3 Best Gaming PC Under 500 dollars to Play Games in May 2022

You need the best gaming PC under 500 dollars in 2020. These gaming rigs are average and would perform very well when playing games and running software. The CUK HP Pavilion 570 Tower PC runs FIFA 18 on ultra settings because of its dedicated GTX 1050 Ti graphics card.

So you can buy the best gaming PC under 500 dollars and still enjoy recent 2017-2019 games on Medium to Ultra-high settings that I can guarantee because I have proof of what GTX 1050 can do which is present in the No. 1 best gaming pc under 500 dollars.

The Best 3 Gaming PC Under 500 Dollars

1. HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop Computer – Best Gaming PC under 500 Dollars

This is an all-white or black gaming desktop with excellent build quality cases; you won’t see any low-quality cheap plastic case on the HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop Computer which is the best gaming pc under 500 dollars because it has the best graphics card, fastest processor, RAM among its peers.

The full meaning of CUK is Computer Upgrade King.

I love the white and green look quality case design; it stands out from the regular transparent gaming desktop cases. The CUK Lineage gaming desktop has more than just its beautiful gaming case; it also houses the powerful GTX 1050 Ti graphics card which is the best GPU on this best gaming pc under 500 dollar article.

The CUK Lineage Gaming Desktop boasts a cost-effective Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower desktop that brings you quality without overpaying. Let your desktop stand out with the sleek lighting on the front of the case.

The CUK gaming desktop runs the Intel Pentium G4400 CPU with dual cores running at 3.3Ghz.

• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB dedicated graphics memory
• Intel Pentium G4600 Dual-Core Processor (3MB Cache, 3.30GHz) 51W
• 8GB DDR4 2400MHz
• 1TB 7200rpm Hard Disk Drive
• Windows 10 Home x64
• Power Supply: 300W
  
• 3-Year CUK Limited Warranty (View warranty section below for more details)
• Please Note No Keyboard or Mouse Included.

What games can it run?

The CUK gaming desktop can run the following games:

• FIFA 18 works tremendously well in Ultra settings with the GTX 1050 Ti GPU running at 132 fps, and surprisingly GTX 1050 can also handle FIFA 18 4K gaming at 55.6 fps.
• Need for Speed: Payback can be played on Ultra settings running at 40 fps which isn’t bad, but the sweet spot is at Medium settings at 50.2 fps
• Call of duty WW2 can be played on ultra settings running at 38.1 fps with the sweet spot at Medium settings at 108 fps.
• Wolfenstein II – The Colossus works on High settings at 38.5 fps with smooth gameplay running Medium settings at 50.6 fps.
• Assassin’s Creed Origins plays well at Medium settings at 40 fps.
• Destiny 2 works well in Ultra settings at 39.5 fps.
• ELEX works on Medium settings at 41.9 fps.
• Middle Earth: Shadow of War runs well on Medium settings running at 40 fps.
• And many more games.

More details on NotebookCheck. The GTX 1050 can run all the latest games at medium-high – ultra settings guaranteed.

Pros

• GTX 1050 Ti GPU with 4GB dedicated graphics memory.
• Latest DDR4 RAM technology.
• Quality cost-effective case.
• Runs the latest games at medium to ultra settings.
• It comes with three years warranty ending 2020.

Cons

• Has only two ram slot which means fewer customization options.
• No free keyboard and mouse

Awesome Content – Best 5 Gaming Laptops Under 500 Dollars (2019 Edition)

2. iBUYPOWER Gaming Desktop PC AM8140A

Equip yourself with this classic gaming desktop and enjoy the most demanding and popular games on the market today! The [Ryzen & GTX 1050 Ti Edition] SkyTech Archangel Gaming Computer Desktop PC holds the 2nd spot in the best gaming PC under 500 dollars strongly because while the GTX 1050 is the best GPU, you can get in a gaming pc under 500 dollars.

The AMD Radeon RX 550 is the is the second-best GPU with the same 2GB dedicated graphics memory you can get a gaming computer with $500.

