It's already really difficult to keep a gaming PC budget down, but until relatively recently if you just wanted to play games via Steam and didn't care about the latest graphics or performance, you could get something comparable with a console for the same amount of cash. This entry-level market is expected to disappear soon, though, as the cost of getting your own PC is simply too high these days.
As caught by Wccftech, a new Gartner market report suggests that with PC shipments dropping, the idea of a budget build will be one we'll soon forget. "The sub-$500 entry-level PC segment will disappear by 2028," said senior director analyst Ranjit Atwal at Gartner.
It has been extremely difficult to get yourself a PC with worthy performance for around $500 for years, but at this point it's practically impossible, even if we stretch the budget up to $1000. Before the RAM price hikes, this was a problem, as GPU costs were already rising with each generation, despite the performance upgrade not being as significant as before.
Sorry for anyone looking to build a PC on a budget, as that just seems to be a thing that is shortly going to disappear.