There are many websites that sell computers and it will take you a long time to browse all of them, so we do it for you here and highlight the best deals we find. However, to save time and frustration, you need to be smart about where you look at any time of the year.

If you’re looking for a new computer during the holidays or during popular sales periods like Black Friday or Ready-to-School, you’re likely to find great deals directly on vendor websites. These include retail stores from popular computer manufacturers such as HP, Dell, and Lenovo.

However, if you’re looking between sales periods, it’s usually recommended to look at large third-party retailers such as Amazon, Adorama, Walmart, BestBuy, and Newegg. Often, these websites offer limited daytime deals in hopes of getting rid of excess stock. On the other hand, you can still get decent PCs at a big discount.

Generally speaking, the best deals are offered during the big sales every year. These include Prime Day, Black Friday, Cyber ​​Monday, and School Period, among others. As a rule, during these events you will see the lowest prices for computers of the year.

At the same time, it is possible to find one-time sales of computers during the year from both the first and third-party suppliers. These sales are much more difficult to predict and usually have a time limit, such as one day or one week. In fact, the only way to find these sales is to check vendor websites every day.

Because desktops don’t have the same component size or portability restrictions as laptops, the price-to-component ratio is much cheaper than gaming laptops. This means you can get more out of gaming on your desktop gaming PC.

When it comes to gaming, the two most important pieces of hardware you should focus on are the CPU and GPU. Think of the CPU as the heart of your computer, ultimately determining how your system will perform when you run software. When looking at a computer’s processor, you should pay attention to the number of processor cores, which usually ranges from two to 16 cores. At a minimum, you’ll need four cores, but you can get up to six or eight cores without breaking your budget too much. For high performance systems, you should consider eight to 16 cores. Although even for high-level games, having more than eight cores will not add much benefit.

A good GPU is essential for gaming and will be the component you want to spend the most on. For budget gamers, a card that offers accessibility and ray tracing is a sweet spot. These include the Nvidia RTX 3060, AMD RX 6600 or 6600 XT. If you want to play in 4K, Nvidia’s RTX 3080 or AMD’s RX 6800 XT is probably your best bet.

Other than the CPU and GPU, other hardware components are less important. In terms of RAM, you should opt for a minimum of 8GB, but ideally 16GB is better – anything over 16GB is pretty much unnecessary for gaming purposes. RAM is also relatively inexpensive and easy to upgrade if you need more in the future.

You will need at least one SSD for your hard drive, preferably an M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD if you can afford it. SSDs are faster than their spinning platter predecessors and will make your games load faster as well as increase loading times. Storage size is more a matter of personal preference. You should think about the types of games you want to play and how many of them you are going to download. If you plan to store a lot of games on your computer, then you will most likely need a 1TB or larger drive. Please note that it is not uncommon for modern games to have files larger than 100 GB.

A home office computer should meet all your work needs. If you work with spreadsheets and multiple programs, you will need a good processor. If you are a content creator, you will need a lot of RAM and an incredibly fast hard drive.

You also have to consider other points such as available space and portability. If you’re limited on space, you might consider a monoblock that combines a computer component and a monitor into one compact unit. If you don’t want to be tied to one place, you might consider buying a laptop instead of a desktop. If so, check out our section on the best laptop deals.

The main advantage is the ratio of price and quality of the components. Due to the nature of their use, laptops have design limitations that desktops simply don’t have. This means that you can usually find the best hardware for a desktop computer for less than a laptop.

Desktop computers also have the unique advantage that they can be equipped with more advanced cooling systems. They dissipate more heat and allow your equipment to run more efficiently. Plus, desktops are easier to upgrade and expand if you choose to do so.

For a deeper analysis, you can read our 5 Reasons to Buy a Desktop PC over a Laptop.