‘Tis soon the season to be brimming with the spirit of unbridled capitalism and snaffling up copious holiday tech deals, including those for budget gaming PCs. Manufacturers and vendors certainly seem to be prepping themselves for Black Friday, because there are already some pretty spectacular deals popping up, such as these two.
RTX 40-series gaming PCs in particular seem to be feeling jolly and generous in their pricing. Whatever the reason for that, I’m here for it, because it’s giving us some pretty stellar options in the sub-$1,000 bracket.
If you’re pushing close to $1,000 you can get a solid all-rounder with the Thermaltake LCGS View i460T V2 with RTX 4060 Ti for $1,000 at Best Buy (save $300), or if you want something super-cheap there’s the AVGPC Max with RTX 4060 for $665 at Newegg (save $185.21).
Quick links
- AVGPC Max | Ryzen 5 5600X | Nvidia RTX 4060 | $665 at Newegg (save $185.21)
- Thermaltake LCGS View i460T V2 | RTX 4060 Ti | $1,000 at Best Buy (save $300)
Budget AVGPC and Thermaltake gaming PCs
I’m pretty sure this AVGPC build is the cheapest I’ve seen a non-atrocious RTX 4060 going for in quite some time. It’s even approaching the price of some ultra-budget builds lacking a discrete GPU. This is great given the RTX 4060 is perfectly capable of mainstream gaming at 1080p and 1440p today, though not at high refresh rates on max settings in AAA games.
Of course, you’re making some sacrifices for a build so cheap, such as the CPU which is now two generations old, and the 16 GB of previous-gen DDR memory. But slap in another cheap 16 GB of RAM and you should be golden.
The CPU could definitely do with an upgrade down the line, too, as it’s in that sweet spot where it’ll keep your GPU churning out frames just fine, but switching out to a current-gen motherboard and CPU will be a significant upgrade. Win-win, really: It’s a fantastic cheap build to get you out the gate, and when you decide to upgrade you can be sure the improvement will be worth it.
If you’re not looking to keep your spending as low as possible, opting for a build like this Thermaltake one isn’t a bad shout. Compared to the AVGPC build above, for $300-odd extra you’re getting a cracking all-round build that should deftly handle modern AAA games at 1440p, even on max settings in many cases.
There’s an added benefit to this rig beyond gaming, too, thanks to its 32 GB of DDR5 RAM and its Core i7 14700F. Yes, that “F” means it lacks an integrated GPU, but you’ve got a 4060 Ti to work with here, and you’re getting 20 14th Gen cores. Just ensure you have the latest microcode patch to prevent any instability issues.
In practice, this means the Thermaltake will not only be much better than the AVGPC gaming PC at productivity tasks and multitasking but also better than most other gaming PCs that cost substantially more than it. From $1,000–$1,500, you’re usually looking at PCs with a Core i5 13400 or 14400—which are great processors, but not quite in i7 territory.
You also get a nice physical build, packed to the brim with Thermaltake’s proprietary parts, and a nice clean white-with-RGB finish. If the AVGPC Max above is getting your foot in the door with PC gaming, this Thermaltake LCGS View i460T V2 is getting settled… even if its name is a bit of a mouthful.
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