So you finally have the money to buy a beefy graphics processor and you’re looking to get the most expensive of them all. However, the gaming video cards isn’t everything to get your PC to run at high graphics settings. You see, there are ground rules when it comes to building your PC and a powerful graphics processor alone isn’t enough.
Here, let me show you a few important pieces of advice that you need to take note of. And if you happen to be a buyer who is unfamiliar with PC hardware, I’ll explain each consideration as simple as I can so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
1.  The GPU needs an equally powerful CPU
Before you even bring home the GPU, you need to make sure you have a good CPU to go along with it. CPU is the shortcut for Central Processing Unit, also known as the processor. This is the melting pot of the PC and the center of everything that makes a computer work together to run properly. In short, the CPU is the brain. Without a good one, your PC will just be all muscle and no brains. It’s where the calculations happen and clocks in everything the GPU and RAM does as well as the other peripherals.
If you don’t have a good CPU here’s what will happen: your graphics may be able to run at max but everything else including physics, post rendering, anti-aliasing, shadows and lighting all come to play in a very slow manner.
Nowadays, you have two main choices: Intel or AMD Ryzen. Intel has always been known for making quality CPUs ever since and has models that are built for gaming, especially for the 7th to the 9th generation i5 and i7. Meanwhile, the AMD Ryzen is a cheaper alternative but delivers great optimization and decent performance to make it a must-have for budget gamers.
The biggest difference between the two is the overclock performance. If you don’t know what overclocking is, it means tweaking your processor beyond its capabilities to max outperformance. This is highly dangerous and can eat up more electricity than usual, causing some safety issues with the PC as well as increasing your electricity bill. This is the biggest case with the Intel processors but not so much for the AMD Ryzen.
2. RAM Means More Power
Besides the CPU, your GPU needs an equally good RAM. It’s a bit complex to explain this so I’ll just keep it brief in layman’s terms. If you want a stable gaming PC with a consistent performance of up to 120 FPS, you will need enough RAM to power through a particular game’s demands.
Sure, 4 GB of RAM is decent but for optimal purposes, please get 8 GB of RAM so you don’t have to experience slowdowns and frame rate issues.
This is because most games these days apply lots of details onto their games and textures thrown in here and there. The true test of RAM comes in the form of open-world games such as The Witcher 3, GTA V and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077. If you want minimal loading times and fast rendering, you need at least 8 GB of RAM to do that. Don’t aim for 16 GB of RAM though – not at least for the next 5 years. 16 GB RAM is overkill for current games.
3. A Sturdy Motherboard to Keep Everything Intact
It doesn’t just end with the CPU and RAM though. You need a motherboard to latch onto these small parts to keep everything at optimal levels. The motherboard is the base and mainframe of the 3 major peripherals you have. A good motherboard means minimal overheating and overall guaranteed safety on keeping the RAM, GPU, and CPU from burning. Gigabyte and ASUS ROG deliver one of the best motherboards for gaming so consider those two on your list.
4. Ti is Always the Better Version
Always go with the NVidia GTX series. The AMD is decent, sure, but it can never go beyond what an NVidia does. And if you’re considering Intel Integrated Graphics, just forget about playing on PC. Going back to the main point, the NVidia GTX is already tried and tested when it comes to bringing out the best of the game and everything it has to offer.
Ti is the improved version over its vanilla GPU. For example, you have the GTX 1070 and the 1070 Ti. The latter is like 1070 2.0.
As of this writing, a GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 1060 Ti is affordable enough to buy. Both are still good enough for high performance in gaming on current-gen games. But if you want the king of GPUs, get the GTX 2080 Ti. It’s enough to get you on a date with an e-girl you found on Discord.
5. HDD or SSD
This one is subjective but if you’re looking for budget gaming, settle with an HDD that has at least 1 TB. But if you want to max out the utilities of your PC, go with SSD. The latter may cost more but the loading and booting times are significantly shorter.
Hope this article helps you to have some second thought before spending your hard earned-money on GPU alone.