Gaming PCs

Resolution and refresh rate should set the budget, not the other way around.

Prebuilt or self-built is mostly a question of what your time is worth and how much you want to learn. A prebuilt carries a single warranty and works out of the box, and its compromises are usually in the parts nobody lists prominently: power supply quality, case airflow, and whether the RAM is running in dual channel. Ask about those three specifically, because they decide whether the machine throttles under load.

Our gaming PC guides compile benchmarks published elsewhere, manufacturer specifications and verified buyer reviews, with attention to thermals, noise and upgrade headroom, since a machine you can drop a new GPU into in three years is worth more than its spec sheet suggests.