Budget: ($700-$1,500)

Just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve to be ahead of the curve. Most of us on a budget though have to make a few compromises. Use your budget wisely; focus a large portion of your hard earned cash on both the processor and video card.

Don’t get the impression that every component in gaming desktops matter at this level. You will end up with a fancy looking gaming pc with no raw horse power. Avoid spending extra cash on items such as: a high-end motherboard, enormous memory size, dedicated sound card, or storage space to hold you and your buddy’s lifetime supply of MP3’s, this is a gaming computer after all.

Mainstream: ($1,500-$3,000)

Manage your budget by dedicating a significant portion toward getting the best CPU and video card you can, this would be a great opportunity to explore your options when it comes to SLI or Crossfire technologies, two video cards are always better than one. But with the cash you’ve got leftover where do you put it? Here: memory, motherboard, power supply and the chassis. These items will enhance the overall performance and longevity of gaming laptops and desktops.

Don’t get fancy on luxurious options such as an exterior paint job. Focus your cash on only the essentials. Raise the overall performance bar on enjoying a fluid smooth gaming experience. A dual loop specialized liquid cooling system won’t provide you with the performance advantage you need versus spending it on that second video card.

Extreme: (+$3,000)

Welcome to the bleeding edge fraternity of high-end gaming computers. This is where you experience the power of Digital Storm’s Black OPS division. The goal of a high-end build is to maximize the raw power of today’s latest technology to produce the most intense gaming experience.

Any game can look good on a 15” low-resolution display. But, your new Digital Storm system has higher aspirations. The key to a great gaming experience is big visuals, which translates to a big monitor. Larger displays have higher resolutions. To deliver a fluid gaming experience at high resolutions you need to maximize all core components that makeup a top-flight gaming system.

Invest your time and money in the following order to get yourself one the best gaming experiences possible:

You’re going to get the best video card, PERIOD. The fastest fastest on the market is where your first big investment is going to go. Multiple graphics cards please! Whether it’s dual, triple, or quad the money you’re going to spend on your multiple video card setups is going to allow you to run the most visually stunning games at ridiculous resolutions. You want picture quality that is so detailed it blurs the line between the game and reality.

Second, your next big investment is going to go into the processor. Besides the raw power produced by high-end video cards, you will also need that horsepower on the computing side. Or else, you'll run into a bottleneck that will slow the entire system down.

Speed is important in both low-end and mid-range systems; however in a high-end system it’s dogma. The faster it is, the quicker your processor and video cards can communicate with each other. You don’t want to create a bottleneck for all your high-end hardware.

With all the high end components you’re putting inside this incredible computer you need a large wattage power supply. Since you’ll be running more than one high end graphics card, you should usually have a high wattage power supply; the video cards draw a tremendous amount of power, and these graphical power hogs need a healthy dosage of clean power.

Get a fast hard drive, in fact get two in a RAID 0 STRIPE for even faster speeds and you’ll never regret it. With a fast hard drive your games will load faster and you’ll spend less time loading a level than actually getting a chance to play it. Not to mention a tremendous boost in the response times when you open and close applications.

When it comes to performance do you want more or less? Of course you want more, enhance your system further by overclocking your processor, video cards, memory, and let us fine-tune Windows. Unlock tomorrow’s performance today, get our TwisterBoost overclocking package.

For a high-end system it’s “NO” to air cooling, and “YES” to liquid cooling. A liquid cooled computer will reward you with higher overclocks and increased stability.

Make sure you get yourself a dedicated sound card that can provide you with that extra advantage of hearing every foot step of your enemy. It’s important to hear everything as much as seeing it when it comes down to “fragging” or getting “owned.”

Get a Blu-Ray Drive! Watch the latest movies in true high-definition  and you may never watch a movie on your television again.

Finally, Now that you’ve laid out the most important parts you’ll have to house them. Would you stick a Ferrari in a tool shed? Make sure you find an aesthetically pleasing case that reflects your style with the right amount of space for your dream system.