That makes it simple to open the case and just pop in more RAM. Many gaming computers ship with a pair of RAM slots empty. The good news is RAM is one of the easiest and most affordable upgrades.
If your gaming PC seems to be hesitating while switching between windows, and applications sometimes become unresponsive for a second (annoying for any application but potentially catastrophic during a game), your computer could probably benefit from adding RAM. This has the advantage of bringing the advances of new architecture and may include performance-enhancing features like additional processing cores.
Not all CPUs can be overclocked and at extreme levels-really pushing it-your computer may act erratically, forcing you to dial it down to a less aggressive clock speed.Īnother option is to upgrade the CPU, replacing it with a new one. Overclocking takes a willingness to tinker and may require additional cooling as the CPU will run hotter. For example, if you have a Core i5 CPU at 2.66GHz, you may be able to overclock it to run at close to 3.5GHz, resulting in a significant speed boost.
This is a process of pushing the CPU to work beyond its standard clock rate. If you are comfortable in doing so, overclocking may be an option. While the video card is key to a gaming PC, the CPU has an important role too. Upgrade your CPU, or overclock the one you have It’s a bit over a year old now and a new generation of video cards is on shelves, but the concepts are still applicable. To learn more about picking a video card including details like video RAM, outputs, and image synchronization technology, be sure to read Chris Loblaw’s guide. Nvidia and AMD both offer a range of options, including budget choices and monster cards that can move the millions of pixels on a 4K monitor with ruthless efficiency. The video card (or graphics card, depending on which term you prefer) is really the heart of any gaming PC. This is the component that does all the graphics heavy lifting-and most video games are all about the graphics. The go-to solution for speeding up a gaming PC, and in particular for improving performance when you want to enjoy high resolution, high effect graphics, is to replace the video card. Note: most of these solutions apply to a desktop computer due to its easier upgradability, but RAM, SSD, a wired connection and improved cooling can also apply to a gaming laptop. Short of buying a brand spanking new gaming computer, how do you speed up the one you already own? Fortunately, there more than a few ways to make things faster. If any element of your setup is slow, your gaming suffers. The speed of pixels being drawn on the monitor, the speed of your button clicks hitting the server, the speed of cut scenes loading and running. When it comes to PC gaming, speed is everything.