Following our brief tour around the state of RAM pricing in 2026, it seemed only fair to extend our ‘State of the Union’ look at PC component pricing to another market that has taken an absolute beating in the AI crunch: SSDs.

It’s a sadly familiar tale. Like RAM, SSDs were once an afterthought when it came to PC building — you always knew you could find a ton of capacity, decent speeds, and a reputable brand at a reasonable price. Like RAM, SSD shortages have driven absolutely insane price rises across the board, and like RAM, the death of Micron’s Crucial has seen a major player leave the scene.

As you can imagine, the SSD market is decidedly more complex and fragmented than the RAM market, for obvious reasons. Whereas your principal choice of RAM boils down to DDR4 vs DDR5, and then capacity, there are a plethora of SSD solutions for PC. There are M.2 drives for performance, or larger SATA SSDs for volume or even external storage. The former also sees vast performance differences between Gen 5 and Gen 4 options, adding another dimension.

Sadly, prices on SSDs generally have skyrocketed. This uncomplicates the picture slightly. But just how badly have SSD prices changed in the last year, and can you buy an affordable SSD these days?

12 months on

We’re fortunate to be carrying out this look 12 months removed from the 2025 Amazon Prime Day event, which means we have a plethora of pricing and sales data from exactly a year ago that we can use to pinpoint just how badly the SSD market has tanked. As we did with RAM, we’ll start with our fabled 2025 Amazon Prime Day build, in which we recommended users kit out our 1440p, 7800X3D gaming rig with a Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB SSD. The deal at the time was a hefty discount, bringing the price to $113, down from $176. That same drive is on sale right now, discounted by 36%, to an eye-watering $363, triple the price. The list price of that drive is $579.99, and the highest actual price we’ve seen on it is $465 in May this year, more than four times what it cost a year ago.

Famously, buying a 4TB SSD could net you M.2 storage for your PC for as little as $0.05 per GB just over a year ago, with devices like the WD Blue SN5000 and Silicon Power UD90 costing just $214 and $209, respectively. The SN5000 has doubled in price to $449.99, with the cost per GB at 11.2 cents.

SATA: No less painful

You’d be forgiven for thinking that toning down your storage for a less potent SATA III drive would be a great way to save some money over an M.2 drive, but you’d be wrong. Case in point is a drive we've been watching on Amazon for some time, the Samsung 870 Evo. This 2 TB drive was once just $80, and no more than $150 a year ago. Now, Amazon is selling it discounted by 62% at a cost of $399, with a list price of an eye-watering $1,039. That’s not a typo; that’s a 2021 hard drive with 2TB of storage now listed at a price of over $1,000. Of course, much like RAM, these numbers and prices aren’t really real, which makes it absolutely impossible to try and pin down the reasonable price of SSD storage in 2026.

A crucial factor

Micron announced in December that it was shuttering its consumer outfit Crucial in favor of enterprise. With so many SSD vendors and solutions, it’s arguable that Crucial’s absence in the SSD sector will be a little less keenly felt than it will in the RAM industry — after all, Micron is one of only three memory makers in the industry. Still, Crucial’s T-series and P-series drives are capable and performant offerings that will be missed once they disappear from the market completely. Of course, any reduction in competition is going to have an impact on pricing, but Crucial’s loss certainly seems like it will be more felt when it comes to RAM, rather than SSDs.

If you actually need to buy SSD storage

If we discount Gen 3 drives, which you shouldn’t be settling for in 2026, the cheapest you can grab an M.2 SSD these days is 11 cents per GB; specifically, this Silicon Power UD90 is one of the best value drives right now, at $439. SP’s UD90 is also one of the cheapest 1TB options on the market at around $150, and its 2TB option is $244. Of course, the larger the drive, generally, the less you’ll pay per GB when it comes to storage. Simply put, these are the baseline prices for 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB SSDs, respectively, in 2026.

If you want a snappier Gen 5 option, Crucial’s 1TB P510 is $180 dollars right now, while the 2TB version is $340.The popular Samsung 9100 Pro’s 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB drives will set you back $250, $400, and $900, respectively, a truly tragic state of affairs.

Pre-build your way out of the crisis

As with RAM, a pre-built PC is one of the best ways to secure a decent amount of SSD storage. However, unlike RAM, the vendors can more easily obfuscate SSD performance. I’ve been covering PC sales and deals for months since the crisis hit, and it’s clear that vendors find it much easier to hide poor SSD storage inside a pre-built than RAM. The reasons are obvious: it’s very difficult to sugarcoat a PC having 16GB of DDR5 RAM, as opposed to 32GB; however, you can quite easily bury a slower Gen 4 SSD or a less spacious drive inside a pre-built spec sheet.

Generally, I’d recommend pushing towards a build with 32GB of RAM, even if it means compromising on storage. You can always add more SSD space down the line, and while you’d obviously rather have a blistering Gen 5 drive with those 14,000MB/s speeds, Gen 4 will do you just fine for gaming, and likely will for years to come.

