If you want to spend less time troubleshooting and more time playing games, then you should be looking at our collection of the best gaming PCs. While there will always be a certain level of pride associated with assembling your own high-end gaming PC build, the peace of mind that comes packed with a substantial warranty and competent customer service is typically worth a small slice of your ego and a bit of extra cash.
It's easy to overspend when you're looking at gaming PCs, especially if you're customizing your own from any of the growing list of integrated system builders. The number of available options paired with a litany of enticing bundles that can include everything from monitors to gaming chairs will gobble up your budget faster than you can say "kobolds ate my baby." That isn't to say all pre-built machines are overpriced, but arming yourself with the right knowledge will go a long way in making sure you aren't overpaying for parts or labor.
Performance should always be the first thing you look at when picking out a pre-built gaming PC. This is less of an issue if you're buying a pre-configured system like the Alienware Aurora R8, which will have tiered configurations that are optimized to get the most out of the included hardware. However, if you're using a more granular configuration that allows you to pick out individual components, don't make a rookie mistake like dumping all of your cash into your GPU while neglecting the processor. Specifics on warranties can also vary from vendor to vendor, and some can be more comprehensive than others, offering perks like free priority shipping for service.
When we rank these rigs, we aren't necessarily looking for top marks in performance. Instead, we look at the value of the components, whether that's an exceptionally robust warranty or just outstanding build quality.
Alienware is a bit of household name when it comes to desktops that share a shall we say, unique aesthetic. While the extraterrestrial curb appeal of their desktops may not appeal to everyone, their performance remains undeniable. The Aurora R8 is a compact design that punches well above its weight as long as the price is right. The RTX 2080 paired with an Intel i7-9700K ensures quality framerates at 4K and the Alienware AIO cooling system will help keep the cozy interior of the case at a reasonable temperature.
The Aurora R8 does come with a variety of configurations based on your needs but unfortunately remains quite expensive regardless of which options you choose to go with. However, the higher than average price point provides you with solid build quality, exceptional customer service, and warranties. The numerous pre-fab options offered by Alienware also help eliminate much of the guesswork associated with customizing your own system. There are options that provide a better value for the parts they use, 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 and is initially a bit awkward. However, the ability to access nearly every part of the PC without tools 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 R8 accomplishes just that.
The ELIBG207 is the best gaming PC we've tested for a number of reasons, not least of which is the incredible performance provided by the mighty 2080 Ti and i9-9900K that are its beating heart. This setup is one of few that are actually able to consistently run modern, triple-A titles at 4K Ultra at anything approaching a smooth 60 FPS. But perhaps even more impressive than that is the price tag; the ELIBG207 costs less than it would to put this machine together yourself, and costs about the same as rigs with much more modest specs.
It also comes with some handy quality of life features, like easy, toolless access to the case's interior (the panels pop off after removing a handful of thumb screws) and a three year warranty. And it's a beautiful looking, compact case, with tempered glass panels on the front and left side, showing off an array of RGB lit components to great effect. It's also festooned with connections, including eight USB ports, which given the massive number of peripherals you can attach to a modern PC is very welcome.
If you want a fantastic value for a prebuilt gaming PC look no further than Cyberpower's Gamer Xtreme. Featuring an Intel Core i5-9400F and Nvidia's Turing-in-Pascal-clothing GTX 1660, it's a great PC to rock the current generation of games. It can also be readily upgraded, something we'd recommend immediately to add at least another 8GB of RAM.
If you're looking for a machine to get you into the exciting (and ever expanding) world of VR quickly and cheaply, the Gamer Xtreme is an excellent introductory option. It's specced to be VR ready right away, and the ease with which it can be upgraded means it can be modified to suit the headsets and hardware demands of the future (assuming all the manufacturers don't follow in the footsteps of Oculus' Go and Quest standalone offerings).
