If it’s time to update your gaming PC, there’s no better time of the year than Black Friday. It’s the season when manufacturers offer deep discounts on laptops, desktops, components, and peripherals; And when stores like Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg sometimes compete to make those discounts even deeper.
Every year is different: Black Friday 2018 doesn’t have amazing deals on processors or PC memory, but this year, solid-state drive (SSD) sales are pretty phenomenal.. If you’re still running Windows from a traditional rotating magnetic hard drive, well… trust us, it will make your entire PC feel like new.
To the list of offers!
Complete gaming platforms.
Maybe you’re not looking for parts, but a pre-built gaming rig? That’s a perfectly respectable decision, and there’s no need to force yourself to go through a giant parts list to get there. Here are the best deals we’ve seen so far:
Desks
Skytek Legacy pre-built desktop w / i7-8700K processor, RTX 2080 GPU, 16GB RAM, 250GB SSD, 1TB HDD is $ 1,500 (usually $ 1,800) at Walmart
HP Omen Obelisk Pre-Built Desktop with Core i7-8700 Processor, RTX 2080 GPU, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 2TB HDD for $ 1,500 (Typically $ 2,000) at Best Buy
Cyberpower Pre-Built Desktop with Ryzen 7 2700X, GTX 1080, and More for $ 1,100 (Usually $ 1,350) at Newegg
SkyTech Gaming Shadow Mini desktop pre-built with Ryzen 7 2600, Radeon RX 580, 500GB SSD and more for $ 619 (normally $ 1,000) at Walmart
As of November 23:
Laptops
Razer Blade Pro for $ 500 off, for example 17.3-inch 4K touchscreen, GTX 1080, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD for $ 3,500 (usually $ 4,000) at Best Buy or Razer
Razer Blade 15 for $ 200 off, for example, 15.6-inch 144Hz 1080p display, GTX 1060 Max-Q, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD for $ 1,980 (usually $ 2,200) at Amazon or $ 2,000 at Razer
MSI GP63 gaming laptop with 15.6-inch 1080p screen, GTX 1070 8GB 8th gen i7-8750H 128GB SSD + 1 TB HDD costs $ 1,380 (usually $ 1,700) at Newegg
Acer Acer Aspire 7 laptop with 17.3-inch IPS screen, 6GB GTX 1060 GPU, i7-8750H processor, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD costs $ 950 (usually $ 1,200) at Newegg
Lenovo Legion Y7000 Gaming Laptop with 15.6-inch IPS Screen, GTX 1060 6GB GPU, i7-8750H Processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB PCIe SSD costs $ 800 (usually $ 1,300) at Walmart
Dell G5 15 Gaming Laptop with 15.6-inch IPS 1080p Screen, GTX 1060 Max-Q 6GB, i5-8300H Processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB Spin Drive for $ 850 (usually $ 1,100) at Walmart
As of November 23:
Alienware 15 Gaming Laptop (8th Gen i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 1TB, GTX 1070) for $ 1,500 (usually $ 1,950) at Dell
Dell G5 15 Gaming Laptop (8th Gen i7, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 Max-Q 6GB, 256GB SSD + 1TB spin drive) for $ 1,000 (usually $ 1,300) at Dell
Graphics cards
As you well know, a graphics card is the heart of any gaming PC, and one of the few upgrades that will pay big dividends, even if it’s the only component to be traded. Sadly, there aren’t many great deals on the latest GPUs, but here are a few that stood out:
As of November 23:
Storage
Like I said, SSDs are starting to go down at incredibly reasonable prices now, at least if you’re okay with a drive that’s 1TB or less in size. At prices between $ 0.12 and $ 0.14 per GB, the Samsung 860 EVO is practically an immediate buy.
But you’ve never really seen the speed until you’ve got a PCI-Express-based NVMe bar-shaped SSD in your life. If you have a compatible slot on your motherboard for an NVMe SSD, I recommend that you choose one of these.
Do you need a large rotating magnetic unit?
CPUs and motherboards
As of November 23:
Memory and power supplies.
Gaming headsets
Gaming mice
As of November 23:
