If you ask me, the best gaming PCs are futureproofed, powerful enough to run today's games, and priced fairly for their specs, not their manufacturer. That's exactly what I look for every time I test a new rig, be it from a smaller brand or a flagship.
I've been reviewing all the latest gaming PCs for years now, and I'm on a hunt to find the greatest configuration of prebuilt components available in a prebuilt package. I've tested the ways RAM can impact gaming performance, I've benchmarked graphics cards, and made processors sweat. Along with all of that, I've assessed how these parts can play with one another inside full gaming PCs so that you know what makes one worth buying. In my testing here at 12DOVE, there are a few systems that have really stood out.
The best gaming PC I've tested so far is the Maingear Zero Ruby, a beautiful clutter-free chassis with a massive range of components to choose from. There isn't just one winner in this world, though, and this year's holiday offers are driving down the expected prices of DDR5-compatible, 40 Series GPU-packing configurations to new lows. I've gathered all my favorite PCs across a range of price points and brands - from the monster that is the Alienware Aurora R16 to cheaper starter rigs like the iBuyPower Slate.
The 5 best gaming PCs
Today's best Black Friday gaming PC deals
- Newegg: DDR5 PCs under $900
- Best Buy: Thermaltake builds starting at $699
- Dell: Alienware Aurora builds under $2,000
- Walmart: Multiple PCs under $,1,000
- Amazon: RTX 4060 builds starting from $799
- GPUs: Nvidia and AMD cards on offer
- CPUs: AMD Ryzen and Intel chips under $300
- RAM: 32GB DR5 kits for under $100
How I test gaming PCs
When I review a full gaming PC I tackle it in a few different ways. As you can imagine, there's a lot to test out to make sure the full system is getting a workout. The graphics card and processor are pivotal for gaming, but the memory, storage, and cooling are all underrated, and before I come to a verdict, I need to see how all of these elements play with one another. While we've outlined how we test gaming PCs in our full hardware policy, I'll give you another rundown here.
To begin with, there are general usage tests. For starters, I'll pretty much adopt whichever PC I'm testing as though it was my own. This means using it for all my work tasks, as well as any content creation I do after hours. Yes, that means gaming too, and can mean playing loads of different types of games on it. Content creation can give gaming PCs a workout, with video editing and streaming being intensive tasks. I'll do a mix of all of these things and look for certain metrics, or note down any problems I spot to do with temperature control or performance slow-downs.
Next, comes formalized software benchmarking tests that are designed to target each component of the PC. To test the CPU, we'll use Cinebench, to test the RAM, we'll check out some numbers and XMP profiles in the BIOS, as well as CPU-Z. SSD testing is done with CrystalDiskMark, and we use 3DMark to run the GPU and overall configuration of parts through its paces.
Finally, come the gaming-centric FPS stress tests. We use Hitman World of Assassination, Returnal, Total War: Warhammer 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Cyberpunk 2077 for these, and use their built-in benchmarking tests to compare a PC's performance to other builds we've tested. We'll crank all of the settings in these titles up to full, take a score, and then play around with ray tracing and DLSS to see how the results change.
I've been reviewing gaming PCs for years now and joined 12DOVE as a Hardware Editor in 2022. Since then, I've had my hands full benchmarking, comparing, and configuring desktop PCs and their components across the full price spectrum. With a keen eye for value and the real-world benefits of each component, I've been hunting down the best PCs on the market for years.
🔴 Live updates
The MSI Claw is now cheaper than the Steam Deck LCD
Most Windows 11 handhelds are more expensive than the Steam Deck by default, but you can now grab an MSI Claw for under $370 at Walmart. The deal specifically applies to the lower-spec Intel Ultra 5-135H, so you won't be getting anywhere near the same juice as the Asus ROG Ally or Lenovo Legion Go. But, it's still going to provide you with access to storefronts like Steam, Xbox Game Pass, and the Epic Game Store on a 1080p 120Hz screen. If you're really only looking to run indie games and classic capers, this could be a solid option at its current price.
MSI Claw (Ultra 5-135H) | $437.49 $366.49 at Walmart
To DDR5, or not do DDR5, that is the question.
Should you upgrade to DDR5 RAM this Black Friday? Yes, if you can.
If you can be bothered with the hassle of a new motherboard, and you have the budget for the CPU and RAM upgrades, this is absolutely the time to do it. There are so many great processors available that are all seeing discounts, there are motherboards that have never been cheaper, and there are 16GB kits of DDR5 memory that won't break the bank.
