Best Gaming Desktop PCs 2012

It's important to know that when you configure or buy such a gaming machine, you actually get to understand the basic specs it should carry, so everything runs smooth.

Either you're going to buy a preconfigured system or you're going to build it from scratch, there are several things that make a desktop destined for gaming truly the best in its class. Most of these things have to do with the specs that come with the computer, but there are some aesthetics things to consider as well when you buy or build your perfect gaming arsenal.

Here is a quick checklist if you don't wanna trouble yourself with all the research that goes into every component of the desktop:

Should carry a gaming grade motherboard, preferably a motherboard with one of the 5 popular sockets found in gaming desktops: 1155 (for the Intel Sandy Bridge line of CPUs), the 1156 socket, 1366, AM3 and it's newer cousin AM3+.

Depending on the motherboard you chose, there are several CPUs to choose from as well. These come from the two top CPU manufacturers today: Intel and AMD. While Intel processors do come at a price, they are some of the best in terms of performance and reliability. AMD targets consumers which make their purchases based on a tighter budget.

The installed RAM will play a very important role in the way everything works on your computer. Too little RAM, and your computer will have trouble running pretty much anything, too much RAM and your budget will have to skyrocket. It's important to find a good balance between what you can afford and what you actually need out of your gaming rig.

A gaming desktop is not truly made for gaming until it has a dedicated graphics card. Depending on the motherboard you chose, it can even fit more than one video card. Some motherboards can even accomodate 3-way SLI configurations or 4-way Crossfire cards, but these are meant only for serious / maniac gamers. Two manufacturers compete in this industry: nVidia and ATI. With nVidia you pay the price for performance while ATI brings affordability to the consumer market.

The hard disk will determine how much information you can store and how fast that information can be accessed. Top hard disk drives will run at 7200rpm going up to 10000. But if you're serious about performance and speed, then an SSD (Solid State Drive) will surely peak your interest. These are the fastest data storage devices today, with speeds up to 12 times than those of regular hard disks.

Another top and often overlooked component is the power source. This will keep all your internals running during game play so it's very important to get a power source that can handle the requirements a gaming desktop has. Never go under 1000W when selecting a power source for your gaming desktop, since it will most likely fail in the end.

The case is where all of your internal components are held together by the motherboard. Since most hardware problems arise from poor heat dissipation, it's wise to look for a case with plenty of "holes" a.k.a. good air circulation. It should have some case fans as well, aside from the CPU and GPU fans, so there will be a constant stream of cool air.

Going further into the details, the coolers and heat sinks are another vital components in the way they keep your computer running up to top performance. If you're building a gaming desktop from scratch, you should not neglect the way your components are cooled since nobody likes the smell of burnt electronics. :)

A good gaming configuration in any desktop will allow you to play popular games such as:

This is a great RPG game, sequel to the popular Witcher. In order to play this game, you'll need to have a look at it's system requirements.

Recommended System Requirements:

* OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista SP2 / Windows 7 (32/64-bit)
* Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad or AMD Phenom X4
* Memory: 3 GB Windows XP / 4 GB Windows Vista and Windows 7
* Video Card: 1 GB RAM, supporting Pixel Shader 3.0 (Nvidia GeForce GTX260 or ATI Radeon HD4850)
* Requires a sound card compatible with DirectX 9.0c

So maybe you're not a fan of RPG games and instead love a good 'ol fashion shooter. The ultimate in the Deus Ex series, Human Revolution could be the next big hit in the FPS arena, so let's have a look on what type of system you'll need to play this game:

Recommended System Requirements:

OS: Windows 7
PROCESSOR: AMD Phenom II X4 or Intel Core 2 Quad or better
RAM: 2 GB
GRAPHICS: AMD Radeon HD 5850
REQUIRED DISC SPACE: 8.5 GB

The sequel to the first Portal game brings a new level of detail to the gaming field, along with some insane puzzles players have to solve in order to get out of GLadOS's grasp.

Recommended System Requirements:

CPU - Pentium 4 processor (3.0GHz, or better)
RAM - 1GB RAM
Video card - DirectX® 9 level Graphics Card

One of the most important things to look for in a gaming desktop is the central processing unit. These central chips do all the math in the gaming environment, and with the newer games, there's quite a lot of math to be done. If it's the best gaming computer you are purchasing or configuring, then settle for nothing less than a multiple core processor to power the entire machine.

Dual cores have become a bit old in this kind of industry, so look at the new dual cores that hit the market, even the new processors with six cores can be quite inviting. You'll want to make sure from the start that your processor will allow you to play for years to come, and not become obsolete in one year or so. This is why it's quite important to pack up on the processing power from the very beginning.

Newer processor models incorporate the Hyper-Threading technology, which allows each core to handle more than one instruction at a time. So, if you take a quad core with the Hyper-Thread technology built into it, it's just like having at least an eight core processor to address the calculations needed in your gaming environment.

Since there is a lot of math being done on the processor level, this can mean quite a bit of power consumption and a small boost to your electric bill at the end of the month. Newer Intel processors, for example, have the Turbo Boost technology built into them. This allows your computer to fire up all the cores when intensive applications require it, but to power down to about 1.6GHz when the system is idle.

Without a good processor on your gaming rig, you won't stand a chance at playing the best games today, or if you actually manage to run some games, they won't be running at the top speed and your whole gaming experience will have to suffer.

Without a dedicated high performance graphics card you pretty much have a snowball's chance in hell playing most of the modern computer games that come out. Even games that are now 2 or 3 years old have their system requirements set pretty high. It's important to know that along with your processor and system memory, the dedicated video card is vital component in your gaming desktop.

There have been advancements in video card technologies in the recent years, mostly in the speed of the GPU (graphics processing unit) and the dedicated memory each card carries.
If you want crisp quality and amazing visuals, then a high powered video card is the way to go!

There are 2 main manufacturers / competitors in the video card industry. One is nVidia and the other is ATI. Both advance in GPU technology at a steady pace, so it all depends on you, the customer to choose which side of the competition you get to ally with.

The two things you should be looking for in a dedicated graphics card is the dedicated memory and the GPU speed. As memory goes, you should look for the cards that go beyond 1GB of dedicated memory to be able to fully maximize the quality of your in-game settings. As far as GPU speed goes, look for cards that go above the 800MHz range.

Somewhere at the 1GHz GPU speed is where you should be aiming for top graphics performance and astonishing visuals.

More than one GPU to increase gaming performance

Both nVidia and ATI have advantages on their graphics chips, and both of them have developed the technology to run more than one graphics card on a system. In the case of nVidia, this tech is known as SLI, which translates to Scalable Link Interface. In the case of ATI, the technology to run multiple GPUs is called CrossFire.

With SLI, you need to have at least 2 of the very same model GPUs, but with a CrossFire configuration you can go on and plug in a decent card along with a high-powered one to increase your gaming performance.

CrossFire allows for more flexibility, while SLI will require 2 identical models to run. This can translate to much better when it comes to budget in the way that a SLI configuration will cost you at least twice the price of a single nVidia card, while with CrossFire you can set two different cards which can better fit in your price tag range.

Multiple monitors

Both manufacturers have made recent developments in their cards technologies for multiple monitor support. This can translate to a unique surround feel to your gaming environment, as well as a much extended desktop to improve your overall productivity. If you work with graphic design platforms, you'll enjoy this feature much more than you can think of right now since you can place all the tools and panels on one monitor, and keep the whole image that's being edited on a separate monitor, while the third monitor can host your other applications, music players and IM chatting windows.
As far as gaming goes, having your whole line of sight covered will provide you with even more immersion than you've ever experienced before.

3D Vision Gaming

Since everything these days tends to work its way up the extra dimension level, video cards have come quite a long way in the way they represent the gaming environment to the gamer.

