I was so excited for the Steam Machine, and then Valve charged $1,049 for it…yikes. As a PC gaming expert, I can point to many current Prime Day deals happening right now that give you more performance for less money.

While the price could have been a lot worse, it really puts this console/mini PC hybrid into no man’s land here — a place where you could get much more bang for your buck. Granted, you won’t get that cute little 6x6-inch cube build, but I always follow the bottom line here.

Plus, with SteamOS being updated so you can install it on your own computer easily, there’s a chance here to get yourself a Steam box without needing to pay that Valve premium. Though it's worth noting that with some of these Nvidia-based systems, you may want to stick with Windows for just a little longer, as Valve confirmed Team Green GPU support is coming “eventually.”

Prime Day gaming PC deals for the same price or cheaper than a Steam Machine

So I need to set some expectations here a little. Valve claims the Steam Machine is capable of 4K 60 FPS gameplay, and while that’s technically true with a big AMD FSR caveat, the reality is you’re looking more at 1080p or 1440p gaming.

All of these systems are capable of around those ranges too.

We're tracking all the best Prime Day gaming deals

The new Asus ROG NUC 16 is the kind of device you need to experience firsthand to truly appreciate what this console-sized PC is capable of. Thankfully, while everyone else at the ROG 20th anniversary event made their way upstairs toward the DJ, I slipped away for some one-on-one time with this mini gaming PC. I’m incredibly glad I did, because the raw performance packed into this tiny case completely blew me away.

Even though we’re dealing with just a 3-liter case here, Asus has managed to pack this device full of powerful components. From an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX processor to up to a Nvidia RTX 5080 Laptop GPU and even 128GB of DDR5 memory fully configured, the ROG NUC 16 is no slouch.

My favorite thing this time around is that in addition to the standard black, it now also comes in white. However, if you prefer black but want something different, there’s always the even more powerful ROG NUC 16 Edition 20 which features gold accents all around like the new ROG Xbox Ally X20 I checked out when I first arrived at Computex 2026.

So what can a console-sized mini PC with all the latest components actually pull off gameplay-wise? Quite a lot. If the Steam Machine just doesn’t seem like it has enough power to make your living room PC gaming dreams come true, then the ROG NUC 16 could be just what you’re looking for.

Asus ROG NUC 16 Specs

Console-sized PC power

On the front of the ROG NUC 16, there are two high-speed USB-A ports and a USB-C port along with a 3.5mm audio jack. There’s also a lightstrip above the power button with ROG branding on the right.

One big difference this time around is that Asus has completely redesigned the ROG NUC 16’s stand. Instead of having to manually screw it in like on the ROG NUC 970 I reviewed a few years ago, you now get a removable one made of two pieces that works in both vertical and horizontal orientations.

At the same time, the ROG NUC 16 now knows which orientation it’s in thanks to the G-sensor in its motherboard. Depending on which orientation you have the device in, its triple-fan QuietFlow cooling system will adjust accordingly for the best airflow.

Around back is where things really get interesting with the ROG NUC 16. On the left, you have all your video-out ports from the Nvidia GPU inside which include dual HDMI 2.1, dual DisplayPort 2.1 and a Thunderbolt 4 port. Then on the right, there are four more high-speed USB-A ports and a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port.

I’ve tested larger mini PCs like the Framework Desktop with fewer USB-A ports, so I really like how Asus has given you more than enough for all your peripherals. The ROG NUC 16 has an impressive selection of ports and powerful components inside but how well does it game? That’s what I was about to find out.

Small footprint, max graphics

At its ROG 20th Anniversary Event, Asus had all of its standard devices launching at Computex 2026 set up in the main room and the special edition ones for the anniversary in a smaller room off to the side.

What I liked about the ROG NUC 16 setup in particular was how I could see both the black and white version on either side and try it out in the middle. While I couldn’t switch between games like I could on the ROG Xbox Ally X20, Capcom’s Pragmata was already loaded up and ready to go. While I had read my colleague Tony Polanco’s review, I didn’t have a chance to play it myself, so this was great.

When playing with a mouse and keyboard, the game ran buttery smooth on the ROG NUC 16. It looked great too, especially as this mini gaming PC was paired with a 27-inch ROG Swift OLED gaming monitor.

One thing that really surprised me was that I didn’t hear a peep out of the ROG NUC 16 while playing. Since it had likely been running for hours before I got to try it, I figured the fans would have ramped up by now. However, with three active cooling fans and dual vapor chambers instead of standard copper heat pipes, the ROG NUC 16 feels like the kind of mini PC you can game on for hours without having to put on one of the best gaming headsets to drown out fan noise.

Obviously we’ll need to get one in for testing and put it through the paces at home. However, during my brief time with the ROG NUC 16, I was quite impressed with its performance overall. After skipping last year’s ROG NUC 2025, going from the ROG NUC 970 to this one was a massive improvement and all my previous gripes have been fixed. Well, all but one of them.

Portability has a price

Back when I first tried out one of Asus’ ROG NUC mini gaming PCs, the top-tier configuration was expensive at $1,799 for the ROG NUC 970. However, it wasn’t out of reach for those who wanted a premium mini PC they could game on and easily throw into a backpack to take with them anywhere. In the years since though, the price of an ROG NUC has climbed steadily upward.

For instance, last year’s ROG NUC 2025 launched with a base price of around $3,200. Unfortunately, this new ROG NUC 16 is even more expensive with a starting price of $3,799 for the baseline configuration. Then if you want the Moonlight White model seen here, you’re going to be paying even more at $4,700. Now Asus isn’t entirely to blame for this as due to RAMaggeddon, component prices just keep going up and up.

Will the ROG NUC 16 be worth it for most people? Probably not. Keep in mind that you’re paying a higher price for a premium machine you can take with you anywhere. Also, thanks to its new design and how Asus has reworked its cooling, the ROG NUC 16 will stay quiet under load while similarly-specced mini gaming PCs will sound like a jet engine under load.

If you’re looking for that console aesthetic but prefer to play on PC, then you might want to take a look at the Minisforum G1 Pro I recently reviewed. It is slightly larger but still smaller than a PS5 Pro by a fair margin when standing vertically. However, unlike the ROG NUC 16, it has an internal power supply instead of a large power brick and you can actually upgrade its graphics card since it uses a standard — albeit mini-sized — desktop GPU.

For those with money to spend who are short on space or travel overseas for extended periods, the ROG NUC 16 is the most powerful mini gaming PC you can get right now. And thanks to its powerful components, it will smoke any console, well at least until the PS6 and next Xbox arrive in a few years.

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The Steam Controller launched last week and sold out in less than 30 minutes. As expected, eBay listings went live shortly after, with the peripheral marked up by hundreds of dollars. Valve has since implemented a queue system for Steam Controller orders, and if a recent rumor is true, the company will do the same for the upcoming Steam Machine.

As Wccftech reports, a new leak suggests that Valve is bringing back the reservation queue system—the same one used for the Steam Deck’s launch. That alone is interesting, but the leak also suggests how many versions of the PC/console hybrid we should expect.

For those who don’t know, the reservation queue is tied to a vetted Steam account. By requiring a purchase history or a verified account, Valve can prevent scalpers from using thousands of burner bots to swarm checkout pages. Those who’ve had active Steam accounts for an unspecified amount of time will get priority on the line. Anyone trying to flip a console on eBay for a 300% markup will be out of luck.

One of the more interesting details from this alleged leak is that there will be four distinct models. Valve has confirmed 512GB and 2TB models, but we can make educated guesses about the other two. As Wccftech notes, one could have 1TB of storage, while the other could be a bundle with the Steam Controller. I agree with this assessment.

The big question about the Steam Machine is its price. Given the ongoing RAM crisis, it’s safe to assume Valve is waiting as long as possible before revealing the official cost. If the company can keep prices in the $599 to $899 range, it would certainly undercut the PS5 Pro, which now costs $899 after PS5 price hikes.

Given the unofficial nature of this story, please take it with a healthy dose of skepticism. We’ll keep you updated on any further developments, so stay tuned for more!

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I get it. Saying “Gaming PC” and “deal” in the same headline is kind of like saying “DDR5 RAM prices are totally normal.” The RAM price crisis is claiming a lot of victims, but one is beating the odds, and it just so happens to be my top-ranked best gaming PC you can buy.

Right now, you can get my top pick — the iBuyPower RDY 9 Pro R07 with Radeon RX 9070 XT for $1,949. That’s a massive $400 off which brings it down to the kind of price you’d see for a pre-built like this before the RAM price crisis kicked off!

Who should buy this?

As any gaming PC, the more money you put into it, the more performance you get on the other end.

But you’ll be surprised at just how much performance you can get out of this mid-to-high tier level without needing to break the bank completely and go for something with an RTX 5080 or higher. That's definitely what I found out in my RDY Element 9 Pro R07 review.

So let’s take a closer look at gaming performance, which is mightily impressive. The numbers on that RX 9070 XT rival the much more expensive RTX 5070 Ti and in raw rendering performance, you’ll get some stellar smooth frame rates at 1440p.

When you go up to 4K, it can still more than handle its own in certain titles, and when something like Cyberpunk 2077 at Ray Tracing Ultra bogs it down, you can rely on FSR resolution scaling to get you back up to that 4K 60+ FPS sweet spot.

And that’s before even speaking about FSR Redstone and its DLSS-esque capabilities of handling ray tracing and smoothly scaling games without any of that telltale smearing or ghosting.

But on top of that, you’re getting a great 3-year warranty with the deal, which covers any defective components, diagnostics and repair should you ever need it. I even put that to the test by slightly unseating a RAM stick and contacting their support, who were quick to pick up and spotted the problem almost immediately.

Not the only deal

Of course, this is a sale across more than just this particular spec of iBuyPower’s prebuilts. A huge range is being discounted right now, and with the code CLEARANCE, you can get:

• $200 off Prebuilt systems over $2,999
• $100 off systems over $1,999
• $50 off systems over $999

This code can be used between now and until the end of March 31st, so whether you want to sit more in the mid-range below the spec of the PC I’ve tested, or you want to push your rig further with a more expensive system, you can still save.

At some point towards the end of last year, it was becoming clear to anyone wanting to get into PC gaming that a prebuilt was becoming more cost effective than building from scratch. And out of all the towers I’ve tested — for not just performance but bang for your buck (if that’s even a thing anymore) — iBuyPower is ranking high with the RDY Element 9 Pro R07.

Sporting a respectably powerful spec pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU and Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU, alongside 32GB of DDR5 RAM, recreating this kind of setup on PC Parts Picker would set you back about $2,300-$2,400. But thanks to thinking ahead and stocking up, this team’s able to get that for $250 lower than the average builder cost.

Are these costs still problematic? Yes. The RAM price crisis is something that will continue to hit hard (at least until the AI bubble bursts). However, in a space where we’re searching every nook and cranny for even a whiff of value in computing, it’s good to see a premium desktop tower like this with a three-year warranty and impressive cooling stamina coming in at this price in 2026.

From that striking design of the case that showcases your components almost like a neon museum to the performance potential, this is one of the best gaming PCs you can snag right now.

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is a pre-built gaming PC.
• Who is it for? This is for the “serious but not extreme” gamers — with specs sitting firmly in the mid-to-high tier.
• What does it cost? You can snag this for $2,049. The site says it’s discounted from $2,349, but it’s rarely on sale at full price.
• What do we like? This is a stylish tower with plenty of RGB chic, which reveals the impressive cooling that is sure to keep all those high performance components running at max sustained speed across all your favorite AAA titles.
• What don’t we like? The keyboard and mouse, while nice to have, are rather basic, and the lighting customization is a little limited.

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: Specs

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: The ups

The Radeon RX 9070 XT is a personal favorite gaming GPU of mine, so to get an entire pre-built around this card has been a lot of fun to daily drive! But iBuyPower’s work extends so much further than that.

It’s quite the looker

I’ve seen a lot of RGB-laden pre-builts that do a good job of showing off all those components inside your case, but this is on a different level. The two sides of glass give you a full glorious view of everything going on inside — rather than just a small window.

And the end result is an unmistakably premium aesthetic that feels much more modern compared to other simpler tower cases. Though fair warning, that glass is a fingerprint magnet!

And, since it’s a gaming PC, of course there’s plenty of RGB to inject some vibrancy into affairs here. Of course, if you’re more of a fan of subtlety, this may be very in your face — at which point you should get Asus Armoury Crate software installed to tweak some of the lighting controls.

But being honest, as someone who has been an RGB doubter, I’m quietly impressed and often catch myself staring at the four swirling 120mm fans illuminating the outer regions and the XPG RAM sticks pulsating.

As for the convenience of it, the side glass is completely screwless and can be removed easily, ports are conveniently placed on the front, and while it’s rather heavy at over 35 pounds, the dimensions keep it easy enough to carry.

Impressively performant

The Element 9 Pro sits right in that “I want a beast, but I’m not insane” bracket, and what you get at this level is stellar 1440p gaming performance that can be cranked up to 4K. I normally use my tower in a dual setup kind of layout — connected by DisplayPort to the Alienware’s AW2752Q monitor, and then by HDMI to my TV to get both desk and couch gaming.

Starting with the desk, this combo of CPU, GPU and RAM makes this quite a workhorse for content creation and AI-infused productivity. Not all the way (Nvidia GPUs still have a lead with the way they use cores to optimize to renders and edits), but more than enough.

Moving over to gaming, and without any of the FSR Redstone AI trickery turned on, you’re able to get a solid 4K picture at the highest detail. Though it's worth saying AMD GPUs always struggle a bit with ray tracing compared to Nvidia.

With FSR features turned on, that frame rate immediately accelerates with resolution scaling.

AMD’s tech has been going from strength to strength, and while Nvidia’s DLSS maintains a healthy lead in terms of virtually eliminating any of the telltale signs like ghosting and picture smearing, FSR comes damn close. Even when blown up on a giant TV, you’d struggle to notice it without some slow-motion pixel peeping.

Great warranty protection

One of the things that can often get ignored in the initial purchase of a shiny new PC is the long-term life of it, and that’s where the warranty comes in. iBuyPower offers a rather impressive three years of labor and two years of parts protection.

The company will handle diagnostics and repair within those three years, or replace defective components within the two. Of course, you’ll be using your PC for much longer than this, which is where the lifetime technical support comes in.

Doing a test call with the company’s technical support was a rapid process through the phone line’s menu tree, and a human assistant quickly resolved my faked issue of ever so slightly unseating a RAM stick. That’s great reassurance for such a high value purchase.

Oh, and speaking of longevity, shout-out to not pre-installing the GPU. Yes, that does mean that you have to follow a guide and install it yourself (the screws to attach it to the back panel of the case can be a little awkward to get to), but it also reduces packaging and ensures that PCIe slot isn’t stressed in transport.

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: The downs

So far so good, but it’s not all perfect out the box for the Element 9 Pro.

Mid keyboard and mouse

On one hand, I shouldn’t complain. The fact the Element 9 Pro comes with an included RGB gaming keyboard and optical mouse is quite the nice-to-have that other companies don’t provide.

But the faster you can upgrade to one of the best mechanical keyboards and best gaming mice, the better. The membrane switches on the keyboard feel a little mushy and slow on the depress — not great for fast-paced multiplayer. And there is definitely a cheap plasticky feel across the board and mouse.

RAMageddon has impacted this price

Viewing this in a vacuum of where we stand in 2026, this is a decent price. But we can’t ignore the fact that configurations of this level have gone up roughly $350-$400 since summer 2025. The RAM price crisis has hit pre-builts hard, and while iBuyPower is doing well to buy in bulk to get ahead of these issues, every time they have to comes with a cost penalty.

So the time on this price is surely running out before it goes up again!

iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07: Verdict

But at the end of the day, this is one of the best pre-built towers I’ve ever tested. The RDY Element 9 Pro R07 packs impressive performance into a gorgeous design with impressive long-term support and even a 60-day return period too.

And the liquid-cooled gaming ensures long-term stability of the performance, while looking fly as hell too.

Desktop PCs are getting expensive — you can thank the RAM pricing crisis for that. But there are cost efficiencies you can make here and there to get a monster tower for cheaper. The answer? Go boring and ditch the RGB tax.

I’ve been testing the RTX 5080 version of the Dell Tower Plus, which my colleague Alex reviewed and gave 4 stars. One look at Dell’s website (U.K — no points for guessing where I'm from based on my last name), and you’ll find it at £2,500. To get a gamer-centric equivalent, the Alienware Aurora R16 with the same spec comes in at well over £3,000.

And the situation is similar in the U.S. too. The RTX 5060 Ti-armed version of the Dell Tower Plus costs $1,769 to the $2,099 of the Aurora

So in a world where we’re all looking for ways to cut costs and get the maximum bang for our buck, I’m here to defend the dullness. While it’s not as clear cut when you get into the details (cooling being one particular example), it’s proving more cost-effective to get a more basic tower specced out the wazoo over a gaming beast. Let me explain.

Bland is the brand

The Dell Tower Plus is super unassuming — I mean look at it. As Alex said in his review, it is “a breath of forgettable fresh air,” and I agree. The aesthetic is basic and utilitarian in nature, and that’s A-OK with me.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am a sucker for good RGB and well-presented components through a tempered glass side (you’ll see as much in Terry the Tom’s Guide test bench). But given the chances your tower will go underneath your desk, all that pizazz would just be wasted on illuminating the floor.

Instead, this low-key look just kind of fades into the background of your desk nicely, while also keeping its considerable power a secret. Honestly, I’m here for it.

Near-parity for less

And speaking of that “considerable power” I took a look inside to see an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, 1TB of storage and an RTX 5080 GPU. All of it is popped onto a proprietary motherboard, which for those more confident, you could get into and tinker. But it’s meant to be for Dell only to touch under its warranty. This is the cost of affordability.

But the end result is seriously impressive performance that matches up to its gaming ilk while staying quiet (more on that in a second).

Another thing to point out is the cooling solution here. While the Alienware Aurora R16 does have an all-in-one cooler and a couple 120mm fans to keep everything tip top, the Dell Tower Plus has a far simpler cooling solution with a fan at the back and large CPU cooler.

When I took the side off and looked at the way it manages thermals, I was shocked by how quiet it had been the entire time. Not only that, but CPU and GPU temperatures never exceeded the maximum (160-degrees Fahrenheit) that we saw in testing the Alienware Aurora R16.

As Alex said, this is “a wolf in corporate sheep’s clothing,” and Dell’s really thought about everything here.

Where does the extra money go?

When it comes to gaming pre-builts, the premium often comes in the flash of it all. The price of all those key components are all relatively fixed — you’re investing in three key things here:

• A fancy case: That unique, flashy case is usually designed and tooled to be eye-catching for gamers. If you don’t need that edginess, you can save some money.
• The brand name: A brand like Alienware or Asus ROG carries a premium cost with it, so opting for Dell here may have chopped some change off the total price too.
• Advanced (and often unnecessary) features: Outside of that premium lighting, you’ve got a more advanced cooling solution, too. But given temperatures weren’t that different at all, skipping it is another cost-saving measure you can make.

That’s not to say this is all pointless. If you want the flashiness, go right ahead. I won’t deny gaming PCs look cool! But it’s a corner you can cut without sacrificing power but reducing the price you pay.

Should you play it safe (and boring)?

So this is my case for choosing an office box over a spaceship — a boring desktop tower over the gaming PC. RG-be damned, because you could take that $200 saving, get yourself a 4K monitor like the Gigabyte M27UP and make the most of that RTX 5080.

Are there downsides? Sure — the same issues you’d get with any pre-built. Lack of modular customizability and the use of proprietary parts being chief among them.

But as is becoming clear at the moment, it’s now cheaper to go pre-built over building yourself at the moment (thanks RAMageddon). And dodging the RGB-laden options is another way to save yourself some cash while still getting the same sustained performance.

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Whenever a friend came to me asking for gaming PC advice, my tip was always the same: build it yourself. Beyond it (normally) being cheaper, there’s just something so therapeutically satisfying about putting it all together yourself and watching it leap into life.

But we’re in a crisis situation for PC components — RAM prices have exploded and SSD costs are following, and for the first time since I can remember, it’s actually cheaper to just get a pre-built PC than it is to build it yourself. Let me talk you through my investigation.

By the numbers

I went to my trusty go-to source whenever I start planning a PC build — PC Part Picker — to figure things out. Let’s start with replicating this modest MSI RTX 5050 system on Newegg, which is currently $829.

Running it through PC Part Picker, matching the exact components where I can, before even adding a power supply and case, we’ve already blown past that price at a total cost of $895.07.

And it’s the same for other systems, too.

• First, let’s start with this Skytech Azure Gaming desktop — coming with AMD Ryzen 7 7700 CPU, RTX 5060 Ti GPU with 16GB of video memory, 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD. Other things to consider are the 650W Gold-rated power supply and the air cooler. Currently, it’s $1,299 (down from $1,449). The total cost on PC Part Picker for either identical components or as close as I can get is $1,455.63.
• This AMD variant of the Skytech Azure Gaming desktop packs an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 2TB SSD. On Newegg, it’s $1,899. On PC Part Picker, a near-identical configuration is $1,975.65.

But the one that floored me personally was heading over to the Alienware store. Dell’s pre-builds are cool and all, but they do come with a hefty premium cost. Currently, the company has an RTX 5070 Ti build for $1,529 — packing Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, 16GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Finding the individual parts (I had to do a little poking around to find the cheapest RTX 5070 Ti on Newegg, as it’s not on PC Part Picker), the DIY cost ended up over $200 more expensive, and that's without a case.

This is accurate as of the time and date of writing: 7 a.m. ET on Friday, December 5. I followed every spec, but there will be some differences in cases, coolers, component brands and power supplies. In these situations, I opted for the cheapest option I could find.

Why are pre-builds cheaper?

It comes down to one key thing: stock. Most retailers and computing brands will have these ready-made and good to go from their warehouses — using the stockpile of RAM and SSDs they already have on their books.

A lot of companies saw this starting to happen and managed to get their orders in early enough to keep themselves sort of protected from what’s happening now, which is why you see the price differential. If you were to buy parts now, you’re buying at the current market price.

Going the DIY route used to be the lower-cost way, because the added cost of the company building it is removed (you build it yourself after all). But the massively rising cost of RAM has brought it to the point where the time to build it yourself is actually more expensive than just getting someone else to do it for you.

But this won’t last long

Stockpiles dry up, and demand is high. While there are some decent pre-builds you can get right now, they won’t be around for long. You’ve already seen this from PC builders like CyberPowerPC and Maingear, who have issued start warnings about price changes coming as early as December 7.

So it’s only a matter of time until bigger retailers start to raise prices, too. As I've said, orders of RAM from the two key fabrication plants still making consumer memory are fully booked throughout 2026. This problem will only get worse.

Rather than dwell, this is Tom’s Guide, and I’m here to give actionable consumer advice. If you were looking for a new gaming PC and you’re bewildered by the insane cost to build one yourself, here are the pre-built PCs I personally recommend to save you a bit of cash — before things get a whole lot pricier.

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If there was ever a time to grab your dream gaming PC, it’s Cyber Monday. With GPU and RAM price hikes expected in 2026, now may be the last time as well! So whether you’re after a PS5-level RTX 5060 setup or a full-blown RTX 5090 beast, the Cyber Monday PC gaming deals below can save you serious cash in the long run.

Right now, you can pick up a the powerful entry level ABS Cyclone Aqua with RTX 5060 for just $799, or go all-in on an Alienware Aurora with RTX 5080 for a massive $950 off! Those alone are standout offers, but there’s plenty more in between — and I’ve rounded up every deal that’s genuinely worth your time.

Many of the rigs you’ll see below rank among the best gaming PCs you can buy in 2025, so whichever offer catches your eye, you can be confident it’ll handle the latest Steam titles with smooth, steady frame rates.

Top picks

• ABS Cyclone Aqua (RTX 5060): was $1,099 now $799 @ Newegg
• iBuyPower Desktop (RTX 5070): was $1,699 now $1,399 at Walmart
• ABS Tempest 4000D (RTX 5070 Ti): was $2,699 now $1,849 @ Newegg
• Alienware Aurora ACT1250 (RTX 5080): was $3,399 now $2,449 at Dell
• Yeiyan YPA Gaming PC (RTX 5090): was $4,199 now $3,899 @ Best Buy

Best Cyber Monday gaming PC deals

Shop today's best Cyber Monday deals

• Amazon: 50% off Ring, Ninja, AirPods and more
• Walmart Plus: 50% off @ Walmart
• REI: half-off Arc'teryx, Patagonia, more
• Dell: monitors from $69, laptops from $299
• Nectar: 50% off mattresses + bundles
• Best Buy: laptops from $149
• Lenovo: doorbuster deals from $319
• Wayfair: up to 80% off home decor
• Lululemon: top picks from $9
• Newegg: Doorbuster deals from $6
• Walmart: holiday gifts from $15
• Birkenstock: deals from $20 @ Nordstrom
• Saatva: luxury mattresses from $1,099

The 2025 Dell Tower Plus ($749 to start) is a remarkably customizable desktop PC packed into an unassuming tower case that looks ripped from a '90s PC magazine ad.

Personally, I love the look of the Tower Plus PCs because I review gaming PCs for a living, and I'm getting tired of big, heavy cases bedecked in RGB lights and jagged edges. Our Dell Tower Plus review unit is a breath of forgettable fresh air by comparison, packing enough power to run most games well into a mid-sized white box that blends right into your desk setup.

Admittedly, the included accessories aren't amazing and you can't achieve the heights of power with the Dell Tower Plus that you can with the priciest and best gaming PCs. But you can get pretty great performance from the Plus if you're willing to spend enough, and any serious PC game fan will probably want to buy their own keyboard and mouse anyway.

Dell Tower Plus review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Dell Tower Plus is a highly customizable desktop PC that can be anything from an inexpensive workhorse to a mid-tier gaming PC depending on how you configure it.
• What does it cost? The Tower Plus starts at $999 on Delll's website and can be upgraded to the point it costs around $3,000, but Dell runs regular sales so you can often find it for a few hundred bucks cheaper.
• Who is it for? Anyone who wants a fairly quiet, highly customizable PC in an unassuming case for a reasonable amount of money.
• What do we like? The boring case design may turn some people off, but I like how subtly the Dell Tower Plus blends into a desk. I also like the price-to-performance ratio of our review unit, and I appreciate how quietly it runs even after gaming for hours.
• What don’t we like? As much as I like the Dell Tower Plus, my big hands feel a little cramped when I'm working inside the mid-size case and not everyone will love the boxy, bland design.

