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So I'm looking to get a new gaming desktop within the next few months. I don't want to spend too much. I'd probably like to just get a new OEM and change the graphics card and power supply. However, if it's significantly cheaper, I'm willing to build something from scratch too.

Any recommendations for an OEM, graphics card, and power supply?

So long as you get a quad core (even dual core will work) and 4gb of ram, you should be fine if you get a decent video card. I wouldn't get a new PSU until I knew that the card needed more. What you're trying to play will really determine what card you need. The ATI HD6870 is a heck of a deal these days and will do 70-80% of games at full settings at a pretty high resolution.

This is what I would build from scratch:

MSI Z77A-G43 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS $109.99 before $10 mail-in rebate

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K $219.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible with Intel 1366/1155/775 and AMD FM1/FM2/AM3+ $29.99

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9 $39.99

CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply $129.99 before 25 mail-in rebate

MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr II GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $249.99 before $20 rebate

Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $74.99

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $109.99

Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $109.99

LITE-ON Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM SATA 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu Ray 3D Feature IHBS112-04 - OEM $69.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - OEM or Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64-bit (Full Version) - OEM $139.99

Logitech G110 Black USB Wired LED Backlighting Gaming Keyboard $59.99

Logitech G400 Black 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical 3600 dpi Gaming Mouse $34.99

$1,380 before taxes, shipping, and rebates.


I'm not sure on OEMs anymore.

Good recommendations for a budget gaming system here on PcPer.com's Hardware leaderboard:
http://www.pcper.com/hwlb

and also the Tech Report's system guide:
http://techreport.com/review/23814/tr-w ... stem-guide

The only problem with buying OEM and then upgrading the videocard is that sometimes a gaming class video card won't fit in an OEM case. OEM systems also usually don't have a big enough PSU for serious gaming so you'll also have to upgrade that.

That being said, if you get on Dell's site and configure yourself an Inspiron or Vostro desktop PC, you can see what the fastest video card is that they offer with it (it's often cheaper to order the vid card separately from Newegg, but at least you know that if Dell offers it, it fits). Dell also has pretty detailed documentation on their site so you can look up how much room you have.

You're better off building your own if you're up for it. Unless money is really tight (in which case AMD is your best option) I'd recommend an Intel Core i5 CPU. Core i7 is a waste of money for gaming unless you intend to do video transcoding or something else that will use 8 threads.

if you go OEM, definitely make sure to verify the PSU and connections available. i recently upgraded an HP desktop (i7 based) and while the upgraded vid card physically fit, i found HP took crazy pills before designing it. i'm sure it's for cost savings and other reasons, but the PSU they used only had a few connectors, none that included the 6-pin for a video card. to make it more fun, it was non-ATX standard and terminated on the motherboard, then power extensions from the motherboard to each device. i ended up using a SATA power to 6-pin adapter to patch into the hard drive power cable...the PSU has been stable, but check ahead of time.

.02

Well, rule of thumb is that the PSU with any of those is going to fail hard, especially if you want to do some gaming.

I like what Dell has to offer, their cases don't tend be so restrictive like those of HP.

One of your best opportunities is to shop right now as there any many decent deals that will be out there. Even can grab yourself a cheap SSD now too.

Yeah Dell at least uses standard components and their cases are pretty roomy.

If you find a decent deal and the vid card fits without using a dremel, you can always use a separate ps for the vid card...I did this for years on a dell box I upgraded. If you don't move the computer around much, just stick the PS somewhere out of the way and you're done.

Black Friday special good until Sunday I assume:

Decent budget system to start with for $499. You can upgrade the video card later:
CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2138 Desktop PC AMD FX-Series FX-8120(3.1GHz) 8GB DDR3 1TB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB Windows 8 :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883229361

Another one with the same case but much better hardware (Core i7, HD 7750) for $799:
CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 1348 Desktop PC Intel Core i7 3770k(3.50GHz) 16GB DDR3 2TB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 7750 2GB Windows 8 64-Bit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883229365

This is a standard case, so anything will fit in it.

My present gaming rig is a CyberPower PC Gamer Xtreme 3000. Other than the fact that the PSU is a no-name, no-blame (I upgraded mine), the components are top quality and I'm happy with my rig.

A friend of mine had issues with them when his PC arrived damaged in shipment, but since you'd be buying it from NewEgg and not CyberPower, you don't have to worry about that.

Thanks for all the help guys.

FlyingPenguin, I just might get the $800 CyberPower PC. Nice find.