The Xtreme is also great for anyone looking for a PC to match the capabilities of current gen consoles, something that will bridge the gap between the PS4 and Xbox One era of games and the next console generation. Since, for better or worse, consoles largely dictate how much stress triple-A developers are willing to put on hardware when designing their games, having a PC that's specced in line with consoles means you'll be able to keep pace with the current crop of games at least until another console refresh appears on the horizon. And the Gamer Xtreme is also modular and upgradeable enough to allow you to quickly adapt when specs for the next generation are finally, properly announced.
We've tested a number of RTX-powered systems since those graphics cards released in September 2018, and Corsair's Vengeance 5182 is one of our favorites. The 5182 is a very iterative upgrade on the original, largely just accounting for the inclusion of a new 9th Gen processor from Intel. Unlike many chassis that opt for plexiglass or another type of clear paneling, the 5182 has tempered glass along the side, front, and top, creating a modern-looking aesthetic and elegantly showing off the system's innards.
To help with both aesthetics and heat management, the case rocks a dual-chambered design that separates the power supply from the GPU, RAM, and motherboard. All the shiny, RGB components are displayed front and center, while the more modest parts are tucked away out of sight.
One of the main downsides of the original Vengeance 5180 was that it featured a B360 chipset and non-K Intel CPU, so the Core i7-8700 can't be overclocked. The 5185 corrects that issue with i7-9700K, a full overclockable Coffee Lake chip.
MSRP for this stylish and powerful system is reasonable considering the cost of components separately. You’ll pay around the same amount to build it yourself compared to buying this pre-built, so it all depends on your budget, time, and how much you value extras like warranty coverage that a prebuilt packs. With that mighty CPU and RTX 2080, this is a machine ready to dominate games at 1440p and even dip into 4K at respectable frame rates.
Hewlett Packard has existed since before the advent of the second World War, and that long history and expertise is evident in the design and construction of the Omen Obelisk, their new gaming desktop model. The Obelisk is highly customizable on the HP storefront, starting at a GTX 1060 and Ryzen 5 2500X and reaching up some top in class parts—the review unit we received packs an RTX 2080 and an 8th Gen Core i7-8700, so you'll be well ahead of the curve in terms of the next generation of PC gaming, and ready for the moment when ray tracing stops being a buzzword and starts being an essential part of graphics rendering.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the Obelisk offering is the price tag. Despite a new, high-end RTX card and that rock solid CPU (as well as 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and 2TB HDD), the Obelisks comes in at a good price. This is largely due to HP trimming off all the non-essential frills that tend to pad out the price of a number of similarly specced machines from other manufacturers. You won't find an over-elaborate liquid cooling system or a massive suite of spectacular RGB lighting; the Obelisk is an appropriately named dense black block of computing power, which isn't to imply it's unattractive. As someone who values smooth lines and compact design over the flash and spectacle of RGB, I appreciate the dark, slightly brooding aesthetic of the Obelisk, and it does have a clear side panel to let you see the red-lit interior of the machine.
It's similarly configured to the slightly more expensive Corsair Vengeance, but it comes in a much smaller frame, which is a double edged sword. While on the one hand, there's less space to muck around in the case if you do decide in the future to upgrade, the Obelisk can slip easily into much smaller spaces than larger cases and is easier to transport. It's the epitome of function over form and available at a nearly unbeatable price point.
One of our highest rated prebuilt gaming PCs is back in a brand new model, the Corsair One i160. It’s still the same, small form factor PC, but with updated hardware, a revamped internal layout, and a few other slight changes. The case design is still looks like something straight out of a Tron film. The CPU and GPU both still use independent liquid cooling solutions, and all the hot air is still pumped out by a single 140mm maglev fan. The PSU now sits below the motherboard, and some of the USB ports have been re-positioned on the front of the case, but that’s the extent of the non-hardware related changes.
Like a number of the prebuilts on this list, the i160 isn't the only configuration the One comes in. In fact, with a Intel Core i9-9900K and a RTX 2080 Ti, the i160 is the mid-range model. The lower i140 model comes with a Core i7-9700K and a RTX 2080, while the higher i180 workstation model comes with a Core i9-9920X and a RTX 2080. All three models come with 32GB of RAM, so you won't need to worry about upgrading that aspect of the One for years to come.
