How To: Level Up Your PC Without Breaking the Bank!

One thing is for certain; gaming isn't a cheap hobby. Especially PC gaming. Technology is expanding at an extremely rapid pace and one day your computer may be able to handle all the new next generation games, while a couple days later something even greater is released and its time to upgrade that old graphics card again. Or if you're a student like me, you may not have 1000 dollars just burning a hole in your pocket to spend on a good enough computer that can handle Destiny 2 or COD:WW2 (Totally a Battlefield 1 copy by the way).

Until just recently I was using an Acer E5 - 523 laptop for my gaming needs and that was barely enough to run League of Legends on the lowest settings. If I wanted anything above 60 Frames per second I was out of luck! And that's when I sat down and said "Hey, what can I do to be able to afford a proper gaming rig?" and by using my tips I'm now using an i5 with 8gb of RAM and a GTX 760 to boot. Its not the best, but its enough to run games like Overwatch and Battlefield 1 on max settings with 100-160 FPS. More than plenty for my needs and I'm sure it would satisfy your needs too!

So without further ado, here are my 3 tips to level up your PC without breaking the bank!

1. Settle for less.

Now we all would love a Nvidia GeForce Titan X in our gaming rig, but believe me when I say its not worth the price. Unless you have $3000 and absolutely nothing better to spend it on, you're really just wasting money. To be honest the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 is more than capable of running all your favorites at a pretty good speed for only $120.

Also while having 16gb of RAM is nice, most games can function properly on half that or even a quarter! My advice: research the games you're interested in playing and buy something powerful enough to run them all without breaking your budget.

2. Buy a big case and motherboard.

Now while this may not save you money up front, this will definitely help in the long run. Think of it as a long term investment. If you have a ton of empty slots, you can spend a little here and a little there to constantly improve your computer over time. Perhaps another hard drive, a couple more RAM cards, or a better graphics card. If you have the space for it, you can simply slip it right in without having to buy a new case and motherboard later to be able to fit in all your new gear.

3. Buy used parts.

By far the best money saving tip here is to buy used gear. My PC cost me $500 which is an absolute steal! I searched eBay, Kijiji, and even Facebook buy/sell groups for people selling parts for dirt cheap. I got an awesome Logitech led keyboard and mouse for 50 dollars when brand new they are 200-250 combined! Trust me, nothing is cooler than synced lighting on your keyboard and mouse when you know you spent pretty much nothing on it!

And thats all I got for you guys. I hope you can all build the PC of your dreams! I'd love to hear your stories and your feedback! You can contact me at [email protected] and take care until next time!