On the eve of August, 2026, the DIY PC building market looks bleaker than ever. Over the last 12 months, enthusiasts have endured spiralling prices on DDR4 and DDR5, as well as hard drives and SSDs, driven by shortages induced by massive AI buildouts. But just how bad is the RAM market in 2026, and is it at all possible to buy cheap RAM these days? The short answers are “bad” and “not really, no.” In this brief 2026 ‘State of the Union’ on the RAM market, we observe just how much prices have changed in the last 12 months, and examine whether there really is any hope for PC builders at all.

It was around July last year that the alarm bells really started ringing when it came to RAM pricing, with TrendForce warning of 45% increases in the second half of the year. Until then, both RAM and SSDs had been something of an afterthought when it came to PC building. Not that those components weren’t important, but rather that you knew you could always find a cheap 32GB DDR5 kit and a decent SSD for whichever build you were planning. The tough decisions were choosing between AMD and Intel’s respective platforms, and trying to find a decent graphics card.

So what has happened since?

What a difference a year makes

To see the impact of the AI crunch on RAM pricing, I had a bit of a dig through the Tom’s Hardware archives, but I should warn you: It’s not pleasant reading. This time last year, we had just come through the throes of Amazon’s 2025 Prime Day event, held in July as opposed to this year’s June offering. As is customary, we offered our thoughts on a great PC build using Prime Day discount parts featuring a Crucial Pro 32GB DDR5 6000 memory kit, reduced from $119 to just $90. One year later, that very same kit now costs $459. That’s if you can even buy one, of course, as there was only one left in stock when I wrote this. Oh, also, Crucial no longer exists. Feeding the AI machine is proving so lucrative that Micron literally wound up its consumer memory and SSD offering so that it could put all of its efforts into HBM and enterprise.

The story is similar wherever you look. Our pick for the best RAM for gaming in 2026 remains G.Skill’s Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5-6000. When we reviewed this kit back in 2023, we bemoaned that users were paying the early adopter DDR5 tax. The price? A paltry $179. You now can’t buy 32GB of DDR5 for less than $379. G.SKill’s kit subsequently sank in price to an even $100; in August 2026 it’ll cost you $599.99. I guess you could call that a late adopter tax.

Even 16GB of DDR5 6000 will set you back more than $200 these days, which is double the price for half the capacity you could buy a year ago. Large kits, like Corsair’s Vengeance 192GB (4x48GB) offering, now cost upwards of $2,600, more than most pre-built PCs.

The death of Crucial

As mentioned, one of the most pertinent death knells of the RAM market in the last 12 months was the end of Crucial. In December, Micron announced that it was winding up its entire consumer offering, reallocating all of its resources to enterprise DRAM and SSDs. Crucial products have slowly died off since, and the very few kits and drives that remain are extremely expensive to buy. The company is continuing to honor warranty and technical support obligations, at least, but that will be of little comfort to PC builders left out in the cold. “Micron has made the difficult decision to exit the Crucial consumer business in order to improve supply and support for our larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments,” Micron admitted bluntly at the time.

The return of DDR4

Not totally oblivious to the plight of gamers, a few vendors are at least trying to assuage gamers and the DIY market, notably with the return of DDR4. Admittedly, this isn’t super comforting — I can’t imagine many console gamers would be thrilled about Sony solving PlayStation 5 shortages by bringing back the PS4 — but the gulf between DDR4 and DDR5 isn’t so bad that it’s not a viable option for some in 2026. We’ve heard rumblings that Intel is preparing a surprise Raptor Lake Next return for 2027, and AMD recently rolled out its 10th anniversary edition of its 5800X3D gaming CPU. Still, the best gaming CPU for DDR4 that money can buy still costs $350, and the gulf between DDR4 and DDR5 is widening, in our testing. As our resident CPU analyst Jake Roach noted at the time, buying a Ryzen 5 7600X3D and 16GB of DDR5-6000 is only $80 more expensive than buying a DDR4-based 5800X3D.

The problem lies therein: DDR4 memory prices have also skyrocketed. A 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200 kit from 2019 would have set you back 48 bucks last year. Now, you’ll be lucky to find it on sale for $200.

Prebuilt your way out of this mess

Pre-built PCs from OEM vendors like HP, as well as bespoke offerings from CyberPower and the like, are not immune to rising prices, nor are gaming laptops. To return to our one-year flashback, an Intel Core 7 Alienware Aurora 16 we recommended to users at $1,099 during July 2025 will now set you back $1,999, and we’ve seen price increases on Alienware desktops of up to $2,000 in recent months. In fact, Maingear started offering “Bring Your Own RAM” builds late last year, rather than absorbing the cost of price rises.

With that being said, if you have given up hope of getting RAM and doing a DIY build in 2026, there are still pre-built gaming PCs on sale that get you a lot of PC for your money. Perhaps more money than you might have paid last year, but in reality it's a simple math problem. RAM prices have risen by 400, 500, or even 600% in some cases in recent months, while PC builds as a whole have increased, but not by nearly as much. When you factor in the increased cost of SSDs and GPUs, pre-builts in 2026 tend to represent much better value than they generally would have a year ago.

