CPU

A CPU, orcentral processing unit,is what processes instructions from applications.

It gathers information from a program and then decodes and executes the commands.

It’s important in general computing needs but is an especially critical component to consider when thinking about gaming.

EVGA GeForce GTX 750 gaming component.

EVGA

If you’re looking for a high-performance system, a quad-core or hexa-core processor works well in multi-threaded applications.

Octa-core processors are typically used by video game programmers and engineers.

Motherboard

Another important component when considering a gaming PC is the computer’smotherboard.

Memory

This piece of hardware is often referred to asRAM.

The memory in a computer provides a space for data to be accessed by the CPU.

The amount of RAM you need differs drastically depending on what the computer is used for.

However, a gaming PC might require 8 GB of RAM or more.

Some computers allow you toinstall additional RAM.

Most PC games have a minimum and a recommended requirement, like 6 GB minimum and 8 GB recommended.

Generally, these two figures are just a couple of gigabytes apart.

Graphics Card

Yet another vital component to a gaming PC is the graphics card.

This is the meat and potatoes of the visual experience when you run games.

Most, if not all, video cards offer these features.

Hard Drive

The hard drive is where files are stored.

So long as a video game is installed on your rig, it will be occupying hard drive storage.

This is why it’s important to have a huge hard drive for your gaming PC.

Just add another in addition to your primary, existing drive.

SSDs also work well in desktop computers because they offer faster boot times and greater file transfer speeds.

If you oughta, however, you could get by with a regular hard drive.

RPM is another component of the HDD that you should look out for if you’rebuying a new hard drive.

It stands for rotations per minute and represents how many revolutions the platter can spin in 60 seconds.

The faster the RPMs, the better (7200 RPM drives are common).

On the other hand, SSDs (which have no moving parts) retrieve and present data even faster.

While SSDs are still expensive, one of them could be a good investment.