Ienjoy hunting for deals during Black Friday. I specifically like poking around for solid PC parts that I can combine for high-quality-but-affordable gaming PCs. I love it so much that I’ve sat down every year since 2016 to write up my findings—and over the last nine years, I combo-chained well enough to help others save hundreds on their 1080p and 1440p builds.

Y’all. This year is grim.

Sky-high RAM prices (which continue to climb) are obviously a major factor. But the effects of this year’s US tariffs also show clearly in the thin spread of discounts. You can still find good deals—but getting them to coalesce into a single computer will be extremely hard.

For select gamers, hope still is out there for now. I think these results paint a clear picture of where we’re at and what we can

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