If you’ve been waiting for a new gaming PC, now is a great time to upgrade. Not only are PC hardware prices coming down, but Amazon’s October Prime Day sales have dropped them even further—and those discounts extend to prebuilt computers, too.
One particularly great option right now is the Zotac Gaming MEK Hero G1, which is down to $1,105—a $595 discount off its usual $1,700 price. It combines the best features of both prebuilt and DIY PCs: You save time by letting someone else assemble the machine, but inside are off-the-shelf parts that can be easily upgraded or replaced down the road. The best part: Compared to an analogous DIY build, this prebuilt’s cheaper.
In this configuration, you’ll find an Intel Core i7-11700KF, Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 16GB of Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3200 memory, 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, Thermaltake 80 Plus Gold 700W power supply, and a 240mm ARGB liquid CPU cooler. You also get onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, features often sacrificed in DIY builds to save money. This hardware is all very solid and are options you’d find in carefully researched DIY builds.
(Plus you get four included RGB fans, which is all that truly matters in a gaming PC.)
This MEK Hero G1’s only possible downside is its older processor, which is one gen behind at the moment and will become two generations old in just a couple of weeks. It also lacks integrated graphics, which can be helpful to have as backup if you ever need to troubleshoot problems with a discrete GPU.
But for gaming, the processor’s age is only a minor drawback. This PC will still hold up great for several years to come. And when the day for upgrades finally does arrive, you can easily reuse parts, like the SSD, case, fans, and power supply, which will make the endeavor much cheaper. It’s rare that a prebuilt can trump the DIY route, but this Prime Day sale is one such exception.
Author: Alaina Yee, Senior Editor
Alaina Yee is PCWorld's resident bargain hunter—when she's not covering PC building, computer components, mini-PCs, and more, she's scouring for the best tech deals. Previously her work has appeared in PC Gamer, IGN, Maximum PC, and Official Xbox Magazine. You can find her on Twitter at @morphingball.