New 3D technologies have been embedded into both the nVidia cards and the ATI cards to give a more life-like feel to the virtual world.

Of course, if you want to experience true 3D worlds, you'll have to use compatible monitors and 3D glasses, but don't forget that such a jump in technology will enrich your gaming experience to an unprecedented level.

This spec, just like the processor, is an important aspect that makes up a perfect gaming machine. RAM is your systems memory and it's vital when choosing your gaming computer because it handles the amount of information your system can handle. Too little RAM and your gaming experience will have to suffer a lot.

You can never have enough system memory installed on a machine. This important spec insures you'll run every intensive application like it's meant to be run: at full speed and without any glitches.

So what's the best amount of installed RAM in a gaming desktop? On the low end of the price tag, you'll find quite a selection with about 2GB of RAM installed. This is enough for people which don't demand a lot from their gaming experience. If you like to play your game for the storyline or just simple fun, then starting with a 2GB of RAM on your system should suffice.

If, however, quality and fluidity of your immersive gaming experience is of utmost importance, then I suggest you start looking for something with a bit more of a punch memory-wise. Gaming specs with about 4GB of RAM will be able to run mostly any modern game in the market today without major glitches. Also, such a spec is great if you're not only into gaming for life. With 4GB of RAM you'll probably do just well at multitasking, having several applications windows open running smooth. It's also great if you want to make videos of your game play, which you can record using external applications. This is intended for those people who make game walkthroughs or hardcore gamers who want to show off their kick-ass skills.

Or, you can always go extreme, meaning packing more than 6 GB of RAM on a custom built computer. You can probably do pretty much anything you set your mind to with such a configuration. Gaming in this area is a bliss: no more glitches, everything runs smooth. Applications are run like they're on the best workstation around. This is intended for hardcore gamers which want their gaming future to be insured that there will be no need for further upgrades soon.

The speed of your installed memory is also important. Try to go for the ones above 800MHz; since these will help you game better. Anyhow, older versions fewer than 800MHz are quickly becoming obsolete, and newer modules with 1GHz and up are already making their way to the top computing machines.

If you are unsure of this spec, check out the system requirements of any game you wish to be able to play, and on the recommended specifications you'll find the perfect amount needed to run the game smooth. Take this with a grain of salt, since games these days tend to develop at a faster pace than before, and so do the specs that are needed to run them. Instead of getting something to run the games in the present, try to get a system that will run newer games as they'll appear in the future.

As a small advice, try to get a system with double the RAM a current modern game requires to run smooth. You won't regret it later.

The hard disk is where you store all your information, or in this case, your games information. The larger the storage space, the more you can store. But there comes a price with large storage devices, and that price is speed. The larger the amount of storage space, the less speed your hard disk might have. You may encounter systems with a 1TB hard disk drive, but with only 5400rpm in speed terms. This is fine if you're a collector, but with such low speeds, one can expect some form of delay during gaming sessions. When you're building or purchasing your gaming desktop, look for systems which have at least a 7200rpm HDD or in some cases, those with 10000rpm work even better.

A problem with hard disks that have actual spinning disks in them is their limited lifespan. Also, their lack of protection when it comes to mechanical shocks is also a downside. For a gaming rig, you might want to check out the new line of tech in data storage.

SSD drives are the top of the line in reliability, speed and durability. Solid State Disks don't use the traditional spinning disks to read of write data, but they use the same technology portable memory devices (such as Flash drives) use. This makes them more reliable, durable and not prone to overheating during extended gaming sessions. The storage space on these hard drives is a bit more limited, ranging in the 32-512GB of storage space, but their speed is second to none.

If you want the best gaming desktop which will last for years to come, this would be a wise choice as a storage solution. Solid State Drives do have a bigger price than regular hard disks, but due to their virtually unlimited lifespan and unprecedented speed, they can be considered as an investment in your future gaming experiences.