Gaming Hard Drives

While solid state drives are all the rage right now, traditional mechanical hard drives are still a great affordable storage option. And, even if you are going to get a solid state drive, it’s a good idea to get a traditional hard drive to support it. In this article I’m going to go over the best hard drive options for your gaming computer.

Your hard drive isn’t going to have the hugest impact on your gaming experience. However, they are still extremely important as they hold all of the important data, programs, and applications that are on your computer.

As far as gaming goes, the only area where hard drives will make a difference is in the time it takes to load your game. Although, most gamers typically also have large amounts of music and videos.

Some gamers even record their own videos. If that is the case, then the size of your hard drive is going to be extremely important.


I usually recommend an HDD with 1TB of storage space. This gives you plenty of space and it’s fairly affordable. If you’re working with a budget, then you’ll have to consider going with a smaller HDD and upgrading to more storage later.

In any case, you should look to get an HDD with a speed of 7200RPM. This will give you  good results in game load time. If you’re working with a huge budget, you might want to consider getting an SSD, and if you have an unlimted budget, a 10,000RPM HDD like the WD Velociraptor. You can also take it a step further and get multiple HDDs and run them in RAID configuration for best results.

I only chose one hard drive for each price range and while there are definitely some other worthy HDDs in these price ranges, I felt these offered the best returns for PC gamers.

Motherboards PC Gaming

Motherboards PC Gaming

A good gaming motherboard doesn't have to be expensive and with the right overclocking features can extend the life of your components. While there are clearly a lot of options out there some motherboards seem to give you not only better options, but also a much better value for your money.

Even older LGA 1155 options give you great value if you can find them at the right price.

In this post I'll review and list the top rated Haswell 1150, Ivy and Sandy Bridge 1155, and AMD AM3+ socket motherboards for gaming. Don't forget to vote for your favorite motherboard in the polls below.

If you’re building a new computer this year, then here’s a quick summary of sockets and chipsets that have been released in the last couple of years.

Haswell Compatible LGA 1150 Motherboards:

Compatible with Intel’s most recent Haswell release and future Broadwell release, 1150 motherboards come in 6 chipset types; H81, B85, Q85, Q87, H87, Z87, and most recently Z97. If you’re an overclocker you’ll want to look at the Z87 chipset which, in my opinion, offers the most flexibility for gamers looking to build performance machines. Also, keep in mind that only the Haswell motherboard chipsets which end in “87″ offer Intel Rapid Storage and Smart Response technology. All Haswell motherboards offer built-in GPU support.

If you’re building a new PC, its worth upgrading to the new Z97 chipset:

Those looking for forward compatibility should look for the new Z97 chipset which is compatible with all Haswell processors as well as Intel Broadwell processors.

Socket AM3+

AM3+ motherboards were originally released in 2011 and are compatible with AMD’s newer FX series processors. AM3+ is also backward compatible with older Phenom II, Athlon II, and Sempron 100 Series CPU.

LGA 2011 Socket R

These motherboards are typically enthusiast-focused and in 2011 replaced Intel’s 1366 motherboards. LGA 2011 motherboards are compatible with Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge-e or enthusiast level processors.

Best Ram for PC Gaming Top 5

Top 5 Best Rated PC Ram

When it comes to ram gamers look for stability, reliability, speed, and the best overall value for their money. This top ten list is based upon customer feedback, ratings, and most importantly your feedback in the voting section.


If you need to know whether this ram is compatible with your motherboard, then see the learning guide section below and your motherboard’s specifications. If you are building a PC, then make sure to buy ram altogether so that you can take advantage of the double data throughput that you get with multiple channel kits.

1.) Corsair Vengeance

Corsair’s Vengeance ram is the most popular among gamers today. It’s fast, reliable, and inexpensive when compared to other brands. Most are gravitating towards 4×4 GB sticks for a total of 16GB. While you certainly could upgrade to 32GB, 16GB is more than you need right now, and by the time you really need more than that you’ll probably want to build a new rig anyway.

Specifications for the featured model include 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 SDRAM, 1600 speed, timing 9-9-9-24, includes quad channel kit, 1.5V, and includes Corsair’s lifetime limited warranty.

2.) Kingston Technology HyperX

Kingston is another trusted name for memory in the gaming industry and is the world’s overall PC leader in memory sales. This model utilizes the HyperX module with faster latency timing for higher performance and speed.

Kingston also has faster models in the Genesis and the XMP T1 Series (fastest) if you’re willing to spend a little bit more.

Technical details: Cas Latency 9 DDR3 1600, 1.65V, dual channel kit included (also available in additional sizes), and includes a lifetime limited warranty from Kingston.

