Many budget-friendly prebuilt gaming PCs offer SSD storage for faster boot times and program launching as well as RTX 30 series graphics cards. They also have extra RAM slots and storage drive bays to give you ways to upgrade your gaming PC down the line as your needs change. Also: The best gaming PCs: Top rigs for pros, casual games, and creators To help you find the best cheap gaming PC, I’ve put together a list of the best you can buy. I’ve also broken down their features and price points to help you decide which is the right fit for your gaming needs and budget. The HP Omen 40L tower is a great option for PC gamers looking to upgrade their current setup, as well as first-time gaming PC buyers looking to get a prebuilt rig without spending a fortune. It’s built with an Intel Core i5-12400F processor, 16GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, and a 1TB SSD. And with four RAM slots, four drive bays, and three M.2 SSD slots, there are plenty of ways to upgrade the Omen 40L as your needs change down the line. The tower case features RGB lighting that can be customized to show off your style or match other RGB peripherals as well as 10 USB ports for connecting keyboards, mice, headsets, and external storage devices. The HP Omen 40L also supports Wi-Fi 6 for ultra-fast wireless internet speeds, so you can keep up in online matches and multiplayer games with friends while Bluetooth lets you set up wireless peripherals. The tower case also has plenty of room inside for liquid cooling options if you opt for more powerful components that need extra heat dissipation. If you’re an AMD loyalist, the HP Pavilion tower is a great, affordable option for a new gaming rig. It uses a Ryzen 5 5600G processor as well as an AMD Radeon RX 5500 graphics card to allow you to play just about any game on the market. It also has 16GB of RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD for faster boot times and game launching. It also comes bundled with a basic keyboard and mouse so you can get started playing games right away. Plus, it supports Bluetooth connectivity if you prefer wireless peripherals. The front of the tower features multiple USB 3.1 ports, a USB-C port, and a microSD card reader to give you plenty of ways to connect peripherals and external storage devices. The back of the tower has four more USB 2.0 ports as well as an HDMI input and two DisplayPort inputs to support up to three displays. Intel loyalists looking to save a bit of money on a prebuilt gaming PC should check out the MSI Aegis R. It’s built with a 12th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 500GB SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. And if you need even more memory and RAM, the Aegis R supports up to 128GB of RAM and features four storage drive bays as well as two M.2 slots for all of the configuration possibilities you can think of. It also supports Wi-Fi 6 for ultra-fast wireless internet speeds and Bluetooth 5.2 for more reliable and stable wireless peripheral connections. The RTX 3050 GPU has three DisplayPort inputs and one HDMI port, letting you connect up to four monitors for the ultimate gaming and multitasking setup. The tower itself has seven USB 3.1 ports, two USB 2.0 inputs, and two USB-C ports for connecting peripherals and charging mobile devices. Even with the decline of the Crypto Craze, prebuilt gaming PC configurations still cost at least $1000 for a decent build, and if you want things like multiple storage drives or an up-to-date GPU, you’ll have to spend even more. The Lenovo Legion Tower 5i retails for under $1500, making it a great option if you have a flexible budget. It’s built with an Intel Core i7-12700 processor, 16GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, as well as both a 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD. This configuration gives you plenty of power to play the latest games as well as old favorites in your library with plenty of storage for new and old games. And if you need even more power and storage, the Legion Tower 5i supports up to 128GB of RAM and features three storage drive bays to give you plenty of upgrade options down the line. The tower case itself also features RGB lighting that can be customized to show off your personal style or match other RGB peripherals. You may be working with a very limited budget when shopping for a new gaming PC. And fortunately, the HP Victus is priced under $1000 while still giving you what you need. It’s built with an Intel Core i3-12100F CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 16050 graphics card. And just because it has an older GPU, that doesn’t mean you can’t still play all of the latest triple-A and indie games. There is a second RAM slot as well as three storage drive bays, meaning you can quickly upgrade your tower later if your needs change. The HP Victus can support up to 32GB of RAM and however much storage you want, which means that you can save a good bit of cash buying the prebuilt configuration and upgrading piecemeal as time goes on. The one drawback is that the power supply is only rated for 350 watts, so if you want to add a second storage drive or a more powerful GPU, you’ll need to drop in a more powerful PSU as well.
