I love Black Friday component deals. You can combo-chain them to build yourself a gaming PC much cheaper than usual—no matter what resolution you’re playing at. During the rest of the year, you can find bargains, but it’s harder to pull together a full system (much less a kickass one) at the same prices. In 2024, it turns out that despite rising SSD costs and slowed graphics card releases, you can still put together an upgradable gaming PC capable of 1080p High or Ultra at 60fps for just $550. And as a bonus for this year, this build packs a powerful CPU and lots of memory. All without any hijinx: The parts are new and sold by major retailers. More interested in 1440p gaming, or scaling down to a more modest gaming build? I’ve got suggested builds for those scenarios, too—and they may surprise you.  Let’s dive in. This article is part of a series about the cheapest Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) gaming PC you can build. For fun, you can compare this year’s results to 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Thanks to everyone who tunes in for this annual exercise! The $550 1080p Black Friday gaming PC build We live in an unusual period for PC components. Intel’s 13th and 14th-gen woes make those chips more difficult to recommend; little movement in graphics card releases has resulted in stagnant prices. AMD also has split its offerings between older generations as the “budget” options, and its newer generations as more performant alternatives. Add in the looming threat of tariffs, and building a gaming PC now can feel like a pressured decision during an awkward time.  But you can still set yourself up for current and future success with this 1080p build. It’s solidly capable of playing at 60fps on High, and even Ultra in some games. You’ll have to forgo ray-tracing, but that shouldn’t lessen the enjoyment of excellent games. As typical for suggested gaming PC builds, a mouse and keyboard aren’t included in the parts list. However, for the sticklers out there, feel free to add at least another $17 for a basic mouse and gaming keyboard to the total. PartNamePriceCPURyzen 7 5700X$130*CPU CoolerArctic Freezer 36 CPU Cooler$25MotherboardGigabyte B450M DS3H WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard[1]$85RAMCorsair Vengeance LPX DDR-3200 32GB (2x16GB)$0*Graphics CardASRock Radeon RX 6600 Challenger D 8GB$190StorageInland TN450 500GB M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSD$34PSUThermaltake Smart 600W 80+ Non-Modular$41CaseThermaltake S100 Snow Edition MicroATX Case[2]$29OSWindows 11 Pro OEM$20Total$554 Build notes This motherboard will likely require flashing to a newer UEFI version to work with the Ryzen 5700X. If you don’t already own a compatible older processor that will let you enter the motherboard’s UEFI to perform this update, a local computer shop may be able to perform this service for a fee. You can also try a B550 chipset motherboard, which may have a lesser chance of needing flashing to a new UEFI version, if the mobo unit you receive was manufactured recently. This case has been going in and out of stock. If you can’t get one, you can swap in this DIYPC case instead. It costs more, but it also comes with more fans and accommodates more motherboard sizes, in case you want to use an ATX mobo for your build. AMD’s older AM4 CPUs march on like champions, with the architecture still plenty capable of strong performance for gaming. Despite a launch in 2020, Ryzen 5000 kicks so much butt that it hangs in strong even four years later. And thanks to Newegg’s killer bundle discounts, we’re seeing a notable upgrade on our similar 2023 Black Friday build. You now get a 8-core, 16-thread processor (!) and 32GB of DDR4 memory—setting you up for the future. Despite its relative age, the Ryzen 7 5700X should keep trucking on when you decide to upgrade your graphics card. Similarly, the bountiful amount of Corsair RAM should hold up as apps get greedier about memory use. Overall, this 1080p build has plush touches, since unlike previous years, I no longer try to cut things as close to the bone as possible. Though you certainly can choose to—for example, swapping for a cheaper motherboard without on-board Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The Windows 11 license is included in the overall price, too, with a key that’s above board; the license comes from PCWorld’s affiliated shop. The Radeon RX 6600 is an older but still solid 1080p gaming card.Amd Still, this build shows the still-slowed pace of PC component releases. Compared to last year, this 1080p gaming PC features a more modest motherboard option (mATX instead of full ATX, which means fewer PCIe expansion slots for streaming or audio cards); slower memory (not quite the sweet spot for maximum performance with Ryzen 5000); and a non-airflow case.  