Top 10 Performance Desktop PCs

You’ll find plenty of power in your average desktop or all-in-one PC, but the titans of the performance desktop category are built with speed–and gaming–in mind. That power, however, doesn’t come cheap, with prices often climbing well over $2000. You’ll find a small sampling of our recent favorites in here, but be sure to check out PCWorld’s Desktops section for the latest updated charts!

This Micro Express machine packs Intel’s new Sandy Bridge Extreme Edition processor, serving up tons of power and great performance, for a mere $2000.

This is the perfect machine for tinkerers: it’s cheap(ish), and it has a huge, roomy case.

The AVADirect Silent Gaming PC is a speedy, powerful, pricey machine in a quiet package.

The new Alienware Aurora is well-designed, with a great case and a few neat features, but it’s a little pricey and doesn’t keep up with category leaders in our performance tests.

The Digital Storm ODE performance PC offers high-end power at a low price.

The Polywell Ignition X7900i-3960 comes packed with every performance PC lover’s dream parts, but it carries a rather steep price.

We love this performance desktop’s speeds, but its omission of a Blu-ray player leaves movie buffs in the cold.

The Polywell Poly 990FX-8150 fails to stand out in a crowded category; it offers both general and gaming performance bested by machines that cost hundreds less.

You can do a lot with the superfast speeds of Lenovo’s inexpensive PC; you just can’t put that much more into this system.

The WarFactory Sentinel is a great and cost effective gateway to PC gaming.