3.) G. Skill Ripjaws Series

The Ripjaws Series from G.Skill is available in a wide variety of packages, speeds, and timings and is preferred on many PC Building enthusiast sites (like Tom’s Hardware). It’s a super durable and high-performance customer award winner that comes with a lifetime manufacturer’s warranty. I’ve used it on several different builds and never had an issue.

4.) Corsair Dominator

Corsair Dominator is an extreme performance and overclocking stabile memory that uses Dual-path Heat Xchange cooling technology and comes with removable heat sinks. A Lifetime Warranty is Included.

Technical details for the featured model (CMP8GX3M2A1600C9) include 8GB (2 x 4GB) of DDR3 1600 Ram with 9-9-9-24 timing (Cas – 9) and used as dual channel kit.

5.) Corsair XMS3

Corsair’s XMS3 is another really good option for your rig. It’s available in all capacities but I suggest you purchase all the ram you need at the same time to take advantage of the multiple channel architecture in order to take advantage of the better data throughput.

Again, 16GB, in my opinion is plenty while 8GB should run most games just fine.

The AMD Radeon R9 270X

AMD Radeon R9 270X

The Radeon 200 series was a different kind of launch from AMD than anything we’ve seen from them before. The slow development of the next generation of manufacturing processes from fab partner TSMC has required both AMD and NVIDIA to get a bit creative in how they want to roll out products, along with how they want to promote and position those products. Whereas in previous years we’d seen one or both firms roll out a number of new GPUs, 2013 will be the year where we only see one new GPU from each, and those GPUs were at the high-end. This hasn’t prevented AMD from bringing around new products or bringing down the price-to-performance ratio of their lineup, but it has required a different kind of launch than what they would do in previous years.

For AMD, the new reality of doing another product cycle at 28nm has meant that AMD’s product plans for the end of 2013 and 2014 have involved a lot of shifting of GPUs and prices. GCN is an architecture with long legs, and the GPUs cut from it being equally as long legged. So the company has set forth on a plan to introduce a new high-end GPU for the top of their market (the 290 series), while the mainstream and lower markets will receive new products based on existing GPUs. We’ve already seen the first step of that process with the launch of the Radeon R9 280X, and now we’re ready to take a look at the next step with the Radeon R9 270 series.

The Radeon R9 270 series is composed of two products, the 270X and the 270, with the X indicating the higher performing part in AMD’s new naming scheme. The 270X actually launched almost a month ago – a result of the 200 series launch blast its repurposed GPUs – while we’re just now catching up to the 270 series today, with the launch of the lower tier R9 270. Both of these parts are based on AMD’s venerable Pitcairn GPU, which post-shuffle is being moved from AMD’s $200+ enthusiast cards to their sub-$200 mainstream cards. They are in essence the successors to the 7870 and 7850, the previous video card family that Pitcairn called home

GTX 750 Ti : Maxwell Adds Performance Using Less Power

GTX 750 Ti : Maxwell Adds Performance Using Less Power

These days, article we review the new GeForce GTX 750 and 750 Ti from Nvidia. These cards are affordable - low power - decent performance graphics cards that will allow you to game even at 1080P. These cards are intended to replace the Geforce GTX 650 series. For the technology-press however the most important fact is that a new GPU architecture was applied, these cards based on the new Maxwell GPU architecture. 

That's right, Maxwell, as Nvidia is now slowly moving away from Kepler. The first Maxwell GPU released is the GM107, which has been baked and plastered onto the GeForce GTX 750 and 750 Ti graphics cards. Maxwell makes use of a 28nm node manufacturing process, later models however should move down to a 20nm manufacturing process. Nvidia launches two initial products today, the GeForce GTX 750 and 750 Ti. Both hover on the entry-level to mainstream level segment. As such, the GeForce GTX 750 Ti will get 640 CUDA cores, 40 TMUs and 16 ROPs. These cards will be equipped with 1 or 2GB GDDR5 memory bound over a rather narrow 128-bit interface. In terms of clock frequencies, depending on brand/oem 1020 MHz will be the baseline target for the main clock frequency on the GPU while the cards can boost to 1084 MHz. The 'standard' GeForce GTX 750 will get 512 CUDA cores, 32 TMUs and 16 ROPs, with just 1GB graphics memory though.

Overall, the GeForce GTX 750 and 750 Ti, as we'll demonstrate, will have enough horsepower to step into the DX11 gaming arena at up-to 1920x1080 (Full HD) resolution as Maxwell does bring in some new efficiencies. Now that doesn't mean that all modern titles will be playable with good image quality settings, let's just say that dated titles will be playable with a resolution of 1920x1080/1200. And if you can forfeit to medium quality settings in a game and don't do any crazy stuff anti-aliasing wise, it's definitely plausible to play games really nicely at FullHD with acceptable framerates. The GeForce GTX 750 (Ti) graphics cards will be launched in the sub 150 USD/EUR price range. In this review we'll look at the models from NVIDIA themselves, thus the reference products.

gamers like their graphics cards beefy. Double-slot coolers and fancy fan shrouds are typically what elicit Tim Allen-style grunts and knowing nods of approval. After all, high frame rates require complex GPUs. Billions of transistors cranking away atBattlefield 4 get hot. And all of that heat needs to go somewhere.

