by The world’s largest online retailer’s coveted discount event will take place in less than a week’s time, with the Amazon Prime Day PC deals set to take place on July 12 and 13. As with previous years, the question remains of how much you should really be. pay for a gaming PC on the day. Well, given that the platform has many different options for budget, mid-range and enthusiast-level machines, the answer will entirely depend on what you want the new rig to do for you in 2022.
This is where we come in. Not only do we have years of experience with some of the best gaming PCs, but also with tracking down your favorite models and components on the day itself. With so many different brands out there now, it can be a bit of a minefield for the uninitiated, as no one wants to be lured into investing in a machine with aging hardware, or paying over the odds for something that doesn’t quite do it. what do you want.
We’re here to help you find the right gaming PC for you ahead of Prime Day right here, so you can buy with confidence knowing you’ll have a top performer for years to come. We’ve also considered builds of all specs and hardware relevance, from the top brands to the boutique builders we’ve had hands-on experience with.
Budget Gaming PCs (Under $1000)
There’s a pretty wide range of budget gaming PCs that we’re expecting discounts for throughout Prime Day, as we’ve historically found entry-level machines starting around $599 and up. At a minimum, you’ll want to choose a build that includes at least an AMD Ryzen 3 or Intel Core i3 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a dedicated graphics card from either AMD or Nvidia. In general, we’d recommend the ever-popular GTX 1650 or GTX 1660 for casual gaming from Team Green, and an RX 5500 from the Red corner.
Don’t be fooled into splashing out on a gaming PC with an above-average processor when your rig doesn’t have a graphics card, as you won’t get anywhere with integrated graphics baked into the chip unless you go for the latest Ryzen 5000 G series (which anyway is unusual in this price range). At the higher end of the price spectrum, just south of $1000, you can very easily find an RTX 3050 PC, which tends to come with i5 processors, 8GB of RAM, and entry-level Ampere GPUs with 8GB of GDDR6 memory . While targeting 1080p, you’ll get ray tracing and DLSS support, allowing you to push demanding games much further than you would otherwise.
Depending on the range of deals available on the day, it may very well be possible to find machines running the likes of the RX 6600 or RTX 3060 in this price range as well. Computers with this level of hardware are much safer in both Full HD and 1440p, so this is still something to keep in mind.
Which budget gaming PCs should you buy on Prime Day?
There is a wide range of budget gaming PCs that we usually see for under the $1000 mark in most cases. This includes cheap configurations of the HP Pavilion desktop, iBuyPower Slate MR, HP Omen 25L, Acer Nitro 50, CyberPowerPC Gamer Master and various Skytech Gaming configurations.
Mid-range gaming PCs (under $1500)
If you’re looking for a machine that’s significantly more powerful to push high resolutions and even higher frame rates, pushing your budget over $1,000 is definitely the way to go. Mid-range gaming PC hardware is very competitively priced right now, especially for those models with high-end 1440p and 4K60 in their range. There’s a lot that can be done with rigs well under the $1,500 mark, many of which will have faster processors, far more storage, and much more capable graphics cards.
This is the price range we normally see the RTX 3060 and RTX 3070 lines in, either the standard or Ti variants, which are engineered for high performance without breaking the bank too badly. Also, Intel Core i7 processors and AMD Ryzen 7 processors are common in builds with this specification, as are larger NVMe SSDs, which are significantly faster than SATAs and traditional HDDs.
These machines offer arguably the best price-to-performance ratio for the vast majority of PC gamers, making sub-$1,500 gaming PCs some of the most sought after on Prime Day, at least in our experience. Also, there is much more representation from boutique builders and spec manufacturer-made models for the asking price as well.
Which mid-range gaming PCs should you buy on Prime Day?
As for the mid-range gaming PCs available, you have configurations of the Alienware Aurora R10, as well as the HP Omen 30L, Acer Predator Orion 3000 and 5000, and various Skytech and iBuyPower models just to name a few.
High-end gaming PCs
For those looking for high-end options with their next rig on Prime Day, you can find the likes of RTX 3080 PCs well below the $2000 mark on the day. Machines featuring this hardware benefit from either 16GB or 32GB of RAM, and run either Intel Core i7/i9 processors or an AMD Ryzen equivalent. The biggest strength of these computers is their capacity for 4K gaming above the 60 FPS mark, and they also use some of the best SSDs for gaming.
Enthusiast-level rigs can also have RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 in both variants and above this speed. We’re seeing more machines running some of the best CPUs for gaming, such as Intel’s latest 12th generation processors. When it comes to future proofing your machine, these are the models that will have no bottlenecks and nothing to slow them down in the future.
Which high-end gaming PCs should you buy on Prime Day?
We can really recommend the Alienware Aurora R13 and the Acer Predator Orion 7000 as two of the best high-end machines you can buy right now. As for other machines available above the $2000 mark, you have the HP Omen 45L, as well as the Corsair One i300 for more premium options as well.
We are also preparing for Prime Day deals on portable gaming. And for console gamers, we give you everything you need to know about Prime Day Xbox Deals and Prime Day PS5 deals.
