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Here's how to check if a PC will be good for gaming before you buy it
- Ensure you're not buying outdated hardware, check reviews and benchmarks, and check the relative performance of components.
- Don't overlook how much and what kind of RAM and storage you're getting.
- The brands behind the components are crucial to their reliability and performance.
So you've decided to buy a gaming PC. You know how much you want to spend, and you're extremely confident that gaming will be your only use case. But, even then, unless you know your way around PC components, their relative performance, the pros and cons of going with AMD or Intel, and the right budget for a modern gaming PC, you're likely to get hoodwinked in today's market.
Prebuilt PCs aren't that bad anymore, but there are enough vendors out there who are eager to offload sub-par hardware in exchange for your hard-earned money. Before you drop your money on something that's advertised as a good gaming PC, make sure you've made yourself more aware of the market. If you don't want to buy an obsolete gaming PC disguised as a "great deal." First, you need to know a few DOs and DON'Ts to check if a PC will truly be good for gaming.
Choosing your ideal prebuilt gaming PC isn't hard at all if you can answer these 6 questions honestly
Do your research
You don't want to buy outdated hardware
If you're a newbie to the gaming PC scene and go on Amazon to find a good gaming PC, you can easily spot listings with an "Intel Core i7" for around $300-$400. But, when you open the product page, you'll have to dig deep to discover that it's actually an "Intel Core i7-4770" (a 4th generation processor, while we're currently on Intel's 14th generation). This is just one example of misleading marketing intended to sell crapware to uninformed buyers.
: Computer Today Now: Computer (Binge Bytes)
To combat this, you need to know your specs — whichever PC suits your budget, try to find its detailed specifications. If the product page isn't any help, check the reviews to see if people have pointed out irregularities between the claims and the reality of the PC. Once you have detailed information about the PC specs — from the complete model number of the CPU and GPU to the type of RAM and storage used — it's time to find out if they're good enough.
For comparing different gaming PCs, check sites like TechPowerUp for the relative performance of GPUs, just to get a general idea of the existing market.
Firstly, you need to research if the components on offer are recent enough, preferably not more than a generation older for GPUs, and not more than two generations older for CPUs. You can refer to the best gaming CPUs and best gaming GPUs lists to get a better idea too. For comparing different gaming PCs, check sites like TechPowerUp for the relative performance of GPUs, just to get a general idea of the existing market.
Then, if you've confirmed that the CPU and GPU are fairly recent models, read or watch their reviews from reputed publications and creators to eliminate the devices that are objectively bad purchases. Finally, you can check our best gaming PCs to know what kind of configuration you're getting at similar price points. At this point, you can be confident that the major components inside the gaming PC are good enough for gaming. But, your task isn't done yet.
While they're similar at a basic level, gaming PCs have some stark differences compared to regular PCs.
Don't overlook memory, storage, and cooling
They directly affect your gaming performance
The CPU and GPU are the most critical components of the gaming PC, but they aren't everything. If you were a seasoned custom PC builder, you would handpick every component to maximize the gaming performance per dollar. From the RAM and SSD to the kind of cooling hardware, you would ensure you're buying the ideal components. But, when you're buying a prebuilt PC and aren't as tuned in to the PC hardware realities, you need to be as nitpicky as you can.
Ensure the PC has at least 512GB of PCIe 3.0 (Gen3) or PCIe 4.0 (Gen4) NVMe storage.
Check if the gaming PC you're eyeing has DDR4 or DDR5 RAM (hopefully it doesn't have DDR3). More important than that, how much RAM does it have? 16GB is considered the minimum amount of RAM for gaming these days, with 32GB being more than enough for gaming and heavy multitasking. Next, ensure the PC has at least 512GB of PCIe 3.0 (Gen3) or PCIe 4.0 (Gen4) NVMe storage. Having enough RAM and a fast NVMe SSD are essential to a snappy and stable gaming experience.
