$500 - $1,000: Entry-level machines
$1,000 - $2,000: The sweet spot
$2,000+: The luxury end
GPU hierarchy: How the graphics cards match up
The best cheap gaming PC is all about finding the PC deal that suits both your wallet and your gaming needs. Whether you're after an entry-level rig that can deal with a 1080p load or a high-spec machine capable of 4K gaming and beyond, you want to get as much tech for your cash as possible.
And that's where we come in, trawling through the systems on offer this week, to give you the best idea as to where you should be spending your money. It's not an easy task, either, because PC gaming has become a supremely expensive hobby in recent years. Unless you know where to look...
We're splitting our rigs into three distinct categories: Entry-level, Sweet spot, and Luxury. In the middle, the $1,000 - $2,000 mark is where you'll find the widest range of possible systems, and arguably is where the best gaming PC deals of today are likely to exist. But at both ends of the price spectrum it's important to know you're getting the best gaming hardware for you money.
We use all our combined decades of technological PC gaming expertise to determine whether something is a good deal or not, and you can rest assured that we'll only recommend the best gaming PC deals right here. If something's super cheap doesn't automatically make it worth the money, and likewise just because a system's $2,500 doesn't mean it can't be great value.
Where are the best gaming PC deals?
- Amazon - Save hundreds of dollars on selected prebuilt PCs (opens in new tab)
- iBuypower - Fast shipping machines with up to $400 off (opens in new tab)
- Best Buy - RTX 3080 gaming desktops for under $3K (opens in new tab)
- Lenovo - Lenovo Legion gaming machines with up to $300 savings (opens in new tab)
- Newegg - Stellar savings on RTX 30-series gaming PCs (opens in new tab)
- Dell - Up to $750 saved on Alienware Aurora gaming PCs (opens in new tab)
- HP - Save over $500 on all-in-one PCs (opens in new tab)
- Corsair - Some ridiculous savings on compact gaming PCs (opens in new tab)
- NZXT - streaming-focussed gaming PCs with $100 off (opens in new tab)
Nvidia GeForce-powered gaming PCs - Yeyian Katana X10 | Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti |
$1,399$1,082.99 (opens in new tab) - iBuyPower Gaming RDY SLHRG221 | Nvidia RTX 3070 |
$1,699$1,499 (opens in new tab) - Skytech Blaze 3.0 | Nvidia RTX 3080 |
$2,399.99$1,799.99 (opens in new tab)
AMD Radeon-powered gaming PCs - HP Pavilion | AMD RX 5500 | $559.99 (opens in new tab)
- Skytech Shadow 3.0 | AMD RX 6600 | $849.99 (opens in new tab)
- MSI Aegis | AMD RX 6700 XT |
$1,499$1,128.99 (opens in new tab)
$500-$1,000
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(opens in new tab)$1,000-$2,000
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(opens in new tab)$2,000+
(opens in new tab)Graphics card hierarchy
The most important component for any gaming PC build is always going to be the graphics card. That will give you the best idea about how one machine matches up with another just in terms of raw gaming performance.
Below, we've listed the slew of GPUs we've had over the past couple of years listed in terms of their Time Spy Extreme index score as a way to put them in some sort of consistent hierarchy.
Click the button in the top right to enhance!
Should I build my own gaming PC or buy a prebuilt?
One of the biggest advantages to putting together your own budget gaming PC build (opens in new tab) is the ability to essentially choose every single component in the system. This allows you to take your time shopping around for deals and finding the perfect combination of parts to fit your budget and performance needs. The downside for most inexperienced builders is that this whole process can take some time and has the potential to cause quite a headache if something goes wrong. This is where prebuilt gaming PCs really shine.
When you pay the premium to configure or purchase a prebuilt PC you are paying for more than just the parts. You are paying for warranty service, support and the peace of mind that your system was put together by professionals. These are some of the things we value highly when considering the best budget gaming PCs. We also look at other unique selling points like design, upgradability and anything you wouldn't be able to do when building it yourself.
Now that graphics cards are regularly available and the silicon shortage is starting to clear up, building your own PC is much easier than it was before. That said, a prebuilt rig is still a reliable way to get the exact graphics card you want.
For most users that don't have the luxury to spend over $1000 on a prebuilt gaming PC, upgradability and performance per dollar are paramount. When we set out to choose our top choices for budget prebuilt gaming PCs, we took a look at almost every major manufacturer and system integrator to find the best combination of value, reliability, customer feedback, design and performance under $500 and under $1,000.
We still highly recommend the experience of building it yourself, but if you can't do that then one of the systems above will have you gaming in short order.
What is a decent price for a gaming PC
The $1,000 - $1,500 mark is probably around the sweet spot for a new gaming PC. That will get you a graphics card that can nail 1440p at solid frame rates as well as a really good supporting spec. That should mean a relatively sizeable NVMe SSD, around 500GB, as well as 16GB of speedy memory, and a modern CPU.
Is PC gaming better than console?
Unquestionably. In real terms, it's more expensive in terms of hardware, but there is a games library stretching back decades that no other gaming platform can possibly match. Games are also regularly cheaper, or free, on PC, too.
The PC is also more capable of doing more things than a games console, too. Try browsing the web on your PlayStation and you'll know what we mean. It can also be portable, in either laptop or Steam Deck style.
What PC is equivalent to a PS5?
We would suggest that the AMD RX 6700 GPU will deliver around the same level of raw graphics performance as Sony's PS5. That's an OEM part, so you'll only find it in a prebuilt gaming PC, but it's a 11.3 TFLOP GPU versus the 10.3 TFLOP of the PS5.
Those numbers aren't wholly comparative, however, but you would also need an 8-core CPU, 16GB of memory (though the PS5's is spread between GPU and system), and a 500GB+ SSD.
