If you don’t really game and want to get into it, then grabbing yourself a starter gaming PC is a way to save yourself some money while dipping your toes into the world of gaming. Of course, you can certainly buy yourself something really expensive and fancy, but it might be overwhelming, and it will certainly be very expensive, especially since that also means you’ll need to buy a high-end gaming monitor to take advantage of it. So, all in all, it’s best to go for a nice budget-friendly starter gaming PC before investing heavily into your gaming setup.
To that end, we’ve collected some of our favorite starter gaming PCs below based on various budgets and resolution needs. They’re also great if you want to upgrade them down the line, especially if you want to grab a lower-end one and upgrade it with a mid-range GPU in a few months. Either way, be sure to check all the options out thoroughly before taking the plunge!
The Best Starter Gaming PCs in 2024
- Buy the if you want the best budget starter gaming PC.
- Buy the if you want the best entry-level starter gaming PC.
- Buy the if you want the Best starter PC for 1080p gaming.
- Buy the if you want the best starter gaming PC that looks great.
- Buy the if you want the best all-AMD starter PC for gaming.
- Buy the if you want the best starter gaming PC for 1440p gaming.
Skytech Gaming Chronos Mini
Best budget starter gaming PC
Pros | Cons |
Excellent price | Doesn’t bundle a keyboard and mouse |
Comes with 16Gb of RAM | GPU could be better |
Good storage |
While the Skytech Gaming Chronos Mini is a very budget-friendly desktop and won’t play the latest games on the market, it is a good starter
As for the actual GPU, you get a GTX 1650, which is an older GPU that’s part of the GTX-16 series. That does mean that you miss out on things like DLSS, which helps with frame generation, but it’s still not a terrible GPU, especially if you don’t care that much about the most modern games. As for the CPU, you get the entry-level i3-12100F CPU, which pairs nicely with the GTX 1650, and should handle some simulation and strategy games without too much issue. It will also manage to do most productivity tasks perfectly fine; just don’t expect to get much editing work out of it, such as graphical or music editing.
In terms of other specs, we’re very happy to see that you get yourself 16Gb of
Specifications | |
---|---|
CPU |
i3-12100F |
Graphics Card |
GTX 1650 |
RAM | 16GB DDR4 |
Storage | 500 GB |
Dimensions |
16 x 8.4 x 18,1 inches |
Weight |
23 pounds |
Legion Tower 5 Gen 8 with RTX 3050
Best entry-level starter gaming PC
Pros | Cons |
Includes mouse and keyboard | GPU isn’t that great |
Solid CPU performance | RAM could be better |
Good amount of storage |
If you’re willing to spend a little bit more, you can get something more in line with modern standards for entry-level
At this price point, you also get a much better processor in the form of an AMD Ryzen 5 7600, which is a mid-range CPU that’s actually pretty perfect for the sort of tasks you’d expect. It’s good with gaming, including simulation and strategy games, and it’s excellent for productivity work, and you might even get some editing out of it as well. As for
That said, storage is on the smaller side at 512GB, mostly because with the RTX 3050, you’re more likely to run into games with modern graphics with higher storage capacity needs. On the bright side, you do get a mouse and keyboard thrown in, and the included Wi-Fi 6 means you’ll get a very stable connection when playing online. It’s also a pretty solid jumping-off point if you ever want to upgrade your GPU in the future, which you absolutely could in a few months or a year.
Specifications | |
---|---|
CPU |
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 |
Graphics Card |
RTX 3050 |
RAM | 16GB DDR5 |
Storage | 512 GB |
Dimensions |
16.18 x 8.07 x 15.59 inches |
Weight |
29.6 pounds |
Legion Tower 5 Gen 8 with RTX 3060 Ti
Best starter PC for 1080p gaming
Pros | Cons |
Comes with an RTX 3060Ti | GPU only has 8GB of VRAM |
Excellent CPU performance | |
If you do want a
As for gaming performance, you should be able to handle 1080p at 100fps+ with the RTX 3060Ti at reasonably good graphical settings, so it’s the ideal card for 1080p gaming. Also, you do get access to the slightly older DLSS, and that can also help widen the gaming options for you. You also get the much more powerful AMD Ryzen 7 7700, which is a mid-to-high-end CPU that will easily handle most strategy and simulation games, as well as an upgrade to a significantly more powerful GPU if you want to go that route.
