Intense first-person shooters and competitive gaming are two categories that go hand in hand. If you´re anything like me you know how important it is to make sure you enter the battlefield with a decent rig, and I´m not talking about weapons or support gear. I´m talking about something even more crucial for the survival of your squad; a high-end gaming PC. We know that FPS usually do not enter the pay-to-win category, although no thanks to EA Games. However, there is a definite correlation between frames per second, input lag, and in-game accuracy. That means that, by improving the first two elements, the third one will drastically improve. Why Is It Important To Invest In A Gaming PC? Framerate drops usually happen when whatever is going on is more than what your PC components can handle. It can happen because the sheer amount of processing needed to calculate all the on-screen action and display it properly overwhelms the heck out of your CPU and GPU. Sometimes the problem is that Windows decides to start running processes in the background that drain processing power, effectively ending your headshot streak mid-match. This is something way beyond the dev´s power to solve and no amount of optimization will solve problems caused by aging or outdated components. Moreover, most modern FPS titles try to offer enhanced immersive experiences with better graphics and interactive (read destructible) environments. Today, titles like Battlefield allow gunfire and explosions to affect the integrity of structures. This means added mayhem and massively increases the number of independent objects moving at the same time in millions of different trajectories. Those who want to stay competitive require to keep up with innovative gameplay and the added processing requirements that come with it. And this applies both to those who want to climb their rank ladder, and those who just want to provide reliable support for their team without feeling like a fifth wheel during most matches. However, not every computer will do. Fancy prebuilt computers sold at big box stores might have eye-catching RGB lights and look like futuristic spaceships. A true Gaming PC prebuilt with high-performance in mind should only contain the components you need to comfortably play your favorite titles and remain competitive for at least a couple of years. Fortunately, CLX Gaming offers a wide variety of prebuilt options put together by gamers for gamers. Every single gaming rig in their inventory has been meticulously put together to offer top performance no matter what you throw at them. Visit their website today, and gear up for battle.
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For decades, PC gaming has been dominated by desktop computers. They usually pack serious power and can keep components cool and noise levels down, while also offering endless opportunities for customization. However, they are bulky, heavy, and, worse of all, static. They look nice and all, but their size will never let us take our gaming PCs to a day at the beach, or beat our favorite game during a 5-hour flight. Those who like to remain mobile, appreciate the flexibility and autonomy gaming laptops bring, and are always looking for more powerful rigs to improve their gaming experience. In recent years there has been a boom in the gaming laptop builder market. They solved the main problem laptops had: internal space and the ability to swap components at will. Most laptop makers would typically solder all components onto a motherboard, or make it impossible for owners to pick the components they wanted. Engineers were forced to create components that perfectly fit the ever-thinner laptop cases, so even the smallest change would require a complete redesign. This meant that users would be presented with a few general builds and hope they covered as many bases as possible. Nowadays, custom gaming laptop builders offer the same flexibility usually reserved for desktop users. They now provide the necessary power, memory, and performance to play today´s latest games, even with maxed-out settings, and still offer unparalleled degrees of portability, allowing users to play their favorite titles anywhere. And these perks do not only apply to gaming. Laptops are always a favorite for those who use their computers as educational tools or for work. Being able to take your machine with you to events, conferences, classrooms, or your favorite café for a relaxing meeting session, is something we all love doing. With the help of smart laptop design and newer hardware components, gaming laptop builders have been able to create machines that easily rival high-performance PCs. Yes, laptops today are still not as powerful as high-end tower PCs, but they do allow you to comfortably play any game out there at framerates you would think are impossible for a portable computer. Of course, you need to know where to look if you want to have the best custom-built gaming laptop for your money. You can find high-performance custom-built gaming laptops at CLX gaming, and be sure you will get the power you always wanted. Their state-of-the-art gaming laptop builder process comfortably positions them as the industry leaders when it comes to providing unique custom laptop configurations for real gamers. All of their machines