Are you looking for a new high-end gaming PC? In this guide, we’ve highlighted a handful of the best prebuilt desktops under $1,500 to help you find a PC that will suit your needs.
With a budget of $1,500 you can land yourself a very powerful gaming PC. And, while we’d highly recommend building your own PC to get the most performance out your budget as possible, there are a lot of solid prebuilt desktops in the ~$1,500 price range.
For ~$1,500 you can expect to land a system that has both a high-end CPU and GPU combination. And, that combination will be enough to allow you to max out any game you through at it, whether on a 1080P display or a 1440P display. Some desktops in this price range include GPUs that will even work well for 4K gaming.
In this guide, we’ve listed five of the best prebuilt PCs under $1,500 and we’ve also provided a full part list in case you decide to take on the challenge of building your own system.
Best $1,500 Prebuilt PCs
1. Periphio Firestorm 6800 XT (Top Pick)
2. Skytech Chronos 4070 (Runner-Up)
3. Periphio Firestorm 6750 XT (Value)
Quick Look: The Best Prebuilt PCs Under $1,500
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NAME | SPECS | RATING | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
TOP PICK
|
 |
Periphio Firestorm 6800 XT |
|
/10 | |
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RUNNER-UP
|
 |
Skytech Chronos 4070 |
|
/10 | |
|
VALUE
|
 |
Periphio Firestorm 6750 XT |
|
/10 | |
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OVER-BUDGET
|
 |
Skytech Chronos 4070 Ti |
|
/10 | |
|
MINI
|
 |
MSI Aegis SE |
|
/10 | |
|
BUILD
|
 |
$1,500 PC Build |
|
/10 |
*For more information on the prebuilt gaming PCs above, click the “Read Review »” link and you will skip to our overview of that PC. To see our Honorable Mention picks, keep scrolling down.
1. Periphio Firestorm (RX 6800 XT)
Best prebuilt gaming PC under $1,500
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
- AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
- 16GB of DDR4 RAM
- 1TB Solid State Drive
We’ve chosen this prebuilt PC from Periphio as our top pick because it offers the best GPU out of all of the prebuilt options in this price range.
This PC comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor, an AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1TB NVME SSD.
While most PCs in this price range opt for an RTX 4070 or RTX 4060 Ti, this Periphio desktop comes with the more powerful RX 6800 XT. And, because most games rely more heavily on GPU performance than they do on CPU performance, the better the GPU, the better the gaming PC.
So, although this PC doesn’t have the strongest CPU out of the options on this list, its higher-end graphics card makes it the best option for gaming-specific purposes.
Of course, the more expensive Skytech Chronos RTX 4070 Ti (listed below) and our $1,500 PC build offer even better GPUs. Therefore, if your main priority is to get the most in-game performance as possible, those might be better options for you.
2. Skytech Chronos (RTX 4070)
Runner-up selection
- Intel Core i7-12700F
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
- 16GB of DDR4 RAM
- 1TB Solid State Drive
Our runner-up pick is this Skytech Chronos desktop. This version of the Chronos comes with an Intel Core i7-12700F processor, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, 16GB of DDR4 memory, a 240mm AIO cooler, and a 1TB NVME SSD.
In terms of performance, this desktop will be plenty powerful enough to max out games on a 1080P resolution. And, the combination of the 12700F, RTX 4070, and 16GB of RAM will provide a high enough average framerate to justify pairing this system with a higher refresh rate display.
This PC will also work for 1440P gaming, too.
But, while this PC is a solid performer, it’s hard to choose it over the Periphio desktop listed above. This Skytech desktop has a weaker GPU and it costs ~$70 more. It does have the better processor (i7-12700F vs Ryzen 5 5600X), but if your main goal is to get the best framerate possible, the Periphio desktop or the more expensive Chronos desktop below would be the better options.
3. Periphio Firestorm (RX 6750 XT)
The best value option
Periphio may not be one of the biggest names in prebuilt desktops or custom PCs, but they make up for it by pricing their systems better than their competition. Outside of the PC build we’ve listed below, this desktop offers the best value in this price range.