If you’re set on buying RAM?

If you are set on building a PC right now and buying RAM to put inside it, what’s the state of play? The going rate for 16GB of DDR5 RAM is $209, the lowest amount of money you can expect to pay for a 16GB kit. For 32GB, the going rate is $379. Per GB, 32GB remains better value, at around $12 rather than $13. 64GB of DDR5 from Corsair is $699, ironically the best price per GB, but ludicrously expensive.

We’ve been touting Newegg RAM bundles at Tom’s Hardware for months, and they remain a stalwart way to save at least something on RAM if you’re building a PC. Generally, you can expect to find a bundle that will get you the RAM for around $200 if you buy it alongside a motherboard and a CPU. Remember, the value in a RAM bundle is pairing RAM with other parts, the prices of which are not inflated in the current market. With CPU, motherboard, and cooling prices holding steady or falling, buying components together gives you a clear picture of the actual value proposition. The RAM in this Newegg bundle, for instance, costs $236, thanks to the price of the 9800X3D and the X870E.

The future of the RAM market

Sadly, if you’re in the market for RAM, even at these exorbitant prices, we’re still firmly in the bite-the-bullet phase. Manufacturers like SK hynix are working to add capacity to their roster, and the advent of China’s CXMT could provide some relief. But industry figures warn that 2027 could actually be even worse for memory shortages than 2026. By extension, that presumably means pricing will also get worse. In truth, the best solution right now is probably not to buy RAM, but if you’re in desperate need, you’re going to have to pay high prices in some way, shape, or form.

Waiting it out is always an option if you can do so, but Adata’s chairman recently said you might be waiting a decade or more. The latter prognostication sounds a little extreme, but one year into the RAMapocalypse, more than a few indications point to things getting worse rather than better.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X3D is AMD's brand-new Ryzen 7 CPU, designed to slot neatly between the 7800X3D and the 7600X3D. While it's not a stellar offering as a standalone CPU upgrade, in this bundle featuring 16GB of DDR5 RAM for $16, it's a no-brainer as the perfect start to an AM5 gaming build.

Right now, you can get the 7700X3D at Newegg with an MSI Pro X870-P motherboard, 16GB of DDR5 G.Skill Ripjaws M5 (1x16GB), and a free Cooler Master Elite Liquid 240 CPU AIO for just $588, a $233 saving that gets you the RAM for basically nothing.

• Check out this deal on Newegg

While this bundle does limit you to single-channel RAM for the time being — it's just a single stick of 16GB DDR5 — it's an ample start for a mid-range gaming build in the current economy. If you really wanted, you could buy a second stick for the list price of $249, and get yourself 32GB of DDR5 for $265, which is much cheaper than the current going rate for RAM. If you factor in the free cooler, you're also saving another $80.

The 7700X3D can't match the more expensive 7800X3D or the hallowed 9800X3D, but as you can see from our testing, it can sustain average frames of 164fps in our 1080p gaming test suite, making it a great option for 1080p and 1440p gaming. This Zen 4 chip has 8 cores and 16 threads, and features 104MB of Cache.

That this bundle comes with a single stick of 16GB DDR5 6000 RAM is a small downside. It won't be as performant as two 8GB sticks, but it does leave you the option to upgrade to 32GB in the future, with timings of 36-36-36-76 and a black aluminum heat spreader. The M5 comes with addressable RGB lighting and support for both AMD EXPO and Intel XMP 3.0, the former being the pertinent one in this AM5 build. It's a small compromise that allows you to save a ton of money and get your hands on one of AMD's latest X3D processors for less.

The motherboard is MSI's Pro X870-P Wi-Fi board, which has a sleek aluminum look. The board supports up to 256GB of DDR5 RAM (four DIMM slots) for that aforementioned future upgrade, as well as Wi-Fi 7. It also has support for both PCIe 5.0 and 4.0 for M.2 SSD storage, and 5G LAN for super-fast networking.

The final cherry on top is Cooler Master's Elite Liquid 240 CPU AIO Cooler, a 240mm cooler that will keep your CPU temperatures down, giving you plenty of headroom for gaming. If you're looking to start a mid-range AM5 gaming build in 2026, you could do a lot worse than this bundle, which is one of the best we've seen in terms of RAM pricing in recent weeks.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, gaming chair, or CPU Deals pages.

If you're trying to build a gaming PC in 2026, you could be forgiven for just throwing in the towel. Pre-built PCs remain a consistent source of good value for gamers, and this CyberPowerPC offering at Newegg is one such deal. Right now you can score $460 off this Ryzen 7 9800X3D PC with RTX 5080, now just $2,829.

● Check out this deal at Newegg

Not only is this a nifty discount, but it's also the cheapest 9800X3D/5080 combo at Newegg from a reputable brand. This PC will make light work of any 4K title and set you up for years of future-proof PC gaming. The GPU alone in this rig is worth $1,300 right now.

As you can see from our testing data, the 9800X3D is one of the fastest gaming CPUs on the market and retains our crown as the best gaming CPU in 2026. This 8-core processor shines thanks to its generous 3D cache, which gets you much higher and more consistent frame rates compared to other CPUs, because it doesn't have to fall back on your PC's slower RAM as often.

