Excessive-Finish Gaming PCs Are More Expensive Than Ever, But You Do not Really Want One

It’s no secret that PC elements are fairly costly proper now. Even although I’ve seen RAM costs beginning to inch (and I imply inch) down, constructing a brand new PC is far more costly than it ought to be. And whereas that sucks for anybody wanting to construct a rig for a recreation like Crimson Desert, or one other AAA recreation with fairly lighting results, PC gaming is extra accessible than it’s ever been.

There tends to be this false impression that PC gaming is completely these massive towers on our desks or dense laptops that want a 5-pound energy brick, however because of how good APUs have change into these days – you Panther Lake – there’s rather more to it than that.

Handheld gaming PCs and extra highly effective laptop computer APUs imply that you simply don’t have to spend money on a high-end machine to play the very best PC video games. And, in reality, lots of the greatest video games you possibly can play on PC can run on a veritable potato.

Hardware Is More Expensive Than Ever, And That Sucks

I’m not going to take a seat right here and faux that issues don’t suck for anybody that doesn’t have already got some sort of PC that may play video games. Right now, moving into PC gaming is dearer than ever, with even entry-level graphics playing cards just like the RTX 5060 costing round $360, relatively than their $299 beginning worth.

Things are much more dire with extra mid-ranged {hardware}, with the RTX 5070 beginning round $650, which is $100 greater than its supposed beginning worth. And don’t even get me began on RAM and SSDs, that are nonetheless approach too costly, even when there are indicators that costs will begin decreasing quickly.

I don’t envy anybody that should begin their PC gaming journey from zero proper now, however when you’ve got even a mediocre PC or laptop computer proper now, you may not truly must, so long as you mood your expectations a bit.

This 12 months, we’ve already seen how effectively video games have been scaling. Both Resident Evil Requiem and Crimson Desert run fairly effectively throughout a variety of PC {hardware}, so long as you’re keen to show down a number of the settings. But even past the AAA world, the true magic of PC gaming lies in video games that may run on extraordinarily low-end {hardware}.

PC Gaming Is More Than Just Ray Tracing

Lots of people have this picture of PC gaming of their head that it’s nothing however super-expensive {hardware}, rainbow lights and ray tracing. And, on the high-end, that’s not even inaccurate. But many of the video games that push graphics expertise ahead – your Cyberpunks, your Alan Wake 2s – they’re playable on recreation consoles as effectively.

Instead, I’d argue that PC gaming’s true id lies within the video games which you could’t actually discover on consoles. Whether meaning one thing like World of Warcraft or one thing like Lethal Company, PC is filled with video games that simply don’t exist anyplace else, and normally these video games aren’t full of all the attention sweet that makes high-end {hardware} sweat.

In reality, quite a lot of these video games are straight-up ugly, with blocky character fashions and low-resolution textures. Instead, extra emphasis is placed on making the sport enjoyable relatively than serving double-duty as a tech demo. No matter how a lot I get pleasure from exploring an enormous open world like Crimson Desert, nothing fairly beats the enjoyable I’ve logging onto Discord with buddies and enjoying R.E.P.O., and I’m fairly positive my GPU followers don’t even spin up when that recreation is operating.

So, yeah, possibly you do want a high-end gaming PC to play the newest AAA video games with all of the settings cranked, however that’s actually simply the floor stage of PC gaming. Even in case you can’t improve your PC, or in case you’re simply enjoying video games on the identical laptop computer you employ for work, there are a ton of wonderful video games that can run simply superb. They gained’t have ray tracing or DLSS 5 operating on high, however does that even matter?

There’s a Reason Linux Gaming Is Growing

The newest Steam Hardware Survey got here out final week, and whereas quite a lot of the information falls in step with stuff I’ve seen previously, the Linux set up base has been rising extremely rapidly. In March 2026, Linux customers made up for five.33% of Steam customers, which is up 3% over final month. In the identical timeframe, Windows customers dropped by 4.28% and MacOS customers went up by 1.19%.

If you break down the variations of Linux which can be rising, it’s not stunning that the Arch Linux, the distro behind SteamOS (and the Steam Deck) is driving quite a lot of this development.

Both the Steam Deck and the Lenovo Legion Go S are far more inexpensive than a fully-fledged gaming PC, and so they’re simply highly effective sufficient that they’ll run most video games at low-medium settings. And that’s simply AAA video games. For the indies and RPGs that actually make PC gaming particular, handheld gaming PCs are arguably the best method to play proper now.

Handhelds are moveable, which makes it simpler to take your video games on the go, and even while you do have to plug in a keyboard and mouse to play a technique recreation, you possibly can simply, like, do this. In reality, the entire purpose Valve determined to make the Steam Machine within the first place was as a result of it received knowledge {that a} ton of individuals had been doing precisely that.

And as gaming {hardware} continues to get dearer, utilizing a considerably low-powered Linux machine – be it a handheld or Valve’s gaming dice – is just going to change into extra widespread.

Friendslop Is The Future

While rising costs does imply that gaming is in a, effectively, a bizarre place proper now, I doubt the medium goes to go away. Instead, quite a lot of the big-budget blockbuster slop that we’re used to seeing through the summer time showcases goes to get a bit much less widespread. In their place, lower-budget video games which can be simply enjoyable to play are going to rise, and it’s already began.

Maybe it’s simply the those that I hang around with, however normally once I hear my buddies speaking about some new recreation they’re enjoying, massive AAA video games have gotten extra uncommon by the day. Instead, I hear so much about some bizarre new roguelike, or one other new cozy recreation with some foolish twist. I imply, simply take a fast take a look at the top-selling video games on Steam proper now, and Raccoin, a raccoon-themed coin-pusher roguelike, is sitting at quantity 4, outselling Resident Evil Requiem. And that’s one of many ‘biggest’ video games of the 12 months thus far.

Sure, quite a lot of this in all probability comes all the way down to the value of the video games. After all, simply Raccoin versus the sport that options Raccoon City, and the previous prices $10 proper now, in comparison with $70. But, if something, that solely proves that assembly individuals at a price ticket that is sensible for the second is a recipe for achievement, even when you’ve got a really foolish and enjoyable recreation. And I don’t see that taking place anyplace however PC proper now.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC elements queen. You can comply with her @Jackiecobra