Best Pre-Built PCs for Playing Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in 2020
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is only available on PC, meaning you'll need one of these best pre-built PCs to get into the game. The real-time strategy (RTS) game doesn't take a whole lot of power to get off the ground, but it will only look better as you scale up the hardware. We've put together this collection of systems ranging from budget to high-end, so you find something that fits your needs.
Great For Many Games
Dell's G5 has a stylized case with clear viewing panel and RGB lighting, as well as a ton of ports and easy access for upgrades. Choose the model with 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10400F processor (CPU), 8GB of RAM, 1TB hard-disk drive (HDD), and NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super graphics card (GPU) as a starting point for a smooth gaming experience and go up from there as budget allows. This will also handle a lot of other games other than the RTS sensation.
All-In-One Beauty
Sometimes you want everything contained in the same build, and in that case, the best option is HP's ENVY 32. You get a 31.5-inch 4K display with unreal color and 600 nits brightness, excellent audio, and plenty of ports. Performance hardware includes a 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10400 CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB M.2 SSD coupled with a 1TB HDD, and an NVIDIA GTX 1650 GPU with 4GB of VRAM.
Powered By AMD
Are you looking for a budget-friendly PC with AMD hardware? HP's redesigned OMEN 25L has a minimalistic build with clear side panel, plenty of ports, and customizable RGB. The baseline model has an AMD Ryzen 5 3500 CPU, Radeon RX 5500 GPU, 8GB of HyperX RAM, and a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD). That's enough for an excellent RTS experience, but there's plenty of room to scale up if you have the dough.
Overkill Power
Those looking to crush modern AAA games and still enjoy Age of Empires II: DE at its full potential will love the Aurora R11. Get up to a 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10900K CPU, dual NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti GPUs, 64GB of RAM, and 4TB of SSD and HDD storage. There are a ton of other customization options to choose from to suit your budget, and it's all wrapped up in a chassis that doesn't look like anything else out there.
Great Value
Are you looking to get a lot of bang for your buck? The Legion Tower 5i's introductory model from Lenovo comes with a 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10400F CPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD, and an NVIDIA RTX 2060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM. Wi-Fi 6 is included, and it's all packed into a redesigned chassis with clear side panel, customizable RGB inside and out, and a convenient handle for when you need to take your PC with you.
Best Budget
This stylized gaming PC includes RGB lighting and a clear side panel, plus it comes with a keyboard and mouse. All you need to do is add a monitor and Age of Empires II: DE. The hardware inside hits the specs required to enjoy the game, including AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 1TB HDD coupled with a 240GB SSD, and an AMD Radeon RX 570 GPU with 4GB of VRAM. All for a great price.
Suggesting some best pre-built PCs for Age of Empires II: DE
Why you can trust Windows Central
Recommended PC system specs for Age of Empire II: Definitive Edition include just a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 or AMD equivalent CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GTX 650 or AMD HD 5850 GPU with 1GB of VRAM. That means any of the above best pre-built PCs will handle the game, and most will let you crank up the graphics to make the game look as good as possible. You should also be able to enjoy a lot of other quality titles, especially if you invest in the Xbox Game Pass for PC (which includes Age of Empires II: DE).
You can always build your own PC around one of our picks for best graphics cards. Still, as far as pre-built PCs go, we recommend checking out the Dell G5 Gaming Desktop. It starts at a great price, it comes in a stylized chassis with RGB lighting and a clear side panel, and there are plenty of hardware customization options so that you can get precisely what you want. We recommend checking out the model with an Intel Core i5-10400F CPU, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, a 1TB HDD, and an NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super with 6GB of VRAM. If budget allows, you can crank things up to an Intel Core i9-10900KF CPU, 64GB of RAM, a 1TB M.2 SSD coupled with a 2TB HDD, and an NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super GPU.
On the other hand, if you'd like to have everything wrapped up in one device (with keyboard and mouse included), HP's ENVY 32 AiO is about as good as it's going to get. The 31.5-inch 4K display is absolutely stunning, front-facing speakers pump out quality audio, and you still get a ton of ports for connecting accessories. It's good enough that it received the Windows Central Best Award in Executive Editor Daniel Rubino's review. And thanks to 10th Gen Intel Core CPUs and dedicated NVIDIA GPUs, you'll have no problem enjoying Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition when you're not tackling productivity work.
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Cale Hunt brings to Windows Central more than eight years of experience writing about laptops, PCs, accessories, games, and beyond. If it runs Windows or in some way complements the hardware, there’s a good chance he knows about it, has written about it, or is already busy testing it.