And of course, with SSD prices having risen over the past year, the storage drive is a more budget option. Without companies furiously pushing the envelope, the deal offerings aren’t as juicy across the board as in the past. It would have been nicer to see newer CPU generations like Ryzen 7000 at lower prices, for example. Nevertheless, this affordable $550 DIY build is more than capable of 1080p gaming with few compromises! Areas for improvement Storage: A 500GB SSD often fills up quickly, so if you can afford it, buy the 1TB version of the Inland TN450 ($55) instead. Additional fans: The Thermaltake case I chose has only one included fan, so you can buy more fans yourself for more optimal airflow (especially with that closed front). It’s best to have at least one intake fan, and one outtake fan. Suggested upgrades Power supply: I usually choose more affordable power supplies for these articles, but usually, you want the nicest power supply you can afford. You can look through this PSU tier list if you prefer a higher-rated one. (For example, this Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 600W power supply is considered by power supply enthusiasts to be more reliable than the one I recommended above, and at $50, it costs just $10 more.) The $800 1440p Black Friday gaming PC build For 2024, this suggested 1440p gaming PC makes use of an extremely sweet CPU bundle deal. Could this be a $700 build by leaning on the same parts as the 1080p build? Sure, but that’s no fun. PartNamePriceCPURyzen 7 5700X3D$215*CPU CoolerArctic Freezer 36 CPU Cooler$25MotherboardMSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard[1]$90*RAMG.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3600 32GB (2x16GB)$0*Graphics CardXFX Speedster QICK 319 RX 6750 XT 12GB$305StorageInland TN450 1TB M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSD$55PSUThermaltake Toughpower GX2 80+ Gold Non-Modular 600W$50CaseThermaltake S100 Snow Edition MicroATX Case[2]$29OSWindows 11 Pro OEM$20Total$789 This motherboard may require a newer BIOS to work with the Ryzen 5700X3D. (It will depend on how recently the board was manufactured—if its BIOS version is new enough, you won’t need to.) If you don’t already own a compatible older processor that will let you enter the motherboard’s UEFI to perform this update, a local computer shop may be able to perform this service for a fee. This case has been going in and out of stock. If you can’t get one, you can swap in this DIYPC case instead. It costs more, but it also comes with more fans and accommodates more motherboard sizes, in case you want to use an ATX mobo for your build. Our $800 1440p gaming PC bumps up to the Ryzen 7 5700X3D—an absolutely monster of a chip for gaming, even today. When pitted against Intel’s newly released flagship processor, the Core 9 Ultra 285K, the 5700X3D is less 10 percent behind in gaming performance, when you look at the average across multiple games. And it costs just one third of the 285K’s price. Given Newegg’s bundle deal for the 5700X3D, it was too hard to pass up in favor of the 5700X from the 1080p build. For $305, you get the processor, 32GB of DDR4-3600 memory (that perfect sweet spot of speed for Ryzen 5000!), and a motherboard discount. Yeah, your graphics card is generally the more important factor in gaming performance, but this chip is a smart move if you love higher-performance gaming and plan to upgrade your GPU to something more powerful later on. That said, you can save $100 by using the same CPU, motherboard, and RAM bundle as in the 1080p build above. You’ll lose framerates, but depending on the games you play, you may not notice as much. And instead, you can put the extra cash elsewhere. It was also hard to pass up a couple of other upgrades, given this level of build. (If you’re looking to game at 1440p, you’re not exactly trying to scrape by on pennies.) I chose to go with a higher capacity storage drive and a better-regarded power supply, but again, you can downgrade those if you wish. Suggested upgrades Graphics card: The Radeon 6750 XT is more budget 1440p gaming—to truly let your PC stretch its legs at this resolution, you can try for a $420 PowerColor Fighter 7800 XT, which has been coming in and out of stock on Amazon. As proof of stagnant GPU pricing, this price is an incredibly modest discount…and it’s the best you’ll find right now. Storage: You can find solid prices on 2TB SSDs right now. Filling a 1TB drive doesn’t take as long these days, so expanding your storage pays off down the road. Monitor: Swanky monitors that used to cost a pretty penny have dropped dramatically in price right now. If you’re building a new PC and have extra cash, a monitor upgrade during Black Friday may be worth consideration. Possible swap Motherboard bundle: Need a motherboard with more PCIe slots? If you can get by without on-board Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, you can opt for this 5700X3D bundle instead. (It’ll save you $5, too.) The $475 AM5 Black Friday gaming PC build PartNamePriceCPURyzen 5 8600G$160MotherboardGIGABYTE B650M D3HP AX AM5 Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard[1][2]$110RAMTeam T-Force Vulcan DDR5-6000 32GB (2x16GB) (2x16GB)[3]$74Graphics