You can build a pretty decent gaming PC for $500. That’s certainly an option if you’re looking to do so, or for a dollar less, you can snag an HP Pavilion desktop with a GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card inside.
Walmart has the HP Pavilion Power 580-023w Gaming Tower on sale for $499, down from $649. It’s a somewhat slick looking system with a brushed front panel design and vertically mounted DVD burner. The front I/O ports, including a USB 3.0 Type-C port, are placed in the center and towards the bottom. That’s not as convenient as having them near or on the top, but as far as OEM systems go, this one looks pretty decent.
The GeForce GTX 1060 is the 3GB model, not the 6GB version. That isn’t too surprising, given the price. HP paired this with a Core i5-7400 processor. The Pavilion also has 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and Windows 10.
It’s not the fastest configuration in the world, but for $499, it’s a respectable machine. And for what it’s worth, it comes with a basic USB mouse and keyboard.
You can grab this system on sale here.