Dell Tower Plus review: Specs

Dell Tower Plus review: The ups

The Dell Tower Plus may not look like much, but it's got it where it counts. After working and gaming on our review unit for a few weeks, there are a few strengths I think you need to know about.

Great for gaming (as long as you avoid 4K)

Now, that heading is a little misleading because I spent most of my time with the Dell Tower Plus review unit gaming in 4K on my LG C1 OLED TV and had a blast.

But I was playing games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Dying Light 2, which are a few years old at this point. And if you love playing games like that, the Dell Tower Plus review unit (and its GeForce RTX 5070 GPU) is great since it easily achieves framerates of 60+ FPS with all graphical settings cranked to the max.

When I went to play really demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, the results weren't as great. I could still play the game just fine, but I had to dial the settings down a smidge and enable Nvidia's DLSS upscaling tech to achieve the same 60+ FPS.

Our lab testing backs this up, because while our Dell Tower Plus review unit had no trouble blowing through most games at 60+ FPS in 1080p, it was a different story when we cranked things up to 4K. While you can get decent frame rates gaming at 4K if you're willing to dial down the graphical settings a bit and rely on upscaling, you're going to struggle in demanding titles like Black Myth: Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077.

As you can see from the results table, our Dell Tower Plus review unit couldn't quite keep up with the Alienware Aurora (Intel Core Ultra 265KF, GeForce RTX 5070, 32GB RAM) and the HP Omen 35L (AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, GeForce RTX 5070, 32GB RAM) gaming PCs we recently tested. But they're both more expensive as well, so the fact that they put up higher scores in these benchmark tests makes sense.

And unlike the Dell Tower Plus, most of the gaming PCs we review at Tom's Guide would immediately stand out in an office. Not so with the Tower Plus, which looks like an office PC from the '90s yet works as hard as anything you can buy today.

If you don't believe me, check out our performance testing results below. While it's a similar story in terms of the (slightly more expensive) Alienware and HP outperforming the Dell, the scores are neck-and-neck—with Dell's Tower Plus holding its own in terms of CPU performance, SSD speed and video editing chops.

Some of these tests, like the Geekbench 6 benchmark, are synthetic tests that assign the PC a score based on how effectively it can compete a series of tasks. But others, like our video editing test, are real-world tests that evaluate things like how long it takes the PC to transcode a 4K video file down to 1080p.

As you can see from the results, you can expect decent performance from a Dell Tower Plus PC configured like our review unit. Whether you're gaming, editing photos or cutting video you should be able to count on good to great performance, especially when working at 1080p or 1440p.

Subtle, quiet performance

Another thing I really appreciate about our Dell Tower Plus review unit is how quiet it runs, even after hours of gaming.

I know because I've left it running all sorts of games for days, everything from Cyberpunk 2077 to Dying Light 2 to Baldur's Gate 3 and Doom: The Dark Ages. While performance varies depending on the game, the noise coming out of the PC is always quieter than I expect.

That's not to say it's silent, of course. I did consistently notice a low hum coming from the PC after an hour or two of gaming, which makes sense since when I put my hand near the rear of the PC after long sessions, it's often quite hot.

That's something to keep in mind if you plan to be rooting around blindly behind your PC during marathon gaming sessions. It doesn't get hot enough to burn, but after an all-nighter with Dying Light 2, I definitely felt enough heat coming off the back of the PC that I was afraid to touch it.

But even then, I barely heard more than a low hum coming from the Dell Tower Plus. While it's not silent, I am amazed at how effective this PC is at quietly cooling itself—especially when you consider how boxy the case is.

Plenty of ports

You get a nice array of ports on the Dell Tower Plus, which I appreciate because this is such a broadly customizable PC that you could need a broad variety of accessories depending on what you use it for.

On the front you get USB-A and USB-C as well as a headphone jack and SD card slot, while on the back you get more USB-A ports for accessories as well as Thunderbolt 4, HDMI on the motherboard, optical and of course an RJ-45 Ethernet jack for wired Internet speeds while gaming.

While I wish you got another USB-C port or two, I was repeatedly impressed with how easy it was to connect and disconnect gadgets as I moved our Dell Tower Plus review unit around to different testing setups.

Dell Tower Plus review: The downs

If you can't tell already, I'm quite fond of the Dell Tower Plus and its low-key office chic design. But there is a downside to this compact, chunky case.

Innards are a little frustrating to access

It's hardly a deal-breaker, but I did want to quickly point out that the compact interior of our Dell Tower Plus review unit made me uncomfortable about the prospect of upgrading or repairing it down the line.

That's not to say that it's a mess when you crack open the case. In fact, I found the interior of our review unit to be clean and neatly organized when I opened it up to peer inside last week.

What I also found was that my big paws had a hard time accessing components inside the case. That's probably to be expected when you buy a PC in such a compact mid-tower case, but I wanted to warn you ahead of time just in case you were planning to get your hands dirty and you have big mitts like mine.

I also wish it was a little easier to actually open the side panel and peek inside. Our Dell Tower Plus review unit has a single screw on the rear that you need to loosen in order to pop the side panel off, which only takes a minute.

But it does take a minute and typically requires a screwdriver, which is a little frustrating when many gaming PCs these days have simple cases that just require you to press a switch to open them up.

Dell Tower Plus review: Verdict

I quite like the Dell Tower Plus because it's highly customizable and pretty affordable, packing the latest components into a drab mid-tower case that blends in anywhere.

For some people that might be a deal-breaker, but for myself and others like me I think there's real appeal in having this much leeway to kit out a desktop PC. I reviewed our Dell Tower Plus like a gaming PC because that's how it's outfitted, but you can use these desktops for more than that—with prices ranging from $749 to $3,000-plus, the Dell Tower Plus can fill a wide range of roles.

That said, it can't compete with the creme de la creme of gaming machines. At time of publication the Dell Tower Plus tops out at an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, for example, which means it will never be able to outperform the best gaming PCs.

But the Dell Tower Plus doesn't cost an arm and a leg, either. Speed freaks may look elsewhere, but for the rest of us the Dell Tower Plus can be a real diamond in the rough thanks to its strong value, unassuming looks and versatile design.

For me it feels like the Millennium Falcon of gaming PCs: it may not look like much, but the Dell Tower Plus has got it where it counts.

Prebuilt or build your own? That's a question many gaming PC enthusiasts have been umming and ahing about for years, but I've been fully prepared to take the plunge by planning out a list of parts and components needed to feel the glory of building my very own desktop.

But here I am, playing Battlefield 6 in 4K at over 200 frames per second (FPS) on a prebuilt, custom-made Frontier gaming PC from Quoted Tech. And I'm perfectly happy to leave my "build-your-own" dreams behind (for now). For those after a simple plug-and-play setup, this desktop will do the trick.

The Canadian-based PC builder has made a name for itself with its various pre-built custom gaming PCs, with its Frontier desktop I received landing right in the mid-range. Well, if that's what you want, as Quoted Tech allows for plenty of customization no matter what tower you choose — all so you can find the right price for your needs.

While big brands like Alienware, MSI or Acer opt for more unique cases with flair and more specific components, Quoted Tech brings understated, minimalist towers with a range of parts that can be fitted in, and the Frontier makes it easy to take apart and customize with your own internals if needed.

Not that you'd need to, as being prebuilt, this machine comes with commendable mid-range specs, including an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU, RTX 5070 GPU, Kingston Fury Beast 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a Kingston NV3 1TB SSD. Plus, the MSI Pro X870-P motherboard with Wi-Fi 7 support comes with a huge array of ports.

It's a shame Quoted Tech's PCs aren't more widely available (but they do ship to the U.S.), and there isn't much in the way of software tools to mess around with.

As a way to tinker with the PC build you want, though, and get a sleek-looking PC that runs whisper-quiet and has that pretty RGB glow that's hard not to enjoy, this Frontier gaming desktop can easily find itself as one of the best gaming PCs to grab.

Quoted Tech Frontier: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A pre-built desktop made for gaming with plenty of customization options.
• Who is it for? PC gaming enthusiasts looking for a reliable, minimalist and ready-made desktop that can be changed to fit their liking.
• What does it cost? This entirely depends on the configuration you purchase, but the Frontier is available from $1,107 at Quoted Tech's website. However, the unit I received will set you back $2,143. While it's made in Canada, it's also available to purchase in the U.S. — but only from its site (for now).
• What do we like? It's powerful performance across 1080p and 4K resolution, subtle yet stylish case that allows for cool airflow and easy customization options.
• What don’t we like? It's not quite available everywhere (no luck in the U.K., for instance), certain configurations can really bump up the price and its software tools are barebones. Oh, and only two USB-C ports?

Quoted Tech Frontier: Specs

Quoted Tech Frontier: The ups

Quoted Tech's Frontier gaming PC is a neat, well-put together that will happily fit in on a majority of desk setups, and with its impressive performance for its mid-range specs, quiet operation and subtle appeal, there's not a lot to complain about.

Performance that shines (for the price)

At the start of the year, I stated that Nvidia's RTX 5070 would be my new gold standard, and I suppose I got what I wished for. It may not be the strongest GPU around, as our RTX 5070 GPU review will tell you, but it certainly does a fine job at playing a huge range of demanding PC titles with great results in this Quoted Tech Frontier PC.

With its AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU, RTX 5070 graphics, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 2TB SSD, the Frontier desktop is up to the challenge of playing demanding, popular PC titles with impressive performance. And at its just over $2,000 price tag (compared to other customizable gaming PCs like the Maingear MG-1 Ultimate, which will set you back over $500 more with similar configurations), that's a pretty good deal.

I know. From the benchmarks above, especially when compared to the RTX 5090-equipped Alienware Area 51 (that's $5,699 by the way) and Corsair Vengeance i8300 (at a whopping $7,399), this Frontier's configuration almost seems silly. But this is with 4K resolution at settings cranked up to max, and without Nvidia's DLSS 4 and multi-frame generation tech turned on.

Change to 1080p settings, which is well below what it can handle, and you'll find frame rates for Doom: The Dark Ages at 97 FPS, Cyberpunk 2077 at 73.6 FPS, Black Myth: Wukong at 55 FPS and so on. Of course, the RTX 5070 is perfect for 1440p gameplay, and I saw the Frontier handle this in its stride, too.

But in real-world testing, I was comfortably gaming on a 4K display in all of its visual splendour. I saw this when I tested Battlefield 6, and I was extremely impressed.

Even without DLSS 4 upscaling or Nvidia's AI tech, Battlefield 6 was running super smoothly with a high level of detail, as most settings were set to Ultra, with a few on High (as the game automatically set it). At 4K resolution, I was seeing frame rates hit just over 60 FPS. Not bad for an RTX 5070 graphics card, even though it only offers up 12GB of GDDR7 video memory (VRAM).

But with DLSS upscaling set to Quality, and frame generation at x4, I was seeing frame rates skyrocket to an average of 216 FPS and some beautiful landscapes amid the destruction happening around me.

Aside from gaming, though, Quoted Tech's Frontier PC does a fine job at handling multitasking and daily computing tasks thanks to its AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU. It may fall behind in multi-core performance in Geekbench 6 compared to the pricey top hitters, but its single-core and SSD results are pretty much similar. Plus, at three minutes for transcoding a 4K video to 1080p, that's actually the same time as an M5 MacBook Pro (yes, desktops and laptops are different, but Apple's MacBooks ain't no slouches).

As a PC for those looking for high-end gaming without needing to break the bank, and to handle work and productivity, Quoted Tech's Frontier PC will provide.

As custom as it gets

If you're just getting into gaming PCs but just don't know where to start on building one (and, of course, just want to get to playing games), Quoted Tech makes a great case to grab a prebuilt desktop instead — but with plenty to tinker with anyway.

Not only does it provide multiple configuration options upon checkout so you can find the parts that meet your budget, but its Fractal Design Pop Air Black case makes it easy to take it apart and access the components you need to change.

By simply unscrewing the side glass panel (no screwdriver required), you can get inside the PC and mix and match other internals to your liking. Of course, with the prebuilt PC you get (like the Frontier I received), you'll likely stick with those specs for a long while. But being able to modify and upgrade your rig is what gaming PCs are about, and the case makes all that possible.

I also appreciate how many of the panels are magnetically attached, making them easy to remove and clean the inevitable dust from.

Quiet as a hum

After testing many gaming laptops that sound like they're about to reach Mach 5, it's nice to hear a near-silent hum of a well-cooled, well-optimized gaming PC that doesn't scream went put under any kind of pressure.

Much of that is due to its open, ventilated design and 240MM liquid cooler, with the RGB-lit fans giving the PC space to breathe on the top and rear. Not once did I feel like I was putting my PC under too much pressure (even with 4K gameplay), as it kept the same low fan noise that I would barely even notice.

Even though the Frontier configuration I received isn't the strongest around, pushing it to its limits won't turn its fans into a jet engine, and for quiet households, that's a perk to appreciate.

Otherwise, expect a no-nonsense design to adorn your desk setup, with a particular highlight being the grilled front panel displaying an attractive RGB lighting effect that catches the eye.

Quoted Tech Frontier: The downs

The Quoted Tech Frontier offers plenty of major highlights as a prebuilt gaming PC, but it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. For one, its USB-C ports are extremely limited, and another, it would be nice to see these PCs more readily available beyond their Canadian roots and the U.S.

USB-C, where are you?

Out of the extensive ports this Frontier gaming PC offers, including a whopping 10 USB-A ports, three DisplayPort outputs, an HDMI and a connection for its Wi-Fi 7 (shark fin-like) antenna, you'd think it would be able to offer more than just two USB-C ports.

Regardless of their capabilities (USB4 with 40 GB/s transfer speeds and DP support), having just two USB-C ports leaves a sour taste. Whether it's connecting an external SSD, a wireless gaming headset with 2.4GHz connectivity or more, there isn't much to play with.

Moreover, these are all placed on the rear, as there's no access to a USB-C port on the top of the case. Annoying? Yes, but not a complete deal breaker. At the very least, there's plenty of USB-A ports to plug gaming mice, keyboards and more into.

Catch one, if you can

If you're after a prebuilt gaming PC, you'll likely find it on a third-party retailer site or on a custom PC manufacturer's site. Quoted Tech falls heavily into the latter, as its website is the only place you'll be able to build your gaming desktop of choice.

That's not such a bad thing, and other brands like MainGear follow the same suit. The problem is, you won't be able to find one at other retailers, and while it's built in Canada, there's only so many regions it's available in right now.

That includes Canada (of course), but Quoted Tech's PCs are also available to ship to customers in the U.S., which is a major plus. But for anywhere else, it's a no-go. I was lucky enough to be sent one overseas to London, but for general consumers abroad, that isn't an option.

Quoted Tech Frontier: Verdict

Building a gaming PC that matches your budget and performance needs can be a beautiful thing. But that also requires time and patience. If you're looking to tinker with a customizable desktop but prefer a plug-and-play setup to simply get to gaming, the Quoted Tech is a fantastic shout.

I'm a huge fan of the Frontier's customizability, impressive price-to-performance and near-silent performance, even if it isn't the strongest gaming PC out there. But not everyone needs RTX 5090 performance with sky-high frame rates, and for the RTX 5070 configuration I received, it does a mighty fine job.

Looking to upgrade in the future? Well, the Quoted Tech cases make it easy to pull apart and fit your own components in, which is always a welcome perk if you're interested in playing around with a desktop.

Sure, it would be nice to see more USB-C ports, but not everyone will have an easy time getting their hands on one. But, instead of a unique build from a big-brand manufacturer that may struggle to use specific components you intend to get down the line due to its case, or spending a fortune on mid-range gaming performance, the Quoted Tech Frontier is a PC that won't disappoint.

These days a great gaming PC can cost you thousands of dollars, but trust me — I review PCs for a living, and you don't need to spend an arm and a leg to have a great experience.

Labor Day is nearly here and now is a great time to be hunting for deals on a new machine. My personal favorite so far is this Alienware Aurora R16 with RTX 5060 Ti for $1,449 at Best Buy, which is $350 off the usual $1,799 asking price. That's one of the best Labor Day sales right now.

The Alienware Aurora R16 has been our top pick for the best gaming PC on the market for some time thanks to its compact, stylish case and great performance. You can read all about it in our Alienware Aurora R16 review, which includes detailed lab testing results which show this discreet desktop delivers good performance for the price.

However, the model of Aurora R16 that Best Buy has on sale right now is more powerful than the one we reviewed since it comes with a mid-range Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics card onboard. While it's not the most powerful RTX 50-series card you can get, this model (with 8GB of memory) should be more than capable enough to play the best Steam games at great framerates in 1080p or 1440p.

It will look cool doing it, too thanks to its glass side panel showcasing its internals, honeycomb cooling vents and subtle RGB lighting. Personally, I really love the way the R16 is so small and unobtrusive, because it's a nice change from the massive, flashy and loud gaming PCs we usually review.

The one thing you should know is that while the Aurora R16 looks great on a desk and is pretty easy to open up and mess around with, the proprietary design of the internals can make it a little frustrating to upgrade components down the road. It's not a huge problem unless you plan to be working inside the case a lot, but you should know before you buy.

But if you want to buy one I recommend you act fast, because I doubt this sale will last past Labor Day and I don't know how long supplies will last!

HP just announced the perfect gaming PC for me. The new HP Omen 35L Stealth Edition is a refreshed version of the HP Omen 35L I reviewed last year. In addition to updated internals, like the latest AMD CPU and Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU, this model has an all-black chassis, hence its “Stealth” moniker. This might not seem like a big deal, but to me, it’s a huge selling point.

I got to see this desktop first-hand at a recent HP event and was immediately drawn to this mid-tower. RGB lighting has become synonymous with gaming, which is all well and good, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself an RGB fan. I even turn all RGB lighting on my personal gaming rig at home. The Omen 35L Stealth Edition’s nondescript design almost makes it appear like an average office PC, which I think is quite impressive.

This PC doesn’t just have visual appeal; it also boasts components powerful enough to play the best PC games. There's a wide range of configurations, with your choice of up to a 14th Gen Intel Core or AMD Ryzen 9 CPU and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. Choices for RAM and SSD storage are also plentiful.

Higher-end configurations will cost more, but the entry-level Omen 35L Stealth Edition starts at a relatively affordable $1,499. Like the previous Omen 35L, both the new model and the Stealth Edition will feature industry-standard parts, making it easier for you to upgrade or replace parts as needed. This was a big feature of the last Omen 35L, so it’s great to see HP continue this trend.

Both the standard and the Stealth Edition of the HP Omen 35L are expected to launch sometime in October. I gave the previous Omen 35L our Tom’s Guide Editor’s Choice award, so I have big hopes for its successor — especially the Stealth Edition. We’ll keep you posted with any updates, so stay tuned for more!

More from Tom's Guide

• Getting a gaming PC? 7 things you need to know before you buy
• This RTX 5090 Corsair gaming PC has redefined gaming for me
• This RTX 5090 beast is so powerful that it feels alive

The Maingear MG-1 ($1,529) is one of the company's most affordable customizable gaming PCs, at least to start, so when Maingear offered to send us one for review I kept my expectations in check.

But when the top-of-the-line MG-1 Ultimate ($5,269) that Maingear built for us finally showed up at my door, I was impressed. Before I even had a chance to plug it in and see how well it performs, I was charmed by the (fairly) portable mid-size case and the eye-catching custom panel on the front.

One of the big selling points of the MG-1 are these swappable front panels, and I love how they remind me of the old Xbox 360 faceplate days. But if that was the most exciting aspect of this gaming PC I'd quickly lose interest.

But after a month of testing and using the Maingear MG-1 Ultimate I'm pleased to report this is one of the best gaming PCs I've reviewed this year. Like most great gaming PCs it's pretty expensive, but if you can afford it you're getting a potent powerhouse that's easy to customize, easy to move and so quiet you'd barely know it was running, even after gaming for hours.

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The top-of-the-line 2025 MG-1 gaming PC from Maingear, a well-known vendor of customized gaming PCs and laptops.
• What does it cost? While the base Maingear MG-1 starts at $1,529, to order the top-of-the-line MG-1 Ultimate review unit Maingear loaned us would cost you just over $5,000.
• Who is it for? This is a mid-size gaming PC for folks who want to play the best PC games in 4K at great framerates.
• What do we like? The excellent RTX 5090-fueled performance, whisper-quiet fan noise, compact case and attractive swappable front panel make this a killer gaming PC for the office or living room.
• What don’t we like? The only thing that hurts about this loaner gaming PC (besides the high price tag) is having to return it at the end of the review.

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate review: Specs

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate (2025) review: The ups

Great for gaming in 4K

The custom MG-1 review unit that Maingear sent us is pretty expensive, but in return you get a compact, quiet gaming PC that can run many of the latest games at 4K with all the graphical settings cranked to max.

Our testing reveals that even when you do that you can often expect to get around 60 frames per second at 4K, but it's not consistent. Some of the most demanding games, like Black Myth Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077, will push this system so hard at max settings that even the RTX 5090 and AMD Ryzen 9 CPU will struggle to keep a smooth 60 frames per second at 4K.

To show you what I mean I've charted the Maingear MG-1's performance in key games below and put it up against two other pricey RTX 5090 gaming PCs we've reviewed recently, the Alienware Area 51 ($5,699 as tested) and the Corsair Vengeance i8300 ($7,399 as tested).

As you can see, the more expensive gaming PCs outperformed our Maingear MG-1 review unit by a small degree in most games. But in a few cases (namely Assassin's Creed Shadows and Red Dead Redemption 2) the Maingear actually beat out Corsair's Vengeance i8300 by a smidge.

That's a bit amazing given that the Vengeance costs over $2,000 more and is also larger and heavier, so it's more of a pain to fit into your entertainment setup. So while the Alienware Area 51 desktop comes out smelling like roses, our testing proves the Maingear MG-1 is smaller and nearly as good as the Corsair despite being far cheaper.

A similar story played out when we put the MG-1 Ultimate through our battery of general performance tests, but this time it performed a bit better compared to the more expensive Area 51 and Vengeance i8300.

As you can see from the chart of results above, our MG-1 review unit consistently outperformed either the Alienware, the Corsair or both in our Geekbench 6 CPU tests and our SSD speed test. And in our video editing test, which times how long it takes the PC to transcode a 4K video down to 1080p using Handbrake, Maingear's MG-1 Ultimate actually outperformed both the Alienware and Corsair RTX 5090 PCs.

Factor in the fact that our MG-1 review unit is cheaper and smaller than either competitor, and you start to see why I love this mid-size gaming rig.

Whisper-quiet even after gaming in 4K for hours

Another thing I love about the MG-1 Ultimate is how quiet it is, even after hours of playing games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K with all settings cranked to max.

While I do hear the fans spin up after extended (1-2+ hours) gaming sessions or when the room gets quite toasty, I almost never notice them. And when I finally did, I had to fire up our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit to remind me what a really beastly full-sized gaming tower PC can sound like when things get hot and heavy.

The MG-1 Ultimate doesn't get terribly toasty under load, either. When I was testing the Vengeance i8300, for example, I noticed that after a few hours of PC gaming on the couch my entire living room would feel warm. By contrast, Maingear's mid-sized rig doesn't feel noticeably warm, even after hours of gaming, unless I put my hand directly against the exhaust.

Clean interior that's easy to access

I like a PC case that's neatly organized and easy to open, so I'm very happy with the MG-1 case that houses this beastly machine.

Not only does the PC run quiet and have lots of room to work inside the case, the tempered glass side panel is easy to remove once you remove the screws fastening it in place. Popping it back on is just as easy, which I really appreciate.

Maingear touts a few additional selling points for this case, including the fact that the MG-1 was designed in partnership with company co-owner, professional game streamer and former pro eSports player Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek.

That's all fine and good, but I'm more excited about the swappable magnetic front panel.

That swappable, customizable front panel is just fun

Hey, I get maybe not everyone will love the silly appeal of being able to order new swappable front panels from Maingear for $99 a pop (or $129 if you want a custom one), but I love it.

There are loads of fun designs and patterns to choose from, and the whole thing reminds me of nothing so much as the swappable faceplates we used to use on the old Xbox 360.

While it's a bit goofy that Maingear custom-printed us one with the TG logo on it for the purposes of this review, I have to admit I like seeing a pop of color on the PC when I sit down at my desk every morning.

And since the Maingear logo in the top center of the panel glows in concert with the PC's RGB settings, whatever front panel you add will feature a fun bit of RBG flair winking out from the middle.

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate review: The downs

As much as I like the 2025 Maingear MG-1 Ultimate, there is one big downside to buying one that I should make clear before wrapping up.

A gaming PC this good costs an arm and a leg

Look, I would have a hard time affording the MG-1 Ultimate that Maingear sent us for review on my journalist's salary. I could do it, but I'd probably spend half a year or more scrimping and saving to minimize the strain on my credit. Most people will likely face a similar quandary when considering whether to buy a boutique PC like the MG-1.

Now admittedly, you can get a less powerful version for thousands of dollars less—upgrading from the base RTX 5050 to the top-of-the-line GeForce RTX 5090 GPU adds over $2,500 to the price alone, for example.

And again, this high-end MG-1 Ultimate performs nearly as well or better in our testing as 2025 gaming PCs that cost hundreds or thousands more. So while it is damn expensive, if you're aiming for RTX 5090 levels of performance this might actually be a fairly canny way of maximizing what you get for your money.

Maingear MG-1 Ultimate review: Verdict

If it's not clear already, I'm quite fond of Maingear's 2025 MG-1 Ultimate.

The machine Maingear sent us for review packs a powerful AMD + Nvidia CPU/GPU combo that punches above its weight in terms of performance, and I love how quiet it remains even after hours of use.

But even when it's switched off, I like how nice the MG-1 looks on a desk (especially with a cool front panel design) and I appreciate how easy it is to move from room to room. And when it's time to upgrade or swap something out, I love that you can quickly unscrew some fasteners and pop the side panel off for easy access.

After a month with this machine I can't find anything to complain about besides the high price, and that's par for the course when you're buying high-end gaming PCs. So if that's what you're after, I highly recommend Maingear's MG-1 as one of the best I've tested in 2025.

I now want a gaming PC on my desk, and the Acer Predator Orion 7000 is to blame.

