A power supply and graphics card await installation into Jim’s Enthoo Primo case.
Until a few months ago, 53-year-old Logical Increments reader Jim had never attempted to build his own PC. He had always purchased pre-built desktops for his design work, but felt like their components were already antiquated by the time he unboxed the PC.
The purpose of this build is to achieve 4K gaming at 60 frames per second (or 1440p gaming at 144 hz) in AAA games, all within a micro-ATX form factor for approximately $2,000.
Thermaltake Core V1
When putting this build together, I wanted to build a Mini ITX PC that can play almost any game at 1440p at 60 FPS with Ultra settings. I allocated a budget of $1,200 and picked parts accordingly.
This is a Haswell build, but I’ve provided alternative options for Skylake, at a slightly higher price.