CardIntegrated AMD Radeon 760M graphics (8 RDNA3 cores)—StorageInland TN450 500GB M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSD$34PSUThermaltake Toughpower GX2 80+ Gold Non-Modular 600W$50CaseThermaltake S100 Snow Edition MicroATX Case[4]$29OSWindows 11 Pro OEM$20Total$477 This motherboard may require a newer BIOS to work with the Ryzen 8600G. (It will depend on how recently the board was manufactured—if its BIOS version is new enough, you won’t need to.) If you don’t already own a compatible older processor that will let you enter the motherboard’s UEFI to perform this update, a local computer shop may be able to perform this service for a fee. Price after using promo code BFDD335. Price after using BFDDY2A438. This case has been going in and out of stock. If you can’t get one, you can swap in this DIYPC case instead. It costs more, but it also comes with more fans and accommodates more motherboard sizes, in case you want to use an ATX mobo for your build. For years now, my cheapest Black Friday gaming PC builds have relied on APUs (CPUs with more powerful integrated graphics). You don’t need a separate graphics card to play games. This year’s is a little unique in that it leans on AMD’s newer mid-tier APU, the Ryzen 5 8600G, which is a chip that requires a newer AM5 motherboard. On the one hand, the specs may feel overpriced for a cheap gaming PC meant to handle lightweight games. On the other, there are no Ryzen 5 5600G deals this year, which would fit that bill. So think of this as a snapshot of the current climate—as I said above, awkward. But this build can still be a good fit for a less demanding gamer who still needs or wants flexibility to upgrade later on, like when dedicated graphic cards become more appealing to buy. AM5 may still see further compatible processors released, too, meaning you may be able to squeeze long-term value from the CPU and memory. Speaking of, I popped in a generous 32GB due to how relatively cheap memory still is right now—and the fact that APUs rely on system memory when running games. More never hurts. Similar for the power supply; may as well upgrade that as well for a more robust system. Could you trim down further? Absolutely. But this system is really best treated as one meant to stretch further down the road, so no need to limit yourself with a lower wattage power supply, less memory, or a motherboard without Wi-Fi. Read...

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We love a good monitor deal, and finding the 4K Samsung ViewFinity for $200 on Black Friday is a total bargain. Best Buy usually sells this one for $350, so it’s quite the discount at about 45% off. At 27 inches, this monitor provides enough real estate that you’ll have no issues splitting the screen between multiple apps whenever you need to multitask. The 4K UHD resolution means you’re going to get crystal clear images with sharp detail. HDR10 ensures the screen reproduces colors as close to lifelike as possible, and the contrast is deep with rich black and bright whites. This Samsung monitor is also TÜV-Certified, which means that it’s going to be easy on your eyes thanks to reduced screen flickering. Also, during the evenings, the Eye Saver Mode reduces blue light and adjusts brightness and color temperatures. It also doesn’t hurt that the monitor features a lot of useful ports, including HDMI and DP. This makes it easy to connect computers, laptops, or peripherals. Now’s your chance to own a 4K Samsung monitor for just $200, so take advantage of this Black Friday deal at Best Buy. The Samsung ViewFinity S7 is $150 offBuy now at Best Buy Read...

On Black Friday, it almost doesn’t matter what size your gaming laptop budget is because retailers are slashing hundreds of dollars left and right. The MSI Cyborg, for instance, is only $750 right now on Best Buy—that’s $350 under its MSRP. The laptop runs on the Intel Core i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM, which is a speedy combination that will get you through your workday, tons of fun, gaming, and so on. Should you wish to upgrade, it’s good to know the laptop supports up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM. Considering how little you’re paying for the laptop, there’s plenty of room left to buy some memory if you want. The MSI Cyborg also features an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, a high-performance GPU that allows you to push those game settings up and up. The laptop features a 512GB SSD, which should be enough for most folks. If it’s not, a tiny 1TB portable SSD can cost as little as $60, as this SK Hynix Tube T31 deal proves. The MSI Cyborg has a 14? IPS display with a full HD resolution and 144Hz refresh rate, so you’re going to enjoy beautiful images, vibrant colors, and a smooth experience as you game. That being said, $750 for this particular combination is an absolute bargain this Black Friday, so stop wasting time and add it to your cart at Best Buy. This powerful gaming laptop is only $750Buy now at Best Buy Read...

