Ben grew up on a healthy diet of Nintendo, Xbox, and PC Games. He founded High Ground Gaming in 2014.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
What are the best gaming computers of this year? Well we suppose the fairest answer would be it depends on who you ask. Everyone’s got a favorite manufacturer whether it be Alienware, Falcon NW, Razer (those sexy thin laptops), or one of the dozens of others waiting to take a chomp out of your wallet. Indeed, the PC gaming desktop and laptop market is a crowded place.
So where do you go, what do you do? Instead of facing the Medusa stare of analysis paralysis, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to put together this best gaming computer resource page to help point you in the right direction. To keep this compilation fresh, we will be perpetually scanning our resources for fresh deals and to find the best gaming PC’s available on the market.
On this page, we select the best gaming computers—regardless of price. Check out our other pages if you are on a budget:
What are the Best Gaming Desktops of this year?
After thorough crawling through the inter-webs, we have identified some of the best options for PC gamers. Currently, we have it narrowed down to our top 3 systems. The first two reviews detail picks that we felt were the absolute best price/value match. The last review is the beastliest system we found to date, sure you’re paying a freaky premium but you’re not going to find anything else like it.
ASUS ROG G751JT
ASUS has made waves in a big way with their Republic of Gamers line, providing consistent quality and powerful components into something you could bring with you wherever the gaming is good. However, with gaming laptops, you lose the modular design which provides such a long tail on the lifespan of gaming desktops, meaning that when the graphics card contained within can’t keep up anymore, you’re out of luck. It simply won’t do to scrimp when purchasing a gaming laptop, but when money is no object, they can prove to be a formidable option.
The ASUS ROG G751JT ($1899.00, on sale for about $1,500 at the time of this writing) comes packed with an Intel i7-4710HQ processor, supported by 16 GB of DDR3 RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX970M graphics card that carried 3GB of GDDR3 video memory. A full terabyte of storage holds your goodies, while a 256 GB solid state drive enables you to set up a few games for ultra-fast load times. It’s preloaded with Windows 8.1, and sports a 1080p screen, wireless-AC connectivity, and four USB 3.0 ports to get it all connected. Remarkable performance, in a portable package.
Acer Predator AG3-605-UR1D
Acer has certainly struggled with their public perception over the last decade. Everyone deserves a second chance, though, and numbers don’t lie—Four and a half out of five stars given thirty-six customer reviews. Not to mention the components under the hood, which stand tall and proud against other gaming rigs in the same class for a fair price. The Acer Predator AG3-605-UR1D ($1099.99, on sale for $1083.00 as of the time of this writing) is poised to obliterate the preconceptions many might have about the Acer brand, in a big way. Packing an Intel i7-4770, 12 GB DDR3 RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 with over a gigabyte of dedicated VRAM, your favorite games will look gorgeous, and play even better.
Two terabytes of 7200RPM storage to load it all up, and six USB ports to put it all in play—four of which are USB 3.0 for higher transfer rates. It’s preloaded with Windows 8.1, holds an 8X DVD-SuperMulti Double-Layer drive for your optical media, and comes with a basic mouse and keyboard to support you out of the box. It certainly not as flashy as other Hardcore tier computers you might see, but a solid gaming desktop from Acer came as a bit of a surprise, and certainly warrants your attention as well. Upgrade the graphics card with the money you save over other similar units, and destroy your opponents in style.
Alienware Area-51 Professional Gaming Machine
This is it. The big one. For the last Hardcore machine we examine, and the last gaming rig of the article, let’s check out the biggest revolution in the gaming world to date. The Alienware Area-51. There are dozens of configurations available to fit your needs, both in price and performance, on Amazon.com and Alienware.com.
This system is an absolute beast. It’s turbo charged with an Intel i7-5820K (Yes, fifth generation) processor, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, 2 TB of SSD storage beside 18 TB of 7200 RPM HDD storage, and dual Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Z graphics cards with 12 GB of GDDR5 VRAM per card. That’s more RAM for the graphics cards alone than most gaming rigs carry for the whole machine.
It connects via 802.11ac wireless and Bluetooth, and offers eight USB ports, four 2.0 and 3.0 each. It’s so ludicrous, they decided to stick with Windows 7 Professional. That’s how you know they’re serious. The question isn’t what you can run with this behemoth, but what can’t you run. NASA might just call you to ask for help running simulations for the planned Mars mission. With two of these things running in tandem, you could power the Matrix. Yes, the whole Matrix. But seriously, this may well remain cutting edge for the better part of a decade. If you’re a gamer, you owe it to yourself to head over to Alienware.com and check out the Area-51 desktop. There’s guaranteed to be a configuration just for you. Especially if you have fat stacks and want to laugh at the pitiful attempts of the most demanding games to bring down your average frame rate.
So, three different gaming machines to get your mind churning on the possibilities. There’s a whole world out there, if you are ready to take your gaming experience to the next level. Hopefully, this gives you some ideas, and encourages you to go and do some research of your own.
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