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A sensible spec and plenty of RGB make this a deal worth grabbing.
Nvidia may have just released the last card of the Ampere generation with the RTX 3090 Ti, but it’s the RTX 3060 that still stands out as one of the best options of this generation. At least it is as far as sensible money is concerned. Sure, the likes of the RTX 3080 and AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT may be where it’s at for 4K gaming, but if you’re happy to play at 1080p, then the RTX 3060 is where it’s at.
This $1,199 machine from ABS from Newegg takes that capable GPU and plays to its strengths while keeping an eye on the overall system price. I’ll admit that I’d prefer to find a 12th-gen Intel CPU inside here instead of the 11th-gen Core i5 11400F, but that CPU will still manage to keep the GPU fed when it comes to the vast majority of games, and surely that’s all that matters here. This is a 6-core, 12-thread CPU that can still hit 4.4GHz under pressure, which is nothing to turn your nose up at.
As with most system builders right now, ABS doesn’t specify which particular RTX 3060 model you’ll get inside the machine you buy. Don’t worry, though; in real terms, there isn’t a lot separating any of them, at least not when it comes to raw performance—some are cooler, some are quieter, but when it comes to gaming, there are only a few frames per second in it. The important thing is that the RTX 3060 is a beast when it comes to 1080p gaming, and even 1440p isn’t out of the question.
ABS Master Gaming PC | Nvidia RTX 3060 | Intel Core i5 11400F | 16GB RAM | 512GB NVMe SSD | $1,399.99 $1,199.99 at Newegg (save $200)
The RTX 3060 is the graphics card you want for high-end 1080p gaming, and it’ll even turn its hand to 1440p action too. ABS has built around that card sensibly here, ticking all the major spec boxes in the process. The CPU may be last-gen, but it’s still plenty powerful, and importantly won’t hold the GPU back.
You get 16GB of DDR4-3000 and a 512GB NVMe SSD for your money, solid for any gaming machine in 2022. You also get Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth support included, which should see you covered for your networking needs, although there is a gigabit ethernet connection if you’d prefer to stay wired. All this is encased in the Rosewill Spectra D100 chassis, which isn’t a bad-looking shell.
This system ships with Windows 10, but you can upgrade to Windows 11 for free if you want to see what all the cool kids are using—at least this way you have the option of which OS you use. You also get a keyboard and mouse thrown in with the system as well, which is better than nothing.
Overall, this is a decent saving on a solid 1080p gaming rig. The real star of the show here is obviously the RTX 3060, but the rest of the spec is reliable too, and this should serve you well for at least a few years.
Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He’s very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.
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