I've tested my fair share of the best gaming laptops that arrive and have always been impressed with the performance they dish out. I mean, playing AAA PC games life Cyberpunk 2077 on a portable machine, with high frame rates and equally high settings? That's very much my jam.

But there's a certain feeling of satisfaction when booting up a demanding title like Black Myth: Wukong on a tank-like, RGB-lit desktop with whirring fans and a clear view of its internals, cranking up settings to maximum and playing it at 4K resolution with frame rates going beyond 120 FPS (with DLSS 4 helping out, no less).

That's exactly what the RTX 5080-equipped Acer Predator Orion 7000 has given me, and by George, is it a delight. Do I need it? No, but as with every avid gamer who strives for peak performance, it's easily the first gaming PC I want.

This isn't to say I haven't had my own taste of gaming PCs before — I used to rock an RTX 3070 rig before hopping countries. But with Nvidia's latest RTX 50-series now out and about, it's become clear that gaming performance has reached a higher bar, and it can only be done on a desktop.

The Predator Orion 7000 is a chunky beast; just look at it compared to a PS5 above. And it isn't even the highest performance you can get out of a PC — that currently goes to the Alienware Area-51 or Corsair Vengeance i8300.

But for optimal gaming performance for a price that won't rock my socks off (though it's still something to save for), this is a desktop that I'll be trying to find an excuse to pick up for a while.

A (somewhat) fitting price

Not unlike the Predator Orion 5000, which sits as one of the best gaming PCs for value, this 7000 model comes in at a fitting price. Well, as "fitting" as it can be for a latest-gen desktop at £3,299 , as that's still quite the expense. (There's no U.S. pricing yet, but I can imagine it being around a similar $3,299.)

Considering an Alienware Area-51 with similar specs will set you back $3,749, while the beastly Corsair Vengeance i8300 with an RTX 5090 is at a whopping $7,399, I'll settle with the more affordable option, thanks.

I know, gaming PCs of this caliber can be more of a niche at these prices for many of us, but here's another comparison: the Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptop with an RTX 5080 comes in at $3,749, and as much as it impresses, it won't match the performance a full-blown desktop can dish out. (More on this in a bit.)

Look, a desktop isn't for everyone, especially when laptops like the Asus TUF Gaming A18 I tested or a PS5 Slim can pump out incredible performance for most at well over half the price. But for optimized gaming in 4K, along with all the speedy productivity or demanding creative tasks that come as standard, the Predator Orion 7000 makes a great case as a worthy machine to consider.

A 4K treat

Thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF CPU, RTX 5080 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 2TB SSD, the Acer's Predator Orion 7000 can pull off wicked, smooth 4K gameplay with frame rates topping just over 160 FPS with DLSS 4 enabled in the most demanding of PC titles.

That's with settings topped out and ray tracing (or the more advanced path tracing where available) turned to max, and it all come out stunning without a hint of stutter on the BenQ 4K monitor I had yet to make full use of.

It's an impressive feat, but what really caught my eye was comparing these results to other gaming PCs, along with the Alienware 16 Area-51 with its RTX 5080 laptop GPU. When turning DLSS 4 off and testing at 4K resolution in Doom: The Dark Ages, Black Myth: Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077, here's what I saw:

Now, of course an RTX 5080 GPU with its 16GB GDDR7 video memory (it should have been 24GB) wouldn't beat an RTX 5090 with 32GB of VRAM, but honestly, the differences here aren't far off — especially in the Cyberpunk 2077 result. And having that RTX 5080-powered Alienware 16 Area-51 shows the difference between a desktop and a laptop GPU (read: that's testing at 1080p).

When DLSS 4 with multi-frame gen x4 gets involved, those frame rates skyrocket. In benchmarking, I was seeing Doom: The Dark Ages at 120 FPS with path tracing, Cyberpunk 2077 at 153 FPS and Black Myth: Wukong at 166 FPS. And yes, gaming at these settings is stunning.

Seeing sunlight glint off ripples of water in Wukong, along with the blankets of snow our staff-equipped monkey protagonist glides through while fending off sparks of lightning from dragon-like beings, brings pure immersion that's hard to look away from.

Just for good measure, you can also see how the Predator Orion 7000 measures up in other areas, and again, at this price, it isn't too shabby.

Sure, not the fastest, but not too far behind, either. It was worth the effort to lump this machine on my desk and start going about my usual computing tasks, as it wouldn't bat an eyelid when I had 30 Chrome tabs open while listening to music and having a Netflix show running, all with a game being paused in the background.

As you can guess, for those scrolling through multiple spreadsheets, editing videos or photos and using graphic design tools, this machine could easily handle it all.

Is the Acer Predator Orion 7000 worth it?

More from Tom's Guide

• The RTX 5090 is the best graphics card I've ever owned — but there's a catch for living room PC gamers
• I played Doom: The Dark Ages on RTX 5080 vs RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptops — and the results surprised me
• I just built an RTX 5090 gaming PC — here’s what I used and how to build your own

Whether you’re logging in for the daily XP grind or sitting down to curate your next digital masterpiece, your personal computer is more than just a tool to get the job done – it's an extension of yourself, sitting right there on your desk. A high-performance personal computer from Xidax can not only keep up with you but also help you stand out from the crowd.

Top-of-the-line power and performance

For gamers and digital creatives, a desktop PC is a must-have, and the tech requirements for both use cases are surprisingly similar. Gaming, 3D modeling, digital illustration, and other creative tasks are performance-intensive for any computer, but Xidax PCs feature the latest hardware from AMD and are precision-tuned for maximum performance.

Take the Xidax X-6 system, for example, which is packed with an AMD Radeon RX 9070XT and a Ryzen 7 9800x3D – a CPU and GPU pairing that's capable of smooth 4K gaming with stable frame rates and top-of-the-line performance.

The Ryzen 7 9800x3D CPU is an undeniable champion for gaming, bolstered by AMD’s 3D V-Cache tech alongside eight cores and 16 threads for lightning-fast performance that clocks in at 4.7 GHz out of the box. You can easily boost that to 5.2 GHz thanks to its fully unlocked overclocking ability, though.

The Radeon RX 9070XT sits alongside the 9800x3D as a gaming beast at 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, and AMD makes the most of the 9070XT’s RDNA 4 architecture, FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR 4), and Hypr-RX tech to generate two times better ray tracing than previous Radeon GPUs. Even tech-heavy games such as Final Fantasy XIV render at a stable 60fps in 4K with the 9070XT. Playing Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing at 1440p is nothing short of an incredible experience, with steady frame rates that exceed 60fps when the 9070XT is paired with the 9800x3D.

AMD partners with some of the top-selling games in the industry – from popular first-person shooters like Call of Duty to unique sci-fi strategy adventures like The Alters – to offer an optimized, high-performing game experience that pushes the AMD ecosystem’s AI acceleration to the top.

AMD’s CPU and GPU combination isn’t just a dream team for gaming. The combo is a heavy-lifting powerhouse of tech that can hold up against demanding creative software, as well. The Ryzen 7 9800x3D’s specialized v-cache is built to meet the needs of digital creatives rendering 3D models, crafting masterpieces in Blender, or editing into the wee hours of the morning with DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere.

All that power is wrapped up in Xidax’s sleek, modern Onami Black dual-chamber case with a stunning curved tempered-glass window to show off your rig in all its glory. Your PC needs may be personal, but with the Xidax X-6 RX 9070XT + R7 9800x3D, you can be sure your rig is ready to meet your demands.

Priority support that’s personal

When it comes to gaming and productivity, finding top-notch, high-performing computer components isn’t quite the challenge it used to be. There’s plenty of guidance on how to choose your PC’s components to meet your needs and assemble them. But building a PC can come with challenges even for the more experienced among us. If you happen to push the power button, you have nobody to fall back on but yourself. Buying a Xidax PC, however, comes with a personal support team at your fingertips, giving you peace of mind.

Xidax PCs are assembled in the United States, and the Xidax support team consists of real humans who are just a few clicks away. No struggling to find an AI prompt to get you the information you need – a real human is available to guide you through setting up your new PC, troubleshooting, and more advanced support should you need it.

Xidax treats your computer like more than just a tool and prioritizes the human side of personal computing.

Ready to leap to see the might of an RTX 50-series gaming PC? It doesn't come cheap, but Alienware's desktop deal with an RTX 5070 Ti certainly makes it more affordable. And it beats any Prime Day deal right now.

The Alienware Aurora R16 with an RTX 5070 Ti is now $300 off at Dell, and it's easily one of the best gaming PC deals you'll find, considering the horsepower this unit delivers. Not only does Nvidia's latest GPU provide a significant gaming boost, but its other components also contribute to this, including an Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

It's sleek, it's quiet, and, most importantly, it's an excellent way to upgrade your PC setup to the latest in gaming performance at this price. It beats what Amazon currently has on offer (an RTX 5070 model for essentially the same price), so if you're ready for high-end performance, this Alienware Aurora R16 will get you there.

Nvidia's latest generation of RTX 50-series GPUs delivers significant performance gains. As you'll find in our RTX 5070 Ti review, this graphics card, featuring 16GB GDDR7 video memory, offers exceptional 1440p and 1080p gaming, as well as impressive 4K gameplay. Better yet, DLSS 4 makes the best PC titles offer jaw-dropping visuals with super-smooth frame rates.

It's a good thing it's wrapped in the best gaming PC around. We're big fans of the Alienware Aurora R16, with its minimalist yet subtly stylish design that won't take up much space on your desk (measuring 18 x 16.5 x 7.7 inches) and keeps calm and quiet under pressure.

Speaking of design, there are a vast number of ports to take advantage of, including USB-A, USB-C, 3.5 mm audio, Ethernet, DisplayPort, HDMI, SPDIF, and even ports for surround sound.

Despite its looks, this is a gaming PC through and through. With its glass side panel showcasing its internals, honeycomb vents for optimized cooling (along with its air-cooled CPU and 1000W Platinum-rated PSU for reduced heat output), and subtle RGB lighting, it makes quite the impression.

That glass panel will also give you a look at the other strengths of the Aurora R16, including its Intel Core Ultra 7 265F CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD. To manage it all, the Alienware Command Center helps you monitor system cooling, customize RGB lighting, and even create overclock profiles.

It's our top pick as the best gaming PC for good reason, and it's now even better, thanks to the RTX 5070 Ti model being $300 off. As a PC gamer, this is the desktop I'd have on my radar. However, I'm currently on board with gaming laptops, and would you look at that? The Alienware 16X Aurora with an RTX 5070 I spotted is still $450 off!

If you're after a more mobile machine, Amazon's big event is sure to have plenty more offers, so stay in the know to make fantastic savings on the best Prime Day gaming laptops in the lead-up to the sale.

I've spent the last two weeks testing the new Corsair Vengeance i8300 ($7,399) gaming PC, and the experience has redefined how I approach playing games.

Corsair sells Vengeance gaming PCs in a variety of configurations and prices, but the company sent us its most expensive model for review — and you can feel the luxury you're paying for in how reliably every game I tested on this machine booted up quickly and ran like a dream, with almost zero noticeable fan noise from the case.

The case itself is so heavy, however, that I didn't trust any of my desks with it and instead kept it on the floor next to my 4K TV. But since it makes so little noise the Vengeance i8300 actually turns out to be a great gaming PC for the living room, and it's opened my eyes to a new dream: 4K PC gaming on the big screen, from the comfort of my couch.

If you can handle the weight and you're willing to pay the eye-watering price, I think the Corsair Vengeance i8300 is easily one of the best gaming PCs I've ever tested. Here's why.

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The top-of-the-line Corsair Vengeance gaming PC for 2025, packing the latest AMD/Intel CPUs and the best-in-class Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090.
• What does it cost? The high-end Corsair Vengeance i8300 I review here can be purchased from Corsair for $7,399 with your choice of Intel or AMD chips, though at time of publication Corsair is discounting the AMD model down to $6,599.
• Who is it for? PC gaming enthusiasts who want to pay top dollar for a big, quiet gaming machine that's great for 4K gaming and one of the very best gaming PCs you can buy in 2025.
• What do we like? I love how this Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit can run any PC game I want to play in buttery-smooth 60+ FPS at 4K with all graphical settings cranked to max.
• What don’t we like? Obviously, the price of this beast is a tough pill to swallow. I'd have to spend months if not years saving to afford PC gaming like this, and that's a real barrier to entry. I also don't love how heavy it is, as I wouldn't trust the Corsair Vengeance i8300 on a flimsy desk.

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: Specs

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: The ups

I've really enjoyed my time gaming on the Corsair Vengeance i8300, and there are a few key strengths I want to highlight so you know what you're buying.

Top-tier 4K gaming with almost no fan noise

As I mentioned earlier, I decided to leave our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit on the floor next to my LG C2 OLED TV for the majority of the review period because I just didn't trust my flimsy sit/stand desk with this 30-pound beast.

But that was only part of the reason I kept the Vengeance in the living room — the rest of it was that I wanted to see how the best PC games look running at max settings on a 65-inch 4K OLED display, and I had a hunch this $7,400 gaming PC could handle it.

Sure enough, I was blown away by the experience of PC gaming on the couch with the power of an RTX 5090, a top-tier Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU and 64GB of RAM at my beck and call. Games like Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Outlaws and Red Dead Redemption 2 ran beautifully, though I had to enable Nvidia's DLSS tech where possible to iron out occasional stutters that caused the framerate to dip below 60 FPS.

The results from our testing lab back up my anecdotal experience, as the Corsair Vengeance i8300 performed better in our tests than any gaming PC I've reviewed to date.

To show you what I mean, I've charted some key gaming benchmarks above against a cheaper Corsair Vengeance a7500 (AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, 32GB RAM, ~$3,399) and our current pick for best premium gaming PC, the Alienware Area 51 (Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, 64GB of RAM, $5,699).

As you can see, the Corsair Vengeance delivers nearly flawless 60+ FPS performance in some of the latest and most demanding PC games. This is raw performance too, without any upscaling tech like Nvidia DLSS or AMD FSR enabled. When I enabled DLSS on games like Cyberpunk, I was able to enjoy full path-traced lighting and incredible visual effects while framerates hovered consistently in the 70-90 FPS range.

But you can also see that despite our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit costing thousands of dollars more than our Alienware Area 51 review unit, the Alienware PC actually delivers better performance in some games. And where the Corsair does outperform the Alienware, it's only by a matter of a few extra frames per second, which makes the nearly $2k price difference between the two hard to swallow.

However, the Corsair performed better than the competition across the board in our general performance tests.

As you can see from the chart of results above, the Corsair Vengeance i8300 outperformed the competition in both the single-core and multi-core Geekbench 6 CPU benchmarking tests, despite the fact that the Alienware Aurora has the same Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU.

The Vengeance i8300 also burned through our custom video editing test (which times how long the PC takes to transcode a 4K video down to 1080p using Handbrake) faster than the rest, though the far cheaper Corsair Vengeance a7500 actually had a faster SSD than the more expensive i8300 I'm reviewing here.

So whether you're gaming, editing video or doing other computationally-intensive tasks, you can count on the Corsair Vengeance i8300 delivering best-in-class performance. However, our testing reveals that you aren't actually getting much better gaming performance than our current pick for best premium gaming PC, the cheaper Alienware Area 51.

Stays quiet under pressure

Since I was PC gaming in the living room without headphones it was key that the PC not make too much noise, so I was paying close attention to how loud the Corsair Vengeance i8300 got during intense gaming sessions.

After two weeks of testing I'm pleased to report that even after hours of playing Cyberpunk 2077 or Doom with all settings cranked to max, the PC's fans never made more than a low hum.

So while there definitely is some fan noise, especially when sustaining peak performance, it's quiet enough that you barely notice the sound from 8 feet away.

Easy-to-access case design

While I don't expect you would need to upgrade this machine for years to come, I appreciate that our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit has an easy-to-access case that's roomy and well-organized inside.

To get in you just have to pull the see-through glass panel on one side of the Corsair iCUE 5000T RGB case open, no screwdriver required. You can also pretty easily remove the mesh covering on the top and rear of the case, again with no tools required.

Inside the case everything is neatly organized and cables are routed using Corsair's hidden cable channel, which keeps the case clean but does mean you'll have to fiddle with all this stuff if and when you decide to start replacing and upgrading components.

Eye-catching RGB lighting I actually want to leave on

RGB LED light strips are practically de rigueur for gaming PCs these days, and while I loved them in the '90s these days I've grown tired of seeing my PC and peripherals lit up like cheap glowsticks.

But when I started playing around with the iCue software to control and customizing the 200+ RGB LEDs on the case of our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit, I was genuinely impressed. The RGB lighting on this machine stands out to me for two reasons: it has a more eye-catching LED strip layout than most PCs, and the customizable lighting patterns are more beautiful than anything I've seen on other PCs.

Obviously none of this matters as much as how capable, quiet and easy-to-access this PC is, but I wanted to also shout out the lighting because I love how the 5000T RGB case looks when the LED strips at bottom and top are running a smooth, shifting pattern. It sort of reminds me of how the engine rooms were lit up in Star Trek, and every time I look over at it I'm happy I have the lighting on — and it's been decades since I felt that way about a PC case.

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: The downs

As much as I love our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit, I have to admit I have a quibble with (and one serious warning about) this premium 4K gaming PC.

Heavy and difficult to move

Let's get the quibble out of the way first: this beast is hefty and hard to move.

Partly that's because it weighs over 30 pounds, and partly it's because the case is roughly two feet tall.

The thing is heavy enough that I was scared to leave it on my Uplift V2 standing desk, because even though I'm pretty sure the desk could handle the burden, it wobbled in a concerning fashion every time I raised or lowered it with the Corsair onboard.

That said, once you get it set up you probably won't be moving it around as much as I did during the review process. So this is less a serious concern and more a warning: be ready to move a big, hefty box when this thing shows up.

Luckily, I will say that the process of unboxing the Corsair Vengeance i8300 was relatively straightforward, thanks to the company's streamlined bag-it-and-box-it approach.

Outperformed by cheaper gaming PCs in some games

The most painful part of buying a Corsair Vengeance i8300 is its eye-watering price tag, so you expect to get best-in-class performance in return for spending over $7,000 on a PC.

And for the most part, you get it. As you can see from our test results, our Corsair Vengeance i8300 outperforms almost every other PC I've ever tested, including recently-released gaming PCs that cost thousands of dollars.

But as you also saw, the Alienware Area 51 costs almost $2,000 less than the Corsair Vengeance i8300 yet delivers equal or better performance in many games. And where it does fall behind the Corsair, it's only by a handful of frames, which probably isn't worth the premium you're paying for the Vengeance over the Area 51.

Now, FPS isn't the only thing that matters when buying a gaming PC. Despite its heft, the Corsair Vengeance i8300 is actually significantly lighter than the Alienware PC and comes with 3x the storage space (6TB vs. 2TB). So there are other benefits you're getting for that sky-high price.

But for most of us framerates and graphical performance are the #1 reason to invest in a gaming PC, and our testing reveals you can often get equal or better performance in those areas from the Area 51 for much less cash.

Corsair Vengeance i8300 (2025) review: Verdict

If you've read this far you can probably understand why I think our Corsair Vengeance i8300 review unit is one of the best gaming PCs of 2025, and one of the best ways to play PC games period.

I'll be sorry to ship it home after this review goes live, but it really has sparked a quiet revelation in how I think about gaming in the living room.

I've owned an Xbox Series X since launch and use it as my main gaming machine since it's quiet, quick to boot and runs games decently on my 4K TV. I know PCs are more capable gaming machines, but I've been leery to build a living room gaming PC because they can be so loud and unsightly.

The Corsair Vengeance i8300 is the exception that's given me pause, because despite its size it looks great lit up next to my TV and it runs games far better than my Xbox while remaining whisper-quiet the whole time. Obviously I can't afford a $7,000 gaming PC on a journalist's salary, but I'm seriously considering buying one of these Corsair iCue 500T RBG cases and building a cheaper gaming PC of my own inside.

So while I still think you get a better deal out of the Alienware Area 51 and would recommend it over the Corsair for those on a budget (not just a tight budget but any budget), I have to report that the Vengeance i8300 is the best gaming PC I've tested this year.

Computex 2025 has plenty of surprises up its sleeve, and Asus just revealed one of the strangest ones yet — a gaming PC with a desktop GPU and a laptop CPU.

The Asus TUF Gaming T500 is a new gaming desktop that pairs an Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti desktop GPU and an Intel Core i7-13620H CPU. Notably, that's a mobile processor made for laptops, but it somehow found its way into this gaming PC.

As with all Intel CPUs, that "H" in the CPU model name indicates that it's a high-performance mobile chip, typically used in gaming laptops and for notebooks made for demanding productivity tasks. It isn't new, as it was released back in 2023, but it's still used in more budget-friendly machines.

Asus' TUF devices focus on value, and this certainly appears to be the case with the TUF Gaming T500. Whether it's to cut costs or to fit its components into a smaller chassis (despite that RTX 5060 Ti taking up space anyway), the desktop gaming PC boasts a mobile processor — and it's set to be priced around $1,300.

It's the weirdest desktop I've seen, and yes, there was audible confusion during the briefing when Asus said, "this has a laptop chip." But the Asus TUF Gaming T500's peculiar Intel mobile chip does offer higher wattage going through it as part of a desktop, as an Asus representative said.

Otherwise, this is your usual gaming PC with a mech anime-inspired aesthetic and full Aura sync support for RGB lighting. You'll also find up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM, PCIe Gen 4 storage, custom heatsinks with copper heatpipes, a 90mm cooling fan and MIL-STD-810H military standard durability.

... A laptop CPU?

There's no explanation as to why there's an Intel mobile processor in the TUF Gaming T500, but I bet it will have something to do with its cost. While there's no official word on when it will be available yet, this Asus desktop is sure to cater towards budget gaming, like the MSI Codex R2 (around $1,230).

We got a chance to see it on the showfloor, although not in action. It's a compact gaming PC, and with its RTX 5060 Ti onboard, it will deliver strong performance for 1080p gaming — especially with boosts from DLSS 4. It makes it ideal for single-player games, with frame rates going beyond 100 FPS at max settings thanks to Multi Frame Gen.

How will it perform with an Intel Core i7-13620H laptop CPU? We're unsure, but if it pulls off the solid, pocket-friendly performance as with the MSI Cyborg 15 we tested (which currently sits in our list of best gaming laptops), then Asus may be onto something.

Once we get a chance to try out this odd mix in the TUF Gaming T500, it may make it as a budget pick in our list of the best gaming PCs. Or, you may just want to opt for a desktop CPU that will generally offer better raw performance. Either way, this is not a desktop I expected to see at Computex 2025, and neither was Acer's first-ever smart ring.

More from Tom's Guide

• I played 5 games on the RTX 5060 — is this budget GPU actually enough?
• I just tried Acer’s surprising smart ring, and it gives the Oura ring a run for its money
• I just went hands-on with the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI — this gaming laptop was made for me

The Alienware Area-51 ($3,749 to start) resurrects the company’s iconic branding in a big way, literally. This is easily the largest and heaviest gaming PC I’ve tested. And its giant size isn’t just for show, as it packs equally powerful components inside its futuristic frame. This is a gaming rig that boldly screams, “Go big or go home!”

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU and 64GB of RAM in our review unit allow the Alienware Area-51 to run games well above 60 frames per second, even with all graphical settings cranked up. Its positive-pressure cooling design keeps the machine running silently, no matter how much you’re taxing it.

Of course, you’ll have to pay a premium for this level of performance. With a starting price of nearly $4,000, this gaming PC is a true wallet-buster. You might also be forced to keep this behemoth on the floor due to its expansive size and massive weight.

Despite its eye-watering price and enormous footprint, the Alienware Area-51 offers one of the finest gaming experiences I’ve had. It has more than earned a spot in our best gaming PCs list. If you can afford it, it’s a rig I highly recommend. Find out more in my full review.

Alienware Area-51 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Alienware Area-51 is a giant gaming PC packing equally powerful performance.
• Who is it for? For those willing to spend top dollar for a PC gaming experience with no compromises to performance.
• What does it cost? The Alienware Area-51 starts at $3,749 on Dell’s website. As configured, our review unit is valued at $5,699.
• What do we like? We like the futuristic design, phenomenal gaming performance and inventive cooling solution.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like the unwieldy size and steep price tag.

Alienware Area-51 review: Specs

Alienware Area-51 review: The ups

Thanks to its sleek, futuristic design, uncompromising performance and inventive positive-pressure cooling, the Alienware Area-51 delivers an exceptional gaming experience.

Space age design

At 24.04 x 22.40 x 9.12 inches and 76.1 pounds, the Alienware Area-51 is one huge gaming PC. It’s so big and heavy that Dell says you need two people to move it — a fact I can confirm after situating it in our office. You’ll need a lot of free space for this machine. And though some of the best gaming desks can accommodate its massive weight, I recommend keeping the Area-51 PC on the floor to be safe.

Once you get past its enormity, you realize that this machine is basically a super-sized Alienware Aurora R16. Like that (smaller) rig, the Area-51 PC has an all-aluminum chassis featuring elegant curves, hexagonal vents and a transparent side panel that lets you see the internal components. This PC also has RGB lighting on its front sides and an Alienware logo-shaped power button. It’s a beautiful machine through and through.

Opening the Area-51 PC is extremely easy. All that’s required is turning a dial on the rear from lock to unlock and then pressing the button for the side panel you want to release. Removing the side panels is also simple. It’s one of the smartest methods of removing a PC’s panels I’ve experienced. And thanks to the PC’s spacious interior, you won’t have much trouble moving your hands around inside.

The Alienware Area-51 mostly uses industry-standard parts, which makes it easier to swap in components of your choosing. However, if you want to change the motherboard, you’ll need a $35 AlienFX board cable conversion kit from Dell since the included board is proprietary. This could be a turn-off for DIYers, but if you just want to use this PC as is, this might not be an issue.

You get a full array of ports here. On top, you’ll find a pair of USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, a headphone jack and a line out port. The majority of ports reside on the rear, including four USB-C ports, five USB-A ports, an optical audio port, line in and line out ports, and an Ethernet port.

Uncompromising performance

Thanks to our review unit’s RTX 5090 graphics card, Intel Ultra Core 9 CPU and 64GB of RAM, this PC offers a premium gaming experience that’s second to none.

