Are you a gaming enthusiast looking to buy your first ever rig? Maybe you’re looking to get a better gaming desktop and want to upgrade. Money could pose a serious problem to gamers when it comes to buying the best gaming PC’s and have the best gaming experience. All gamers deserve to be able to play at high res with amazing performance and nobody should be stripped of this experience.
So, to tackle budget issues and provide an excellent overall gaming experience, we’re going to talk about the best prebuilt gaming PC’s under $500. At wingamingpc.com, we’ll be listing the best gaming desktops under $500 based on features, specs, and their pros and cons, so make sure you read the entire article.
What is a Prebuilt PC?
Contents
A prebuilt PC is a desktop that comes equipped with all the necessary tools and parts that it needs to function with. In comparison to custom-built PCs, prebuilt PCs are designed to meet the budget needs of gamers and providing amazing gaming experience at an affordable amount.
Here are some of the parts that are already installed in a prebuilt PC to give you an idea of how everything works.
· GPU – The most integral part of any prebuilt gaming PC has to be the GPU. All the graphics and the frames will be processed by the graphics processing unit. The better the GPU in a prebuilt PC, the better gaming graphics.
· CPU – Aptly known as the brain of the computer, if you’re looking to buy a great prebuilt gaming PC, you need to make sure the CPU is high quality, with a lot of cores and threads to get a swift and sleek task performance.
· OS – The operating system, the software that takes all the components and provides a functioning interface to the user, is also a very important component of a prebuilt PC.
· RAM – The part of the PC that stores the accessed programs in the memory while processing is known as the random access memory. The bigger the RAM, the more lag-free the gaming experience.
· HDD – The storage where all the installed programs and applications such as games, movies, and others will be stored on the computer is known as the hard disk drive.
· SSD – An upgraded version of the HDD, the solid-state drive offers faster loading speeds and a better overall visual experience that is fluent and swift.
· Motherboard – The home of all the components, where everything is connected, including the CPU, RAM, etc is the motherboard. It contains circuits for the connection of all the parts so they can be functional.
· Casing – When it comes to aesthetics, the best part of any prebuilt PC has to be the RGB casing. The sleek, visually appealing designs attract more gamers and will definitely attract you too.
· Power Supply – The power supply in basic terms converts AC to DC for the powering of the aforementioned internal components of the PC, ensuring low wattage and full component power use.
We have rated and listed the best prebuilt gaming PC’s based on these specs and their quality and performance.
What is a Budget Gaming PC?
You might be wondering, what a budget gaming PC actually is? Well, before the creation of budget gaming PCs, PC gaming was considered a luxury and not everyone could afford it. So, realizing the need for normalizing PC gaming, technology companies started developing and working on making components and parts that would be easily affordable and provide the best gaming experience to all gamers irrespective of their monetary situation, and thus, budget gaming PCs were born.
With the best and most reasonable components, you can have an amazing and exciting high-resolution smooth gameplay on a budget gaming PC. Our list of the best prebuilt gaming PC’s under $500 contains a plethora of such highly efficient yet affordable PCs.
What makes a good budget gaming PC?
Gaming PCs are all about high performance giving parts that have amazing specs and decent stylish looking bodies. Therefore, what makes a great budget gaming PC is the use of the best quality and most high-end components for the most reasonable and affordable price available in the market.
Many gaming computer companies around the world make sure that their players get the utmost high-level gaming experience they can offer. So, in addition to expensive high-end pcs, they also design and create budget prebuilt gaming PC’s for the more humble end of the gamer curve.
A good budget gaming PC must have a mid-ranged processor along with a good graphics card offering good performance on high or Ultra on the majority of the multiplayer titles and a good casing along with generous RAM and storage devices. Topped with a decent PSU and a great price, your amazing budget gaming PC is ready to game on.