Usually, gaming laptops of this caliber don’t come cheap, so we have to call out this powerful Asus TUF machine for only $1,000 at Best Buy. This Black Friday deal has shaved $400 off its MSRP, an impressive feat. This particular Asus TUF configuration really hits the sweet spot, considering the price tag. First of all, there’s an Intel Core i7 processor on board, alongside 16GB of RAM. That’s a great recipe for a speedy computer that can run pretty much any app and won’t die when you open your 87th Chrome tab. Of course, if you feel the need to upgrade, the laptop can support up to 32GB DDR5 RAM. But what makes this deal super sweet is the presence of the RTX 4070 graphics card. Yep! That’s a 7 in that model number. Usually, laptops that have this particular GPU aren’t available for such prices — we’d usually expect to see them around the $1,500 mark. Well, you can get this one for just $1,000 today. The Asus laptop features a 15.6? display with 1080p resolution and a sweet 144Hz refresh rate for a smooth gameplay experience. So there you have it — the perfect Black Friday gaming laptop deal. Don’t miss out on this $1,000 Asus TUF Best Buy deal, and get it while it’s still on sale. The Asus TUF is $400 off right nowBuy now at Best Buy Read...

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The yearly fray of Black Friday consumerism is upon us. Yet, as I’ve been covering monitor deals in the days leading up to the post-turkey blitz, I’ve gotta say… this year’s deals are especially delicious. That’s doubly true if you’re searching for an OLED monitor upgrade, because we’re seeing the lowest prices ever for that expensive category. We’ve checked all of the deals below for accuracy, value, and, you know, whether they’re actually worth getting in the first place. (We have decades of experience with monitor reviews, so we know our stuffing.) Since deals often come and go as promotions expire or stock runs out, we’ll also be regularly updating our deal picks to make sure they’re fresh. Here, in no particular order a very specific and carefully considered order, are the best monitor deals you’ll find this Black Friday. Cheers! Best Black Friday standard monitor deals MNN 15-inch 1080p USB-C portable monitor, now $55.99 (38% off at Amazon) LG 24-inch IPS 1080p 100Hz monitor, now $79.99 (33% off at LG) Dell 27-inch IPS 1080p monitor, now $99.99 (38% off at Best Buy) Acer 27-inch IPS 1440p monitor, now $140.00 (48% off at Newegg) Samsung 34-inch ultrawide 1440p monitor, now $199.99 (43% off at Amazon) My top pick: If you don’t care about the beep-boops of gaming, there’s no faster way to add utility to your laptop than with a travel-friendly USB-C monitor like the MNN portable monitor. The deal on this white-label product is unbeatable — I’ve spent more than that on a hotel breakfast, and it wasn’t anywhere near as good. On the other end of the spectrum, you can power up your desktop productivity with the absolutely massive 45-inch Philips ultrawide, which is basically two mid-sized screens in one, plus integrated webcam. Best Black Friday gaming monitor deals Acer 24-inch 1080p 165Hz gaming monitor, now $94.99 (45% off at Amazon) Acer 27-inch 1080p 240Hz curved gaming monitor, now $144.91 (28% off at Amazon) Dell 32-inch 1440p 165Hz gaming monitor, now $199.99 (39% off at Best Buy) Gigabyte 27-inch IPS 1440p 180Hz gaming monitor, now $179.99 (28% off at Newegg) LG 45-inch ultrawide 1440p 200Hz gaming monitor, now $549.99 (21% off at Amazon) My top pick: Here’s where you can find some seriously affordable monitors to upgrade your setup or expand it into multiple screens. The 27-inch Gigabyte 1440p is my early pick, despite its relatively anemic discount. That extra resolution of 1440p puts it at the current “sweet spot” of PC gaming, and the upgraded IPS panel means it can pull double duty as a standard office or media production monitor. That makes it a great pick if you game on your work-from-home PC. Best Black Friday OLED monitor deals MSI 27-inch OLED 1440p 240Hz gaming monitor, now $499.99 (26% off at Best Buy) MSI 49-inch OLED ultrawide 144Hz gaming monitor, now $799.99 (27% off at Amazon) Acer Predator 34-inch OLED ultrawide 1440p 175Hz gaming monitor, now $899.99 (10% off at Newegg) Alienware 34-inch OLED ultrawide 1440p 175Hz gaming monitor, now $799.99 (27% off at Dell) LG UltraGear 45-inch OLED ultrawide 1440p 240Hz gaming monitor, now $999.99 (41% off at Best Buy) My top pick: AOC’s 27-inch OLED monitor is one of the cheapest OLED monitors we’ve ever seen, but it’s been going in and out of stock as people rush to get the deal. Ditto for the 27-inch MSI OLED. For the best bang for your buck, the MSI 49-inch ultrawide OLED is the one you want — it’s about a thousand dollars less than these mega-sized monitors were when they first hit the market. FAQ 1. When is Black Friday 2024? Black Friday is on Friday, November 29, 2024. If you consider yourself an avid deals hunter, we’d suggest going online in the early hours to take advantage of the best deals. Deals tend to change and expire at a breakneck pace. 2. When is Cyber Monday 2024? Cyber Monday is on Monday, December 2, 2024. For the best deals, we’d recommend logging on at midnight as stock tends to deplete rather quickly. 