Gaming PC build Guide

A few years ago I had to change my old desktop computer due to the ridiculous amount of memory; I couldn’t even open a single program without seeing the whole system freezing or slowing down for a few minutes. At that time, however, I was terribly inexperienced to the point I found myself with a brand new computer which could barely run The Sims 2 without frame drops. If you want to become a PC gamer you have to be sure your future rig will be able to handle the games you want to play, with this little Gaming PC build Guide I will explain what you need to know if you’re not sure about the basics required to assemble the machine correctly.

“I want to get a new PC, but I’m not sure about the specs…”

The first tip I want to give you (based on my past experience) is to have a chat with an expert instead of running to your local store and buy a preassembled PC. If you are going to spend a large sum of money on this, it’s better to be entirely sure of what you’ll find inside. Even if weak components can certainly be replaced anytime, you then will be forced to spend even more to get rid of what you alredy paid for.

“What kind of components do I need to put in my gaminc PC?”

First of all, ask yourself what are you planning to do in general with your computer. If you would use it only to play games and nothing special when it comes to the rest, then you can certainly avoid the most expensive parts because you won’t need them at all. A i7 processor is currently the most powerful on the market and its price is not exactly friendly, there are i3 or i5 CPUs that could be used for your purpose with no troubles and they usually have a (more or less) decent cost. Just be sure the processor has 3.00 GHz of speed or else it might struggle.

Your RAM memory should be at least 12 GB, newest video games need around 6-8 to run properly and it’s always good to have some space left even with huge applications in the background.

The graphics card is certainly the most important and expensive thingy, since it’s used to render your games and all their effects while playing. Current installments require a lot of power, thus I’m afraid you really can’t go beneath 4GB and Pixel Shader 5.0. To be completely honest even that could represent an issue if you try to set everything on ultra; Assassin’s Creed Syndicate on my machine runs pretty well with ultra graphics, yet a couple of options can’t go beyond High or else the game will become pretty much unplayable.

Recommended Nvidia model: GTX 660 or 970 (1080 is currently the best)
Recommended Radeon model: HD 7870 or R9 270/280

I know some prices could be insane (forget those $1000 cards unless you can afford it and really want to get the latest and most powerful model available), but if you want to invest into a gaming machine you need a very strong graphics card no matter what. Even if your CPU and RAM meet or even exceed the listed requirements you may see the game move in ‘slow motion’ if the installed Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is not enough for that and we surely do not want to lower everything to the minimum and lose the quality a PC game has to offer. Isn’t a smooth and detailed image why you’re getting a gaming PC in the first place? 😉

You can check the Nvidia site for all the needed informations regarding their cards and/or the AMD Radeon page.

“Can I still use Windows 7?”

Well, yes and no.
Although Win7 still works with every released game so far and it is quite a good and stable Operating System, you should probably give up on our old friend and welcome the updated version. Windows 10 is now listed as a recommendation for some new games and you can avoid it only if it’s not necessary to make them work. The recently published Quantum Break, for example, won’t even function unless you have the latest OS installed and it probably is the very first game not compatible with its predecessor. Oh joy!

EDIT: The game is now available on Steam for Windows 7 as well, however it is still recommended to install the latest OS for future compatibilities.

If you want to have an idea about the components you could get with your budget you can visit ChooseMyPC and set up a price, it will search and find all the pieces according to that amount.

How did it go for you? Did you manage to get a decent gaming PC for an affordable price or are you planning to get one soon? 🙂