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Hey guys. My 4 1/2 year old laptop with its 2GB RAM, Windows Vista, and NVidia 8400m GS graphics card just doesn't cut it if I want to play team games with over 20 fps, so I've decided to get a decent desktop. I don't have an exact budget, but I'd like to keep it around 1K.

Mostly, I want it for gaming and some more demanding music software, like Sonar. I'm not planning on playing Metro 2033 at maximum quality and 2500x1600 resolution, though.

The best I can come up with is the Dell XPS 8300. It comes up at $830 if I upgrade its video card to an ATI HD 6770 (RAM and processor not an issue), which is not bad at all for a pre-built. I would opt for a more future-proof card given the choice, like an HD 6870 or GTX 560 Ti.

I know how to build a system in theory, but it's a hassle and I don't own a copy of an OS... I'm willing to pay a little extra to not worry about every individual part. I could also get the basic XPS 8300, and replace the video card and power supply but I think that invalidates the warranty. I'm hoping Dell will update their systems soon and offer more decent video cards, because other brands charge absurd amounts for a system with a decent video card.

So, what do you guys think? Are there other options I haven't thought of? What would you do?

P.S. I live in Quebec, so I don't have access to brands like Cyberpower due to some stupid language restriction, and the Canadian version of the HP site, for instance, doesn't allow for customization.

why not just make a custom gaming rig? It will save you some $$$

for you canadians order from NCIX and either get one of their pre-built (but still custom) pc's or build one yourself.

Seriously bro, go custom. It's far less difficult than it looks, and can save you up to half the cost of a prebuilt and/or get you better parts. If you wnat any particular parts advice,I'd say definitely go for either the GTX 560 Ti (make sure it's the one with like 446 cores or something, it's in the name) or the AMD 6870, and for a processor go no higher than an i5 2500k (the 'k' MUST be there), as it's quite pwerful to begin with, and gcan be overclocked exponentially with ease.

TL;DR: go custom.