A good gaming PC will cost you a pretty penny and you can’t rush the buying process. If you’ve never shopped for this kind of machine before, then you will need to understand some of the basics of gaming PCs before you start. Even people who know a lot about gaming PCs can make mistakes based on misconceptions, and these mistakes can either push them to spend more than they should or affect their gameplay negatively. Here are some of the dos and don’ts when shopping for a gaming PC.
Do – Go for a Machine that You Can Upgrade
One of the things that you should do when looking at gaming PCs is think about the future. You don’t want to have to buy a new machine five years from now because the graphics card is outdated. This is why you need to look up how upgradeable a machine is before you buy it.
It also wouldn’t be a great idea to buy one with the bare minimum specs. Not only will you have to upgrade or switch machines sooner than you want to, but the motherboard may not be able to handle advanced upgrades. So, it’s always a better idea to go for a middle-of-the-road machine if you’re on a tight budget.
Don’t – Ignore Desktops
Whether you have been a laptop gamer all your life, or you just prefer laptops in general, you should at least give desktops a look. Most desktops are very easy to upgrade, and you’ll be able to get a super-powerful machine for a much lower price. A desktop gaming PC Nvidia with a 3650 will cost you around $1500 or even less. If you look at laptops in that price range, most of them will have 1650 cards or even integrated graphic chips in some cases.
Another underrated benefit of desktop gaming PCs is how nice they look. Having a nice RGB lit case under your desk will add a real gaming feel to any room the PC is in. So, if you want something that will look great and will run most AAA games on top settings, then you need to consider a desktop.
Do – Get High-Quality Storage
A lot of people assume that storage doesn’t make a big difference when it comes to gaming, including many seasoned gamers. This is why you’ll hear many of them prioritize things like RAM or the GPU. While both of these components are extremely important, storage is as well. A faster SSD will make it easier for the game to pull information and display it on the screen.
Slow storage is one of the main reasons for freezes in open-world games. If you’re heavy into sandbox games like Minecraft or battle royale games and you want the smoothest gameplay possible, you’ll need to pay very special attention to the quality of the SSD storage.
Don’t – Get the Cheapest Processor
If you want a machine for gaming and gaming only, you could get a modest processor around the 2ghz mark, but most people want to be able to do other things as well. If you want to do work on the machine and use video or graphic editing tools, for instance, then look for a CPU over the 3ghz mark at the very least with 6+ cores and 12 threads minimum.
You should take your time when buying a gaming PC and learn as much about what truly matters when buying one so you make the right decision. If you’re still unsure, speak with a few experts you know and get as many opinions from the community as you can.