During my testing, I played Cyberpunk 2077, Doom Eternal and Monster Hunter Wilds at 4K resolution and maxed graphical settings with DLSS turned off. Doom Eternal was the big winner, running at an insane 220 to 236 frames per second. Monster Hunter Wilds also ran like a dream at 75 to 90 fps, and Cyberpunk 2077 ran great at 66 to 75 fps. Again, I want to stress that this is with DLSS 4 disabled!

We also ran several games through our lab tests, which involve using a game’s built-in benchmark tools. As you can see, the Alienware Area-51 doesn’t disappoint when we benchmark games at both 1080p and 4K resolution and max graphical settings. Gaming performance-wise, it crushes the Acer Predator Orion 7000, which packs the last-gen RTX 4090.

Naturally, the Alienware Area-51 is no slouch when handling everyday computing tasks. It has no trouble with my typical workload, which usually consists of 20 to 30 open Chrome tabs and the occasional YouTube video. I’m also able to edit and export images in GIMP without a problem.

Our lab tests back up my experience. On Geekbench 6, which tests overall CPU performance, Alienware’s PC delivers incredible single-core and multi-core scores. Transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in Handbrake is also a breeze for this machine.

Runs whisper quiet

You’d think a gargantuan gaming PC like this would get as loud as a jet engine. Thankfully, that isn’t the case due to this rig’s impressive positive pressure airflow system.

What the heck is positive pressure airflow? Instead of exhaust fans that blow hot air out, all fans intake and blow cool air inward, from the front, top and bottom, to create positive air pressure that pushes hot air out of the rear vents. Alienware says this system has 25% improved airflow over its past gaming PCs.

Marketing spiel aside, the Alienware Area-51 certainly runs quietly, even when playing games with cranked-up settings. I can barely hear its fans, even when I put my ear next to its top vents. The rear vents also remain relatively cool to the touch. This is one of the most remarkable aspects of this PC.

Alienware Area-51 review: The downs

The Alienware Area-51 offers a gaming experience that’s hard to match. Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay a premium for said experience.

Pricey

Gaming PCs have a reputation for being expensive, and the new Alienware Area-51 certainly lives up to that expectation.

The most affordable configuration (and I use the term “affordable” loosely) currently costs $3,749. Though its components aren’t as high-end as the ones in our review unit, it’s no slouch thanks to its RTX 5080 GPU, Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU, 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. Still, that’s a mighty high price to pay for an entry-level configuration.

Top-tier components factor into the hefty price, but I’m sure the PC’s size and the positive pressure internal design also raise the price. Though I understand why this machine costs so much, it’s a hard recommendation for anyone without deep pockets.

Big and heavy

If you have the space, the Alienware Area-51’s gargantuan size won’t be a problem. However, if you live in an apartment or don’t have anyone to help you situate this beastly PC, size will be a major hindrance.

It took two of us to get the Area-51 out of its shipping box. The same is also true when we brought the PC into our office studio for the photos throughout this review. Granted, our office is spacious enough to accommodate the PC, and I had no issues once we found a spot for it. That said, I’m thankful for our office since it would’ve been a nightmare trying to unbox and get this thing set up in my small studio apartment.

Again, if you have enough room for this machine and folks willing to help you situate it, then size won’t be a factor. But for everyone else, you might want to consider a smaller gaming PC.

Alienware Area-51 review: Verdict

The Alienware Area-51 might be super expensive, but it’s arguably worth every penny for the superlative gaming experience it offers. It’s a beautiful machine that will look great in any gaming den or home office. On top of that, this PC runs whisper quiet, no matter how much you’re taxing it.

Though I’m a fan of the new Alienware Area-51, I understand that it’s not something anyone can afford or might have room for. Those seeking a smaller and more affordable gaming PC that can run games great at 1440p should consider the $1,249 HP Omen 35L. The Alienware Aurora R16 is another excellent choice, though it’s more expensive at $1,999.

Price aside, the Alienware Area-51 is a fantastic gaming PC. If you can stomach the price and have enough room for it, it more than delivers the goods.

The wait for an RTX 5060 may not be long, as Nvidia's graphics card has been spotted in a new Acer gaming PC listing — and it confirms it will come with 8GB of GDDR7 video memory.

French retailer website EvoPC listed an Acer Nitro N50 PC equipped with an RTX 5060, noting that it comes with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM, along with a 14th Gen Intel Core i7-14700F, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD. This was discovered by user momomo_us on X (via VideoCardz), but it appears to have been taken down as of writing.

The listing may have been a placeholder for the rumored graphics card, as previous reports suggest Nvidia is expected to reveal the RTX 5060 Ti, RTX 5060 and possibly an RTX 5050 as soon as this week. The Acer gaming system was not available to buy, which makes sense as it has yet to be officially announced.

Rumors also indicate the RTX 5060, along with the rest of the lower-end RTX 50-series lineup, won't ship until next month, but retailers may be gearing up for pre-orders. According to the listing, this Acer PC is priced at €1,589 (around $1,734 / £1,340), giving us an idea of the cost of an RTX 5060 gaming rig.

While no longer listed, there's another Acer Nitro N50 gaming PC with an RTX 4060 on EvoPC, costing €1,519, although it's currently unavailable.

Either way, it's clear we may see RTX 5060 GPUs soon, and previous leaks hint at the gaming performance we can expect.

A hint at RTX 5060 specs

Recently, we've seen leaked specs for Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5050 graphics cards, and while they offer a bump in numbers over their RTX 40-series counterparts, there's only a slight difference shown.

As per previous rumors, the RTX 5060 may not be any different. Its 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM appears to be a lock, but it's also expected to come with 3,840 CUDA cores, 150W TDP (Thermal Design Power), and a 128-bit memory bus (similar to the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060).

The jump in CUDA cores (which manages computing tasks in parallel to GPUs) and TDP is good to see, especially when compared to an RTX 4060 and even the RTX 4060 Ti, but is it enough to be a true upgrade? With DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation onboard for supported PC titles, it's sure to deliver a performance boost for entry-level gaming, at the very least.

As for price, the RTX 5060 is predicted to be around $349, judging from the RTX 5070 being $549 and the RTX 5060 Ti being tipped to be from $449. If accurate, that will make it more affordable than the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 GPUs (although these appear to offer greater performance).

While we wait for the expected launch of Nvidia's RTX 5060 GPU (and soon), check out what it's like to build an RTX 5090 gaming PC.

More from Tom's Guide

• I review gaming laptops for a living — here's the 7 RTX 50-series laptops I would buy
• MacBook Air M4 benchmarks are here — here's how it compares to the MacBook Pro, Windows laptops and more
• This Asus monitor acts as a makeshift air purifier — your allergies will thank you later

The HP Omen 35L ($1,299 to start) is one of the most attractive desktops I’ve ever reviewed. But this mid-tower gaming rig isn’t just stylish. It packs components powerful enough to play the best PC games at medium to high settings. Add easy upgradeability and a relatively affordable starting price, and you have an excellent entry-level machine for aspiring PC gamers.

This sleek-looking computer packs big power inside its relatively small frame. The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G APU, Nvidia RTX 4080 Super GPU and 32GB of RAM in our review unit give this rig plenty of power to play the most graphically demanding games without a problem. It’s also great for editing 4K videos. Best of all, HP’s desktop can perform these tasks while running whisper-quiet and remaining relatively cool to the touch.

Though it has an odd CPU/GPU pairing and many extraneous apps, the HP Omen 35L is a winner thanks to its low starting price, abundant configuration options, easy-to-swap-out industry-standard parts and gorgeous design. It is undoubtedly one of the best gaming PCs available now. Read my full review to find out why.

HP Omen 35L review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The HP Omen 35L is a mid-tower gaming desktop available in many configurations.
• Who is it for? It is for those who want a sleek and powerful mid-tower PC to complement their gaming setup.
• What does it cost? The HP Omen 35L starts at $1,299 but can get considerably more expensive depending on which components you configure it with.
• What do we like? We like this PC’s minimalist design, small footprint on a desk, excellent gaming performance and easy upgradability.
• What don’t we like? Lots of extraneous software and the strange CPU/GPU combination.

HP Omen 35L review: Specs

HP Omen 35L review: The ups

If you’re looking for a powerful gaming rig that looks amazing and won’t break the bank, the HP Omen 35L is an excellent choice.

Elegant mid-tower

This mid-tower is ideal if you live in an apartment like I do. At 16.14 x 16.06 x 8.26 inches, the HP Omen 35L won’t take up significant space on your desk. However, due to its 31.9-pound weight, you’ll want to keep it in place once you’ve situated it.

The Omen 35L might not have an ostentatious design like other gaming PCs, but its simple boxy shape helps it better complement most gaming setups. The clear glass panel on the left side gives you a nice view of the internal components and the wonderful RGB lighting this rig produces. I also like the black-and-white coloring of my review unit, though you can also get this PC in black.

Everything inside, right down to the modular power supply is industry-standard and user-upgradeable. This allows you to configure the PC however you wish.

Swapping out components is relatively simple thanks to the easy-to-open side panels. While the interior isn’t exactly spacious, I had no trouble getting inside despite my big hands. Configuring this rig is much easier than the Corsair One i500.

This PC features all the ports you could want. On the top front, you’ll find a lone USB-C port, a pair of USB-A ports, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The back holds the lion’s share of ports, including six USB-A ports, a USB-C port, three audio ports, an Ethernet port, three DisplayPorts and an HDMI port.

Amazing performance

Even the most beautiful gaming rig wouldn’t be worthwhile if its performance wasn’t up to snuff. That’s not the case with the Omen 35L I reviewed thanks to its RTX 4080 Super GPU, AMD Ryzen 7 8700G CPU and 32GB of RAM. This is a gaming powerhouse.

During my testing, I fired up Doom Eternal, Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong and experienced excellent performance on all of them. The big winners were Doom Eternal and Black Myth, which ran at 130 fps and 107 fps (respectively) at max settings and 4K resolution without DLSS enabled. Cyberpunk ran at 60 fps at the same settings, which is great for this demanding game.

We also put several games through our lab tests, which involves using a game’s built-in benchmark tools. As you can see above, the HP Omen 35L delivers performance on par with some of its competitors, though the Corsair One i500 with its Intel Core i9-14900K CPU, RTX 4080 Super and 32GB of RAM do better overall.

As expected, the HP Omen 35L can deftly handle everyday computing tasks. My typical workload, which typically consists of over 20 open Chrome tabs and the occasional YouTube video, was no problem for this machine. I also edited and exported photos in GIMP without issue.

Our lab tests corroborate my anecdotal experience. On Geekbench 6, which tests overall CPU performance, the HP Omen 35L delivered strong single-core and multi-core scores. However, in the Handbrake video transcoding test it lagged behind its competitors.

Runs cool & quiet

There’s nothing worse than a noisy gaming PC. Thankfully, the HP Omen 35L isn’t one of them.

This is by far one of the quietest gaming rigs I’ve ever tested thanks to its liquid cooler, front and rear fans and airflow-friendly interior design. No matter which games I played, I never heard this machine’s fans produce more than a whisper.

Omen Gaming Hub is great

The Omen Gaming Hub app allows you to optimize the Omen 35L’s performance, customize the lighting and organize your gaming library. Its intuitive interface makes it simple to use compared to the more complex Corsair iCue launcher.

One of my favorite features is the ability to connect other Omen products like peripherals and gaming monitors. For instance, I was able to control the lighting on the HP Omen Transcend 32 gaming monitor I’m currently testing. This is an easier alternative to adjusting the monitor’s lighting via its physical controls.

I don’t typically complement game launchers on gaming rigs, but the Omen Gaming Hub is worth trying out given its ease of use and robust customization options.

HP Omen 35L review: The downs

The HP Omen 35L has an awesome design and excellent performance. However, it has some faults that prevent it from being perfect.

Odd CPU/GPU combo

The Omen 35L packs an AMD Ryzen 8000 series APU, which is a laptop processor with decently powerful integrated graphics. That’s intriguing considering how this gaming rig has a powerful discrete GPU, making that aspect of AMD’s processor rather redundant.

So long as everything works fine, this is a perfectly good arrangement. However, if the Omen 35L’s discrete GPU should ever fail, you can’t use the processor’s GPU since there isn’t an HDMI port on the motherboard. This also makes us question why HP opted for this AMD chip. However, it's not a complete deal-breaker.

Lots of extraneous software

The Omen Gaming Hub is a useful app that can help elevate your gaming experience. However, I can’t say the same for the slew of other pre-installed software you’ll find on this PC.

Apps like myHP, HP Support Assistant and HP Smart are somewhat expected, but promotions for Dropbox and Adobe are less welcome. The same is true for an included Google Play Games Beta and Google Essentials. If you’re a Google fan, then perhaps these apps might be useful, but for most folks, they’ll be superfluous at best or annoying at worst.

HP Omen 35L review: Verdict

While its processor and GPU combo is questionable and there are too many superfluous apps, the HP Omen 35L’s strengths far outweigh its negatives. This is a phenomenal mid-tower that delivers excellent gaming performance in a gorgeous-looking chassis. The $1,299 starting price and high degree of user upgradeability simply serve to make this gaming rig all the more enticing.

If you’re looking for an alternative that’s equally priced and just as customizable, the Alienware Aurora R16 ($1,249) is a solid choice. I also recommend the even more affordable Dell XPS 8960 ($899) which delivers an enjoyable gaming experience.

Though gaming PCs with Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs are drawing the most attention at the moment, that shouldn’t dissuade you from considering the HP Omen 35L since its RTX 4080 Super is plenty powerful for most modern games—and should be for several years to come. Right now, this is my favorite mid-tower gaming PC and one I highly recommend.

You don’t always have to wait for big sales events like Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday to find great deals on the best gaming PCs. To that point, we just spotted a deal for an excellent entry-level gaming desktop you can buy for under $1,000.

Right now, Woot is offering the Acer Nitro 50 gaming desktop for $849. This PC normally retails for $1,299, so you save a nice $450. This fierce-looking gaming monster has all the components you need to play the best PC games—and this is a deal we highly recommend you take advantage of while it lasts. (For more deals, check out our Presidents' Day sales guide).

The Acer Nitro 50 is perfect for those who want to dive into PC gaming but don’t want to spend thousands of dollars. It has solid specs for a low—to mid-tier rig, including a 14th-generation Intel Core i7-14700F CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. Again, these aren’t the most cutting-edge components, but they’re plenty for delivering 1080p/60fps gaming at low to medium graphical settings.

Thanks to its Cylon-like appearance, you won’t mistake the Nitro 50 for anything other than a gaming PC. The red V shape on the front almost appears to stare at you. The grills on the front and hexagonal shapes on the side aren’t just for sure as they also provide this PC with plenty of ventilation. Speaking of plenty, you’ll find all the ports you could ever need here.

You also get a USB keyboard and mouse right out of the box, delivering even more value. The listing doesn’t specify which exact peripherals you get, but if you’re unhappy with them, you can always check out our best gaming keyboard and best gaming mouse buying guides to find ones that better fit your needs and tastes.

This Acer Nitro 50 deal is one of the best we’ve seen this month and the lowest price yet for this configuration. Though it doesn’t pack a beefy Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU, you can have a lot of fun playing games on this machine. We’re not sure how long this deal is good for, so I say jump on it fast before it’s too late.

When I learned I’d be getting an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 card to test, a single terrifying thought ran through my brain: “What am I going to put it in?”

Though I have several computers I use for my daily work and play, they’re a few years old. I didn’t have a desktop with a fast-enough processor, a lot of RAM, or a power supply sufficiently beefy to handle this monster card.

That could mean only one thing: It was time to build.

I’ve been building computers for some 35 years, and even now, it’s my preferred method of obtaining the system I need. Not only can I precisely tailor the hardware to my needs and budget, but when the tech changes a few years down the line, I can swap in something new in just a few minutes.

It’s a level of control and creativity that doesn’t exist everywhere in the tech space, so I relish every opportunity to pursue it — and this was a golden one.

One thing was clear from the outset, though. I was going to (have to) splurge on this one. Computer building can be as expensive as you want to make it, so as I needed something stronger than average to bring out the best in that graphics card, I went for broke.

But it’s never necessary — you can build an outstanding system for a fraction of what I did this one. That’s something we’ll get into… next time.

To choose the components for my ultimate 5090 build, I turned to Tom’s Guide’s sister site, Tom’s Hardware. Most of their top picks were terrific, and I went with them, although there were a couple of exceptions.

What parts did I use?

How to build a gaming PC

Once all the components arrived, I set up a table and got to building. Hardware manufacturers have simplified the process a lot over the years, so the only additional tools I needed were a screwdriver and a pair of scissors.

Here are our build steps. Though they may differ slightly depending on the components, in general, they’re going to be similar from system to system.

With my ultimate 5090 system finished, I was ready to start testing the card. Check out this story to learn more about its performance. And I’ll be looking forward to doing plenty of more playing… er, testing… on this computer for many years to come.

More from Tom's Guide

• Where to buy RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 — launch live updates and stock checker
• I went sim racing with the Intel Arc B580 GPU — it proves you can get great PC gaming without breaking the bank
• I rarely stream PC games to my phone but Razer just convinced me with PC Remote Play

It's been a whirlwind trying to find out where to buy an RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 since they launched, with stocks running out real fast. However, one of the best ways to get a hold of Nvidia's latest graphics cards is by picking a up a pre-built gaming PC, and somehow, they're up to $300 off right now.

More RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 gaming PCs are available at Newegg, and you'll find this ABS Eurus Aqua Gaming PC with an RTX 5080 is $300 off. I'm not sure how we're seeing a discount so soon, but I'm not complaining. In fact, there's even an ABS Kaze Ruby Gaming PC with an RTX 5080 for as low as $2,499 thanks to the price cut.

There's plenty more where that came from, along with an MSI Infinite Gaming Desktop with an RTX 5090 available (but no discount here). Grab one while the going's good.

Quick links

• shop all RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 gaming PCs at Newegg
• ABS Kaze Ruby Gaming PC (RTX 5080/AMD Ryzen 7 7700X): was $2,699 now $2,499
• AVGPC FrostFire Series AI Creator Gaming PC (RTX 5080/Intel Core i9 14900KF): was $2,899 now $2,695
• ABS Eurus Aqua Gaming PC (RTX 5080/Intel Core i9 14900KF): was $2,999 now $2,699
• Yeyian Phoenix Iron Mesh Gaming Desktop PC (RTX 5080/Intel Core Ultra 9 285K): was $3,099 now $2,799
• Cobratype Venom Gaming PC (RTX 5080/AMD Ryzen 9 9900X): now $2,999
• Cobratype Ghost Gaming PC (RTX 5080/AMD Ryzen 9 9900X): now $3,099
• MSI Infinite (Tower) Gaming Desktop (RTX 5090/Intel Ultra 9 285K): now $4,899

RTX 5090 Gaming PCs

RTX 5080 Gaming PCs

Since these are pre-built gaming PCs, I expect many are discounted due to their other components knocking the price down. Still, it's amazing to see an RTX 5080-equipped gaming rig come with a price cut instead of a price jump.

It's worth noting that some of the PCs are available for backorders, meaning they won't be shipped immediately. You won't be charged until one does ship, but it's good to place your order since they're available.

These gaming desktops pack a punch, and from what we've seen in our RTX 5090 desktop GPU tests, these are primed for next-level gaming at its finest.

There will be even more RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 available in the coming weeks, and if you're still figuring out if it's worth getting on, here are three reasons to buy and 2 reasons to skip an RTX 5090.

As we track where to buy an RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs before they hit shelves on January 30, you can grab Nvidia's next-gen graphics cards right now if you're on the market for a powerful pre-built gaming desktop PC.

That's right; that means you can pick up a Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 at Adorama now. You'll find a CyberPowerPC desktop gaming PC with an RTX 5080 from $2,229, which also comes packed with an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X CPU, 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. There's also a CyberPowerPC with an RTX 5090 for $4,499, equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU, 64GB of RAM, and a 4TB SSD.

This is an excellent chance to swipe an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090, and as you can tell, these gaming PCs are powerful. Nvidia's high-end RTX 50-series GPUs are set to be in high demand, and the GPUs alone may fetch a high price. If you're looking to upgrade your PC setup, or just want to be the first to get your hands on an RTX 5090 or 5080, now's the time.

Quick links

• shop all RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 gaming PCs at Adorama
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme (RTX 5080/AMD Ryzen 9 9900X): now $2,299
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme (RTX 5080/Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF): now $2,319
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme (RTX 5080/AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D): now $2,419
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme (RTX 5080/Intel Core Ultra 9 285K): now $2,699
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme (RTX 5080/AMD Ryzen 9 9950X): now $2,769
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme (RTX 5090/Intel Core Ultra 9 285K): now $4,499
• CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme (RTX 5090/AMD Ryzen 9 9950X): now $4,559

Where to buy RTX 5090 Gaming PCs

Where to buy RTX 5080 Gaming PCs

We've tested an RTX 5090 desktop GPU and saw huge performance gains, meaning the wait will be worth it for many after a next-gen gaming PC. Along with DLSS 4 and Nvidia's new Multi-Frame Generation, using AI to generate higher framerates, PC titles will look gorgeous.

Of course, not everyone needs a pre-built desktop gaming PC if they're only after the GPU upgrade, but if you're after several upgrades to your PC setup, these are great options seeing as they come fitted with next-gen RTX 50-series graphics cards.

These gaming PCs are available to pre-order, with shipping dates expected to be February 11, according to Adorama. Depending on stocks, this date could be pushed back, but at least you'll still land yourself an RTX 5090 or RTX 5080.

If you're on the hunt for the GPUs themselves, our RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 live blog will point you in the right direction.

The Acer Predator Orion 5000 ($1,799 to start) is the company's mid-tier gaming PC, and the 2024 model can be a beast thanks to the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 series graphics cards and Intel Raptor Lake Refresh 14th Gen CPUs. 

I know because I've spent some time working and gaming on a review unit that Acer sent us, and after some time getting to grips with the Orion 5000 I have to say, I'm impressed at how much value you can get out of this mid-range gaming rig.

It's probably a bit too cute to reference Goldilocks in a PC review, but the longer I spend with the Orion 5000 the more convinced I am that it's place in the middle of Acer's gaming PC hierarchy is just right for folks who want a versatile gaming machine.

I say that because I saw good to great results (thanks in part to Nvidia's DLSS upscaling tech) playing some of the latest games on this PC in 1080p, 1440p and even 4K resolution. While there are a few complaints I can level against this machine, I think it's probably one of the best gaming PCs you can buy in this price range thanks to its good performance, attractive design and (relatively) low noise.

Acer Predator Orion 5000 (2024) review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The 2024 edition of Acer's mid-range Predator Orion 5000 gaming desktop, sitting between the cheaper Acer Predator Orion 3000 and the top-of-the-line Acer Predator Orion 7000.
• What does it cost? The answer depends on when you buy and how you configure your desktop. At time of publication, the prebuilt Acer Predator Orion 5000 I review here retails for roughly $1,799 at Acer and retailers like Best Buy.
• Who is it for? PC gaming enthusiasts who want to pay upfront for a big, reliable gaming rig that's great for 1080p or 1440p and good for 4K gaming.
• What do we like? I appreciate the Predator Orion 5000's good balance of performance to price, the attractive easy-to-open chassis and good value for money.
• What don’t we like? Acer's bloatware is limited but frustrating to use, there is some fan noise when playing high-end games for long periods, and the included mouse and keyboard aren't amazing. 

Acer Predator Orion 5000 (2024) review: Specs

Acer Predator Orion 5000 (2024) review: The ups

This is the first Acer Predator Orion 5000 build I've had a chance to review, and after spending some time with it I really like how much value this prebuilt PC delivers.

Good performance for the price

I have to say, I'm impressed at how much fun I had gaming on this mid-range rig. After I unboxed our Orion 5000 review unit I hooked it up to my LG C2 OLED to try out a bit of PC gaming on a 4K 65-inch screen, and the rig had no trouble kicking out decent framerates in a lot of the best PC games I own, even at 4K.

While playing Cyberpunk 2077 I regularly saw framerates in the 50-70 FPS range even with raytracing on and without DLSS 3 enabled, though the framerate definitely crashed a few times during heavy action. But with DLSS 3 running, it smoothed out and I had hours of fun catching up on old quests at a steady 50-70 FPS. I had a similar experience playing more modern games like Star Wars Outlaws, though I needed to enable DLSS 3 and turn down a few setting a notch or two in order to get a reliable 40-60 FPS in Ubisoft's Star Wars game.

When we got the Orion 5000 into our testing lab and ran it through a few of our gaming benchmarks, I was impressed to see how well it performs given its price.

While the MSI Codex R2 (~$1,239) was significantly cheaper than our Orion review unit, the MSI Aegis R2 ($2,699) we reviewed is a bit more expensive than the Orion 5000 and had a slightly better CPU and GPU (Intel Core i9-14900K and RTX 4080 Super vs. the Acer Predator Orion 5000's Intel Core i7-14700F and RTX 4070 Super GPU). Knowing that, it's not surprising to see it outperform the Orion 5000 in our gaming tests.

Even so, I feel pretty good about saying that our Orion 5000 review unit is one of the better gaming PCs you can buy if you want a good price-to-performance ratio. But also, don't think you have to climb into the $3-$4k range to get an appreciably better time—the scores of the Aegis R2 show that if you're willing to spend a little under $3k you can get a noticeable jump in performance over the Orion 5000.

When we ran the Orion 5000 through our non-gaming performance tests, the story played out in a similar fashion. Acer's mid-range Predator desktop performed slightly better than similarly priced or cheaper gaming PCs, though the more expensive MSI Aegis R2 outperformed the Orion 5000 here as well. 

Easy-to-access case is lovely

I've been a big fan of Acer's Orion cases for some time because I like how they look and, more importantly, how easy they are to open and move around in with my clumsy mitts.

Our 2024 Acer Predator Orion review unit is no different, and its case offers the same easy access I've come to appreciate from Acer. To access the interior it you just slide a latch on the back and remove two screws, at which point the glass panel slides off easily.

I also like how light yet sturdy the case feels given its plastic parts. Don't get me wrong, it's not exactly light weight and you may want support if you're trying to move it long distances. But I can pick it up and move it around my house fairly easily, which is really nice given how much gaming muscle this rig delivers. I've come to expect that beastly gaming PCs weigh a ton, so having a (fairly) portable tower like this which is capable of running the latest games at 4K with a decent framerate is nice.