are built by gamers for gamers, ensuring incredible performance for competitive play. Moreover, they also offer stunning designs and a wide range of aesthetic customization options so you always get a machine that not only matches your needs but also your personality and style. If you need more information about their gaming laptop builder and customized machines, visit CLX Gaming or reach out to their team at 855-490-2569. We have all been there. We are used to working and playing our favorite games on our trusty computer, and try to look the other way as loading screens take longer and FPS take a dive during the heat of a battle. Moreover, more and more titles now can't run on your system. It feels as if the world is leaving us behind, but we keep telling ourselves that there is still life left in our gaming PC. While this is a commendable attitude, we can´t ignore that technology keeps moving forward and we need to keep up with it if we want to experience new games the way they are meant to be played, or aspire to remain competitive in the arena or battlefield. However, how can we upgrade our gaming rig without breaking the bank? Is it possible in this day and age to find custom gaming PCs for sale? Or Are they a pipe dream? The answers will surprise you. Can A Custom Gaming PC Be Affordable? First of all, the fact that your processor and graphic card need to be upgraded does not mean you need to replace them with top-tier components. While having the latest AMD or Nvidia video cards sounds amazing, they are not an absolute necessity. In fact, the latest titles are optimized to run on mid-tier graphic cards and still dish out decent FPS north of 75 in 1080p resolutions. Recent releases such as The Elden Ring did require serious processing power at the beginning, but it was mostly because it was not properly optimized. FromSoftware promptly released a series of patches that made the game playable even on budget gaming computers. So, unless you´re planning to turn all graphic settings up to eleven and demand 140 FPS on a 4K monitor, you will be ok if you find the right custom gaming PC for sale. Moreover, the benefit of being able to choose the components you need is that it gives you incredible flexibility, allowing you to prioritize on components your games need but also leaving room for future upgrades. For example, investing in a highly rated motherboard will give your computer the ability to accept newer components for a few years, and a mid-tower chassis will provide you with enough space for bulkier components and cooling systems. Where Can I Find Custom Gaming PCs For Sale? After years of enjoying incredibly low prices on PC gaming computer components, semiconductor shortages put an end to the golden years of processing. I remember that even while the GPU market was being driven to its limits due to an increase in the demand for crypto mining, finding high-end graphic cards for building your gaming rig was fairly easy and costs were modest. There was even a sense of optimism that allowed people to plan ahead and calculate their next PC gaming computer build with confidence. Then, a year and a half ago the superconductor shortages, and the supply chain crisis, hit. Regardless of the causes, which are mostly political and outside of the scope of this article, gamers that enjoy playing on both consoles and PC gaming computers have felt the effects of this crisis, and the costs of gaming have increased. Moreover, finding certain components has become an incredibly difficult task. However, and despite all the gloom and doom predictions made for 2022, things seem to be looking up for industries that depend on chips and superconductors for their products. GPU stock levels have shown a healthy increase in availability during the past few weeks, and many medium and high-end graphic cards from AMD and Nvidia have begun to get closer to levels we would deem affordable. There seem to be a couple of factors that are driving this increase in supply. Covid Restrictions Are Waning Many businesses adopted work-from-home strategies as a way to stay productive and help sustain the economy during that time. This signified an increase in the PCs-per-person ratio as people now needed high-performance computers at home to make a living. After most families finally furnished their homes with at least one PC, and with the restrictions coming to an end, the artificial demand for PCs started to fade. Crypto Mining Is Not As Profitable Other elements will drive prices even further down. A series of US-based projects funded by microprocessor manufacturers make it seem that prices will continue to drop in the upcoming years. Right now, you can find the best components and prices in CLX gaming. They´re an online system integrator that specializes in building top-of-the-line PC gaming computers. If you want to start building your custom gaming PC with enough GPU power to push FPS to the max, visit their online PC builder today. Popular belief, and thousands of memes, seem to imply that most gamers play their favorite titles using bleeding-edge components and high-end custom gaming PCs. If you go through any Reddit thread related to video games, you will end up assuming that, in order to become a card-carrying Steam user you are required to show proof