Gamers shouldn’t be ashamed to buy a pre-built PC if they don’t know how to build a PC from scratch. Top brands such as HP, Lenovo, and Alienware have rolled out gaming PCs, so you wouldn’t have to worry about reliability. If you’re interested but you’re not sure where to start, we’ve got your back — we’ve rounded up some of the best gaming PC deals that are online right now. Whether you’re interested in an entry-level gaming desktop to enjoy free-to-play games or a top-of-the-line gaming machine to pair with the best 4K gaming monitors, at least one of these offers will surely catch your eye.
- Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 with RTX 3050 — $900, was $1,300
- Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen 6 with RTX 3050 — $900, was $1,350
- Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen 6 with RTX 3060 — $1,000, was $1,470
- HP Omen 25L with RTX 3070 — $1,210, was $1,750
- Lenovo Legion 5i Tower Gen 7 with RTX 3060 Ti — $1,500, was $2,000
- Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 with RTX 3090 — $2,300, was $3,150
- Alienware Aurora R15 with RTX 4090 — $3,800, was $4,500
- How to choose a gaming PC
Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 with RTX 3050 — $900, was $1,300
Why Buy:
- Nvidia GeForce TX 3050 graphics card
- 256GB SSD
- More internal volume for improved accessibility
- Optimized cooling
This variant of the Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 comes with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor, the Nvidia GeForce TX 3050 graphics card, and 8 GB of RAM — these specifications are enough to run the best PC games, though you may have to settle for low to medium settings for certain titles. The gaming desktop comes with Windows 11 Home out of the box, in its 256GB SSD that can fit multiple games at a time. The chassis features Alienware’s Legend 2.0 design that provides 50% more internal volume, for improved accessibility when upgrading components and a reorganized layout that reduces airflow obstructions for optimized cooling.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen 6 with RTX 3050 — $900, was $1,350
Why Buy:
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card
- Expansive storage
- Windows 11 Home out of the box
- Three free months of Xbox Game Pass
The fifth-generation Lenovo Legion Tower 5i is a decent gaming PC for a relatively affordable price. It’s not as powerful as the best gaming PCs, but with its 11th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, integrated Intel UHD Graphics 730, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card, and 16GB of RAM, it’s more than capable of running today’s most popular games at low to medium settings. It also comes with a 512GB SSD and a 1TB HDD, so you’ll have a lot of space for your games and all their necessary updates, plus Windows 11 Home pre-installed so can start using the computer as soon as you hook it up with your monitor, keyboard, and, mouse. Every purchase of the Lenovo Legion Tower 5i also comes with three free months of Xbox Game Pass, which will give you access to a massive library of games.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen 6 with RTX 3060 — $1,000, was $1,470
Why Buy:
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card
- Expansive storage
- 150-watt air cooling system
- Includes three months of Xbox Game Pass
This is the same tower and setup pretty much as the system above, with one exception, the graphics card is slightly upgraded for a little more power — this one has the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 with 12GB of GDDR6 dedicated VRAM and support from Intel UHD Graphics 750. You still get the 11th Gen Intel Core i5 processor with clock speeds from 2.7GHz up to 4.6GHz, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and two storage drives, the 512GB M.2 solid-state drive, and the 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive. The 150-watt air cooling system, with extra case fans, and loaded with RGB, will keep the system running well even under heavy loads. The three months included with access to Xbox Game Pass will give you plenty of games to play right off the bat, too.
HP Omen 25L with RTX 3070 — $1,210, was $1,750
Why Buy:
- Minimalist design
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card
- SuperSpeed USB Type-C and Type-A ports
- Sustainable materials and design
You won’t have a problem with today’s video games if you’re playing on the HP Omen 25L — a gaming PC that’s designed specifically for gaming performance. Inside its stylish chassis are the 12th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card with 8GB of GDDR6 dedicated VRAM, and 16GB of RAM, capable of handling the most popular titles right now. There’s enough space for several AAA games on its 1TB standard hard drive and 512GB solid-state drive which offers better performance and faster load times. Windows 11 Home is pre-installed, and there are several USB Type-A and USB Type-C ports available for all of your accessories. The HP Omen 25L also features a uniquely designed case built with sustainable materials and finished with water-based paint.
Lenovo Legion 5i Tower Gen 7 with RTX 3060 Ti — $1,500, was $2,000
Why Buy:
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card
- Three free months of Xbox Game Pass
- 150-watt air cooling and 120mm rear fan with RGB
- Lots of storage
With a similar design as the other Legion 5i Towers, this one does change things up quite a bit. The case is different and comes with a 150-watt air cooling system but also a 120mm rear fan with full RGB. It also features a 500-watt power supply, which is necessary for the internal performance boost. Inside is a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor with clock speeds of 3.6GHz up to 4.8GHz, alongside 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 LHR with 8GB of GDDR6 dedicated VRAM. If you don’t know those specs, our guide on how to buy a gaming desktop describes a good baseline for modern gaming systems, but the only thing to note is that it will run pretty much anything you throw at it on high settings, maybe even a few on ultra. It also has a 1TB solid-state drive, and a 1TB 7200 RPM standard SATA hard drive. WiFi 6 2×2 and Bluetooth 5.1 offer exceptional wireless connectivity. Like the other Lenovo systems, you get three months of Xbox Game Pass included, with access to some fantastic titles right off the bat.
Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 with RTX 3090 — $2,300, was $3,150
Why Buy:
- Stunning aurora chassis
- AlienFX lit interior and RGB
- AMD Ryzen 7 5800x3D 8-core processor
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090
If ever there was a system built for gaming, speed, and aesthetics, this would be it. The stunning case is adorned with AlienFX interior RGB, which means it looks good with the lights on or off. It’s also a top performer thanks to the Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-core 16-thread processor with clock speeds up to 4.5GHz, and the 32GB of DDR4 RAM. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 offers 24GB of dedicated GDDR6X VRAM, and the 1TB solid-state drive offers a decent amount of storage. Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and the Alienware Command Center with thermal control and overclocking support round out the list of features nicely. And if you’re a big fan of the Alienware line, don’t forget to take a peek at the best Alienware deals going on right now.
Alienware Aurora R15 with RTX 4090 — $3,800, was $4,500
Why Buy:
- Amazingly powerful gaming PC
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card
- Improved acoustics and cooling
- Customizable lighting
The Alienware Aurora R15 unleashes the full capabilities of modern PC gaming with its 13th-generation Intel Core i9 processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, and 32GB of RAM. With these components, you’ll be able to play the most demanding games at their highest settings. The gaming desktop also comes with a 1TB SSD boot drive and a 1TB SATA drive for storage, with Windows 11 Home pre-installed. The revamped thermal design of the Alienware Aurora R15 improves acoustics and cooling, while customizable AlienFX lighting will make sure that you can play video games in style.
How to choose a gaming PC
As with any big purchase, make sure you know exactly what you want when buying a gaming computer. It’s not a bad idea to write down a checklist. It’s also important when looking specifically at cheap gaming PCs (i.e. those coming in at less than $1,000) to have realistic expectations — you’re not going to get multi-monitor 4K gaming at this price point. That said, it’s easy to achieve great results with 1080p/60 frames per second gaming at high settings even for modern releases, and even for 1440p gaming when you move toward the upper end of our $1,000 price limit.
If playing at 1080p/60 fps on one or two monitors is good enough, then you won’t have a hard time finding a good cheap gaming PC to meet your needs. If your demands are a bit higher, though, then expect to have to shop around a bit for the right deal. Also, be sure to bring yourself up to speed with the latest hardware — don’t just jump on the first attractive deal you find that meets your budget only to end up with a last-gen GPU that will feel long in the tooth. Know what you want and what to expect from a cheap gaming PC that’s within your set budget and you won’t be disappointed, and for a more detailed breakdown of the sort of hardware you should look for, read on.
What makes a good cheap gaming PC?
The short answer is that a good price-to-performance ratio is what makes a cheap gaming PC “good,” and the good news here is that desktop computers already provide this sort of value by their very nature — it’s simply easier to fit all that beefy hardware into a desktop tower, whereas the scaled-down components of laptops (not to mention their built-in displays and keyboards) make those mobile PCs more expensive. That said, it’s still important to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck if you’re buying a pre-assembled desktop computer, as some are built better than others.
The three main hardware components that drive performance are the CPU, GPU (or graphics card), and RAM. Our recommendations: For your CPU, stick with an 11th or 12th-gen Intel Core or one of the newer AMD Ryzen (sometimes called “Zen”) processors. For RAM, a minimum of 8GB is recommended for all but the cheapest gaming PCs, and 16GB is even better — but remember you can almost always add more RAM and this is one of the easiest (if not the easiest) components to swap out. GPUs are arguably the heart of a gaming computer; modern models include AMD’s Radeon 6000 series as well as Nvidia’s RTX 30-series GPUs.
Nvidia replaced their older 10-series GPUs in recent years, but there are still cheap gaming PCs floating around with these cards. Our advice: Avoid them. Even the entry-level GTX 16-series Nvidia cards are faster and are ideal for 1080p gaming. For 1440p gaming, you’ll be better served with one of the RTX series cards such as the RTX 3060. If anything bottlenecks your gaming PC’s performance, it will be an underpowered GPU, so this is the one component you don’t want to skimp on. One final thing to consider is upgradeability: If you plan to keep your chosen PC tower for a while, look at what sort of case and motherboard it’s using to determine if you can easily add and swap parts in the future. Some desktop PCs from brands like HP use proprietary components which will limit what parts you can add and can be costly to replace.
Are gaming PCs good for work?
It’s safe to say that running modern video games at good settings is generally a much more demanding job than most work tasks you’d normally need a computer for, so any gaming computer — even a cheap gaming PC — will be as well-suited for work and study as it is for play. The faster processors and high-speed RAM will make short work of simple tasks like web browsing, word processing, making spreadsheets, and so on, and the discrete GPU is also nice to have for graphical tasks such as video rendering. Another advantage of a desktop PC, particularly one with a graphics card, is the option to create a multi-monitor setup that can increase your productivity (and even a single monitor will still give you more screen real estate than a laptop display).
Alternatively, check out our recommendations for the best gaming laptop deals if you need portability.
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