Best Prebuilt Gaming PC Under $500
Best Prebuilt Gaming PC’s Under $500
- HP Pavilion 590-p0020 Desktop Computer, AMD Ryzen 3 2200G, 4GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive, Windows 10
- iBUYPOWER Enthusiast Gaming PC Computer Desktop ARCB 108A (AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6GHz, NVIDIA Geforce GT 710 1GB, 8GB DDR4, 1TB HDD, WiFi & Windows 10) Black
- CUK Stratos Micro Gaming Desktop (AMD Ryzen 3 3200G + Radeon Vega 8 Graphics, 16GB 3000MHz DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD, 500W PSU, No OS) Gamer PC Computer
- Apevia Desktop Gaming PC Desktop Computer Intel i5 3.10GHz, 8GB Ram, 1TB Hard Drive, Windows 10 pro, WiFi Ready, Video Card Nvidia GTX 650 1GB, 3 RGB Fans
- Alarco Gaming PC Desktop Computer Intel i5 3.10GHz, 8GB Ram, 1TB Hard Drive Storage, Windows 10 pro, WiFi Ready, Video Card Nvidia GTX 650 1GB, 3 RGB Fans with Remote
There are many different kinds of prebuilt gaming PCs available in the market from various brands but not all of them are able to offer their price’s worth specs and performance.
Let us take a peek at the top 5 most affordable and best prebuilt gaming PC’s under $500.
HP Pavilion 590-p0020
HP’s take on budget gaming, the HP Pavilion 590-p0020 is a mid-ranged gaming PC, on which you can play newer titles and old multi-players smoothly at a good resolution and graphics settings.
Specs:
- CPU – AMD RYZEN 3 2200G 3.5Ghz
- GPU – AMD Radeon Graphics
- HDD – 1TB
- RAM – 4GB DDR4
- Motherboard – AMD Promontory FCH
- Casing – HP Pavilion Standard
Looking at the specs of this budget gaming PC, you’d be thinking that it won’t be able to play games at all and it is only for casual use. But that isn’t the case. Titles ranging from Dota 2 to CS:GO and many other multiplayer games run smoothly providing an excellent experience to you and fulfilling your gaming needs.
Pavilion 590-p0020 features AMD’s high-level processor with 4 threads and 4 cores offering maximum performance and multi-tasking with 3.5Ghz speed. Along with this processor, comes the AMD Radeon graphics that offer a good gameplay experience paired with fast 4GB DDR4 Ram and a large memory of 1TB capable enough for storing multiple gaming titles along with your favorite series and shows as well.
However, with all these specs the design of the casing is pretty simple. Other than that, with amazing specs and good quality components, this model makes a decent punch due to its affordable price.
Pros:
Pavilion 590-p0020 comes with a lot of pros and perks and here are some of those advantages.
- Extremely affordable and wallet-friendly.
- A large memory space big enough to store all your favorite video game titles.
- Comes with a bunch of add-ons including keyboard and mouse.
Cons:
Although this PC has its fair share of amazing specs, here are some of the cons that it accompanies.
- The design isn’t the best from a gaming PC perspective.
- The integrated graphics can’t run newer and future high-end titles smoothly.
iBUYPOWER Enthusiast Gaming PC
Known for their high-end stylish and sleek designed gaming PC’s, iBUYPOWER steps into the budget gaming arena with this one. The Enthusiast Gaming PC offers a good gaming experience with a stylish RGB casing that gives you that aesthetic gamer feeling.
Specs:
- CPU – AMD RYZEN 3 3200G 3.6Ghz
- GPU – Geforce GT 710 1GB
- HDD – 1TB
- RAM – 8GB DDR4
- OS – Windows 10
- Casing – Tempered Glass RGB Gaming Case
One of the best prebuilt gaming PC’s under $500, the enthusiast gaming PC is absolutely worth the price. It can run titles like GTA IV and 5 at low settings and multiplayer titles in normal settings smoothly ensuring a great budget gaming experience for a low price. This PC comes with the amazing Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6Ghz processor which features 4 cores and 4 threads along with a dedicated 1GB graphics card in GT 710. Along with this, there are 8 gigs of Ram available with 1TB of huge space for all the best video games available.
For its price, the enthusiast gaming PC is budget gaming PC heaven and makes sure your wallet doesn’t get empty while you try to get a great gaming experience while also providing the aesthetics and visual beauty to your gaming setup with its RGB casing and sleek design.
