’ve got your new components in hand, be sure to read our guide on how to get started building your own PC.
+ Customize Your Bundle
AMD Ryzen 1600
$129.99
Remove
ASRock B450 Pro4
$72.86
Remove
Asus Cerberus GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
$154.99
Remove
Patriot Memory Viper Elite 8GB 2,400MHz
$57.99
Remove
Samsung 860 Evo 512GB
$72.99
Remove
Corsair Carbide 100R
$49.99
Remove
Cooler Master MWE 600 80+ Bronze
$40.29
Remove
$579.1
Total:
Here’s a breakdown of each component, and why we’ve chosen it:This build will easily outstrip a typical budget gaming PC build in games and general computing. It has double the storage space and a much more capable CPU and graphics card. It’s not going to play the prettiest AAA games at ultra settings, but it will be more than capable of delivering strong frame rates in esports games like CS:GO, DotA 2, or Fortnite.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 1600 ($130)
AMD’s Ryzen processors might come in faster guises than the first-generation Ryzen 5 1600, but this six-core, 12-thread CPU is still a fantastic performer in both gaming and general computing tasks. It’s also fully unlocked for overclocking and comes with its own cooler. You needn’t worry about extra expenditure.
The only difference between it and the 1600X we reviewed is that it doesn’t automatically overclock itself as much. You can do it manually if you know what you’re doing though.
If you have a little extra money to spend, Black Friday discounts extend to its next-generation refresh, the 2600, too. It’s priced at just $160 and gets you a few hundred megahertz of extra clock speed.
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Pro4 ($75)
Although the B450 chipset is designed with AMD’s second-generation Ryzen CPUs in mind, it works just as well on first-generation chips. The ASRock B450 Pro4 is one of the best motherboards using this chipset, and thanks to Black Friday it’s discounted too! It has space for multiple graphics cards with AMD Crossfire, supports high-speed memory to 3,200MHz and beyond, and has built-in 7.1 surround sound audio support.
There are a few slightly cheaper options out there, but few offer anything you can’t get with the ASRock B450 Pro4.
Graphics card: Asus Cerberus GTX 1050 Ti ($155)
The 1050 Ti isn’t a powerhouse graphics card, but at $155, you’re not going to find anything close to this strong a performer. It is an ideal 1080p gaming card and will handle games like Fortnite and DotA 2 with ease. AAA games like Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey or Battlefield V might mean running at lower settings, but they’ll still be playable.
If you’re more of a AAA gamer though and you have a spare $60 to throw at this build, we’d suggest upping the GPU to this fantastically discounted RX 580. At $213, that card is a steal and will handle the highest settings in most games at 1080p and 1440p at playable frame rates.
Memory: Patriot Memory Viper 8GB 2,400MHz ($58)
People say that with RAM, more is better. But when it comes to how much you actually need, 8GB is enough for most.
There are a few affordable 16GB kits on sale this Black Friday season, but this 8GB kit is more than enough to be getting on with. You can always add a second kit in later since installing it is super easy.
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SSD ($73)
Although you might want a bit more storage than 500GB offers, it’s certainly enough to live and plenty of space to install most of your games.
We’d always recommend installing your operating system and games on an SSD — the boot and load times are so much faster. Hard drives in the multiple terabytes can be had for well under $100 now too, so grab one of those and a smaller SSD if you’d rather maximize your storage space.
Case: Corsair Carbide 100R ($50)
The Corsair Carbide is one of the best budget chassis available today and it’s available at 10 percent off thanks to Black Friday.
It has a windowed side panel for looking at all of your fancy new components, tool-less drive bays, and plenty of fan mounts for expanded cooling. It does come with only one preinstalled, though. If you’d rather have more, this discounted Rosewill case comes with three — and it’s slightly cheaper too.
PSU: Cooler Master MWE 600 Bronze 80+ ($40)
A PSU with 600 watts of power is overkill for this gaming PC by quite some margin, but when it’s the same price as the 400 watt version, you might as well enjoy the extra headroom.
This model is a little more expensive than some of the other PSUs Amazon’s Black Friday deals offer, but it is 80+ Bronze certified, so will be more efficient and will likely save you more money over the life of the unit. It’s kinder on the planet too. A win-win.
We strive to help our readers find the best deals on quality products and services, and choose what we cover carefully and independently. If you find a better price for a product listed here, or want to suggest one of your own, email us at [email protected].Digital Trends may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.
Editors’ Recommendations
- Build a full gaming PC with only Black Friday 2018 deals
- Build a full gaming PC with only Black Friday 2018 deals
- Build a full gaming PC with only Black Friday 2018 deals
- The best graphics card deals for Black Friday 2018
- The best cheap gaming PC build for under $500