talesofapeanut

HP Pavilion | Ryzen 3 5600G | RX 5500 | 8GB RAM | 512GB SSD | $759.99 $560.00 at Amazon (save $199.99)
Affordable gaming PCs are tough to find, and sometimes it is necessary to go back to older generations of hardware to hit a tight budget. But the eight-thread Ryzen chip still has something to offer, and the RX 5500 OEM GPU will deliver 1080p gaming performance around the same level as the current RX 6500 XT. For the money, it will be a decent baseline to start from.

Alienware Aurora R13 | Core i7 12700F | RX 6700 XT | 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD | $1,949.99 $1,199.99 at Dell (save $750)
It's a little more than we'd hope to pay now, but it's not bad for Alienware. Pair that Core i7 12700F with the RX 6700 XT and it shouldn't have trouble gaming or rendering at 1080p. You might want to nab a larger NVMe drive, however. 

Skytech Azure Gaming PC | Ryzen 5 7600X  | RTX 4070 Ti | 1TB SSD | 32GB DDR5-5200 | $2,099.99 $1,649.99 at Newegg (save rummy 51 $450)
Here's an RTX 40-series-powered PC on sale that doesn't skimp on RAM. This Skytech Azure has a Ryzen 5 7600X CPU with an RTX 4070 Ti GPU backing rummy best it up, alongside 32GB of DDR5-5200 RAM. You're giving yourself some really good performance for less than two grand. And you could dip your toes into some 4K gaming.

Gaming RDY IWRG209 | Ryzen 7 7700X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB DDR5-5600 | 2TB NVMe SSD | $2,449 $1,999 at iBuyPower (save $450)
Smashing it with this beefed up spec, iBuyPower brings together all the things you need for gaming and more. This thing will not only hit high frame rates at 4K, it will keep you running smooth should you chose to use it as a workstation, too. Two terabytes is more than enough storage to keep all your AAA games downloaded, and topped with a tasty lump of speedy DDR5 RAM, that's money well spent if you ask me.

Skytech Chronos | Core i7 12700F | RX 7900 XTX | 1TB NVMe SSD | 16GB RAM | $2,299.99 $2,099.99 at Newegg (save $200)
While you're going last-gen on the Intel CPU here, that's a rather beastly AMD GPU. It may not be a consistent RTX 4080 competitor, but it'll get the job done at 4K. Pair that with a nice chunk of storage, and you've got a decent gaming PC for the price.

Price check: Walmart $2,199.99

Valve Steam Deck | 64GB | $399 $359.10 at Steam (save $39.90)
The cheapest Steam Deck model available is discounted for the Steam Summer Sale. If you really want a good deal, you can spend just a little over $40 on a 256GB Steam Deck-compatible SSD to turn this machine into the more expensive middle-tier model.

Asus ROG X13 Flow | RTX 3050 Ti | Ryzen 9 6800HS | 13.4-inch | 1200p | 120Hz | 16GB | 1TB NVMe SSD | $1,499.99 $849.99 at Best Buy (save $750)
This isn't a pure gaming laptop. Instead, it's a very high quality compact 13.4-inch portable with a fabulous 120Hz 16:10 display, a powerful eight-core AMD CPU, great build quality and decent entry level gaming chops. And it's nearly half its original price. Get in.

Asus ROG Zephyrus 14 | RTX 3060 | Ryzen 7 5800HS | 14-inch | 1080p | 144Hz | 16GB RAM | 512GB SSD | $1,399.99 $799.99 at Best Buy (save $600)
If you don't want a hulking gaming rummy golds laptop, let me introduce the Zephyrus 14 (see our review): a 14-incher that can game without busting your bank balance or your shoulder when lugging it around. No-nonsense specs in a delightful package. While a bit older now versus the RTX 40-series GPUs, this is a very smart package for a low fee.

