What to Look for in a Gaming PC?

A dedicated gaming PC is one of the better purchases you can make if you love playing games. Yes, you can get a gaming console and get a comparable gaming experience, but they aren’t upgradable, and the only upgrade you can get is buying the newer version of the console. Alternatively, a high-end gaming PC can last you many years because they are much more customizable than gaming laptops and consoles.

There are so many options out there that finding the right gaming PC can be challenging. To make things easier, we’ve listed all the necessary parameters you can evaluate a gaming PC on. Read on to know more.

Building Your Gaming PC vs Buying a Pre-Built PC

This is probably the first question every gamer asks themselves when they’re out shopping for a new PC. You can get a completely built PC with all the necessary components installed and you just unbox and play games on it. Alternatively, you can build a complete PC from scratch and customize everything from the graphics card, Wi-Fi adapter, and processor to the aesthetic parts of your PC.

If you go down the custom PC route, keep in mind that you’ll need to do a lot of research on the kind of components you want to purchase. That brings us to another important thing that shouldn’t be overlooked, which is the internet connection. Whether you’re playing with your friends or downloading a game from an online store, the quality of your internet connection can make a significant difference.

Consider upgrading to CenturyLink because it offers speeds up to 940 Mbps with unlimited data so you can play your heart out and download any game you want. Contact CenturyLink customer service number to learn more about the pricing and availability.

Cost

This is where things get murky and there is no set rule on pricing. You can build a complete gaming PC for as low as $500 and go as high as $5,000 or more. As a general rule, the power and features are directly proportional to the amount of money you spend. This ultimately boils down to your budget and the kind of games you want to play. You should only spend what you can comfortably fork out, otherwise, it’s not worth going big. You can get a decent gaming PC in the $1,500 to $2,000 range.

Monitor

For getting an immense gaming experience, it’s important to have a decent monitor. Playing games on a monitor that has a lower response time with higher refresh can provide you with an eye orgasmic gaming experience. So, when you are buying a monitor, if the budget isn’t an issue, then go for a better monitor. If you are looking for a budget-friendly monitor then go for a monitor that has at most 5ms response time with 75hz refresh rate.

Motherboard

The motherboard is one of the important parts of a PC. However, it is not involved in gaming directly but it plays several important roles in building a gaming PC. For example, the chipset of the motherboard determines PCIe lanes (more PCIe means more ports for attaching extra SSD, GPU, etc.), premium motherboards come with better VRMs which work for providing stable, and clean power to the CPU.

So, if you are thinking about upgrading your gaming setup then go for a motherboard that has 16 to 14 PCIe lanes (if you are on a budget), with the updated PCIe version. Moreover, if you are willing to use multiple GPUs then look for a motherboard with B, X, (for AMD), or Z (for Intel) series chipset.

Graphics card

Nvidia and AMD are two of the biggest companies manufacturing graphics cards and offer a ton of options to users. The flagship series of Nvidia is the 30-series with the likes of RTX-3090-Ti being the flagship and the most expensive. But you don’t need this much power if you’re okay with scaling down the resolution. For those who are tight on budget, you can look at the RTX 20-series, which costs two or three hundred dollars less than the 30-series. You should get a card that can at least support 1080p resolution while going to 4K depending on your budget.

Processor and RAM

The speed, cores, and generation of your processor determine how fast you’ll be able to run things on your PC. Just like the graphics card, the higher the number, the more powerful your processor will be. If your graphics card is good enough, an Intel Core i5 will work well with most games. But you should get a Core i7 if you want to play games on higher settings.

As for RAM, it’s the amount of immediate memory available for the tasks at hand. Gaming PCs typically have more than one RAM slot, and you can get something like 16GB and upgrade later if your budget permits. Currently, the fastest technology available is DDR5, but you’re more likely to see DDR4 RAM, which is decent enough. However, anything lower than DDR4 is a no-go.

Cooling Unit

If you are an intense gamer and play heavy AAA games quite often then you will need to install a cooling solution for your PSU and GPU. Because, when you are playing games at maximum settings, pushing the GPU to its peak, it will start generating heat and can have overheating issues. If there aren’t any cooling solutions installed then the entire setup can burn out.

Power Supply

Another important component of a gaming PC is the power supply. If you don’t have a decent and powerful power supply installed in your gaming PC, then it may fail to provide enough power to the component and can die and take others such as the GPU to die with it. If you are on a budget then look for 80% certified non-modular PSU. Moreover, always go for a PSU that exceeds the required wattage.

Storage

Hard drives are almost obsolete now because of their mechanical issues and almost all modern PCs and laptops come with a solid-state drive (SSD). SSDs are way faster and more reliable than hard drives. Keep in mind that you’ll need to get an SSD with a lot of storage because AAA title games occupy huge space. For perspective, Call of Duty: Vanguard takes up around 100 GB of space.

In this case, you can go for a hybrid storage system. Using HDD and SSD together will lower your cost. Go for a 1 TB HDD and 256 GB SSD. It will be enough for gaming.

Things to do after buying a Gaming PC

After buying a gaming PC, the next thing you need to figure out is the peripherals. These include a mechanical keyboard that can withstand heavy loads, a good display monitor, and a gaming mouse with ultra-low latency. A wireless mouse usually has a higher latency than an optical mouse, so you should get a good-quality optical mouse.

Conclusion

These are some of the important things you need to keep in mind before buying a gaming PC. A gaming laptop can also be worth checking out. Lastly, don’t ignore the aesthetics as there is a lot of customization available in the aesthetic department. If you intend to keep the PC for at least a few years, go for components that are a bit more powerful than your requirement so it can last longer.