With an Entry Level Gaming-PC the goal is to reach stable 60 fps on high graphic settings and 1080p resolution in any game.

Components

• CPU: Intel Core i5-9400F Desktop Processor 6 Cores 4.1 GHz Turbo
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB Video Card
• Motherboard: MSI Performance Intel Coffee Lake B360 Gaming Plus
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 2666MHz
• SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 250GB 2.5 Inch SATA III
• HDD: WD Blue 1TB PC Hard Drive – 7200 RPM
• Power Supply: EVGA W1, 80+ WHITE 500W
• Case: CORSAIR CARBIDE 275R Mid-Tower

E-Sport titles or AAA-Games, this PC will handle all of them.

Why is the Entry-Level so expensive

Today it is really easy to overpay for things you don’t necessary need and then missing something you could make use of in the future. The best example for that is the motherboard. It is really easy to overspend money there.

You could place an I3 CPU on a motherboard from 50$ to 500$ (never place an I3 on a 500$ motherboard please) the 50$ motherboard will always miss some features you could make use of or make bad choices in spacing. The amount of RAM Slots on your motherboard can get really pricy in terms of upgradeability. For example, we have 2 RAM slots on our motherbaord and place 8GB in there (2x 4GB RAM Sticks) and realize later that we need 16GB. In that situation we either buy a new motherboard with 4 RAM Slots or buy new RAM (2x 8GB Sticks) both ways are a waste of money because our old hardware cant be used anymore and the money for our old hardware could have been used to directly get something thats future proofed in terms of upgradeability.

At some points in your Gaming Setup the more expensive hardware will in the end actually be cheaper because you don’t have to rebuild your whole setup to upgrade only your RAM.

On the other hand you could overpay on a motherboard for features that you cant make use of. For example placing a locked CPU on an overclocking capable motherboard.

In E-Sport titles like CS:GO you will lower the graphic settings and play on a maximum of 1080p. This will make the game really CPU heavy. With the I5-9400F you have no problems to reach stable 144 fps for your 144 Hertz monitor. In AAA-Games on high graphic settings the I5-9400F is powerfull enough to go hand in hand with the GPU.