Besides that, you get the expected 16GB of DDR5
Specifications | |
---|---|
CPU |
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 |
Graphics Card |
RTX 3060 Ti |
RAM | 16GB DDR5 |
Storage | 1TB |
Dimensions |
16.18 x 8.07 x 15.59 inches |
Weight |
29.6 pounds |
Alienware Aurora R15
Best starter gaming PC that looks great
Pros | Cons |
Looks really great | Storage isn’t impressive |
Has solid gaming performance | Upgrading will be difficult. |
Comes with an RTX 3060 |
While having some great specs is very important, if the look of your
As for the GPU, this Alienware R15 configuration comes with an RTX 3060, which, as previously mentioned, doesn’t have as strong a performance as the Ti version, but it does have a bit more VRAM. In real terms, you’re still getting a solid 1080p GPU, and you should be able to handle most games at 1080p with relatively good settings at or around 100, so you aren’t losing a ton in the process. That said, you do get the same AMD Ryzen 7 7700 processor, which is excellent, especially if you want something a bit more versatile.
We’re happy to see that you still get 16Gb of DDR5
Specifications | |
---|---|
CPU |
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 |
Graphics Card |
RTX 3060 |
RAM | 16GB DDR5 |
Storage | 512 GB |
Dimensions |
20.1 x 8.9 x 20.8 inches |
Weight |
29.4 pounds |
CyberPowerPC Gamer Master
Best all-AMD starter PC for gaming
Pros | Cons |
Excellent CPU and GPU performance | No Access to DLSS |
Huge amount of RAM and storage | |
If you’re a fan of AMD and want to go for an all-AMD setup, this configuration from CyberPowerPC is perfect. In fact, it’s actually an excellent option if you want something a bit more versatile when it comes to graphics performance since the onboard RX 7700 XT does pretty well in both 1080p and 1440p performance. That means you can prioritize resolution or framerate depending on what you’re playing, and when you compare the RX 7700 XT performance to the RTX 4060 Ti, which is its closest Nvidia equivalent, you’ll see the stats say the same.
Of course, you don’t get as advanced ray-tracing tech as DLSS, but that’s not a dealbreaker, especially as AMD improves its ray-tracing tech and gets closer to what Nvidia has to offer. As for the processor, you get the AMD Ryzen 7 7700, which is pretty typical for this price point and is an excellent CPU to pair with the RX 7700 XT and for general usage. Actually, what’s more impressive is that you get a whopping 32GB of
Equally impressive is that you get a massive 2TB of storage to work with, so you are definitely not going to run out of space any time soon. Finally, you do get a keyboard and mouse thrown in, although it’s definitely worth grabbing some nicer ones if you can. Overall, the CyberPowerPC Gamer Master is probably the most versatile of the options here, so grab this if you tend to play a lot of various types of games and genres.
Specifications | |
---|---|
CPU |
AMD Ryzen 5 5500 |
Graphics Card |
RTX 3060 |
RAM | 16GB |
Storage | 1 TB |
Dimensions |
17.7 x 7.8 x 17.9 inches |
Weight |
33 pounds |
Legion Tower 5i Gen 8
Best starter gaming PC for 1440p gaming
Pros | Cons |
Excellent for 1440p gaming | Is a little bit pricey |
Good amount of RAM and storage | |
While 1080p gaming is perfectly fine, if you’re looking to bump that up a little bit to 1440p, then you’re going to want to go with this configuration of the Legion Tower 5i. It comes with an RTX 4070, which is an excellent GPU for 1440p at 100fps+ while also having reasonably good graphical settings; plus, it does give you the opportunity to decrease the resolution if you really want to pump the refresh rate. It also has 12GB of VRAM, which somewhat future-proofs the GPU a little bit since a lot of modern games tend to like eating up VRAM.
As for processing, you get the Intel Core i7-13700F, which is a mid-to-high-end processor similar to the Ryzen 7 ones from above, so it’s pretty great overall and gives you a lot of versatility. That said, we would have liked to see it with one of the higher models, like the R9 or the i9, at this price point. It’s not a dealbreaker for sure, but it would have been nice to see at the price, especially since it’s a CPU on par with other
As for
Specifications | |
---|---|
CPU |
AMD Ryzen 7 5700 |
Graphics Card |
AMD Radeon RX 6700 |
RAM | 16GB |
Storage | 1 TB |
Dimensions |
17.9 x 8.6x 18 inches |
Weight |
38 pounds |
How We Chose These Starter Gaming PCs
Gaming Performance
Easily, one of the most important things that a
That’s especially important because you might still want to grab various peripherals like a gaming monitor and headset, which can add significantly to the overall cost. In a similar vein, while a lot of these PCs come with a mouse and keyboard thrown in, they’re generic and not great for gaming, so you might want to grab some more gaming-specific ones, too. Add all that together, and you could be looking at an extra $200-$600 in peripherals alone, so we’re very cognizant of keeping the
Upgradeability
A starter PC is just that: a great jumping-off point for your gaming journey and something you can build off of in the future. Now, tech is changing incredibly fast, and we’re currently in a switch from DDR4
This article is managed and created separately from the Digital Trends Editorial team.
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