Today gaming PCs come in various shapes and sizes. You can find small PCs such as the MSI Trident X, Midsize PCs such as the AVADirect Avant, and colossal gaming PCs such as the Origin Millenium. Small PCs are inconspicuous and can be placed where large PCs can’t.
They are perfect for gamers who don’t have large tabletops that can fit larger systems. However, having a small PC can limit any future customizations you’d want to make to the unit. For instance, small PCs don’t have excellent cooling systems, and it can be hard to change this.
Midsize gaming PCs are the most preferred because they strike a balance on size and processing power. They are small enough to be placed on a tabletop but still big enough to be fitted with extra bits such as better cooling and more processing power.
A gaming PC is a substantial investment; therefore, you need to treat it with the utmost importance. From the processing speed to the storage space, there are a lot of considerations. This review will give you a breakdown of the most important features of a gaming PC.
The Main Features of a Gaming PC Include:
A Good Processor
When buying a gaming PC, the CPU is one of the first specs to consider. You need a CPU that can handle games and software superbly. Gaming PCs work online primarily, and they need heavy antimalware software. But worry not, it’s easy to download best antivirus for Mac gaming PC. An antivirus helps prevent hackers from taking over your gaming rig. It will also prevent your PC from lagging due to overclocking its speed.
The processor core is vital in gaming PCs, and the options vary from a mere two to sixteen. For a gaming PC, the lowest you should go is a four-core chip. However, six-core chips have become affordable, and you can try one such as the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X.
If you intend to use the gaming PC for some other high-power functions, such as editing, you need to consider getting a gaming PC with an 8-core processor. This comes in handy when you are running heavy software such as Final Cut Pro.
Enough RAM
For your gaming PC to run smoothly, it’s vital to have adequate RAM, but you don’t need to go overboard. A proper gaming PC should have at least 8GB of RAM, which is sufficient to handle most games and other software.
While you can have more RAM, it won’t certainly increase the PC’s performance. It will enable you to run more apps concurrently, but your machine will be relatively slower if you don’t have a dedicated video RAM (VRAM). Gamers will opt for more memory when they are overclocking.
A Dedicated GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
The single most crucial element that sets gaming PCs apart is having a dedicated GPU. A sound graphics card gives you a lot of gaming performance boost, and you should stay away from cheap graphics cards.
If you’re building yourself a gaming rig, about a third of the budget should be towards getting a good graphics card such as the NVidia GTX 960. This graphics card strikes a good balance between performance and price.
While you can still buy a cheap graphics card, you will notice that performance isn’t excellent. On the other hand, if you want to run VR (virtual reality) games on your rig, you should have a graphics card such as the NVidia GTX 1070.
Cooling
Cooling isn’t directly connected to good performance, but having a good cooling system can improve your gaming experience. But if you don’t mind overclocking or the massive noise levels, you don’t need to invest in a better cooling system.
If you want pin-drop silence from your rig, getting a better cooling system is vital. Air cooling is affordable and efficient enough to cool your rig, but if you want a cooling unit that looks good and, at the same time, works great, you need a water-cooling system.
Motherboard
The motherboard is responsible for integrating all components of your gaming PC. You shouldn’t buy a cheap motherboard, and at the same time, you shouldn’t break the bank. The motherboard consists of chipsets and sockets.
You need to ensure your processor fits into the sockets, if you’re building your own rig but if you’re buying a pre-built one no need to concern yourself with this. With regard to the chipsets, there is a lot to consider—the most vital being whether you want to overclock your CPU or not.
Final Thought
All in all, when buying or building yourself a gaming PC, you need to strike a balance on all the features illustrated above. You need to know what you want the gaming experience to be like and then work around your objectives to get a good rig that satisfies you.