Nvidia got the ball rolling in 2019 on having way too many graphics card options in and around the midrange, and now AMD is getting in on that fun with the RX 5500 XT. Let’s take a look at this GPU from AMD!
(Information on Steam’s most consistent top games were gathered for this article from Steam Charts)
Logical Increments has a continuously updated tier list, showing how much it will cost to build a system with a specific performance goal in mind. Ranging from the basic ‘Destitute’ system to the crazy ‘Monstrous’ system, it gives readers an idea of what they can achieve, what their upgrade paths are, and provides easy build lists to ensure a balanced system with high-quality parts.
Using that list, we can cross-reference with the most popular games currently being played on Steam (in terms of consistently high player counts), and fit each game with a Logical Increments tier. In fact, I’ve matched each of the 15 games in this article with 2 LI tiers each: one for 60+ FPS at 1080p, and one for 60+ FPS at 4K.
As I compiled this information, I had two basic criteria that a system had to fulfill to fit into a specific category:
Now, let’s see what kind of PC it takes to run Steam’s top games!
With the threat of Valkorion finally over, players of the new expansion to Star Wars: The Old Republic, Onslaught, can look forward to the next big bad: their frame rate!
Let’s take a look at building a PC for the current version of the game.
The madlads at Valve did it: we actually, truly, really do have a new Half-Life game coming in the form of Half-Life: Alyx!!! Sound the alarms, get the hype train started, IT’S HAPPENING!!!
But first, we need to build a PC to play the thing.
On the face of it, Stadia Pro is the perfect solution. 4K gaming for the masses, for a monthly fee. No more building.
Almost sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it… ?
On paper, Google Stadia Base sounds great. After all, how can you beat free? Let’s have a look at building a PC and go from there!
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.
Up until a few years ago, the value king for gaming was the Intel i5 processor. More recently, AMD’s Ryzen APUs have stolen the show at the low tiers, and we all know that no integrated graphics from Intel can currently compete with AMD’s Vega 8 and Vega 11 iGPUs. So it’s a no-brainer for gaming builders at very low budgets (who are entirely skipping graphics cards) to go with Ryzen APUs.
But outside of such head-to-head CPU comparisons, a broader value question remains for upper-low-tier (and lower-mid-tier) builders: how would a self-built system balanced around AMD’s newest R3 (including a discrete graphics card) compare to a highly discounted prebuilt system with a few key upgrades?
If you’ve spent more than five minutes checking headphones online, you’ve probably realised a few things:
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?”
One of the best parts of the indie gaming scene is that it’s full of great games that are often less demanding (performance-wise) than AAA titles. This allows gamers on a tight budget to still have an awesome experience without endless budgeting and saving up beforehand.
In this guide, we look at what it takes to build a PC for playing popular indie games!