Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Best gaming PC deals: Lenovo Legion, ASUS ROG, Acer Predator

While build a gaming PC from scratch can be very rewarding, especially if you want to save a penny here and there, it takes a lot of work and tech savvy, and is often more than most folks want to deal wih. Luckily, there are some great pre-build PCs that you can take advantage of, and with some really excellent desktop computer deals, you can get something at almost the same cost of you building it yourself. As such, we’ve gone out and collected our favorite gaming PC deals for you to pick from, with some of the higher end-options being able to easily run the best PC games on the market right now.

Best gaming PC deal for entry-level gamers

Lenovo LOQ Tower — $850, was $1,150

Lenovo LOQ Gaming Tower
Lenovo

If you’re looking for the cheapest gaming PC that’s still a viable gaming PC, then the Lenovo LOQ Tower is an excellent option. It comes with an RTX 4060, which is entry-level but should handle most free-to-play games just fine, as well as older games from the past few years at 60Hz on lower graphical settings. It also comes with a mid-range Intel Core i5-13400F CPU that’s fine for gaming and productivity work, and the 16GB of DDR5 RAM is a surprisingly large amount for this price point and will give you a solid day-to-day experience.

Best gaming PC deal for gamers on a budget

Lenovo Legion Tower 5 — $1,080, was $1,500

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i with RTX 3060 gifts for PC gamers
Lenovo

If you’re willing to add a little bit more, then bumping up to the Lenovo Legion Tower 5 nets you an RTX 3060, a solid 1080p card that will be able to handle a lot more games with higher graphical settings and refresh rates. It also gives you access to the latest DLSS 3.0 since you didn’t get that on the previous generations. RAM is in the mid-range at 16GB, but it’s DDR5 Memory, so it’s a bit faster, while the 512Gb should be more than enough to get you started. As for the processor, the AMD Ryzen 7 is a CPU that’s well paired with the RTX 3060 and is fine for other tasks like productivity and general use.

Best gaming PC deal for streaming

ASUS ROG Compact 10L — $1,600, was $1,900

ASUS ROG Compact 10L
Asus

The ROG Compact 10L only has an RTX 4070 graphics card as well as a powerful Intel Core i7 processor, which is a mid-to-high-end CPU that can handle both gaming and streaming at the same time. You’ll still be playing and streaming at 1080p, but it’s a good starter desktop, especially since Twitch and YouTube lock you at lower resolutions and refresh rates when you’re starting out, so you don’t need something powerful. The 16GB should also be more than enough, along with the CPU, to run OBS or other streaming software.

Best gaming PC deal for gaming with DLSS 3.0

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i — $1,828, was $2,150

The Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen 8 gaming PC on a white background.
Lenovo

The Lenovo Legion Tower 5i comes with an RTX 4060, a powerful 1440p card that will let you play most games at 100+ fps on reasonably good graphical settings. Also, since it is within the RTX family, you get access to DLSS 3.0, so you could potentially increase the graphics quality of the games it supports. While the RTX 4060 also gives you access to DLSS 3.0, it doesn’t have as much raw power, and the RTX 4080 can be prohibitively expensive, so this is a great middle ground. You also get a solid Intel Core i5-14400F and 16GB of DDR5 RAM, which is also pretty fast.

Best mid-range cheap gaming PC deal

Acer Predator Orion 5000 — $1,500, was $2,200

Acer Predator Orion 5000 gaming desktop with a keyboard and mouse.
Acer

If you don’t care as much about DLSS 3.0 and are willing to go with an RTX 30 series card, then this PC comes with an RTX 3080, which is good for both 1440p gaming at a very high refresh rate and graphics or 4k gaming at lower graphical settings and refresh rate. Either way, you have a lot more options for how you want to prioritize your gaming with the raw power from the RTX 3080 the only big problem is that it only has 8GB of VRAM, which will probably not be enough in two or three years. That said, you can just upgrade it at that point if you’d like; GPU switches aren’t difficult. Besides that, you get an Intel Core i7-12700F and 16GB of DDR5 RAM, so it’s a powerful PC otherwise.

Other cheap gaming PCs we love

  1. : This is a solid alternative to our entry-level pick above if you’d rather go with AMD. It’s still a sold graphics card that will handle older games fine and is a solid 1080p gaming PC, especially for under $1,000. It also has a mid-range AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU which makes it very versatile, and even has 16GB of RAM, surprisingly, so it’s well worth picking up if you’re an AMD fan since all-AMD setups are quite rare.
  2. : Even though the CLX set didn’t make the cut, it has a powerful RTX 4070, but more importantly, a high-end Intel Core i7 14700KF. That makes it great for any CPU-heavy applications like strategy and simulation games, music editing, and potentially some graphical editing as well. You also get an impressive 2TB SSD to work with, as well as a whopping 32GB of DDR5 RAM.
  3. : This one is a bit more on the expensive side, but it’s probably one of the cheapest desktop PCs you’ll find that has an RTX 4080, which is already a very expensive GPU. This is a great option if you want to game at 1440p or 4k, and the mid-to-high-end AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is perfectly paired so as not to cause any bottlenecks. We’re also very impressed with the 32GB of RAM, making this a PC great for programming or CAD work.
  4. : The Lenovo Tower 7i has an RTX 4070, which is an solid 1440p gaming GPU, as well as a mid-to-high end AMD Ryzen™ 7 7700 processor. It also has a solid 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. It also has a much more muted look than the similar Thermaltake, so if you want something less flashy, this is a great option.
  5. : Another pricey option, the Vengeance i7500 is a good alternative if you’re more interested in better RAM. It has an Intel Core i7 14700KF, while the GPU is only a slight step down with an RTX 4070Ti. For that, you get 16GB of the faster 6,000Mhz DDR5 RAM out of it. We’re not sure that’s an ideal trade, but if you value RAM and having an Intel CPU more than a slightly better GPU, then this is a solid option.
  6. : With this model of the Alienware Aurora R15, you get an upgraded RTX 4070, the AMD Ryzen 9 processor, and 512GB of storage. You’ll only get 16GB of RAM, but it’s excellent regardless.
  7. : This is realistically going to be the cheapest Alienware with an RTX 4080. If you want brand recognition and a high-end GPU, then this is the choice to go for. The rest of the specs include an AMD Ryzen 9 processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB SS SSD, and a 2TB HDD.

