Gaming PC:
Buyer's Guide
Overall: Don't buy a gaming PC through the "big box" stores like Best Buy, Costco, etc.
Reason: They bloat their prices so much and skimp on the tech portion under the hood.
iBuy Power is a great online store for gaming PCs! This link goes directly to their pre-built rigs.
If you live in MI, PA or OH, Microcenter is another great gaming PC store both for pre-builds as well as parts.
Specs to look for:
Hard drives: minimum 1 TB main drive with slot(s) for storage expansion. PC games are huge! RDR2 is ~115GB. And if you plan on taking pics/vids, having a separate drive for media is highly recommended!
Hard drive type: M.2 NVMe is fast and stable!!
RAM: 16 GB RAM onboard. RAM is super cheap so you can add to it without bloating the rig cost
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 or higher **[OR]** Intel Core i7 or higher
GPU (graphics card): GeForce RTX 3060 or newer
Gaming rigs aren't cheap...correction: Good gaming rigs aren't cheap! The cheap ones skimp on cheaper graphics cards, storage and lack of RAM. That all adds up to poor performance, frustration, lack of ability to upgrade hardware.
Expect to pay about $1100+ for a good rig. This is a reasonably priced good intro gaming rig.
PRO TIP 1: DON'T buy a gaming laptop! They are not worth the hassle and upgrading them is a pain in the arse!
PRO TIP 2: If you have a bigger budget, go for the newest GPU. Combined with the newest CPU your budget can handle will provide a solid gaming rig for 5-7 years easily! If you break down the cost of a $1800 rig over say 6 years, that's only $300/year. Less than a dollar a day!
Taking care of your gaming rig with regular cleaning will ensure it breathes, stays cool, and runs well -- all to help your gaming rig last a very long time!
If you currently own a gaming PC, here's things to check/configure on Your PC or how to run a benchmark test to rule out any performance issues.
