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What Makes A Gaming Computer Good?

by Marie Cox

As new, high-definition games enter the market, it's important to know what matters for gaming computer. PC gaming can be demanding, but it's an affordable way to get the entertainment you need on a system that can be productive away from gaming and get a bit of social interaction depending on the game and the setup. To understand not only how a gaming computer is different from any other computer, but what makes a gaming computer good, here are a few computer design details.

The Video Card Rules All

The main difference between a gaming computer and any standard desktop or laptop on the market is a video card. "Gaming" as a popular term means more than just basic browser games or mobile apps--although they can be just as fun and are just as big a part of gaming. A gaming computer plays games with high resource demand and specific instructions.

To understand the level of quality and performance, here are a few games from 2017 that demand at least a mid-tier gaming computer:

Nier: Automata

Injustice 2

Prey

For Honor

State of Decay

World of Warcraft

The graphics and gameplay involved in these games aren't just sliders or higher settings that a normal computer can achieve by adding more memory or a faster processor. The appearance comes from many proprietary graphics systems and instructions that only the video card can understand, such as shader and vector processing.

Defining Good Performance

Like anything else with computers, performance means more power. Just as adding more memory or a faster processor speed can increase general computer performance, the video card and other game-related specifications can be increased for better performance. That said, it's good to know where "too cheap" ends and "excessive" begins.

The guide for all major computer gaming needs is the system requirements. System requirements include two points--minimum and recommended--to show the amount of resources needed to run the game at all as well as what the gaming company suggests for a good experience for most players.

Ignore the minimum requirements, as they're just for people who want to stick with their older or bare minimum systems. The performance is usually terrible to the point of only getting a glimpse at what the game could be, including performance problems such as stuttering or freezing the computer.

Recommended settings will show you the amount of memory and the processor speed, but they will also show you the amount of video card memory, speed, and other performance points. here are a few to consider using a middle-low tier video card's specifications:

Video memory. This is the amount of video-related files that can be held into memory and sent to the processor without having to search the entire computer's hard drive/solid state drive. More memory means faster delivery to the video card's processor, just like the relationship with the main system memory and processor. 2GB (gigabytes) are offered by many budget cards.

Bus width. The width, measured in bits, determines how much information can be transferred at a single time. Think of it as a highway for data, with more bits meaning more lanes. Modern budget cards around the $100-$200 level are rarely below 256-bits, with 128 being the absolute minimum for enjoying most visually-impressive games.

Cores. Video cards are measured in cores similar to main system processors, but in higher numbers. 768 is a common amount of cores in 2017. 

If you need help with selecting parts for upgrades or full, new builds, hire an IT support professional, like the ones found at Staffing Solutions, LLC.

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