It is possible to get a capable gaming PC for under $1,000, and these Prime Day deals prove it

A Refract Gaming Jade PC with purple lighting on, sitting on a wooden floor — (Image credit: Future / Fraser Porter)

PC gaming is expensive, yes, but contrary to popular belief, it is actually possible to bag yourself a modern, capable gaming PC for under a grand. Is it going to be the biggest and baddest desktop on the planet? No, but it will absolutely provide you with better technical specs than a console would, and more importantly, it'll futureproof you so you can upgrade later, and create what is undoubtedly one of the best gaming PCs.

That's especially true while Prime Day PC deals are running. Right now you can get yourself all sorts of discounts on prebuilt machines and hefty gaming components. That being said, it's very easy to mistake a bad PC deal for a good one - especially since a lot of product names and numbers can be like hieroglyphs for newcomers. For that reason, I've taken a walk through the discount aisles at the biggest retailers and tried to find gaming PC deals under a grand that are actually worth investing in.

I've got a few other bits of criteria though. Not only do these PCs need to be under $1,000, but they also need to be futureproofed. That means one thing in particular needs to be up to par: The motherboard has to be DDR5 compatible. If the PC has DDR4 RAM in it but does have a DDR5-compatible motherboard, that's alright. If there's no futureproofing for the current memory standard and CPUs, I'm not recommending it. Spoilers: None of the best deals are at Amazon.

Skytech Shadow Gaming PC | $979 $829 at Newegg
Save $150 - Kicking things off, we have an RTX 4060 build which gives you almost perfect entry-level specs if you're on a tight budget. The SSD and CPU may be a little weaker here, but with an LGA 1700 CPU socket that supports Intel's 12th, 13th, and 14th generation of processors, you'll have more than enough room to improve when you feel like you need to.

Specs: Intel Core i5-12400F, Nvidia RTX 4060, 16GB of DDR5, 1TB of SSD

Buy it if:

✅ You want the best deal
✅ You want entry-level specs on a tight budget

Don't buy it if:

❌ You want a more up-to-date processor

Acer Nitro 60 | $1,199.99 $849.99 at Newegg
Save $350 - This build from Acer sports the same RTX 4060 GPU you can see in the rig above, but for only $20 more, you get the much more up-to-date CPU I was hoping for. The 14400F is still on the weaker end of the scale, but it'll outperform the 12th-generation version for sure. Again, these are perfect entry-level specs for under $900.

Specs: Intel Core i5-14400F, Nvidia RTX 4060, 16GB of DDR5, 1TB SSD

Buy it if:

✅ You want an up-to-date processor
✅ You're on a tight budget

Don't buy it if:

❌ You want one of the latest Nvidia GPUs

MSI Codex R2 | $1,099 $999 at Newegg
Save $100 - If you want a little more bang for your buck, this build from MSI gets you an extra 1TB of storage, a more up-to-date GPU, and 32GB of DDR5. Yes, this is technically $1,000, but it's a great deal for those who can push their spending ceiling a little bit higher.

Specs: Intel Core i5-14400F, Nvidia RTX 5060, 32GB of DDR5, 2TB SSD

Buy it if:

✅ You can stretch the budget
✅ You want the best specs possible under a grand

Don't buy it if:

❌ You want to stay under $900

More Prime Day deals

Amazon: Builds from Corsair, CyberPower, and Alienware
Best Buy: CyberPowerPC, iBUYPower, and HP rigs
Dell: Big savings on Alienware

On the hunt for some Prime Day bargains? Check out some Prime Day PS5 deals, Prime Day Kindle deals, and Prime Day Meta Quest deals.

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One of my earliest memories is playing SuperMario64 and wondering why the controller I held had three grips, but I only had two hands. Ever since I've been in love with video games and their technology. After graduating from Edinburgh Napier University with a degree in Journalism, I contributed to the Scottish Games Network and completed an Editorial Internship at Expert Reviews. Over the last decade, I’ve been managing my own YouTube channel about my love of games too. These days, I'm one of the resident hardware nerds at GamesRadar+, and I take the lead on our coverage of gaming PCs, VR, controllers, gaming chairs, and content creation gear. Now, I better stop myself here before I get talking about my favourite games like HUNT: Showdown, Dishonored, and Towerfall Ascension.