Expert Consulted: Adrian Gardiner. Years of experience buying both computers and computer parts for my own new customer builds has given me a keen eye for spotting great deals when shopping. In this article, I’ll be sharing my knowledge and tips with you to find the best value.
Welcome to my comprehensive review of the best cheap gaming PC under 500 USD with five affordable gaming desktop computers that won’t break the bank!
I understand that finding the perfect gaming rig can be challenging, especially when you’re on a budget. That’s why I’ve searched high and low to bring you the best budget-friendly options, each offering exceptional performance and value.
So, whether you’re a casual gamer or an aspiring esports gaming champion, my top five picks will help you enjoy your favorite games without hurting your wallet. Dive in and discover the ultimate budget gaming desktops that redefine bang for your buck!
To cover all bases, I’ve found 5 prebuilt gaming computers that you can buy today, and I’ve also put together a set of parts that can be used to build your own computer should you wish to go down that route.
With $500 to spend, the self-build option will definitely give you the best performance for your money.
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Cheap Gaming PC Under 500 USD (5 Best Prebuilt Options)
You’d normally expect to pay good money for a decent gaming PC, so with a budget of only $500, we’re not going to find the ultimate gaming PC.
Even so, I’ve come across some impressive options that can manage most games at a decent level – yes, there will be compromises (as listed against each selection), but all options will give great gaming enjoyment for the money spent.
It’s important to remember, however, that high resolutions and fully optimized game settings won’t be achievable with these picks.
No. 1 – STGAubron ABR1222 Gaming Desktop PC – TOP PICK
Our top pick, the STGAubron ABR1222 Tower Gaming PC, is a budget-friendly computer designed for gamers seeking an affordable yet capable unit and comes first courtesy of the superb RTX 2060 graphics card, the best graphics in this review.
This compact system comes with a nice Intel Core i5 CPU and an excellent RTX 2060 graphics card, ensuring smooth performance in most modern titles.
With an ample 512 GB of SSD storage and 16 GB of RAM, the STGAubron is nicely specced for some gaming fun.
The full specification is as follows:
- CPU: Intel Core i5 3.3 GHz up to 3.7 GHz Boost
- CPU Cooling: Air Cooled
- RAM: 16 GB DDR3
- Hard Drive: 512 GB SSD
- Graphics: GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB DDR6
- WiFi: USB WiFi included
- Mouse & Keyboard: Included USB (wired)
- OS: Windows 10 Home.
PROs
Excellent nVidia GeForce RTX 2060 graphics
3 x RGB Cooling Fans
RGB Bluetooth Sound Bar included.
CONs
DDR3 RAM is a bit outdated now.
NOTE: A display monitor is not included.
No. 2 – Skytech Mini Gaming PC
The Skytech Mini Gaming PC is a nice-looking compact and cost-effective solution for gamers seeking some good gaming performance on a budget.
This small PC is fitted with an excellent Ryzen 5 5600G CPU and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM.
Storage comes via a 500 GB M.2 SSD drive with AMD Radeon Graphics, completing a reasonable specification.
The compact size does limit future upgrades to just RAM and Storage.
The full specification is as follows:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz up to 4.4 GHz Boost
- CPU Cooling: Air Cooled
- RAM: 16 GB DDR4 3200 MHz
- Hard Drive 1: 500 GB NVMe M.2 SSD
- Graphics: AMD Radeon Integrated Graphics
- WiFi: WiFi 6 802.11 ac included
- Mouse & Keyboard: Included USB (wired)
- OS: Windows 10 Home.
Pros
Fast AMD Ryzen 5 5600G processor
USB 3.0 Type-C Port
500 GB M.2 SSD drive.
Cons
AMD Radeon Integrated Graphics
Limited future upgrade options (RAM & Storage only)
NOTE: A display monitor is not included.
No. 3 – HP Desktop M01-F1120 Gaming PC
Another nice looking compact and modern offering, the HP Desktop M01-F1120 Gaming PC, is a great option if you’re short on space and will fit nicely on a desk.
Powered by a great Ryzen 3 processor, it comes with 8 GB DDR 4 RAM and 512 GB of SSD storage – more RAM would be ideal, but you can still game with this spec.
The case front has plenty of handy USB ports (4), a card reader, plus, unusually these days, a DVD-RW drive. Sadly no mention of Wi-Fi in this PC. Upgradeability would be limited to just RAM and storage.
The full specification is as follows:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 4300G
- CPU Cooling: Air cooled
- RAM: 8 GB DDR4 3200 MHz
- Hard Drive: 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD
- Graphics: AMD Radeon Graphics
- WiFi: Not specified
- Mouse & Keyboard: Included (wired)
- OS: Windows 11 Home.
PROs
Great connectivity on the front panel with 4 USB 2.0 Ports
DVD-RW Drive
3 in 1 Media Card Reader.
CONs
Only 8 GB RAM
No Wi-Fi
Limited future upgrade options (RAM & Storage only)
NOTE: A display monitor is not included.
No. 4 – ACEMAGICIAN AMR5 Gaming Mini PC
A bit of a wildcard, the AMR5 Gaming Mini PC, housed in a small (again good for space saving) but attractive and quirky case design with LED accent lighting the unit packs a good gaming specification.
Power comes from a beefy Ryzen 5 5600U processor, 16 GB RAM, and excellent AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 graphics.
512 GB of super-fast NVMe SSD storage completes the main specification, plus good connectivity with 2 x USB 3.0 ports and 1 x USB 3.0 Type-C port
Sadly, no mouse or keyboard is included.
The full specification is as follows:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600U 2.3 GHz up to 4.2 GHz Boost
- CPU Cooling: Air Cooled
- RAM: 16 GB DDR4 2666 MHz
- Hard Drive: 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX Vega 7
- WiFi: WiFi 5 included
- Mouse & Keyboard: Included USB (wired)
- OS: Windows 11 Pro.
Pros
Excellent AMD Ryzen 5 5600U processor
3 x Operational Mode Switch for Silent / Auto / Performance mode selection
Easy access magnetic panel makes upgrading storage and RAM very easy
USB 3.0 Type-C port.
Cons
No mouse/keyboard.
NOTE: A display monitor is not included.
No. 5 – STGAubron ABR Gaming PC
Housed in an attractive-looking case with plenty of LED case fans (6), the STGAubron ABR Gaming PC looks the business.
Fitted components look good, too, with a powerful Intel Core i7 CPU, 16 GB RAM, although it’s the older DDR3 memory and a 512 GB SSD drive.
Graphics is taken care of with a dedicated AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics card.
There is space in this build for future upgrades, but the components used are, unfortunately, a good few generations old, so getting compatible parts to upgrade could prove tricky.
The full specification is as follows:
- CPU: Intel Core i7 3.4 GHz up to 3.9 GHz
- CPU Cooling: Air Cooled
- RAM: 16 GB DDR3
- Hard Drive: 512 GB SSD
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 580 8 GB DDR5
- WiFi: USB WiFi included
- Mouse & Keyboard: Included (wired)
- OS: Windows 10 Home.
PROs
6 x RGB Case Fans included
RGB Bluetooth Soundbar included.
CONs
DDR3 RAM is a bit outdated now
Reviews mention issues with Wi-Fi quality.
NOTE: A display monitor is not included.
Best Cheap Gaming PC Under 500 USD
(Self Build Option)
Building your own gaming PC will almost always give you the best performance for your money.
Below, I’ve listed a set of parts that you can use to build your own gaming PC for under $500 and with massively better gaming performance potential than any pre-built PC could manage.
- Case / Chassis: Deepcool MATREXX 40 MicroATX Mini Tower Case
- Motherboard: ASRock A520M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
- Processor (CPU): AMD Ryzen 3 4100 3.8 GHz Quad-Core Processor
- Memory (RAM): Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory
- Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
- Graphics Card (GPU): EVGA SC ULTRA GAMING GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB
- Power Supply Unit (PSU): EVGA 450 BR 80+ Bronze Certified ATX PSU.
At the time of writing, these parts total $525.00 in cost. Okay, it’s slightly over our budget of $500, but what an amazing build you’ll have here.
All parts are available on the web at various locations, including Amazon.
All the main components are there to give you a superb gaming PC with excellent performance far in excess of any $500 prebuilt computer!
Related Article: Building A Gaming PC for Under $1000 (includes detailed how-to-build guide)
Windows 11 Licence
Spending $100 on a Windows 11 license would seriously limit our options when selecting the best hardware components to build our gaming PC, so this is not included in the above list of items.
However, if you have an old Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10 computer that is no longer needed or you are just upgrading from an old PC, you can use the old license for your new computer so long as it is a ‘Retail’ license. An ‘OEM’ license won’t work as it’s usually tied to the hardware it comes with.
This method of using an old license on a new computer is absolutely fine to do and should give you no issues and will be a considerable saving in cost.
Just remember that once you’ve done this, the old computer cannot use the license it was using any longer as you’ve just transferred it to the new computer. A retail license can only be installed/used on one computer at any given time.
All you need is a legitimate Windows license (that is no longer needed) from your old computer.
When installing Windows 11 onto your new computer (https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows11/ to download Windows 11 installation media onto a flash drive/memory stick – at least 8 GB in size) just enter the old Windows license key into the box when asked and proceed with the install.
Once Windows 11 is installed and online, the old license will be converted to a digital Windows 11 license and activated.
Before You Buy
Before going ahead and making a purchase, I’ve covered a few things other areas you need to keep in mind prior to making a decision on what to buy.
Budget
I’d always advise deciding on a budget before looking for your ideal gaming PC, but of course, we have a budget already of $500 for the purposes of this article.
However, you’ll still need a new monitor to go with your new gaming PC. For this, I would recommend choosing a 24″ screen and a budget of around £140.00.
Lastly, you’ll need a mouse and keyboard if you are going to build your computer yourself.
Specification
Listed below are the 4 most important components you need to be aware of when choosing your new prebuilt gaming PC.
Based on our $500 budget, to get the best performance and consequently the longest life, we always go for the very best specification we can afford within our budget. The following is a rough guide for a low-end gaming PC specification:
- Processor (CPU) – I recommend, at a minimum, that you select either an Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processor. Either of these will give you great gaming performance.
- Memory (RAM) – 8 GB (absolute minimum) of either DDR4 or, preferably, DDR5 RAM. The more, the better, and for gaming, a minimum of 16 GB is the current standard for a decent gaming PC specification.
- Storage – I recommend you go for at least 1 TB of M.2 NVMe SSD storage – again, the more, the better as computer games are taking up more and more space as they continually grow in install size. I find I’m fitting 2 TB SSD drives as standard now in any gaming PC build I do
- Graphics Card (GPU) – The NVIDIA RTX 1650 Super is a really great card for gaming.
A system including the above parts will give you an excellent start to your gaming adventure.
Conclusion
The cost of a new prebuilt Gaming PC doesn’t need to break the bank as there are some great deals available if you look around.
However, if you decide to go ahead and build your own gaming PC based on our suggestions earlier in this article, then good for you. You’ll have an excellent, more up-to-date gaming computer and the satisfaction of having built it yourself.
All of our 5 prebuilt gaming computer options are excellent, but the STGAubron ABR1222 Tower Gaming PC stands out as the best cheap gaming PC under 500 USD, mainly due to its superb RTX 2060 dedicated graphics card and best all-round specification for the price plus looking great too.