You should also look at what kind of CPU cooler the vendor has used inside the PC. For a low-end or budget CPU with a TDP around 65W or even 105W, you don't need a liquid cooler. Air coolers will work perfectly fine, but they need to be from a reliable manufacturer or have solid cooling credentials. And if your PC doesn't have adequate cooling for the CPU, it can fail to keep the CPU cool enough to let it perform at its best. In the worst case, it can lead to abrupt shutdowns and fatal damage.
PC building has come a long way, but some myths just refuse to die
Pay attention to the brand of the components
You want a PC that can last
Simply ensuring that your gaming PC has, say, an RTX 4070, a 750W PSU, or a motherboard compatible with your CPU isn't enough. You need to go a level deeper and check the brand behind each of the components inside the PC. This not only gives you heightened assurance about the quality and reliability of the components, but also grants you insights into their exact features.
For instance, a graphics card from a brand like Galax or Inno3D might bring down the overall cost of the PC by a few dollars, but in my experience, these cards are less reliable and have a poorer track record than other brands like Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, and even Zotac (only considering GPUs here). Similarly, you need to know the efficiency rating of the PSU and its reliability according to one of the PSU tier lists.
The best PSUs will ensure adequate and clean power for your precious components, ensuring they keep performing at their maximum potential.
Go for a PC with at least an 80+ Bronze unit from a reliable brand like EVGA, Seasonic, Thermaltake, Corsair, MSI, be quiet!, Cooler Master, and DeepCool, among others. The best PSUs will ensure adequate and clean power for your precious components, ensuring they don't end up dying as a casualty of a cheap PSU. Check your motherboard model to make sure it has the features you need, such as a PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot for storage upgrades, built-in Wi-Fi, and additional slots for RAM upgrades.
Do the same for other components like the memory, storage, CPU cooler, and even the case. A case without any air intake can easily lead to unnecessarily high CPU and GPU temperatures, leading to a dip in gaming performance. The best PC cases from the best brands ensure you're getting top-notch build quality and well-thought-out cooling and usability features.
"Buy cheap, buy twice!"
Ensure it makes the most of your display
You probably don't want to buy a new monitor
Besides the PC itself, you should also consider what you'll be using it with. The PC you're buying should make sense with the display you have. For instance, if you only have a 60Hz or 75Hz monitor with 1080p resolution, and don't plan on buying a new one anytime soon, it doesn't make sense to spend extra for a PC that can deliver 100+ FPS at 1440p settings. You'll not be able to take advantage of all that extra performance.
Similarly, if you have a high-refresh monitor with 1440p resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate, then you should be careful not to end up with a PC that is only good for 60 FPS gaming in most titles. A PC that's "good for gaming" might not be good for you specifically if it doesn't fit your existing setup. If you have the budget, or you're planning to buy a new monitor with the new PC anyway, then you can freely buy the PC you want. Just take into account the kind of performance the PC will deliver with the monitor you have in mind.
It may be time to upgrade to a bigger, better, faster monitor.
Don't buy something that came from 2007
Good looks won't increase your FPS, but you should avoid antiques
We're talking about gaming performance here, so the looks of your PC aren't directly relevant. But, you're spending good money on 2024 (or fairly recent) hardware, and the PC should look the part. Even cheap gaming PCs these days come with great-looking cases with RGB lighting and aggressive designs. Whatever your aesthetic preferences, make sure you're not picking up something that looks right at home in an early 2000s office.
You might not find an all-white case with multiple fans and mesh all around within every budget, but you can always go for a PC that has a modern design, a front mesh at the least, a PSU shroud, and a tempered glass side panel. These features aren't that hard to find even in budget PC cases.
Let's get down to brass tacks.
Don't rush into buying a gaming PC
Prebuilt gaming PCs are no longer terrible purchases with off-brand components and poor value for money. That being said, you need to do your homework before pressing the buy button on that RGB-infused PC with questionable credentials. Do your research, consume component reviews from reliable sources, check gaming benchmarks, and investigate every single claim made by the vendor.
You can get help from Reddit, PCPartPicker, and other tech forums about how good a gaming PC is, both in terms of performance and reliability. When you have so many sources to get quality advice from, there's no need to go in blind.
