How can I optimize my BLD PC purchase?

How can I optimize my BLD PC purchase?

This is difficult to answer due to the various wants and needs of users and a large number of different configurations can get a bit confusing. That’s understandable though, as not every customer has experience with building a gaming PC. This article intends to help a customer avoid some common points of optimization they can miss when building their first PC.

What about an NZXT Prebuilt PC?

This is actually where we wanted to start for this topic, don’t rule out a Pre Built as a customer. Prebuilt PCs are going to be cheaper than their custom-built counterparts. If your ultimate goal is to save money but you would still like a system with a combination of good components this is where you should start. Not to mention that our Pre Builts also have the best performance for the price! We offer the following Prebuilt systems:

• Starter Series
• Streaming PC
• H1 Mini PC
• Creator PC

We recommend you take a look at these systems, as they are a great place to start if you don’t want to go through the process of picking parts yourself.

Now that we’ve gotten this out of the way, here are some guidelines we’d like you to keep in mind that will help you get the most out of your PC.

Keep in mind your use case.

When we say “use case” this means the intended tasks that you’ll be doing on your computer. Whether it be gaming, working from home, school from home, video editing/streaming, 3d rendering, etc. Make sure you are aware of what you want to do with your system. Depending on your use case, you can benefit from spending money on certain components that benefit your intended use.

We also recommend that you take a look at other articles from our PC Boot Camp! The articles linked below will get you up to speed on what each major component of your PC does.

• What is a SATA SSD, NVMe M.2 SSD, and HDD?
• What is a PSU?
• What is a GPU?
• What is RAM?
• What is a motherboard?
• What is a CPU?

What would be recommended for gaming?

For gaming, understand that whether it be a low-end system or a high-end system you make, you should be able to still play almost any game out there. How well your system can play a game depends on typically the GPU to do a majority of the heavy lifting. While it is true the GPU will be working hard to help you play a game your CPU is just as important for performance. Additionally, having a minimum of 16GB of RAM is perfect for gaming.

These would be the two key factors you need to consider when building your system, so when considering your budget, try to get the best GPU/CPU within your budget. It is a good rule of thumb for the GPU to be a third of your budget, as you generally want to still want to try and get the best GPU you can get at the time.

What is recommended for streaming?

Like with a gaming PC, your GPU will still be doing the heavy lifting for most of your games but here is something to consider. When you are streaming from the same PC you are playing from your CPU is going to be working a lot harder, as with streaming your CPU is going to be working very hard to encode your gameplay for streaming to your service of choice.

For Streaming it is recommended to get a CPU with a higher amount of CPU cores as that will benefit the performance of your live stream. Considering your budget it is recommended to spend a bit more on your CPU to get the best performance for your stream.

What is recommended if I plan on using my PC for working from home or school work?

If you are still planning on gaming on your PC in your free time, it’s best to consider a system within your budget based on the guidelines for a gaming PC we mentioned prior. Any gaming PC will be able to handle many work-related tasks such as writing up a paper, doing spreadsheets, browsing the web, etc. If multitasking is a high priority, it is recommended to instead have 32GBs of RAM over the 16GBs, which is the standard option for RAM. More RAM will allow you to have more applications open at the same time for better productivity.

NZXT’s do’s and don’ts for building a PC.

We also have some additional guidelines that should help you further optimize your PC purchase detailed below:

• Do stick to a budget.
  • Set a budget and keep it realistic!
  • Having no budget makes it harder to pick parts because you don’t have any guidelines for price.
  • Creating a budget for your build that you can reasonably afford will keep you from overspending as well.
• Don’t go overboard.
  • It’s not a contest! You don’t have to have the most expensive PC to have a good system you can have fun playing games with.
  • Spending too much money on a system can give you unrealistic expectations.
  • You may not be able to utilize the performance of an expensive PC, as there can be diminishing returns when you go up in price on components.
• Don’t get an mITX motherboard in a standard ATX case.
  • Typically you would get a smaller mITX motherboard to fit in a small form factor case like our H210 or H1.
  • The smaller form factor motherboard will be missing additional expansion slots, limiting your PC’s upgradeability for the future. Such as adding additional RAM or more storage
• Do get an SSD.
  • SSDs are the fastest storage you can get right now for a computer.
  • A faster storage device will result in quicker loading times for your PC, games, and applications.
  • Getting only an HDD to save money will result in a slower system. It’s worth spending the few extra dollars to improve your experience
  • We typically recommend getting a 1TB SSD within your budget, this offers the most amount of storage for the best price.
  • You can still get an HDD, they are great for storing older games, movies, photos, and anything you don’t care too much about accessing quickly.
• Don’t buy the cheapest GPU to replace with a better one at home!
  • We see this pretty often with customers. Sometimes a customer just doesn’t have time to build a full PC and already has a GPU or a component or two at home.
  • Keep in mind we only warranty parts included with your system. If a 3rd party component fails or damages your system, we can’t provide warranty services.
• Do pick some games you plan to play in the configurator.
  • We have an FPS Guarantee for up to three games you select when building a PC. This allows you to see the performance of your PC based on the components you’ve selected.
  • If you don’t plan to own or don’t already own those games, you won’t be able to see the performance we guarantee!
• Don’t skimp on your CPU cooling solution!
  • If you’ve purchased a higher-performance CPU, it is recommended to get a high-performance cooler to match it.
  • A top-end multi-core processor can generate a lot of heat! We recommend a 240/280mm liquid cooling system to make sure your CPU runs at lower temps for longer periods.
  • This will keep your CPU healthy for a long time, more than likely past the warranty period.