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6 things people still get wrong about PC hardware
People often like to say that PC building is like putting Lego blocks together. While the statement rings true in essence, it highlights a tendency to oversimplify many aspects related to building PCs, reviewing components, and the impact of individual components on overall performance. Compounded over decades, this tendency leads to common misunderstandings about PC hardware, with many users believing in things that are half-truths or entirely false.
Some of these misunderstandings are rooted in laziness, and others in hubris, but they're still very much alive in 2024. Whether it's CPUs and GPUs, SSD speeds, CPU cooling, or thermal efficiency, it's far too common to believe something that has ample evidence against it. Here, I will dive a bit deeper into 6 things people still get wrong about PC hardware.
10 obvious things I wish someone told me before I built my first PC
There are some things people don't tell you, and as a first time PC builder, they're not actually obvious
Calculating bottlenecks
Did you check out the latest bottleneck calculator?
I don't think this will ever get old. Many PC users still think you can simply go to a PC bottleneck calculator website, enter your PC's configuration, and instantly get a single numerical indication of the amount of bottleneck on your PC. While bottlenecks are all too real (as one or more components can hold back others from maximum performance), you can't just calculate them the way online bottleneck calculators claim they can.
Firstly, bottleneck calculators are always vague about their methodology and wildly inaccurate in their results. Secondly, they can sometimes recommend you buy a 12-core CPU to replace your 6-core chip, only to remove a "10% bottleneck." Finally, no one can put a random number on how much your CPU is bottlenecking your GPU, or the other way around.
The best thing to do when pairing your CPU and GPU is to look at performance benchmarks from reliable publications and choose components that go well together. For instance, a mid-range CPU is usually more than enough for a mid-range to high-end GPU.
Here are 6 real ways to avoid bottlenecks on your gaming PC
Bottlenecking is easily avoided if you make careful choices when building your gaming PC
Benchmarking CPUs and GPUs
Why only 1080p?
If you've ever seen a PC hardware reviewer benchmarking the latest CPU, you have probably noticed that they overwhelmingly test it at 1080p instead of 1440p or 4K. You can also find people in the comments demanding that the creator also share 1440p and 4K results, since "no one uses this crazy-fast CPU for 1080p." While you might feel justified in asking for the resolution you use, benchmarking doesn't work that way.
The single most crucial thing to ensure while benchmarking a component is preventing anything else from becoming the bottleneck. If you're testing, say, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D in a certain game, you wouldn't want the graphics card to "interfere" with the FPS numbers. You'd want the game to be as CPU-limited as possible, hence the reason behind testing it at 1080p, where games are mostly CPU-limited. Only at 1080p can the power of the CPU be fully showcased relative to other models.
Similarly, if you're testing a powerful GPU like the RTX 4080 Super, you'd prefer higher resolutions such as 1440p or even 4K, where the CPU dependency becomes minimal, and the GPU does most of the heavy lifting. Only then will you be able to properly compare the GPU to other competing SKUs.
10 best games for benchmarking a gaming PC
If you want to break in a new gaming PC, Crysis isnt going to cut it anymore.
Power consumption and efficiency
They're not the same thing
Modern PC hardware has been steadily getting more power-hungry with every generation. While this is almost always accompanied by a rise in performance, the trade-off isn't always worth it. If a CPU or GPU draws, say, 50% more power than a competing model, and delivers only 10% better performance, it's not really power efficient, is it?
This is what many consumers fail to notice. When a new generation of CPUs claims lower power consumption than the previous one, we can't simply conclude that the new chips are more efficient. For all you know, the new CPUs might have dropped a lot more in performance. Only if the newer chips have a better performance-per-watt ratio than the older ones would they be more thermally efficient.
Similarly, if the latest and greatest graphics card consumes 20% more power than the previous flagship, it's premature to declare the older card more efficient. If the newer model delivers more than a 20% gain in performance (ideally much more), then it's clearly the more efficient option. Hence, power consumption is only half the picture; chip efficiency needs to include performance data.
How to check the power consumption of your PC
If you're worried about how much energy your PC is using, then this guide will show you how to find out exactly how much.
Modern CPU cooling
Liquid cooling or nothing?
