You don’t want to waste your $1500 by buying the gaming PC with the wrong specification, now do you? Getting the specifications right is the most critical part of buying a good gaming PC that will serve you well in years to come.
Don’t worry if you are stuck because you are not alone. In this article, I am going to provide you with the best specifications that a $1500 can have.
The article will not only cover specifications but also provide you with PC part recommendations as well. In my time testing gaming PCs, I have come to realize that PCs sharing the same specifications do not always share the same quality.
Therefore, all the recommendations in this article will be of the products that not only provide the best in class specifications but also quality.
So, without further ado, let’s dive straight into the specifications, shall we?
Ideal Specifications for a $1500 Gaming PC
Rather than providing you with the whole list of specifications, I am going to split this section into each PC component category, and then we will see which specs are ideal for each individual part.
This way, you will have a better understanding of the matter and will also allow me to keep things jargon-free.
CPU
Getting the right processor is critical, more so at the $1500 budget, because this component of the PC handles the operation and processing of all the tasks that are placed on a computer.
The ideal specification for a processor at this price point should be 8 cores and 16 threads. Going with a processor that has less than 6 cores is not recommended; meanwhile, a higher core count processor will not benefit as much.
Based on this spec, you can either go with the Intel Core i7-12700K or the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X. Both processors are very close in terms of performance, but given the choice, I would opt for Team Blue because the i7-12700K is a better performer.
Graphics Card
The graphics card is the quintessential component that feeds the power to keep the games running on the computer.
Since it holds the most significance, the graphics card is the component that takes up the largest chunk of your budget, and since most of our $1500 will go on this part, having the best possible specs is a given.
In the $1500 price range, the ideal graphics card to get is the Nvidia RTX 3070.
RAM
If you are building a $1500 gaming PC, chances are you want a machine that will last you a while before needing upgrades.
The ideal RAM capacity to go for is 16GB or higher. 16GB is good if you want to game on your PC and do occasional streaming or content creation, while on the contrary, if you want to regularly stream along with gaming, then 32GB should be ideal.
Whatever the case, don’t go for 8GB RAM since it is not enough for gaming in 2023 and onwards.
Check out some of our related RAM guides below.
Storage
Storage drive should be in the form of an SSD, better yet, if the SSD is NVME M2 rather than the traditional one. As for the capacity, 500GB is the bare minimum, and I recommend going up to a TB of storage.
To put that into perspective, the ideal storage specification is a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD.
Other Specifications
Many gamers often only focus on the CPU, GPU, RAM, and storage forgetting that there are other specifications that also matter when building a gaming PC. Often these are the specifications that end up ruining the gaming experience that you are going to get with a gaming PC.
Don’t worry though, as I am not going to tell you about them. The following are some other crucial specifications.
- Power Supply: Getting the right spec power supply is critical for a gaming PC because, if not done can end up causing a major malfunction. At the $1500 price point, the ideal power supply is a 650-750W unit with an 80+ bronze or gold rating. If it were for me, I would go with a 750W power supply.
- Motherboard: At the $1500 price range, you need to get a motherboard that has an unlocked power delivery so that you can overclock the Intel Core i7-12700k mentioned earlier. Also, make sure that the motherboard you are buying has 4 RAM slots and comes in full-size. Built-in Wi-Fi is also quite beneficial but not a requirement.
- Case: In terms of the case, you can go with whichever you like the look of, but make sure that case has proper airflow. Hence no specific spec requirement here as per se.
Related PC Guides
Check out some of our related PC guides below.
- What Specifications Should a $2000 Gaming PC
- What Specifications Should a $1000 Gaming PC Have
- What Specifications Should an $800 Gaming PC Have
- What Specifications Should a $500 Gaming PC Have
Conclusion
This wraps up the specification guide for a $1500 gaming PC. To quickly summarize the following are the ideal specifications for a $1500 gaming PC.
- Intel Core i7-12700K or AMD Ryzen 5800X
- Nvidia RTX 3070
- 16GB or 32GB RAM
- 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
- 650-700W power supply
- Unlocked Z series motherboard for overclocking
The aforementioned specifications are the best-in-class specs you can get for any given gaming PC at the $1500 price point. They should be used as a benchmark, but some variation in them is acceptable.
With some variation, you can also buy a $1500 prebuilt gaming PC that contains these specs.
I hope that now you not only know the ideal specifications but also the concept behind them for a gaming PC under $1500. Do let me know in the comment section down below whether you agree or disagree with the specs that I mentioned in the article.
