A $1,500 AUD budget for a gaming PC in 2026 sits in an interesting position: it is enough to build a legitimately capable 1440p system, but you need to make deliberate choices to avoid wasting money on components that do not contribute to gaming performance. Here is a complete build for that budget with current Australian pricing and the reasoning behind each part.
The Build
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 — ~$230 AUD
The Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread chip on the AM5 platform with strong single-core performance and no meaningful gaming bottleneck when paired with a mid-range GPU. It is not the fastest gaming CPU available, but it delivers 95% of the Ryzen 7 7700X's gaming performance at significantly lower cost. The AM5 socket also supports future Ryzen 8000 and 9000 series chips if you want to upgrade later.
Motherboard: ASRock B650M Pro RS — ~$180 AUD
A B650 board is all you need for a Ryzen 7600. This one has solid VRM for stock operation, two M.2 slots (both PCIe 4.0), USB-C on the rear panel, and 2.5G LAN. Avoid X670 boards at this budget — the price premium buys features you will not use in a 1440p gaming build.
RAM: 32 GB DDR5-6000 CL30 (2x16 GB) — ~$130 AUD
32 GB is now the sensible baseline as discussed elsewhere on this site. DDR5-6000 CL30 is the AM5 sweet spot — it runs at the FCLK ratio the platform prefers and delivers the best memory latency for gaming. Avoid DDR5-4800 kits; the speed step up to 6000 costs almost nothing extra.
GPU: RX 7700 XT or RTX 4070 — ~$500-550 AUD
At this budget tier the GPU gets the largest allocation, as it should for a gaming build. The RX 7700 XT delivers strong 1440p performance with 12 GB VRAM and excellent rasterisation performance. If you are willing to stretch slightly, the RTX 4070 adds DLSS 3 frame generation and a better encoder for streaming. Both are solid at 1440p high settings in current titles.
Storage: 1 TB WD Black SN850X NVMe — ~$130 AUD
A PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD for the OS and primary game library. The SN850X consistently performs well in real-world gaming load scenarios and has strong endurance ratings. Add a second 2 TB SATA SSD (~$80 AUD) for game overflow storage if budget allows.
PSU: Corsair RM750e 750W 80+ Gold — ~$120 AUD
750W is appropriate for the RX 7700 XT or RTX 4070 with this CPU. The RM750e is a fully modular, 80+ Gold unit from a reputable manufacturer with a 10-year warranty. Do not cheap out on the PSU.
Case: Fractal Design Pop Air — ~$110 AUD
Good airflow, clean cable management routing, and a straightforward build experience. The Pop Air comes with three front fans and a rear fan, which is enough to keep thermals under control without adding fan spend.
Cooler: DeepCool AK400 — ~$45 AUD
More than adequate for the Ryzen 5 7600 at stock. Quiet, well-built, and broadly compatible with AM5 out of the box.
Total: ~$1,445 AUD
This leaves $55 for shipping or to put towards a second storage drive. The build delivers 1440p gaming at 100+ FPS in most current titles at high settings and will handle this workload comfortably for 3-4 years.