A consequence of power-hungry CPUs is the rising popularity of AIO liquid coolers. It's not uncommon to see newer CPUs exceeding TDPs of around 250W, and that's not even the maximum power they can draw. The Core i9-14900K, with a 253W TDP, is known to draw upwards of 350W in especially intensive multi-core benchmarks. These numbers might not be indicative of real-world use, but CPUs like the 14900K still need a 360mm AIO cooler to prevent thermal throttling.
Mid-range CPUs consume much less power, but due to a combination of factors such as overcompensation, esthetics, or preference for the lowest temps possible, PC builders often blindly buy more cooling than they really need. I've been guilty of getting a 360mm liquid cooler for a 6-core Ryzen 7000 chip with a TDP of just 105W. Even if you're finicky about noise and thermals, a decent air cooler can handle most CPUs on the market.
Some of you might be shocked to know that there are budget air coolers for around $35 to $45 that give 240mm and even 360mm AIOs a run for their money. These cooing beasts can easily handle even the Core i9-14900K at stock settings. If budget air coolers are just fine for taming even 200+ watt loads, you don't need an AIO cooler. Of course, your style preferences might still push you toward them.
Air cooling vs water cooling: Which is the best option for you?
For cooling CPUs and GPUs, there are two basic options: air and liquid. Here's how each cooling style measures up.
SSD speed and FPS
The faster the better?
Ever since we moved on from HDDs, the performance of SSDs has been rising steadily. From 500 MB/s SATA SSDs to 3,500 MB/s Gen3 and 7,000 MB/s Gen4 SSDs, we've now breached the 14,000 MB/s mark with the fastest Gen5 SSDs. However, your gaming performance doesn't scale the same way. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between an inexpensive $50 Gen3 SSD and a $200 Gen5 SSD.
The SSD is responsible for supplying game textures to your graphics card so that you won't wait around experiencing lags or stutters in the game. After a certain point, though, the speed of your SSD becomes immaterial, and any gains your fancy Gen5 SSD will bring would be in productivity applications and when transferring numerous large files.
This is why, even in 2024, Gen5 SSDs aren't worth it for gaming. Until Direct Storage is implemented in more games, there's no reason to buy a PCIe 5.0 SSD just for gaming.
3 reasons that SSD speeds don't matter anymore
You might think you need the fastest SSDs on the market, but you probably don't
Role of the CPU in gaming
RTS and sims aren't the only CPU-heavy games
Your CPU matters for gaming, yes, but the extent to which a game is CPU-dependent or "CPU-heavy" varies from title to title. You might have heard that real-time strategy (RTS) and simulation games can bring even powerful CPUs to their knees, but they're not the only ones. Many modern single-player titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 can also be particularly CPU demanding, depending on the in-game settings.
The conventional wisdom that 6-core CPUs are more than enough for gaming is changing now. Games are now loading multiple cores and threads to a significant degree, and those buying 8-core chips will be able to make their system last longer without a CPU upgrade. Besides, if you're building a high-end gaming PC, you'll not want it to slow to a crawl during intensive multitasking. Many 6-core CPUs from the past 4 years are prone to this, so buying 8 cores will allow for faster overall performance too.
Another thing to consider is the impact of the L3 cache on gaming. AMD's Ryzen X3D processors are stacked with heaps of 3D V-Cache that allow the CPU high-speed data access from the cache, massively improving your gaming FPS. If you're serious about chasing high FPS, you might want to save some of your budget for an X3D CPU alongside your fancy GPU.
Intel vs. AMD: Which CPU should power your PC in 2024?
With the desktop CPU space fiercer than ever, should you pick AMD or Intel?
PC hardware myths are everlasting
The nature of PC hardware myths might change, but they'll always exist. Newer technologies in CPUs, GPUs, RAM, and storage will inevitably give rise to a myriad of conversations, comparisons, and ill-supported conclusions. These conclusions will then be proliferated endlessly by a group of consumers, both online and offline, and the cycle will continue with the next generation of products.
It's best to consume content from multiple sources, ideally from those outside your familiarity zone. You'll then be better equipped to separate fact from fiction, and educate your fellow consumers as well.