Best Consoles Under $500
Top-scoring consoles you can buy for under $500. Independent benchmarks, no sponsored picks.
Ranked by the weighted Specdex score — 0-100 composite of real-world and synthetic benchmarks.
- #1
- #2
- #3Nintendo
Nintendo Switch 2
Custom Tegra T239 · 7.9″ LCD HDR · 120 Hz
Nintendo's long-awaited Switch successor — NVIDIA T239 with Ampere GPU and DLSS, magnetic Joy-Con 2 with mouse mode, and the only library where Mario, Zelda and Smash Bros live. June 5, 2025 at $449.99.
- #4Microsoft
Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 (Black)
Controller · 2019
Microsoft's Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 — 2019 controller.
- #5Microsoft
Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 (White)
Controller · 2019
Microsoft's Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 — 2019 controller.
- #6
- #7
- #8
- #9
- #10Microsoft
Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 Core (Black)
Controller · 2022
Microsoft's Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 Core — 2022 controller.
- #11Microsoft
Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 Core (White)
Controller · 2022
Microsoft's Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 Core — 2022 controller.
- #12Razer
Razer Wolverine V3 Pro (Black)
Controller · 2024
Razer's Razer Wolverine V3 Pro — 2024 controller.
- #13Razer
Razer Wolverine V3 Pro (White)
Controller · 2024
Razer's Razer Wolverine V3 Pro — 2024 controller.
- #14Microsoft
Xbox Series X
52 CU RDNA 2 · 12.15 TFLOPS · 4K 120 Hz
Microsoft's flagship console — 52 CU RDNA 2 GPU at 12.155 TFLOPS, custom Zen 2 octa-core at 3.8 GHz, 16 GB GDDR6, 1 TB NVMe SSD. Launched November 10, 2020 at $499.
- #15
Head-to-head
The two highest-ranked products compared side-by-side.
Frequently asked
What is the best console right now? +
Sony DualSense Edge (Black) leads our Best Consoles Under $500 list. Sony's Sony DualSense Edge — 2023 controller.
How does Specdex rank products? +
Specdex does not run benchmarks in-house. Rankings reflect editorial judgement based on manufacturer-published specs and public reviewer consensus. See the methodology page for sources and how the verdicts are formed.
How often is this list updated? +
The ranking is regenerated on every page load from our live D1 database. Scores re-calibrate whenever we add new products or firmware updates change benchmark results.