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Opting to buy a prebuilt gaming PC instead of creating one has many perks. You don’t have to do extensive research to decide which components you need, and you don’t have to spend several hours trying to assemble it all together. For anyone buying a prebuilt gaming PC under $1000, the challenge is to get the best possible system for gaming you can.
Best Prebuilt Gaming PC Under $1000 Reviewed
Under the $1000, you’ll be expected to make a lot of compromises when buying a prebuilt gaming PC. You’ll either have to settle for an inferior CPU or GPU. However, that’s not always the case, and there are a few products that have really appealing CPU and GPU combinations that can comfortably run most AAA titles on max settings at 1080p around the 60fps mark and above.
We’ve handpicked four incredible $1000 prebuilt gaming PCs and reviewed them for you in this article. Before we get into those reviews, here are few things to consider when purchasing a prebuilt gaming PC.
Prebuilt Gaming PC Buyer’s Guide
Prebuilt vs DIY
PC builders and computer experts will tell you that building a gaming PC for yourself is far more cost effective and satisfying than buying a prebuilt gaming system. And they’re mostly right. Buying each individual component will be more cost-effective, at times saving you several hundred bucks. It is also satisfying to power up the computer after a few hours of assembly and watch it slay.
However, building a computer is not everyone’s cup of tea. Some aren’t equipped with the experience and technical knowledge, while others simply don’t have enough time to go through the entire process of selecting components within a limited budget and assembling them.
It’s for the latter folks that buying a prebuilt gaming PC is ideal. It’s an immediate solution with all the components installed in a given budget, so you don’t have to worry about mixing and matching components, being careful and considerate during assembly, and installing your operating system and drivers.
Processor
At a less than $1000 price point, you’d think most high-end processors would be out of reach. While that’s true in most cases, spending only a few dollars extra can net you an overclockable AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or even a Ryzen 7 2700, the latter being a high-end processor with a large number of threads.
For gaming though, you want to focus on single-core performance the most. It’s true that more and more games are taking advantage of multicore processing now, but that is still an ongoing development – most videogames (even AAA titles) are still heavily reliant on single-core performance over multicore processing.
However, this does not mean have multiple cores has no advantages. Multicore processing is essential in many other tasks, and it’s something to seriously consider if you plan to use your gaming PC for processor-intensive tasks like rendering and encoding. There are also many videogames that are more CPU intensive, such as ones with large datasets like Cities Skylines and simulation-based titles.
GPU
The GPU is the most important part of your gaming PC, and that stays true even when you’re being a prebuilt computer. With a budget of $1000, you want to aim for a system that offers at least enough graphics power to run all major titles at max settings on the 1080p resolution at 60fps on average.
There are many sub-$1000 prebuilt gaming PCs that feature powerful processors but underwhelming GPUs like the AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB or Nvidia GTX 1060 3GB. With such a budget, you deserve more. We don’t recommend going below the AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB, with the ideal minimum target being the Nvidia GTX 1660 6GB.
RAM
RAM is complicated and can have an entire article about it, but for gaming, it’s not as essential as many believe. You simply need enough RAM to make sure your videogame doesn’t run out of memory and can operate smoothly. The RAM we’re talking about here is system RAM, but graphics memory (the RAM of your graphics card) is also important.
For system memory, you ideally want 16GB. This is the modern accepted standard for gaming PCs, and for good reason. 16GB RAM gives ample breathing room to your processor. RAM speed is also something you should consider, though it’s not as important as the amount of RAM you have. Ideally, you want as much RAM speed as possible. Anything beyond 3000MHz will yield diminishing returns in videogames, though.
Storage
Modern videogames are extremely big, so you want a system that can store them. But more importantly, you want fast storage, so your computer loads up quickly. For your operating system and most essential software like drivers and important programs, you want a solid state drive or SSD. Even the slowest SSDs are several magnitudes faster than the fastest hard drive, so you want at least one. However, hard drives are more cost effective.
Ideally, in a prebuilt gaming PC, you want to see a combination of SSD and HDD. Although the combination varies greatly, we think a 240GB SSD combined with a 1TB HDD works really well for most users looking to buy a gaming PC.
Our Top Pick
Centaurus Andromeda A5
The Centaurus Andromeda A5 is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 that is overclocked. It features an Nvidia GTX 1660 and 16GB of RAM. The casing also comes with customizable RGB lighting.
The Centaur Andromeda A5 is the closest a prebuilt PC under $1000 gets to the price of building your own. It offers incredible performance, thermals, and reliability that few prebuilt PCs can match at this price point.
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 2600 3.8GHz OC
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660 6GB
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 2667MHz
- Storage: 240GB SSD + 1TB HDD
- RGB: Yes
The biggest negative of buying a prebuilt PC is that you’ll have to pay considerably more for it than you would if you were to buy all the individual components yourself and build one. Centaurus Computers seems to be one of the very few brands offering a prebuilt PC under $1000 with negligible price difference between building one of the same specs and buying their prebuilt system.
