Building a PC to Match the Xbox Series S Won't Come Cheap in 2026

Assembling a desktop that fills the same role as Microsoft's Xbox Series S is straightforward, but the final bill is unlikely to be small, according to Engadget. The console is pitched as a budget-friendly option for playing games at 1440p and up to 120 frames per second, yet even its 512GB base model now carries a $500 price tag following recent increases.

Computer components have climbed too, as demand from artificial intelligence keeps pushing prices for consumer hardware upward. Graphics cards that are several generations old still hold real value, Engadget reports. That makes a like-for-like comparison with the Series S difficult, because the console relies on older custom silicon that has no direct match among current PC parts.

Engadget's approach was to spec a machine that clearly outperforms the Series S at 1080p native, or at 1440p with lower settings and upscaling, using only parts still sold by major retailers. Refurbished components were excluded because such offers may disappear. The outlet also cautioned that component pricing is unusually volatile, so the figures reflect a single moment in the market.

On the processor side, Engadget chose AMD's AM4 platform over the newer AM5 socket to keep motherboard and memory costs down. The base pick is a Ryzen 5 5600 at roughly $160 on Amazon, while the Ryzen 5 5600X3D, often discounted to about $175, offers stronger gaming performance through a larger L3 cache. An ASRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 board runs $80 to $90 and may need a BIOS update before it accepts the Ryzen 5 5600.

For memory, Engadget selected two 4GB DDR4 sticks from Lenovo rated at 3,200MT/s for $40, rather than a single 8GB module, because Ryzen chips perform better with dual-channel configurations. The Series S, by contrast, shares 10GB of GDDR6 memory across its processor and graphics hardware.

Engadget noted that older parts can suit a console whose games developers keep optimizing, but a PC built from them will not receive the same attention.