Acquiring a new PC for gaming is a positive adventure that you must not let turn into a nightmare. Best to do some research first before getting out that credit card. At first glance, it can be overwhelming when faced with a wide variety of choices, but in the end it allows everyone to find their ideal PC, we’re not going to complain that not everything is formatted and standardized.
If we compare to the automotive world, it’s as if you had the possibility to buy your car or vehicle from a major brand or to assemble your own car by selecting parts from such and such a manufacturer.
To continue in this pictorial approach, as a buyer, you will be confronted with the same choices when buying a vehicle: analyze your needs, select the parts, look at the stocks and find the right store/seller (who has stock, good after-sales service and reasonable prices). Are you doing lots of miles? Do you need a lot of storage? Have you 4 kids to transport? Do you have limited parking space? Are you looking for speed and acceleration? Do you have a job that requires something specific?
Furthermore, vehicle and brands will make good promotions and advertising or provide cashback or other offers. They will often encourage you with shiny lights and additional features you may not need. PCs are similar everything is done to attract you. Be wary.
But all is not rosy, some merchant sites want to push you to over-consumption, to over-purchase. Ultra high-end motherboards for everyday use, 16GB of ram that will never be exploited. Some will want to sell you a I7 core even if you only want to play Tetris!
But fortunately the Internet is there to help you…
Analyze your need:
To make a good purchase, it must meet your needs and expectations.
Indeed, to invest a large sum of money in a PC which in the end would not correspond to your expectation, will leave you with a bitter taste. So you might as well think carefully before taking out the credit card.
- What type of config are you looking for? : The minimum to play?
- A good quality/price ratio ?
- Silence?
- Design?
- Play in 4K?
- Are you using it for other work?
Expectations and desires being different from one person to another, you’ll see that in the end, with the same budget, we sometimes reach a very different result.
Gamer laptop or Gamer desktop?
It’s a question we are often asked: Which will be more powerful for the same budget, a desktop or a laptop?
The famous answer will depend on the context in the end
- If you have components and peripherals from an old configuration, then staying in the desktop environment will allow you to have a new configuration that is more powerful than if you had to buy a Gamer laptop.
- If you are starting from scratch and you will have to buy a monitor + a Windows license + pay for the setup, then a desktop PC will cost you as much as a laptop. Will it be much more powerful? In 99% of the cases, the desktop PC will be slightly more powerful, but that’s not where the difference will be.
The difference will be played in the future evolution of the machine, with a desktop PC you can keep various components from one configuration to another. For example: The Case / Power supply and all peripherals.
Whereas with a laptop the future evolution is almost null. In a few years, you have to buy a new one, as if you were starting from scratch.
Typical configurations and reseller PCs
It is important to know that HP/ACER/DELL PCs, which generally pose enormous problems of performance and evolution over time, have nothing in common with reseller PCs.
For example, Materiel.net or LDLC, simply offers you its own standard configurations, as well as the assembly and installation of windows if you wish. Not to mention reduced shipping times of 24/48H for their ready-to-use PCs. Without going into the details of the creation process, the selection of the components has already been done by their in house experts, the configs are rigorously tested, benchmarked and ready to use.
Knowing how to listen to advice
We have put a certain number of tips in the shopping guides, they are not there to annoy you, but to talk to you about compatibilities, give you recommendations, invite you on certain lines of thought and, finally, avoid falling into commercial traps.
I can’t count the number of people who buy high-end motherboards, but who will never do SLI or significant overclocking.
Also, it’s more than common for people to buy 16GB of ram, without understanding that it will never use more than 8GB. That’s upselling for you!
Speak to someone who knows what they’re talking about.
Knowing how to make sacrifices
Except for a few people, everyone has a limited budget. You have to know how to set your priorities and therefore sometimes make some sacrifices when you have a small budget.
For example: For a modest budget, the SSD is a luxury that is not possible, the SSHD can for example replace it and still give you the reactivity you are looking for at a more desirable price point.
Another example, putting a 3TB hard drive is not an obligation at the time of purchase, it can easily be added later (PC – not laptop!).
Budget
Whether in the world of desktop PCs or laptop gamers, you really need to avoid setting “strict” budget limits. For example, I absolutely don’t want to exceed the 800€ budget, even 810€ I refuse.
But, sometimes, if you go a little over budget, you will be able to have a PC that corresponds much more to your expectations, which will be much more powerful and therefore will last longer AKA future-proofing; you save money in the long run.
There is a kind of plateau effect in computing, which means that sometimes a €850 PC will be almost twice as good as a €800 PC. I’ve exaggerated a bit, but it’s not far from it.
Afraid of editing? Don’t want to learn how to install Windows?
The assembly of a PC is a service that costs 40usd, 3 major sites offer this service. The disadvantage is that you’ll have to buy all the components that make up a PC.
If you already have 1 or 2 components, or if you want to split your purchase on several websites, it doesn’t work anymore.
For the installation of Windows, it’s the same thing. This service will cost you between 30 and 40usd, and you will have to buy the license on the merchant site.
It is not possible to send them a burned DVD, if you think about it!
Learn how to edit and install operating system
There are also those who want to get started but need a helping hand. So for them, we’ve created the TV area with lots of videos.
There you can find tutorials to set up your PC, as well as tutorials to install Windows.
And in case of problems? There’s an article about common mounting errors, and of course there’s the forum where we’ll help you.
If I had to qualify in 2 words the fact of having to mount your pc from A to Z (Windows included).
A laptop is like us… it gets old!
It is now that you decide the future of your configuration. Just like in the car, we’re going to ask you to look far ahead to see the road ahead!
If you have a desktop PC:
– There are components that can be kept from one configuration to another, so you’ll have to invest wisely in order to have a hardware that is as qualitative as possible and therefore that will hold on the long term.
– If you want to give yourself the possibility of a future SLI/Crossfire, it is now that you should think about it.
Because it will impact the purchase of the motherboard, the case and the power supply.
If you have a laptop:
Avoid thinking about the future… because you will have to change machine, the laptop is not evolutive. It’s a luxury, but few of us hardcore gamers can afford one powerful enough to manage our needs. Yet – watch this space; they are always improving.