At £1,500 you can build a PC for high-refresh 1440p gaming, with a graphics card that has 16GB of video memory. The hard part in late 2026 is memory: DDR5 prices are still very high, so every build at this budget involves a trade-off between memory and graphics.
We've priced two builds. Our pick uses AMD's current AM5 platform with a Radeon RX 9070. The alternative uses older AM4 parts, which frees up money for a faster RX 9070 XT and 32GB of memory. Forge PC hasn't built or benchmarked these exact systems. Performance figures are from Tom's Hardware's GPU testing and are credited. Prices are approximate, were checked on 13 November 2026 and don't include Windows.
Our pick: AM5 with Radeon RX 9070 (about £1,488)
Part | Our pick | Approx. price |
|---|
Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 9600X (no cooler included) | £160 |
Cooler | Arctic Freezer 36 | £19 |
Motherboard | MSI PRO B840M-B (micro-ATX) | £90 |
Memory | 16GB (2x8GB) DDR5-5600 CL46 (TEAMGROUP Elite) | £236 |
Graphics card | AMD Radeon RX 9070 16GB | £732 |
Storage | Kingston NV3 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe | £130 |
Power supply | MSI MAG A750BN PCIE5 II (750W, 80 Plus Bronze) | £70 |
Case | Montech XR (three ARGB fans included) | £50 |
Total | | about £1,488 |
The processor and graphics card prices are the cheapest new listings on SpecPrice's UK tracker, at Scan and AWD-IT respectively. The cooler price is from SpecPrice's cooler listings, at AWD-IT. The motherboard, SSD, power supply and case prices are Scan's, also via SpecPrice. The memory price is the cheapest matching kit on ramprices.uk's Amazon.co.uk tracker.
Why the RX 9070
In Tom's Hardware's GPU hierarchy, last updated 24 June 2026, the RX 9070 averaged 104.0fps at 1440p ultra in its raster games, and 47.6fps in its ray tracing tests. Tom's calls it the "1440p raster value champ". NVIDIA's RTX 5070 averaged 96.4fps and 51.5fps in the same tests. It costs more, at about £815 on 13 November, and has 12GB of memory rather than 16GB. Our RX 9070 vs RTX 5070 comparison goes into more detail.
AMD rates the RX 9070 at 220W total board power and recommends a 650W power supply, so the 750W MSI unit gives plenty of headroom.
Why only 16GB of memory?
We'd normally put 32GB in a £1,500 PC, and our RAM guide recommends it for new builds. But on 13 November 2026, the cheapest 32GB DDR5-6000 kits on ramprices.uk cost about £484. That would push this build over £1,700. Buy a two-stick 16GB kit now, and add memory when prices fall. If you play games that use a lot of memory, the alternative build below has 32GB.
The Ryzen 5 9600X is a six-core Zen 5 processor on AMD's AM5 socket, which AMD has said it will support through 2029. That gives you an upgrade path to a faster processor later. The B840 chipset is AMD's entry-level AM5 option. AMD's specifications say it doesn't support processor overclocking, and its graphics and M.2 slots run at PCIe 4.0. Neither of these matters for this build.
The alternative: AM4 with Radeon RX 9070 XT and 32GB (about £1,497)
Part | Alternative | Approx. price |
|---|
Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 5600 (Wraith Stealth cooler included) | £125 |
Motherboard | Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite (micro-ATX) | £87 |
Memory | 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 | £215 |
Graphics card | AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB | £820 |
Storage | Kingston NV3 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe | £130 |
Power supply | MSI MAG A750BN PCIE5 II (750W) | £70 |
Case | Montech XR | £50 |
Total | | about £1,497 |
Older AM4 parts and DDR4 memory cost much less than AM5 and DDR5. That pays for twice the memory and a faster graphics card. In Tom's Hardware's hierarchy, the RX 9070 XT averaged 116.5fps at 1440p ultra in raster games and 55.5fps with ray tracing. Tom's says it's "the cheapest way to get into 4K 60 FPS native gaming". AMD recommends a 750W power supply for it.
The catch is the processor. The Ryzen 5 5600 is an older six-core chip, and a card this fast is more likely to be held back by the processor in demanding games and at high frame rates, especially at 1080p. AM4 is also an end-of-line platform, so upgrading the processor later means a new motherboard and memory too.
Which build should you choose?
Choose the AM5 build if you want a modern platform you can upgrade. You can add a faster processor and more memory later without replacing the motherboard.
Choose the AM4 build if you want the most graphics performance and memory today, and you mostly play at 1440p or 4K, where the graphics card does most of the work.
Both builds use the same SSD, power supply and case. If you need more storage, Kingston's 2TB NV3 cost about £235 on 13 November. Our best SSD guide has other options.
Building it
If this is your first build, our step-by-step PC build guide walks through the process. Before you install Windows, update the motherboard BIOS. When Windows is running, turn on the memory's EXPO or XMP profile in the BIOS so it runs at its rated speed. You'll also need a Windows 11 licence, which costs £119.99 for Home on Microsoft's UK store.
If your budget is lower, see our best gaming PC under £1,200 guide.
Our verdict
Our pick is the AM5 build: a Ryzen 5 9600X with a Radeon RX 9070 for about £1,488. It's a strong 1440p gaming PC with 16GB of graphics memory and room to upgrade. If you'd rather have more speed and 32GB of memory now, the AM4 build with an RX 9070 XT comes in at about £1,497, but it uses an older processor that's harder to upgrade.
