In the great debate of to build your own or get a pre built PC, sometimes it’s just easier to buy your own. But there are many to choose from. This list offers many for multiple price points.
Pre-built gaming computers streamline the gaming process. Ideally, gamers would dedicate the time, money, and energy to build their setup. For whatever reason, cost, time, knowledge, sudden computer failure, it is sometimes easier to buy a pre-built PC – this a landmine ridden field of quality versus price.
Computers on their own are expensive. Gaming computers are even more so, with their advanced hardware, graphics cards the size of dinner plates, liquid coolant, top of the line processors, and often flashy, RGB capabilities. Building your own by assembling the ideal parts for your price point is cheaper and yields better quality. But that’s not a feasible option for everyone. Here we’ve gathered the best pre-built gaming PCs at various price points.
Best Budget Pre-built Gaming PCS:
The budget is hard to define here. Typically these will be under a thousand. With ever-evolving technology, these are in danger of becoming obsolete very quickly. Costs are cut by using dated parts, less memory, or lower quality items. These PCs will hold up for a little while and run most games at an acceptable frame rate, depending on your graphics settings. These are your starter PCs if you’re getting into gaming.
SkyTech Archangel
The SkyTech Archangel has a great name and sleek style to match. Its graphics card is a GTX 1050 Ti, which is not the best on the market. The card is expected to run things like Overwatch and Fortnite. More graphics-intensive games will struggle with a weaker card. AMD Ryzen processors are the main rival to Intel. The quality has gone up over the recent years, even the PlayStation 5 will use the brand, but opinions vary.
CYBERPOWER Gamer Xtreme
Cyberpower, as a brand, has a small cult following. People tend to be wary of their products, but from experience, their prebuilt models hold up well. This model is a little stronger than the Archangel listed above, but it won’t be able to do a lot of heavy lifting. It certainly looks nice with the colors, RGB capabilities, and glass case. This model will run faster than the Archangel with both a one terabyte hard drive and a 120-gigabyte solid-state drive. The graphics card is slightly better with a GTX 1660 Ti, and if you’re leaning more towards Intel, it has a nice i5 installed.
HP Omen Obelisk
The HP Omen is another starter PC. The HP brand brings confidence where the Cyberpower name brings hesitation. HP is a quality brand, but with its fold comes overpriced parts for less quality. The Cyberpower PC above has better specifications. The HP Omen Obelisk has only a one terabyte hard drive, no solid-state drive. The graphics card is a GTX 1060 Ti, which isn’t as good as the Cyberpower’s 1660 Ti. The processors are the same, and both come with eight gigabytes of RAM.
Best mid-range pre-built PC
The mid-range PCs are going to increase in both quality and cost. Better parts cost more, but it will also grow life and expand the range of games available. The midrange will be over a thousand.
Cyberpower PC Gamer Supreme
Another Cyberpower PC makes the list. Cyberpower PC Gamer Supreme is a quality computer that would make any gamer happy. The PC comes with an Intel i7 processor and an RTX 2070 Super. The PC will run the most popular games without any issue. The RTX 2070 Super enables ray tracing technology for those extra high definition graphics. The processor is powerful enough to support it, but it won’t get the maximum frames at this rate. Still, running every game on ultra or higher is enough.
iBuypower Element
iBuypower and Cyberpower are the same brands, under different names. Both are quality items that get overlooked in favor of more prominent names. This one improves on the processor, bumping the quality up to the latest Intel i9. The boost comes at a cost, however. The graphics card drops to a GTX 1660 Ti. This computer won’t be ray-tracing capable but will run most games without issue. Plus, it comes with 240 gigabyte SSD and a one terabyte HDD for maximum storage.
SkyTech Shadow II
SkyTech makes another appearance on the list with its updated Shadow II model. Unlike the Archangel, this PC strives on a excellent midpoint price and quality. It comes with a 500 gigabyte SSD instead of a typical hard drive. Programs will run faster, but you may need to expand space if you have a lot of games. The Shadow II has an AMD Ryzen 7, which is an excellent rival to most Intel models of a similar price. The graphics card is an RTX 2060. While that’s not the best graphics card, it’s a significant improvement.
Best high-end pre-built gaming PCs:
If we’re honest, we could go higher with our price point. We maxed out around three thousand for the list, but there are many more high-end PCs available. At that point, most of them are going to have the best quality parts available, and specifications will be roughly the same.
Alienware Aurora R9
Alienware is a controversial inclusion. You either love this brand, or you hate it with a visceral passion. Fans are loud. Both for the brand and the literal fans of the PC. The PC runs smoothly and beautifully. It has a sleek design that appeals to minimalists. The beautiful drifts from the louder, RGB computers to a subtle black and white. The blue lighting can be changed to cycle between multiple colors or change the pattern of light.
Unfortunately, this is where the PC’s pros end. It is loud. Doing anything, even something as simple as opening Chrome, will send the fans into a fit so loud it sounds like a vacuum starting up in your ear. If you’re hoping to customize the PC with some extra RAM, hard drives, or solid-state drives, you’re going to have a problem. The compact tower has a clamshell design. Opening it is painful and clunky, and there’s no real space to add anything, save a couple of sticks of RAM.
The Aurora R9’s specifications are where it shines. It is especially strong with its 256 SATA SSD for a boot drive and a one terabyte HDD for storage. With an Intel i7 and RTX 2080 Super, it is a powerful PC that runs at blinding speeds. If you can handle the volume, it is a great choice.
CUK Mantis
CUK here is short for “Computer Upgrade King.” The brand is not a common one and has some mixed reviews regarding shipping times. However, most first-hand reviews are positive. This one comes with so many possibilities from the current listing with a GTX 2080 Ti and Intel i9 to smaller computers with less power in them. The processor and graphics card are top of the line. Nothing will outmatch them currently. CUK Mantis is the PC that could make NASA computers look slow.
HP Omen
Wrapping up our list, we have a trusted brand. This Omen comes with an Intel i7 combined with an RTX 2080 Super. The processor isn’t as good as the Mantis above, but it will hold up against most or all games. This model comes with an impressive 11 gigabytes of RAM for all your gaming needs. It also has a 512 SSD and two terabyte HDD. With this much storage, you won’t need to expand for a long time.
There are many more options available online. Cyberpower and iBuypower have some excellent choices in the higher-end category. As with some of these brands, the more established brands are more expensive for the same or nearly the same specifications. Sometimes you’re just paying extra because it’s a popular or known brand. Hopefully, the list above has given you some ideas on what kind of computer suits your needs or what you’d like to buy.
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