Best ZOTAC Gaming PC…
ZOTAC is winning the prebuilt gaming PC price war.
While you might only know ZOTAC as a company that makes NVIDIA graphics cards, they’ve actually been offering prebuilt gaming PCs for awhile. However, in the past their prebuilt PCs were mostly small form-factor options.
Now, with their MEK lineup, they have fully jumped into the market for standard-sized prebilt PCs. And, as of right now, they are pricing their MEK series very competitively. In fact, I would say that right now they have the best-priced prebuilt desktops currently available.
In this guide, we’re going to highlight a handful of the best prebuilt PCs that ZOTAC currently has available at a number of different price points.
MEK AI – 9800X3D + 5090
The best ZOTAC gaming desktop right now.
PC Specs
- CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- COOL: 360mm AIO
- GPU: RTX 5090
- RAM: 32GB DDR5
- SSD: 2TB NVME
- PSU: 1300W Gold
Pros & Cons
- Comes with top CPU/GPU combination possible
- X3D CPU will handle CPU-heavy titles well
- Cheaper than other 9800X3D/RTX 5090 PCs
- Plenty of storage out-of-the-box
- Comes with extreme pricetag
Read Overview »
MEK AI – 9800X3D + 5090 Overview
We recently put together a list of the cheapest RTX 5090 gaming PCs available right now and wouldn’t you know it, this configuration of ZOTAC’s MEK lineup is currently the cheapest option.
This desktop features the best-possible CPU/GPU combination for gaming, offering both the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA’s flagship RTX 5090. The 9800X3D and RTX 5090 will allow you to max out pretty much any game on a 4K display (with exception to those games that are poorly optimized or are at the edge of video game graphics technology.)
This system also comes with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 360mm RGB AIO CPU cooler, a 2TB NVME SSD, and a 1300-watt Gold-rated power supply. The hardware is housed inside of a panoramic-style case that features six ARGB fans (three on the AIO cooler).
Ultimately, if you like the MEK lineup of gaming PCs and you’re looking for the best PC possible from ZOTAC, this configuration right here is the option for you.
MEK AI – 9700X + 5080
The best RTX 5080 ZOTAC system.
PC Specs
- CPU: Ryzen 7 9700X
- COOL: 360mm AIO
- GPU: RTX 5080
- RAM: 32GB DDR5
- SSD: 2TB NVME
- PSU: 1000W Gold
Pros & Cons
- Close to the top CPU/GPU combination possible
- Good produvity performance
- Nice-looking panoramic case design
- Most affordable RTX 5080 desktop available
- Non-X3D chip will lose FPS in CPU-heavy titles
Read Overview »
MEK AI – 9700X + 5080 Overview
While ZOTAC doesn’t have the cheapest RTX 5080 desktop currently on the market (that honor goes to this HP OMEN 45L configuration), they do have the second cheapest option.
This MEK configuration comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X processor, NVIDIA’s RTX 5080 GPU, and 32GB of DDR5 memory.
While the 9700X doesn’t offer AMD’s 3D V-Cache technoloy—thus meaning this desktop will lose some frames in CPU-heavy titles—it is still plenty strong enough for the majority of modern gaming use-cases. Not to mention, if you’re looking for an RTX 5080 gaming PC, you’re probably wanting to game at a higher resolution and at higher resolutions the extra cache that AMD’s X3D chips offer starts to lose its value a little bit—especially in GPU-heavy titles.
So, while we’d prefer to see the 9800X3D (or even the older 7800X3D) in this system, the reality is that the 9700X is still a solid option.
This setup will be able to run games at 4K with no problems and will offer extreme performance at 1440P resolution.
To round out the part list, this configuration of ZOTAC’s MEK lineup comes with a 360mm AIO cooler, a 2TB NVME SSD, a 1000-watt Gold-rated power supply, and the same panoramic-style case that all of the MEK desktops use (with exception to the budget option listed at the end of this guide.)
Overall, if you don’t want to spend the $4,000 that is necessary to get an RTX 5090 desktop, this RTX 5080 version of ZOTAC’s MEK series is a really solid alternative.
MEK AI – 7600X + 5070 Ti
The top ZOTAC desktop under $2,000 right now.
PC Specs
- CPU: Ryzen 5 7600X
- COOL: 360mm AIO
- GPU: RTX 5070 Ti
- RAM: 32GB DDR5
- SSD: 2TB NVME
- PSU: 850W Gold
Pros & Cons
- Higher-end GPU than other sub-$2,000 PCs
- Perfect setup for high-end 1440P gaming
- Well-priced compared to competition
- Plenty of storage out-of-the-box
- Non X3D CPU will limit perf. in CPU-heavy titles
Read Overview »
MEK AI – 7600X + 5070 Ti Overview
Perhaps ZOTAC’s best overall value gaming PC right now is this MEK configuration.
