Build an Awesome Budget 3060 Gaming PC – Peripherals & Benchmarks!

Introduction

With the prices of 3000 series cards getting closer and closer to MSRP, now is the perfect time to save up some money and build yourself an awesome gaming PC. Today we’ve put together a great build ideal for consumers wanting to game at 1080P high settings.

We’ve put our greatest efforts into finding the best components money can buy, striving for optimal performance while being price conscious at the same time. This build today features a Gigabyte Eagle OC RTX 3060, along with one of Intel’s latest 12th gen Core i5 12400F CPUs. We’ll be covering all of the individual parts, along with some benchmarks and peripherals to finalise the build!

CPU: Intel Core i5 12400F

Intel’s Core i5 12400F is an excellent CPU designed to bring optimal performance but at a very reasonable price point. On the 12th generation platform Intel has brought a whole host of features for consumers to sink their teeth into, such as: Gen4 SSD support, PCI-E 5.0 for next generation graphics cards, DDR5 and more. This CPU definitely fits the bill when it comes to raw power at a more budget-oriented price.

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Key Facts:

Boost Clock Speed: 4.4GHz

Core Count: 6

Thread Count: 12

CPU Cooler: Intel RM1 Stock Cooler

The CPU cooler that we’ve chosen today is ideal to minimise cost so we can put in some other awesome parts. The Intel RM1 stock cooler is perfect for builds that aren’t worrying about overclocking, or using higher-end chips from the Core i7 or i9 range. This CPU cooler will be fine for this system to have some nice thermals while reducing the overall cost.

Key Facts:

Max RPM: 3150

Connector Type: 4-Pin

RGB: No

Motherboard: Gigabyte B660 DS3H AX DDR4

Gigabyte’s B660 DS3H AX is a motherboard we’ve looked at, and recommended plenty of times because this board truly tunes into the budget philosophy that we believe in. We’ve done a full in-depth review of this board covering its principal features, like its use of PCI-E 4.0 M.2 support, integrated WiFi, and high speed memory overclocking.

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Key Facts:

Form Factor: ATX

Built-in IO Shield: No

Max Memory: 128GB

RAM: GeIL Orion RGB DDR4 16GB

So far the parts we’ve picked have been a little bit lacklustre on aesthetic, so the RAM we’ve picked should provide some flair and flashiness to our build. The GeIL Orion 16GB DDR4 kit is a very speedy 3600MHz pairing with our CPU quite nicely. It also has a unique lighting bar design with addressable RGB giving us some extra customisation options!

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Key Facts:

Capacity: 16GB

Clock Speed: 3600MHz

CAS Latency: 18-20-20-40

SSD: WD Blue SN570 1TB

Western Digital is always dressed to impress with their storage options, and the SN570 is one impressive drive. This 1TB M.2 SSD utilises the Gen3 PCI-E interface giving it the ability to reach very high read and write speeds. The SN570 will give us some super fast load times in our games so we don’t have to wait around to start gaming!

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Key Facts:

Capacity: 1TB

Read Speeds: 3500MB/s

Write Speeds: 3000MB/s

Interface: PCI-E Gen3 x4

GPU: Gigabyte RTX 3060 Eagle OC

Now we’ve gotten to the main part of the build, the GPU. Today we’ve picked one of Gigabyte’s cards, the RTX 3060 Eagle OC edition. This card sports a minimalist dual fan designed to keep your GPU cool, but also bringing excellent performance in 1080P gaming.

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Key Facts:

CUDA Cores: 4864

TDP: 200W

RT Cores: 28

Case: AeroCool Hive

The AeroCool Hive is an excellent case bringing some additional flair to this build for a very reasonable price. The front of the case sports a hive mesh design where you can see the glow of the included three ARGB fans. This case also has plenty of support for different fans and radiator configurations for great cooling.

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Key Facts:

Form Factor: Mid-Tower

Fan Support: 7

Motherboard Support: Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX

PSU: Corsair CX650F RGB

And finally, to power this build we’ve grabbed a Corsair CX650F. This PSU is fully modular, so you can choose which cables you want and where you want them. The PSU fan is also RGB and can sync up with other Corsair iCUE products bringing a sleek design elements to finish off our build!

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Key Facts:

Wattage: 650W

Modular: Yes

Efficiency: 80+ Bronze

Logitech G203 RGB Mouse

The Logitech G203 is a brilliant wired mouse that we’ve covered in our ‘Best Gaming Mice to Buy in 2022‘ article. It is by far my favourite gaming mouse, and for its price point you can’t really argue. You get loads of RGB (which is fully programmable) in Logitech’s G Hub app. The gaming-grade sensor has an adjustable sensitivity rated up to 8000 DPI, which is plenty if you play lots of intense first-person shooter titles. And to top it off, you can pick from a multitude of colours to spice up your setup even more.

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SteelSeries Apex 3 TKL Keyboard

The Apex 3 SteelSeries keyboard is part of their budget range perfect for long sessions of gaming while also adding some additional flair with the RGB lighting zones. This keyboard is also IP32 water and dust resistant, so you’ll minimise any damage to your keyboard if you spill anything on it. SteelSeries also has their own application for their products, so you can personalise the RGB illumination to your heart’s content. Overall this is an excellent gaming keyboard for a very reasonable price if you’re building on a budget.

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HyperX Cloud Stinger Core

HyperX‘s Cloud Stinger Core is an excellent headset utilising DTS Headphone:X Spatial Audio perfect to locate quite footsteps or silenced gunshots. This headset also features soft and breathable ear cups allowing you to playing games for hours without being uncomfortable. As a bonus, the Cloud Stinger Core is also compatible with multiple platforms. So if you’re looking to switch between your PC and perhaps your PlayStation or Xbox, you can do this. It also works with mobile phones ideal for listening to music.

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