The 2016 reboot of Doom did better than most reboots, garnering almost universal praise from reviewers and players alike. The sequel, Doom Eternal, is hitting consoles and PC later this month with more character upgrades, new multiplayer modes, and improved graphics. If your gaming rig is getting long in the tooth, you can build an entirely new system suitable for 1080p gaming in Doom Eternal for surprisingly little money.
We’ve gone over the minimum requirements for Doom Eternal and selected parts based on many years of combined system building experience. For under $500 (not including Windows or peripherals), you can get ready to frag demons in full HD on March 20th.
Bethesda says you only need a Ryzen 3 to run Doom Eternal, but you won’t have a lot of headroom. The Ryzen 3 chips also have integrated graphics that you won’t need since we’re getting a real GPU. Luckily, the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AF
is a steal at about $85. The “AF” refers to the version of the 1600 with AF in its model number instead of AE. It’s essentially a 2nd gen Ryzen 2600 with a lower clock speed. It comes with a passable heatsink, too. We’re pairing that with a Gigabyte B450 AORUS M motherboard. This $85 microATX board is pretty basic, but it’s reliable and has a few nice extras like USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and advanced fan management.
The GPU will do most of the heavy lifting in Doom Eternal, so we saved a little budget to boost this part. Bethesda says you need at least a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 470. AMD’s GPU prices are extremely competitive at the low-end right now, so we went with a Radeon XFX RX 570 (around $130). That should give you enough power to avoid stuttering even when there’s a lot of action, provided you don’t try to max the visual settings.
You’ll want at least 8GB of RAM for Doom Eternal, and we didn’t push the envelope too much here. The Patriot Signature RAM comes as a 2x4GB dual-channel kit for $39, which should give your system a little boost compared with a single-channel 8GB stick. It has solid reviews on Amazon with 4.3 stars. You only need 50GB of storage for Doom Eternal, but SSDs are cheap, and Windows 10 on a spinning drive is ludicrously slow. The ADATA SU635 240GB SSD supports 6Gbps speeds, and it has stellar reviews. It’s a steal at under $40.
People often overlook the importance of the power supply, which is especially problematic in gaming machines that are going to draw more power. We decided to go with the Corsair CX Series 450 Watt PSU because it’s a well-regarded brand, it has a high-efficiency certification, and it’s semi-modular for just $59. This will be a simple build, so you’ll only need to plug in a few of the power cables. That should help maintain airflow in the case. Speaking of the case, we chose the Cooler Master N200, which is $50 and comes with two reliable fans pre-installed. If you’re going to change up some part of this build, the case will be the easiest. There are plenty of different styles, but this one is clean, understated, and it’s large enough to accommodate larger video cards and water cooling radiators if you ever decide to go that route. This will bring the total (before tax and shipping) to $480-490 at current prices.
We didn’t include a Windows 10 license in this build, but you can buy an OEM key from any major retailer for about $100. If you already have a key for your old PC, you can probably get Microsoft to activate it on your new system. You might be tempted to pick up a new monitor, but even an older panel you have sitting around should be fine — this rig won’t demand a 144Hz display. This computer will be a breeze to upgrade, though. If you slap in a new GPU, it should be able to support your gaming for years to come. To recap, here’s what we recommend.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AF (YD1600BBAFBOX)
- GPU: Radeon RX 570 (RX-570P427D6)
- Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS M
- RAM: Patriot Signature Premium DDR4 8GB (PSP48G2666KH1)
- SSD: ADATA SU635 240GB SSD
- PSU: Corsair CX Series 450 Watt
- Case: Cooler Master N200
Now read: