The Best Desktop Gaming PCs

Visiting Origin's website to shop for a PC is like walking into a sleek spaceport with merchants from all over the galaxy. There is a wealth of customization options at your fingertips, and each PC is built to order, so you can be sure you're getting exactly what you want. On top of that, the Origin Millennium is a remarkably solid machine that's built to last. It arrives at your doorstep in a crate worthy of the Ark of the Covenant. Origin's attention to detail makes it one of the best gaming rigs money can buy.

Origin's configuration is super comprehensive. We suggest an AMD Ryzen build, starting with a Ryzen 5 5600X processor and GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card. If you don't have strong opinions on them, the default motherboard and fan options are fine. 

Maingear's customizable machines are some of the best blends of prebuilt and DIY gaming PCs. You can pick from a selection of prebuilt arrangements or customize every part. The company will then ship the PC out to you, fully assembled, with what we found to be impressive cable management and plenty of stylish LEDs.

Unlike many prebuilt PCs, however, Maingear's are still built with standard parts, so you can upgrade them later. We tested a fully tricked-out $7,000 machine with an RTX 3090 Ti, and it chewed through fast-paced games like Doom: Eternal. Normally, paying such a premium would make us worry about longevity, but knowing parts can be upgraded makes it easier to customize a build and not worry that it will be useless in five years.

One of the best ways to get a great gaming PC is to build one yourself, but if you're not up for learning how to put it together—and we can't blame you, it's not simple—then NZXT offers the next best thing. The company's BLD gaming PCs let you pick the parts you'd like in your gaming rig, using handy wizards that will give you an idea of what your new machine will be capable of.

You can see frame-rate estimates for popular games like Fortnite or Minecraft that will update based on which graphics card, processor type, or other components you choose. This can help you decide on the right parts even if you're not sure what they all mean. Once you've chosen your build, the company will put it together and ship it to you.

Set a Budget: If you're new to PC gaming, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the price of entry. You don't need to spend $2,000; PC gaming is just as much about deal hunting as it is about, you know, playing games. You can put together a solid rig for $700 to $1,000. We have a full guide on how to build a PC if you're ready to take the plunge.

Choose a Graphics Card: For a gaming desktop, your graphics card is your most important piece of hardware, but that doesn’t mean you need the best one. An older GeForce GTX 10XX will be OK for some games (and possibly easier to find), but the newer GeForce RTX 20XX will handle modern games more easily. The GeForce RTX 30XX are more future-proof, but it’s nearly impossible to find at MSRP right now. Fun fact: One of the most reliable ways to get an RTX 30XX is to buy a PC with the card already inside, remove it, and sell the remaining parts. 

For most people building a gaming PC, the 10-series will do for shoestring-budget machines, and 20-series cards will get you to the middle of the pack. Unfortunately, tricking out a high-end PC right now is a chaotic market due to supply chain shortages.