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Are you a gamer on a serious budget? Not everyone wants to take the risk of building their own PC, especially when there’s plenty of cheap prebuilt gaming computers around.
After all, you can always upgrade your computer later. We’ve scoured the net for the best deals on gaming PCs under $400, so read on to find your dream gaming desktop. If you want a great gaming desktop with a budget of less than $400, this article will guide you on what to get.
Our Top Three Picks Of Gaming Desktop Under $400
Contents
HP Workstation Z230 Tower Desktop
Easy Repair Gaming Desktop Under $400
This is a tiny desktop computer that works like a standard PC but hardly occupies desk space. Compared to ordinary desktop computers, Mini PCs are not only smaller and cheaper.
Its volume is generally 1/30 of the volume of a traditional desktop host. The mini PC is very convenient to carry, and also consumes much less power. Consequently, Mini PCs require significantly less cooling and it is completely silent. It is suitable for many scenarios and many uses.
There are all the domestic tasks that you can perform. They can be used to surf social media, the Internet, and can function as a backup PC or a media storage hub for the entire family.
They can be used in video conferencing and such things, while you can also store and watch movies on them. This Mini PC has good storage capacity and connections and therefore they can be connected to a TV or secondary monitor for media playing.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Potent Intel Xeon E3-1245 v3 processor.
- Nvidia Quadro K600 graphics.
- Easy-open side panel makes maintenance and repair easy.
Cons
- Only one open drive bay.
- A smaller size means less room for expansion.
Corebox Pro Desktop Mini Computer
Low Fan Noise Gaming Desktop Under $400
The Core box Pro offers a lot of features we don’t normally see for this price group, Thunderbolt 3 support, Intel Wireless AX201 Wifi 6 chip with BT 5.1, [email protected] HDMI support, and Display port 1.4A (4k60) with the thunderbolt port means it can run 3 displays simultaneously.
The SSD inside is a 256GB Toshiba NVMe with good speeds and we can also add a 2.5″ drive for expanding our storage capacity. The Core box comes with a 3733Mhz max DDR4 RAM spec with the odd amount of 12GB which is completely soldered into the motherboard like the Intel AX200 Wifi 6 chipset.
Sadly only the storage is the upgradable component with this model which is one of the few cons. The other one being the fact it has the Core i3 1005G1 10th Gen 10nm Intel chipset. This is good for general computing and everything does feel quick and snappy until you try to edit a 4k video or play a modern game.
The Corebox has Intel UHD G1 graphics which while a step up over the typical UHD 620 graphics with its 32 execution cores isn’t really that powerful at all a low-end GPU.
However, you can play light older games like Counter-Strike or GTA V at 720 with playable frame rates. It comes with a 256GB Toshiba NVMe drive these are the speeds. This Mini PC ships with Windows 10 Home and it’s activated via a digital license SLC which is part of the bios.
The cooling in this mini pc is overkill for the Core i3 with a max 3.4Ghz turbo. This cooler could handle the likes of a quad-core 8th or 10th gen 28W TDP chip without even hitting the max RPM.
This corebox can run Windows 10 desktop at 4k120hz which matches LG CX’s 120hz refresh rate. If you plan to run 4k120 make sure you update the Intel GFX drivers and use a top-quality HDMI 2.1 cable.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Big upgrade over the original Corebox with a super slow 5th Gen Core i3
- Very good cooling and fan noise
- HDMI supports up to 4k 120hz (8bit)
Cons
- No upgrades apart from storage could be swapped for a faster larger NVMe
- Weak Core i3 dual-core with 4 threads.
Lenovo Ideacentre 3
Bloatware Free Gaming Desktop Under $400
Lenovo’s IdeaCentre 3 is a budget desktop looks like a mid-tier PC, both in terms of capability and price. It carries a low list price and is currently selling for even less on Amazon.
For that starter-priced sum, it offers an underpowered AMD Athlon Silver mobile-grade CPU, a meager 4GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD inside an impressively compact tower.
As long as it won’t be pressed into duty as your primary, day-to-day PC, the IdeaCentre 3 works as a rock-bottom-budget PC for performing the most basic of tasks, and you can get it with a DVD drive for playing back those music and movie discs that you can’t bear to ditch.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Low price.
- Optical drive, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth included.
- Relatively free of bloatware.
Cons
- Laptop CPU means sluggish performance, even versus other budget systems.
- Internal expansion next to nil
Conclusion
If you buy a workstation PC, you’re buying more than just a desktop equipped with powerful components; you’re also getting better reliability, tested and certified compatibility with professional software, and a design that lets you fix things quickly and minimize downtime.
The HP Z230 SFF Workstation does all of this, but it also packs all of this capability into a notably compact package, giving you a full-featured single-processor workstation that you can actually fit on your desk with room to spare.
It’s an excellent single-processor workstation for power users that need to share apps and data with content creators and engineers. It’s also an excellent professional-grade desktop PC for projects that have deliverables that hinge upon technical specs in your company’s contracts. It’s our new Editors’ Choice for single-processor workstations.
If you’re after a mini pc for light to medium workloads, browsing, media playback, or Linux. With great wireless speeds, TB3, dual LAN, and NVMe SSD this one does come recommended by me.
Because it also supports 4k 120hz I’ve been using this over some of the more powerful mini PCs I own for basic workloads. Leaving my noisy and power-hungry desktop for 4k video editing and gaming only. The Lenovo IdeaCentre 3 is an affordable PC for performing the most basic of tasks, and if you’re working with a low budget, it’s a good deal to consider. For similar products, visit Amazon.com.
