Why You Can Trust CNET Best Gaming PC Deals: Best Buy, Dell, HP and More Slash Prices by Over $500
From Alienware to HP Omen to Thermaltake, here are all the latest PC gaming deals you need to know about to save big on a powerful machine worthy of the games you're playing.
Considering there are now over 200 million PC gamers in the US alone, it's no surprise that the plethora of top gaming PCs has exploded over the last few years. Big or small. Cheap or not so cheap. There's now something to fit everybody's tastes, and plenty of offers so you don't need to break the bank.
After all, building a PC can be quite convoluted and time is a more valuable commodity than ever. Having a PC arrive and be ready to go can be worth just as much. What we're seeing lots of at the minute is great RTX 3060 budget options alongside the occasional major discount from Alienware, for those looking to invest big. Either way, we have you covered.
Read more: Best Graphics Cards for Gamers and Creatives in 2024
We regularly keep this list updated since new deals pop up daily and old ones expire even quicker, meaning you have to be fast not to miss out. It's also worth being aware that we sometimes include PCs that are not just on sale but we recommend for getting the most out of your money. Read on for all the details.
This NSX Gaming PC with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600G processor is a relatively inexpensive way into the PC gaming market for anyone on a tight budget. It will essentially do the basics (think 720p resolution), arriving with 16GB of RAM, 512GB solid-state drive, Windows 11 Home, RGB fans and a one-year warranty. It's worth checking out if you're looking for a starting point to build on for less than $500, which can be hard to come by these days.
Now marked down by $400 (38%), this Thermaltake Quartz 360T is a showpiece with a clean white finish and mesh front panel that shows off RGB lighting and allows for great airflow. In addition, you get an RTX 3060Ti graphics card, 1TB SSD, AMD Ryzen 7 7700X processor, 16GB memory and Windows 10 OS. That's pretty decent value for money.
This PC from the HP Omen line is a relatively affordable but still top-rated gaming desktop. The HP Omen 25L runs on an AMD Ryzen 5 5600G processor, a great processor that supports gaming, music and video play. It uses the fairly common Nvidia GeForce GTX 3050 for fast graphics.
Ipason has been offering lots of discounts as of late, now slashing this model with a six-core AMD Ryzen 5 5600 processor and Radeon RX 7600 graphics card by more than $500. That's a big savings for what you get in return, with one primary example being the ability to play the likes of Elden Ring and Overwatch 2 at 60fps in 1080p. Backing all of this up is a 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM. For less than $850, you could do a lot worse.
This futuristic-looking Alienware PC has an RTX 4070 GPU with 16GB of dedicated memory, which will get you very close to some great 4K gaming performance. It also has 512GB of storage space. The case looks incredible, and that alone is worth some of the price, in our humble opinions. If you're looking for a high-end PC, the significant savings on this one mean you get a lot for the price.
How to choose a good gaming PC deal
There are thousands of gaming PC deals to choose from, but not all of them are worth your hard-earned cash. As with any pricey purchase, it's worth assessing your needs before diving in and spending big bucks. When it comes to gaming PC deals, that means looking at how demanding the games you plan on playing are, how your new PC will fit into your existing setup (how many displays it will be driving, for example, and at what resolution and frame rate) and your budget. If you want multimonitor 4K gaming, you're probably going to struggle with a budget of $1,000, so it's best to be realistic with your expectations here.
Once you've considered those factors, it all comes down to the price-to-performance ratio on offer. The main considerations here are the processor, graphics card and RAM as these will have the most impact on your overall experience. Newer and more powerful parts are going to push the overall price up -- just take a look at our list of the best graphics cards for gamers and you'll see that these don't come cheap -- so consider machines with recent previous-gen components to save some cash.
Should I buy a prebuilt gaming PC deal or build my own?
Depending on how technically savvy you are, the proposition of building your own gaming PC will either excite you or strike fear into you. The main benefit of building a PC yourself is you get to choose every component, shop around for deals on individual parts, and ultimately get more bang for your buck. The downside is that it takes a lot of research, effort and a decent amount of technical savvy. There's also the risk of something going wrong in the build process, which means you'll end up damaging parts or pulling your hair out trying to figure out why things aren't working as expected. With prebuilt gaming PC deals, you get to skip some of the more time-consuming and frustrating parts of the process, but you'll pay for the privilege and likely spend more money overall.
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