As such, our testing registers absolutely blistering performance.

This is pretty much as good as it gets for a gaming CPU, and the powerhouse chip is complemented by Nvidia's hefty RTX 5080. This 16GB VRAM beast has 10,752 CUDA cores, capable of breezing through titles at 4K. As you can see, the 5080 is only overshadowed by the RTX 5090, which costs more than this entire PC.

Even in our 4K testing, the RTX 5080 is capable of sustaining 60 frames per second, and that's before you start using Nvidia's powerful DLSS suite of frame generation tools.

This potent one-two punch of CPU and GPU is well-supported by 32GB of DDR5 RAM, the sweet spot for AM5 gaming and a $400 commodity in today's market, as well as 2TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe storage, offering ample space for your Steam library.

There's also a 1000W power supply, and the B850 motherboard offers Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and plenty of ports.

So if you want a buy-it-once-and-forget-about-it PC you won't have to upgrade for the next five years, this is a substantial saving on a really solid and capable rig. The cost of the CPU, memory, storage, and GPU alone is almost $2,500 if you were to buy these parts separately, so if you factor in the motherboard, cooler, case, PSU, and Windows 11, plus the convenience, this looks like a pretty good deal.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

The pricing troubles of the Steam Machine make it easy to think that budget gaming PCs are dead, but this incredible ABS gaming desktop I've just found might convince you otherwise. Right now at Walmart, you can grab this ABS Flux II Aqua with Intel Core i5 14400F, Intel Arc B580, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD for just $849. That's a $150 saving on the $999 list price, for a PC with parts worth well over $1,200 in today's market.

● Check out this deal at Walmart

This PC features a Raptor Lake Refresh CPU worth $178, 32GB of Patriot DDR5 priced at $400, a $150 SSD, and a $309 GPU from Intel for unparalleled budget value. Fire those parts into PCPartPicker, and you'll see that, along with a motherboard, the cost is some $1,158 to build this rig yourself. And that's before you've added a CPU cooler, case, power supply, and Windows 11, all of which are included in this build.

Make no mistake, this is not a blistering gaming PC capable of 4K; there's no fancy X3D SKU or RTX 5080 inside. What you do get is a punchy budget CPU with a total of 10 cores, six performance and four efficiency, with 16 threads and boost clocks of up to 4.7 GHz. As you can see from our testing data, the 14400 can sustain 123 fps in our 1080p testing suite.

The Intel Arc B580 puts out respectable average benchmarks in our 1080p testing suite. Featuring 12GB of VRAM and 2560 cores, it's a great budget GPU capable of delivering an average of 80 fps in Assassin's Creed Mirage at 2560 x 1440 Ultra settings, better than the RTX 4060.

If you're looking for couch gaming on a budget, this might be the perfect Steam Machine alternative. When you consider that it gets you 512GB of SSD storage and 16GB of DDR5 RAM for $1,049, this $850 package for 1TB and 32GB, plus the aforementioned CPU and GPU combo, is really excellent value. Purely on the value of the parts contained alone, this gaming PC is honestly an absolute steal.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

Xbox has announced a new Xbox Backward Compatibility for PC program, which will let gamers play a selection of classic Xbox titles on PCs and handhelds, a move the company says marks the beginning of a bigger push into Xbox game preservation. The announcement begins with four titles that can now be played on PCs and handhelds, including the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X.

"This marks the beginning of a broader effort to preserve XBOX games from the past and bring them to PC over time," the company said in a blog post authored by Xbox "VP next generation" Jason Ronald. Alongside backward compatibility, the company says games will also include new features. The four titles in the announcement are:

• BLiNX: The Time Sweeper 
• Conker: Live and Reloaded 
• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge 
• Fuzion Frenzy

You can now buy all of these games on PC, and they're also included in all Xbox Game Pass plans. Anyone who already owns these titles digitally on console can also now play them on PC or handheld, with support for Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Crucially, this appears to be a digital-only preservation effort, so it won't help anyone who only owns physical copies of these games. Xbox has reportedly been testing a way to digitize physical games as far back as Xbox One, but that hasn't yet materialized yet.

Alongside the preserved original gameplay, Xbox claims these games will let users customize graphics settings, with up to 4x resolution scaling, VSync support, Fullscreen and Windowed modes, anisotropic filtering, and enhanced anti-aliasing, with more features to come in the future. Notably, Xbox will add achievements to select original Xbox games on console and PC.

Users who want to play these titles will need to meet the following system requirements:

Microsoft's emphasis on preserving older games is particularly noteworthy given recent backlash against Sony over its decision to end physical games with its next console generation, and the shuttering of some of its online stores. While Xbox's digital emphasis on game preservation still can't match the solidarity of physical media preservation, the timing of this announcement seems like more than just a coincidence.

If you're in the hunt for a back-to-school gaming laptop, then look no further than this excellent Gigabyte Woot deal. Right now at Amazon's outlet, you can save 33% off the list price and get a 16-inch laptop with an Nvidia RTX 5070 for just $1,399, one of the cheapest 5070 laptops around.

