Introduction
Consumers looking to purchase a gaming PC don’t have to spend thousands of dollars for a great experience. In fact, for $1500 or less, many manufacturers and retailers offer highly competitive prebuilt PCs that offer great performance and usability. Consumers looking to avoid the hassle that comes with building their own PC can pickup a prebuilt PC, which significantly minimises any configuration or setup you’ll need to do, other than installing your favourite games, or connecting up a few USBs so that you can plug in a mouse and keyboard.
With all of this in mind, we thought what better way to figure out what the best prebuilts on the market are right now for under $1500, with a good ol’ fashioned PCHH roundup. We’ve taken a look at a variety of different manufacturers and retailers that supply the best prebuilt experiences, and picked out five of our favourites that encapsulate a true gaming PC experience.
1. Skytech Gaming Nebula
PC/HH Says: The Ryzen 5 is a great balance of price and performance, and will not be holding the user back in any way.
Memory: 16GB
PC/HH Says: 16GB of memory is a great starting point, but the minimum we’d recommend in 2023.
GPU: RTX 3060 Ti
PC/HH Verdict: Strong GPU and one of the fastest GPUs that can be had in a PC at this price point.
The Skytech Nebula offers very competitive performance for the price. Featuring both the fantastic Ryzen 5600X and RTX 4070, this PC is an excellent choice for a good mid-range to high-end gaming experience. What’s more, Skytech also haven’t been cheap with other components which may not affect the performance. With a spacious 1TB NVMe SSD, efficient gold-rated PSU, and a case that combines function with form, consumers will be more than satisfied with this system and what it offers.
In terms of performance, the system is excellent for gaming at two major resolutions: 1080p, and 1440p. For older games and simpler esports titles, consumers can expect fantastic performance and would greatly benefit from pairing this system with a high refresh rate display, which will make the most out of the strong GPU. For newer titles, consumers should still expect great performance without having to compromise on in-game graphical settings.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
✔️Very fast GPU | ❌Only 600W PSU |
✔️Great case choice | ❌Simple CPU cooler |
✔️Room for upgrades | ❌ Only 16GB RAM |
PC/HH Rating: 9/10
2. Lenovo Tower Legion 5i
CPU: Intel Core i7 11700F
PC/HH Says: Despite its age, the 11700F is still a highly capable octa-core CPU in 2023.
Memory: 32GB
PC/HH Says: 32GB is more than enough for most consumers in 2023, making the PC faster and more reliable in most use-cases.
GPU: RTX 3070
PC/HH Verdict: Despite being last-gen, it’s still a very fast GPU in both rasterised and raytraced games.
The Lenovo Legion Tower 5i is yet another strong competitor under $1500. Already, it does several things very differently than most other PCs at this price. For example, it includes 32GB of RAM, rather than 16GB. This allows the PC to be both a great gaming, and content creation system. It also ensures the Tower 5i remains relevant and with strong performance for years to come. The other large change is the inclusion of not only a 512GB NVMe SSD, but also a 1TB hard drive for bulk storage. Despite its aging CPU and last-gen GPU, the Lenovo Legion Tower 5i should still not be ignored, as it still provides many benefits over other prebuilts at this price-point.
Performance-wise, despite the CPU being from 2021, the 11700F is still more than capable in 2023. What’s more, for consumers playing at higher resolutions, the processor will be less of a bottleneck to the overall gaming experience. The. RTX 3070 is also a highly-capable graphics card, however the 8GB of VRAM included with it might struggle to keep up in the most demanding of games, or at a 4K resolution. What’s more, it greatly limits the amount of years this GPU would be able to maintain its high performance in games, given how quickly video memory requirements are rising and will continue to rise in games in the future.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
✔️32GB of RAM | ❌CPU is a few generations old |
✔️1.5TB of storage | ❌HDD for bulk storage |
✔️Good-looking case | ❌GPU only has 8GB of VRAM |
PC/HH Rating: 8/10
3. Skytech Gaming Azure
CPU: Intel Core i5 12700F
PC/HH Says: The i5 is a great bet for mid-range gaming with a good balance of speed and price.
Memory: 16GB
PC/HH Says:1 6GB of memory is great for most tasks and games, however it’s also the minimum nowadays.
GPU: RTX 3070
PC/HH Verdict: While it does only have 8GB of VRAM, it’s still more than capable in most games, even at higher resolutions.
Our second prebuilt from Skytech is the Azure, a slightly more scaled-back model, using the last-gen RTX 3070 instead. While naturally not as powerful, this PC will still offer a great overall experience to the user thanks to both balanced specs and many great quality-of-life features. Despite that, it does see some major improvements over other prebuilts in areas such as cooling, giving the CPU a liquid cooler, to maximise performance while reducing noise. The Azure is a fantastic alternative, offering a great gaming experience with some well-regulated graphical settings.
The Intel 12700F and the Nvidia RTX 3070 are an ideal pairing at the price that the Azure is aiming at. Be it 1080p or 1440p gaming, the PC will excel at both, even at higher quality settings. Naturally, the most demanding games on the market may struggle, given the RTX 3070’s 8GB of VRAM and slower clocks when compared to more high-end, or current-gen graphics cards. The 16GB of RAM is, while more than adequate, on the low side in 2023 for consumers wishing to do more than just game at first. There are potential concerns due to the solid front of the case, but the fans and cooler provided should be adequate enough to keep things cool.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
✔️ Fast CPU | ❌ Comes with Windows 10 and not Windows 11 |
✔️ Good CPU cooling | ❌ Lower-end case |
✔️ Good expansion options | ❌ 8GB VRAM |
PC/HH Rating: 7.5/10
4. Corsair Vengeance A7200
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
PC/HH Says: The i5 is a great bet for mid range gaming with great clock speeds!
Memory: 16GB
PC/HH Says: 16GB is the bare essential in 2023. While it will suffice for most users, others could begin to see its limitations.
GPU: RX 6700 XT
PC/HH Verdict: A fast alternative from AMD which offers great value for its price.
Corsair is one of the largest manufacturers in the PC hardware space and for good reason, delivering high quality components in every market they’re in. As such, a prebuilt PC which utilises mostly Corsair components, can naturally be expected to perform well, look great, and be easy to use. Thankfully, Corsair delivers on all those fronts with the Corsair Vengeance a7200. An all-round great quality build using Corsair’s signature parts wherever necessary. This includes their fantastic AIO cooling for the CPU, and one of their great-looking cases. Consumers will also have no difficulties using, upgrading, or overclocking this build in the future.
The RX 6700 XT, while a bit slower than the highly popular RTX 3070 featured in many PCs at this price-point, is still more than capable, especially in rasterised games. It will remain competitive for many years to come, even at 1440p. However, it does perform significantly worse in Ray-Traced games compared to its NVIDIA counterparts. The included CPU, the Ryzen 5600X, is also a highly-capable processor that offers the perfect balance of performance and price for a mid-range PC. What’s more, as an unlocked chip, its performance can be increased even further.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
✔️Good motherboard choice | ❌Slower GPU |
✔️AIO CPU cooling | ❌High price |
✔️Fantastic case | ❌Only 16GB RAM |
PC/HH Rating: 7/10
5. Skytech Gaming Chronos
CPU: Intel Core i5 13600K
PC/HH Says: The i5 is a great bet for mid range gaming with great clock speeds!
Memory: 16GB
PC/HH Says: 16GB of memory is a great starting point, but the minimum we’d recommend in 2023.
GPU: RTX 4060
PC/HH Verdict: Strong rasterisation performance, but a little low on VRAM for high-res gaming.
Finally, our third PC from Skytech is another great mid-range offering, the Chronos 2, featuring a very unique mix of features. While it does feature the slowest graphics card of all the PCs in this roundup, it does make sense given its much lower price. As such, this is a fantastic choice for anyone wishing for a more budget PC that is still capable of playing current-gen games at a higher framerate or resolution. The lower price is not the only thing setting the Archangel 4 apart from other offerings in this roundup.
While the included RTX 4060 is by far the slowest GPU of all the various models we have seen in this roundup, it is still more than capable. While its 8GB of VRAM does make it more suitable for 1080p gaming, it will however offer a very high framerate experience at this resolution. While it can certainly be used at 1440p, especially in newer games, the limitations of this graphics card will very quickly become apparent. Naturally, as an NVIDIA graphics card, consumers should expect good performance in Ray-Traced games for this price. However, the impact of turning on Ray-Tracing will also be much higher at this tier of graphics cards.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
✔️Solid for 1080p gaming | ❌4060 is a weaker card |
✔️Access to DLSS 3 | ❌Case is relatively plain looking |
✔️Great performance from 13600K | ❌Would benefit from more RAM |
PC/HH Rating: 6.5/10
Conclusion
Nowadays, for $1500, potential customers can get truly amazing performance in gaming and beyond. However, for consumers on an even tighter budget, we have also presented several PCs that are even cheaper than that, allowing consumers to compare between the various performance brackets available in this price range. Whichever PC consumers decide to go for in the end, they are guaranteed to have a great gaming experience, be it at 1080p or 1440p.
In this article, we have seen prebuilt PCs at a variety of price-points under $1500. From PCs which fully priorities performance, to others that offer a more balanced approach to both selecting fast components, while also focusing on the user experience and longevity. As such, there is no one best PC here, given how each one offers a different experience and at a different price. Consumers should consider which one offers the right fix of performance, price, and other features, at their given budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is $1500 enough for a gaming PC?
$1500 is the ideal budget for anyone looking to build a solid 1080p or 1440p gaming PC build. For this budget you are able to comfortably select a mid-range CPU and GPU for a prebuilt or self-build system.
Should I build a gaming PC or buy a prebuilt?
While building your own PC can be a fun and more cost effective experience, prebuilts allow you to choose from a wide range of components, whilst minimising any hassle that comes wit building.