VWB Blog Buying a gaming PC can be intimidating, especially if you don’t know much about them in the first place. A lot of people just go to the nearest electronics store after getting a few pointers online and let the salesperson handle the rest.
This is a terrible idea since salespeople can convince you to get things you don’t need just so they can rack up a higher commission. This is why you should dig a bit deeper and know exactly what you need in a machine. All of this can be discovered by asking yourself a few simple questions. Here are some of the questions you should ask yourself when buying your first gaming PC.
How Much Money Do I Have to Spend?
This is perhaps the most important question you’ll need to answer before you start shopping. As you may already know, gaming machines are some of the most expensive on the market. Your budget will largely dictate what type of performance you’ll get, but it could also affect the type of PC you get.
For instance, if you don’t have at least $800 to spend on a machine, looking at laptops is a waste of time. You might be able to get something with an entry level 1650 Nvidia card if you’re lucky, but everything else will take a hit. So, at that price, we suggest you concentrate on desktops.
If you have the money, however, you could get a nice gaming laptop in the $1200 to $1600 range. At that price, you might be able to get yourself a machine with an RTX 3650 card or better and a solid processor to go with it. If you’re looking for a machine in that category, check out these Intel Gaming PCs.
What Are My Go-tos?
Next, you should think about the games you like to play. This will be very important as different types of games will use certain components more. Open world games with tons of NPCs will require more processing and storage speed than your average MOBA, for instance. This is because running AI for all these characters demands heavy computing power and storage is used to create maps in sandbox games, so you might experience freezing if your storage is slow.
If this is the type of game you are into, we suggest that you get a machine with a 3ghz processor or higher with at least 6 cores and 12 threads with fast AIC, NVME, or PCIe SSD. If that’s not your cup of tea, anything around the 2.5ghz mark with 4 cores at least should be more than enough.
Should I Build the PC Myself?
If you’ve been using your regular PC for gaming and have been playing for a long time, you have probably toyed with the idea of building your own PC. If you’ve already done this type of project or something similar before, this idea could work, but we do not recommend it for most people.
Too many things can go wrong, and you could lose lots of money in the process. This is just a bad idea if your goal is to save money. If you need something that will fit your needs perfectly, you can always get a custom PC or buy from a manufacturer that is more flexible with their options.
These are some of the things that will help you find out what the best gaming machine would be for you. The most important thing is knowing as much as you can about different components and looking beyond the surface when looking at specs.