5 Best Gaming Prebuilt PCs of 2024 Under $4,000

It's always good to go into gaming PC purchase decisions with a budget in mind. If you are here, then you are likely interested in a gaming PC under $4,000. As far as options go within that budget, there are many available. 

Some of the best gaming laptops out there, for example, cost no more than $2,000. However, if you're looking for the most optimal performance and you are willing to capitalize on such an expansive budget, then you are likely not in the market for a laptop at all. Instead, you want a powerful desktop gaming rig to render your AAA titles in the highest fidelity possible. 

With that said, what can you hope to gain by reading the insights here? Well, by the time you are done, it's highly unlikely that you are not going to make the best gaming PC purchase decision possible. 

There are always essential factors to consider when contemplating such a huge buy, even more so than your gaming furniture. Even if you were supposed to buy a custom gaming desk, it would likely not cost you several thousand dollars. 

Additionally, there are not as many essential moving parts that can make a huge difference in performance as there are in a PC. Remember that your rig is one of the centerpieces of an inspired gaming setup.  

So, not only are some of the top considerations covered below, but you also get to see some of the most solid choices that are most likely to appeal to someone looking for a prebuilt PC under $4,000. 

Things to Consider When Buying Your PC

Graphics

For some gaming and streaming enthusiasts, there is nothing more important than graphics. It's hard to argue with that point of view too since much of what goes into a gaming PC is all about getting the fictional worlds to look their best while performing smoothly. 

To this end, you want to maximize CPU, memory, and GPU performance. The GPU is the most important in that equation, which is why you shouldn't have to settle for anything with less than comparable performance to the NVIDIA GeForce 3060 line. 

Of course, the system unit doesn't display anything, though its internals provide the power. That means you need a screen that can truly capture the beautiful essence of whatever titles you may play. A Pixio PX277 Prime would certainly do you well in that regard. 

Purpose

Why did you look into buying a $4,000 gaming PC in the first place? Surely, it wasn't to do basic work in Microsoft Office. Nothing is stopping you from using your PC for such a reason, but the chances are that it’s not the main one. 

If you are buying a gaming rig, then you fall into one of three categories. You're either a casual gamer, a professional or hardcore gamer, or you are a streamer. The categories are separated for simplification, as a streamer can be a casual or hardcore gamer too. The point here is that the umbrella you fall under guides your purchase. 

With such a big budget, you are likely very serious about gaming, which means you are a streamer or simply a very avid gamer. In any case, your prebuilt $4,000 computer would need to stand up to its purpose. 

If you're a streamer, then having a greater performing CPU with more threads is highly desirable. If you are not playing to entertain anyone, then you may focus more on your GPU. If you fall under both categories, at this kind of price range, you can certainly snag a PC that does both very well. 

Performance

This is yet another area in which you want to optimize your purchase best. When you sum up all the components inside your prebuilt rig, they are supposed to do more than check off all the boxes on the compatibility matrix. 

Do you have a fast form of secondary storage such as an SSD? Can your CPU hit speeds up to 4GHz and beyond? Do you have at least 16 GB of RAM that hits at least 3,000 MHz? 

Even if you do have the power, can you capitalize on it without your system overheating and causing potential long-term damage? Can your power supply handle the wattage requirements of all the other components present? 

What do benchmarks look like on your rig? Even a budget as high as $4,000 or near it doesn't guarantee smooth sailing if you don't make the right choices. High performance is non-negotiable here. 

The Future

You certainly don't want to spend nearly $4,000 for a gaming PC only to have it just barely be able to take on the current set of AAA titles available. Remember that the gaming industry is consistently going to be evolving and newer games are going to appear with higher requirements. 

Therefore, you want something that goes above and beyond the current meta, so when the industry gets to that stage, you don't end up with a very expensive yet obsolete PC. This is known as future-proofing your purchase, and you need to do so. 

One of the best ways of going about this is to check around to see what the most demanding games on the market are. From there, you can look at the minimum and recommended specifications. The latter is most important to you here. What you want is for your PC to exceed these recommended metrics. 

Cost

The budget you're working with here is just under $4,000. So, why would the cost be here as a factor if you already know what the limit is? Well, it’s more of a reminder that more expensive does not necessarily translate to better. 

The real aim here is not to get as close to your budgeted maximum as possible. Instead, what you want is to get the best possible prebuilt PC for under $4,000. That's around the $4,000 mark. 

Components

How well your PC performs is at the reflection of the components inside it. A prebuilt gaming PC is made up of effectively eight major players. There is the case, motherboard, RAM, CPU, cooler, graphics card, power supply, and storage. 

There are various standards that you can use to guide you in your selections. For example, you want at least 16 GB of ram running at least 3,000 MHz. Also, you would want some form of SSD storage that grants you about 1TB of space. 