Of the many prebuilt gaming rigs they offer, the Centaurus Andromeda A5 is by far the most attractive offer under $1000. It’s powered by the popular and ever-reliable AMD Ryzen 5 2600, factory overclocked slightly to 3.8GHz. The factory overclock is a great and generous feature, and it’s possible to go push it even a little further thanks to the great thermal design of the entire system.
Paired with the Ryzen 2600 is Nvidia’s GTX 1660. Although not as powerful as the GTX 1660 Ti or any of the RTX cards, it blows its competitors with value and performance, convincingly outperforming its direct competitors (from a price perspective) like the AMD RX 580 and RX 590 in the midrange market.
This combination makes it an incredibly viable system for 1080p gaming in any modern videogame on high/max settings.
For storage, the Centaurus Andromeda offers a 240GB SSD – ideal for installing your OS and the most essential programs on. To deal with the space-consuming AAA titles, Centaurus Computers has paired it with a 1TB mechanical hard drive to offer ample space. The system also comes with addressable RGB, with a stylish and elegant strip upfront that can be altered to whichever color you desire.
Centaurus is using a dual-channel RAM setup in the Andromeda A5, with 16GB total memory running at 2667MHz. Ryzen processors tend to like higher RAM speeds, so we could’ve welcomed 3000MHz kits instead, but given how the price is less than $1000, it’s hard to complain.
Because of the high thread count (6 cores and 12 threads on the Ryzen 5 2600), the Andromeda A5 also doubles as a great productivity computer for those who want to do some rendering, video editing, and/or 3D modeling. Add to that its 3-year warranty and you have a viable PC for 1080p gaming and multithreaded tasks in a great package. There’s very little wrong with this offering, and considering the $1000 budget, this system gets two thumbs up from us.
Great Alternative
iBUYPOWER Elite Gaming Slate2 084i
This iBUYPOWER Elite Gaming Slate2 version is powered by a 9th Generation Intel Core i5 9400F processor and an Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti. It has 16GB of RAM and comes with a gaming mouse and keyboard.
The iBUYPOWER Elite Gaming Slate2 could actually get you more frame-rates than our top pick. Only a handful of quirky decisions prevent it from trumping the Centaurus Andromeda 5 in our recommendations.
- Processor: Intel Core i5 9400F 2.9GHz
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti 6GB
- RAM: 8GB DDR4 2666MHz
- Storage: 480GB SSD
- RGB: Yes
For purely gaming efficiency, the iBUYPOWER Elite Gaming Slate2 actually has a really capable combination – arguably more than our top pick. Its powered by the Intel Core i5 9400F, a cost-effective offering that packs plenty of power at a 2.9GHz core clock speed that can boost up to 4.10GHz. There are 6 cores in the processor, but each core has a single thread, so you don’t get multithreading benefits. However, because of its streamlined architecture catered towards single-core performance, it can outpace a Ryzen 5 2600 comfortably under normal circumstances.
Combined with this Intel processor is the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti, the mid-tier king in modern graphics cards. It’s a powerful GPU that is on par with the Nvidia GTX 1070 from the previous generation, so gaming on a 1080p resolution on ultra settings should be a breeze, irrespective of the title you’ll be playing. Heck, you can easily run many videogames on 1440p on max settings with this card as well.
All that comes at an affordable price of around $800, which seems like a steal. Where the iBUYPOWER falls behind though is in memory and storage. It only features a modest 8GB of RAM. Of course, you could buy an additional RAM stick for less than $100, but it’s never a great idea to run two RAM sticks in the dual channel that haven’t been pre-selected for that purpose. That’s why RAM kits are so popular.
Another caveat is the storage space. iBUYPOWER offers a 480GB SSD, but there’s no hard drive included. This, however, is a far more addressable problem, as modern hard drives only cost around $50-$60 for 1TB of storage.
What you can’t get on this prebuilt PC however is overclocking and multithreaded performance. The Intel Core i5 9400F is a locked processor, which means you can’t overclock its base speed. Furthermore, it doesn’t have the best cooler in the world, and the lack of multithreading means you won’t be able to run more complex tasks the way you would on a Ryzen 5 2600.
Nevertheless, it comes in a stylish design with a 16 color RGB lighting PC case that can be adjusted through a remote-controlled, and the peripherals are a neat little addition. You also get 802.11ac Wi-Fi for some wireless gaming. iBUYPOWER offers 1-year parts and labor warranty for this system.
Best Value for Money
HP Pavilion Gaming PC
The HP Pavillion gaming pc does not stand tall, however, it stays true to its price. The gaming pc comes with either an AMD Ryzen processor or you can swap it for an Intel processor if you like. It supports the latest generation of both Ryzen and Intel processors.
