To help you find the right machine for your needs and to save you some money, we’ve smoked out the best cheap gaming PC deals available online right now.
PC components (and especially GPUs) are pretty pricey right now thanks to the ongoing chip shortage, with most of the available inventory currently reserved for brand-name computer makers. That means that building a PC is going to be a rather expensive challenge at the moment with virtually no worthy GPU deals up for grabs, but don’t give up just yet: If you need a new gaming battle station, these cheap gaming PC deals are far and away your best chance of finding a worthy machine at a good price today. Our working price limit here is $1,000 (although most are much cheaper than that), but we’ve also included one higher-end pick for the enthusiasts out there who are willing to stretch their budget a bit. If you just need a solid gaming PC and aren’t married to a desktop, though, then consider checking out these gaming laptop deals as well. Years ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find any sort of gaming-capable rig for less than $600 owing to the cost of discrete graphics cards. AMD crafted a unique solution to that problem in its APUs, or accelerated processing units, which are basically CPUs that pack built-in graphics processing capabilities. This cheap desktop PC from Acer features an AMD Ryzen 3 CPU with Radeon Vega 8 graphics that allows for some light gaming. Don’t expect to run the latest AAA games at high settings, but it’ll get the job done for those with modest needs. Along with the Ryzen APU, this desktop PC comes with a full 8GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512GB solid-state system drive — and like most of our other picks, it includes a wired mouse and keyboard. This cheap work and (light) gaming PC can be yours for just $439. AMD’s CPU-integrated Radeon Vega graphics are a fine entry point for basic gaming, but if your needs are modest and you still want a dedicated graphics card (perhaps for tasks like video editing along with light gaming), this Kepler Systems gaming desktop is a cost-effective and very attractive option. This tower features an Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 graphics card, which, while a very basic GPU with 2GB VRAM, is one of the cheapest discrete GPUs on the market right now. That card works with a Core i5 CPU and 8GB of RAM to deliver sufficient performance for work and for less resource-heavy games like Fornite and Minecraft. For storage, you’ve got a 500GB SSD, which is a nice amount of space for your games and other digital goodies. Its mod-friendly case design allows you to upgrade components in the future, as well. You can grab this high-value light gaming PC for a cheap $540 right now. HP may not be as well-known for gaming as brands like Alienware or MSI, but it makes some surprisingly solid PCs and you’ll see its name frequently when shopping around for gaming systems. This Pavilion desktop tower runs on an Intel Core i3 CPU paired with a GeForce GTX 1650 Super graphics card, which are very capable specs for a cheap gaming PC in this price bracket. For memory, you’ve got 8GB of RAM (which can be upgraded even further if need be) along with a 256GB solid-state drive for storage. This desktop tower rings in at just $710, and it’s one of the best pre-built gaming PC deals with a dedicated GPU that you’ll find for around this price at the moment.