If you're buying a new system, please don't buy something with a motherboard that's locked to DDR4 RAM. DDR4 builds are still capable machines, especially on the AMD side since newer CPUs exist for the AM4 platform, but buying something that isn't DDR5 compatible will be like travelling forward a year or two into the future and shooting yourself in the foot.
With gaming PCs as costly as they are, you're better off thinking of the long-term investment and getting something that you'll be able to upgrade for years to come. If you can, opt for DDR5 this Black Friday.
This iBUYPOWER deal is worth planning for
Walmart has an iBUYPOWER Slate 6 that's preparing for takeoff right now. This is actually a version of the Slate we had seen last week and given a spotlight to for its price of $999. It's about to drop through the floor to $699 in, at the time of writing, 2 hours and 45 minutes. That's a deal you should definitely try and make the most of if you're looking for an RTX 4060 machine. It's also one for Assassin's Creed fans to know about since it'll come with a free copy of AC Shadows.
The big draw here is that you get liquid cooling, which isn't common for an entry-level machine, especially in iBUYPOWER's Slate range. You also get a free mouse and keyboard in the box, so the value just keeps going. This is about to be an amazing offer, so set those timers!
If you're a Walmart+ member you can make the most of it now.
iBUYPOWER Slate 6 Mesh | $999 $699 at Walmart
Black Friday deals: Should you buy now or wait until the end of the week?
Here I am, waxing lyrical to you about all these great Black Friday deals, and some of you may well be thinking it's a bit early. Black Friday officially starts this Friday, and continues through the weekend until Cyber Monday takes up the call of duty. So with that in mind, should you not wait until Thursday is out of the way?
Well, every year, we've seen Black Friday offers start earlier and earlier. I've been covering Black Friday tech deals for years now (I hate to think how much it's aged me), and in my experience, the best offers actually come during Thanksgiving week, or even the week before it. Right now might still seem early, but all of the best discounts are already in, and even if a few appear later on in the week, you're actually saving yourself the bother of dealing with the masses of competitive shoppers that will emerge at the end of the week if you buy now.
This is undoubtedly the best time of the year to grab yourself gaming PCs and component upgrades, no matter what specs you're looking for. If I were you, I wouldn't wait until the end of the week. If you see your desired machine on offer now, it isn't likely going to get cheaper by the week's end, and if it does, it probably won't be significantly cheaper than it is now.
The best WASD alternative is discounted for the first time
If you read enough of my content, you'll know that I'm not a big fan of playing games on a keyboard. For some reason, they just don't agree with my brain, and I was never able to wrap my head around using the WASD keys to move an in-game character - it just feels unnatural to me. I do love using controllers, but aiming with a mouse is so much better in first-person games.
Fortunately, Azeron's Cyborg gaming keypads are here to help, and give me the best of both worlds. Since adopting the first Azeron Cyborg in 2021, I've used it for every first-person game I've played on PC. These days, I really can't imagine my gaming setup without one of these ergonomic keypads. I'm currently testing the new Azeron Cyborg 2, and not to step on the toes of my review, but I love it to death. It gives me the movement of a controller's thumbstick with the speed and utility of a gaming keyboard, so what more could I want?
This new version of Azeron's controller-keyboard hybrid only launched this year, so it's yet to get its first official discount. If you're willing to opt for the black and blue version at Amazon, however, you can currently get a sneaky $24 saving.
Azeron Cyborg II | $240 $216 at Amazon
AMD vs Intel - which CPU should you buy?
Whether you're upgrading for the first time in a number of years, or you're new to this whole gaming PC thing, it can be very confusing to know which CPU is which because of all those product numbers.
If you've found yourself asking which CPU should you buy, I wrote a handy guide in the lead-up to Black Friday which might shed some light on things and make it easier to decide between team red and team blue.
This PC uses my graphics card of choice, and it's discounted by $220
The graphics card I use is the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, which rocks 16GB of VRAM and provides pretty stellar performance in 4K. If you're targeting 1440p, you'll have an even better time with frame rates almost always in the hundreds. I'd argue it's a cheaper alternative to an RTX 4070 Super which happens to have more VRAM. I haven't seen this underrated GPU inside any prebuilt gaming PCs until this very moment.
A Skytech Azure at Newegg is offering some really hefty mid-range specs for its price right now, and its RAM is making me tempted to recommend it to content creators, in particular.
Specs: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X, AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and 1TB SSD
Skytech Azure 2 gaming PC | $1,599.99 $1,379.99 at Newegg
It's a great time to buy high-end builds too...
