Upgrade your battle station with one of the best prebuilt gaming PCs this year.
Buying yourself the best gaming PC as a prebuilt system can be the best place to start when you’re getting into PC gaming, or when you’ve hit a wall trying to upgrade your current system. Sure, building your own rig can be immensely satisfying, but simply buying a complete gaming PC will take all the stress out of a homebrew project and give you somewhere to turn if, heaven forbid, anything goes wrong.
Best gaming laptops
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If you prefer gaming on-the-go, you’ll want to take a look at our best gaming laptop guide.
While part of the innate beauty of the gaming PC is the potential for upgrading components to boost performance, that capacity is finite. There exists a tipping point where it’s no longer cost effective to keep upgrading and a rebuild becomes necessary. And that’s where buying the best gaming PC you can afford starts to make a lot of sense.
Getting a good deal on a pre-built gaming PC can take just as much research as putting together a great high-end PC build. Some system builders will try to saddle you with a bundle that charges a premium for things you may not need, like overclocking, RGB, a monitor, or a keyboard and mouse. Even if you do need these things, there’s often a good chance that you get something better for less.
A specs-sheet balance of price and performance is our top priority. Ideally, your gaming PC will have one of the best graphics cards and the best CPUs for gaming, though that’s not always financially possible. But you can’t skimp on one and go overboard on the other; an Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti is only worth having if it’s paired with a top-flight processor that can take advantage of its power. Then there’s the support. After sale support is where a good system builder becomes a great system builder and is where it can really make sense to buy a pre-built machine.
To get on our list of the best gaming PCs, you need to have it all—great parts, great value, and great support.
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(Image credit: Alienware)
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(Image credit: Alienware)1. Alienware Aurora R11
The best overall gaming PC
CPU: Intel Core i5 10400F – i9 10900| GPU: Nvidia GTX 1650 – RTX 2080 Super| RAM: 8GB – 32GB 2933MHz| Storage: Up to 2TB M.2 PCIe SSD + 2TB SATA HDD
$879.99
View at Dell
$1,429.99
View at Dell
$2,529.99
View at Dell
See all prices (6 found)
Toolless access
Upgradeable
Solid after-sale support
Alienware is a household name when it comes to gaming desktops that share a, shall we say, unique aesthetic. While the extraterrestrial styling may not appeal to everyone, their performance remains undeniable. The freshly minted Aurora R11 uses the same compact design as its R9 forebear, our previous top pick, and means the new Intel 10th Gen processors have found a home in Alienware’s Aurora chassis.
It offers four different configurations of Comet Lake CPU: the i5 10400F, i7 10700, i7 10700K, and i9 10900. They’re paired with Nvidia GPUs from the GTX 1650 up to the RTX 2080 Super. That gives you a range of Alienware gaming machines from affordable 1080p right up to 4K smashing performance, and the Alienware AIO cooling system will help keep the cozy interior of the case at a reasonable temperature too.
It does have to be said that there is an Alienware premium attached whichever components you choose. However, the higher-than-average price provides you with reliable build quality, exceptional customer service, and solid warranties. The numerous pre-fab options offered by Alienware also help eliminate much of the guesswork associated with customizing your system. Some options provide better value for the parts used, but for hassle-free PC gaming out of the box, it’s tough to beat the ease of use that Alienware provides.
The unconventional design of the case exploits every inch of its limited space but does initially feel a bit awkward to tinker with. The ability to access nearly every part of the PC without tools, however, is a definite plus, and expedites upgrades and maintenance. There’s an obvious priority here on providing a convenient, premium product with some potential for upgrades, and the Aurora R9 accomplishes that goal.
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(Image credit: Corsair)
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(Image credit: Corsair)2. Corsair One i164
The best compact form factor gaming PC
CPU: Intel Core i9 9900K| GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti| RAM: 32GB DDR4-2666| Storage: 960GB NVMe M.2 SSD,2TB HDD
Prime
$3,459
View at Amazon
$3,499.99
View at Microsoft US
$3,499.99
View at Best Buy
See all prices (4 found)
Slim, minimalist footprint
Outstanding performance
Upgradable, but tricky to access some components
The cheapest model ain’t cheap
One of our highest rated prebuilt gaming PCs is back in an updated model, the Corsair One i164.
