Five Things I Always Tell People Before They Buy A New Gaming PC

I bought my first gaming PC almost two decades ago, and here are the things I've learnt since then that I think you should know.

A pre-built gaming PC is probably the most exciting purchase you can make. We're talking about an entirely new system—perhaps even your very first one. But it can be a little daunting, too, seeing component after component, spec after spec, and trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. We've all been there.

In fact, I've been there enough to know that actually, it doesn't have to be as daunting as it might at first seem. And I've helped others who have been there enough to know what the most common pitfalls are and what to focus on to get cracking and make a good gaming PC purchasing decision.

Once you approach it systematically by narrowing down your choices bit by bit, it becomes a rather straightforward process. Which is great, because gone are the days of incredibly overpriced builds—the barrier for entering the PC gaming market has never been lower. There are plenty of wonderful gaming PCs at pretty reasonable prices these days. Especially given it's holiday season and there are already some cracking Black Friday gaming PC deals popping up.

If you keep the following tips in mind I think you'll have a much easier time figuring out which PC to go for:

I bought my first gaming PC as a wee lad with my mother's hard-earned money, and unfortunately got ripped off by the IT shop that built it for me. Since being burned like that, I've learnt as much as I can about it and vowed to help prevent others from suffering the same fate. Just call me PC gaming's very own Batman.

A gaming PC isn't so much a single product as it is a collection of components, each with its own merits to consider. While this can initially make it a little overwhelming to decide on a PC, all it really means is that you have to narrow down what you want step by step. And the best way to do that is to start with the GPU.

After you've figured out your budget and eliminated options outside of it, start thinking about what graphics card you want in your gaming PC. Provided all the other components are at least passable, a good graphics card will have the most impact on your gaming performance.

The Nvidia RTX 50-series is with us, now, as is the AMD RX 9000-series, and these are what most of you should be looking for in a new gaming PC. That's whether it's a budget RTX 5060 build, a mid-range RX 9070 XT build, or a high-end RTX 5080 build.

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Source: PC Gamer