10 Desktop PC Brands You Won’t See at Wal-Mart

10 Desktop PC Brands You Won’t See at Wal-Martby Don Reisinger

Although the company offers cheaper desktops, its Mach V is easily its most powerful (and beautiful) option. Its price starts at about $2,800 for an Intel X58 chipset, but what you get for that price is substantial. The Mach V boasts a 3.2Ghz Intel Core i7 processor, liquid cooling, 6GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and an Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 video card. What’s notable about most boutique vendors is that the PCs users buy can be modified down to the last component. Falcon Northwest is no different. The Mach V boasts several customization options.

Velocity Micro offers several PC options for just about any price range. Its PCs range from as little as $500 all the way up to $5,000. But the Edge Z55 is arguably its best value. The desktop starts at $1,799 and comes standard with a 2.66Ghz Intel Core i7 processor, a 1.5TB hard drive, 6GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 video card. What’s nice about the Z55 is that it’s open to customization, meaning users can substantially improve the computer for a relatively affordable price. Plus, users can choose between any one of 10 case options.

Although Alienware is owned by Dell, the company doesn’t get the kind of attention Dell machines do. But the Area-51 Desktop might deserve it. The desktop, which starts at $1,999, boasts a 2.66Ghz Intel Core i7 processor, 6GB of RAM, a 640GB hard drive, and a 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5770 video card. The Area-51 features several customization options. But thanks to Dell’s backing, many of the components are a little cheaper than those offered by its counterparts.

What AVA Direct lacks in name recognition, it makes up for in customization. When a user decides to buy an AVA Direct Custom Gaming PC, which starts at $1,824, they will find literally hundreds of customization options for every single component in the PC. For the novice PC user, it can be daunting. For gamers and other advanced PC users, it can be the best shopping experience they have ever had. AVA Direct’s Custom Gaming PC is a good place to start for any products from the company.

Maingear’s Shift desktop starts at $2,469 for a 2.66Ghz Intel Core i7 processor, a 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5750 GPU, 6GB of memory, and a 750GB hard drive. Unlike much of the competition, the Shift’s case can not be changed from the brushed aluminum shell with black accents. That said, the device is designed to give users a slew of customization options, including more than a dozen different video card configurations and the option to add six hard drives to the PC. Prices are competitive for the market.

Puget Systems is one of the smaller boutique PC vendors in this category. And unfortunately, the number of customization options it offers don’t quite match its competition. However, its Serenity machine, which starts at $1,712, is worth checking out. The device comes standard with a 2.66Ghz Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and an ATI Radeon HD 5770 video card.

As its name might suggest, Vigor Gaming provides gaming PCs to customers. But many of its offerings, including the Force Recon D, appeal to just about any consumer. The Force Recon D starts at $1,989. Unlike its competition, which offers mostly Intel processors, Vigor Gaming’s Force Recon D only offers AMD processors. The standard configuration comes with the 2.66Ghz AMD Phenom II X3 710 CPU. It boasts 4GB of RAM, RAID 0 performance with two 500GB hard drives, and an ATI Radeon HD 4890 GPU.

Widow PC does things a little differently than any other boutique vendors. Rather than allow users to customize PCs, the company delivers a slew of pre-built machines for consumers with any budget. One of the best values on the site is its WGMI-2P5500, which boasts a 2.8Ghz Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and an ATI Radeon HD 5870 video card. Not bad for $1,799.

The CyberPower X58 will shock you when you first see its price: $759 before configuration. But once users get to the X58’s specifications page, they’ll find a slew of customization options that will not only help them build the exact PC they want, but will also help that price rise quickly. Regardless, the number of customization options makes the CyberPower X58 a computer worth checking out.

Like Vigor Gaming, Ballistic Gamings products are designed for hard-core gamers. The company’s processor choices are limited to AMD processors. The standard customization includes the AMD Phenom II X4 94 3.4Ghz processor. It also boasts 4GB of RAM, a 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5870 GPU and free overclocking to help users get a little more out of their new desktops. The Warhawk starts at $1,811.