But regardless of the configuration, the newest Corsair One is a sleek, potent little machine designed for anyone wrestling with space considerations, or for those who want a powerful PC but don't want to listen to it whine every time it's stressed with a graphically intensive game.
Falcon Northwest has come a long way in the past 20 years. Their original iteration of the talon gaming PC featured excellent performance but was perhaps the polar opposite of aesthetics. FNW's devotion to performance remains a hallmark of their brand but has managed to pair awesome aesthetics with their uncompromising build quality. The 20th Anniversary edition of FNW's Talon gaming PC features all of the customization options you'd expect from a premium vendor, but they've also included the option for UV printed side panels that can accept images in excess of 4K, giving you the option for a true, one of a kind PC.
The top and front panels of the case are composed of either glossy or matte finished aluminum and an optional tempered glass side panel exposes the inside of the build. The side panels swing open, making access to the insides of the desktop a breeze and nearly all the closures are magnetic, reducing the number of screws you need. The Talon supports ATX motherboards and dual graphics cards if you're looking for a bit of overkill.
Furthermore, Falcon has some of the best customer service I've encountered and features 3-year warranties on its systems along with a year of overnight shipping to get you back up and running should anything go wrong. It may not be the least expensive PC out there, but the Talon still costs less than similar configurations from other competitors.
If you're craving the dedicated ray tracing and DLSS hardware packed into an RTX card, matched with a significant performance bump from the 1060/2060 range, the Gaming Set is a fantastic option. It's priced aggressively and that Tensor/RT Core goodness is paired with a Ryzen 7 2700, a robust CPU for productivity/multitasking.
It also has the advantage of coming in a slick looking case, it's glowing, RGB-lit internals showcased by a beautiful glass side panel. It also features a 120GB SSD, which is a little slight for packing games or storage, but plenty of room for a boot disk (and comes standard with a 1TB HDD for traditional storage). Being a CLX prebuilt, there's also full system warranty coverage, with a one year parts warranty and a lifetime labor warranty. It's almost impossible to find a similarly specced, intelligently constructed machine.
The Maingear Vybe is an excellent prebuilt that combines a sleek aesthetic with commanding power in one very compelling machine. It runs cool as well, an efficient machine that, as Joanna noted in her review, is always cool to the touch and whisper quiet. It's a touch above the cost of building it yourself but also comes with top shelf warranty coverage and a handful of other quality of life extras (beyond saving you the labor of choosing components and assembling them on your own time).
The understated design of the Vybe, with just a few muted strips of RGB lighting, belies the horsepower packed into its guts, the core of which are the RTX 2080 GPU and Core i9-9900 processor. That means it's not only a beast for standard gaming but equipped with dedicated RT cores for the ray traced games of the future (and, increasingly, the present) as well as Tensor cores for deep learning applications, most notably Nvidia's DLSS antialiasing solution. And that mighty Coffee Lake Refresh processor is a beast for productivity tasks as well, supplemented by 32GB of respectable DDR4 (up 16GB from the package in the review machine). The Vybe is a fantastic machine perched just under the precipice of extreme performance but priced very reasonably for what's on offer.
If you're looking for a machine with some impressive wow factor (but that's also no slouch in the pure performance department), SkyTech's Supremacy is right up your alley. As arresting prebuilts that will grab the attention of your guests go the Supremacy is practically unmatched, an open design with a beautiful panel of unblemished tempered glass showcasing a Z370 mobo packed with high end parts. The star of the show is the RTX 2080 Ti, the most powerful consumer-grade GPU on the market, and while the CPU is from Intel's last gen Coffee Lake stack it's still plenty powerful for most productivity needs.
The Supremacy is half art piece, half top of the line PC, and while there's definitely a markup as compared to DIY pricing, you also won't find a case like this on the shelf. Of course, because this is a modern gaming PC, the visual effect is complemented by a suite of RGB lighting, and the open case combined with robust cooling means this is a chilly, quiet, efficient build.
