How much would a good PC setup cost?

In October 2026, a complete budget gaming setup (the PC, a 1080p monitor, a keyboard, a mouse and a headset) costs about US$1,550 to US$1,650 before you add a desk and chair. A mid-range setup runs about $2,050 to $3,000, and high-end starts at around $3,450. Those totals are our estimates, built from dated US prices.

Local prices differ with the exchange rate, sales tax and stock, so treat these as a guide to the gap between tiers.

If those numbers look high, blame the parts list. Tom's Hardware reports that RAM, graphics card and storage prices have all climbed over recent months, and one PC maker's 2026 guide puts the memory and storage rises down to AI and data centre demand. So the budget that bought a decent PC a year ago buys less now. And a "PC price" still leaves out the screen, the peripherals, the desk, the chair and the power bill.

How much does a gaming PC cost in 2026?

A gaming PC built from parts costs about US$1,180 at the budget end, $1,450 to $2,190 in the middle and $2,500 to $4,700 at the high end. Those figures come from the five builds in Tom's Hardware's best PC builds guide (prices at publication, updated October 14, 2026). Tom's leaves memory out of its build totals, so we added back the RAM kit each build lists. The prices still exclude the operating system and peripherals.

Pick a tier by the resolution you want to play at. 1080p (1920 x 1080) is the budget target, 1440p is where mid-range builds aim, and 4K is where high-end money goes.

Source: Tom's Hardware, US prices in US dollars at publication, updated October 14, 2026. RAM added back by Desky.

The graphics card (GPU) is what swings the total. It renders every frame, so it sets the resolution and settings you can run, and in these builds it ranges from $339 for the RX 7600 to $1,649 for the RTX 5080. Memory is the other shock: the 16GB kit in the budget build costs $258, more than a quarter of what the rest of its parts cost together.

One caveat on the RX 9070 XT row. Tom's lists that card at $849, but its own text says retailers sell it for no less than $1,100. If that holds when you shop, the build runs about $250 higher, closer to $2,750.

As a cross-check, one PC maker's April 2026 guide lands in a similar place: $1,000 to $1,200 for entry-level, $1,200 to $2,200 for mid-range, and $2,200 to $4,500 and up for high-end.

Is $500, $700, $1,000 or $2,000 enough for a gaming PC?

Short answers at October 2026 US prices, using the builds above.

Is $500 enough for a gaming PC?

No, not for a new PC with a dedicated graphics card. Tom's Hardware has dropped its $500 build entirely, saying $500 no longer covers a competent 1080p machine at current prices. Getting near $500 means used or reused parts.

Is $700 enough for a gaming PC?

Not at current prices. The cheapest build in Tom's list costs $924 before memory and about $1,180 with it, so $700 sits well below the entry tier.

Is $1,000 enough for a gaming PC?

Close. The budget build is $924 before RAM, so $1,000 covers everything except memory, unless you find a kit far cheaper than the $258 one Tom's lists. Plan on $1,000 to $1,200 for an entry-level 1080p PC, which matches one PC maker's 2026 range for entry machines.

Is $2,000 enough for a gaming PC?

Yes, for a solid 1440p machine. The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB build costs $1,710 before memory. With the 32GB kit Tom's pairs it with, it reaches about $2,190. With a 16GB kit like the $200 one in the cheaper build, it comes to about $1,910 (our estimate).

Monitor, keyboard, mouse and headset

A PC price is a box with no screen. Budget for these separately, and match the monitor to your tier: a 4K-class graphics card plugged into a 1080p panel pays for detail the screen can't show.

The monitor bands below come from editorial roundup pricing in December 2025, ten months before the PC prices above, so treat them as a floor and check current listings.

For the peripherals, PC Gamer's August 11, 2026 budget gear roundup found a keyboard, a wireless mouse and a wireless headset at a US retailer for about $161 together at deal prices, or about $213 at list. Mid-range and high-end sets are our estimate, anchored to one PC maker's per-item allowances: about $300 to $450 for mid-range, and about $450 to $680 for high-end.

