Pioneering Reviews by Tom: A Tech Odyssey
Gamers’ Choice: Best PC Configurations and Models of 2Aturdays, 2023
Best Gaming PCs
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
List in brief
1.Top-notch Build Quality
2.Mid-range Gaming PC
3.Powerful and Quiet
4.Under $1500
5.Powerful Performer
6.Upgradeable
7.Fits on Your Desk
8.How to Choose
9.Discounts
A gaming PC is one of the most flexible ways to play games, with options to upgrade and pick just the parts you need. There’s plenty to keep in mind when buying a gaming PC: power, size, components. and what resolution you want to play at. If all you need is to play a few AAA titles at 1080p, you may not need a high-end CPU and graphics card.
But if you want to play at 1440p or 4K, then you need to start thinking about saving more for your rig. CPU horsepower is also tied to gaming acumen, but branching out into anything much over a quad-core processor will primarily see performance gains in multi-threaded workloads such as video processing, rendering and encoding, not games.
Intel released its 14th Gen “Raptor Lake Refresh” processors earlier this year, including theCore i9-14900K, Core i7-14700K and Core i5-14600K . In our recent testing, we’ve found that AMD’s 7000-series X3D chips are still the most powerful for gaming.
And in July, AMD isset to launch its Zen 5-powered Ryzen 9000 processors , which the company claims will deliver a 16% increase in instructions per cycle over the previous generation. But the X3D models, likely to be the most interesting for gamers, are expected to arrive at a later date.
We’ll jump into our tested picks for best prebuilt gaming PCs directly below. But if you want more advice about how to shop and specific things to look for, our buying advice follows our top gaming PC picks.
Quick List
Corsair Vengeance i7500 Best Overall Best Overall ](https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-gaming-pcs#section-a-powerful-gaming-pc-with-top-notch-build-quality )
1. Corsair Vengeance i7500
A Powerful Gaming PC With Top-Notch Build Quality
Because this PC is built entirely from aftermarket parts, you can customize it to your heart’s content. No proprietary parts here!
iBuyPower Y60 Best Mid-range Best Mid-range ](https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-gaming-pcs#section-best-mid-range-gaming-pc )
2. iBuyPower Y60
Best Mid-range gaming PC
The iBuyPower Y60 is a strong mid-range gaming desktop with plenty of room to grow. It comes in the beautiful (but large) Hyte Y60 case to show off your components, and we appreciate that you can get it for 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage for a price that isn’t crazy. It also offers a 240 mm liquid cooler, which some PCs in this price range don’t include.
Best Gaming PCs Powerful and Quiet Powerful and Quiet ](https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-gaming-pcs#section-a-powerful-quiet-pc-with-room-to-upgrade )
3. MSI Infinite RS 13th
A Powerful, Quiet PC with Room to Upgrade
The MSI Infinite RS 13th delivers powerful performance with an Nvidia RTX 4090 and Intel Core i9, as long as you’re willing to pay for it.
Best Gaming PCs Under $1,500 Under $1,500 ](https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-gaming-pcs#section-a-gaming-pc-under-1500 )
4. Maingear MG-1 Silver
A Gaming PC Under $1,500
The Maingear MG-1 Silver is an affordable starter PC that is well built with lots of upgrade options.
Best Gaming PCs Powerful Performer Powerful Performer ](https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-gaming-pcs#section-powerful-performance-with-improved-cooling )
5. Alienware Aurora R15
Powerful Performance with Improved Cooling
The Alienware Aurora R15 is a powerful prebuilt gaming PC packed with the latest components that performs and cools better than its predecessors.
Best Gaming PCs Upgradeable Upgradeable ](https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-gaming-pcs#section-upgradeable-with-few-frills )
6. Lenovo Legion Tower 7i (Gen 8)
Upgradeable With Few Frills
The Lenovo Legion Tower 7i sports a simple design but offers tons of ports and upgrade options. It ships with a powerful RTX 4080 GPU capable of playing games at 4K.
Corsair One i500 Small PC Small PC ](https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-gaming-pcs#section-a-small-pc-to-fit-on-your-desk )
7. Corsair One i500
A Small PC to Fit on Your Desk
The Corsair One i500 is bigger than it used to be due to the size of today’s GPUs, but it also got a makeover with wooden paneling. The larger size also makes it easy to upgrade, but this PC is only available in pricey configurations.
