1080p remains the most popular resolution in use today, with more than 80% of the market sticking to existing 1920x1080 displays. Just a few years ago, a fairly beastly rig was needed to run games at 1080p with High to Ultra settings. AMD and nVidia have released new video cards nonstop this year, each enabling 1440p gaming at the entry-level market, or bolstering 1080p to max game settings. These new releases include the RX 480 and the GTX 1060 $200-$250 options, both of which we've reviewed.

You no longer need a $1200 gaming PC to game at 1080p/ultra, and 1440p now comes as a "free" add with these mid-range GPUs. This $800 gaming PC build targets ultra settings in Overwatch at 1440p, and will be capable of high settings in Battlefield 1 (and likely Titanfall 2).

In the paragraphs below we’ll go over our parts list and why we chose the parts for this rig like we did:

MSI has announced it will be releasing five new GTX 1060 3GB cards. The new Pascal video cards are set for an August release, and they will take on AMD’s 4GB RX 480 in the $200 - $250 market. The MSRP for the GTX 1060 3GB cards will be $200, but some cards may be priced higher to account for pre-overclocks and AIB partner value adds, like improved cooling.

The GTX 1060 3GB cards have 1152 CUDA cores, operating at a base clock of 1506MHz and a boost clock of 1708MHz – the same as the 6GB model, but with 128 fewer cores. MSI, like other AIB partners, will offer factory overclocked cards coupled with brand heatsinks.

New video cards are coming out more quickly than we can write reviews here at Gamers Nexus. The launch of the RX 460, RX 470, RX 480, and GTX 1060 have released a flurry of new options for budget to mid-range gamers (and high-end, if you count the 1070s and 1080s). The new cards have brought down prices for older last-gen video cards, especially 900-series nVidia cards and 300-series AMD cards. In this piece, we’ll show you the best bang for your buck when it comes to last-gen video card purchases – and they aren't even second-hand.

Gamers looking to get a card for $100 to $130 have a few options at the price range. At $110, you could either get a GTX 750 Ti ($110) or opt for AMD’s newly released RX 460. The RX 460 makes more sense than a GTX 750 Ti, at this point, but we do generally recommend a bump up to the next class. That would include the GTX 950 for $125 (after a $15 rebate), outperforming the RX 460 card by 25% in some cases. On the AMD side, the R9 380X was briefly available for $150 before the RX 460 launch, but seems to have risen in price.

Gigabyte and EKWB will be launching limited-time bundles of their new waterblocks and motherboards. The EK-FB GA-Z170X Monoblock will be sold along with the Z170X-GAMING 7-EK motherboard, and the X99-ULTRA GAMING-EK will be bundled with EK-Supremacy EVO X99 monoblock.

The EK-FB GA-Z170X waterblock will provide cooling to CPU and the motherboard’s MOSFETs, all without having to remove the motherboard’s FET heatsinks. Traditional liquid cooling setups do not often cover the FET heatsinks, and the only cooling they get is from tower cooler fans, case fans, or low-hanging vapor chambers.

Almost every PC component comes decorated with RGB lights nowadays – it was only a matter of time before PSU manufacturers started incorporating RGB lights into their products. Thermaltake's doing that, following the success of the Riing RGB fans, and has recently announced the Toughpower DPS G RGB 650W PSU.

The new, colorful PSU is a modular 650W (and 850W) unit with an LED ring around its 140mm fan. The circular LED ring can output 256 different colors and can be changed with Thermaltake’s DPS G PC App.

The power supply comes with a 10-year warranty and an 80 Plus Gold efficiency rating. The long warranty challenges most PSUs, which usually only offer 3- to 5-year warranties. Thermaltake says the PSU is rated to be “91% efficient under real-world conditions.”