Black Friday isn't just great for first-time buyers and those on a tight budget. If you've been saving up for a top-of-the-line build that rocks an RTX 4080 Super, it might surprise you to learn that the most affordable one we've found this Black Friday is under $2,000. For the amount of 4K power that gives you, that's an excellent price to pay. Before now, these rigs have always stayed well above that price, so to see quite a few flirting with the $1,900 price point is excellent.
Frustratingly, my favorite 4080 Super build this Black Friday has now gone into backorder mode, but that's no reason not to grab yours while it's cheap. The biggest downside here is that its CPU is air-cooled, so depending on how hard you work it, you could be facing some angry noise levels. Still, that's always upgradable later.
Specs: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X, RTX 4080 Super, 32GB of DDR5, 1TB SSD
ABS Kazer Ruby | $2,399.99 $1,949.99 at Newegg
A Maingear Ruby? On sale??
Annoyingly, the Maingear Zero Ruby (my favorite overall pick for best gaming PC in the US right now) isn't seeing a discount for Black Friday. That said, the brand's most beloved range is actually its MG-1, and the Ruby configuration of that PC is discounted down by $420 (hehehe).
The deal is actually on a special "Holiday" edition that comes in white and still rocks Maingear's custom liquid cooler. The only real difference between this build and the Zero Ruby is that the motherboard here uses connectors on its front, so you'll be able to see a few headers and connections poking out. Still, this is a brand that builds with love and care, and I reckon the cable management will still keep this looking as clean as anything.
In fact, this gets you 32GB of DDR5 RAM, where the Zero Ruby only nets you 16GB. Bargain? I think so.
Specs: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, RTX 4070 Super, 32GB of DDR5, 1TB SSD
Maingear MG-1 Ruby | $2,297 $1,877 at Maingear
How about a handheld gaming PC?
Handheld gaming PCs are super viable this Black Friday as well, and if you're looking for a capable device for playing the latest games, there's none better than the Asus ROG Ally X. If you're someone who likes to take their gaming to-go for commuting, traveling, or just for playing in different places around the home, a handheld might be more appealing to you - especially since you can always buy a dock and play with it as you would a conventional gaming PC.
The Ally X is the one I use, and it's currently on offer at Best Buy with a $100 saving.
Asus ROG Ally X | $799.99 $699.99 at Best Buy
The best gaming PC deal this Black Friday?
You can spot this featured in the selection above, but it might well be the best pound-for-pound gaming PC deal this Black Friday - especially if you're looking to buy your first-ever rig, or you haven't upgraded in ages and you're on a tight budget.
For $699 (the price of a PS5 Pro), you get a DDR5 compatible machine that you'll be able to play the latest games on, and you'll also be able to upgrade it with plenty of RAM, storage, and CPU power as time goes on. Thanks to the RTX 4060 graphics card, you'll have access to all of Nvidia's latest upscaling and frame-generation wizardry too.
Specs: Intel Core i5-12400F, RTX 4060, 1TB SSD, 16GB of DDR4 RAM
Yeyian Yumi gaming PC | $1,199.99 $699.99 at Newegg
Want a couch and TV setup? This is a game changer
Plugging a gaming PC into a TV is a great way to enjoy games like you would on a console, and if you have a TV with a high refresh rate, it's as good as investing in a solid gaming monitor.
This handy invention makes gaming on a PC from the couch so, so much better if you want to use a mouse and keyboard. I've even used it for working from home and planning a summer holiday with my girlfriend sitting next to me.
It's essentially a USB hub built into a carbon fiber worktop, which sits atop some memory foam cushions. You get the benefit of six USB 3.0 ports in total, which is plenty for plugging in all those essential gaming accessories. It's currently seeing a Black Friday discount, so it's worth investing in now while it's cheap.
Couchmaster CYCON2 | $189 $179 at Amazon
Why switch to PC gaming?
In the last five years, I've converted to playing basically all of my games on a PC, when I used to be a self-confessing PlayStation fanboy. I have a lot of friends who ask me why PC gaming has been so much more appealing lately, and I always have a few reasons for them.
Simplicity and convenience
Consoles lean so heavily on the fact that they're simple and easy to use, but I don't think people realize how convenient it is to plug in a PC (especially a prebuilt one), and get playing. Windows 11 isn't a perfect operating system, and yes there is a bit of a learning curve to running games on PC, but it really is as easy as plugging in, setting up, and installing the games you want to play. It's no different from playing a console game, and you actually have more control over the settings you care about. That's a faff to some, but added convenience to me.
