I’ve had good luck with prebuilt systems from PowerSpec over the past few years, something to look into if you have a Micro Center nearby. They’re generally built with off the shelf parts at a price that’s hard to beat if you built it yourself. Not always the best component selection, but better than the oddball OEM parts you often see from the big brands. The software is clean too, only giveaway is a custom splash screen.
Trainerroad on the phone. Apple TV for Zwift. Works very well.
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Skip to the Budget Addendum of this article: Zwift on PC: The Ultimate Guide to Running Zwift at Its Very Best | Zwift Insider
TLDR: buy an inexpensive small form factor business PC and a low profile graphics card.
Zwift performance (I don’t know much about RGT performance) is mostly determined by the graphics card and to a lesser extent single-core performance. You don’t need anything crazy to run it, just a decent graphics card.
I like NUCs, but you aren’t going to get the graphics performance you want unless you go with the gaming version ($$$) or get an eGPU as you’ll be relying on the integrated graphics. The business PC would be much less expensive. I was considering a HP SFF business PC off Amazon for $250 and a graphics card. Zwift in 4k is crazy, so if you want to go that route invest a little more in the graphics card. But beware, if you go 4k you will never want to go back.
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Did exactly this a few months back. I grew up building PCs but 25 years later I don’t have the time or patience to mess about building my own system. I wanted something in a box, with a warranty, that worked. And all it took was 45 minutes from picking one online, driving to the store to purchase, to having it setup on my desk ready to install in the Lama Lab. That was worth $100s in my time not messing about. (I’d rather mess about wasting time on my bike…)
I went with a HP Omen Gaming PC w/ NVidia RTX 2060 (Amazon US link: https://amzn.to/31ip4cJ)
It /was/ overkill at the time. Then I started streaming (GPU encoding). Now I’m using RTX Voice for both input and output audio (again, GPU encoding). Going big was well worth it. I’ll even go a 3050 GPU upgrade when they’re around.
The biggest hassle was the new 4K TV to make use of this beast… Finding a screen with low HDMI input lag was something I didn’t factor in. Samsung 50″ RU7100 4K LED TV was the price friendly option there.
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Sames.
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@GPLama so this is what’s running all the route badge live streams? Is it also doing all the “show your iphone” stuff at the same time? Definitely overkill for me right now, but pretty impressive nonetheless.
Yep. That’s all the HP Omen system + OBS Studio + some funky configs and capture cards. I’ve covered most of the setup over on YouTube. I’m now bringing in Discord video chats with others that works well. Mrs Lama and DCRainmaker made an appearance on the first test. Their audio worked well when pushed though the RTX filter.
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Are any of these PC options able to boot up (near) instantly like a tablet? I like the idea but being able to go out to the garage and get started almost instantly is really beneficial currently.
As long as you’re using an SSD it should be pretty darn quick - - not push a button and screen up instantly quick, but like 15-30 seconds quick.
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You don’t need to turn a PC off. Just let it go to sleep and then wake it up. It should be ready to go in a few seconds.
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My tip is to get a graphics card with multiple HDMI ports. Then you can run a TV for Zwift / entertainment PLUS a second smallish PC monitor (they are cheap) for TR.
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Zwift and TR also run well on the same screen with TR in horizontal mode - - I pretty much do all my indoor training this way on a monitor connected to my laptop and with the larger TV setup for Netflix, Prime, YouTube, etc… all the distractions! 
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Partly for you @tropicalcycling and partly just for anyone stumbling on this:
I’m about to build another box just for TrainerRoad, Zwift, entertainment while cycling, and streaming, and it’s going to be:
i5 9400
16bg ram
Z390 board
Basic case
Cheap, basic SSD
1660 Super (could change around with the new announcement and shifting pricing, but the 1660 Super has the NVENC (new) encoder and is more than plenty for the…
Dual 4k screens
That’s a more-than-plenty computer for TR and Zwift and is coming in around $750 USD (excluding screens). It’s compatible with the awesome RTX voice filter, good for 4k Zwifting (not at top framerates ever, but very solid), and very good for TrainerRoad.
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I’m honestly surprised at the multiple commenters in here really caring about 4K for Zwift. I run Zwift off my old HTPC into a 42" TV sitting on the floor in my room and watch movies/tv series on my 65" Plasma mounted to the while just above with bias lighting and everything. Neither of the TVs are 4K and not sure I care yet. I do have other 4k OLEDs in my house for my real watching of stuff. 1080p is plenty for how much attention I pay attention to either Zwift or the stuff I’m watching while riding. Especially with how close it is to my workout area.
Zwift is interesting for a little while but I can’t stare at it the whole time. I pretty much just look eveyr now and then to make sure the power number is around where I think it should be and go back to watching whatever else.
Money isn’t really a big obstacle for me but I can’t imagine going through the effort of changing everything out (HTPC, media streaming box, 2x TVs) just to get 4K.
I do like the idea of throwing up TR on my screen now that I have started using it though. The first few days since I signed up I just have put it on my phone handlebar mount and left the screen/pc I was using for Zwift completely off. Probably woulds be nicer on the full TV instead of just my phone. Even just from a positioning perspective.
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Can you run Zwift and TR at the SAME time?
How would this work? Which one is in control of the smart trainer?
If you’re going to run TR and a graphics intensive app it’s worth considering a multiple monitor setup. You can get a crap second screen for hardly anything & it doesn’t need to be good to show TR. I actually have three. The accessory ones are so bad. The colours suck. You need to be looking almost straight on. They’re ~15 years old and I had them from back then. I run the software in windowed mode.
There’s loads of hype exactly now about the ‘3 series’ from NVIDIA & so people are flogging used older cards super cheap right at the moment. You can get a second hand GPU that is completely overkill for not much.
If you can be bothered you’ll be able to build a far better system if you do it yourself than if you buy a prebuilt system, particularly if you don’t mind used stuff. You don’t need cutting edge stuff to run cycling software.
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Why not use an iPad? It’s more reliable, less fiddly and you’ll have a built-in camera/mic setup for when you want to use the group ride feature. (Yes, I know, it isn’t out yet for iOS.) If you want or need a bigger screen, you can mirror the display to a TV.
This is an example of the setup I ran for a number of years - - 19" (?) full screen monitor off my 7-8 year old laptop with Zwift and TR running at the same time, and a 24" (?) monitor with a Chromecast on it for watching everything else (Lionel Sanders golfing in this case ). I finally upgraded the setup this past fall/winter picking up a cheap 55" Hisense Roku smart tv during Black Friday sales for the entertainment watching and still run Zwift and TR on the same screen, but on the 24" screen now.
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Where is the new setup pic??