With the GPU craze finally winding down, gaming PCs are starting to become affordable again. Take, for example, an HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop, which is currently $699 at Walmart (opens in new tab). The rig contains an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, and usually retails for $899. It’s a decent markdown on a decent machine, and should be suitable for players who are just getting their feet wet in the PC gaming scene.
Since this doesn’t come from Amazon — Walmart's offering the discount on the HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop — it’s not technically a Prime Day deal. But it’s worth considering just the same.
Spec-wise, the HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop on offer has an Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD. It also comes with a wired mouse and keyboard, although these aren’t gaming peripherals, per se. With a Windows 11 operating system and a relatively compact frame (19.7 x 15.8 x 11.3 inches, 18 pounds), the Pavilion should fit nicely into most gaming nooks.
(opens in new tab)To be scrupulously fair, this HP Pavilion model is not going to set the gaming world on fire. The GPU is pretty good, particularly since Nvidia RTX cards have been hard to find up until recently. The CPU is middle-of-the-road, however, while the RAM is the bare minimum for running many modern games, and the SSD won’t hold many games. On the other hand, $699 is not a ton of money to spend on a gaming PC, particularly one with a current GPU.
The HP Pavilion should also be a pretty good productivity companion, since it comes with plenty of front-facing USB ports, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and more than enough power to handle everyday Internet browsing, word processing and multimedia playback. If you need an everyday machine that can handle some moderate gaming as a bonus, then this HP Pavilion could be exactly the deal you’re looking for.