It sports classic transparent cases which makes the gaming pc look good. One thing the iBuyPower gaming desktop has over the first two options is the fact that it has six cores thanks to the AMD FX-6300 running at 3.5Ghz and it can be overclocked to 4.1Ghz which is the highest clock speed on this list.

What games can it run?

The iBUYPOWER Gaming Desktop PC can run the following games on the list below.

• Doom (2016) works in medium settings at 37 fps.
• The rise of Tomb Raider (2016) runs averagely well at 54 fps medium settings.
• Batman Arkham Knight (2015) runs well at high settings with 39 fps.
• Bioshock Infinite (2013) runs very well at ultra settings at a robust 67 fps.
• Tomb Raider (2013) also runs at ultra settings at 1920 x 1080p at 51.2 fps.

Features

• AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB dedicated graphics
• Optimized for the best gaming experience
• AMD FX-6300 Six-Core 3.5 GHz (4.82GHz Max Turbo
• 8GB DDR3 RAM
• 1TB 7200 RPM HDD
• Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Pros

• Comes with free keyboard and mouse
• Transparent case
• Highest overclock speed of 4.1Ghz.

Cons

• Weaker graphics card

3. SkyTech Shadow Gaming Computer Desktop PC 

This is my list of the best gaming PC under 500 dollars in 2019 after going through 20 gaming desktops.

My Brief Gaming PC History

It has always been a dream of mine to build a gaming PC but as I got older and realized the actual cost and lifespan of each gaming PC the vision slowly faded away.

Reasons why because building a gaming PC seems glamorous to say the least but the major turn off for me is the time frame your gaming PC would last or stay relevant.

GPUs are ever-changing with the latest flagship been the GTX 1060, 1070 and 1080 series with VR ready compatibility. These new graphics cards were made with paschal technology which makes them desktop laptop graphics cards.

They are so powerful as well as expensive, so imagine you built or got a gaming PC for around $2,000 with the latest GPU build, fast forward two years. Your graphics card now struggles to keep up with the newest AAA game titles. Don’t worry; it’s not your fault.

That’s just the pace technology is moving at. So you have two choices you can either keep up with the pace by purchasing the latest graphics cards every year, or you can settle for something you can be comfortable with for 1-3 years.

I choose the latter, I decided to be comfortable, and at first, it gets frustrating because I could play some latest games but at low to medium settings and then when the next wave of most recent games came out I could only a handful of them at low settings.

I discovered something; I didn’t need all those latest games I only needed a few of my favourite games like FIFA because I play offline with friends and online multiplayer with my online buddies. So FIFA was my go-to game, and maybe occasionally I play some GTA V just for fun and stress relief.

When you select those favourite games you keep coming back to play over and over again; you can streamline and get an affordable gaming PC that can play those games very well.

Who will want to buy the Best gaming PC under 500 dollars?

This is a favourite question because some people might feel like a gaming PC under 500 dollars would be shit and can’t do any hardcore gaming, but that’s wrong.

You can do a lot of hardcore gaming with a gaming PC under $500 if you love playing a game over and over again like for example you love playing FIFA both offline with your friends. You love the challenges, tournaments, wagers you guys hold to determine who is the best of the best at that particular time then a gaming PC under $500 is what you need because you pretty much only play one game.

Let me make I list here to give a quick look at those categories of people that would enjoy having a gaming PC under 500 dollars.

1. College students
2. Casual Gamers
3. If you have a tight budget
4. You play only 1-2 games every day, all day long, every month and sometimes a year in year out. You are still playing the same game. This goes out to the MMORPG players here stuck with playing a particular dungeon countless times because the loot is good and they want to level up their characters.
5. FIFA fans. The GPUs for gaming pc under 500 dollars works incredibly well with FIFA games because FIFA games are not graphics-intensive games. There are no sampling options, antialiasing, 2x, 4xx to get more precise crisp details. FIFA games are pretty many standard games that run well on budget-friendly gaming PC.
6. Those without unlimited funds.

Read my laptop version Best 5 Gaming Laptops Under 500 Dollars November 2017

What does the Best Gaming PC Under 500 Dollars have?

