Ranked by Fortnite at 1080p, from Justin's own runs (Epic settings, Nanite and Lumen off). Every pick is in stock today at $1,200 or less, at a real store price we checked this morning, and clears our quality bar.
As fast as or faster than any current-gen PC within $1,200
Not a real drop: this PC sold for about $1,180 in October
About 145–230 FPS in Fortnite (Benchmark) at 1080p (Max settings, native; estimate from Justin's testing, calibrated against published independent reviews)Estimated from Justin's testing, calibrated against published independent reviews: Justin's RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti runs with CPU class 6 CPUs, the closer counting more, scaled by the performance index (the RX 7700 is about 3% faster than the RTX 5060 and about 16% slower than the RTX 5060 Ti at 1080p); the index has this card from estimated values, so the range is wider; raised to CPU class 7's 185 FPS (a stronger CPU never gets fewer FPS).
41% cheaper than similar PCs (same graphics card and CPU class)
About 170–195 FPS in Fortnite (Benchmark) at 1080p (Max settings, native; estimated from Justin's testing of this graphics card in another PC)Measured in Justin's own testing: RTX 5060 with a Ryzen 5 5600X (CPU class 8), highest preset, native (no DLSS/FSR).
About 90–100 FPS in Fortnite (Benchmark) at 1080p (Max settings, native; estimate from Justin's testing, calibrated against published independent reviews)Estimated from Justin's testing, calibrated against published independent reviews: Justin's RTX 5060 run with CPU class 8 CPUs, scaled by the performance index (the RTX 3050 is about 48% slower than the RTX 5060 at 1080p); no runs with CPUs of this PC's class (9) or a weaker one place it between two measured cards here, so the nearest stronger class's, GPU-bound there (well under its CPU cap).
At this budget, look for: 8GB+ of video memory for 1080p (12GB for new games at Ultra), 32GB of RAM (2 sticks), a 1TB SSD.
What to look for
A real graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce RTX, AMD Radeon RX or Intel Arc), not "integrated graphics". The graphics card does most of the work in games.
16GB of memory (RAM) or more, and a 1TB SSD if you can: today's games take a lot of space.
A recent processor. Every PC on this page clears our quality bar: no old processors and no GTX or RTX 20-series graphics cards.
A store you can return to easily. The return windows for the stores on this page are below.
What to avoid
Open-box, refurbished and used PCs for a gift: we leave them off our lists, because returns and warranties on them vary.
Listings that hide the graphics card or say "integrated graphics". If a spec is not listed, we say "Not listed" rather than guess.
Only 8GB of memory, or a drive under 500GB: a few big games fill it.
Paying more for the same parts. A card says so when its PC is priced below similar PCs today, and the price history on each PC's page shows fake "was" prices.
Return windows
Each store sets its own. Here is what the stores on this page say for a new gaming desktop, from each store's own policy page (a store we have not checked yet just links to its policy). Holiday return dates show here in November and December when the store has published them.
Best Buy: 15-day returns. Restocking fee: none listed for computers (Best Buy's 15% fee applies to listed categories such as drones, cameras, projectors and special-order products; none on unopened items). Members: 60 days (not for Marketplace items, which stay 15 days)..Best Buy return policy (opens in a new tab)
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