Common questions about cheap gaming PCs

What is the cheapest but still good gaming PC?

The Lenovo Legion Tower 5 is a good entry-level option, especially if you go with the configuration that has an RTX 4060, which is a solid 1080p GPU at a good price and gives you access to DLSS 3.0, where it’s supported. This Legion Tower 5 configuration also comes with an AMD Ryzen 5-7600, which is an excellent mid-range CPU, and 8GB of RAM, which is a good starting point.

Is $500 good for a gaming PC?

While you can certainly find gaming PC deals around that price, they aren’t going to be able to play the most modern games, and you will have to compromise when it comes to graphical quality and refresh rate. That said, they are a good starting point, and if it has a powerful enough power supply, you could always upgrade the GPU down the line to get better performance.

Is 1650 good for gaming?

The GTX 1650 is a very entry-level gaming card, and while it will play casual and indie games, it might struggle to play more modern games. That said, it’s a good way to get started if that’s all you have the budget for, and it should be able to handle popular free-to-play games like CS:GO and Team Fortress 2.

Is PC gaming a cheap hobby?

It can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be; it all depends on what sort of graphics you can be happy with. If you’re only aiming for 1080p at 60Hz, then you can certainly find a good gaming PC to hit that at a budget, but if you’re aiming for 4k with 100+ frames, then you can easily spend thousands of dollars on that. The good thing is, regardless of how much you spend, a gaming PC is versatile and can be used for other things, plus there are more games available on PC than consoles.

More Unmissable Deals

Andrew Morrisey
Andrew Morrisey is an independent writer and filmmaker with a love for tech. You can read his books, blog, and other stories…
Best Microsoft Office deals: Get Word, PowerPoint, and Excel for free
Students using Microsoft Office software on their laptops outside.

While the fight of Microsoft vs Google when it comes to office apps might be never-ending, if you're the sort of person who prefers dealing with Microsoft, you'll be happy to know that there are quite a few good deals you can take advantage of. As you may know, most of Microsoft's apps have gone under one rather expensive subscription service, Microsoft 365, but you can still get older parts of the suite for relatively good prices. In fact, you can even get a free trial of Microsoft Word to test it out, although you'd still need to pay to get the full suite of tools.
Best Microsoft Office deals
Microsoft Office is a pay once, receive once service. You don't have to pay recurring monthly fees to use it, but the software also never updates. For what it's worth, the Microsoft Office packages are labelled "2021", so they're all fairly recent but also ripe for a good deal. With the exception of AI integrations, not much has really changed in the past couple of years when it comes to your basic document creation and these programs should continue to be effective for years to come. Depending on what package you get, you'll get access to different apps, based on the needs of the target audience. For example, Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 keeps it lean and cool and with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint being the only apps included.

Here are our favorite deals for the classic Microsoft Office experience:

Read more
Best Samsung Galaxy deals: S24, Buds, Watches and more
The Galaxy Z Fold 4's Cover Screen.

Samsung’s Galaxy lineup is made up of several different types of devices, and if you’re in the market for some savings, you’ll often find Samsung Galaxy tech among the best headphone deals, the best smartwatch deals, the best tablet deals, and the best phone deals. With so many different devices among the Galaxy lineup, and with so many Samsung Galaxy deals out there for the picking, we rounded up what we feel are the best Samsung Galaxy deals to shop right now. Reading onward you’ll find discounts on some of the best tablets, best smartwatches, and best wireless earbuds the Samsung Galaxy lineup has to offer, as well as some impressive discounts on Galaxy phones.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 -- $97, was $150

If you're looking for headphone deals but you want an alternative to Apple's AirPods, you should consider the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2. The wireless earbuds have great battery life that's made even better with an included charging case. While some of the other Galaxy Buds out there include the Galaxy Buds Live, Galaxy Buds Pro, and Galaxy Buds+, but with the Galaxy Buds 2's active noise-cancelation you can block out unwanted sounds and keep your focus on whatever you’re working on, watching, or listening to. You can also control the headphones with touch controls on each earbud, and they connect easily to any Bluetooth device.

Read more
Best student laptop deals: Laptops for college from $215
online web browser game list

Going to high school or college can be an overwhelming experience, and you probably don't want to add figuring out what laptop you can buy to that stress, especially when you're working under a limited budget and some of the best laptops cost thousands of dollars. That's why we've gone out and picked some of our favorite laptops that work well for students and listed them below, and we've included some of the best budget laptops out there. If you're unsure of where to start, it's worth checking out our laptop buying guide to give you an idea of which direction to go, and if you don't find that in the laptops we've listed below, you can check out these other great laptop deals as well.
HP Laptop 14 -- $204, was $269

The HP Laptop 14 is a popular choice among students because of its entry level price point. It's specs aren't going to blow anyone away, but they're good value for the price and are plenty to get the job done. This build of the HP Laptop 14 has 8GB of RAM and a quad-core Intel Celeron processor. It does check in with just 64GB of storage space -- this may not be enough for some users, but if you aren't planning on loading your laptop up with media this is one that will accompany you well around campus.

Read more