Desktops

The Zotac Mek Hero stands in stark contrast to the Mek Mini line, giving you plenty of space to upgrade it as you see fit.

Competently and cleanly assembled, with good parts for this price range, NZXT’s Streaming Plus PC is a solid option to get your PC gaming on.

The iBuyPower Element CL Pro is a hardline system that doesn't add a huge premium on parts, but isn't set up to take full advantage of the cooling straight out of the box.

With a Ryzen 9 5900X and an RTX 3080, both liquid-cooled for quiet operation in a compact case, Corsair’s One a200 is easy to recommend.

How many MSI components can fit in one machine? A lot.

HP’s redesigned Omen 30L desktop is sleek, powerful and configurable just like a boutique PC with name-brand parts. But without better cooling, you should skip the Core i9-10900K.

Corsair's 3090-packing Vengeance i7200 is a powerful performer in a pretty package. But those who care at all about value will want to opt for the 3080 option rather than our $4,500 configuration.

The Alienware Aurora R11 with an RTX 3090 and 10th Gen Core i9 is a powerful gaming and productivity solution, but it needs better cooling.

Buypower’s Gaming RDY IWBG207 pairs a Core i9 with an RTX 3080 for stunning gaming performance that easily bests previous-gen rigs that cost more.

The MSI Trident X is a powerful, thin gaming PC that you can upgrade later with off-the-shelf parts.

The Maingear Turbo is the epitome of a compact luxury AMD Ryzen PC, with beautiful looks and powerful performance. But it can get very, very expensive.

Maingear’s Vybe with Apex Cooling manages to tame Intel’s Core i9-10900K for impressive, quiet performance with a polished, pretty presentation.

The Corsair Vengeance a4100 is a powerful Ryzen and Nvidia RTX-powered gaming rig with a capture card included.

The Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit (Ghost Canyon) is a pricey barebones PC that fits a discrete GPU. The Compute Element with mobile Intel CPU makes for an exciting new form factor, though.

The Corsair Vengeance 6182 Gaming PC is an all-AMD machine with standardized parts, though the company makes some more powerful options for less money.

The Zotac Mek Mini is a powerful compact gaming PC that could fit in an entertainment center, but its two massive power bricks make it more unwieldy than expected.

The Alienware Aurora R10 Ryzen Edition delivers impressive performance thanks to a 32-thread AMD Ryzen 9 3950X an Nvidia GeForce 2080 Ti. But it needs better cooling.

The Dell G5 Gaming Desktop is a compact, affordable entry-level rig, though there’s only so much upgrading you can do with it.

CLX harnesses the power of Ryzen with its Ra desktop. It’s a splashing, expertly assembled rig that’s able to handle most high-end tasks with ease.