Pros:
Here are some of the pros that this PC offers.
- Beautiful design, looks amazing in your room with the RGB lighting and tempered glass.
- A large amount of space for storing the best titles of gaming history.
- Dedicated graphics card offers a good gaming experience.
Cons:
A few of the cons that come with the enthusiast gaming PC are as follows.
- There aren’t many add-ons with this PC.
- No optical or DVD drive available in the casing.
- A little more expensive than the other options on this list.
CUK Stratos Micro Gaming PC
CUK is one of the top brands in terms of prebuilt gaming PC’s and their dive into the budget gaming PC market proved to be a high success. The Stratos Micro Gaming PC offers decent specs, good gaming performance, and overall an exciting experience to you and all other gamers.
Specs:
- CPU – AMD RYZEN 3 3200G 3.6Ghz
- GPU – Vega 8
- SSD – 256GB
- RAM – 16GB
- OS – Windows 10
- Casing – Tempered Glass RGB Gaming Case
This stylish and spec-heavy mid-ranged budget gaming beast is literally one of the best in the business. With over 30fps on average for AAA titles like GTA 5 and others, for its price, it could be considered one of the best gaming desktops under $500. The Stratos Micro Gaming PC comes with the same processor as the IBUYPOWER enthusiast, which is the Ryzen 3 3200G with 3.6Ghz CPU speed and an integrated GPU Vega 8. The Vega 8 takes the cake over Intel’s integrated graphics with high-performance results in games and 3d mark test. You have the liberty of storing the best of the best games in the SSD and get faster loading times and a better response rate.
Although the storage might not be that much, for this price, it also offers 16 gigs of Ram and along with that comes a keyboard and a mouse with a sleek and luscious RGB design which makes it one of our top choices for budget gaming PC’s in this list.
Pros:
CUK’s budget gaming PC offers a multitude of specs and pros and here are some of them.
- Gorgeous RGB case with tempered glass side for a clear internal view.
- Large memory capable of multi-tasking at high levels enabling you to do other stuff while playing games.
- A bundle of add-ons with the purchase of this product.
Cons:
Here are some of the cons of this product.
- It doesn’t feature any DVD or optical drives.
- The SSD is expensive and thus, the storage space is lesser than the other options in this list.
- It is one of the more expensive budget gaming PC’s on this list.
Apevia Desktop Gaming PC
With an amazing RGB casing Apevia’s Desktop Gaming PC is a beast that can provide you with a high-quality gaming experience for a small price as compared to other high-end prebuilt gaming PC’s.
Specs:
- CPU – INTEL i5 2400 3.1Ghz
- GPU – GTX 650 1GB
- HDD – 1TB
- RAM – 8GB
- OS – Windows 10
- Casing – Tempered Glass RGB Gaming Case
Apevia offers this great budget gaming PC for a generous price. On this PC, not only can you play a bunch of amazing games but you can also run high-end design software due to the ultra-capabilities of the graphics card. In terms of benchmarks, you can understand from its performance in The Witcher 3 where it gives smooth above 30fps gameplay on medium settings.
Finally moving to a PC with Intel processor, this one features i5 2400 with 3.1Ghz CPU speed offering 4 cores and 4 threads along with a dedicated GPU in the form of the prized GTX 650 1GB graphics card. This is complemented by the 8 gigabytes of DDR3 Ram which also offer smooth multi-tasking options, ensuring a decent mid-ranged gameplay.
In this price, such a sleek and good looking gaming PC is hard to find. Apevia not only gives you an amazing look, but also amazing specs so that you can feel like a true gamer and play games exactly the way you want with high-resolution graphics and high-end performance.
Pros:
Here are some of the amazing pros that this gaming PC comes with.
- Superb design, extremely visually pleasing. It offers a great gaming PC casing.
- The dedicated graphics card gives excellent performance in the most recent titles ensuring smooth and high-end gameplay.
- A large amount of storage offers space for the best video game titles.
Cons:
Even with such great specs, there are some problems and cons that you might have to face with this purchase. Here are some of those cons.
- It doesn’t feature many add-ons.
- There is no space for DVDs and there are no optical drives, so only digital games are allowed.