Best Prebuilt Gaming PCs You Can Buy Today
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A powerful gaming PC with top-notch build quality
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
1. Corsair Vengeance i7500
A powerful gaming PC with top-notch build quality
Specifications
CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K
GPU: Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OmniBlack
RAM: 64GB DDR5-6000
Storage: 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD
Today’s Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Exceptional performance
Quiet operation
Top-notch build quality
Two-year warranty
Reasons to avoid
-
Expensive with RTX 4090
-
No RGB lighting on RTX 4090 as tested
Buying a gaming PC may be easier than building one, but perhaps the biggest benefit of the Corsair Vengeance i7500 is that it feels like one you built yourself. The build starts in aVengeance 4000D mid-tower case and is built to excellent standards.
Our review system, with an Intel Core i9-14900K and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 from Palit, offered top-notch performance. And while it’s pricey at that configuration, the system is backed by a two-year warranty, rather than the one-year system you see on many prebuilt systems in big box stores.
Because this PC is built entirely from aftermarket parts, you can customize it to your heart’s content. No proprietary parts here!
There were very few downsides, beyond the expense. But RGB-lovers be warned - our review unit’s GPU didn’t come with colorful lighting, which you kind of expect on something that expensive, like it or not.
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Read: Corsair Vengeance i7500 review
Best Mid-range gaming PC
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. iBuyPower Y60
Best Mid-range gaming PC
Specifications
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
GPU: PNY GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Verto
RAM: 32GB DDR5-5200
Storage: 2TB Western Digital Blue SN580 SSD
Today’s Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Classy case
Front USB-C port
240 mm liquid cooling
Includes a decent keyboard and mouse
Reasons to avoid
-
Large for a mid-tower
-
Wi-Fi 6, not Wi-Fi 6E
The iBuyPower Y60 is a strong mid-range performer with some bumped-up specs that will serve you well in the future. It’s slightly pricer than some similar desktops, but it comes with 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, which will let you store plenty of games and will serve you with demanding apps in the future.
You get a classy case — the Hyte Y60 — with this prebuilt, which gives you a wrap-around window to your components and a vertically-mounted GPU. While the motherboard doesn’t have a USB Type-C port on the rear, there is one on the case.
Other desktops we tested in this range used air coolers that didn’t impress. While liquid cooling isn’t a must, the 240 mm liquid cooler in this case was quieter than on some competitors.
There are some downsides, namely in networking. This system uses Wi-Fi 6, which is getting a bit old as a standard. Some gamers may want to plug in Ethernet (always a best practice, if you can), particularly for big game downloads.
Read: iBuyPower Y60 Gaming Desktop review
A Powerful, Quiet PC with Room to Upgrade
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. MSI Infinite RS 13th
A Powerful, Quiet PC with Room to Upgrade
Specifications
CPU: Intel Core i9-13900KF
GPU: MSI RTX 4090 Surpim Liquid X
RAM: 32GB DDR5-5200
Storage: 2TB MSI Spatium PCIe 4.0 SSD
Today’s Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Liquid-cooled CPU and GPU
Very quiet
Top-end performance
Case feels premium
Reasons to avoid
-
Very large
-
Swing-out doors have very little ground clearance
If you’re looking for the best of the best, theMSI Infinite RS 13th delivers top-of-the-line performance, as long as you’re willing to pay for it. Between the 13th Gen Intel Core i9 and a liquid-cooled Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, this system delivers awesome performance, while still being quiet and upgradeable down the line.
All of the parts are standard, and the case (the MSI Prospect 700RL) is roomy. In fact, for some it may be too roomy! But it can fit the two radiators and nine fans that made this system all but silent in our testing.
A keyboard and mouse are included, though you’ll likely want to get something a bit nicer.
In our testing, we got some incredible performance out of the Infinite. If you value smooth gameplay and upgradeability out of your prebuilt and will sacrifice room on or under your desk, this is the one to consider.
- Title: Pioneering Reviews by Tom: A Tech Odyssey
- Author: George
- Created at : 2024-08-19 03:43:59
- Updated at : 2024-08-20 03:43:59
- Link: https://hardware-tips.techidaily.com/pioneering-reviews-by-tom-a-tech-odyssey/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.