• Grab this deal at Woot

For that, you get Nvidia's punchy mobile RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of RAM for gaming and multitasking, 1TB of storage, and a nifty 2560 x 1600 WQXGA display. Given the current prices of RAM and storage, getting a laptop of this spec at this price is pretty much unheard of these days. We actually covered the HX 350 version of this laptop at $1,389 earlier this month. This deal gets you a snappier HX 370 CPU for just $10 more.

We've actually reviewed the aforementioned 350 version of this laptop, where we praised the Aero's excellent productivity performance, good battery life, and scope for upgradeability. However, it was let down by its display and performance given the price. At the $1,399 discount, however, it becomes a much more enticing prospect. As you can see, it sails past rivals in our battery test, scoring nearly an hour longer usage compared to its next-closest rival.

As you can see from our gaming benchmarks, the Aero X16 can easily deliver over 100 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p, or 64 fps at its native 2560 x 1600. It's not the most potent gaming laptop on the market by any means, but it's one of the best-value options given the sub-$1,400 price point on offer here.

Our productivity testing is based on AMD's Ryzen AI 7 350 processor. This 8-core CPU delivered decent Geekbench 6 scores, so expect the 12-core 370 in this model to offer better performance still and also give gaming a much-needed boost, with 24 threads and boost clocks of up to 5.1 GHz.

The other specs of this laptop, notably the 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD, are also impressive. 32GB of DDR5 is worth nearly $400 these days, and that'll get you all the multitasking and performance you need for work and play. While this isn't an OLED laptop, the 2560 x 1600 display offers a refresh rate of up to 165Hz.

As the 'Aero' moniker suggests, the X16 is also thin and light. It measures just 0.65 inches in thickness and weighs 4.18 lbs, making it a very portable option. You'll also be pleased to know that the laptop can be upgraded in the future, with two SODIMM memory slots and two M.2 drive slots offering you headroom to add RAM or storage later in life.

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The extremely popular Woot deal that scored new customers a Nintendo Switch 2 for just $399 has returned. Right now you can grab a brand new console for just $399 thanks to an extra $50 discount at checkout. If you've used Woot before, the same code (GIFT26) will get you an extra $22 off instead, making this the cheapest Switch 2 on the market right now.

• Check out this deal at Woot

Woot is Amazon's outlet website, so you'll often see refurbished or reconditioned items for sale. However, this is a deal on a brand-new console, making it an extra special (and rare) treat.

The Nintendo Switch 2 needs no introduction. First unveiled on June 5, 2025, the ultra-popular handheld features a 7.9-inch 1080p screen, also supporting gameplay at 4K up to 120 fps when docked with a TV. You also get Joy-Con 2 controllers, which can be used in a variety of modes.

Naturally, the big allure of the Switch 2 is access to Nintendo's delightful world of IP and first-party titles, including games like Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and, of course, games like Legend of Zelda.

More noteworthy than the Nintendo Switch 2's specs or games, however, is the price. Owing to the global AI pricing crunch that is driving up the cost of flash memory, Nintendo recently announced price hikes, bringing the MSRP of the console to $499, a $50 increase. Today's deal means you're not only avoiding that recent hike, but you're actually saving on the original $449 MSRP too. A $399 Nintendo Switch 2 will sell out fast, so don't hang around if you're interested. Even the $427 deal is the best Switch 2 for returning customers

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

Mere weeks after dbrand announced it would have to shelve its Steam Machine Companion Cube because it didn't get permission to use Valve's intellectual property, a 3D printing enthusiast has created a DIY version that you can make for yourself at home. Printables user Jaron's Steam Machine Companion Cube Case is "An unofficial Portal Companion cube case for your Steam Machine" that you can create using a single-extruder printer, if you have the right model.

According to a user post on X, the fan-made tribute to the dbrand project was made "from scratch," and is based entirely on images of dbrand's design. Ironically, whether that will incur any copyright wrath from dbrand itself remains to be seen.

As you can see, the project looks exactly like dbrand's companion cube. According to the Printables listing, it can be printed using a single-extruder printer as long as it lets you pause at specific layers to swap filament for other colors. Jaron says a slicer is required to get the multi-color look for the panels, but otherwise provides an extensive parts list of screws, inserts, and magnets you can acquire from Amazon to piece the project together. You will, of course, also need a Steam Machine for the full effect, as well as a soldering iron, tweezers, and a couple of screwdrivers. Helpfully, they even list the specific Sunlu and Overture filaments used to get the look.

At first glance, this is definitely not a beginner 3D printing project, but Jaron has provided extensive assembly instructions as well as multiple YouTube videos to detail the assembly process. As you might expect, popping a 3D-printed shell on your Steam Machine might impact thermals. Jaron says that they have not done any extensive thermal testing of the design, but has ensured that no airflow or vents are blocked. In fact, the additional vent in the faceplate may even aid cooling.

dbrand unveiled its Companion Cube on November 12, the day of the Steam Machine's announcement. Following extensive interest, the company says it poured thousands of hours into industrial design and injection molding, as well as promoting the Companion Cube. Unfortunately, it forgot to ask Valve for permission. "They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which dbrand does not have a license," the company admitted in a statement last month. Despite appeals, the company in the end gave up and shelved the project.

