The Best Gaming PCs You Can Buy in 2024

While building one’s own gaming PC seems to be all the rage of late with hundreds of thousands of hours of content available online to help beginners build their own PC and balance out the specs, it still does not cater to a large part of the audience. Gamers without the time to build or maintain systems regularly, people looking to gift a gaming PC to their significant others, and those who do not wish to partake in what is seen as often a complicated assembly and setup process should consider pre-built gaming PCs.

That means that there is a large and booming PC market for pre-built systems. These can vary in specs and prices from a low-budget system that can play the latest eSports titles to one that can do 4K/8K video editing on the fly while also easily decimating any and all current system requirements by a large margin.

Updated on May 30th, 2024 by Sarfraz Khan: Considering the needs of enthusiast overclockers, we have updated the list with an incredibly overclockable system for high productivity and gaming performance. Also, for those who have less space on their desks, we have replaced our Best Compact build with a better one that is smaller and features newer hardware.

Game Rant’s Picks for the Best Gaming PCs in 2024

There is a consensus among the majority of gamers and PC enthusiasts about Ryzen 7800X3D being the best gaming CPU at the moment. Harnessing the power of the extra 64MB of L3 cache, the Ryzen 7800X3D is simply unbeatable overall, especially at its current price, making it the best possible choice for any budget. Once combined with any powerful mid-range or high-end GPU, the frame rates are incredibly swift, even at higher resolutions. The Yeyian Odachi brings an RTX 4070 GPU that destroys almost every title thrown at it with 1440p resolution, bringing unparalleled ray tracing performance for its price.

The PC is also provided with ample cooling through multiple RGB fans at the front, rear, and top. Moreover, a 240mm AIO cooler is used for the Ryzen 7800X3D, which is a clever way of maintaining its thermals as the processor is known to generate a lot of heat. The PC is powered by a Gold-rated 750W PSU that should provide at least 85%+ efficiency on typical loads and has room for further upgrades. All the hardware is hosted inside a gorgeous mid-tower that provides a full-length PSU shroud and an adequate cable management system.

For users looking to get a powerful gaming PC that still represents the best value for money under $2000, the iBUYPOWER RDY Y60 005 is hard to beat once you factor in the on-site discounts iBUYPOWER regularly offers throughout the year.

It offers one of Intel’s fastest CPUs for gaming, the Core i9 14900KF paired with an RTX 4070 SUPER, making for a powerful, yet balanced gaming offering for most users looking to game at FHD or 2K resolutions. With a large 2TB NVMe SSD under the hood in addition to 32GB of DDR5 RAM, iBUYPOWER’s offering delivers an all-round performer that comes well-equipped to handle games with larger memory requirements, as well as larger storage specifications with ease.

With a complimentary keyboard and mouse bundle in addition to qualifying for limited-time free game bundles iBUYPOWER shares with those who buy a new PC, now is one of the best times to pick up iBUYPOWER’s mid-range offering housed in HYTE’s popular Y60 case.

Skytech makes great pre-builts for different budgets and this one stands out as it features one of the best budget gaming CPUs from the Raptor Lake family that boasts 10 cores and 16 threads to handle most CPU-intensive tasks easily. The Core i5 13400F is unbeatable for its price when both productivity and gaming performance are considered. Throwing it with the RTX 4060 will only result in the maximum performance the GPU can reach without any bottlenecks. Although the 4060 isn’t a great option for a 1440p screen, this PC is specially designed for gamers on a budget.

With the DLSS 3 Frame Generation, the RTX 4060 can easily manage to double the frame rates in a couple of seconds and users can enjoy eye candy with Ray Tracing on. The system uses a satisfactory cooling solution for the CPU and provides four RGB fans in total, leaving two slots at the top for users who want to add one or two more fans in the future. The PC is powered by a 600W Gold-rated PSU to replace any part without any worries or add a few more storage drives or fans.

