Reddit Knows Which of These Pre-Built Gaming PCs Is Right for You (2024)

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Unless you need a portable machine, there’s no reason to skimp out on power and performance when you game. While gaming laptops offer versatility, even the best options fall just short of a quality desktop gaming PC. While many gamers prefer to customize their rigs one component at a time, a pre-built PC is a more convenient, less time-intensive alternative—and you can just open it, set it up, and get gaming in a few minutes.

A good pre-built gaming PC comes with a cutting-edge graphics card, and, most importantly, doesn’t cost exorbitantly more than the equivalent parts. While you’ve heard our recommendations on tons of gear from mice to keyboards to gaming consoles, many Reddit users have taken to the forums to share their own thoughts.

After poring over comments across tons of subreddits, we found the pre-built gaming PCs that casual gamers and esports vets alike enjoy the most, and made sure to vet each option ourselves, too.

The Best Pre-Built Gaming PCs

• Best Overall: Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen 8 Gaming Desktop Computer
• Best Value: iBUYPOWER SlateMesh Gaming PC Computer Desktop
• Best Hardware Longevity: Skytech Gaming Azure Gaming PC Desktop
• Best Power for Price: Corsair Vengeance i7400 Series Gaming PC
• Quietest Operation: Alienware Aurora R16 Gaming Desktop

What to Consider

Why Buy a Pre-Built Gaming PC?

While you will see comments from all across Reddit urging you to build your own PC from scratch, the key point in choosing a pre-built option is forgoing the extra labor to start gaming right away. Pre-built gaming PCs usually cost slightly more than assembling your own piece by piece, however that added cost is essentially the value of your time and labor.

Building a PC part by part is not as difficult as it has been in the past—these days, most parts are relatively easy to install and snap into place. That being said, the accessibility of doing so is not the major issue. For most people, choosing a pre-built gaming PC is more about reducing the time, energy, and work involved with PC gaming. Building your own PC involves making a choice on every major piece of hardware in the computer, and spending at least a few hours assembling it on your own time. If you've got the gaming bug but don't want to tinker, stick to a pre-built option.

Like Reddit user MarshWFT says, “If you just want to play video games or do intensive work on a PC, don’t feel pressured to build one yourself, especially given that with current market conditions, the money saved is not as much as it usually is.”

While the chip shortages of the last few years may have played a role in this comment, the sentiment remains true, as many pre-built gaming PCs are only marginally more expensive than the built-by-hand alternative. This is further backed up when factoring in the cost of your time and labor in building a PC by hand.

Processing Power

The processing power of a computer is determined by several key points including the number of cores, thread count, clock speed, and thermal design power. While you can learn more about each one of these specs, in a practical sense, you can choose a CPU based on the brand of processor and the model that’s been installed.

The two major brands in this space are Intel and AMD. Intel Core Processors start at i3, and continue to i5, i7, i9, and X. Getting down to brass tacks, i5 and above should run high load games relatively smoothly without lagging, and i9 upwards will ensure powerful performance while playing nearly any game.

AMD’s line has a three key models to consider: AMD Ryzen 5, 7, and 9. All three of these processors will run your games without any lag or reduction in performance. The Ryzen 9 in particular is touted as one of the best money can buy.

Graphics Cards

Graphics cards, or graphics processing units (GPUs), are a main determination in the resolution and frames per second you experience in-game. Screen resolution is partly determined by your GPU and partly by your monitor. If you have a monitor that is only capable of 1080p, that’s the highest resolution you’ll be able to see even if your GPU can do more. If you have a 4K monitor, choose a graphics card that can run games smoothly and beautifully at that resolution.

Frames per second refers to exactly what it sounds like—the number of frames that are displayed on screen each second. This determines how fluid and smooth the movement on screen looks when you game. The higher the number of frames, the smoother gameplay looks. This is key for fast-paced games that require rapid action and movement on screen, like first-person shooters.

AMD’s RX 7900 XTX is its most capable model, though all GPUs in the RX XT line with a number higher than 6700 can handle 144 frames per second in 1080p, which is plenty for most gamers. That said, most pre-built gaming PCs use industry-leading Nvidia GPUs instead.

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX line has some of the highest performing GPUs available today including the RTX 4090, which consistently provides over 140 fps in 1080p and more than 100 fps in 4K. You can expect over 140 fps among any models from Nvidia’s RTX line with a label of 3000 or higher.

Internal Storage and RAM

Storage and memory on your gaming PC are broken down into two key pieces: random access memory (RAM) and storage. RAM is an indicator of short-term usage. The more RAM your computer has, the more tasks your computer can run simultaneously.

More RAM smooths out your computer’s performance and reduces the strain on your main software and storage. While you may be able to run most of your games on just 8 gigabytes of RAM, faster performing PCs offer 16 gigabytes or more, which should ensure smooth runs of any program or video game.

Internal storage is where the majority of your files, programs, and game save states will be saved. This is your traditional idea of what can be saved “on the computer.” Many desktop gaming PCs in particular come with a large amount of internal storage, with several surpassing one terabyte.

How We Selected

We made our selections for this list based on the comments and reviews of thousands of Reddit users across dozens of different subreddits. These selections account for a diverse price range, differing performance requirements, and of course, personal taste.

This is combined with the approval of other Reddit users. These comments are upvoted and many sparked detailed discourse with other users. We have also vetted each pick ourselves to ensure that we, alongside Reddit, recommend these gaming PCs. We spent hours diving deep into each thread and comment chain to ensure that the opinions of the many aren’t based on little information.

We looked at key specs, price points in comparison to other options, brand reputation, reviews, and computer performance metrics to ensure each pick on this list is more than just a Reddit darling, but also a verified, high performing machine you can use to game in your home.