Gaming on a Budget : Buying/Building a PC - Part 1 Buy or Build

Many gamers out there sometimes find buying a PC for Gaming or Building their own PC a daunting task to take on, and sometimes decide to buy a console instead.. This guide is will show you that things aren't as complicated as they seem.

Buy or Build?

Other than deciding on how much you would like to spend in the end. The first decision one should be is to either Buy a prebuilt PC or build their own. If you are afraid to build your own PC there is no shame in buying a prebuilt one. Now before you run off to Incredible Connection or the like I'd suggest rather visiting online stores like www.Evetech.co.za that sell prebuilt stress tested gaming rigs with good components like This Six Core AMD Powered PC. You can also talk to people at your local computer shops to quote you on a gaming PC. IT people don't bite *wink*

If you do decide to build your own, which has it's own joys and gives you that feeling of pride when your gaming rig boots up for the first time, knowing you built this. There is a plethora of choices before you. Try keeping in mind when choosing hardware for your PC what purpose you want to use it for. As an example. There is no use in spending the money on a Bluray Reader if you will probably never use one.

Which CPU?

I'm a fan on Intel hardware, but I have also used AMD processors before with great results. So brand wise it's going to be a bit of each to their own. The AMD APU's have better built in Graphics processors than the Intel CPU's but in general the Intel CPU's are more powerful than their AMD counterparts, although they can be a bit more expensive. 

These days the majority of new games coming out all want a Quad Core CPU, though some will still run on a Dual Core system. So as a suggestion from both brands is either the AMD A8-6600K Quad Core Processor APU or the Intel Core I5 4690. The AMD is a lot cheaper than the Intel CPU. At that price point you can buy an Intel I3 which is only a dual core. And if you want to overclock you'll need the K series of the Intel Core I5 which costs a bit more. Keep in mind that whatever CPU you choose in the end will determine what motherboard options would be available to you.

In Part 2 of this guide I will talk about Motherboards and RAM. Feel free to ask questions in the comment section.