Many people think that if you want to play games on your PC, you’ll need to have an expensive, high-end computer. Our Build-It configuration for the is tempting and impressive, but it’s really an anomaly: Most gamers don’t have PCs nearly that expensive. As much as we’re impressed by the sheer power of rigs like that, and by the fantastic craftsmanship of the systems in our Ultimate Game Machine competition, a PC that will let you play all of today’s games doesn’t have to cost a ton of money.

Most sub-$1000 PCs from major manufacturers are decent, but they’re not quite optimized for games. Sometimes you can get very close; just a video card upgrade and you’re good to go. Often, name-brand PCs keep their prices down by making a little extra money on the side, agreeing to pre-load your system with software that sucks up valuable resources and bogs everything down. The solution? Build your own! Our recipe for a gaming PC costing around $800 is surprisingly powerful, with room to grow. Continued…