Even if you don't want to build your own gaming computer, you can still buy one and have all of the benefits of a high end computer without the hassle of putting it together yourself. Still, there are a few things you need to keep in mind when you're choosing a pre-built gaming computer.

Establish a Budget

As much as I would love to be able to buy a Falcon Northwest computer on a whim, I simply cannot afford their machines. They sell extremely high end, high quality machines - at a high price. If you can afford spending almost $20,000 on a computer, then I'd recommend getting their top of the line system.

For the rest of us stuck in a world I like to call reality, computers shouldn't cost as much as a new car, and I'm willing to bet you don't have that kind of money to blow on a new computer. That's why you need to establish a budget - by finding out how much you can afford to spend, you can buy the best computer possible for your hard earned money.

Brands

If you're going to buy a pre-built computer, you're going to essentially rely on brand names, because they're a good indicator of a companies track record. If a brand name has many positive connotations, you know you're buying a good machine, on the other hand if a brand name brings up nothing but negative reviews, you'll probably want to stay away from them.

With all that being said, you're going to end up doing a lot of research here. that means searching and narrowing down your results.

Off the top of my head, these are the brands I'd stay away from:

• eMachines
• HP
• Dell
• Alienware

(Note: for you gamers out there, you'll notice I'm putting Alienware in the do not buy category. I'm unhappy with them as they essentially offer mid range computers at high end prices - a total ripoff.)

The right equipment

When looking at pre-built computers you're going to find a lot of numbers being thrown around, and all of them are presented in a way that's meant to impress the hell out of you. Heck, a lot of the numbers are practically worthless; for example Dell will tell you that your computer will come with 4GB of RAM - that sounds amazing, until you realize that the RAM is the slowest available on the market.

Here are the most important numbers you need to keep in mind when looking for a pre-built computer:

• CPU - You'll want to know the GHz speed, the amount of L2 cache, and the number of cores. Remember, bigger numbers are better. If the processor has no L2 cache, then the computer is nearly worthless for gaming.
• RAM - The more RAM the better, but you should pay close attention to the RAM speed. If you cannot find out how fast the RAM is (usually listed in MHz, or as PC-NNNN) then you've probably got slow RAM, which will make for a terrible gaming experience.
• Video card type - Generally you'll want to find the exact model number of the video card and search for reviews of that card - comparing them to other video cards in the same class. Avoid on-board video at all costs!
• Hard drive specs - Don't be fooled by more storage. Just because one machine has 1 TB of storage doesn't mean it's the best thing for you. If you're buying a gaming computer, chances are you'll want a faster hard drive - at least 7200 RPM.

When you're looking to buy a new gaming computer you need to be careful. Big brands aren't always the best when you want top of the line performance, and big numbers can be deceiving when they represent size and not speed. Remember when buying a gaming computer that the name of the game is speed.

If you're confused by any of the terminology, or need more help when picking the right gaming computer, Click here to check out Computer Secrets Unleashed.