x/nxpc · 
The DDR5 crisis has turned PC building into a fever dream. The CPU in this build costs $199. The RAM? $375. Let that sink in. We're living in a world where 32GB of DDR5-6000 CL30 costs nearly double Intel's shockingly good 18-core Arrow Lake Refresh processor. And yet — somehow — this $1,600 rig delivers genuine 1440p high-refresh gaming. Welcome to PC building in August 2026.
When Intel launched the Core Ultra 200 Plus series (Arrow Lake Refresh) back in March 2026, the $199 Ultra 5 250K Plus looked interesting on paper: 18 cores (6 P-cores + 12 E-cores), boost clocks up to 5.3 GHz, native LGA 1851 with DDR5 support. But nobody expected it to be this competitive.
Turns out, the 250K Plus punches so far above its weight class that it's drawn comparisons to the $589 Core Ultra 9 285K in multi-threaded workloads. Gaming? It hangs with the Ryzen 5 9600X and even challenges the old 14600K — all while sipping power compared to Raptor Lake. At $199, this is the budget CPU story of 2026.
The problem? Every dollar you save on the CPU gets eaten by the DDR5 memory crisis.
Let's address the elephant in the room. Pre-crisis, a solid 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 kit ran you about $85-95. Today? That same kit costs $375-479 on Amazon and Newegg. In Canada, we're looking at a brutal $550-590 CAD.
The culprit? AI-driven demand for HBM and DDR5 from data centers, combined with memory manufacturers prioritizing enterprise contracts over consumer DIMMs. The result is a genuine supply squeeze that's pushed consumer DDR5 prices to 4-5x their 2024 lows.
For builders, this means the RAM line item is now the second most expensive component in most mid-range builds — behind only the GPU. In our build, RAM costs more than the CPU and motherboard combined. It's absurd, but it's the reality we're building in.
| Component | Item | Price (USD) | Price (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus (18C: 6P+12E, up to 5.3 GHz) | $199 | $289 |
| Cooler | Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE | $35 | $50 |
| Motherboard | ASRock B860M Pro RS WiFi (LGA 1851, DDR5) | $149 | $209 |
| RAM | 32GB (2×16GB) TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan DDR5-6000 CL30 | $375 | $550 |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 12GB GDDR7 | $529 | $879 |
| SSD | Kingston NV3 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 | $157 | $219 |
| Case | Montech AIR 903 MAX (4×140mm fans included) | $76 | $95 |
| PSU | MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 750W 80+ Gold (ATX 3.1) | $89 | $119 |
| Total | $1,609 | $2,410 |
Prices sourced from Amazon, Newegg, Micro Center, Canada Computers, and Best Buy — August 5, 2026.
This chip is the reason we're building Intel in August 2026. The 250K Plus delivers multi-threaded performance that, according to Tom's Hardware's exhaustive re-testing, effectively matches or exceeds the original Core Ultra 9 285K in many productivity benchmarks. In gaming, it trails the 9800X3D predictably — but it costs less than half as much.
Hardware Unboxed called it "ridiculously good for the price," and the r/hardware community largely agrees. If you game at 1440p or 4K where GPU bottlenecks dominate, the gap between this $199 chip and a $420+ 9800X3D shrinks dramatically.
Key specs: 6 P-cores (up to 5.3 GHz) + 12 E-cores, 24MB L3, 125W TDP, LGA 1851 socket, native DDR5-7200 support.
The RTX 5070 has settled into a comfortable $529 street price, with some models dipping to $529 on WCCFTech-tracked deals. In 26-game benchmarks, the 5070 averages 100-140 FPS at 1440p ultra settings — and with DLSS 4 Frame Generation, Cyberpunk 2077 with path tracing runs at a buttery 110-120 FPS.
At $529, it's the sweet spot between the $299 RTX 5060 (1080p territory) and the $919 RTX 5070 Ti. For pure 1440p gaming, this is the card.
There's no sugar-coating this. A TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan DDR5-6000 CL30 kit currently runs $375 on Newegg — and that's actually on the lower end. Corsair Vengeance kits are pushing $445. In Canada, expect to pay $550-590 CAD.
The silver lining? This is a quality DDR5-6000 CL30 kit that'll serve you well for years. And once the DDR5 shortage eventually eases (late 2026? early 2027?), you can always add another 32GB. For now, 32GB is the comfortable minimum for gaming + Discord + browser tabs in 2026.
The ASRock B860M Pro RS WiFi at $149 gives us PCIe 5.0 for the GPU, Wi-Fi 6E, and solid VRMs for the 250K Plus. Tom's Hardware recommends the MSI MAG B860 Tomahawk ($229) as the best overall B860 board, but at $149, the ASRock Pro RS doesn't sacrifice anything critical for this build tier. You still get DDR5 support up to 7200 MT/s, a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, and dual M.2 slots.
The Kingston NV3 1TB at $157 is the best-value PCIe 4.0 drive right now — 6,000 MB/s reads, plenty for gaming. The WD Black SN850X 1TB ($199) is faster but $42 more. For the case, the Montech AIR 903 MAX at $76 is a ridiculous value: four pre-installed 140mm PWM fans, USB-C front panel, and E-ATX support in a $76 chassis. The MSI MAG A750GL rounds things out with ATX 3.1/PCIe 5.1 readiness, native 12V-2x6 cable for the RTX 5070, and a 10-year warranty.
| Game (1440p Ultra) | Expected FPS (RTX 5070) |
|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 (RT Ultra, DLSS FG) | 110-120 FPS |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | 140-160 FPS |
| Baldur's Gate 3 | 120-140 FPS |
| Elden Ring (max, RT) | 90-110 FPS |
| Counter-Strike 2 | 300+ FPS |
| Alan Wake 2 (RT, DLSS FG) | 90-110 FPS |
The 250K Plus won't bottleneck the RTX 5070 at 1440p — you're GPU-limited in virtually every modern title. This combo delivers a genuine high-refresh 1440p experience across the board.
The DDR5 crisis has rewritten the rules of PC building. A $1,000 gaming PC in 2026 is genuinely difficult — not because CPUs or GPUs are expensive, but because your RAM alone eats 37% of that budget.
But here's the thing: the Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus is so good at $199 that it almost makes up for it. Paired with an RTX 5070 and a sensible platform, you get a 1440p beast that'll chew through anything you throw at it. Just... maybe don't look too closely at that RAM line item.
Is this the best time to build? Honestly? If you can wait 6-12 months for DDR5 supply to normalize, you'll probably save $200-300 on RAM alone. But if you need a rig now, the 250K Plus + RTX 5070 combo is the smartest $1,600 you can spend in August 2026.