Valve's Steam Machine is the company's somewhat beleaguered in-home console alternative, which finally launched last month. The diminutive desktop gaming PC is a lot pricier than Valve had anticipated, owing to the AI pricing squeeze on RAM and SSD parts. As such, at $1,049, it's decidedly more expensive than console alternatives, somewhat limiting its appeal. With a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 six-core chip, RDNA3 graphics, 16GB of DDR5, and up to 2TB SSD capacity, it's pretty good value when compared to equivalent PC hardware.

If you have got your hands on one and would like a version of dbrand's Companion Cube to match, this enthusiast 3D-printed project — which Jaron says is not affiliated with Valve or Steam, nor features any official assets from any game — could be a fun way to spend a weekend.

Building a gaming PC in 2026 is tough given the state of RAM and SSD pricing, but it's not impossible. If you want an AM5 gaming PC with the best gaming CPU on the market, look no further than this AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D bundle with 32GB of RAM, a B850 motherboard, and a 240mm AIO CPU cooler for just $1,039 at Newegg.

• Check out this deal on Newegg

That's a saving of $148 on the list price of these components at Newegg, but crucially, it's also more than $100 less than buying these parts separately at various retailers at their cheapest overall prices. As such, bundling these components will save you more than $100 on your gaming PC.

The star of this bundle is undoubtedly the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Despite not quite being the fastest gaming CPU on the market, this behemoth retains its crown as the best CPU for gaming in 2026 thanks to its blistering overall performance and more modest power draw compared to the 9850X3D. This 8-core, 16-thread processor is clocked at 4.7 GHz, with boost clocks of up to 5.2 GHz. With its coveted 3D v-cache and 96MB of LR capacity, this processor ensures much higher frame rates compared to non-X3D models, as you can see in our gaming benchmarks below.

The CPU really needs no introduction. Alongside it, you'll get the Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite Wi-Fi 7 Ice motherboard, which features support for up to four DDR5 8200 DIMMs and a total of 256GB of RAM. It also has a single M.2 PCIe 5.0 slot, as well as two PCIe 4.0 slots for SSD expansion. As the name suggests, it supports Wi-Fi 7, 2.5Gbps LAN, and 7.1 audio. It also has a myriad selection of ports, including USB 3.1, USB-C, and more. With 14+2+2 power staging and DIY friendly tools like EZ-Latch for M.2 and PCIe, this is a fantastic companion board to start your build, also featuring a striking white aesthetic.

The RAM in this build is Corsair's popular Vengeance 32GB 6000, the sweet spot for gaming on AM5 that will provide all the performance you need for gaming and multitasking. Unfortunately, it's the inflated prices of RAM that are driving up the cost of this build, making that $150 saving all the more important. Finally, you get a free gift: Cooler Master's Elite Liquid 240 CPU AIO. This dual-chamber pump has AM5 support and will fit the CPU no problem, keeping your CPU nice and cool during gaming and even providing some overclocking headroom.

As mentioned, this motherboard bundle is white, so perfect for an icy PC build. Of course, if you'd prefer a darker, stealthier look, an identical bundle with the black version of this board can be found at Newegg for $10 more, at $1,409. As you can see, the total cost of this build would be $1,187 if you bought the parts separately, even with the AIO costing just $39, and a $30 discount on the RAM.

Paired with the right GPU, this would make the perfect start for an AM5 gaming build that will chew through any gaming title at 1440p or even 4K, with the 9800X3D offering some of the best gaming potential of any CPU on the market.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

If you're headed back to school or college later this summer, or you're embarking on new study endeavours for the first time, then you might well be in the market for a powerhouse laptop that can tackle work and play with ease. This excellent HP Omen Max laptop is currently $1,100 off at Best Buy, netting you an RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, all housed under a slick OLED display.

● Check out this deal at Best Buy

This laptop is not only fantastic for gaming, but the powerhouse Core Ultra 9 290HX is Intel's flagship laptop processor, with a massive 24 cores, including eight performance cores and 16 efficiency cores. That makes it great for all manner of productivity tasks, no matter what you're studying.

The HP Omen Max 16 laptop is a model we've reviewed, and we like its general premium feel thanks to its aluminum enclosure, good audio, and decent webcam. The headline here is that Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX CPU. This flagship Arrow Lake Refresh CPU features boost clocks of up to 5.5 GHz. Below is a selection of laptops we've tested running this CPU, and as you can see, it delivers very impressive Geekbench 6 scores.

That CPU is backed up by the punchy RTX 5070 Ti GPU. While it doesn't have the coveted 16GB of VRAM of the desktop variant, it does have 12GB, getting you more than the 8GB configurations you'll mind on the lower end of Nvidia's scale. This Blackwell GPU has 5,888 CUDA cores and should provide ample power at the laptop's native resolution of 2560 x 1600 at 240 Hz. That display is also really notable because it's an OLED panel, rather than IPS, offering much better contrast and response times for gaming and watching content.