With both builds of either a Ryzen or an Intel processor, this gaming PC can be your companion in less than 700$ and as low as 500$ depending on the build. Now that is a very tempting deal indeed.
The HP Pavillion PC comes with a dark grey brushed rig and neon green lighting to enhance your gaming experience. Now it does not sport the RGB that is very famous in gaming PCs nowadays, but for as low as 500$ I doubt you will find a better deal than this anywhere. This is probably one of the best gaming rigs available on a budget from one of the big-name PC brands.
You can get the highly reliable and reputable 8 thread/4 core Ryzen 5 2400G along with the Radeon RX580 from Amazon for less than 700$. This build of the HP Pavillion Gaming PC is a reliable and pocket-friendly gaming rig that you can play high-end games on medium graphics settings without losing much FPS. The Ryzen 5 2400G is a true and tested processor that comes with a VEGA 11 IGP (integrated graphics processor). This means that when it comes to supporting graphics the Ryzen 5 2400G is way better than the Intel competitors. However, when it comes to computing power, the Intel processors overwhelm the Ryzen 5 2400G. With an RX580 graphics card, you will be able to run any game smoothly without any performance issues. What more could you ask for a rig that is less than $700 right?
Amazon also has an offer for the HP pavilion gaming pc for the 9th Generation Intel Core i5 processor. The Intel i5 9400F Coffee Lake desktop 6 Core/6 Thread processor has slightly better performance when it comes to computing on benchmark than the Ryzen 5 2400G. It is newer, released in 2019 and has had good reviews thus far throughout the gaming world. With an Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti 6GB DDR6 you can hope to achieve high-end gaming performance. That too for the price of less than $600 on Amazon, not too shabby, right?
If you look at the price tag and the specs on this system, you can easily count it as one of the best PCs you can find in less than the $1000 price tag, but then again there are better options available. But if you are on a budget and plan on upgrading later on the line, this PC was built for customization and upgrade in mind.
Great Alternative
SkyTech Blaze II
SkyTech is a fairly new name when it comes to gaming PCs, however, almost all reviews point out how great of a prebuilt PC it is.
A Ryzen 5 2600, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Graphics Card, 500G SSD and beautiful RGB Casing with tempered glass side cover to show off the thing of beauty. That too in just $750? I don’t think you will get a deal better than that anywhere in the whole market.
So if the specs do not tell you how good this is, we went through tons of reviews from gamers and they all had nothing but praise for this gaming rig. They all said that this comparably cheap rig could handle games like Fortnite in high graphic settings without breaking a sweat. If you use the extra money you save from it on a liquid cooler for the CPU, you are set for the time being and would need to upgrade for a while.
The SkyTech Blaze II is equipped with the NVIDIA GTX 1660 6GB DDR5 Graphics Card, which is a fairly recent release by the Nvidia Company. With this card, you can run the latest game on almost medium to high settings and still get 50-60 FPS, easily. It has a Windows 10 64-bit preinstalled, might need update though after unboxing and installing.
A Ryzen 5 2600, a 6 Cores/12 Threads, 3.4GHz processor to power up your PC, which can be overclocked to a 3.9GHz. The Processor is a second-generation Zen+ which is a groundbreaking AMD CPU which beats its Intel competitors from the same generation. The 6 core/12 Threads help handle advanced graphics tasks making it a really good CPU for tasks such as video rendering. It is also good enough to run a Vive so you can enjoy VR experience on your Ryzen 5 2600.
Best Looker
CYBERPOWERPC GXiVR8500A
The CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme VR prebuilt PC features an Intel Core i5 9400F paired with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and has a 1TB HDD with a 120GB SSD. It also boasts three front-mounted RGB fans and a single rear RGB exhaust fan.
If you love RGB, you’ll absolutely adore this prebuilt gaming PC from CYBERPOWER. It is packed with plenty of horsepower in a stylish system with all the lighting effects modern gamers crave.
- Processor: Intel Core i5 9400F 2.9GHz
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti 6GB
- RAM: 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 120GB SSD + 1TB
- RGB: Yes, plenty
The CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme GXiVR8500A has almost the same exact specifications as the iBUYPOWER product above. It’s also running the Intel Core i5 9400F at 2.9GHz and also features an Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti, making it capable of some powerful gaming even at 1440p resolution.
However, like the iBUYPOWER gaming PC, it also suffers from similar compromises. CYBERPOWERPC only slaps in a modest 8GB of RAM, which will need to be upgraded for some of the more demanding and memory-hungry titles in modern times.
The company does strike a slightly better deal with its storage. You get a single 120GB SSD for faster storage options, which is great for installing your OS on and dumping the most essential programs. For the larger games, there’s a slower but more spacious 1TB hard drive on offer as well. Given the massive price drop of SATA III solid-state drives, we do wish CYBERPOWERPC offers at least a 240/256GB SSD instead.