Acer Predator Orion 5000 (2024) review: The downs

I'm fond of our Acer Predator Orion 5000 review unit, but after spending some time using it for work and play there's a minor issue you should be aware of before purchasing one yourself.

Noisy fans

Our Acer Predator Orion 5000 review unit is no jet engine, but it does make an audible whirring noise when the machine is under heavy load. 

That's probably good for heat and performance since this PC isn't water-cooled and instead relies on a slew of system fans studded throughout the case. However, during marathon sessions of demanding games like Alan Wake 2 and Star Wars Outlaws, I definitely noticed the hum of the fans while gaming. In some cases I heard an even more annoying high-pitched whine that would repeat intermittently while gaming, though that issue could be unique to our prebuilt PC.

Now I'm not very sensitive to fan noise, so for me this is no deal-breaker. Moreover, this PC is beefy enough that I was able to keep it next to my 4K TV and play on the big screen, which means the case was usually at least 6 feet away from me while gaming. If it were right under my desk or right next to my monitor, however, I think the audible fan noise when gaming would be even more annoying.

Of course, it was never enough to distract me from games and I always had the option to put a pair of headphones on if it became too much, so I'd still be pretty happy with this machine if it was my primary gaming rig.

Acer Predator Orion 5000 (2024) review: Verdict

After spending some time with our Acer Predator Orion 5000 (2024) review unit, I think this might be my new favorite of the company's Predator gaming PCs.

I've reviewed all three models at this point, and while I love the overwhelming power of the Predator Orion 7000 I just don't need it to play the best Steam games in 4K anymore. This year's Orion 5000 is perfectly capable of running games I just bought a few months ago at a nice framerate in 4K with most of the bells and whistles turned on, and that's really all I need to enjoy myself.

And while I love the Orion 3000 for its affordability and recommend it as a great prebuilt 1080p gaming PC for someone just getting started with the hobby, it's hard not to think about how much more power you get from the Orion 5000 for a couple hundred bucks more upfront.

That said, there are other gaming PCs on the market that offer a similar value if you don't like the look or design of the Orion 5000. I'm thinking specifically of the Alienware Aurora R16, which delivers similar components and performance for the price. I think it also runs quieter than the Acer's Orion, too, though Alienware's PC is a bit heavier. 

But ultimately, I think this is a great prebuilt gaming PC with an attractive, easy-to-open case that delivers a lot of value for your money. 

Now that Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs have been announced, gamers are abuzz about the next-gen graphics cards. You know what's still a very powerful GPU to have, though? An RTX 4070, and you can now pick one up with a mighty discount thanks to this RTX 4070 desktop deal.

For a limited time, the Asus ROG Strix G16CH Gaming PC is $600 off at Newegg, meaning you can get a powerful desktop to play the latest PC games at a bargain price. Throw in its Intel Core i7-14700F processor and 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and you'll forget about needing to wait to grab a pricier RTX 50-series PC.

While Nvidia's RTX 50-series GPUs are well on their way, it doesn't make the RTX 40-series any less powerful. In fact, they're better than ever, as the release of the next-gen graphics cards has even made RTX 40-series laptops see huge discounts. Now, this RTX 4070 gaming PC deal shows high-quality gaming is getting more affordable.

This Asus ROG Strix G16CH won't just look like a sleek, gaming powerhouse on your desk setup, it will also be able to handle demanding PC titles at high quality, too. With its RTX 4070 desktop GPU combined with an Intel Core i7-14700F CPU, it will be able to blast through multiple tasks at once, whether it be for gaming or for work.

Its 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB SSD are more than welcome additions, and seeing as this is a desktop, these are all upgradeable when you see fit, as it comes with four U-DIMM RAM slots. Cooling is also a highlight, as the air coolers are designed for both 65W and 105W TDP processors that channel air from underneath and through the mesh front panel.

Oh, and the RGB lighting across the front panel and interior will make this gaming PC shine. There's even a hidden headset holder inside the chassis to keep your gaming headset close.

If this is the right fit for you (you'll save $600 if it is), make sure to pair it with one of the best gaming monitors on the market today. For even more of the best PC gaming deals to save big on, we've got you covered.

There was a time that my PC featured some of the latest mid-range components that you could get on a gaming PC.

But that was nearly a decade ago, and many would argue that with a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, my setup is sorely in need of an update.

However, even though my graphics card is more than 8 years old, I’m in no rush to upgrade it to the impending RTX 50-series GPUs that are set to launch at CES 2025 later this month.

You’ll be surprised how much an SSD upgrade can do

One of the reasons I’ve held off on a GPU upgrade is because upgrading to an SSD provided an admirable boost to the performance of many of my games.

Upgrading to an SSD from a hard drive won’t suddenly make your game run at 120fps, but it provides a number of improvements that enhance the gaming experience overall.

Firstly, it speeds up loading times considerably. When my games were installed on an HDD, even a game with as few demands as Graveyard Keeper would take a significant time to load. Meanwhile, online games like Valorant would take so long to load maps that a match would have nearly ended by the time I loaded in.

Using an SSD as my dedicated storage for games quickly improved the experience, loading games quickly. In fact, it improved my experience so much that I noticed that a friend with an RTX 30 series GPU took longer to load their environment in Baldur’s Gate 3 because they had the game installed on an HDD.

So it turned out that the much cheaper and simpler upgrade to my PC staved off my desire to upgrade my GPU for a while longer. My only regret is that I opted for a 1TB drive rather than 2TB, as in less than a year I’ve already managed to fill up my dedicated games drive even though I uninstalled games I don’t plan on playing anytime soon.

Indie games aren’t all that demanding

While AAA games are the ones you’ll see covered in the headlines the most, the indie gaming scene is healthy and full of gems that will keep you busy.

Many of my favorite games over the past few years have been indie titles, many of which feature pixel graphics. These don’t tend to have very demanding requirements, meaning that my gaming library has been very gentle on my graphics card.

I just spent the past month or so achieving Perfection in Stardew Valley, a game which was released in 2016. Recently, I’ve also been going through my Steam library to also complete and get achievements in games I never had the time to get to as I try to get my 26% game completion rate average up.

When it comes to reviewing games, I also prefer to choose affordable indies that don’t hurt the wallet. Most of these cost less than $20, and while I have run into a few that are poorly optimized, they usually aren’t graphically demanding.

This means that my GPU has performed admirably when it comes to the types of games I play, with very few making me feel like I’m missing out on the full game experience due to a sub-par graphics card.

Even new high-budget games support my GPU

When it comes to high budget or AAA games, my GPU is still supported, often exceeding the minimum specs.

For example, I was able to play Baldur’s Gate 3 smoothly because its minimum GPU requirement is a GTX 970. For the recently released Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the minimum requirement is the same.

Sure, I could be getting higher frame rates with a better graphics card, but I don’t need to be running a game at 120FPS to enjoy it. I understand that higher frame rates are important in games like first-person shooters, but I only dabble in these on occasion, so I don’t really find the need for boosted performance.

The only game that has made me lament my graphics card performance is Ark: Survival Evolved, which was released in 2017. But I’m not about to upgrade my GPU for one game that I can still enjoy, albeit with a lower view distance and not as much detail as I would like.

I’ll take my time with upgrading

Despite preferring the flexibility of PC gaming over consoles, I’ve never been one to keep my PC updated with the latest and greatest hardware. A lot of this has to do with budget.

The reality is that not everyone can afford the newest monitors with the highest refresh rates or the most powerful GPUs (and the components you need to upgrade to support them).

Besides my SSD, my last upgrade was my CPU, and that was due to the previous CPU breaking. Necessity, rather than the desire for top-tier performance, has been the major driver of my PC upgrades.

The last time I considered upgrading my GPU was during the cryptocurrency mining frenzy, which put newer GPUs far outside my budget. Prices have since calmed down, but in that time I’ve grown to appreciate my GTX 1060 more. Eventually I will upgrade, but for now I’m happy to wait.

More from Tom's Guide

• Nvidia DLSS 4 leak details huge upgrades coming to RTX 50-series GPUs — higher frame rates, enhanced ray tracing and more
• Huge Asus ROG gaming laptop leak just revealed Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs and Intel 'Arrow Lake-HX' CPUs
• Intel offers apologies and fixes for Arrow Lake performance issues: What you need to know

Nvidia launching RTX 50-series GPUs at CES 2025 seems to be a sound bet by this point. While nobody can say for certain given we’ve just seen a smattering of leaks and rumors, we just got the clearest indication thanks to an accidental reveal.

PC gaming company Zotac added (and quickly removed) the GeForce RTX 5090, 5080 and 5070 GPUs on its website, but not fast enough for Video Cardz to not grab screenshots. Not only did we get a sight of the names, but we also caught a glimpse of some of the more important specs for high-fidelity gameplay.

In short, I’m excited about the pure horsepower these have, but my electric bill is going to sweat a little. But let me go into more detail.

What was leaked?

Through the website’s online store filter and Google search result meta descriptions, we’ve managed to confirm the following five GPUs:

For context, the D variant of the RTX 5090 is the model that will be released exclusively in Japan.

Unlimited power

Yes, Palpatine may have been a little dramatic here, but the key spec of the top-of-the-range RTX 50-series is its use of GDDR7 memory over the GDDR6 you saw in the likes of the 4090.

The main reason this is important is the speed of accessing important data on the fly could be up to 60% faster, while potentially using roughly 20% less power while doing so. On top of that, separate rumors point to the amount of CUDA cores going up possibly by up to 33%.

This will drastically increase the number of parallel computations the GPU can handle — meaning your shiny new card will be able to balance all kinds of graphical processing from maintaining fidelity at high resolutions while calculating ray tracing and path tracing. Quicker and more power-efficient is the name of the game for the next generation.

The power grid’s not going to like you

Going back to Zotac’s leak, using RTX 5090 as an example, there is 32GB of GDDR7 memory on board — a third more than the previous king of the mountain in the RTX 4090. This is the part that gets me a little nervous, as that nullifies the 20% decrease in power demands with more storage.

So with a little quick math (again, this is all very much based on tying together a few rumors), with the TGP of the RTX 4090 at 450W, the RTX 4090 could stand at 480W — that’s before even considering any overclocking possibilities.

Taking the average electricity rate in the U.S. (16.83 cents per kilowatt-hour), that’d come up to a potential running cost of 40 cents per day, which is drastically more than any game console or integrated graphics option and could really start to add up (before even considering the rest of the system’s power draw).

Don’t get me wrong. I know this won’t be a problem for everyone, but it’s certainly something you should consider deciding between — the pure horsepower of a dedicated GPU, or the better balance of an integrated option while compromising some of those capabilities.

Where is the RTX 5060?

This is a good question. We reported on an RTX 5060 leak yesterday but it’s not in Zotac’s lineup. I’m still quietly confident we’ll see this form part of what is announced by Nvidia (maybe Zotac is dodging this one for the initial launch), but time will tell.

More from Tom's Guide

• I ditched my PS5 for the world’s smallest liquid-cooled gaming PC — and I may never go back
• Nvidia and AMD plan to launch their own PC chips by 2025 to challenge Intel
• The new Nvidia app is here to replace GeForce Experience — here's what's new

Black Friday is almost here, and if you're shopping for the PC gamer in your life, you can already find plenty of epic deals on Alienware and Dell machines capable of handling the best PC games.

Whatever your budget, you're spoiled for choice when it comes to saving on gaming laptops and desktops powerful enough to rival the PS5 or Xbox Series X. So if you're looking to upgrade your set-up for the holidays, there's no better time. Right now you can snag Alienware's Aurora R16 gaming PC for just $2,499 at Dell. If you're on a budget, the Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ PC is on sale for just $899 at Dell right now, is a surprisingly solid gaming laptop for the price and even packs a Snapdragon Elite CPU with 16GB of RAM.

We track Dell deals throughout the year, so you can rest easy knowing that these 9 Black Friday deals on Dell and Alienware machines are worth every penny. For even more ways to save, we've rounded up the best Black Friday gaming monitor deals and Black Friday gaming PC deals going on now. And don't forget to check out our guide to the best Dell coupons while you're at it.

Quick Links

• Alienware 34" Curved QD-OLED Monitor: was $1,099 now $799 @ Dell
• Dell XPS 13 Copilot+ PC: was $1,199 now $899 @ Dell
• Alienware 32" QD-OLED Curved 4K Monitor: was $1,199 no $899 @ Dell
• Dell G16 Gaming Laptop (RTX 4060): was $1,499 now $999 @ Dell
• Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 Laptop: was $1,499 now $999 @ Best Buy
• Alienware m16 R2 Gaming Laptop (RTX 4060): was $1,699 now $1,299 @ Dell
• Alienware Aurora R16 (RTX 4070): was $1,999 now $1,399 @ Dell
• Alienware x16 R2 gaming laptop (RTX 4060): was $2,099 now $1,499 @ Dell
• Alienware Aurora R16 (RTX 4080): was $3,199 now $2,499 @ Dell

Early Black Friday Alienware and Dell deals

The MSI Codex R2 14 ($1,079 to start, $1,239 as reviewed) is an updated version of the company's Codex gaming PC fitted with 14th Gen Intel chips, and it's a great value.

I know because I've been using one for a month as my daily driver, writing and editing during the day and gaming all night on this glowing black tower.

While the performance is what you'd expect from a Core i5 CPU with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and 16GB of RAM to play with, this easy-to-open machine still delivers good to great framerates in the best PC games at 1080p. Plus, it's one of the first gaming PCs I've tested that comes with support for Wi-Fi 7.

You have to accept some shortcomings, but given the price I still feel like this is one of the best gaming PCs I've reviewed all year, especially for those who want an affordable entryway to PC gaming.

MSI Codex R2 14 review: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? A mid-range mid-tower gaming PC from MSI.
• Who is it for? Anyone who wants to play games at 1080p in good to great framerates.
• What does it cost? $1,239 as reviewed, available via the MSI website or third-party retailers.
• What do we like? This is a capable, affordable 1080p gaming machine with a simple, easy-to-access case.
• What don’t we like? The vendor software isn't great and the fans can get loud.

MSI Codex R2 14 review: Specs

MSI Codex R2 14 review: What we like

The MSI Codex R2 14 review unit we received for this review is a machine I really like because it's simple, subtle and quiet yet is good enough to play most games well at 1080p. Let me walk you through some of its strengths that stand out most after a month of testing.

Good 1080p performance for the price

You buy a gaming PC because you want to play the best PC games at good framerates, and the MSI Codex R2 14 delivers that at 1080p.

During my testing I had loads of fun playing games like Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077 and Rogue Trader at 1080p on this machine. While I had to dial some settings down in all three games to get framerates I was ecstatic about, only Cyberpunk 2077 really needed the extra oomph of Nvidia's DLSS tech to achieve 60+ FPS at 1080p with medium to high settings.

That being said, you'll notice from the chart of gaming benchmarks above that our ~$1,200 review unit can't match the performance of more expensive gaming PCs like the MSI Aegis RS2 ($2,699) we recently reviewed or our current top pick for best gaming PC, the Alienware Aurora R16 ($2,099).

That's not a huge surprise since most gaming PCs we test cost more than this MSI Codex and have more powerful components inside, like a Core i7 or i9 CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 or better.

No, what you should take away from these results is not that this is a bad gaming PC, but that for ~$1,300 or so it can play most of the best Steam games at 60 FPS or more in 1080p, if you're willing to accept some compromises.

Luckily, since it has an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti onboard you can play with Nvidia's DLSS tech to fine-tune framerates in your favorite games to your liking.

Easy-to-access case

The MSI Codex R2 comes in a spacious, easy-to-open case, which is great for when you eventually want to get inside and start swapping stuff out.

Before you can even open the case of course you've got to open the box that the PC comes in, and that's when you're greeted with one of my favorite little touches in this PC's design: a simple black branded slipcover with handles that makes it easy to pull the PC case out of the box.

I review gaming PCs for a living, and I wish they all came with this one thing because it makes the process of unboxing your new PC such a breeze.

Opening the tempered glass side panel on the case is as simple as twisting off two thumbscrews on the rear and sliding it off. Once inside you have some room to expand, as our Codex R2 review unit arrived with a spare M.2 socket and four SATA ports for additional storage.

I also like the tasteful RGB lighting which lights up the four fans inside the case, which are protected by mesh dust filters. The lighting can be configured by either downloading MSI's Mystic Light software or simply pressing the button to cycle through color presets.

I especially love the fact that the Codex has an LED button on the top because it lets you quickly turn off the lighting when you want a dark room, rather than having to fiddle with the software first.

Wi-Fi 7 is here

The MSI Codex R2 is the first gaming PC I've tested that comes with Wi-Fi 7 support standard, which is a big deal if you care about fast networking speeds.

If you're not familiar with Wi-Fi 7, the simple version is that it's capable of delivering faster speeds and more reliable wireless Internet than older versions. You can check out our Wi-Fi 6E vs Wi-Fi 7 guide for a more in-depth breakdown, but what's worth remembering is that even if you don't use Wi-Fi 7 yet, having this PC means you're future-proofed for if/when you do eventually upgrade.

MSI Codex R2 14 review: What we don’t like

I like our MSI Codex R2 14 review unit quite a bit, but our testing has revealed a key weakness you should know about before you buy.

Slow SSD performance

Our MSI Codex R2 is plenty fast enough in day-to-day use, but in our benchmarking lab we found some weaknesses in its performance compared to other gaming PCs we've recently tested.

Most notably, the Codex's SSD is pretty slow, even for a budget gaming PC. While I expected to see the Codex's Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark scores come in a bit lower than beefier and more expensive gaming PCs like the Aegis R2, I didn't expect the SSD scores to be so low.

In our SSD speed test, which tasks the drive with transferring a big chunk of mixed-media files, our MSI Codex review unit managed a speed of 747.9 megabits per second (MBps).

That's fine for day-to-day use, but way slower than most gaming PCs we test. It's incredibly rare to see any PC score under 1,000 MBps in this test, and (as you can see from our chart of results above) premium gaming PCs typically achieve twice what our MSI Codex R2 can do.

As disappointing as that is, I should point out that in my hands-on time with the MSI Codex R2 I was never bothered by slow transfer speeds or sluggish file moves. While this machine may lag behind the pack under the gun, most of the time I didn't feel constrained by this weakness.

MSI Codex R2 14 review: Verdict

I like the MSI Codex R2 because it offers clear value that's as easy to see as the inside of this RGB-lit case.

For under $1,500 you get a good gaming PC that can handle most games well at 1080p. Some games can even run well at 1440p, especially if you upgrade, and the roomy, easy-to-access chassis makes that pretty straightforward on the Codex.

However, you shouldn't expect best-in-class performance from this machine in any respect save its early adoption of Wi-Fi 7. That's a rare thing to see in a gaming PC at this price, but in every other regard this machine fails to wow us with its performance.

But at this price, that's not really what matters. What matters is that this is an affordable, approachable 1080p gaming PC that's ideal as an all-purpose desktop or an introduction to PC gaming.

If you like the look of the system but need more power, you can find models that are beefier than what we reviewed or consider moving up to the company's Aegis lineup instead.

Black Friday deals are going strong, so now is the time to save big on the best gaming PCs including some with as much as $600 off the original price!

Whether you want a gaming desktop that can outperform a PS5 or Xbox Series X or you're just looking to upgrade, my following picks of deals on great gaming rigs cover a variety of budgets. Any of these machines could also make for a great platform to get to grips with running AI models locally.

I’ve been building PCs and enjoying the best Steam games on them for 20 years. Trust me, I know a thing or two about PC gaming. That’s why you can rest easy knowing these Black Friday gaming PC deals won’t steer you wrong.

Quick Links

• HP Victus 15L (RTX 4060): was $1,200 now $779 @ HP
• ViprTech Rebel 4.0 (RTX 4060): was $1,049 now $824 @ Amazon
• MSI Codex R2 (RTX 4060Ti): was $1,399 now $999 @ Newegg
• Alienware Aurora R16 (RTX 4070): was $1,999 now $1,399 @ Dell
• Acer Predator Orion 5000: was $1,749 now $1,449
• Legion Tower 7i Gen 8: was $3,299 now $2,699 @ Lenovo

Black Friday gaming PC deals (RTX 4060)

Black Friday gaming PC deals (RTX 4070)

Black Friday gaming PC deals (RTX 4080)

Black Friday gaming PC deals (RTX 4090)

Gaming PCs are not cheap — if you can find one south of $1,000, you're doing pretty well. They're even more expensive if you opt for a pre-built option, although we're currently tracking some excellent deals following yesterday's Amazon's Prime Day sales. The good news? Every deal below is still set at Prime Day prices at time of writing.

If you want a decent gaming PC that won’t break the bank, you can currently save $300 on the Lenovo LOQ deal below. Whereas if you want a machine that’s going to comfortably run many of the best Steam games at frame rates the Xbox Series X could only dream of, I suggest checking out the MSI Aegis RS2. This mighty impressive RTX 4070 Ti-powered rig is a colossal $500 off right now.

The latest Prime Day event may officially be over, but that doesn't mean these rig sales perhaps won't still be available until the end of the week. 

Quick links

• Lenovo LOQ (RTX 3050): was $899 now $599 @ Best Buy 
• ViprTech Rebel 4.0 (RTX 4060): was $1,049 now $824 @ Amazon
• Corsair Vengeance i7500 (RTX 4060): was $1,699 now $1,359 @ Amazon  
• Alienware Aurora R16 (RTX 4070): was $2,049 now $1,799 @ Dell
• MSI Aegis RS2 (RTX 4070 Ti): was $2,299 now $1,799 @ Best Buy 
• Alienware Aurora R16 (RTX 4090): was $3,999 now $2,999 @ Dell
• CLX RA (RTX 4090): was $4,799 now $4,299 @ Best Buy

Prime Day gaming PCs deals

The Corsair One i500 ($3,599 as configured) is a small wonder. Though not exactly a mini PC, this rig is smaller than many gaming PCs. Because of its relatively diminutive size, you’ll have no trouble finding a place for it on your desk. The classy wood front panel also ensures this machine won’t look out of place in your home office.

This rig is small in size but big in power. Our test unit’s Intel Core i9-14900K CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super GPU and 32GB of RAM allow it to play the best PC games at maximum graphical settings without a problem. And while the Corsair One i500 can get fairly warm, it runs much cooler and quieter than other gaming PCs I’ve tested.

While the Corsair One i500 is undoubtedly a beast, it’s not perfect. At time of writing, there are only two available configurations, and both are very expensive. And though you can swap out components, doing so isn’t easy due to the rig’s compact size. If you want to change the GPU you’ll need to ship the PC to Corsair, which is a bummer.

The Corsair One i500 might be pricey and hard to configure but there’s no denying it’s one of the best gaming PCs I’ve ever tested. Find out more in my full review. 

Corsair One i500 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Corsair One i500 is a powerful gaming PC that’s small enough for most desk setups
• Who is it for? For folks who want a powerful gaming PC that doesn’t look like a typical gaming rig
• What does it cost? The Corsair One i500 we reviewed costs $3,599 as configured from Corsair’s website.
•  What don’t we like? The high price, lack of configurations and that you have to return it to Corsair to swap out the GPU.
• What do we like? The incredible performance, classy design and how quietly it runs. 

Corsair One i500 review: Specs

Corsair One i500 review: The ups

The Corsair One i500 impresses thanks to its small size and awesome gaming performance. The fact it runs cool and looks good doing it serves as a bonus.

Compact design

Most of the desktops I test are usually big towers. The gaming rig I have at home is also rather large. Because of that, the Corsair One i500 is a welcome change. Though larger than previous Corsair One PCs, the i500 is still relatively compact at 15.3 x 11.8 x 7.6 inches. And while 15.8 pounds isn’t exactly light, it’s easy to lift if you need to readjust it on your desk or perhaps move the PC to another room.

The Corsair One i500’s wood paneling and fabric sides lend the PC an air of elegance you don’t typically associate with gaming PCs. If personal computers existed in the 1950s, I imagine they’d look like this. That said, the tasteful RGB lighting on the front and back let you know this is indeed a gaming rig. Pressing or dragging a finger over the thin black strip running across the front panel allows you to change the lighting pattern, which is a neat feature.

This rig might have a small profile but it packs more than enough ports. There are two USB-A ports, a USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the front, with another seven USB-A ports, a USB-C port, HD audio ports, a lone HDMI 2.1 port and three DisplayPorts on the back.

Excellent performance 

The Corsair One i500 might sport a refined appearance but an absolute performance monster lies within its chassis.

Thanks to our review unit’s Intel Core i9-14900K CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super GPU and 32GB of RAM, I had no trouble running modern graphically demanding games at max graphical settings and 4K resolution. Doom Eternal ran at an insane 220 frames per second at those settings, while Cyberpunk 2077 hovered in the mid-60s without the frame-boosting Nvidia DLSS feature enabled. This is exactly the performance I’d expect from a $3,600+ machine.

We also benchmarked several games during our lab tests and saw equally impressive results. At 4K resolution, games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Borderlands 3, Dirt 5, and Far Cry 6 ran close to or above 100 frames per second, as you can see above. 

Considering the powerful components under its hood, the Corsair One i500 doesn’t break a sweat when handling less intensive tasks like surfing the web, streaming videos or everyday work. This gaming rig handled my typical workflow—which usually consists of over 30 open tabs and the occasional YouTube video—without a hitch.

Our lab test backs up my experience. On Geekbench 6, which tests overall CPU performance, the Corsair One i500 turned in impressive single-core and multi-core scores. These numbers are comparable to the MSI Aegis RS2 14 ($2,699), which has the same GPU, 32GB of RAM and an Intel Core i9 CPU. Corsair’s gaming rig can also transcode 4K video to 1080p in a flash, as our Handbrake test reveals. 

Cool and quiet

Despite its powerful components and compact design, the Corsair One i500 runs very quietly and remains cool to the touch.

This is due to its three intake fans on the back and two fans up top. The water-cooled CPU and GPU also ensure things remain relatively cool inside. And even with all the fans rotating, the PC doesn’t get loud at all—ensuring your gaming session isn’t ruined by noisy fans.

Corsair One i500 review: The downs

The Corsair One i500 delivers an awesome gaming experience. However, some drawbacks could make you think twice about purchasing this expensive rig. 

Easy to open but difficult to upgrade 

Opening the Corsair One i500 is relatively easy. After popping off the magnetic fabric panels, all you need to do is unscrew four screws on the back (two screws per side) to remove the metal panels to access the interior. Things get more complicated after this, however.