Alongside the potent CPU and GPU combo, you get 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD. The former is crucial for multitasking and gaming, while the latter should be fine to get you started with a few Steam games and your studies.

As always with the Omen Max, you get two USB-A ports, two Thunderbolt 4 with USB-C, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an Ethernet port, and HDMI 2.1.

If you'd like to compromise a little, you could get a 5080 version of this laptop for a little more. Priced at $2,949 ($1,070 off), this model comes with a slightly less potent Core Ultra 9 275HX (still 24 cores), a 2TB SSD, and the aforementioned 5080. That gives you more storage and a better GPU for $150 more.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

With the AI price crunch driving up the price of gaming laptops, good deals are harder and harder to find these days, but HP has just slashed $1,500 off this Omen Max 16-inch gaming laptop, getting you an AMD Ryzen 9 with an RTX 5080 for just $2,199. That's a 40% saving on the $3,699 MSRP.

● Check out this HP laptop deal

As you can imagine, the focus here is on the RTX 5080, a 16GB VRAM beast, which even in its mobile format will chew through any title at the 2,560 x 1,600 resolution the display offers. However, the rest of the specs are also noteworthy, including the 12-core AMD Ryzen 9 HX 375, 32GB of DDR5, and the 1TB SSD.

We haven't reviewed this exact spec of laptop, but we have tested the more potent RTX 5090 version of this model. As you can read in our HP Omen Max 16 laptop review, it's a little on the heavy side (5.99 lbs), but that's a trade-off for the premium look and feel of the aluminum enclosure. We also liked the excellent audio and sharp webcam.

Our testing data from other laptops shows the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 chip easily bests Snapgradon's X Elite and Intel's Core 7 Ultra 258V in Geekbench 6 scores. With a 5.1 GHz max boost clock, 24MB L3 cache, and 12 cores, this is a solid processor.

As mentioned, the headline feature is the RTX 5080. With 16GB of VRAM and 7680 CUDA Cores, it will easily run any game at 1080p or the laptop's native resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. That display is a 16-inch WQXGA IPS panel (so no OLED, sadly), with a 3ms response time and 500 nits of brightness.

You also get the coveted 32GB of DDR5 5600 RAM, as well as a 1TB Gen 4 M.2 SSD, plenty of storage for your Steam library. Other features include Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-FI 7, as well as battery fast charge, which gets you around 50% charge in just 30 minutes.

In terms of connectivity, the Omen Max features two USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and two USB-C ports. There are also a further two M.2 SSD expansion slots, so you can open it up and increase your storage with a bit of DIY tinkering in future.

To put the value of this deal into perspective, HP is also currently selling an Intel Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus version of this laptop. Although the processor is a little better, you only get a 5070 Ti with 12GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, for $1,999. So for the extra $199, you're getting double the storage, double the RAM, and a 5080 instead of the 5070 Ti, which is a sizeable GPU performance jump.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

In honor of July 4, HP is holding a blockbuster sales event, offering up to 71% savings on its range of gaming laptops and desktops, monitors, and accessories. On top of big savings, you can save an extra $25 off some PC with code JULY4PC25, or $50 off some with JULY4PC50.

• Shop the HP July 4 sale

Here is a selection of some of the best savings on HP gaming desktops, including RTX 5080 and 5090 models, laptops, and monitors that you can save on right now. In the current PC building economy, hefty discounts on pre-built PCs can often be a better way to get a premium 4K gaming rig than putting together the parts yourself. An RTX 5090, for instance, will set you back $4k these days, or you can buy an entire 5090 PC for $5,200.

HP July 4 sales

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To celebrate July 4, popular gaming chair and desk vendor Secretlab is hosting an Independence Sale with up to $129 off its most popular products. Known for its distinctive gaming aesthetic and bomb-proof build quality, these premium chairs fetch a high price, so discounts like these are rare and not to be sniffed at.

● Check out all of the deals at Secretlab

I've used Secretlab exclusively in my office for years and couldn't ask for better. I have used its Omega, Titan EVO, and new Atlas chair as well as all of its desks and there's very little not to like. Here are the best deals on Secretlab's gear this holiday weekend.

Secretlab July 4 Gaming Chair Deals

I've been using Secretlab chairs since 2019, and I have to say they're some of the most comfortable and durable chairs I've ever sat on. They're all really easy to build and put together, and they all exude a bombproof build quality.

Secretlab July 4 Gaming Desk Deals

Secretlab's gaming desks all come with a unique integrated control unit that you can use to set the height of the desk. The intervals are precise, and there are profiles so you can save a number of different adjustments. They also have a unique magnetic ecosystem; the desks are entirely magnetic, so you can use lots of different magnetic cable tidies, headphone mounts, and desk accessories, as sold by Secretlab. You can see some below.

