Best gaming PC under £1,500 (2026)
Under £1,500 in 2026, the sweet spot is a self-built Ryzen 7 7700 with an RTX 4070 Super and 32GB of RAM. This delivers proper 1440p gaming with ray tracing in most modern AAA games. Below the cost of the lowest-tier UK custom-built PCs, but a step up in capability over the sub-£1,000 tier.
The self-build we'd put together
Mid-tier
1440p · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 7 7700
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB
- RAM
- 32 GB
- Storage
- 2TB NVMe SSD
The sweet spot self-build for 2026. The 4070 Super at 1440p with DLSS 3 handles every major modern release, including Cyberpunk with ray tracing on Medium. 32GB RAM is the right amount for 2026.
Build this at Create PCs →Components only. Track current pricing via PCPartPicker UK or similar.
What you can expect at this budget
- 1440p high to ultra settings in all 2026 AAA titles
- Ray tracing enabled at 1440p with DLSS Quality
- 4K achievable in older or well-optimised titles
- 4–5 years of comfortable gaming at high settings
- VR-ready with current-gen headsets
Games this PC handles well
When to step up to a custom-built PC
Around the £2,000 mark, custom builders like Create PCs become a genuine contender. You get proper component matching, full assembly, a three-year warranty, and configurations tuned for specific game workloads. For an upgrade-and-forget gaming PC, that's a sensible place to spend.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the RTX 4070 Super worth the extra money over a 4060?
- Yes. The jump from the 4060 to the 4070 Super doubles VRAM (8GB → 12GB) and increases raster performance by around 40%. That extra VRAM is what unlocks ray tracing in modern titles without texture compromises.
- Why 32GB of RAM?
- A few specific games in 2026 (Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Star Citizen, modded Starfield/Skyrim) genuinely use 24GB+. For most games 16GB is still enough, but at this tier 32GB removes that as a future bottleneck.
- Can it do 4K gaming?
- In older or well-optimised titles (Forza Horizon 5, Witcher 3), yes — 4K/60 is achievable with DLSS. In demanding 2025-2026 releases, you'll be playing at 1440p upscaled to 4K. That looks excellent on a modern monitor.
- Should I self-build at this budget or buy custom?
- At sub-£1,500 the self-build maths still wins on raw component value, but only just. If you don't want to assemble it yourself, custom builders like Create PCs become a sensible call from around £2,000 — that's where the QA, warranty and build quality genuinely justify the premium.
- Should I get a 1440p or 4K monitor with this PC?
- 1440p OLED at 144Hz+ is the right pairing. The 4070 Super drives that comfortably across most games. A 4K monitor will leave you running everything at 1440p upscaled via DLSS anyway, so just go 1440p natively.