You can upgrade the CPU, RAM and storage but doing so is somewhat tricky since the interior is so tightly packed. It’s not impossible, but if you have big hands like me, you might have a hard time moving around inside this rig. Then there’s the GPU …

If you want to upgrade the GPU, you’ll have to send the Corsair One i500 back to the company so employees can do that for you. This is likely because the GPU is liquid-cooled and Corsair doesn’t want you potentially damaging the system. While that’s understandable, sending back a gaming rig, even a small one like this, isn’t exactly fun.

With such top-end components, you likely won’t have to upgrade anything for many years. But if you want to swap parts out, especially the GPU, don’t expect an easy time.

Expensive

This might seem like an unfair criticism since gaming PCs are generally the most expensive computers out there. However, price could be a severe hindrance for anyone interested in the Corsair One i500. Even the “cheaper” model ranks among the most expensive PCs I’ve reviewed. The fact you can’t configure the PC to use more cost-friendly components is irritating.

That said, if price is no object and you don’t want to muck around trying to build a configuration that balances performance and price, then this rig’s cost won’t be an issue.

Corsair One i500 review: Verdict

The Corsair One i500 is certainly pricey and difficult to upgrade, but if you’re looking for a machine that can run games at 4K and well over 60 frames per second, this machine more than gets the job done. Not only does it deliver stellar performance but does so in one of the most unique designs I’ve seen for a gaming PC. If I could afford this machine, I wouldn’t think twice about getting it for myself.

If you’re looking for a gaming PC that won’t nuke your bank account, the Alienware Aurora R16 ($1,249) offers great performance and has a no-frills chassis. The Dell XPS 8960 ($899) is an even more affordable option that still delivers a fun gaming experience.

Price aside, the Corsair One i500 is an overall beast of a gaming rig. If you can stomach its cost, you won’t be disappointed.

The MSI Aegis R2 ($1,899 to start) is an off-the-shelf gaming PC that competes with the best of the boutique builders, and it delivers good value and great build quality for the price.

Of its five desktop product lines, MSI's Aegis is the widest ranging as it covers everything from upper mainstream systems to just under the ultra-premium configurations reserved for the Infinite line. The new RS2 variants mix liquid cooling with Intel's 14th-generation CPUs, a Z790 motherboard, Wi-Fi 7 and Nvidia 4000 series GPUs. 

These desktops offer high performance for a price that doesn't require a third mortgage to afford. In this MSI Aegis RS2 review, I'll walk you through what you get and with these prebuilt PCs and why they're competitive with the best gaming PCs on the market.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Price & availability

The Aegis isn't a custom (or even semi-custom) desktop in that you can't order a specific configuration from MSI. 

However, MSI offers many pre-built SKUs for sale on its website in a broad range of configurations and price points. Lower end models have air-cooled CPUs (i7-14700KF or Ryzen 7700), RTX 4060 graphics, 16GB DDR5, and 1TB NVMe storage drives and cost upwards of $1,800. 

The higher-tier SKUs run up to $3,000 and use i9 and Ryzen 9 CPUs, 360mm liquid-coolers, RTX 4080 Super graphics, 64GB DDR5 memory, and 2TB NVMe drives. 

These Aegis desktops are also available for purchase from retailers such as Newegg, Best Buy, B&H, Walmart, and others.

The Aegis R2 review unit MSI sent us for this review includes an Intel Core i9-14900KFCPU in a Z790 motherboard, an Nvidia RTX 4080 Super GPU, 32GB RAM, plus a 2TB NVMe drive and has an MSRP of $2699.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Design

The defining feature of the Aegis RS2 case is the front panel, with its protruding, angular faces, and lone MSI dragon logo. The base design has a tempered glass panel on the left side with vented mesh on the top, right, and bottom and is available in either a white or black case. Two alternate versions are available with the black case which omits the glass and uses a different mesh design. Three RGB fans are stacked in the front for air intake and no front drive bays are available.

The main side panel is tempered glass to show off the internals. At the base of the Aegis (at least, this particular configuration) is the MSI PRO Z790-VC WIFI motherboard. The beefy i9-14900KF CPU is cooled by a 360mm radiator mounted at the top of the case. Twin sticks of 16GB DDR5-5600 RAM are used for 32GB total system memory. Below the CPU, under its own heatsink, is a 2TB M480 NVMe drive providing plenty of storage for games and applications.

The central showpiece is the Nvidia GPU, a triple-slot RTX 4080 SUPER. The GPU is mounted with a support bracket to prevent sagging and physical damage to the card. The GPU also sports RGB lighting around the MSI logo on the top edge. The PSU is bottom mounted and covered with a shroud to hide it and most of the cables from view.

The backside panel is vented at the front and bottom for additional airflow if necessary. Remove the panel (both left and right panels use captive thumb screws) and you see the central fan and RGB controller and cables neatly bundled. The top panel is fully vented and allows mounting for both 120mm and 140mm fans or radiators. A dust filter is magnetically attached up top and more are on the bottom to protect the PSU's air intake.

MSI also bundles a keyboard and mouse with all their desktops, something many custom and boutique models charge extra for, or don't offer. The top row F keys are doubled up with usual shortcut functions, but the keyboard has no dedicated media, gaming, or shortcut keys. The keyboard uses membrane switches, though with mechanical switch cues, making it a hybrid design. Though not as crisp as a true mechanical keyboard, it's certainly a step or two better than most bundled keyboards from Dell or HP. The keyboard has colored row backlighting. A key combo shortcut cycles through different lighting patterns, but there's no per-key RGB lighting.

Like the keyboard, the mouse is quite a bit better than most bundled desktop mice. It has a large, full size meant to fill out your hand, not just sit flat and look nice on a desk. It has five buttons, including a Back and Forward thumb button and clickable scroll wheel, plus a dedicated DPI shift button up top. Like the keyboard, the mouse has cycling lighting patterns, but it's not programmable. 

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Ports & upgradability

The power and reset buttons are along the right edge of the top panel. With them is also an LED button which cycles the RGB lighting of the fans and CPU waterblock through various colors and patterns (the GPU lighting isn't synced, though). Two 5 Gbps USB ports – one type-A, one type-C – are also up top along with 3.5mm audio jacks for headphones and a mic.

A total of seven USB ports are on the rear I/O: two 2.0, four 5Gbps 3.0, and one 20 Gbps type-C. One PS/2 port is available if you have a keyboard that needs it. The audio out includes six 3.5mm jacks, but no fiber optic connection. Two antenna connections are for the integrated Wi-Fi controller on the motherboard which supports the new 802.11 be Wi-Fi 7 protocol. 

However, the offered USB ports leave something to be desired on a PC costing over $2,500. Only one port has bandwidth over 5Gbps, and only two ports are on the front for quick access. That's not terribly helpful for those using high-speed external storage, or that need to frequently (dis)connect portable drives.

As our review model has a KF processor with no integrated graphics, the HDMI and DisplayPort connections are covered with a sticker, reminding the user they are effectively disabled. It's also important to note that other Aegis configurations may use a different motherboard, which would change the available ports.

As the Aegis uses a standard case and parts, consumers can change and upgrade components as they wish. Users that want to expand storage capacity beyond the single NVMe drive have multiple 3.5" and 2.5" bays available in the case.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Gaming performance

We expect the Aegis to perform admirably in our 4K gaming benchmarks given that it costs nearly $3,000. We've seen many desktops recently come across our review bench using 14th-gen i9 processors and 4080 or 4090 GPUs, so we have a good idea what to expect. 

Last year's Origin Chronos V3 should be a useful comparison as it's nearly identically equipped, albeit with last-gen parts. The Chronos has a i9-13900K processor instead of the newer i9-14900KF and both use a 360mm radiator for cooling. The Chronos uses an RTX 4080 instead of the overclocked 4080 Super in the Aegis. On the other side we can use the more recent Corsair Vengeance i7500, using the came i9-14900K CPU but much more powerful RTX 4090.

As expected, the Aegis has only a small lead over the Chronos in gaming performance. 

Focusing on 4K resolutions, we see the Aegis is only 3fps faster (or less) than the Chronos in Borderlands 3, Far Cry 6, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and even more demanding titles like Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition and Red Dead Redemption 2. The exceptions to this are DiRT 5 and Grand Theft Auto V. In DiRT, going from 127fps to 135fps isn't really meaningful. In GTAV, though, it's enough to bump performance over the 60fps mark for truly smooth gameplay without needing a VRR display, so that may be important for some users. 

On the other end, the Vengeance enjoys a significant performance advantage over the Aegis thanks to the monstrous RTX 4090. As you can see from our test results, framerates are 25% to 50% faster across the board.

However it's important to note the Aegis is an off-the-shelf retail system, not a custom or boutique build. It's significantly less expensive than either the Chronos or Vengeance. Even a similarly equipped Vengeance with RTX 4080 Super is hundreds of dollars more expensive. 

The Aegis is also easy to live with thanks to its quintet of cooling fans. Using a 360mm radiator for the CPU and four additional case fans gives it plenty of cooling. Though it may seem counterintuitive to some, having more fans actually allows a system to run quieter. Seven fans at half speed are often quieter than four fans at full speed, and they move more air. Even under full 4K gaming load, the system is under 36 dBA from 1m away. Maximum gaming power draw stays around 415W, though you can certainly send it much higher with synthetic stress tests.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Overall performance

The eight hyper-threaded performance cores in the i9-14900KF can boost up to 6.0 GHz while 16 efficiency cores at 4.4 GHz offer lots of processing bandwidth. These 32 execution threads, backed by 32 GB of system RAM and 2TB of NVMe storage make for a system that can work just as well as it can play.

In the Geekbench 6 multi-core CPU test our review unit scored 20,115, while the machine learning tests marked 4977 on the CPU and 25989 on the GPU. The Crossmark scores, which simulate creative and productivity tasks, are similarly high. The Aegis falls a little shy of the Vengeance, but that machine also had twice the RAM.

Our Handbrake video conversion test only took 2:04 to complete on the Aegis, which is a few seconds faster than the Vengeance. But in practical use, this is essentially a tie.

In storage, the Aegis transferred our 25 GB test file in an incredible 13.41 seconds for an average of 2002.56 MBps. This is faster than even the Vengeance at 1774.47 MBps. However, like the Vengeance, the Aegis is not offered with a secondary spindle drive for mass storage. While the case has room for additional drives for the consumer to add one, it would be nice to have that option out of the box.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Software & extras

MSI keeps software to a minimum, something we appreciate. The MSI Center app has modules allowing you to customize your system, performance profiles, and RGB lighting. It also can be used to monitor system status, clock speeds, temperatures, and other more. A trial of Norton Antivirus is also included.

Also, the PC comes with a wired mouse and keyboard included at no extra charge. They're nothing to write home about, but it's nice to get them so you don't need to worry about providing your own.

MSI Aegis RS2 review: Verdict

A $2,700 PC is certainly not "low-budget." But as I noted when reviewing the Corsair Vengeance, "value" for high-end gaming PCs is calculated differently. That said, since it's priced a couple hundred less than some similarly configured gaming PCs the Aegis increases the traditional value viewpoint considerably.

The Aegis has quality construction and the cable management is very clean. The end customer isn't locked into any proprietary cases or parts so future customization and upgrades are no problem at all. The included keyboard and mouse are much better than the typical trashcan filler you get with home/office desktops. They don't match up to the quality of the best mechanical keyboards or programmable mouse, but they're quite competent. 

It also comes with a carry bag that makes it easy to remove the PC from its shipping box or repack it back in with ease, which is an underappreciated feature.

And while you can't custom-order the components, MSI offers many versions of the Aegis at such a broad range of prices that you'd be hard-pressed to not find exactly what you wanted. However again, the lack of custom ordering means you're limited to what's in stock at your retailer of choice. And regardless of where you get it, a secondary storage drive is never an option. 

For a machine that comes with all this, offers a stellar 1440p gaming experience, and noteworthy 4K60 gaming performance, a price tag of $2,700 is more than reasonable. Finding it as low as $2,400 isn't unheard of if you keep an eye out for sales and clearance events, either!

In an increasingly subscription-based world, it shouldn't be a surprise that the idea will eventually come to gaming PCs. 

In a press release, gaming desktop PC builder NZXT revealed a new subscription service where it will send you a gaming rig for as low as $59 a month. There is a catch — you must provide your own mouse, keyboard and monitor. 

The program, dubbed NZXT Flex, has apparently existed since at least February of this year, though it appears the program has shifted pricing and PC specs since its initial launch. The newest iteration of the subscription service locks in pricing and a tiered approach to renting gaming PCs.

"At NZXT, we believe everyone should be able to play the games they love," said Bryan de Zayas, NZXT's Head of Marketing, in the press release. "In the past, that meant buying a pre-built PC or building your own. Our new Flex subscription service offers gamers more flexibility and choice, so they can focus on what really matters – playing the games they love."

The program features three levels: Player: One, Player: Two and Player: Three, with the first being the entry-level subscription starting at $59 a month. That level gives you an H5 Flow tower on an Intel Core i5 14400F and Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU.

Player: Two ups the CPU to an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and an Nvidia RTX 4070 Super GPU, costing $119 a month. Finally, Player: Three offers an Intel Core i7-137000KF CPU and an Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti Super GPU, which will hit your wallet for $169 monthly.

These may not be some of the best gaming PCs on the market, but they seem pretty solid. 

All three tiers have a required $50 "setup and shipping fee," including a return label for whenever you cancel the sub. Subscriptions are month to month and can be canceled.

If you try the program, NZXT says that a new or like-new Flex rig will be shipped within three to five days. Free replacements are available, and NZXT says it guarantees hardware upgrades every two years.

For reference, the rig in the Player: One plan would cost $758 for the first year (the monthly cost plus the $50 initial fee). The next tier would run you $1548, and the highest would be $2078 for year one. 

It's difficult to determine the total cost of buying one of these PCs since the full specs aren't available. We reached out to NZXT to get more information about the full specifications of the towers they provide and will update you if they provide that information.

What I could do was approximate the cost using PCPartPicker. I assembled a build, which you can see at this link, with the same processor, a 4060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a compatible motherboard and a case for around $965. That means you can own a similar computer for around $200 more than the price of one year of renting.

Despite gaming PC building getting more plug-and-play than in previous eras, we won't disparage anyone who wants to pursue a pre-built or buy one of the best gaming laptops.

More from Tom's Guide

• I review gaming PCs for a living, and I wish they all came with this one thing
• I just played one of the most powerful gaming PCs on earth — and it's glorious overkill
• I made my gaming PC even better with this accessory I never knew I needed

I review gaming PCs fairly regularly here at Tom's Guide, which means I'm lucky enough to get to test some of the latest and greatest gaming hardware.

As you might expect, it's fun to play around with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 for work or get to see how good games look on a 5K monitor like the Dell UltraSharp 40 during a review. I feel lucky to get to do this work for Tom's Guide readers, but I also have to confess something to you: This week I unboxed a rig for review that has one of the handiest features I've ever seen in a gaming PC, and I'm surprised more vendors don't offer it. 

I'm not talking about an AI assistant, a new watercooler or a fancy lighting setup—those can be neat features, but what I discovered inside the box of the MSI Codex R2 was so immediately and clearly helpful that I never want to pack or unbox a gaming PC without one ever again.

I'm talking, of course, about a bag. 

But not just any bag. No, gentle reader, what I discovered upon cracking the Codex's box is a lovely black fabric bag sporting the MSI logo with a new gaming PC nestled inside. Not only does it look a little nicer than the clear plastic bag that many modern PCs come in, but this black fabric bag has a built-in handle that's helpfully sticking up when you open the box. Plus, it has a simple-to-open flap that uses two self-fastening closures (a.k.a Velcro strips) so you can easily re-use it if you want to carry your PC somewhere or return it to the vendor.

This might sound like a frivolous marketing tactic, a bit of extra branding that adds nothing to the core value of the expensive gaming PC you just purchased, but it's more than that. It's a thoughtful addition, a useful pack-in, a bit of clever marketing that also makes your life easier when you're trying to move your new PC around.

I know because I've been reviewing PCs for over a decade, and packing and unpacking them for even longer. I got my start in this business as an editorial assistant working in a testing lab for a major (and now out-of-print) PC hardware magazine, which seemed like a great way to get my foot in the door.

It also turned out to be a great way to get some workouts in, because my primary job in that role was to unbox, assemble, disassemble and pack up hardware we were testing. That included everything from 50-inch plasma TVs to beefy gaming PCs, which means I have years of experience unpacking and re-packing these expensive machines. I haven't broken one (yet) but I have lost a fair number of screws and a whole lot of patience over the years. I can't tell you how many times I've cursed the heavens while trying to lift a bulky gaming desktop into a shipping box and get it perfectly lined up on the polystyrene foam inserts, only to get it all packed up and find that some pieces are missing or the box doesn't close correctly. 

So when I opened the box for this MSI Codex and found the PC helpfully wrapped in a black bag with a handle on top, I was intrigued. When I reached in with one hand and easily pulled the PC out of the box with one swift yank, I was overjoyed. And when the time comes to send it home to MSI, I'm looking forward to simply wiping the PC, putting it in the bag, dropping the bag in the box and sending it off. 

I realize not everyone will be able to pull a 20-pound gaming PC out of a box with one hand, and that most people probably don't need to unbox or re-box PCs as often as I do. I can certainly understand you not sharing my frustrations with those cheap, plastic bags that most PCs come in when you're only buying a new computer every 3-10 years. If you rarely need to pack or move your PC, MSI's cheap branded black bag is more of a nice-to-have frill than a killer feature.

But for me, it's an eye-opening addition that makes me wonder why more desktop PC makers aren't taking the time to make their products easier to access and carry—especially the best gaming PCs, which typically cost so much that the added expense of throwing in a cheap branded carrying bag seems almost trivial.

This MSI Codex I'm reviewing is on the cheaper side of gaming PCs, for example, but that still means it costs a little over $1,000. I can't imagine the bag it came in cost MSI more than $1. Yet that small additional expense makes me feel a lot better about the product when I unbox it, because it feels like MSI is looking out for me and delivering a premium PC with thoughtful additions.

Of course, the hardcore PC enthusiasts among you will likely tell me MSI didn't invent the idea of packing PCs in a bag. And in truth, I've been doing this so long that it's possible I may have unboxed a PC or two over the years that also came pre-packaged in reusable bags with built-in carrying handles.

But I can't for the life of me remember the last time I unboxed a PC with this feature, and I wish that wasn't true. I wish this was a standard among PC vendors, rather than a minor frill that's so delightful I felt compelled to write a whole article about it. I'm not alone, either; the head of our testing lab enthusiastically agreed with me when I mentioned how much I love the bag the Codex comes in.

So take it from folks who test PCs for a living: The black carrying bags MSI packs its PCs in may seem like a cheap gimmick, but it makes the process of unpacking and carrying your desktop an awful lot simpler. It might not be as cool as a 4090 or as flashy as a 4K gaming monitor, but it makes me feel like MSI is putting extra thought into the customer experience and trying to make things a little easier for folks who shell out serious cash for its premium gaming PCs.

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The Corsair Vengeance i7500 ($2,500 to start) is a big, flashy gaming PC with an equally big price tag, but if you can afford it you get killer performance and a great-looking machine.

If you're not familiar, Vengeance is the branding for Corsair’s line of high-end gaming PCs. It has a good reputation, and we awarded the Corsair Vengeance i7200 our Editor’s Choice award a few years ago for providing fierce gaming performance at a reasonable price.

The new Corsair Vengeance i7500 delivers even better performance because it's packing the latest and greatest gaming components. While this gaming desktop is by no means cheap, that’s par for the course with premium gaming PCs, which typically cost thousands but run games better than any gaming console.

In this Corsair Vengeance i7500 review I'll walk you through the highs and lows of this premium PC and show you why I think it's one of the best gaming PCs on the market.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Price & availability

The Corsair Vengeance i7500 is available for purchase from Corsair's website and the cheapest configuration starts at $2,599, though at time of publication it's discounted down to $2,099. 

Of course, that won't get you the rig we review in this article because Corsair offers the Vengeance i7500 in multiple configurations with some customization options, mainly in different CPU and GP, but even the cheapest build comes with the latest Intel 14th Gen CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 series GPUs. The 4000D mid-tower case stays the same between the two iterations.

The sample PC Corsair sent us for review represents the top of the 7500 series, with a liquid-cooled i9-14900K CPU and Gigabyte RTX 4090 GPU. System storage is a 2TB MP600 Core XT NVMe drive and 64 GB of DDR5-6000 RAM is on tap. An MSI Pro Z790-P WiFi motherboard holds it all together. Powering the system is a 1000W RM1000e modular PSU. Corsair sets the MSRP for this configuration at $3,999, so keep that $4k price tag in mind as we review this premium gaming PC.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Design

Our Corsair Vengeance i7500 review unit comes with the standard 4000D case, which has been around for some time now and proven itself a popular and capable chassis for DIY computer builders. An added Corsair “Vengeance” logo is printed on the top of the front intake panel, separating this case from a retail 4000D.  Though advertised as mid-tower, it’s still sizable and offers lots of space inside for mounting large cooling systems and maintaining excellent airflow.

The PSU mounts to the bottom with its own filtered air intake. A shroud covers the PSU area, masking it and its cables from view through the tempered glass side panel, while also shielding it from the warmer air coming off the GPU. Not that the main system components should get too hot with the cooling arrangement Corsair uses in the system.

Four 120mm RGB fans are mounted in the case, three intake fans up front and one for exhaust behind the motherboard. Cooling the CPU is an H100i Elite AIO. The H100i’s 240mm radiator is mounted to the top of the case, serving as another exhaust. Both top and front panels have magnetic-attached dust filters to help keep the case inside clean, which themselves are also quick and easy to clean.

Though you might think six fans would make for an obnoxiously loud computer, that’s not the case here. While six fans certainly can be loud, sharing the cooling duty among more fans allows each one to operate slower to achieve the same airflow rate. Lower fan speeds are the easiest way to reduce noise. Though the Vengeance draws 600W ( or more ) under heavy gaming load, the noise stays under 37 dBA when measured 1m away. It’s certainly audible, but as a low hum like a refrigerator or air conditioning.

Corsair has done a great job with cable management, neatly bundling everything behind the motherboard tray to minimize airflow obstructions. The RGB lighting between all six fans, the RAM modules and the CPU waterblock are synced. All combined, it gives a clean, refined look with a sprinkling of pizzazz.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Ports & upgradability

Near the power button on the top front of the case are two USB ports (one type-C and one 3.0 type-A ) and a 4-pole 3.5mm headset jack. The rear I/O panel will vary according to exactly which motherboard is used. This review unit has one PS/2 port, four USB 2.0, one 5 Gbps USB, one 10 Gbps USB, and one 20 Gbps type-C USB port. A DisplayPort and HDMI are also available for integrated graphics, if for some reason you don’t use the video connectors on the discrete GPU. 

Networking options include a 2.5G Ethernet port and two antenna connectors for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The audio panel has six 3.5mm jacks and no S/PDIF connector.

If you want to expand the system yourself, two 3.5-inch bays are below the lower shroud in front of the PSU, and two 2.5”-inch mounts are on the back of the motherboard tray. The massive RTX 4090 dominates most of the expansion card area, limiting any additional cards to the single bottom slot. Two additional card brackets are above the normal card slots, rotated 90°, and allow various break-out adapters and connectors.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Gaming performance

Top-level components should equal top-tier performance, and the i7500 is unsurprising in this regard. As no one uses a $4000 computer for simple 1080p gaming, we’ll focus on the 4K benchmarks. The combination of i9-14900K and RTX 4090 GPU yields twice the framerates as the older i7200 in some titles, making the older RTX 3080 seem paltry by comparison.

The more interesting comparison will come from the Origin Chronos and Alienware Aurora R15 which both use the i9-13900K CPU ( the Aurora uses the KF version which only disables the integrated GPU ). This is the previous-gen version of the 14900K used in the Vengeance i7500, but the Chronos has an RTX 4080 while the Aurora sports the same RTX 4090 powering the Vengeance.

Moving to more demanding titles reveals the differences in the Aurora R15 and Vengeance i7500 in terms of bottlenecking and balancing system components.  The Far Cry 6 results at 1080p show the Aurora with a tiny lead over the Chronos despite the Aurora having a much stronger GPU.  This is because lower resolutions don’t stress the GPU much, so framerate is instead limited by CPU and other sub-systems.  At 4K resolutions, the 4090 gets to flex its muscle and the Aurora plays the game 20 fps faster than the 4080

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and Shadow of the Tomb Raider show an almost linear progression between the 3080, 4080, and 4090 GPUs. The i7200 and its 3080 was just shy of 60 fps in these games at 55 fps and 59 fps, respectively. The 4080 in the Chronos was able to churn out 91 fps and 88 fps.  The Aurora R15 and Vengeance i7500 tie in AC: Valhalla at 116/117 fps while SotTR shoots up to 131 fps on the Vengeance. While the Chronos maintains around 90 fps in games like Borderlands 3, Far Cry 6, and Metro: Exodus Enhanced Edition on High detail, the i7500 takes them all comfortably above 120 fps.

In contrast, the i7500 shows a decided lead at both 1080p and 4K resolutions in Far Cry 6.  As FC6 leans heavily on a PC’s CPU, especially single-core speed and efficiency, it rewards the slightly higher clockrate of the 14900K over the 13900K. Similar behavior is seen in Grand Theft Auto V.  At 1080p, the Chronos, Aurora, and i7500 are all capped around 185 fps. Moving to 4K, the Chronos manages framerates in the mid 50s while the more powerful Aurora is nearly 30 fps faster. However, the i7500 is still the fastest by a handful of frames per second.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Overall performance

The i9-14900K at the heart of the i7500 is a beast of a chip with eight Hyper-Threaded performance cores that can boost up to 6.0 GHz ( 5.8 GHz with multiple cores ) and 16 efficiency cores at 4.4 GHz. These 32 execution threads, fueled by 64 GB of system RAM and a PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe drive, can process data and productivity tasks as easily as it can game.

Multicore Geekbench 6.2 scored an impressive 21823. The HDXPRT benchmark, meant to test photo and video editing, scored 165. This is a big improvement over the i7200 score of 124, though only slightly edges out the Chronos at 163.

