| Pre-purchase decisions |
| 1 |
If you’re on a budget, consider a pre-built gaming PC. Keep in mind that PCs marketed as “gaming PCs” may be more expensive, but may offer the same or similar components as a PC marketed as “office”. |
| 2 |
Building a gaming rig from the ground up doesn’t have to break the bank. Consider looking at bundle options that include a motherboard and CPU. |
| 3 |
When building your own gaming PC, make sure you choose the right case size for your needs: full-tower, mid-tower, or mini-ITX. For example, a standard ATX motherboard may not fit in a Mini-ITX case. |
| 4 |
Invest in an SSD of at least 500GB to install your operating system on and also leave room for some of your favorite games. HDDs are often cheaper and offer more storage for the money, but SSDs are faster and more powerful. |
| 5 |
If you want to be one step ahead, NVMe SSDs offer faster data transfer rates compared to SSDs. However, you need to check how many PCIe slots your motherboard has (if any). |
| 6 |
For the ultimate gaming PC setup, get at least a 24-inch monitor. 1080p monitors are great, and you don’t need as powerful hardware, but a 4K (3840 x 2160) monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate offers the best experience for AAA titles. |
| 7 |
Gaming PCs tend to be performance intensive. That means you need to make sure your PC has adequate cooling to keep temperatures down while gaming. Fans are great and do their job well, but you can opt for liquid cooling if you want it to look fancy. |
| 8th |
When purchasing RAM for your PC, make sure it is compatible with your motherboard. Most new motherboards support DDR4, and some even go as far as DDR5. |
| 9 |
8GB of RAM is the bare minimum to look out for when building or upgrading your PC. In most cases, however, doubling up to 16GB of RAM is just as affordable. Two sticks of RAM is also better than one as it offers dual-channel memory slots. |
| 10 |
All of the hardware in your PC requires power, and as such you need a power supply to support all of your components. It is recommended to purchase an 80 Plus Gold or 80 Plus Platinum power supply for better power efficiency. You can also use a power supply calculator to determine the wattage required. |
| 11 |
In addition to performance, a gaming PC should stand out from the crowd. RGB lighting strips and RGB fans are an inexpensive way to make your case look amazing. |
| 12 |
When you add a lot of peripherals to your gaming PC, you’ll notice the abundance of wires and cables cluttering your desk. Gaming desks are built specifically for cable management and can often be adjusted to the correct height. |
| periphery |
| 13 |
Mechanical keyboards are often preferred by PC gamers. That’s because they offer low actuation (travel), responsive buttons, and hotkeys that come in handy while gaming. |
| 14 |
Decide whether you want to go for linear, tactile, or click switches on your keyboard. Linear switches tend to be smoother, while tactile and clicky buttons offer confirmation in the sound and feel of the buttons when pressed. |
| fifteen |
An adjustable DPI gaming mouse should be considered to get accurate response times and mouse clicks. For MMO or competitive gamers, a mouse with programmable buttons is essential. |
| 16 |
Although most PC gaming setups require a mouse and keyboard, many games also support game controllers, including the Xbox Series X controller. |
| 17 |
Keeping your gaming desk tidy and clutter-free is important. There are plenty of gaming accessories that can help with this, including an extended mouse pad, headphone stands, and a USB hub. |
| 18 |
Although your PC will be the bread and butter of your gaming setup, paying attention to comfort is important, especially when you’re gaming for hours on end. A sturdy chair needs to be considered, especially one that offers height adjustment, 4D armrests and tilt. |
| Audio |
| 19 |
Some gaming monitors include built-in speakers, but these are often low in wattage and don’t feel particularly impressive. PC gaming brands like HyperX, Corsair and SteelSeries offer incredible gaming headsets. |
| 20 |
If you plan to go the speaker route and want to communicate with your friends, you can invest in a separate speaker and microphone. |
| 21 |
Many PC gamers also enjoy streaming, so it’s important to look at microphone setups that are suitable for this. Additional accessories like a mic boom and a pop screen can be useful for blocking out background noise and making your mic more accessible. |
| 22 |
If you’re an avid streamer, hardware like Stream Deck could make switching between streaming sites and programs a lot easier. |
| gaming platforms |
| 23 |
Steam is by far the most popular platform for discovering and buying new games. However, there are other options like Epic Store, GOG Galaxy, Ubisoft Connect and so on. |
| 24 |
When trying to find the best game that suits your needs, make sure you filter games by type e.g. B. Co-op, MMO, FPS, RTS, etc. This makes browsing a library of games easier. |
| 25 |
