PC Buying Guide 101
#4 A comprehensive guide to choosing your next PC
“Should I invest in a better graphics card (GPU) rather than a processor (CPU)?”, “What are the best laptops on a low budget for daily tasks?”, “What is the best gaming laptop?”, “What is the best gaming monitor?”, these are the questions I get asked a lot. If you are in a similar situation where you are either overwhelmed or confused, this article is for you. If someone you know is in a similar dilemma, feel free to share this with them.
Before deciding to buy a PC, which is a significant investment for at least 3-5 years, it’s important to get it right. The pain you will go through when you buy the wrong equipment is real and I have been there before. Never trust a single source, including me, always research on Google or Youtube. There are several technical reviews, benchmarks etc, which will give you a good idea if the PC you are looking for is the right fit for you. It’s imperative to understand all the major PC components and how to pick and choose each one of them according to your use case.
Laptop vs Desktop
Let’s say you buy a laptop worth $ 1500; had you used the same amount and assembled a desktop, you would have got better performance, value for your money and upgrade path. The reason for this is that even if they have identical components on paper, the laptop units (GPU or CPU) aren’t nearly as powerful as their desktop counterparts. Due to the less available space to keep the components cool in a laptop, they are thermally limited. Also, desktops provide upgradability where you can replace each component (CPU, GPU, Storage, RAM, Motherboard etc) as per your requirement which will extend the lifetime of your PC. If you use your PC mostly at home and don’t need it to take it on the go, go for a desktop. If portability is important to you due to work or business, go for a laptop.
Processor (CPU)
There are two major companies in the CPU space, Intel and AMD. Both release a new generation of processors every year, more or less. There are 4 major series of processors on each side. AMD has AMD Ryzen 3, 5, 7 and 9 series processors, while Intel has Intel i3, i5, i7 and i9 series processors. The rule of thumb is, that the higher the number better the performance. Apart from the above, there are a few more models on both the lower-end (Athlon, Pentium) and higher-end (Xenon, Threadripper) of the spectrum which we can ignore as an average consumer.
If you are looking for low-budget options and don’t do many CPU-intensive tasks such as photo editing, rendering, streaming or gaming, go for Ryzen 3 or i3 series. If you have an average budget and edit or render or stream occasionally, go for Ryzen 5 or i5 series. If you have been saving up for a high-end PC, go for the Ryzen 7 or i7 series which will cover all of your content creation or gaming needs. If you are a professional content creator or a rich kid with money to throw away, buy Ryzen 9 or i9 series!
Before buying any processor, compare all the options from AMD and Intel in your budget and choose the best performance per dollar or rupee. Always check the generation of the processor you are buying and make sure you watch the reviews, benchmark results and gaming performance (if applicable) online from at least two reliable sources before making a decision.
Graphics (GPU)
In layman’s terms, a GPU is the reason you see the stuff on your screen. There are two major companies in the GPU space, Nvidia and AMD. At the time of writing, Intel just released its first generation ARC GPUs with buggy drivers and I recommend not buying them.
When it comes to technology, never buy the 1st generation. Always wait and buy the improved and refined version.
There are two types of graphics options: Integrated Graphics and Discrete Graphics. Integrated graphics are baked onto the CPU, so both graphics and central processing happen on a single chip, while discrete graphics have a different dedicated unit for graphics processing. If you are a light user with basic media consumption, web browsing. It’s better to go for integrated graphics options as they save money and are energy efficient. If you are a gamer or content creator who requires graphics horsepower, buy a PC with dedicated graphics.
AMD currently has 6000 series GPUs while Nividia has 3000 series with 4000 series on the way sometime this year. Here again, the rule of thumb is, that the higher the number better the performance. There are also XT (AMD) and ti (Nvidia) high-performance versions of the same models which offer slightly higher performance than the base variants. Always check the generation of the GPU you are buying and make sure you watch the reviews, benchmark results and gaming performance online from at least two reliable sources before making a decision.
RAM
RAM (Random Access Memory) is a temporary storage unit which stores OS, active applications and current data. If you are a light user with a tight budget, 8GB of RAM is sufficient. Otherwise, 16GB is pretty standard these days. If you are a heavy multi-tasker, then 32GB and above is recommended. No matter the size, always go for two RAM sticks. For example, if you’re going with 16GB RAM, go for 2 * 8GB sticks instead of 1 * 16GB stick to take advantage of the dual channel configuration. If your motherboard has 4 slots, you can divide the size by 4 and go with 4 sticks. However, at least a dual-channel is recommended for optimal performance.
DDR4 and DDR5 (latest) are the RAM versions available currently. If the price and your motherboard permits go for DDR5. If you have an AMD Ryzen processor, go with faster RAMs of at least 3200 MHz clock speed as it improves the performance significantly.
Display (Monitor)
Monitors come in various sizes, resolutions, refresh rates, response times and panels. My recommendations for a monitor vary based on the type of user you are.
Casual User
If you are a casual user who uses a PC for media consumption, you can go ahead with any size (24, 27 inches or above) and a standard refresh rate of 60 Hz. If you are going with 24 inches, go with a 1080p (Full HD) resolution, for 27 inches go with 1440p resolution and for anything above 27 inches go with a 4K resolution option. Go for IPS panels as they have the best colour reproduction and skip TN panels. If you have the budget OLED panels offer the best quality.
Content Creator
If you are a content creator user who uses colour for video or photo editing, go with an IPS or OLED panel with 4K resolution. You can even go with widescreen options as they help with your workflow. The refresh rate doesn’t matter unless you want to game as well; else a standard refresh rate of 60 Hz is sufficient.
Gamer
If you have the graphics horsepower, go for a 1440p or 4K monitor, else stick with 24-inch, 1080p IPS display monitors. You can choose anything above the 144 Hz refresh rate based on your budget. Ensure input delay or latency is as low as possible if you are a competitive player. Some monitors offer as low as 1ms delay.
Always check the reviews online from at least two reliable sources before making a purchasing decision.
Storage
Go for an SSD (Solid-State Drive) instead of an HDD. Make sure you install all of your applications, games and OS on an SSD for faster read-write speeds and load times. Since game and application sizes have increased significantly over the years, a minimum of 512 GB SSD is recommended if you are a casual user, else a minimum of 1 TB is necessary. If you require huge storage for media or documents, you can use an extra HDD for them as HDDs are cheaper than SSDs.
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About Me
I am a Technical Lead with an IT firm who is passionate about everything related to technology, productivity and writing. I post every week on Sundays. If you love my content, please consider supporting me by sharing this with your loved ones. Have a great week!
Hi Nithin. Great work on these posts. I read through them all, very informative and high in value. Excited to keep following your newsletter journey, as we started roughly at the same time. Have fun.
very informative bro