Does your machine need to be upgraded to take full advantage of the 2021 game? The following are things to consider

Last modified on Friday, November 5, 2021 06.01 EDT

With the full implementation of the fall video game release plan, many PC users are thinking about hardware upgrades. Blockbuster films such as Halo Infinite, Battlefield 1942 and Forza Horizon 5 will support demanding visual effects such as ray tracing, so now seems to be the best time to invest in a new kit.

There is only one problem: this may be the worst and most expensive time to increase processing power in memory recently. Manufacturing and distribution problems, coupled with a surge in demand, have caused prices to soar, especially for high-end graphics cards. Chris Wilson, Design Director of Cardboard Sword, said: "The GTX 1080Ti graphics card listed on eBay sells for more than £500-this is a 4-year-old GPU. "The suggestion for most people is probably to wait for it to come out. There are rumors that Intel will launch a real GPU early next year, and they may aggressively price in an attempt to gain some market share. Ultimately, the bottom must fall from this current disaster. "

However, if you are determined to improve your aging settings, there are still some options. Here are some tips...

Assume that money is not an object. You need something that can support 4K displays and two key features: ray tracing, which can create realistic lighting and reflection effects, and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), which uses AI to improve visual details and frame rates. I am using Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, equipped with 12GB RAM, G6 RAM and HDMI 2.1 support. It allows me to get it in 1440p games such as "Flight Simulator 20", "Metro: Exodus" and even "Cyberpunk 2077" Amazing performance. However, according to PC Gamer's senior hardware editor Alan Dexter (Alan Dexter), the best graphics card this winter is the GeForce RTX 3080. "At the expected retail price of £649, nothing can really touch it," he said. "It can handle anything you can throw to it, and it can even let you play in 4K normally, everything is adjusted very high. It is expensive, but its leap in performance feels like a sustainable data Years of investment."

Chris Wilson agreed with the RTX 3080, but added: "For most people who run games at 1440p resolution, the 3070/3070ti should be more than enough. The previous generation cards are still good. It can be said that they were overpriced at the time of launch, but at In the current situation, they are not that bad." The AMD 3080 equivalent is the Radeon RX 6800 XT. As Dexter explained, "Its ray tracing is not as powerful as Nvidia, but it managed to fight a good fight elsewhere. In general, it is a powerful product."

Although the graphics card is the core of the game console, you still need the latest CPU to take full advantage of it. I am a big fan of AMD Ryzen models. This year I built a PC around AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. PC Gamer currently recommends Ryzen 9 5900X. If you are an Intel gamer, Core i5 10400F or 10600K is an excellent workhorse. Whatever you want to do, please make sure it is compatible with your motherboard and GPU, and remember to apply thermal paste before installing the heat sink!

Upgrading system memory is the most cost-effective way to improve game performance, allowing for faster and smoother frame rates. For this year's version, 16GB is becoming the recommended requirement, but even 32GB will become more common. Check the speed of the ram you bought-usually given in MHz-how much this affects is debatable, but if you buy a new one, 3200MHz is a good guide. I recommend the Corsair Vengeance or HyperX Predator kit, or in terms of budget, I used Crucial Ballistix RGB in my first home version.

If you still rely entirely on hard drives, or want to upgrade from an older SSD/HDD combination, now is your opportunity-the price is pretty good, and the fast SSD will greatly shorten the loading time, whether you are launching a game or loading a new one while playing Checkpoint. The industry is now moving from old Serial ATA drives to PCIe-based SSDs that use NVMe communication drivers. If this makes no sense to you, websites like PCPartPicker will help you determine which type of SSD your motherboard is compatible with. In addition, you are not just looking for memory capacity, you also need to check the data transfer speed in MB/s-SATA drives will manage 560MB/s, and the new PCIe NVMe SSD will be anywhere between 3500 and 7000 Run megabytes/second.

So which models do we recommend? "A 1TB NVMe drive, such as the WD Black SN850, is impressive and can have a huge impact on load time, and only Windows is fine," Dexter said.

If you still rely on an old office monitor purchased from Currys five years ago, then this is definitely an update worth making. When buying a gaming screen, you need to consider three Rs: resolution, refresh rate, and response time. The first is the amount of detail on the screen, the second is the speed at which the display updates the image, and the third is the time it takes for the pixels to switch colors. In addition, please check if the monitor supports G-Sync or FreeSync to prevent screen tearing.

If your budget is limited, you need to compromise, so consider your needs based on the games you want to play this winter. "In terms of resolution, do you want 1440p or 4K?" Dexter said. "Or are you watching 1080p at an ultra-high refresh rate? Curved or flat? Ultra-widescreen or a more traditional 16:9 ratio?" In general, if you want to play a fast-paced shooter game like Battlefield 1942, Then the refresh rate and response time will be the most important (there may be curved or ultra-wide screens for better peripheral vision). If you want to play a beautiful narrative adventure, such as "Forgotten City" or "Spirit World 2", you may prioritize resolution, or if you really want to show off your RTX 3090 GPU and set it in all settings, 4K and even 4K or even 4K 8K beasts will be necessary.

Dexter recommends the Gigabyte G27Q-"an excellent, affordable screen, which is also suitable for many PC game consoles." Wilson is a fan of ASUS monitors, especially ROG Swift PG32UQ, and he admits that it is very expensive. "A product like ASUS ROG Swift PG278QR is a good choice," he said. "This has reached the sweet point of 1440p, while providing a high refresh rate." Elsewhere, I have an Acer Predator, it is very good, Alienware 25, LG UltraGear and Samsung Odyssey are all good gaming models.

If your gaming PC is really squeaky, it might make sense to buy a pre-made model in the current market. "Almost the best way to use the latest hardware is to buy a brand new machine," Dexter agreed. "These are more expensive than simple upgrades, but it does mean that you will have a complete PC that can run well in the next few years."