3. Which Black Friday retailers should I check out? Amazon is going to have a slew of awesome deals. That’s a given. However, for monitors, you should definitely peruse the retail shopping pages of HP, Dell, and Lenovo. Personally, I find myself going directly to the manufacturers more often than not. You can also widen your scope to other online retailers like Best Buy and Newegg. 4. What should I look for in a monitor? Let’s first talk about refresh rate, which is especially important if you’re looking for a gaming monitor. The refresh rate is how fast a monitor can redraw the image on the screen. The faster the refresh rate, the smoother your visuals will look. Most office monitors work well at the standard 60Hz, though you’ll notice smoothness improvements at higher speeds. For competitive first-person shooters, we’d recommend 120Hz as the minimum rate. Anything higher is good enough for the esports realm. Resolution is another important feature to consider. Much like refresh rate, the higher the number, the better. We’re talking about the quality of images and video here. 1080p is the bare minimum for most monitors. However, if you’re a video editor, bumping the resolution up to 4K makes a massive difference as it allows you to see more detail. The final thing is the screen size. 27 inches is the most common and a good size for a home office. For gaming monitors, 24 or 27 inches is best. Sometimes a larger screen causes eye strain, and if you’re going to be staring at one for hours every day, it’s better to go a bit smaller. For 4K monitors, 32 inches is a good option as it gives you quite a bit of screen to work with. 5. Where can I find the highest rated monitors? PCWorld reviews new monitors every month. So, if you want to see the models we’ve rated the highest, check out our rankings for the best monitors right now. We also have more granular picks on the best gaming monitors, as well as the best 4K monitors for desktop workstations. Come Black Friday, a lot of our top picks may be on sale, so don’t limit your shopping only to the deals we’ve called out above. Black Friday: The best PC deals around Check out our roundups for the best PC-related deals in a wide variety of categories! 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As Black Friday expands to become Black Week, we’re already seeing more and more stunning discounts for cool tech. Case in point? This gaming-capable Acemagician AMR5 mini PC for just $309 on Amazon. That’s a gigantic drop from its original $499 price tag, and a killer price for the hardware it’s packing inside. (The only catch is that this price is for Prime members, but if you don’t have Prime, you can still snag this deal by signing up for a free 30-day Prime trial.) This tiny PC features a powerful AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor that’s coupled with 16GB of DDR4 RAM, so you’ll have no issue running demanding apps as well as esports and low-fidelity games. And if you want more power, you can pop up the magnetic side cover and upgrade to 64GB of RAM. The Acemagician AMR5 also comes with a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, which should be enough speed and space for most of your files, apps, and games. If not, you can again use the same accessible magnetic cover to add a second drive. Each drive can be up to 2TB, for a total of 4TB. And if you’re going to be using this mini PC as a workflow powerhouse, you can optimize your productivity with three 4K@60Hz displays, one through HDMI 2.0, one through full-feature USB-C, and one through DisplayPort. Other ports include four USB-A 3.0, full-size Gigabit Ethernet, and an audio in/out jack. One of our writers recently switched from a $1,000 gaming PC to a $300 mini PC and regrets nothing! You will too. Simply put, this thing is a miniscule monster. You can’t find a laptop or desktop PC with specs like this anywhere near this price. Act fast and grab this Acemagician AMR5 mini PC for just $309 while you can! Score this powerful gaming mini PC for 38% offBuy now on Amazon Read...

This Black Friday, you get the chance to supercharge your creative endeavors with Adobe Creative Cloud for 50% off. Yes, you read that right — one of the most expensive creative software packages is now half off, dropping in price to just $29.98 per month (when you pay monthly) or $329.74 (when you pay for the full year). Even better, students get a 75% discount for these plans! This is, hands down, one of the best times to snag Creative Cloud if you plan to create content for your hobby or job over the next year. Adobe Creative Cloud includes Photoshop, Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Pro, Adobe XD, Animate, and what feels like a million other tools. Your Adobe Creative Cloud account will also get 100GB of cloud storage, tons of fonts for use in your projects, access to extensive creative libraries, tutorials, and even 1,000 generative AI credits, which allows you to experiment with AI-enhanced images through features like generative fill or expand, text-to-image in Adobe Firefly, and more. Whether you intend to take your hobby to the next level or plan to jump-start your career in photo editing, graphic design, video editing, illustration, or social media content, then this 50% off Adobe Creative Cloud Black Friday deal is simply perfect. Save 50% on Adobe Creative Cloud for Black FridayGet now at Adobe Read...