Posts in Category: guides

How Many CPU Cores Do You Need?

CPU Core Count

Whether you’re building a new computer or just upgrading your current one, the CPU (central processing unit)—being the ‘brain’ of the computer—is an important component to get right.

But, with all the improvements and advancements in recent years on both the hardware and software sides, how many CPU cores do you need?

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A Guide to Buying the Best Chair for PC Gaming

An often-overlooked part of a PC gaming setup is what gaming chair to buy. Most modern “gaming” chairs are more form that function, lined with bright colors and shaped like race car bucket seats. But the truth is that you might not need one of those “gaming” chairs. In fact, you’re usually better off buying a quality office chair.

For most PC builders, getting the right chair is easy to forget, but think about it: you’ve spent hours pouring over component comparisons and recommended build guides, but rarely is that same attention placed on where you’ll be sitting. A good chair can often outlast those PC components, so you should give it some thought.

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Headphones Buying Guide

If you’ve spent more than five minutes checking headphones online, you’ve probably realised a few things:

  1. There’s thousands of different headphones.
  2. There’s thousands of different headphones with different properties and use cases.
  3. There’s thousands of different headphones with different properties and use cases, all within your budget.
  4. So you’ve furrowed your brow, opted out of the stress, and foisted this job to your future self (your limited spare time is better spent in nobler pursuits—like searching through your Netflix or Steam backlog).

All the headphones I’ve purchased have been for different uses, and each one has come with pros and cons. There’s a lot to consider, and hopefully this guide will help make the decision easier. Keep in mind that the following is in general terms. You may find a specific pair of headphones that behaves unexpectedly or as if it had different properties, and that’s fine. But this should match at least 90% of standard headphones on the market.

If you just want to get some recommendations for headphones based on different use cases and budgets, you can skip down to the section titled,”Which headphones should I buy?”

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Comparing Single Board Computers

A single board computer (or SBC) is an entire PC in the form of a single (usually quite small) piece of hardware. Some prominent names in the SBC market may be familiar to you—such as Raspberry Pi, Odroid, and LattePanda. At the high end, there are other familiar names that you may not even associate with SBCs . . . like Nvidia and AMD!

Single board computers can be used for many purposes, such as: a tiny general-purpose desktop PC; a dedicated media PC for playing music, TV, and movies; an emulation machine; a server; a hobby electronics or programming project; and much, much more.

Even though many single board computers are similarly priced, there is a ton of competition in the single board market. Wonder why that is? Well wonder no more: it’s because different single board computers are often specialized for different groups and different purposes. Now, join us as we delve into the big wide world of single board computers!

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The 5 Best Gaming Laptops to Buy in 2019

These days, you don’t need to get a humongous gaming desktop to play AAA titles at max settings. With lower prices, powerful components, and sleek designsnow is an excellent time to get a gaming laptop. Most modern gaming laptops feature Nvidia’s new RTX cards, although even the ones with older GPU models manage to achieve high-end performance in sleek, portable packages. Don’t forget to check out other computer-related reviews at websites similar to buyersimpact.co.uk (https://buyersimpact.co.uk/) if you’re interested. But anyway, these are some of our favorite gaming laptops for 2019, listed in order of increasing price:

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Your Comprehensive Wireless Network Adapter Guide

Wireless Network Adapter Guide

Previously, we’ve discussed routers and gave recommendations for some of the best routers in our article on The Best Routers, and How to Choose a Router for You. Today, we go over what we use to connect to those routers wirelessly: The wireless adapter.

We cover the most important things to know in detail, then we offer recommendations for internal and external options at different budget levels. So if you’re already knowledgeable about wireless cards (or you’re in a hurry), go ahead and scroll down to the list of recommended options!

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Capture Cards: A Quick Buying Guide

capture cards buyers guide

At first glance, it can be hard to figure out what you’re getting with capture cards. With the world of game capturing growing ever larger thanks to the popularity of streaming and retro gaming, more fans are wanting to try their hand at recording their epic gaming moments. In this quick guide, we take a look at different capture cards (at various prices) to hopefully make things clearer!

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How to Choose the Right Storage for Your Gaming PC

M.2 SATA, M.2 NVME, SSD, HDDif any of those abbreviations make your head spin faster than a hard drive platter, look no further. This article outlines the different storage options on the market today, highlighting the best use-cases for each and recommending the best product in every class.

Upgrading an older storage drive to an SSD is one of the surest (and cheapest) ways to give a boost to an older PC, but where should you begin? There are three main options on the market today: HDDs, SATA SSDs, and M.2 SSDs. Here’s a look at each.

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Motherboard VRMs: What are Power Phases, and How Many Should I Have?

Motherboard VRM Power Phases Explanation

Often, motherboard product pages and online forum users mention a motherboard’s VRM and how many power phases it has. Being a somewhat technical topic, VRMs aren’t an easy topic to get into. So today, we will introduce the concept of the VRM and these so-called power phases as simple and straightforward as possible, so that you can easily discern what a motherboard product page is telling you (and when it matters).

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Buying Used PC Hardware: A Beginner’s Guide

Beginner's Guide to Used Hardware

If you’re close to the ‘Destitute’ level on our main chart—or even within spitting distance—new hardware prices can seem insurmountable. But what if you didn’t have to pinch pennies waiting for a sale? What if you could have a powerful—if slightly dated—system for a fraction of the cost?

Thankfully for you, there’s a surprisingly huge market for used hardware online! eBay is obvious, but forums like /r/hardwareswap are tight-knit, self-policing communities of enthusiasts eager to swap silicon. It’s also quite safe: PayPal is the most popular payment method, with their Goods and Services option offering buyer protection in the event of fraud.

That being said, not all used components age as gracefully as others. We’ve created this guide so you can shop wisely.

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