Expect something great but not the best. $500 isn’t a walk in the park and we all have different reasons for looking for the best gaming PC under 500 dollars and with this amount would get you a good gaming PC which falls into the average category, so you are not that far behind the guys with the best gaming PC and graphics cards.

• Good dedicated graphics card. Nvidia Geforce or ATI Radeon graphics recommended. (GTX 1050 or AMD Radeon RX 550)
• Quad-Core fast CPU processor with more than 3.0 GHz and above processing power.
• High RAM Size possible more than 6GB RAM. I recommend 8GB or 12GB DDR4 Ram.
• Fast and High capacity hard disk drive. SSD recommended or 1TB HDD.
• Crisp HD display. I recommend the full HD 1920 x 1080p display, but sometimes you can get the 1366 x 768 resolution which is not bad.
• I recommend Windows 10 because you have more security against the virus because windows defender is more potent in Windows 10 if updated regularly can withstand most virus attacks. And you don’t need to install any additional antivirus program which may cause your PC to become slow due to unsanctioned — processes running the background.

How I Selected the Best Gaming Computers under 500 dollars (Selection Process)

This is an in-depth article aimed at providing a detailed list of the best gaming pc under 500 dollars for you to choose from and to show that I went through the rigor of researching the different components.

1. Graphics Cards
2. Processors
3. RAM
4. SSD or HDD

Why only these four things? Because they are the most critical component in a gaming laptop. The most important is the graphics card followed by the processor, RAM and finally SSD or HDD depending on the option you end up with. They are other factors too like cooling system, operating system, etc.

Let’s get started on the selecting process.

1. Graphics card selection process

Before making any rash decisions and selecting the no.1 best gaming pc under 500 dollars, what I did was to compare the various gaming desktop’s graphics card. So I found the best two gaming desktop graphics cards to be GTX 1050 and AMD Radeon RX 550. I became curious; I wanted to know which is the best graphics card, so I don’t give you guys the wrong information when I finally select the no. 1 best gaming desktop under $500.

GTX 1050 vs. AMD Radeon RX 550

I did a simple google search AMD Radeon RX 550 vs. GTX 1050, checked two sources with a reliable benchmarking information and I found out that the GTX 1050 is marginally better regarding gaming performance and graphical capabilities than the AMD Radeon RX 550.

The AMD Radeon RX 550 was released in April 2017 while the GTX 1050 was released on October 2016.

Winner: GTX 1050 Ti

2. CPU Processor Selection Process

The best CPUs in the market are easily the Intel processors, but there are so many other CPU processors that are very good with some of them running almost at par with the famous intel core i7 processors. Looking at the gaming desktops under $500 processors, I found the Intel Pentium G4400 and AMD FX-4300.

Intel Pentium G4600 vs. AMD FX-4300

With a simple Google search, looking through reliable sources, I found out that regarding overall gaming performance, the AMD FX-4300 is very slightly better than the Intel Pentium G4600 3.3GHz when it comes to running the latest games. This also means it will be less likely to bottleneck more powerful GPUs, allowing them to achieve more of their gaming performance potential.

Winner: AMD FX-4300

3. RAM selection process

This was a relatively easy selection process because of the standard, or optimal amount of 8GB RAM is all you need to run pc games very well. More RAM is better since you don’t have unlimited funds having 8GB DDR3 RAM is ok and accepted for now. I know by 2018 the use of DDR4 RAM technology would make things better.

4. SSD or HDD selection process

How did I select which one is better? From the list, I got of gaming desktops under $500 no one comes with an SSD drive, so we are stuck with a hard disk drive (HDD) for now. I saw a gaming pc under 500 dollar that comes with an SSD drive but it’s currently out of stock when more stock arrives, this article would be updated to include the gaming desktop under $500 with an SSD drive.

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My Final Thoughts

Buying a gaming laptop or desktop PC under $500 doesn’t mean you are going to get a shit gaming PC, you can get the bang for your buck if you remain patient, check out different sites to get the deals available. I would recommend buying a very clean pre-owned gaming pc that way you get more gaming power than when you purchase a brand new item.