So, you’re building a PC; with modern components running faster (and hotter) than ever, you’ll need at least one fan. Searches reveal thousands of models bragging about their CFM or noise levels or bearing type. How do you cut through the marketing jargon? This guide for beginners should demystify computer cooling!
If you peruse sites like this, there’s a good chance you’ve come across the monitor discussion. “I’m buying a monitor, what size/resolution/refresh rate should I get?” Choosing the right monitor can be as important as (or, in some situations, even more important than) anything else in your build.
After all, your monitor is how you experience your build. The best graphics card and CPU don’t mean much if the monitor you’re using can’t show you the benefits of those parts.
Often, PC enthusiasts will speak of overclocking the way car enthusiasts discuss high-performance engines, with megahertz and voltage taking the place of horsepower and torque. Overclocking is often a relatively simple way to squeeze out extra performance from computer components; however, problems sometimes do arise. Luckily, most problems faced with overclocking are easily fixed with some basic troubleshooting techniques.
For our purposes, we’ll look at issues affecting the components that are overclocked the most: the CPU and GPU.
Starting a university degree in video production, I needed something that could handle far more than my current gaming build. So, with new high-core CPUs from both Intel and AMD to choose from, this article looks at the parts that I’ve used to my new editing build.
A lot of enthusiast workstation customers are eagerly awaiting the release of the $5,000 iMac Pro coming in December. Yet, with such a price tag, it had me wondering if it’s the best option for money. With the release of the brand new iMac, it comes as no surprise that avid Apple fans are looking to Sell My iMac to see how much money they could get if they were to sell it. The money can then be put towards buying the latest option. Everyone one has their own preference when it comes to Windows or Apple and that’s not a problem. So join me as we delve into workstation parts to find the answer!
(Note: If you want to skip to our recommended 4K monitors below, scroll down to “Our favorite 4K monitors.”)
For desktop PC users, 1080p (1920×1080) monitors are ubiquitous today, but that was not always the case. A little more than ten years ago, they were just starting to hit the market. Monitors with an aspect ratio of 16:10 (for instance, 1920×1200) first started appearing back in 2004, with 16:9 (1080p) monitors coming a year or two after.
Some Samsung VRAM
All graphics cards need both a GPU and VRAM to function properly. While the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) does the actual processing of data to output images on your monitor, the data it is processing and providing is stored and accessed from the chips of VRAM (Video Random Access Memory) surrounding it.
Outputting high-resolution graphics at a quick rate requires both a beefy GPU and a large quantity of high-bandwidth VRAM working in tandem. For most of the past decade, VRAM design was fairly stagnant, and focused on using more power to achieve greater VRAM clock speeds.
Now this is how we do it…
Support for Ultrawide resolutions has grown immensely in the past few years, and is now to a point where it is generally a viable choice for a majority of users — both for work and play. For workstations, 21:9 is much like having dual monitors, but without the bezel. In this guide we’ll be targeting three different price points and recommending a different monitor for each — all Ultrawide. All prices include the price of the monitor. Commence the 21:9 build guide!
Battlefield 1 will be releasing on PC Oct. 21st. And with great visual quality comes semi-great hardware demands.
Can your PC handle Battlefield 1? Are you looking to build a PC or upgrade to one that can run BF1 the way it’s meant to be played? Check out our new PC build guide: Building the Best PC for Battlefield 1.
If you have any questions about the hardware requirements for Battlefield 1, or if you have any suggestions for other game build guides, let us know in the comments!
Upon its release in May 2015, the Witcher 3 usurped the throne from Crysis 3 to be the most demanding PC game available. To put it simply: Witcher 3 takes an insane amount of computing power to run at its maximum potential.
Because of this, many users have requested a PC build guide for the Witcher 3. We have now delivered: Building the Best PC for the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.