It does come with the older AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, but the 7600X is still a good enough CPU to where it won’t bottleneck even the most powerful graphics cards on the market in most cases—especially treu in GPU-dependant games at higher resolution.
So, it’s pretty clear what ZOTAC is doing here… save on the CPU so that they can afford to put a better GPU in this system.
And that’s exactly what they did.
At the time of writing this guide, there are not a lot of prebuilt gaming PCs on the market that offer an NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti that cost under $2,000, yet that’s what this MEK configuration gives you. And it’s not like this PC sits close to the $2,000 mark. In fact, at just under ~$1,800 this is easily one of the better value prebuilt gaming PCs currently on the market.
Along with the Ryzen 5 7600X and RTX 5070 Ti, this PC also comes with 32GB of DDR5 memory, a 360mm AIO CPU cooler, a 2TB NVME SSD, and the same panoramic-style case.
The bottom line is that if you’re looking for a high-end gaming PC, but you want to stay under the $2,000 mark, you’ll definitely want to consider this configuration of ZOTAC’s MEK lineup. Its hardware array for the price is just too good.
MEK AI – 7600X + 5070
The best ZOTAC gaming PC for under $1,500.
PC Specs
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
- COOL: 360mm AIO
- GPU: RTX 5070
- RAM: 32GB DDR5
- SSD: 2TB NVME
- PSU: 850W Gold
Pros & Cons
- Best GPU in a prebuilt at this price
- Good for 1440P gaming
- AM5 socket offers best CPU upgrade paths
- Plenty of storage out-of-the-box
- No X3D chip = less perf. in CPU-heavy titles
Read Overview »
MEK AI – 7600X + 5070 Overview
ZOTAC doesn’t slow up on their aggressive pricing strategy as this configuration of their MEK lineup is easily one of the better-priced sub-$1,500 prebuilts currently available, and also one of the few options in its price range that offers NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 GPU.
This setup comes with AMD’s Ryzen 5 7600X processor, NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 GPU, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM.
This combination will be great for 1440P gaming and also for high framerate 1080P gaming.
The RTX 5070 does only come with 12GB of VRAM and that is a bit dissdisappointing. It could hamper the GPU’s ability to run games at higher resolution in the future.
However, the 5070 is still a much strong GPU that what other similarly-priced prebuilts are offering (usually an RTX 5060 Ti or RX 9060 XT 16GB). And with NVIDIA’s DLSS, some of those performance issues that could crop up in more demanding future titles could be mitigated a bit by using upscaling.
Ultimately, though, at just under $1,500, this MEK configuration is just another example of how ZOTAC is not messing around in the prebuilt market. It’s a very solid hardware array for a very solid price.
MEK AI – 7600 + 5060
The best budget ZOTAC gaming PC under $1,000.
PC Specs
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600
- COOL: Single tower cooler
- GPU: RTX 5060
- RAM: 16GB DDR5
- SSD: 1TB NVME
- PSU: 650W Gold
Pros & Cons
- Good 1080P gaming performance
- Very affordable pricetag
- Only comes with 16GB of RAM
- GPU’s 8GB of VRAM isn’t ideal
- Not a lot of storage out-of-the-box
Read Overview »
MEK AI – 7600 + 5060 Overview
While ZOTAC’s top sub-$1,000 gaming PC doesn’t win the price war quite like its other configurations of its MEK lineup do, this budget entry still might be the best gaming PC under $1K currently available.
For hardware, it comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 processor, NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 GPU, 16GB of DDR5 memory, and a 1TB NVME SSD.
Its closest competitors are this configuration of Thermaltake’s LCGS View (Intel Core i5-14400F + RTX 5060) and this desktop from Skytech (AMD Ryzen 7 5700 + RTX 5060 Ti 8GB).
This ZOTAC MEK configuration holds the edge over the Thermaltake LCGS View, as even though they have similar hardware, the MEK is built on AMD’s AM5 socket, which will offer the better CPU upgrade path in the future.
And while the Skytech desktop offers the better GPU (RTX 5060 Ti 8GB vs RTX 5060 8GB), it is also stuck on the AM4 platform, which means no DDR5 memory and a weaker CPU upgrade path.
So, while there is more competition for ZOTAC in this price range, they still have one of the better options in this MEK configuration.
What is the ZOTAC Gaming Desktop Right Now?
Despite the fact that ZOTAC isn’t widely known for producing prebuilt PCs, the reality is that they currently offer some of the best gaming desktop options on the market right now.
Their MEK lineup is consistently priced better than other brands’ desktops, including having the most affordable RTX 5090 desktops, one of the cheapest RTX 5080 PCs, and one of the top prebuilt options under $2,000 and under $1,500.
Ultimately, if you’re in the market for a new gaming (and you don’t want to build it yourself), you should strongly consider ZOTAC’s MEK lineup.