The i7500 ran the Handbrake video conversion test in 2:10, which is five seconds slower than the Chronos. It might seem odd that a newer CPU performs slower than its older version, but the Chronos also has a larger CPU cooler.  Using a 360mm radiator instead of 240mm means the CPU stays cooler during heavy multi-threaded work, allowing the cores to sustain higher boost frequencies.  Tasks that don’t utilize as many cores, like games, don’t generate as much heat, so thermal throttling isn’t an issue there.

In storage, the i7500 system drive transferred our 25 GB test file in 15.1 seconds at 1,774.47 MBps, much faster than the Aurora at 1,340 MBps. The Chronos was a touch faster at 1809.55 MBps, but this is almost insignificant and not something you’d notice in real-world use.  However, the Vengeance does suffer a storage problem of another type as it is only offered with a single storage drive.  With many modern games above 100 GB, some even reaching 200 GB with mods and updates, a 2 TB system drive doesn’t go as far as it once did.  An option for a secondary large capacity spindle drive would be appreciated.  Rather than deleting and re-downloading/re-installing games as you rotate through your library, you could instead offload them to the spindle drive.  Alternatively, somewhat older games that don’t benefit from faster storage could simply live on the spindle drive rather than take up precious flash-based storage.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Software

Like the i7200 before, Corsair keeps extra software to a minimum. Corsair’s iCUE application is still here to manage the lighting profiles and synch colors between the multiple lighting components within the tower. 

It can also be used to monitor system status, clock speeds, temperatures, and other more.

Corsair Vengeance i7500 review: Verdict

The $4,000 price tag on our Corsair Vengeance i7500 review unit will seem outrageous to some. Even the $2,500 for the lower configured models isn’t affordable to many. However, “value” tends to be calculated differently when talking high-end gaming PCs. 

It’s not so much a matter of expecting 10% better performance for 10% more money, but about targeting a given performance threshold and paying what’s necessary to reach it. If the goal is to reach 60 fps at 4K in current gaming titles using medium details, then this machine is overkill for most people. But if you want ultra detail or 120 fps, then $2,500 is close to bare minimum. And if you want a system that can do that for current games and for the next year or two, you’ll have to shell out a sizeable wad of cash.

Aside from being able to deliver the sheer frames per second required, the Vengeance includes some intangibles with that high price. While it’s an incredibly powerful system, it’s also remarkably well-behaved. Excess noise is not an issue. It’s barely noticeable from the next room, so you don’t need to worry about it waking up your kids, or explaining to your spouse or roommate why a jet turbine is spooling up. The system looks dignified, with a touch of flair should you want the RGB lighting active. When the time comes for some upgrades or a system rebuild, the case and power supply offer plenty of room and capacity.

The drawback to the Vengeance compared to something like the Chronos is customization. Corsair limits which component configurations are available, e.g. the RTX 4090 is only available with the i9-14900K, and you can’t get 64 GB RAM with an i5 or i7 CPU. Also, no secondary storage drive is offered with any configuration.

These are relatively small complaints. Someone looking for an out-of-box gaming system that can easily handle all modern games at 4K resolutions should have the Vengeance on their short list. Perhaps the greatest feature of the Vengeance is end-user confidence. It’s easy for a manufacturer to use a few premium components – like the CPU and GPU – then skimp on the not so obvious parts, like a poorly accessible case, RAM with loose timings, or a power supply that can barely handle the electrical draw of all those power-hungry components. 

A Vengeance isn’t cheap. But what you get for the high price of entry is not just the power to play your favorite games extremely well, but the comfort of knowing you don't need to worry about cut corners or lack of creature comforts.

I review laptops for a living as part of my job here at Tom's Guide, which means I have the privilege of going hands-on with dozens of the latest portable PCs every year.

Even so, when readers write in with questions about which laptop to buy I'm sometimes flummoxed because there are just so many released. Luckily, I don't have to go it alone — we have a full computing team here at Tom's Guide I can call on for help, as well as a crack squad of freelancers who pitch in to help us review as many laptops as we can every year.

So when a reader recently wrote in asking for advice about the best 14-inch laptops to buy, I was able to turn to the team and tap their expertise to come up with some recommendations that were so good, I thought I'd share them here.

All of the laptops recommended here are on our list of the best Windows laptops, which contain over a dozen other options if you don't like what you see here or have different needs than the reader who wrote in.

Thanks for all the helpful information you are always posting. My Lenovo X1 Yoga 3rd Gen is on its last legs and I need to replace it. I need to get a 14-inch laptop, and was hoping you could provide any advice. Here are the general specs I am looking for:

Screen Size: Must be 14 inches

Build: Prefer Premium

Use: Personal, don’t need Business features necessarily, but I know the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 14” is very good and maybe worth it

Windows Hello Face Recognition: Need

Touchscreen: Prefer touchscreen if possible

Gaming: Not needed, don’t play PC Games

HD Size: 1 TB

RAM: 16 GB (I think this would be enough)

2-in-1 capabilities: Don’t really use this. Not needed

In looking at reviews, I have seen good reviews of Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 (2023), Dell XPS 14, HP Pavilion Plus 14 (2023), LG Gram 14. Which of those would you recommend? Or is there another 14-inch laptop that you think is better?

If X1 Carbon, I am thinking the i7-1355U Processor would be the one to go with? For Display, I am thinking IPS Touch, since I worry about burn-in with OLED?

Any advice and information much appreciated!

First off, I think the models listed here are all good investments that will serve you well. I edited our Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 review and I know our reviewer was quite happy with it as a no-frills productivity laptop for getting things done. Just watch out: the black chassis is a real fingerprint magnet. 

And while I haven't personally tried the LG Gram 14 yet, I have reviewed multiple models of the larger LG Gram 17 and I really like the light weight and long battery life of LG's laptops. We haven't had a chance yet to review the HP Pavilion Plus 14 or the new Dell XPS 14 yet (stay tuned!) but both come from respected vendors and the XPS 14 is basically replacing one of my favorite laptops (the Dell XPS 15), so I'm hopeful both are quality products. 

However, I'm really not a fan of the capacitive touch keys Dell designed into the XPS 13 Plus, and now that they're cropping up on the XPS 14 I'm concerned they'll make it less comfortable to use. If you prefer physical keys over capacitive touch, I'd steer clear of Dell's new XPS laptops.

After looking at your requirements, I think I can also suggest a few models you might want to look at. The Acer Swift 5 is our top recommendation for a 14-inch Windows laptop because it looks great, runs well, comes with a touchscreen and offers plenty of ports for under $1,500. 

The only caveat? The model we recommend is from 2022, when Acer still called it the Swift 5. You can still find these laptops, but as you can see from the deal above they're starting to go out of stock so you might be stuck buying refurbished. That's because in 2023 these laptops were effectively replaced by Acer's Swift 14, and while they still look great it sounds like the upgrade to a more powerful 13th Gen Intel CPU also led to a decrease in battery life. 

You might also consider the cheaper Acer Swift Go 14, which has all the necessary features (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, touchscreen) and was the first laptop I reviewed that packed Intel's new Meteor Lake chips. These new CPUs are fabricated with a special NPU (Neural Processing Unit) that excels at tasks we now call AI, so if you're interested in owning an "AI laptop" you'll want one that has one of these new Meteor Lake CPUs.

For what it's worth, I was a little disappointed by the Acer Swift Go 14 at launch because it's not significantly better than older Intel-based 14-inch laptops like the Acer Swift 5 (in fact, it offers worse battery life) and there aren't (yet) many valuable features which make use of its new NPU-equipped Meteor Lake chips.

To answer your other questions, I can't say for sure if the Intel Core i7-1355U CPU is the right answer for your needs but I can say that it's fine for basic work and web browsing. 

I know because that's the same CPU that was in the ThinkPad X1 Carbon we reviewed, and when we put it to the test in our lab it was outperformed by more expensive laptops but delivered perfectly adequate performance otherwise. As our reviewer wrote, "If you're comfortable with all work and no play, this package will suit you well. It's a pleasure to use for wordsmithing and web browsing, holding up to multiple application and browser windows, across multiple virtual desktops, without dropping a beat." So unless you're planning to do a lot of demanding work, like photo or video editing, I think your laptop should be just fine an i7-1355U CPU. 

As far as avoiding OLED goes, I don't worry too much about causing burn-in on OLED laptops and I can honestly say that I've never seen or heard of anyone actually experiencing burn-in on their OLED laptop screen. That said, it is absolutely possible to cause burn-in on an OLED display, so if you're at all concerned you may as well stick with an IPS touch display. 

I prefer OLED over non-OLED because I think they look better, but the difference isn't huge and it's not worth the stress (not to mention the added expense) of upgrading to OLED if you're going to worry about damaging the screen. 

If you do decide to try OLED, another 14-incher that was heavily recommended by the team here is the Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED. I saved it for last since it's a 2-in-1 with 512GB of storage and an OLED display so not exactly in line with the request, but our reviewer Tony Polanco recommended it right off the bat.

 In his review he called the Flip "a fetching and sturdy ultraportable with plenty of ports, plenty of power, and a vivid 2.8K OLED panel," so it could be a great laptop for anyone seeking something portable, powerful and beautiful.

Hopefully one of these recommendations helps you find your next great notebook, but if not don't miss our list of the best laptops overall for more comparisons, reviews and buying advice based on our years of hands-on testing!

More from Tom's Guide

• It looks like Windows 12 will not launch in 2024 — but Microsoft just confirmed a big upgrade
• Microsoft could bring one of Xbox Series X’s best features to PC gaming
• I switched monitors instead of upgrading my GPU for smoother gaming — here's what happened

I own the most powerful gaming PCs ‘round these parts here at Tom’s Guide, but even my mega rig can’t compare with this monster Dell is selling in an epic Black Friday deal. 

Right now, the Alienware Aurora R15 Gaming Desktop is on sale for $3,339 at Dell. That’s a massive $1,100 saving compared to its usual $4,499 price. Only the most avid of PC gamers are going to be comfortable splurging over three grand on a beast of a desktop like the Aurora R15. But hey, if you can afford it, that colossal savings looks ultra attractive.

So what do you get for an outlay that could easily buy you one of the best Black Friday OLED TV deals? The most cutting edge of components. That’s what.

We gave this monstrous machine an Editor’s Choice award in our glowing Alienware Aurora R15 review. My colleague Alex Wawro described the R15 as “an excellent gaming PC that improves upon its predecessors in a few key ways, packing the most powerful components you can afford in an attractive, easy-to-open chassis that stays cool under pressure.”

The specific build of the Aurora R15 Dell has massively discounted for Black Friday houses a 13th Gen 24-core Intel i9 13900KF inside its predictably attractive Alienware case — that’s one of the best gaming CPUs on the market. The 12th Gen Core i5-12600K that lies at the heart of my rig simply can’t compete with such processing grunt.

The ultra high-end rig also packs in 64GB of DDR5 RAM and a colossal 4TB NVMe SSD, giving you all the blistering storage you could ever want as you amass an ever escalating Pile of Shame of the best Steam games.

And to top it all off, there’s an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU sitting pride of place in this beauty (because of course there is). That’s a big deal in itself, because Black Friday deals on this graphics card are extremely tough to find.

While my gaming PC also contains the most powerful consumer GPU in the world, the R15’s CPU and RAM easily outgun my own machine. To keep these demanding components juiced up, this desktop packs in a Lunar Light 1350W PSU. There’s also an Alienware Cryo-tech Edition liquid CPU cooler to keep your temps down, which you can admire thanks to the Aurora’s glass side panel.

Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 are the two current poster children for flaunting the most graphically intense tech, like full path tracing features in the case of the latter. With more and more games embracing the demanding Unreal Engine 5 — featuring advanced Nanite and Lumen tech to create more detailed, realistically lit virtual environments — the components housed in this R15 may not seem like overkill for much longer.

So yes, the Alienware Aurora R15 has given me serious PC envy. And I can honestly say it’s been a looooong time since I felt that. If you class yourself as the hardest of the hardcore PC gaming enthusiasts, this is one Black Friday deal you should definitely consider… just don’t sell your spleen trying to fund it.

And if this beastly desktop is out of your price bracket this sales season, make sure to check out the best Black Friday gaming laptop deals.

Amazon's big Prime Day sale in October is happening, and that means now is a great time to buy that gadget you've had your eye on at a discount. 

Gaming PCs are especially good to buy now because they're so expensive that any discount helps, and even a 10% or 20% price cut can save you hundreds of dollars. 

So if you're a gamer who wants to play some of the best open-world games at the highest quality on a laptop that boasts an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 or are looking for a sub-$1,000 portable PC that will still service your gaming needs, this round-up of Prime Day laptops deals should serve you well. 

Gaming PC Prime Day deals — quick links

• Alienware Aurora R15 w/ GeForce RTX 4060: was $1,599 now $1,299 @ Dell
• Alienware Aurora R15 w/ GeForce RTX 4070 Ti: was $2,499 now $2,099 @ Dell
• Lenovo Legion Tower 7i w/ GeForce RTX 4080: was $2,989 now $2,232 @ Lenovo
• MSI Aegis RS w/ GeForce RTX 4080: was $3,199 now $2,399 @ Newegg
• HP Omen 45L w/ GeForce RTX 4090: was $3,999 now $3,199 @ HP

Best Prime Day gaming PC deals available right now

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 ($3,799 to start) is Acer's premier gaming PC, and the new 2023 model has arrived with the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 series GPUs and Intel Raptor Lake 13th Gen chips.

After spending a week with a top-tier 2023 model I'm confident the Orion 7000 remains a great gaming machine—and you should expect no less when you're paying nearly $4k or more for the privilege of owning one.

And while the Orion 7000 looks as imposing as ever in its all-black chassis, the fans get so loud there's no chance you'll be able to sneak in gaming time without everyone in the house knowing because this machine gets loud. The configuration we tested is one of the loudest gaming PCs I've ever reviewed, and our testing team agrees. You'll likely hear this PC before you see it, even when it's sitting idle.

But if you can stomach the loud fans and eye-watering price tag, I'm pleased to report the Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) remains one of the best gaming PCs you can buy—here's why.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Price and availability

• Predator gaming PCs start at $1.2k, Orion 7000 series starts at $3.7k
• Our top-of-the-line Predator Orion 7000 review unit costs a cool $4.5k

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 is the top dog in Acer's Predator series of gaming desktops, and you can buy one at Acer's website as well as at third-party retailers like Amazon. 

A new Predator Orion 7000 can be yours for as low as $3,799, which is hardly cheap. But you get what you pay for, because that model comes with a liquid-cooled 13th Gen Core i7 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 2TB HDD and a 1TB SSD for storage.

The PC we reviewed is even more powerful, which explains why it costs nearly $5k. Our Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) review unit arrived with a liquid-cooled Intel 13th Gen Core i9 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and the same 2TB HDD/1TB SSD storage arrangement. 

If you were to buy the same machine yourself direct from Acer it would cost $4,499, which is a lot to drop on a new PC. But you get your money's worth from this machine if you're planning to play the latest games at 4K resolution or higher, as this review will show.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Design

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 series PCs have traditionally been housed inside big, monolithic full tower cases, and the 2023 model is no exception.

I'm a big guy, and even I have to take a deep breath and brace myself before hefting our Acer Predator Orion 7000 review unit to move it around during the setup process. The tall, deep tower cases measures roughly 19.9 x 19.1 x 8.6 inches, so it takes up quite a bit of space on a desk. While I did set it up and use it as a literal desktop during the review process, I much prefer keeping it tucked away underneath the desk.

Speaking of, the Predator Orion 7000 case remains a gorgeous piece of work. The tempered glass panels on the side and front give you an enticing view of the innards, which are illuminated with customizable RGB lighting and cooled by fans at the top and rear of the case.  The glass panel is easy to open when you want to get inside the PC, though you do need to unscrew a pair of screws on the rear first. 

The big fans at the front, top and rear of the case do a great job of looking cool as they cool your PC, though they do get incredibly loud under heavy load. 

Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Ports and upgradability

• Plenty of ports on front and top, but still not enough USB-C jacks
• Top-mounted hot-swappable drive is a nice touch

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 offers a plethora of ports, as befits a PC of this size and price. 

The lion's share of the ports are mounted on the rear, including two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, three more USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, and a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port. There's also an RJ-45 Ethernet jack and a triptych of audio ports for microphone, audio in and audio out.

The  Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card in our review unit gives it an additional four ports for hooking up displays: 3 DisplayPorts and a single HDMI out.

Up front you'll find a complement of USB ports and audio in/out for easier cable routing, as well as a hot-swappable drive bay. Specifically, there's a set of 3 USB 3.2 Type-A ports (one Gen 1, the other pair Gen 2), one USB Type-C port, a microphone jack and an audio out. 

There's also a USB3.2 Gen 2 Type-C hot-swappable drive bay on the top of the case, which is a nice bonus that lets you quickly swap SSD drives without much trouble. If you're the type of person who likes to keep a drive full of your Steam games handy, this PC case makes it easy and fun to quickly swap them out.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Gaming performance

• Great for 4K gaming
• Demolishes any game at 1080p

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 we received for review is great for 4K gaming and an absolute monster at any lower resolution, to the point that if you've got a 1080p monitor you can likely count on getting 100+ frames per second in your favorite games.

That's the least you should expect from a gaming PC that costs nearly $5k, of course. I'm pleased to report our Orion 7000 review unit had no trouble running all my favorite Steam games at 4K resolution with all the settings cranked to max, though I sometimes had to rely on Nvidia's DLSS upscaling tech to get great 60+ FPS framerates in demanding games running at 4K.

Case in point: Even our beefy, expensive Acer Predator Orion 7000 review unit struggles to maintain 30-40 FPS when running Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with all the graphical settings cranked to max and no help from DLSS. But when I flipped on DLSS 3 the game began running at a smooth 60+ FPS, with barely any noticeable change in image quality. 

But even without a boost from Nvidia's upscaling tech, our Orion 7000 unit is a bona fide beast in the gaming department. Our performance testing lab put it through its paces by running benchmarks for a variety of games at both 1080p and 4K resolutions, and as you can see from the results (charted below) it demolishes most games at anything below 4K.

To give you a sense of what kind of power you're getting for the (admittedly eye-watering) price we charted the performance of our 2023 Acer Predator Orion 7000 against the performance of the Alienware Aurora R15 I reviewed earlier this year, which costs roughly the same and has basically the same components inside. I also included the performance test results from last year's Orion 7000 with its 3090 and 12th Gen Intel CPU, to give you a sense of what kind of performance boost you're getting from the 4090 over last year's model.

As you can see, it's quite a boost. Even in 4K our Orion 7000 managed to deliver a steady 100+ FPS in games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, DiRT 5, Far Cry 6 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, making this a great machine for 4K gaming.

And when you dial the resolution down to 1080p it can run anything you care to play at incredibly smooth framerates, to the point that we clocked it running Total War: Warhammer 3 at over 250 frames per second at 1080p with all settings cranked to Ultra. When we cranked the settings down to Low just for funsies, this Orion 7000 with its RTX 4090 and 13th Gen Core i9 CPU managed to run the game at an incredible 559 frames per second. If there's a monitor on the market that can refresh that fast, I've yet to see it.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Overall performance

• More than enough power for most day-to-day work and play
• Outperformed slightly by a smaller, quieter Alienware Aurora R15

When you're paying upwards of $4k for a PC you darn well expect it to handle day-to-day tasks with ease, and that's eminently true of the new Acer Predator Orion 7000. 

I used our review unit for all my work, play and day-to-day tasks for over a week, and not once did I experience any crashes, stuttering or performance issues. This PC arrives running Windows 11 and if you don't mind working next to fans that occasionally sound like jet engines it's a great machine for getting things done.

I could easily imagine someone using the top-tier components inside to power through some video edits or game development work, and our testing suggests it's well-suited to the task. 

As you can see from the chart of results below, our Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) review unit blows past last year's model yet falls a bit short of matching the performance of Alienware's smaller, lighter Aurora R15. And while it generally blew past its predecessor, in our drive speed test (which clocks how fast the system drive copies 25GB of multimedia files) the 2023 Orion 7000 was actually slightly slower than the 2022 model (1,233.8 MBps vs. 1,495 MBps). 

In every other test, however, our review unit blew past its predecessor. The 13th Gen Core i9 CPU in the Acer Predator Orion 7000 sped through the Geekbench 5.5 multi-core CPU benchmark, earning a score of 21,380. That beats last year's Orion 7000 by a solid 6,000 and gives you an idea of the raw CPU boost you're getting by investing in a machine with the latest 13th Gen CPUs instead of last year's 12th Gen chips.

However, the similarly-priced Alienware Aurora R15 with the same Intel Core i9-13900KF CPU earned a slightly higher score (22,494) in the same test. In day-to-day usage you likely wouldn't notice the difference, but it's worth knowing.

A similar story played out when we put the new Orion through our video encoding test, which times how long it takes the PC to transcode a 4K video file down to 1080p using Handbrake. Our review unit completed the task in 2 minutes and 26 seconds, a solid minute faster than its predecessor. However, it still couldn't quite match the speed (2:17) of the smaller, faster Aurora R15.

Since every PC mentioned in this section is optimized for gaming and costs over $4k these minor differences in benchmark performance shouldn't give you much cause for concern. The Acer Predator Orion 7000 remains an absolute beast in 2023, and while it sometimes falls behind similarly-priced and -specced gaming PCs you should have no trouble using it for both work and play.

However, keep in mind it will get hot and loud even when you're just writing and answering emails, as I discovered while writing this review.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Keyboard and mouse

• Included keyboard and mouse are unremarkable but nice to have
• Customizable RGB lighting on both

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 (2023) comes with a wired keyboard and mouse that are serviceable and nice to have. While they can't match the quality of the best keyboards and the best mouse you can buy, the fact that Acer includes them at no cost is a welcome addition.

Both keyboard and mouse sport customizable RGB lighting, and they each offer extra which make them slightly better than basic USB peripherals. The full keyboard has big keys with nice travel that feel satisfying to type on, as well as a row of four media controls. The mouse, meanwhile, has two extra buttons mounted above the thumbrest and a DPI switch for quickly shifting sensitivity on the fly.

Neither is likely to outclass your favorite mouse and keyboard, but having both included at no charge is a nice bit of added value.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Software

• Little bloatware
• PredatorSense and PredatorArc are the utilities to pay attention to

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 comes with a pretty clean Windows 11 install marred only by a handful of Acer apps which are easy to ignore or uninstall.

Don't ignore Acer's PredatorArc and PredatorSense apps, though, because those are what you use to customize things like the PC's fan speeds, RGB lighting and overclocking profiles. You'll generally use PredatorSense to dial in these settings on your PC, while the PredatorArc app is for customizing the look and bindings of the included mouse and keyboard.

Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Verdict

The Acer Predator Orion 7000 has long been one of the company's premier gaming PCs, and the 2023 model we reviewed proves it's still a stylish beast of a machine that will make nearly any game you throw at it look great and run smooth.

Our test results and my hands-on experience prove this rig is great for 4K gaming, because the RTX 4090 and 13th Gen Core i9 CPU inside are powerful enough to deliver silky-smooth 60+ FPS framerates at 4K in just about any game, even with all the settings cranked to the max.

That's still a rare feat in PC gaming, and you start to understand why when you look at the $4.5k price tag on our Orion 7000 review unit. At that price you damn well expect a great PC, and weak points like underwhelming drive speed or obnoxiously loud fans start to feel a bit grating.

If those issues sound like dealbreakers, you might also consider the Alienware Aurora R15. You can get one with the same components as our Acer Predator Orion 7000 review unit for basically the same price, and performs nearly as well in games ( and even better in some performance benchmarks) yet runs quieter and takes up less space on a desk.

But if you've got the cash and don't mind a loud PC, the Acer Predator Orion 7000 is a great choice that can be configured to be a beast of a 4K gaming PC. Those looking to spend less can get plenty of fun gaming at 1080p on a great entry-level gaming PC like the Acer Predator Orion 3000, but if you want killer framerates at high resolution the 2023 Acer Predator Orion 7000 delivers—you just might want to invest in a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones to go with it.

Gaming PCs are some of the most expensive computers on the market, in large part because the best gaming PCs are loaded with pricey high-end components to make even the most demanding games run buttery-smooth at 1080p or higher.

I know because I've been building and buying gaming PCs since I was a kid, and now I help oversee our coverage of all things computing here at Tom's Guide. Part of that work involves reviewing the latest gaming PC builds from major vendors like Acer, Alienware, Corsair, Dell, Maingear and more, so I've been lucky enough to go hands-on with a variety of different gaming PCs at prices ranging from under a thousand dollars to well over $5k.

Sometimes readers write in asking for help or advice on what PC to buy, and my response is typically to ask what they want to use it for and how much they can afford to spend. But recently someone wrote in with a trickier question about whether to buy a seemingly too-good-to-be-true gaming PC off Amazon from a vendor I don't recognize.

I just had a question about a PC and monitor I am considering purchasing. I was wondering if I can send you the Amazon links and you could take a look and let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it if you could help me out as I am new and do not know much about PCs and monitors.

This was the pc I was looking at, and I was looking at this monitor to go with it.

Do these look good? Or or do you have any other suggestions? My budget for these is $750 with the PC and monitor together.

If you'd rather not click through the links the reader shared (or if they no longer work by the time you read this) we're looking at a simple HP 27h 27-inch 75Hz 1080p monitor and a slightly customizable gaming PC from STGAubron.

At time of writing, the monitor is discounted down to $159 from its list price of $299, while the PC can be purchased in 10+ configurations ranging from $399 to upwards of $1,100. So obviously there's real appeal here for someone who'd rather not blow more than a thousand bucks on a new PC just to play games.

And since I personally haven't had a chance to go hands-on with either product, I can't say for sure that it would be a bad idea to buy this combo off Amazon. It's possible you could get years of fun out of this hardware. Certainly the monitor is good enough for 1080p gaming, and while it's probably not the brightest or most vivid display it at least supports AMD FreeSync, so you can count on variable refresh rate support regardless of whether you've got an AMD or Nvidia GPU.

But my experience tells me this STGAubron deal is too good to be true. If you're thinking of buying a cheap gaming PC off Amazon, I think there are a few things you want to look for before dropping hard-earned cash on a product you likely can't return.

In fact, that's the biggest and most glaring reason why I think buying a cheap gaming PC like this STGAubron off Amazon is a bad idea—you can't count on having reliable tech support or warranty coverage.