This PC comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor, an AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT graphics card, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
Essentially, it’s same desktop as the first Periphio Firestorm on this list, but just with a downgraded GPU. However, this PC comes in at just under $1,300. So, you save a ton of money by opting for this desktop over the other options in this guide.
The RX 6750 XT isn’t as strong as the RX 6800 XT or the RTX 4070, but it is no slouch either. If you’re looking for something to max out pretty much any game, the RX 6750 XT will work for you. You won’t be able to achieve as high of an average framerate as the desktops that come with an RX 6800 XT or RTX 4070, but at some point higher framerates have a diminishing return.
If you’re mainly playing non-demanding competitive titles at 1080P at a higher refresh rate, the 6750 XT will be good enough. If you’re looking to get into higher resolution gaming, then opting for the desktop that has the 6800 XT in it would be better.
4. SkyTech Chronos (RTX 4070 Ti)
The best choice if you can stretch your budget
If you’re like us, then setting a budget is more of a guideline than a strict cap you won’t go over. Who doesn’t like to spend a little more to get a little more?
With that in mind, we’ve decided to tempt you with this $1,600 prebuilt PC.
This version of Skytech’s Chronos line of desktops comes with an Intel Core i7-12700F processor, an NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti graphics card, 16GB of DDR4 memory, and a 1TB NVME SSD.
Or, in other words, this is the same PC as the previous Chronos desktop, it just has a higher-end RTX 4070 Ti in stead of the standard RTX 4070.
That’s a big difference and, depending on your preferences, it might be worth the extra $100. The RTX 4070 Ti, on average, performs ~20%+ better than the RTX 4070. That might not be significant enough of a jump if you’re mainly playing competitive titles at 1080P or 1440P, but if you want to jump into 4K gaming, its a decent jump in performance.
So, the bottom line is that if you are willing to spend a little more, you can get a decent performance gain by opting for this Skytech desktop over the other options listed above.
5. MSI Aegis SE
A solid mini prebuilt PC under $1,500
For those of you that are looking for a more compact PC option and you’re willing to sacrifice some performance in order to get a mini PC, this small form-factor MSI system might be the right option for you.
The MSI Aegis SE comes with an Intel Core i7-13700F processor, an NVIDIA RTX 3060 graphics card, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and dual 1TB SSDs.
Obviously, with the RTX 3060 graphics card you won’t get nearly as good of in-game performance. However, the RTX 3060 is still a very capable GPU—especially if you’re gaming at 1080P resolution.
So, while the Aegis isn’t the best option for gaming in this price range, if you value having a smaller and more compact system that you can move around easily, this MSI PC is probably the best option for you.
6. $1,500 Gaming PC Build
Way more power for the same price
If you’ve made it this far you’re in luck. We’ve saved the best option for last. You’re not messing around with prebuilt systems, you’re going to build your own PC!
And, because of your undaunting courage in taking on this task, you will be rewarded with higher framerates that you ever thought possible….
You can read the full overview of this $1,500 PC build here, but it comes with an Intel Core i5-13600KF processor, an XFX Radeon RX 7800 XT graphics card, and 16GB of DDR4 memory.
It also sports a 240mm AIO cooler, a 1TB NVME SSD, a Phanteks Eclipse P400A tempered glass case, and a 750-watt fully modular 80PLUS Gold-rate power supply.
All-in-all, this is an extremely powerful PC build that will hold up well for years to come. If you’re ready to start building your PC, be sure to check out our step-by-step building guide.
High Performance Gaming PCs Under $1,500
If you’ve got a $1,500 budget, you can build an awesome computer. But building PCs isn’t for everyone. If you’d rather skip the work and buy a ready-made PC to play games on, then buying a prebuilt gaming PC is a great way to go. And with a modest budget of $1,500, you can get a high-end build.
We’ve showcased six great prebuilt gaming PCs under $1,500 to help you get the most gaming performance for your money. With any of these systems, you’ll get a great gaming rig that should be capable of playing anything you throw at it.