So if you're coming to the table with a short, naked PCB, it'd better have a trick or two up its figurative sleeve. 

Best Gaming CPU

Best Gaming CPU

            We decided to conduct thorough testing and try to establish an answer to this never ending dilemma: What is the Best CPU for Gaming ? “Which CPU should I buy? Intel or AMD? What about overclocking, is there any use of it at all and if there is, is it worth giving extra  money for a more expensive overclockable CPU?”    

            So many questions that need answering, and answering only one of them is a difficult task.  PC gaming is on its turning point , next gen consoles have been released, previous generation consoles are still here and will probably stick around for a year or two at least.
           
           How does this affect PC gaming you ask , since game developers usually do not bother optimizing games when porting them from consoles. This usually means that games only use 2 CPU cores/threads, or in the best case scenario 4 cores/threads. And yes next gen consoles have a eight core CPU, however if you have read our previous benchmarks you should know that optimization isn’t perfect with next gen consoles and games. As long as old consoles are still here and make the majority of the market, improvements when it comes to optimizing console ports is not in sight. Most users are confused when looking to get a new CPU since its hard to pick a long lasting solution without the fear of wasting money, which is quite valuable in these troubling times. Not an easy time to pick a CPU, then again it never was.

Gaming PC

Gaming PCs: What to Look For

Made-to-order gaming units are the way to go if you’re interested in the ultimate gaming experience. Many gaming computers come already equipped with the finest technologies, but upgrading is the best option to ensure you get exactly what you want. Consider the following criteria before your build your dream gaming machine.

Graphics & Performance
Many of today’s hottest games incorporate 3D imagery, so you'll want to upgrade your graphics card to take full advantage of the mind-blowing scenery. Stream processors, also known as CUDA cores, are what graphics cards use to process images quickly and efficiently. The more stream processors a graphics card has, the better it is. Vendor-provided upgrades are also a very important component of purchasing a gamer computer. These customizations – which can include everything from graphics cards to speakers – let you tailor a gaming system to your personal use and preferences, and to the size of your wallet.

Processor & Storage
The best gaming computers start with a good processor. Whether you prefer AMD or Intel, look for a processor of at least 3.5 gigahertz, such as the Intel i7-4770K or the AMD FX-9590. The faster your processor, the less lag you’ll have to deal with and the more you can multitask. When it comes to storage space, more is always better. Anything larger than 1TB will provide enough room for all those game files and digital movies. If you’re looking for a less expensive option, buy a standard hard disk drive. For a faster, more reliable drive, try a solid-state drive. Although solid-state drives are more expensive, they don’t have moving parts, making them longer-lasting and more durable. Most gamer PCs even have room for multiple drives, so mix and match or add as much hard drive space as you need.

Design
The design of good gamer PCs can be both aesthetically pleasing and powerfully efficient. Start with the size: Determine whether a full-size, mid-size, slim or mini system is best for you. If you want to upgrade your machine, choose a larger chassis, but if you have limited space on your desk, look for a smaller body. Many of the best gaming PCs also have clear panels and inside lighting for showing off components to friends and competitors.

Liquid-cooled systems are the most efficient way to keep your processor from overheating, so look into a liquid-cooled system if you plan on extensive gameplay for hours on end. A good system needs enough wattage to fuel the parts in your gaming system, so look for a power supply with more than 600 watts. Plenty of USB ports will allow you to plug in mice, a keyboard and other multimedia devices, so look for more than four, and take note of how many offer USB 3.0 support.

Help & Support
If you’re looking for the best gaming desktop, you’ll also want to be looking for the best customer support. An easy-to-contact manufacturer is more likely to assist you with problems, so look for email support, phone numbers and a live chat feature on the website. If driver downloads are available on the manufacturer’s website, you can always keep your system up to date. User forums and FAQs are also helpful when you need a quick solution or want to ask a question from others who have the same gaming system. Another very important consideration is the warranty available on your gaming PC. A multi-year warranty is common, but choosing a gamer PC with three to six years of coverage will protect against any defects or damage until you buy your next gaming machine.

You might be tempted to buy an inexpensive gaming PC, but making a few upgrades will save you time, stress and money in the long run. Plus, a gaming PC has a much higher performance ceiling than gaming laptops, thanks to their larger size. Be on the lookout for fast processors, good graphics cards and large hard drives to ensure you get the most from your top gaming system.