Learn A Few Things About Desktop Computers

As much as tablets, smartphones, and laptops have taken over the world, the need for desktop computers isn’t going anywhere. While their market share isn’t what it used to be, many homes still have one somewhere, especially given how they can connect to large monitors or even multiple ones. No matter how much time you’ve spent with them, you might still stand to benefit from learning a few things. Hopefully, this article will either open your eyes to a few new tricks or at least refresh a few things you’ve forgotten along the way.

Make sure you always have an antivirus set up on your desktop. If you don’t, you’re putting yourself at risk of malicious software. That can rob you of sensitive personal information and even impact how fast your computer runs. Many programs are free, and you can schedule them to automatically update their virus definition sets and run sweeps.

If your computer is running slow, see if you can run MS Config from your start menu. Not every version of Windows has this, but if you do, you can see the number of programs that automatically start running when you boot up. Eliminate the ones that you don’t use on a regular basis.

Be careful with what pieces of hardware or components you buy if you want to upgrade your desktop. You can usually get more speed out a new processor, but only if it fits the motherboard’s socket type. Not every RAM chip is going to work in every motherboard either. Verify compatibility before you buy anything.

Make sure your desktop computer is part of your regular cleaning. It’s usually pretty easy to unscrew a case and pull it off, at least partly. Just use a can of compressed air to spray out dust. This keeps your machine clean and the fan can be fully functional.

If you’d like to add considerable speed to your desktop without buying a new one, there are four things you can look into from a hardware perspective. First, look into replacing the processor or overclocking it. Second, add a better video card with a bigger GPU, particularly if you are using onboard graphics. Third, add more RAM or replace your current chips with bigger ones. Fourth, add an SSD; a solid state hard drive can be used to run the operating system and primary programs at speeds that are superior to conventional platter HDDs.

Make sure you’re using the fastest possible connection options with your desktop. Ethernet ports are standard, but a WiFi card could let you go wireless and have fewer cables hanging around. You might even want to start using Bluetooth technology. Find out what options and technology your computer has. If it’s missing anything, don’t assume you need a new desktop though. Ethernet, WiFi, and even Bluetooth connectivity can all be added using expansion cards.

Keep this article in mind the next time you use your desktop if you’re not on it right now. If you recognize any of these tips as being useful, be sure you actually use them to make your life easier!

Building Gaming Computers

Gaming computers can get expensive. However, you don’t have to necessarily fork out too much money for every part. There are certain computer parts that you will want to splurge on when you are looking to build the best laptops here. Below, we will be discussing some of the most important parts to spend the majority of your budget on.

Most Important Parts For Gaming PCs:

1. Graphics Card

This is perhaps the most critical component that you are going to want to allocate a majority of your budget towards. Spending a good amount of your budget on the graphics card for your PC is one of the best things that you can do to improve the overall performance of your entire PC. Any game that you play is going to utilize a low of the power that your graphics card has. Because of this, you should allocate a majority of your budget towards the graphics card in your PC as it is going to directly improve your gaming performance the most.

2. Central Processing Unit

Another big component that you want to allocate a lot of your budget to would have to be your CPU. Your central processing unit is another component that can dictate how well a game is able to run on your system. This is especially true for a lot of the latest games on the market. Many new games are utilizing many more cores and threads of multi-threaded CPUs. Because of this, it is offloading a lot of the processing power from the graphics card to the CPU. As a result, if you don’t have a multi-core CPU capable of hyperthreading, you are likely going to experience significant performance dips when running the latest games.

3. RAM

Another big thing that you are going to want to be sure that you have is enough RAM. You will need to have a minimum of 8 GB of RAM nowadays to run all of the latest games with no worries. However, the ideal amount that you want to try to cram into your system would be 16 GB. Anything less than 16 GB and you will be pushing your limits with some of the latest games. This is especially true if you are running games alongside capture software or other intensive software or tasks. You want to make sure to give yourself plenty of headroom with your RAM by going for 12 or 16 GB.

Overall, there are a lot of things that you want to be sure to allocate a lot of your budget to. These are perhaps the most important components to spend a good amount of your PC budget on because they are going to dictate your performance more so than anything else. Therefore, you want to be sure that you are getting a good GPU capable of running the latest games, a multi-core CPU, and enough RAM to give yourself plenty of headroom to not only run games but also other software alongside them.