We found some of the best affordable gaming PCs, starting around $500, that don’t make you choose between budget and performance.
While building a gaming PC can be a great way to save money, brands like HP and Lenovo offer budget-friendly prebuilt rigs that don’t force you to choose between price and performance. Many budget gaming rigs still offer great components like RTX 30 or 40 series graphics cards, 13th-generation Intel Core processors, and high-capacity storage drives for large game files or entire Steam libraries.
As an avid gamer myself, I rounded up the best gaming PC models on the market that won’t cost you an arm and a leg, with my pick for the best cheap gaming PC overall going to the HP Omen 40L, thanks to its affordable price tag, Intel and AMD-based configurations, support for up to 64GB of RAM, and RTX 4060 graphics card. Read to see which other budget gaming PC models match your CPU, GPU, gaming, and budget preferences.
What is the best cheap gaming PC?
My pick for the best cheap gaming PC is the HP Omen 40L. While technically the flagship model for HP’s line of Omen gaming desktops, base configurations have a somewhat budget-friendly price point and can often be found on sale with decent discounts. The Omen 40L can be built with either Intel or AMD-based configurations (and AMD builds run a bit cheaper for even more savings) and feature dual SSD and HDD storage support, RTX 4060 graphics cards, and support for up to 64GB of RAM.
Cheap gaming PC
Price
CPU
GPU
HP 40L
$920
Intel Core i5-14400F or AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060
CyberPowerPC Gamer Master
$650
Up to AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Up to RTX 4090 or Radeon RX 7900 XT
MSI Codex R2
$850
Intel Core i5-1440F
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060
Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Gen 8
$1,000
AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050
HP Victus Tower
$493
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
AMD Radeon RX 6400
*MSRP at time of writing. Please note that actual prices may vary depending on retailer as well as available deals and promotions.
Which cheap gaming PC is right for you?
Once you’ve finalized your budget, you’ll want to choose a gaming PC that has enough storage space for a small library of your favorite games as well as plenty of RAM for smooth gameplay.