- The build is stylish but the overall sturdiness isn’t that great.
Alarco Gaming PC
With similar specs as Apevia’s gaming desktop PC, Alarco makes a huge impact in the budget gaming scene and offers a great gameplay experience for a price under $500. It comes with a stylish design and it features a lot of great specifications and technology.
Specs
- CPU – INTEL i5 2400 3.1Ghz
- GPU – GTX 650 1GB
- HDD – 1TB
- RAM – 8GB
- OS – Windows 10
- Casing – Tempered Glass RGB Gaming Case
Alarco’s gaming PC packs a tremendous punch for its price. It can run games like Red dead redemption 2 on the lowest settings with a steady framerate and GTA 5 on medium settings with smooth fps. So, it is one of the better gaming PC options we have here in our best prebuilt gaming PC under $500 list.
With Intel’s i5 2400 processor that comes with a 3.10Ghz processing speed and 4 cores and 4 threads, it offers smooth processing in general. When paired with the amazing GTX 650, it offers exciting gameplay in many high-end gaming titles of today. Along with 8 gigs of Ram and a huge 1TB memory, this PC is definitely built for you if you need a good experience.
For its price, Alarco is offering a lot of substance when it comes to specs and gameplay experience. The sleek and amazing design along with the RGB fans and stylish build, Alarco makes use of their great quality casings to attract gamers towards a sweet budget gaming rig.
Pros:
Alarco gaming PC comes packed with the following pros and advantages.
- Gamers have control of the RGB fans and can change the colors of the rig with their choice.
- The whole design of the gaming PC is extremely beautiful and stylish.
- There is a lot of storage space for your favorite titles to be stored.
Cons:
With the mentioned pros, there are some cons as well. Here we’ve listed them for your knowledge.
- No DVD drives or optical drives are available in the casing.
- It is just under the budget so it is more expensive than the other products on the list.
Honorable Mention
Here we have an honorable mention for you in terms of power and overall quality, as a reference if you want to upgrade your gaming rig in the future.
The CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Xtreme
CYBERPOWERPC’s insanely high powered gaming beast, the Gamer Xtreme is aptly named because of the amazing specs and the benchmarks that it offers in terms of gaming.
Specs:
- CPU – INTEL i5 9400F 2.9Ghz
- GPU – GTX 1660 6GB
- HDD – 1TB
- RAM – 8GB DDR4
- SSD – 120GB
- OS – Windows 10
- Casing – Tempered Glass RGB Gaming Case
Without a question, if you ever want to upgrade your mid-ranged budget gaming PC, to a high-end ultra-level high-quality gaming beast, Gamer Xtreme needs to be your choice. With benchmarks of over 60fps, no matter what the game might be, at ultra-settings, this beast makes sure you get what you deserve, and that is a high-resolution ultra-gaming experience.
In terms of specs, this rig comes with the most recent Intel processor i5 9400F with 2.9Ghz speed and 6 cores and 6 threads. Paired with the unbelievably powerful GTX 1660, all your gaming and design dreams are going to come true, due to this 6GB Vram monster. With a hefty storage of 1TB HDD and 120GB SSD, you can store whatever you like in this build. It also offers 8 gigs of Ram which is enough for a few years in the future. Even though, this thing is way out of our budget, you can still set your eyes on it, perhaps save a little more, and get a proper gaming machine that makes you feel like the most gifted and blessed gamer in the world.
Pros:
Here you have some of the pros that this rig offers.
- Incredible sleek designed tempered glass RGB casing.
- Storage for loads and loads of programs.
- High-end specs and multiple add-ons.
Cons:
A few of the hard found cons that it contains are.
- Out of our budget.
- No optical or disk drives available.
Conclusion
This list of the best mid-ranged budget gaming PCs available in the market for a small amount of price can be a decent start for gamers all around the world. Now that you’ve read this article, you have an idea of all the best PC’s that you can get in your low budget. These products prove that although you might have a low budget, but you still deserve the best in terms of specs and gaming experience. You can choose any of these PC’s that we’ve mentioned and we guarantee you that you’ll thank us for these suggestions because of your amazing gaming experience.
