Building a gaming PC

In today's gaming world the PC is god when it comes to moddability and performance. But having the best usually means spending a ton of cash to either building your own top of the line gaming rig, or just out right buying one from a manufacture. That's where I come in, I am going to walk you through the steps in building a top of the line "BUDGET" gaming PC. Building or buying a gaming PC can be a confusing process, with manufacturers using terms like Shader Model 5, DirectX, SLI, and SSD vs. HDD. Yet its much simpler than that, all you need to do is consider your budget and your needs. First let's start with the obvious and that's your budget. With top of the line gaming PCs costing in to the $10,000 range, and if you are reading this you're most likely not one of the people that can afford that. Yet you are not looking for a $500 PC to just browse Facebook. Your budget determines the types of components you can afford. You may want to run two graphics cards in SLI or CrossFire mode, but if your total system budget is only $700, dual graphics cards won't be in your PC. Once you have a budget, you can begin thinking about what type of PC you want to build based on what type of games you play. If you play FPS (first-person shooters), graphics cards are a higher priority than CPU performance. Due to the fast-paced game play with high quality and detail to the shaders. If RTS (Real-time Strategy) games like Warcraft and Starcraft are what you like to play then, a faster CPU to process the AI quicker and not lead to the dreaded LAG is more important than a high-end graphics cards. And MMORPG games like World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2 often require a balance between graphics and CPU performance. By now you're ready to spend hundreds on a brand spanking-new, high-end graphics card with SLi. Your games will look so much better on your 32inch monitor, with its native 4k resolution. But what type of card will work best for what you want and what you play. Once you understand which types of games you'll be playing, you should think about the GPU. Even in CPU-heavy titles, graphics are one of the most important aspect of gaming, so you want to buy the best possible graphics card on your budget. On the other hand, you don't want to spend too much. You might prefer a high-end card for several reasons. For example, you may want to enable antialiasing or perhaps you're interested in stereoscopic 3D, which requires SLi. I always allocate a third of the cost of a gaming rig for graphics, so if your system budget is $1200, try not to spend more than about $400 on the graphics card. Note that the prices of cards using the same graphics chip can fluctuate by brand name and model number. Memory also happens to be cheap currently. "Memory/RAM RAM, or random-access memory, will help your gaming PC access files quickly and run multiple instructions at once without lagging. The more RAM, and the faster RAM, the better experience you'll have." (Intel "How to Build a Gaming PC" 2017) It's worthwhile to go with at least 16GB of memory, if you're running a 64-bit version of Windows. Windows 10 currently supports a maximum memory configuration of 64GB, though, so keep that in mind as you load up on RAM. And with the ever-changing technology in memory you can now get DDR3 ram dirt cheap even though I recommend a DDR4 or DDR5. When it comes to hard drive think SSD. Solid-state drives (SSDs) have recently become a common storage component in computer systems, and they are fueled by continued bit cost reductions achieved with smaller feature sizes and multiple-level cell technologies. It may be expensive but man is it worth it when it comes to the benefits of an SSD. Quick boot times, incredibly fast loads of games and game levels, lower power use, and less noise." The difference between hard drives and solid-state drives is in the technology used to store and retrieve data. The table below illustrates some of the differences. HDDs are cheaper and you can get more storage space. SSDs, however, are faster, lighter, more durable, and use less energy. Your needs will dictate which storage drive will work best for you." (Micron Technology, Inc "SSD vs HDD: Which is Better for you?" 2017). The case and motherboard you get when you buy a premade system is what you're stuck with. But for those building your own rig, a gaming PC case should offer good airflow, it should also provide quiet acoustics. The last thing you want when you're trying to listen to the dialogue or someone on team chat during a raid is to have your case cooling fans roaring like small tornadoes. Most gamin PCs are substantially more power-efficient than PCs of the past. A quad-core CPU, plus a midrange GPU, can idle at under 70 watts, and under a full load power in an intensive MMORPG game consumes less than 300W. So, unless you plan on significantly overclocking your system, which not many people really need to do or running two high-end GPUs simultaneously with SLi, a 500W power supply should be more than enough. There are a ton of gaming keyboards and mice out there to maximize your PC gaming and functionality. However, unless you're an elite competitive online player, you may not utilize the functions of a high-end keyboards. And even modestly priced laser gaming mice now support high DPI levels. Where I draw the line is the choice between wireless or tethered input devices. You can find wireless keyboards and mice that offer low latencies and good gaming performance, but they're often very expensive with price tags starting around $200. Good tethered gear costs much less. You can even connect an Xbox 360 wireless game controller to your PC via the Microsoft Wireless Gaming Receiver. Buying or building a gaming PC can be a pretty straightforward experience, if you follow these suggestions. And keep your needs and budget in mind, then you're likely to find the right system for immersive gaming, whatever your budget. The important part is what you get out of gaming, not what you spend on your PC. Once you have either built or bought your PC, remember that it's the game and how you play it that counts, not the Computer you play it on.

to see a few rigs click on the links