In the mid-range category, most gaming PCs are able to deliver optimal performance at 1440p, but the MSI Aegis R kills every gaming desktop quite convincingly. It uses the latest RTX 4070 Super GPU, which is about 20% faster than the non-Super edition and doesn’t increase the overall cost of the build much. This gives this system the power to max out intensive titles and has the ability to provide satisfactory frame rates even with Ray Tracing on.

It uses the 14th gen Core i7 14700F processor on an MSI Pro B760-VC WiFi motherboard, a combination that doesn’t lack the power to push productivity/gaming to the next level but manages to cut the cost significantly. Instead of using the stock CPU cooler, the PC uses a decent-sized RGB air cooler to maintain good CPU thermals.

Everything is powered by a reliable 750W power supply which is rated at 80 Plus Gold. This ensures users get enough room for upgrades down the road and have less heat generation. The system is assembled inside a gorgeous MSI mid-tower case with pre-installed RGB fans and a full-length PSU shroud to hide the cable clutter. Furthermore, users are provided with a dedicated gaming keyboard-mouse combo to start gaming right away.

Overclocking is a process of enhancing performance by increasing the core clock speed of your CPU or GPU and while some of our recommended gaming PCs support it, the Skytech Prism is completely on another level. Pre-built gaming PCs are often criticized for their choice of motherboards and cooling solutions. Fortunately, the Skytech Prism exceeds expectations with both, boasting a Core i9 14900K on a Z790 motherboard to unlock the CPU’s potential. Core i9 14900K is incredibly fast with the number of cores and threads it brings out of the box, while also being only the second processor to reach 6GHz on turbo boost.

You can bump up the clock speed to over 5.5GHz on all cores on this gaming system via the pre-installed 420mm AIO cooler. The 420mm radiator is the largest radiator you can have in a mainstream desktop gaming PC, and it provides a large surface area for quicker heat dissipation. It’s got RGB and so do the case fans that are installed in various places, enhancing the already a beautiful mid-tower through tempered glass panels on the front and side.

The system’s configuration includes the newest RTX 4080 Super, 32GB DDR5 RAM clocked at 5600MT/s, and a fast NVMe 2TB SSD for plenty of storage. With a 1000W power supply unit rated at 80 Plus gold efficiency, not only will you have enough room for upgrades in the future, but you will also have a reliable operation without generating much heat. It’s definitely an expensive option, but if you love to extract all the power through overclocking, Skytech Prism is going to be unparalleled.

The Yeyian Odachi doesn’t compromise anywhere. Through the usage of the best possible hardware available on the market, it easily takes the title for the best high-end gaming PC anyone can buy, irrespective of the budget. Ryzen 7950X3D is as good as the 7800X3D in gaming but boasts twice the core count for enhanced productivity. The RTX 4090, on the other hand, matches the potential of the CPU, providing the highest possible performance in graphically intensive titles. It is the only Nvidia gaming GPU at the moment that comes with a whopping 24GB GDDR6X VRAM to max out every possible graphics setting.

The RAM, storage, and motherboard are also more than adequate for the next couple of years. Furthermore, the 1000W Plantium-rated PSU powers the whole rig, having plenty of room for adding whatever the users may like to add. Platinum PSUs typically generate very little heat and are ultra-power efficient. Pros apart, it could have been better if Yeyian provided a slightly bigger case, as it can be a hassle changing the parts in this case.

Higher-end configurations tend to increase the overall size of the computer as high-performance GPUs, coolers, and motherboards are quite bulky and huge to accommodate inside a small chassis. Asus found a fantastic way to fit all of that within a specially designed configuration that will hardly take up more space than a modern gaming console. The Asus ROG G22CH is a compact powerhouse featuring the Core i7 13700F processor paired with the Geforce RTX 4070 Dual edition to max out gaming performance at 1440p resolution.