You don't need to learn the layout of a motherboard, you don't have to build the thing yourself. PC gaming has never been more simple or convenient, and when consoles like the PS5 Pro stray into the tech-enthusiast lane, the PC world offers a lot more benefits if you want to get nerdy about it all.
The best of both worlds
A gaming platform is only as good as the games on it, and these days, everything is on PC. Xbox has adopted its "everything is an Xbox" strategy, meaning you can access the Game Pass library on any machine you want. PlayStation is putting its flagship titles on PC, and Steam and Epic continue to have a slew of indie games and unmissable experiences on them.
Plus, have you ever compared the deals on Steam to the ones on the PlayStation digital store? It hurts to think how much money I burned before making the switch to PC.
Accessories
There are loads of reasons to switch to a PC, but one of my favorites as someone who reviews gaming peripherals is the sheer scope of controllers, audio devices, and other accessories you can hook up to a PC to enhance your gaming experience. Talk about keypads, mice, keyboards, or stream controllers - you can play the way you want, and the way that's comfortable for you. Consoles are so much more limited in this respect, and for me, it's a reason to make the switch.
How I test the best gaming PCs
Next up, I thought it might be helpful for you to know how we test gaming PCs here at 12DOVE, since every reviewer will slightly differ on this process.
When I review a full gaming PC I tackle it in a few different ways. As you can imagine, there's a lot to test out to make sure the full system is getting a workout. The graphics card and processor are pivotal for gaming, but the memory, storage, and cooling are all underrated in my opinion, and before I come to a verdict, I need to see how all of these elements play with one another. While we've outlined how we test gaming PCs in our full hardware policy, I'll give you another rundown here.
To begin with, there are general usage tests. For starters, I'll pretty much adopt whichever PC I'm testing as though it was my own. This means using it for all my work tasks, as well as any content creation I do after hours. Yes, that means actually playing games on it too, which can sometimes get lost in the testing sauce. Whatever I happen to be playing, whether it's a new indie title, Hunt: Showdown (one of my favorite titles), or the latest AAA game. Content creation can give gaming PCs a workout too, with video editing and streaming being intensive tasks. I'll do a mix of all of these things and look for certain metrics, or note down any problems I spot to do with temperature control or performance slow-downs.
Next, comes formalized software benchmarking tests that are designed to target each component of the PC. To test the CPU, I'll use Cinebench. To test the RAM, we'll check out some numbers and XMP profiles in the BIOS, as well as readings from CPU-Z. SSD testing is done with CrystalDiskMark, and I use 3DMark to run the GPU and overall configuration of parts through its paces.
Finally, come the gaming-centric FPS stress tests. We use Hitman World of Assassination, Returnal, Total War: Warhammer 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Cyberpunk 2077 for these, and use their built-in benchmarking tests to compare a PC's performance to other builds we've tested. We'll crank all of the settings in these titles up to full, take a score, and then play around with ray tracing and DLSS to see how the results change.
And we're off! Let's start with a deal at... Amazon?
Let's get things rolling with a deal at Amazon - which we might not see too often. Black Friday gaming PC deals don't tend to be the best at the world's largest retailer, and the prices for equivalent specs at Newegg, Best Buy, and Walmart are almost always better.
Still, allow me to present to you an MSI Codex R2, which, if you're looking for a 4060 Ti build, is pretty reasonable. You will come up short in a CPU fight against some of the other deals we've spotted as we head into Black Friday, but what I especially love about this is the price. I'm a firm believer that you don't need to spend over a grand to get a playable gaming PC at this time of year, and this PC (just about) proves that.
Specs: Intel Core i5-14400F, RTX 4060 Ti, 16GB of DDR5, 1TB SSD
MSI Codex R2 | $1,999.99 $999.99 at Amazon
How to choose a gaming PC
If you've never been a PC gamer before, choosing a gaming PC can be a tough task, especially because all of the component names and serial numbers can seem like hieroglyphs. Doing some wider research can be a big help - whether that's YouTube explainers, or reading reviews, or just googling something you're unsure of.
The main thing I'd recommend having a handle on are what all the major components of a PC do, and who the biggest players are. From there, you can look at your setup, and think about what you'd use a gaming PC for. Is there a certain resolution you're targeting? Is there a certain type of game you're planning on playing more than others? Are you going to be using the PC for any content creation tasks or other intensive programs?
From there, it's all about finding the best value for money, and luckily, if you read enough of our coverage, we try to do that part for you to ensure you're getting a good deal when you checkout.