Running two monitors? Check your desk width first; our guide to how much space you need for a dual monitor setup walks through it. A monitor arm lifts the screens off the desktop, which frees the space under them for the keyboard, mouse and speakers. The Desky Dual Monitor Arm takes two screens of 27 inches and under.

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What the whole setup costs

Put the PC, monitor and peripherals together and here's where each tier lands, before a desk and chair.

US prices in US dollars. Estimates from the dated US prices above: PC builds October 2026, monitors December 2025, peripherals August 2026 (mid-range and high-end peripherals are our estimate). Totals move with RAM and graphics card prices.

These totals also leave out sales tax, which depends on your province, shipping if you're not buying in-store, and Windows if your PC doesn't come with it. One PC maker allows $95 to $215 for an operating system licence.

Desk and chair: the part PC budgets leave out

Every build list above stops at the PC. But a setup only works if it fits on the desk and you can sit at it for a whole session, so the desk and chair belong in the budget too.

Size the desk to the setup. A 60 x 30 in (152 x 76 cm) top fits a large monitor or two, plus the keyboard, mouse and speakers, and our guide to the ideal desk size for a gaming setup covers other layouts. Then think about height. Instead of one fixed height, a sit-stand gaming desk lets you set one height for sitting and another for standing. The Desky Alpha Dual Sit Stand Gaming Desk, for example, has a height range of 23.6 to 49.2 inches.

Desky makes gaming desks and gaming chairs, so the prices below are ours, not a market average. They're CA store prices as of October 2026 in CAD, and each range runs from the least to the most expensive variant. The warranty column matters when you compare the two sit-stand desks: the cheaper single-motor desk carries 3 years, the Alpha Dual 10.

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For the chair, compare its seat height range against your desk height, then check how far the armrests adjust and how far the back reclines. Those three decide whether the chair fits the setup you just priced. If you're choosing between styles, here's how office and gaming chairs differ.

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If you add our sit-stand gaming desk and gaming chair, add their prices in CAD from the table above to the US-dollar totals. For example, add a sit-stand gaming desk from $499 and a Vanguard Gaming Chair from $699 (CAD) to the US-dollar total for your tier. We don't combine the two currencies into one total.

How much does a gaming PC add to your power bill?

Watts measure how much power the PC draws at any moment. Your utility bills you in kilowatt-hours (kWh), and one kWh is 1,000 watts running for one hour. To turn one into the other:

kWh a month = watts x hours a day x 30 ÷ 1,000

Multiply the result by your electricity rate. At the US average residential rate of 18.16 cents per kWh (EIA, August 2026, preliminary), a 500 W PC used for 4 hours a day draws 60 kWh a month and costs about US$10.90. Check your own rate on your power bill; Canadian rates differ.

Use average draw, not peak. Tom's Hardware expects the budget build to peak at no more than about 400 to 450 W, and average draw across a gaming session sits below the peak, so plugging in the peak figure gives you a ceiling rather than a typical bill. Rates vary by state and by country, so swap in the cents-per-kWh figure from your own bill. The same formula works for the monitor.

Build or buy prebuilt?

A prebuilt is a PC sold assembled and ready to plug in. Sources disagree on which costs less in 2026: Tom's Hardware points to a prebuilt that costs less than the sum of its parts at current prices, while one PC maker's guide quotes a 10 to 20 percent premium for buying prebuilt. Price the exact parts list against a prebuilt with the same graphics card, memory and storage before you decide.

Accessories to budget for

The smaller line items that round out a setup:

• A headset stand or hook, so the headset lives off the desktop.
• Lighting placed behind or around the monitor.
• A power strip with enough outlets for the PC, monitors, speakers and chargers.
• A desk mat for the keyboard and mouse.
• Cable management to route power and display cables off the floor and out of sight.