Prebuilt units tend to have spec sheets that you can use to gauge what's inside, enabling you to make the best possible purchasing decisions. 

Best Prebuilt PC under $4,000

1. Artesian Builds x Autonomous Gaming PC

The first $4,000 gaming PC to take the stage is none other than this tremendous Artesian PC. Depending on the aesthetic you're trying to create, you can get the well-designed and sleek-looking case in either white or black. Note that its form factor is well optimized. so, while it has some of the best components, you don't need to carve out a whole of your game room just for it. 

What's inside this unit that makes it so awesome? First, there is the Intel i7-10700K CPU. This is a 10th generation overclockable model with eight cores and 16 threads that can reach speeds of up to 5.10 GHz. 

Alongside the CPU is 32 GB of DDR4 memory running at 3,200 MHz, a tremendous NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, and 1TB of M.2 PCIe 3.0 NVME SSD storage. 

Windows 11 Pro is preinstalled on the gaming PC under $4,000, meaning there is no need for you to worry about any operating system upgrades. There is a three-year warranty on parts, and you get five years of labor in the agreement as well. 

This is a combination of some of the best components on the market wrapped up in a wonderful design for you to enjoy. 

2. CyberPowerPC Infinity X109

The Infinity X109 is another quite powerful beast of a gaming rig. It features the Intel Core i9-10850K CPU. This overclockable gaming PC under $4,000 model features 10 cores and 20 threads and can easily hover around 4.9 GHz.  

It's complemented by 16 GB of DDR4 memory at 3,200 MHz and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card. As far as storage goes, there is a Western Digital 500 GB SSD, supplemented by a 2TB Seagate standard HDD.  

All of this contributes to a powerful yet quiet PC that looks great too. You get a three-year warranty that should address any issues not caused by you that may crop up throughout your tenure of owning the unit. 

3. Alienware Aurora R13

Alienware is a well-known brand for prebuilt gaming rigs that fall under the Dell umbrella. It is no surprise then that one of its designs features on this list in the form of the Alienware Aurora R13. 

12th generation Intel CPUs are used here, allowing you to choose anything from the i5-12400F up to the i9-12900KF, making for some of the best CPU performance on the market. 

Similarly, you can choose your graphics card going anywhere from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 to the GeForce RTX 3090. Alternatively, you can also opt for an AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT up to the RX 6900 XT. 

Note that depending on the configuration you choose, you can even get 16 GB of DDR5 memory at 4,400 MHz. As far as storage goes, customization is also possible, allowing you to get up to 2 TB of M.2 PCIe SSD storage plus 2 TB of standard SATA hard disk storage. 

The warranty of this gaming PC under $4,000 is quite limited though, only giving you one year of support. While you can certainly mix and match to get the best performance possible, such configurations are quite pricey. So, you are likely going to be able to afford more midrange setups within your budget. 

4. MSI Aegis RS

Continuing the trend of the top tier gaming PCs under $4,000 here is the MSI Aegis RS. It features an 11th generation Intel i7-11700K, which is of course another overclockable model with tremendous performance. This is supported by 16 GB of DDR4 memory, alongside a GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card for off-the-charts performance. 

As far as storage goes, you are getting 1TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage, with 2TB of standard HDD storage as a backup.  

The case brings quite a premium look and feel with it, opting for a few purplish accents, as opposed to the typical RGB look that gamers tend to go for. 

5. Dell G5

The final gaming PC under $4,000 model on the list falls more on the budget side of the spectrum as far as gaming PCs are concerned. Dell does have its Alienware line to splurge with the best parts on the market, so the household name can take things a bit easier. 

You see that reflected very quickly, considering that this PC bears a 9th generation Intel i7-9700, which does not provide overclocking capabilities. The RAM present is 16GB of DDR4, running at 2,666 MHz. 

SSD storage is present for speed, but it's a bit on the limited side in capacity. To this end, this gaming PC under $4,000 offers 512GB of M.2 PCIe NVME SSD storage. The graphics card here is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660.  

As far as form factor goes, the tower is not the biggest in the world, meaning it should be able to fit into your space quite easily. Still, it's not hard to see that based on the part selection here, it's not going to be hitting the higher end of your $4,000 budget. 

Final Remarks

You were given quite a bit of information to digest about selecting a gaming PC under $4,000. First, it was about the different elements you want to consider as you choose. Such insights allow you to tick off your proverbial checklist of needs and wants before settling on any model. 

Next, it was the brief high-level listing of some of the best options out there within the price range. Be sure to also check out the Rookie gaming PC by Artesian Builds, which is undoubtedly the best you can get within the budget identified for less hardcore gamers. 

You even got a recommendation for an optimal monitor, in the form of the PX277 Prime. What more could you ask for?