Bought a game through Steam that’s full of issues or not working? Steam offers refunds for games within two weeks of purchase if you’ve played them for less than two hours. |
| 26 |
Join a Reddit community for your favorite games to learn new tips and tricks, or join a subreddit to explore different gaming communities and learn new things. |
| connectivity |
| 27 |
Choose a high-end router that offers Wi-Fi 6, like the TP-Link Archer AX11000. Not only does it offer features like a player-centric UI, it’s also extremely powerful and supports Wi-Fi 6. |
| 28 |
Make sure your network card is compatible with your router. For example, if your network card doesn’t support Wi-Fi 6, you may need to reconsider your options. |
| 29 |
Deciding between a Wi-Fi and Ethernet connection for gaming can be confusing. Wi-Fi may have improved a lot, but nothing compares to connecting your PC directly to your router using an Ethernet connection. |
| 30 |
If you can’t connect via Ethernet, you should make sure you can connect to the 5 GHz band on your router. The range won’t go as far, but your performance will increase dramatically over the 2.4GHz band. |
| 31 |
A Bluetooth adapter is not essential, but certainly useful if you want to connect your PC to a printer, your smartphone or other Bluetooth-compatible devices. |
| software and programs |
| 32 |
You can easily monitor and overclock your GPU with software like MSI Afterburner. It’s free to install and offers complete control over your GPU, allowing you to boost its performance within safe limits. |
| 33 |
Recording gameplay is not only fun, it is also useful for streamers. With OBS Studio, you can record and stream your gameplay, plus options for audio, filters, and more. |
| 34 |
Modding games can extend their lifespan and improve gameplay beyond its limits. Nexus Mod Manager allows you to download free mods for specific games from community modders. |
| 35 |
If your PC is equipped with an NVIDIA graphics card, GeForce Experience is a must. It ensures your PC is running the latest drivers for your GPU and has a wealth of features including the ability to record and share gameplay. |
| 36 |
It’s no myth that building or upgrading your PC can be addictive. Using software like Speccy can help you determine your current PC components like GPU, RAM, and CPU. It also displays the current temperature of your PC’s hardware. |
| 37 |
Managing multiple monitors can be tricky, but software like UltraMon makes it easy to apply custom settings to all of your monitors separately. It also offers support for screensavers and wallpapers. |
| 38 |
Chatting with friends through a messaging system or talking to them through your headset can definitely make your gaming experience more interesting. Discord is a popular communication platform that is free to use. You can create your own private servers or join community servers. |
| 39 |
Many PC gamers love to play around with RGB lighting, especially when it’s native to their peripherals like a gaming keyboard or mouse. Corsair’s iCUE allows you to tinker with your RGB lighting, choose custom themes, and map buttons to different profiles. |
| maintenance |
| 40 |
Buying a new gaming PC feels good. But don’t forget to maintain the hardware and software. Make sure your PC is up to date with the latest drivers and software updates. |
| 41 |
You can keep your gaming keyboard clean with keyboard cleaning putty. This prevents excess dirt, dust, and debris from getting under the keys and causing problems. |
| 42 |
If you have an SSD, you don’t need to defragment your drives. However, if your gaming PC has a hard drive, you may need to run defragmentation software on a regular basis. |
| 43 |
With the Windows 10 Startup Organizer, you can ensure that only essential programs and processes start up when your gaming PC starts up. This ensures that it doesn’t suffer from performance issues. |
| 44 |
If you’re lucky enough to live in a warmer country, it’s worth keeping some extra cooling fans handy to install when the weather gets hotter. This prevents your PC from overheating in the summer months. |
| 45 |
Every few months, open up your PC and wipe it down. If enough dust accumulates, it can increase temperatures and damage components. |
| overclocking |
| 46 |
Check if your CPU supports overclocking by visiting the manufacturer’s website. This is indicated by two clear statements such as “basic clock 3.4 GHz” and “max. Boost clock 4.9 GHz”. |
| 47 |
You can overclock your AMD or Intel CPU through BIOS. However, if you are a beginner, you may benefit from Intel’s Extreme Tuning Utility or AMD’s Ryzen Master. |
| 48 |
It’s a good idea to stress test your overclocking settings before applying them. Tools like AIDA64 allow you to test the speed you want without damaging your PC. |
| 49 |
You can increase the voltage of your CPU to achieve more stable overclocking. Do some research on your CPU to find out what the maximum volts it can handle before changing the settings. |
| 50 |
Overclocking is not a necessity. If you’re happy with how your PC is performing, don’t push your luck if you’re unsure of what you’re doing. |