The biggest appeal for this prebuilt gaming system (and also the main reason to spend a little extra for it) is its stylish design. Featuring tempered glass on the front and sides, it barefacedly shows off the three RGB fans mounted at the front for intake. A single, bright RGB exhaust fan illuminates the interior of the case, putting a fine display of its components. All these fans are addressable and can be changed to your liking. This makes it one of the most stylish cases, catering to the RGB craze that has taken over the gaming community the past few years.
The generous intake of fresh air also keeps the system cool (as long as the ambient temperature is decent), and it’s hard to argue about the performance in videogames, provided you don’t run out of system memory.
Upgrade Pick
CUK Continuum Gamer PC
The CUK Continuum Gamer PC is a powerful prebuilt system with an AMD Ryzen 7 2700 and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB. It comes with 16GB RAM and features a 500GB SSD.
While the CUK Continuum Gamer PC is above the $1000 price point, with just $100 extra you can get a really fast combination that is ideal for high multithreaded workloads as well as 1440p gaming.
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 2700 3.2GHz
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 3000MHz
- Storage: 500GB
- RGB: Yes
Okay, we know we’re cheating a bit, but if you can somehow borrow $150 from a friend and add that to your $1000 budget, you can get so much more than you would while staying under $1000. With $150 extra, you’ll be able to own an 8-core processor with a whopping 16 threads that can overclock too. Additionally, you’ll get a powerful graphics card in the form of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB, making this a machine easily capable of running all major titles on 1440p resolution.
We’re huge fans of the case on offer with the CUK Continuum Gamer PC because of its trippy looks that never seem gawdy. It’s a wonderful design that inspires awe and turns heads, and one of our favorite implementations of RGB.
But it’s what’s within this PC case that makes borrowing $150 from your friends worthwhile. Before we go into the content, let’s keep things clear: the $100 will get you the PC itself, but the extra $50 is for a 1TB hard drive, because this prebuilt system comes with only 500GB of solid-state storage. While that’s a generous amount of ultra-fast storage to keep a few games in, you’ll soon run out give just how massive most modern videogames are.
Now, coming to its internals. The Spire cooler from AMD Ryzen 2700 is what comes with it in the box, but it’s a stylish cooler with RGB and really good thermal performance. You can get away with a bit of overclocking as well, and if you have $60 to spare some time in the future, you could even get an aftermarket air cooler and slap it on to pump the clock speeds all the way up to 3.8GHz and above, if you dare.
This makes this prebuilt gaming PC a processing powerhouse. The Ryzen 7 2700 is a fantastic performer in multithreading tasks, making it ideal for professionals looking for a gaming system that doubles as viable content creation and editing PC. The 16GB RAM is also clocked at 3000MHz, meaning this Ryzen processor will be running much more efficiently.
Additionally, the RTX 2060 6GB combines to provide a phenomenal gaming experience at 1440p, capable of handling all modern games at that resolution. You can even enjoy the (limited) ray-tracing technology in the few games that support it with this card.
While this system does break the $1000 barrier, it does so marginally, and every penny you spend above one grand is absolutely worth it.
FAQs
What is the best prebuilt gaming pc under $1000?
The best PC under the $1000 price tag we found after much research and hand-on review was none other than the Centaurus Andromeda A5. This PC boasts remarkable specs to other gaming PC’s out there along with a really outclass performance. This prebuilt gaming PC will be able to run almost all the latest games in medium to a high quality without hassle with the Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti graphics card installed in it.
What is the best value prebuilt gaming pc under $1000?
We did the research and some of the best value prebuilt gaming PCs under the $1000 budget are: HP Pavillion Gaming desktop and SkyTech Blaze II. HP is a huge name in the computer industry, not only some of the best laptops are released by HP but the printers released by them are also the first choice for anyone. SkyTech Blaze II is a dark horse, it is not as reputable as other huge names in gaming PC like MSI, Corsair, Alienware, CYBERPOWERPC, and iBUYPOWER, but it is quite affordable. Not to mention the specs on the system and reviews for this prebuilt rig seem really good. You can play your Fortnite and other FPS games on high settings without any stuttering or frame loss. And the best part of all? It just costs 750$ on Amazon.
What is the best prebuilt gaming pc brand?
Arguably the best gaming PC brand has to be Corsair. The Corsair One i60 and Corsair Vengeance 5185 are both top of the line gaming PCs with absolutely beautiful designs. Of course, both come with their own flaws, with the Corsair One being very expensive and the Vengeance 5185 only supporting up to 8th generation chips. People will say that the Alienware Area51 Threadripper Edition is the best gaming PC out there, but it is ridiculously expensive, of course, it has more space for an upgrade than any other PC out there but is it worth the cost? Many people do not think so.