Use Low-cost Components To Create Gaming Pcs

By Andrew Johnson

If your current gaming computer is several years old, it's definitely time for an upgrade. Luckily, you can create good high-performance gaming PCs inexpensively.

We've researched the components for you, and found which ones will offer the best cost to performance ratio available today. You won't even need thousands of dollars! All you need is a CPU and video card (GPU) combination that can handle even the most intensive games and enough system RAM to pull it all together.

You need only consider three components to build s great gaming PCs: the CPU, the GPU and the system RAMThere are some astoundingly powerful CPUs on the market today. They carry truly astounding price tags, too. Most of those high-end processors won't offer you the processing you need for gaming, though. At around $100 you can buy the Athlon II X4 620 by AMD and not have to worry if your CPU can handle your games. The Athlon II X4 620 provides fantastic game processing at a price that won't hurt your bank account. Higher end processors like the Intel Core i7 965 or the AMD Sempron 140 are more powerful, and cost more, but they don't handle gaming nearly as well.

Choosing a video card can be confusing. Do you really need a GPU with 2 GB of video RAM? No, you don't. Most of those high-end cards are far too expensive anyway, and offer only a very slight difference in performance. You don't even need a 1 GB; as little as 896 MB will render even the toughest games beautifully. We've found two inexpensive options for you to choose from: the Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 and the AMD Radeon 5750. They'll cost about $130 or $160 respectively, and offer truly spectacular gaming support.

At this point, The system islikely to be the most expensive portion of gaming PCs. RAM prices are high right now, and it looks like they may stay that way. But you don't have crack open the piggy bank, either.

Your new gaming PC doesn't need the full 24 GB of system RAM that several newer computers support. In fact, that much RAM only offers a very slight increase in performance, and the massive cost doesn't make it worthwhile. You can purchase 4 GB of system RAM for much less and still enjoy hours of superb gaming. You will, however, have to invest in a 64-bit operating system like Windows XP x64 to utilize more 3. 5 GB of system RAM. Without a 64-bit OS, your system won't recognize the full spectrum of RAM available to it.

Now a word of caution: steer clear of gaming network cards. They may seem like a good idea, but your connection doesn't improve if you use one. A better bet would be a new router if you're having trouble with your online gaming. They'll cost about as much as the newer gaming network cards, but will give you a much more stable Internet connection. - 30431

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