Price check: Amazon $1,039.99 | Newegg $1,019.99

ASRock RX 6600 | 8GB | 1,792 shaders | 2,491MHz | $199.99 $179.99 at Newegg (save $20)
The RX 6600 is a quality 1080p GPU now that its price is creeping lower. At the sub-$200 level, we're getting a budget graphics card that delivers high frame rates in the latest games at top 1080p graphics presets. At least AMD and Intel are bringing GPU pricing down, eh?

XFX Speedster RX 6650 XT | 8GB GDDR6 | 2,048 shaders | 2,635MHz boost | $339.99 $229.99 at Best Buy (save $110)
The RX 6650 XT was hugely overpriced for a 1080p GPU at launch, but under $250 it's a far more tempting proposition. It still delivers good 1080p frame rates, often well in advance of what the older RTX 3060 could do. It's certainly last-gen, but at this price there's nothing in the current generation that fits. This deal has gotten better as the sale has gone on.

Price check: Newegg $239.99 | Amazon $239.99

XFX Speedster RX 6700 | 10GB GDDR6 | 2,304 shaders | 2,425MHz boost | $279.99 $259.99 at Amazon (save $20)
The non-XT version of the RX 6700 card is slightly cut down, but still comes with a lot of VRAM for a 1080p card, if that's your concern re. the 8GB cards priced around it. And, honestly, at $260 it's a good price for such a well-performing GPU, too.

Price check: Newegg $259.99 | Best Buy $269.99

PowerColor Fighter AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT | 12GB GDDR6 | 2,560 shaders | 2,615MHz boost | $369.99 $299.99 at Amazon (save $70 Prime Exclusive)
Is this the first sub-$300 6700 XT? Whatever, this is a fantastic GPU for the money, easily cheap enough to offset any concerns about its last-gen status. Get it bought before it goes.

ASRock Phantom Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT | 20GB GDDR6 | 5,376 shaders | 2,450MHz boost | $927.09 $719.99 at Walmart (save $207.10)
Seeing a bunch of RX 7900 XTs selling for well less than MSRP is a welcome sight. While the 'before' price on this specific card is a little inflated, it's excellent value right now at that sale price. What we like about ASRock Phantom is that it should run quieter than your average RX 7900 XT. We all could do with a little noise from our PC. 

Price Check: Newegg $719.99

Yeston Radeon RX 7900 XT | 20GB | 5,376 shaders | 2,395MHz boost | Fragrant | $1,299 $849 at Newegg (save $450)
A flowery and pastel AMD option for a high-powered GPU here. While the RTX 4070 Ti does come in with a slightly better spec for less, this one sits at just below MSRP and also offers a lovely fragrance to boot. It's a lush design, one that calls for a vertical mount if ever a GPU did. Pay no mind to the before price, though. It was never worth that.

XFX Speedster MERC310 RX 7900 XTX | 24GB | 6,144 shaders | 2,615MHz boost | $1,099.99 $904.99 at Newegg (save $195 with code: FTTCUAZ243)
This is one of the cheapest offerings we've spotted for the impressive flagship AMD RX 7900 XTX GPU at almost $79 under MSRP. The before price is a slight overestimation, but its still the cheapest it's been since a very swift reduction to just $900 in late June.

Price Check: Amazon $919.99 

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | 12 cores 24 threads | 4.8GHz | Zen 3 | $569.99 $274.91 at Amazon (save $295.08)
This is the best CPU from the Zen 3 era (see our review)  and delivers an enormous amount of multi-threaded performance from a chip now so cheap—an absolutely great upgrade for almost anyone sitting on an AM4 motherboard right now. Its price has dropped as the sale has gone on.

Price check: Target $404 | Newegg $348.99

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | Eight-core | 16-thread | 4.7GHz | Zen 3 | $449 $227.28 at Amazon (save $221.72)
It might be a bit old now, but this is still one of the best CPUs money can buy (see our review). And you needn't spend much on the Ryzen 7 5800X anymore. With this tasty discount, it's going for less than the cost of a Ryzen 5 7600X at launch, yet you'll net yourself eight speedy Zen 3 cores to throw at gaming and more.

Price check: Newgg $235.99 | Walmart $235.99 | Best Buy $249