Quick Answer

At R40,000 a Quake Champions-ready SA build should centre on an RTX 4070 Ti Super / RX 7900 XTX class card and a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which realistically delivers high-refresh 1440p and very playable 4K Ultra. R40,000 is where 4K becomes a realistic everyday target rather than a stretch.

Where your R40,000 goes

Spend the bulk on the graphics card and CPU. For this budget that means an RTX 4070 Ti Super / RX 7900 XTX class card and a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, plus 32GB DDR5-6000 and a 2TB NVMe SSD. Add an 80 Plus-rated PSU sized 100-150W above the GPU's draw, a B650 or B760 motherboard, and a case with at least two intake fans. R40,000 is where 4K becomes a realistic everyday target rather than a stretch.

What Quake Champions actually needs

Quake Champions is an arena shooter built for high refresh rates, so frame pacing and a fast panel matter more than raw resolution. In practice that means a few sensible defaults: cap the frame rate to your monitor's refresh to keep frame times even, enable DLSS or FSR Quality when the title supports it for free headroom, and keep the game on the NVMe SSD so streaming hitches disappear. Expect high-refresh 1440p and very playable 4K Ultra on the parts above once you dial settings to High.

Buying it in South Africa

Everything here is stocked locally at Evetech, so you avoid import duties and long lead times. If you are a student, note that the NSFAS R5,200 device allowance does not stretch to a gaming desktop on its own, so plan the rest of the budget around it. Buy the case, PSU and cooler you can keep through a future GPU upgrade, since those parts outlast two or three graphics cards.

FAQ

Can I run Quake Champions on a cheaper build than R40,000?

Yes, you can drop a tier and still play Quake Champions well at 1080p, but you lose the high-refresh and 1440p headroom this budget buys. The an RTX 4070 Ti Super / RX 7900 XTX class card here is the part that makes the difference.

Should I prioritise the CPU or GPU for Quake Champions?

Quake Champions is an arena shooter built for high refresh rates, so frame pacing and a fast panel matter more than raw resolution. Put roughly 45-50% of the budget into the GPU and size the CPU so it never holds the card back at your target resolution.

Is 16GB of RAM enough for Quake Champions?

16GB is the floor for 1080p, but 32GB DDR5-6000 on this build gives you smoother 1% lows and room for browser tabs, Discord and mods running alongside the game.

TIP

— fit a single fast NVMe SSD (2TB NVMe SSD) rather than splitting across a small SSD and a hard drive; Quake Champions loads noticeably faster from one Gen4 drive.