What Makes A Decent Gaming PC?

Whether you’re a competitive MMO player, or simply want to experience your favorite title’s graphics as they were intended, you know that a standard home PC isn’t up to the job. Pre-built gaming machines will certainly do the job, but are usually expensive. Thankfully, you don’t need to be a computer expert to build your own gaming PC. Companies like Stealth Machines, or even mainstream options like Dell, can build a custom system, and often costs less than a pre-built machine. Once you understand what components you should prioritize, you can design a set up that will balance your performance needs versus your budget.

Determining Your Needs

Simply throwing money at the most powerful hardware components is not only expensive, but can actually result in inefficient performance. Consider what kind of gamer you are. All modern games require some 3D rendering capabilities, but some are much more intensive than others. Generally, first and third person perspective games require plenty of processing muscle to render graphics smoothly. Top-down perspective games don’t require nearly as much power. Do you play online or offline? In online gaming, every nanosecond counts, and if your PC can’t effortlessly chew through 3D rendering and intensive volumes of data, you’ll find online play nearly impossible.

Understanding Components

Audio and Video Cards: ATi and NVIDIA are the two market leaders in video cards. A card that has at least 1GB of proprietary video RAM should handle any current games. The video card is the primary muscle of a gaming PC, so this is where you cannot cut corners. A proper sound card will be capable of reproducing at least 5.1 or 7.1 channels, but if sound isn’t a priority for you, you can opt for a basic card option.

Processor: The CPU is the video card’s right hand, and aids in streamlining the data processing process. This is essential for online gaming, as vast amounts of information must be rendered on the fly. A six-core processor is preferable, but a good quad-core may be able to get the job done.

Memory and Storage: The more Random Access Memory, or RAM, your computer has to work with, the better performance you’ll experience. This is because it allows your machine to buffer information in the background, allowing for a smoother overall experience. A modern gaming machine should include at least 6GB of RAM. Storage memory is where your games are installed, and you should start with a minimum of 500GB. Consider investing in a solid state drive, which includes no mechanical parts. These run silently and can complete a task in half the time of a standard hard disk drive.

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