For many, owning a gaming PC is a dream – the ability to play any game one can conceivably think of in flawless high-definition, with framerates sitting in the triple-figures and colorful RGB lights decorating the interior.
The only issue with building a gaming PC like the one described is that it costs a pretty penny, which is why many young people find themselves continuing to dream until they’re old enough to get the finances together themselves.
However, even though you may have waited years for the moment, this is simply the beginning of the journey – as there are countless paths consumers can take when approaching the purchase of a new gaming PC.
Alongside purchasing a ready-to-go gaming rig in its entirety and using custom PC-building services, there is an option that may seem daunting – building the PC yourself.
If you’re looking for the chance to save money on your build, as well as have complete creative control over the process, it’s a great option, but some basic knowledge of how to approach the build and which components are important to the final product is important before getting started.
Budget
The first crucial step in building your dream gaming PC is establishing your budget. Once you have a number to aim for or a bracket in which you can operate, it’ll be much easier to include or not include the myriad of different options from your considerations.
Of course, the more powerful you would like your PC to be, the more expensive the final total will be – so it may be useful to consider how your favorite games or programs perform against benchmark systems so that you can pin down exactly what wouldn’t be enough, and what would be overkill.
If you can afford to buy the best-performing graphics cards on the market, you have nothing to worry about! However, if you are more into complete builds, brands such as Lenovo offer builds that you can scale if needed.
Graphics Card (GPU)
The heartbeat of your new gaming PC, the GPU or Graphics Processing Unit, is what will allow you to run those triple-figure frames and turn RTX on, providing the gaming experience that many of us have dreamt of.
This does depend on your chosen game, as well as your predetermined budget, as the best performing GPUs on the market will easily surpass the four-figure mark before you’ve even purchased any other parts.
This isn’t to say that a top-of-the-range GPU is needed to have a great gaming experience – GPUs often stand the test of time, meaning graphics cards released in the previous few years, more in the mid-range bracket, still offer great performance.
CPU
The last important component to consider is the CPU. If the graphics card is the heartbeat, the CPU is the brain, connecting all of the constituent parts of the PC together to process their inputs and action the instructions of programs.
While the graphics card has more of a direct impact on your gaming experience, having a capable CPU is important for general performance, and a poor CPU could affect how well your PC runs.
