I always tell people to build their own gaming PC, but I can't anymore with Black Friday deals like this

For years, I've always told people they should build, not buy, a gaming PC. There's just something magical about building something just for you, and it's also a great learning exercise. However, with Black Friday deals like this ASUS ROG gaming PC reduced to $999.99, I can't really say that anymore. If you're quick enough to get one of the open box versions, you could save almost $100 more as well. 

ASUS ROG Gaming Desktop | was $1,199.99 now $999.99 at Best Buy

You can't build a quality gaming PC with this spec for this price, even with Black Friday pricing on components. You're getting an Intel Core i7-13700F, an RTX 3060, 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM, and you don't have to put it together yourself. Take the easy way and get one of these. 

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More great Black Friday deals

• Walmart: Early Black Friday deals on practically everything
• Dell: Top deals on laptops, gaming PCs, accessories, and more
• Alienware: Up to $800 off gaming laptops and desktops
• Best Buy: Big savings on video games, accessories, and more
• HP: Up to 84% of select HP Windows PCs and accessories
• Lenovo: Up to 50% of gaming towers, laptops, and accessories
• Newegg: Save on PC gaming accessories, components, and more
• Razer: Up to 43% off laptops and accessories with free gifts
• More individual deals:
  • Xbox Series X + Diablo IV + free $75 Target gift card for $634.99 $449.99 at Target
  • Samsung T9 4TB Portable SSD for $439.99 $249.99 at Best Buy
  • Xbox Stereo Headset — 20th Anniversary for $69.99 $46.86 at Walmart
  • Xbox Series X + Diablo IV + Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III for $639.99 $489.99 at Walmart
  • TP-Link Deco X55 Wi-Fi mesh 3-pack for $229.99 $179.99 at Amazon
  • Razer Wolverine V2 Chroma for $149.99 $89.99 at Best Buy
  • Xbox Series X + $50 Best Buy gift card for $549.99 $399.99 at Best Buy for Plus/Total members
  • HyperX Cloud III Wireless for $169.99 $129.99 at Best Buy
  • Xbox Series S + 3-months Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $299.99 $249 at Walmart
  • Lenovo LOQ Tower (17IRB8) + 3-months Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $1,029.99 $674.99 at Lenovo

Why you should buy this gaming PC over building your own

So why is this a great deal? Besides being a pretty solid gaming PC at a great price, even with Black Friday deals, you couldn't get all of the parts and Windows 11 license needed to build this same machine yourself for less. Since you also don't have to then spend the time assembling it, installing Windows, cutting your finger on a motherboard I/O shield, making a mistake and having to spend time troubleshooting it, it's well worth it. 

Sure, it's using last-gen parts from Intel and NVIDIA, but that doesn't make them bad. Just because something newer and more expensive came out doesn't mean you should ignore the slightly older, cheaper stuff. It's also easier to find deals like this. 

The Intel Core i7-13700F is a great CPU for gaming with 16-cores and 24 threads, and honestly, the 14th Gen replacement is barely an upgrade so you're still getting one of the best. The RTX 3060 is also one of the best affordable graphics cards, capable of 1080p and even 1440p gaming at high details and frame rates. 

As all the parts inside are standard, you have a pretty good platform to upgrade in the future as your needs or budget increases. Probably the only downside is that it's using DDR4 not DDR5 RAM. For gaming, you won't be missing out, but it's one less part you'll be able to harvest for any future plans. But all-in-all, this is a strong discount on a well spec'd gaming PC you can simply unbox, plug in, and get gaming.