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The world’s largest online retailer’s coveted discount event will be upon in under 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 as to how much should you really be paying for a gaming PC on the day. Well, given that the platform has many different options for budget, mid-range, and enthusiast-level machines, that answer is going to entirely depend on what you want your new rig to do for you in 2022.
That’s where we come in. We’ve had not only years of experience with some of the best gaming PCs, but also in tracking over favorite models and components on the day itself. With so many different brands out there now, it can be a bit of a minefield to the uninitiated, as no one wants to be suckered into investing in a machine with aging hardware, or paying over the odds for something that doesn’t quite do what you want.
We’re helping you to 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 considered builds of all specs and hardware relevancy, too, from the top brands to the boutique builders that we’ve had hands-on experience with.
Budget gaming PCs (Under $1,000)
There’s quite a wide spectrum of budget gaming PCs that we’re expecting discounts for across Prime Day, as historically we’ve found entry-level machines starting from around $599 and above. At the very minimum, you’ll want to opt for a build that features at least an AMD Ryzen 3 or Intel Core i3 CPU, 8GB RAM, and a dedicated graphics card from either AMD or Nvidia. Generally, we would recommend the perennially popular GTX 1650 or GTX 1660 for casual gaming use from Team Green, and an RX 5500 from the red corner.
Don’t be fooled into splashing out on a gaming PC with above an above average processor when the rig doesn’t have a graphics card, as you won’t get anywhere with integrated graphics baked onto the chip unless you’re opting for the latest Ryzen 5000 G-series (which are uncommon at this price range anyway). At the upper end of the pricing spectrum, just south of $1,000, you can very easily find an RTX 3050 PC, with tend to come with i5 CPUs, 8GB RAM, and the entry-level Ampere GPU with 8GB GDDR6 memory. While targeting 1080p, you’ll be getting ray tracing and DLSS support, so you can push demanding games much further than you would natively.
Depending on the extent of deals available on the day, it could very much be possible to find machines running the likes of the RX 6600 or RTX 3060 in this price range as well. Computers featuring this level of hardware are much more confident performers in both Full HD and 1440p, so this is something to keep in mind all the same.
Which budget gaming PCs should you buy on Prime Day?
There is a wide selection of budget gaming PCs that we typically see for under the $1,000 mark in most instances. This includes cheap configurations of the HP Pavilion desktop, the iBuyPower Slate MR, HP Omen 25L, Acer Nitro 50, CyberPowerPC Gamer Master, and various Skytech Gaming configurations.
Mid range gaming PCs (under $1,500)
If you’re after a machine that’s significantly more powerful at pushing high resolutions and even higher frame rates then upping your budget passed the $1,000 mark is certainly 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 scope. There’s a lot that can be done with rigs well under the $1,500 mark, many of which will feature faster processors, far more storage space, and much more capable video cards.
This is the price range that we normally see the RTX 3060 and RTX 3070 lines reside in, whether the standard or Ti variants, which are engineered for high performance without breaking the bank too badly. What’s more, Intel Core i7 CPUs and AMD Ryzen 7 processors are common in builds of this spec, as are larger NVMe SSDs, which are significantly faster than SATAs and traditional HDDs.
These machines arguably offer the best price-to-performance ratio for the vast majority of PC gamers, making gaming PCs under $1,500 some of the most sought after on Prime Day at least in our experience. What’s more, there’s much more representation from boutique builders and specified manufacturer-made models for the asking price, too.
Which mid-range gaming PCs should you buy on Prime Day?
In terms of which mid-range gaming PCs are available, you’ve got 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 wanting high-end options with their next rig on Prime Day, you can find the likes of RTX 3080 PCs well under the $2,000 mark on the day. Machines featuring this hardware benefit from either 16GB or 32GB of RAM, and run either Intel Core i7 / i9 CPUs or an AMD Ryzen equivalent. The biggest strength of these computers is their capacity for 4K gaming above the 60 FPS mark, with also making use of some of the best SSDs for gaming, too.
Enthusiast-level rigs may also feature the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 in both its variations as well upwards of this rate. We’re seeing more machines running some of the best CPUs for gaming, such as Intel’s latest 12th Gen processors. As far as futureproofing your machine goes, these are the models that will have no bottlenecks and nothing slowing them down in the future.
Which high-end gaming PCs should you buy on Prime Day?
We can genuinely recommend the Alienware Aurora R13 and the Acer Predator Orion 7000 as two of the best high-end machines that you can buy right now. In terms of other machines that are available upwards of the $2,000 mark, you’ve got the HP Omen 45L, as well as the Corsair One i300 for more premium options as well.
We’re also gearing up for the Prime Day gaming laptop deals. And for console gamers, we’re bringing you everything you need to know about the Prime Day Xbox deals and Prime Day PS5 deals.
