Is this the perfect $1,500 gaming PC? Maybe not, but it's pretty darn close

HardwareGaming PCsIs this the perfect $1,500 gaming PC? Maybe not, but it’s pretty darn closeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: ABS)

ABS Cyclone Ruby Gaming PC against a teal background, with a white border

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The sweet spot price for a new, pre-built gaming PC is arguably $1,500. While you can easily spend less or more than this, the hardware that’s available for this price is not only capable of blasting through most games around at the moment, but it’ll also be perfectly fine for years to come. Finding one that’s perfect at this price point is a bit tricky, though.

Zen 4 Ryzen processors work best when paired with DDR5-6000 RAM and that’s exactly what you get here. Specifically, two DIMMs of 16GB for 32GB in total, all running in dual-channel mode for optimum performance. You won’t need anything faster or any more in terms of capacity for the lifespan of the PC.

As with all of the RTX 40-series cards, it fully supports all the features in DLSS 3.5, so in games that support them, you’ll be able to enable AI-powered upscaling, frame generation, and ray tracing denoising for even more performance or better quality visuals.

There’s always one party pooper and in this case, it’s the storage. It’s a Kingston 1TB SSD and while it’s perfectly decent for the money, I’d prefer to see more capacity than this, as the price difference between 1TB and 2TB isn’t very big. I know it doesn’t seem all that long ago when we were saying things like ‘Wow, this has a 1TB SSD in it!’ but tech moves fast these days, and it feels a bit mean to only get 1TB now.

Fortunately, the rest of the PC is fine, with a decent air cooler on the CPU, some nice RGB fans in the case to keep the rest cool, and the whole thing is rather compact and cute. I’m not sure being cute is a prerequisite for being the perfect gaming PC, but I don’t care when the vast majority of this rig is spot on.

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MSI MAG Forge 100R Mid Tower…

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$89.49$66.55View Deal

$89.49$66.55

$66.55

MSI MAG Forge 100R Mid Tower Gaming…MSI MAG Forge 100R Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case ‘Black, 2X 120 mm ARGB PWM Fan, 1x 120 mm Fan, 1-6 ARGB Hub, Mystic Light Sync, Tempered Glass Panel, ATX, mATX, Mini-ITX’

$549View DealAVGPC Q-Box Mini Series PC - AMD Ryzen…AVGPC Q-Box Mini Series PC - AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Cezanne 6-Core 3.9 GHz with AMD Radeon Graphics Gaming Cooler 16 GB DDR4 1TB SSD Windows 10, Black

AVGPC Q-Box Mini Series PC -…

Amazon

$549View Deal

$549

AVGPC Q-Box Mini Series PC - AMD Ryzen…AVGPC Q-Box Mini Series PC - AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Cezanne 6-Core 3.9 GHz with AMD Radeon Graphics Gaming Cooler 16 GB DDR4 1TB SSD Windows 10, Black

$779.99View DealSkytech Gaming Skytech Shiva Gaming PC…Skytech Gaming Skytech Shiva Gaming PC Desktop – AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz, GTX 1660 Super, 500GB SSD, 16G DDR4 3200, 650W Gold PSU, AC Wi-Fi, Windows 11 Home 64-bit

Skytech Gaming Skytech Shiva…

Amazon

$779.99View Deal

$779.99

Skytech Gaming Skytech Shiva Gaming PC…Skytech Gaming Skytech Shiva Gaming PC Desktop – AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz, GTX 1660 Super, 500GB SSD, 16G DDR4 3200, 650W Gold PSU, AC Wi-Fi, Windows 11 Home 64-bit

$899.99View DealSkytech Gaming Shiva Gaming PC Desktop…Skytech Gaming Shiva Gaming PC Desktop – INTEL Core i5 11400F 2.6 GHz, RTX 3060, 1TB NVME SSD, 16G DDR4 3200, 650W GOLD PSU, AC Wi-Fi, Windows 10 Home 64-bit,White

Skytech Gaming Shiva Gaming…

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$899.99View Deal

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Skytech Gaming Shiva Gaming PC Desktop…Skytech Gaming Shiva Gaming PC Desktop – INTEL Core i5 11400F 2.6 GHz, RTX 3060, 1TB NVME SSD, 16G DDR4 3200, 650W GOLD PSU, AC Wi-Fi, Windows 10 Home 64-bit,White

$1,799.99View DealCORSAIR VENGEANCE i7400 Gaming PC:…CORSAIR VENGEANCE i7400 Gaming PC: Intel Core i5-13600KF, GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, 32GB DDR5, 1TB NVMe SSD, Win11 Home

CORSAIR VENGEANCE i7400…

CORSAIR

$1,799.99View Deal

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CORSAIR VENGEANCE i7400 Gaming PC:…CORSAIR VENGEANCE i7400 Gaming PC: Intel Core i5-13600KF, GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, 32GB DDR5, 1TB NVMe SSD, Win11 Home

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