Amazon offers a basic 30-day return policy, but the PC needs to be either damaged/dead on arrival or in unopened boxes, so if you're unsatisfied with the way it runs games or you find it dies on you 2 months in, you're likely out of luck unless your PC vendor offers a warranty—and I can't even find a website for STGAubron, much less any details on what warranty (if any) they offer on their products.

Compare that to a known vendor like Acer, Dell or Maingear, who all offer at least 1-year limited warranties on their gaming PCs that you can easily find by just Googling them. These warranties typically cover the cost of returning or repairing the PC in the event a component like the hard drive or graphics card breaks, and they offer some peace of mind when you're spending this much money on a PC—especially if you're not comfortable repairing it yourself.

(Now, I can't vouch for whether these companies are easy to work with when returning products, or how well they honor their warranties, but at least they offer them!)

Even if you've been building PCs your whole life and the thought of having to crack into the case to diagnose what's wrong doesn't scare you, there are a couple warning signs that tell me a PC like this one is not a good investment.

First and foremost, the Amazon page for this PC makes it hard to understand what specific components are in each build. Knowing exactly what's in the PC your buying is critical to getting a good deal, so don't trust a vendor that obfuscates those details. Even if you don't know the difference between Intel Raptor Lake 13th gen CPUs and AMD's Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, you can at least punch the name of the components into Google and look up reviews and comparisons of how well they perform (our sister site Tom's Hardware is a great resource for this) before you buy. 

But if a vendor like STGAubron doesn't tell you exactly what's in the PC you're buying, beware: Tomfoolery is afoot.

Second, the reviews of this PC are not great. You can't always trust user reviews on sites like Amazon since you never know if someone's being entirely honest, but in this case you just need to scroll through a few to see mixed messages about how reliable this PC is and whether it performs as advertised. Some customers seem happy with it, but even those who are often mention issues like failing Wi-Fi cards.

This is a common issue when looking for great deals on gaming PCs, and while it sometimes pays to seek out a cheaper, less well-known vendor when you're looking for deals, a gaming PC is not something you want to skimp on if you don't know how it works or how to fix it if it breaks. 

Finally, I recommend you do a Google search of any PC before you buy to read reviews from multiple sources. We have our own catalog of gaming PC reviews I recommend you peruse, though we've never reviewed anything from STGAubron. 

That's partly because they've never reached out to offer us one for review, and after Googling the brand I think I know why: STGAubron seems to come under a lot of criticism online, and while there are some positive reviews to be found there are also quite a number of negative ones.

Also, that quick search turned up a Reddit post from earlier this year in which a user describes how two clients of theirs had bad experiences purchasing STGAubron gaming PCs off Amazon which arrived containing used components. While such tales should be taken with a grain of salt since we can't confirm their veracity, the fact that the user clearly explains how both STGAubron gaming PCs arrived packing components that had clearly seen better days (including GPUs which may have been previously used to mine cryptocurrency, something so damaging it's known to void warranties) is another huge red flag. 

The user goes on to claim that they did their own research and found STGAubron is in fact a shell company of a Chinese computer scrap recovery outfit, and that they may be building PCs out of used parts and reselling them. If that's true, it goes a long way towards explaining why this seemingly cheap gaming PC has very mixed user reviews and only vague details about what components are inside.

So while you could conceivably get one of these STGAubron gaming PCs and a cheap monitor like the HP 27h for less than $750, I think you'd be much better off waiting and saving up for a better gaming PC from a more reliable company.

For example, I like the Acer Predator Orion 3000 as a solid starter gaming PC because it's stylish, runs pretty quiet and can be had with components (including an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070) good enough to run most games in 1080p at 30-60 frames per second for under $2,000.

Obviously that's still more than double the $750 budget our reader allocated for their gaming PC setup, and it's definitely not cheap. But it's a solid deal for a great gaming PC, and I can vouch that you will get what you pay for. Plus, you get the added security of a warranty and tech support from Acer, which is more than I can say for this cheap STGAubron gaming PC off Amazon.

More from Tom's Guide

• Lenovo Legion Go images just leaked — meet the new Switch and Steam Deck rival
• Microsoft could bring one of Xbox Series X’s best features to PC gaming
• I switched monitors instead of upgrading my GPU for smoother gaming — here's what happened

I have a big goofy grin on my face and it’s not going away (yes I’m sober). The reason for this merriment is I have pretty much one of the most powerful gaming PCs money can buy to test out. 

And, frankly, it’s a bit ridiculous. 

The computer in question is a pre-build machine from relatively new PC builders Starforge Systems. Formed in 2022 by a mix of PC industry veterans and streamers, Starforge Systems produces high-end gaming and creator PCs, with some customization and, in my testing so far, precious little bloat.

The machine I have access to is a $4,299 Voyager Creator Elite, a monster of a PC equipped with the powerful Intel Core i9-13900K processor, the mighty Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 and a massive 64GB of DDR5 RAM  — there's also a healthy 2TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD space. 

In short, this is the most powerful and most expensive PC I think I’ve ever tried. And to go with it I have the excellent Alienware AW3423DWF, a 34-inch 3440 x 1440 resolution OLED display with a quantum dot panel; it’s fantastic and a good monitor to pair with a powerful PC. 

I think the Voyager Creator Elite is glorious overkill for it and my gaming life. 

First, some context. I’ve long been a PC gamer, preferring the scope of games and mouse and keyboard control over consoles. But over the past few years, I’ve fallen a bit off the wagon and tend to be drawn more to my Xbox Series X and PS5.

The reason for this was I have a perfectly capable 1080p gaming PC that’s only just starting to feel the real strain of running the latest games. While I’d considered a new desktop, 2022’s crazy graphics card supply problems and skyrocketing prices put me off.

And as more games came out on the new consoles and I paired them with the wonderful LG C1 OLED, I felt myself slipping away from desktop gaming. After all, I could simply boot up the Series X or PS5 and jump into a game with the only real choice of playing in a mode that prioritizes frame rate or resolution, with the knowledge I’d be getting a gaming experience that still looks fantastic even with dynamic resolution.

With precious few games really pushing PC hardware, beyond the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 at its highest settings, I saw no real need to replace my aged gaming PC.

Then I had a taste of high-end PC gaming.

PC gaming at its finest

Booting up games that would have had my own gaming PC grumble in protest by ramping up its fans and chugging along, the Voyager Creator Elite simply chews through everything I’ve thrown at it, with all settings maxed out and at a QHD resolution.

Now I’ve had powerful PCs before that could handle the best-looking games of the time at max settings, but nothing quite compares here. I’m getting blistering frame rates from a PC that barely breaks a sweat pumping crisp, ray-traced graphics to one of the best gaming monitors and taking advantage of the latter’s 165Hz refresh rate.

Not only do games look and run gloriously, all this power makes PC gaming trivial. I can simply ramp everything up to ultra and hit play.

That means The Last of Us Part 1, a game that had a notoriously bad initial port from PlayStation to PC, runs like a dream now that it’s been patched and can take advantage of the mighty GeForce RTX 4090. The high-end Intel processor also makes mincemeat of Total War: Warhammer 3, seemingly bulldozing another game that had been blighted by poor performance.

Going back to older games that used to challenge PCs, such as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, is a treat, too. Being able to run that game at a QHD resolution with everything turned up to the max and getting a framerate that’s so smooth I almost think the game shines, is just a joy. All of a sudden I’m back to thinking about playing upcoming releases, such as Starfield, on the PC first. The glory of such high-end gaming has me willing to sit upright at my desk instead of benching myself on my sofa.

But as I said earlier, this is all somewhat ridiculous.

Overkill performance, chilling price 

As a tech journalist I'm in the privileged position of getting to try out all sorts of technology without paying for it. If you were to take my access out of the equation, would I spend more than four grand on a gaming PC? 

Yeah..no chance!

Starforge Systems has the Voyager Creator Elite targeted at major PC gaming enthusiasts and video creators; while I’m a gaming fan, I’m not a frame rate or max settings fanatic. And I leave the video creation up to Tom’s Guide’s tame TikTok star Kate Kozuch. So I can respect the Voyager Creator Elite and other PCs that have masses of power, but they aren't quite for me yet.

The reason I say that is as wonderful as it is to see games at their very best, we’ve yet to get a bunch of titles that really demand high-end PC power. The likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 5 may look their best on PC, but they will still present a bounty of virtual splendor on the Series X or PS5 when coupled with one of the best 4K TVs, all for a third of the price of the Voyager Creator Elite.

Maybe this situation will change as the current generation of consoles and PC hardware matures. But right now the very best in PC gaming is really only the domain of professional gamers and streamers, and people with arguably more money than sense (I’m jealous, leave me be).

However, what this dive into high-end PC gaming has done is made me remember how wonderful a gaming platform the PC is. Yes, it can be a nightmare of poorly optimized games, odd bugs, or the need to spend too much time tweaking graphics options in menus before playing a game. But I’m reminded of just how many interesting and diverse games there are on the PC, which with a little bit of extra juice can feel like fresh experiences. And playing strategy games on a widescreen OLED monitor is an experience I’d struggle to abandon,

As such, I’ve been quietly keeping a weather eye on the price of PCs with the GeForce RTX 4070, a graphics card that I feel would give me the smooth hit of QHD gaming I’ve sampled but without breaking my bank balance. And in fairness to Starforge Systems and other PC builders, there are plenty of options to get great desktop gaming at prices that are easier to swallow.

Nevertheless, if you do ever get a chance to try out a no-holds-barred PC, then go for it as I feel it's an experience every gamer should get to see.

More from Tom's Guide

• PS5 Pro leaked specs show how it could crush the Xbox Series X
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart has restored my faith in high-end PC gaming
• I own an RTX 4090 gaming PC, yet I’d rather play my Switch OLED — here’s why

The Alienware Aurora R16 ($1,499 to start) is the latest in the company's line of Aurora gaming PCs, though you could be forgiven for not initially recognizing this rig as a gaming machine.

Unlike its predecessor the Alienware Aurora R15, which sports an ultra-futuristic design that screams "gaming PC," the Aurora R16's Legend 3.0 design is decidedly subdued. Minor flourishes aside, this Alienware desktop wouldn't look out of place in an office.

While it may not look flashy, it's got power where it counts since you can configure this rig with the latest Intel processors and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs. And all that power won't cause the Aurora R16 to melt thanks to its advanced cooling tech that keeps the PC running cool and quiet.

The Aurora R16 can get very pricey depending on how you configure it. However, its entry-level configuration won't break the proverbial bank, making it a great way for folks to get into the world of PC gaming. No matter how you configure this machine, you'll still get one of the best gaming PCs capable of running the best PC games.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Price & availability

• Starts at $1,499

The Alienware Aurora R16 is available from Dell’s website for a starting price of $1,499 (originally $1,799). This starting packs a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700F processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.

As configured, our review unit is valued at $2,099. Our review unit features the same CPU, GPU and SSD storage as the entry-level model, though the R16 we reviewed has 32GB of RAM rather than 16GB.

Of course, since this is an Alienware PC, you can pay extra to upgrade to more powerful components — though that can raise the price by a considerable amount. 

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Design

• Discreet design
• All-black chassis

Utilizing the company’s new Legend 3.0 aesthetic, the Alienware Aurora R16 ditches the ostentatious design of prior Aurora desktops to deliver something that is decidedly more restrained. Were it not for the RGB light strip on its left panel, hexagonal side vents and the discreet Alienware logo-shaped power button, you’d almost be forgiven for not recognizing the Aurora R16 as a gaming desktop.

The all-black chassis of our review unit measures 18 x 16.5 x 7.7 inches and doesn’t take up a lot of room on a desk, which is something you couldn’t say about some of this device’s monstrous predecessors. And while our review unit weighs a hefty 33.8 pounds, I didn’t have much trouble moving it on the desk when I had to. I prefer small, subdued desktops so the Aurora R16 won me over in that regard.

If you need a reminder that the Aurora R16 is in fact a gaming desktop, its transparent glass side panel reveals this machine’s powerful components and tasteful wiring. There’s some more RGB lighting surrounding the inner fans, motherboard and GPU, but they appear muted against the dark glass paneling. I’m also a fan of the honeycomb vents underneath the glass panel, which appear both functional and tastefully placed.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Ports and upgradability

• Plenty of ports
• Limited upgradeability

The Alienware Aurora R16 has all the ports you could ever need on a desktop, gaming or otherwise.

There are three USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack tucked within a cylindrical recess in the front. The power button above these ports resembles the Alienware logo, which is a nice touch. Unfortunately for those who prefer keeping their rigs on the floor, there are no ports along the top — which could cause a problem with cable management.

You’ll find the lion’s share of ports on the back of the desktop. Like the Aurora R15, there are six USB-A ports and a pair of USB-C ports. The RTX 4070 in our review unit provided me with three DisplayPort jacks and a lone HDMI out. However, your GPU choice will alter the number of available options for outputting to your monitor(s).

There are side, rear and center/subwoofer ports, along with line in and line out, a microphone in, and two SPDIF digital outputs — one for Toslink cables and another for coax. If you want to invest in a killer speaker setup, the Aurora R16 has all the connections you’ll need to make that happen.

Lastly, there’s an RJ-45 jack that supports Intel’s Killer E3100G Gigabit Ethernet. This is a great addition for those who play online games, as you certainly don’t want to rely on Wi-Fi when participating in a Destiny 2 Raid.

Removing the side panel to get at the rig’s interior is simple once you’ve unscrewed the Kensinglock lock on the back. The inside is virtually identical to the Aurora R15 — for both good and ill. Sure, cable clutter is next to non-existent since most cables are routed behind the motherboard. That keeps things looking clean, but makes it difficult to modify the inside to your specific liking.

I had no problems navigating the rig’s interior, even with my big hands, but as I said, it’s difficult to move certain components because of the interior’s layout. Removing RAM isn’t hard, but swapping out the GPU is a pain since you have to remove brackets and move components around. As before, these issues stem from the fact Alienware uses a proprietary motherboard that limits your upgrade options. But as I’ve said, that results in a very tidy interior.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Gaming performance

• Stellar performance
• Holds up against pricier gaming PCs

The Alienware Aurora R16's redesigned case may look a bit timid compared to other gaming desktops, but I can assure you it’s hiding a performance beast within.

Our review unit, with its 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700F CPU, RTX 4070 GPU and 32GB of RAM delivered the kind of performance you’d expect from a nearly $2,000 gaming rig. As part of my hands-on testing I fired up Doom Eternal and Cyberpunk 2077, which I think are among the best and worst optimized games, respectively. At Ultra Nightmare settings at 1440p, Doom Eternal’s frame rate never dropped below 100 frames per second (FPS). When I switched over to medium settings, frame rates jumped up to the 130 to 140 FPS range, which is fantastic.

Cyberpunk 2077 struggled to break past the high 40 FPS range at medium settings and 1440p resolution. I only managed to get the game running at around 60 FPS when I enabled Nvidia’s DLSS 3 frame-generating technology available in the company’s RTX 40-series GPUs. While I couldn’t manage to run Cyberpunk 2077 at higher frame rates, 60 FPS isn’t anything to complain about.

Gaming benchmarks (1080p/4K) 

Our in-house lab testing revealed equally impressive results. As you can see in the chart below, the majority of titles we benchmarked on the Aurora R16 ran great at both 1080p and 4K resolutions with game settings set to Ultra or its equivalent. The chart also shows how the Aurora R16 stacks up to recent desktops we’ve tested and reviewed.

In all fairness, the gaming rigs we're comparing it against don’t feature the exact same specs as our Aurora R16 review unit. For example, the Origin Chronos V3 packs an i7-13700K CPU / RTX 4080 GPU while the Aurora R15 features an Intel Core i9-13900KF / RTX 4090 (both have 32GB of RAM like the R16). These rigs are also considerably pricier than the R16, at $4,150 and $4,499, respectively.

While these machines outstrip the R16 in terms of raw performance, the latest Alienware desktop still packs a punch — which is especially impressive for a rig that costs over $2,000 less than the machines we stacked it against.

Alienware's boasts about this desktop’s improved airflow weren’t off the mark. When playing games, the fans produced little more than a gentle whirr, which effectively became soothing white noise in our quiet office. The air vents remained cool to the touch, even after an extensive gaming session. Alienware's Cryo-Tech liquid cooling tech no doubt contributed to this. Unless you play games in a particularly hot room, you likely won’t need to worry about this PC overheating.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Overall performance

• Strong CPU performance
• Good ray tracing performance

Given its prowess as a gaming PC, the Aurora R16 can handle less intensive computing tasks like surfing the web, watching videos or everyday work. Even with well over 30 open tabs, the PC kept on chugging along without a hint of slowing down. Needless to say, this PC can handle almost anything you throw at it — as our lab testing revealed.

The Aurora R16 performed great across our library of tests. However, it isn’t as performant as the other gaming desktops we pitted it against. 

For example, the more expensive Chronos V3 we reviewed earlier this year did better in terms of CPU benchmarks, file transfer speeds and video editing performance, which makes sense since it has a slightly better CPU and GPU than our R16.

We also benchmarked the Aurora R16 in tests that gauge how well it handles tasks like rendering graphics (3DMark), photo editing (HDXPRT 4) and video editing (CrossMark), and saw high scores across the board.

As with the previous set of tests, the PCs we compared the Aurora R16 to performed better on CrossMark and 3DMark. These machines have stronger graphics cards, which helps account for their better scores, but the RTX 4070-driven Aurora R16 isn’t completely left in the dust — even if it may struggle to hit the same scores in 3DMark's ray tracing test as its competitors.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Software

• Little extraneous software
• New Alienware Command Center is easy to use 

The Aurora R16 is thankfully devoid of much pre-installed software. Windows 11 and some Dell/Alienware applications come pre-installed, but that's about it.

During my testing, I gave apps like My Alienware, Alienware Customer Connect and Alienware Update (used to update the BIOS, for instance) a cursory glance at best. Likely, you'll rarely (if ever) touch these applications.

The updated Alienware Command Center is an application you'll likely use, especially if you're into monitoring and managing things like system cooling, customizing the RGB lighting, creating system overclock profiles and more. I found the new Alienware Command Center more streamlined than previous versions. If you're a tinkerer, you'll have no shortage of customization options to fiddle with.

Alienware Aurora R16 review: Verdict

The Alienware Aurora R16 is a welcome update to the Aurora line of gaming PCs. The sleek, elegant smaller chassis is the most visible change from previous iterations, making it a desktop that looks great in any work environment. And thanks to the powerful components you can configure it with, you can put plenty of power under the hood if you want.

On top of that, Alienware's new cooling tech allows this machine to run super quiet and cool, even during intense and prolonged gaming sessions.

And while you can configure the Aurora R16 with more powerful components, the $1,749 entry-level configuration is a great mid-range rig that costs thousands less than some PCs with similar specs. 

Like I said in the intro, if you're new to PC gaming the Aurora R16 is a good place to start. However, if you're looking for a more affordable option, the $1,399 Dell XPS 8960 is another great gaming desktop that doesn't look like one.

If you're looking for an all-around dependable gaming desktop featuring an attractive design, solid performance and which runs whisper-quiet, the Alienware Aurora R16 is well worth considering.

Amazon Prime Day deals are rolling in thick and fast, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to pick up your favorite tech for a bargain price, including this deal on 2TB of NVMe storage from Samsung.

Right now, the Samsung 2TB 990 PRO M.2 SSD is on sale for just $129 at Amazon, down from $289. That's the lowest we've ever seen. Since storage rarely comes cheap — especially if you're talking Samsung storage — this is a great deal to scoop up if you're in the market for a new SSD.

If you're looking to upgrade your existing PC, installing a rapid NVMe SSD is a great way to give your current machine a new lease of life without having to spend more money on one of the best gaming PCs. If you're about to build a PC, you should be installing an NVMe drive like the Samsung 990 PRO to use as your primary drive, where you install your operating system. In either case, this deal is for you.

A fast NVMe drive like the Samsung 990 PRO speeds up booting, loading and data transfer times. In short, it'll make your PC faster at pretty much everything that's important.

This SSD is compatible with the PCIe Gen 4 bus found on the latest motherboards, but it is also PCIe Gen 3 compatible if you're installing it on an older motherboard. You can also install this SSD into your PS5 to upgrade your storage, but you'll need to either install a third party heatsink or buy the heatsink version, which is more expensive. 

With 2TB of storage space, you'll have plenty of room to store your entire gaming library. Lots of storage is also great for anyone who works with lots of large files, such as photographers or filmmakers. 

While $129 for 2TB isn't the cheapest price you'll find, Samsung storage is widely regarded as being some of the best and highest quality storage around. As a result, it's rarely found at prices this low.  So you should snap up this deal straight away, as it's well over half-price and the lowest we've ever seen this product sell for. 

Are you on the hunt for a powerful gaming desktop? We’ve got you covered. At time of writing, Dell is offering a colossal discount on a beefy rig from Alienware.

The Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R14 with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU is currently on sale for $1,899 at Dell. Now, the thick end of two grand is hardly small potatoes, but it’s still significantly cheaper than the eye-watering $3,399 this gaming PC is normally sold for.  

What do you get for that (still significant) outlay? Under the hood, the Ryzen Edition R14 is rocking an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU with 16 cores and 32 threads, an RTX 3080 graphics card, a 1TB NVMe SSD so you can install plenty of the best Steam games, and 32GB of DDR4 RAM. The R14 also comes installed with a copy of Windows 11 Home.

While that RTX 3080 can't quite compete with the likes of the all-powerful RTX 4090, Nvidia’s Ampere cards still have a lot to offer. The 3080 proves hugely capable of running most modern games at 4K resolution (3,840 x 2160) at 60 fps or above. It also supports ray tracing, which can really lift the quality of lighting and reflections in games like Cyberpunk 2077. 

It’s a good time to be buying a powerful gaming PC, what with a certain Valve sales event going on at the moment. We think the Ryzen Edition R14 would be perfect to play the 5 best Steam Summer Sale 2023 games on. 

If you don’t have the space to fit a large gaming rig in your home office, perhaps we can entice you with some tempting early Prime Day deals on some of the best laptops. Right now, the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED is down to $797 on Amazon. While UK Apple fans will be pleased to know that the brilliant MacBook Air 15 is currently reduced to £1,279 on Amazon.  

Early Prime Day deals have arrived, and the deals are heating up as we approach the official start date of the annual sales extravaganza on July 11. But you don’t need to wait until then to start scoring big savings on top-rated tech. 

Case in point, this Alienware Aurora R14 gaming PC is currently on sale for $1,845 at Amazon. That’s a discount of more than $450 compared to its regular retail price of $2,299. This is the lowest price the online retailer has ever sold this particular configuration, and it’s one of the best Prime Day gaming deals in the early sales period. 

Even with this sizeable Prime Day discount, there's no escaping the fact this Alienware Gaming Desktop remains seriously pricey. But the reality is that the best gaming PCs don't cheap, and this saving of more than $450 does make entering the world of gaming on a desktop (or upgrading your existing rig) sting your wallet a little less. 

The Alienware Aurora R14 is overall an extremely attractive piece of gaming equipment, both inside and out. For starters its slick Dark Side chassis sports eye-catching RGB lighting, but as you’d expect you’re really paying for what’s underneath the angular plastic casing. You’ll find an AMD Ryzen 9 5900 processor, a desirable Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD that's been paired with a 1TB HDD for storing dozens of the best PC games — although we advise running games off the SSD and using the HDD for additional storage. 

If you'd prefer a more portable gaming machine, the best Prime Day laptop deals are offering savings on several machines that are designed primarily for gaming such as the MSI Pulse GL66 and the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, the latter actually tops our roundup of the best gaming laptops you can buy. 

Recently, I wrote a piece about my custom-built PC that proved somewhat (ahem) "divisive." I’ve gone through ups and downs with my Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090-powered rig over the past year, and my relationship with my wallet-crushing desktop hasn’t been helped by the ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023).

Hot damn what a laptop.

The version I’ve been testing will admittedly cost you an arm (and most likely both your legs), but it’s still a hugely impressive gaming machine. Mercifully, cheaper configurations start off at a more palatable $2,499.  

Of course, when the G14 config I've been using is priced at $3,299 / £3,599, FPS-slaying performance is essential.

And it really delivers.

I’ve thrown close to a dozen recent big-budget games at the G14, and it’s beasted them all. With Asus wisely opting for a native screen resolution just above 2K — 2,560 x 1,600, to be precise — hitting the laptop’s top 165Hz refresh rate in many games is possible. 

The G14’s awesome Mini-LED display plays a huge role in making this laptop feel truly elite. Boasting brilliant contrast and near OLED-quality black levels, it’s an amazing screen to play games on.

Beast mode

When you pair such a quality panel with the laptop version of the RTX 4090, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor, it’s no surprise the subsequent gaming results are a little bit special. Which they obviously should be, considering the colossal outlay involved in achieving them. 

This will sound a touch hyperbolic, but I’ve created some of my favorite gaming memories of the past few years with the G14.

I finally finished the PC version of Resident Evil 4 — even after getting the platinum trophy on what’s one of the best PS5 games. I’ve enjoyed racing around Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 at 120 fps thanks to the G14’s power and Nvidia’s DLSS 3 features. Hell, I even completed the GOG Galaxy edition of Metal Gear Solid 2 (a game I’ve finished at least a dozen times on console) because the 2001 classic still looks and plays superbly, provided you install the right mod. 

The G14 further boosts its credentials as a powerhouse that can rival some of the best gaming laptops through smart design decisions. This is a lovely-looking laptop that screams ‘spared no expense’ at every turn. I love the G14’s slimmed-down bezel, I’m a big fan of its responsive keyboard and I really appreciate how quiet it runs, even under heavy load. 

Quiet down

That last point is worth emphasizing. I’ve tested some powerful gaming laptops of late, and the G14 is comfortably the quietest I’ve used. 

While the Acer Predator Helios 300 sounds like a 747 taking off when booting even a mildly demanding game, Asus’ high-end laptop is far less harsh on your lobes. 

Yes, the G14 gets hot — uncomfortably so if you touch the center of the laptop just beneath the screen — but it’s clearly doing something right with fan output. Its speakers might be a little on the quiet side, yet that isn’t a huge issue when the laptop generally so quietly. 

So yes, I’m clearly a massive fan of the ROG Zephyrus G14 (2023). Whether playing Red Dead Redemption 2 at 120 fps on the couch while lazily enjoying the first test match of The Ashes or using its responsive keyboard and touchpad to browse the web, I’ve loved my time with this laptop.