The best cheap gaming PC is about giving you the performance you need, no matter your budget. As we're now enjoying some discounts courtesy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you'll see tons of gaming desktops going on sale for ridiculous prices. The big problem is that there are so many Cyber Monday gaming PC deals (opens in new tab) to choose from that it'll be tough to know where to start. That's where this handy page comes in.
Building yourself a good gaming PC takes time and patience. Two things a lot of people don't have these days. Going the prebuilt route will save you a lot of headaches. Just be sure to check each retailer's warranty policies for parts and labor in case something doesn't work on the PC. Many of these prebuilt systems are in stock and ship immediately, meaning you're only a few days away from playing the best games on PC.
- We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals (opens in new tab) right here.
2023 games: Upcoming releases
Best PC games: All-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPSes: Finest gunplay
Best MMOs: Massive worlds
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
The first set of deals is for budget and entry-level gaming rigs between $500-$1,000. You should be able to play most games at 1080p on at least medium settings with no major issues. If you're looking for a premium desktop with a powerful CPU and GPU, the second set of deals is the way to go with PCs over $1,000. These machines are great for playing games at that graphical sweet spot of 1440p resolution on high-to-ultra settings at a solid framerate.
The PCs that make it onto the list aren't on here just because they're cheap; they have components we have no problem putting inside of our own PCs. Don't be surprised if you see some machines from our best gaming PC (opens in new tab) guide seeing some major price drops as Cyber Week marches on.
Where are the best Cyber Monday 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 - RTX 3060 - Lenovo IdeaCentre Gaming 5i | $899.99 at Best Buy (opens in new tab)
- RTX 3060 Ti - Yeyian Katana X10 |
$1,399.99$949 at Newegg (save $450.99) (opens in new tab) - RTX 3070 - iBuyPower TraceMR Gaming Desktop |
$1,449.99$1,149.99 at Best Buy (save $300) (opens in new tab) - RTX 3080 - iBuyPower TraceMR |
$1,849.99$1,499.99 at BestBuy (save $350) (opens in new tab) - RTX 4080 - CyberPowerPC Gamer Infinity XLC |
$3,314$2,979 at CyberPowerPC (save $335) (opens in new tab)
AMD Radeon-powered gaming PCs - RX 6600 XT - HP Pavilion |
$1,239.99$799.99 at Amazon (save $440) (opens in new tab) - RX 6700 XT - HP Omen |
$1,649.99$1,299.99 at Best Buy (save $350) (opens in new tab) - RX 6800 XT - Alienware Aurora R14 |
$2,399.99$1,799.99 at Dell (save $600) (opens in new tab)
Cheap gaming PC deals
$500-1,000
$1,000+
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.