Expect it to play most games at 100+ fps and the most intensive titles to maintain 60+ fps on the highest graphical presets. This incredible power can now be in your hands without needing a bigger desk. It is just 11 inches tall and 4.5 inches wide and uses a compact RGB tower with a touch of modern aesthetics to enhance your setup’s looks. This, however, does affect its cooling capacity, as the case has small vents for heat dissipation and cannot accommodate AIO coolers. This is why the CPU isn’t overclockable, as you wouldn’t be able to control its heat otherwise.

On the high-end side, users who want high productivity power without compromising on the gaming capability should look no further to the iBUYPOWER Y40 Black gaming desktop which is an all-AMD gaming build. At its core lies the Ryzen 9 7900X CPU, featuring 12 cores and 24 threads to crush any productivity application or crunch big numbers. Powered by the Zen 4 architecture, it is highly potent in maximizing gaming performance at any given resolution and will have lots of room for running multiple tasks at the same time.

To make sure gamers are able to see the best possible visuals, the system brings the flagship AMD Radeon GPU i.e., the Radeon RX 7900 XTX with 24GB VRAM. The GPU alone is around $1000 when bought separately and considering that the system costs under $2500 while bringing some of the best available parts on the market, it is easily one of the best-value gaming PCs out there.

Equipped with 32GB DDR5 memory, 2TB of NVMe SSD storage, and a B650 chipset motherboard, the system has adequate potential to run any game or app without any bottlenecks. It’s overclockable and uses a 240mm AIO cooling solution to keep thermal throttling at bay. All of it fits inside a beautiful mid-tower with a seamless dual-sided tempered glass panel for a mesmerizing view. With an 850W 80+ Gold Rated power supply, it has room for adding or changing whatever part users would like in the future.

Choosing The Best Prebuilt Gaming PCs

Picking a gaming PC in 2024 is a more complex affair than it was a few years ago as gamers deal with multiple generations of CPUs, GPUs, and hardware that tend to overlap in terms of performance tiers. Due to the sheer number of choices both in hardware internals and aesthetics, it is often hard for users to pick and choose from what seem to be endless options. It can, however, be condensed to a few simple factors that can help gamers and enthusiasts make the right choices.

Age: As modern GPUs come with newer tech under the hood, they also sound the death knell for older hardware that does not support technology like mesh shaders that see titles such as Alan Wake 2 overlooking otherwise sound hardware in terms of power as recommendations for newer games. What this means is that if users have the choice of similarly performing PC hardware, it is often ideal to get the newer option simply because it will support newer games better and have better driver support as a result.

Price: Many pre-built systems often have a price premium over what the sum of the parts of a PC costs due to a mix of brand value and services. This, however, can result in many brands aggressively pushing builds that are dated but have yet to be priced into that effect, often with lucrative discounts on offer. Finding a comparable hardware solution or a custom PC build on the same budget might be a way to avoid such issues as it allows users to understand what the offered price delivers vis-à-vis value for money.

Upgradeability: While most third-party pre-built systems often allow for upgrades to be simple down the line and some PC manufacturers have also taken that approach, it does not extend to all of them. Proprietary motherboards, power supplies, limited memory slots, and even proprietary connectors are often major impediments to what would otherwise be a straightforward upgrade for most PC hardware and DIY enthusiasts, something that also hurts the repair potential and trade-in value for such hardware.

FAQ

Q: Is a Prebuilt PC better than a DIY PC?

It is neither better, nor worse. Obviously a prebuilt is better for 90% of consumers that have never built a gaming PC before or do not want to get into the nitty-gritty of building a system and diagnosing it subsequently. While the DIY industry has made multiple strides over the years when it comes to hardware builds, it does still feel like there is a barrier to entry in terms of time and money for most people.

Q: Should I get a liquid-cooled PC?

There are 2 kinds of liquid-cooled PCs. Most are AIO-based and are perfect for normal use thanks to the closed loop they operate in. Others are custom loop systems and are quite complicated to maintain and keep in shape thanks to the water block-centric design. Game Rant recommends intermediate PC hardware users consider using custom loops while any tier of user can go for AIO-based liquid-cooled systems.