Secretlab July 4 Accessories

Secretlab July 4 Skins Deals

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If you're in the market for a mid-range gaming PC that won't break the bank, this HP Omen deal might be worth checking out. HP has slashed $1,075 off this Omen 35L gaming desktop with an RTX 5070, Intel Core Ultra 7 265F, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, now just $1,724. With 32GB of RAM alone worth $400 in today's PC part economy, this is a pretty good deal on a middle-of-the-road gaming PC.

● Check out this deal on HP's website

As mentioned, this is a pretty decent spec PC, with only the CPU leaving a little bit to be desired. Certainly, at its inflated $2,799 MSRP, this would be a dud, but at just over $1,700, it's much better value.

While the RTX 5070 will chew through titles at 1440p, as you can see from our CPU testing data below, the 265K is a little underpowered when it comes to gaming. With that being said, it still easily offers over 100 FPS at 1080p in our 16-game testing suite, and thanks to its price, it has one of the highest FPS/$ value ratings of any CPU on the market. Nvidia's DLSS 4 support will also give you extra coverage to offset the 265K's shortcomings, thanks to multi-frame generation, if you decide to push up to 1440p or higher.

These CPUs are also much better at multi-threaded performance, beating out even AMD's big-gun X3D CPUs in tasks like Cinebench and Blender. As such, the 265F is a decent all-rounder that won't break the bank and is perfect if you want a PC for gaming and productivity.

If you'd be happy to spend a bit more, then the monstrous RTX 5080 variant with AMD's leading 9800X3D chip is also still on sale with a massive $1,100 discount. For $2,499 (30% off), you get the chip, 5080 with 16GB of VRAM, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. For the price, many users will consider that worth upgrading, but if you're on a budget, the 5070 model is definitely worth considering.

As for the original 5070 model. It comes with 32GB of DDR5 6000 RAM, the sweet spot for gaming, and a $400 commodity in the current market. You also get an 850W power supply, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, integrated LAN, and more. As part of HP's July 4 sale, you also get a free copy of LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

You can also join the Tom's Hardware deals Discord for up-to-the-minute hardware deals.

Gaming laptops are harder and harder to find at good prices thanks to the ongoing AI component crisis, but this HP Omen Max discount in honor of July 4 is pretty excellent. Right now at HP, you can save $1,300 on this Omen Max 16-inch beast with an RTX 5080, Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

● Check out this HP laptop deal

The headline spec on this laptop is the RTX 5080 GPU. Even though it's only the mobile version, it still packs 16GB of VRAM and 7,680 CUDA cores, which should make light work of pretty much every title at the 2560 x 1600 resolution you'll be playing.

While we haven't reviewed this exact spec, the Omen Max 16 with RTX 5090 scored well in our HP Omen Max 16 laptop review. It is a little on the heavy side, but the aluminum enclosure gives it a premium look and feel. As you can see from our Geekbench testing, productivity performance beats out rivals with the same CPU in both single- and multi-core testing. That CPU is Intel's Core Ultra 9 275HX, a capable 24-core processor with 8 performance cores and boost clocks of up to 5.4GHz.

The display here is IPS rather than OLED, but you'll still get up to 240Hz refresh rates and 500 nits of brightness.

Other noteworthy features include 32GB of RAM, which is becoming increasingly rare in this economy due to the impact of AI on PC components. The 1TB SSD is Gen 4, so it should be plenty quick enough for gaming and workloads. You also get speedy Ethernet and Wi-Fi 7, as well as two USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

For your troubles, you'll also get a copy of the new LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, a nice addition to any Steam library. As mentioned, this 34% discount is part of HP's July 4th sale, so there's no guarantee as to how long this deal will last. If you're interested, act sooner rather than later.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

32GB of RAM costs no less than $380 in the current AI component crunch, but right now you can get 32GB of DDR5 6000 Corsair Vengeance for $339, or as little as $314 with an extra discount, the lowest price we've seen in months.

• Check out this deal on Woot

While we haven't reviewed this specific kit, the closely related Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 C36 is a solid kit. With support for Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD Expo, 32GB of DDR5 6000 is the sweet spot for gaming, making this the best RAM deal we've seen in ages. The Woot discount on this new kit is officially 23%, bringing the price from $439 to $339.

That would make this the best RAM deal out there right now; however, Woot is also offering an extra 20% off, up to $25, at the checkout automatically, which should bring the price to $314. Even if it doesn't work, the $339 price tag is the best deal going.

We haven't really seen standalone RAM fall to anything lower than $330 in quite a while. As mentioned, with the extra discount, this is the cheapest 32GB DDR5 kit on the market by some margin. It's not the price you'd have paid last year, but we expect prices to continue increasing, with vendors and market players warning just as much in recent days.

You get addressable RGB lighting, and timings of 38-44-44-96. With support for both Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD Expo, this is the perfect RAM kit for any gaming build, either AMD or Intel.

According to Woot, this sale will only last 5 days, but we imagine it will sell out in just a few hours. If it does, there is a second, less enticing deal you could use as a backup. It's not as good, the price is higher and the speeds are slower, but with the same 20%/$25 discount, you should be able to snag this for $354, which would still be the cheapest 32GB DDR5 kit on the market, were it not for the better deal above.

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