that your PC is overclocked. Fortunately for us, there are serious people tracking processor use in the gaming community willing to dispel any myth related to gaming. Data has shown that most people actually enjoy their games by hitting the bare minimum requirements. Indeed, according to Sweclockers, a Swedish online gaming and PC magazine, most Steam users still rely on quad-core CPUs to play their favorite titles. This might seem weird for gamers who are always trying to get higher FPS to stay competitive, or those who are looking to get highly immersive experiences out of their games. But numbers don't lie. However, for the first time in history, six-core took a slight lead this year. Windows-based PCs seem to have been affected by the increased adoption of higher core counts by AMD. The Zen architecture set the bare minimum to six cores for those to upgrade their gaming PCs today. The popular budget Ryzen 5 5600X and its Intel counterpart, the i5 12400, both boast a six-core architecture. Even Apple is pushing for higher core coins with their M1 chips with eight high-performance cores. This is a good sign for developers as even small publishers don´t have to pull their punches in terms of system requirements to attract a bigger audience. However, when we throw Linux users in the equation, four-core gaming PCs still retain the lead. This might have something to do with the fact that Linux tends to offer slightly better performance even in older machines if you know what you're doing. Another factor that might account for these skewed results is that the Steam Deck, Valve´s own portable gaming device, shipped with quad-core processors and runs on Linux, which might be driving down core-count averages. Still, with Windows being the indisputable market leader, and with more budget-friendly multi-core processors, the adoption of higher processing power will certainly continue to go up. Right now, Intel and AMD are tied up in a tug-of-war struggle for core-count supremacy. This fierce competition might drive processor count to new heights in the next few years. How Is This Good News For Gamers? Of course, you will need to stay on top of these trends if you want to be able to enjoy the benefits of enhanced games. If you´re planning on building a future-proof custom gaming PC, visit CLX Gaming today and let their intuitive PC building system answer all your questions about component synergy and performance. When we are on the lookout for our next gaming desktop, we are always tempted to look for prebuilt rigs that have the fastest processors, the most ram, and a decent GPU. There are many offers out there that fit the bill, especially in big box stores. Their prebuilt PCs all sound very attractive to the ears of the untrained. However, they are all made with a certain notion of balance in mind. Which in theory means that these computers can run our favorite games at decent frame rates and also serve for work and other menial tasks. However, that's not how any of this works. The true sense of balance most stores use hinges on how much they can skimp on components before the rig as a whole becomes a pile of junk. They have been doing it for years, especially by putting together supposedly high-powered gaming PCs with subpar power supply units that would progressively downgrade, putting the rest of the components in danger without anyone being the wiser. One other trick was to put together two identical rigs and then slap a "Gaming PC" sticker on the side of the one with a couple of RGB fans, jacking the price up a few hundred dollars. Fortunately, gamers have become a lot more discerning and do not fall for these tricks (at least not as often). Moreover, there are now online stores like CLX Gaming that help customers choose the components they really need and even take their time to explain the rationale behind each choice they make. A custom-built PC for gaming is made with certain principles in mind. Generic gaming computers are generally able to run most games without really shining in any category. These are made with general entertainment in mind. They can run games, play movies, provide a satisfactory internet browsing experience, and much more. However, as soon as you enter any competitive gaming circle, they will put the user at a noticeable disadvantage. So, building your custom-made PC for gaming means knowing what your game requires the most, and maximizing the performance of the necessary components. For instance, if you are into first-person shooters, then you will need a powerful graphics card and a CPU that does not cause any bottlenecks. If your focus is on MMORPGs, then you will want to invest more on your processor and tons of storage space. It is also very important to have the right peripherals to go with your new gaming PC. Get a great mouse, keyboard, and gaming headset to complete the experience. At CLX, they are gamers just like you, and want to help you build the perfect PC that will give you an edge in your favorite games. With years of experience in the industry, we can offer you advice and guidance to make sure that you get the rig you need. If you are looking for a powerful and reliable machine, a custom-made PC will always be the best way to go. You get to choose each and every component that goes into your machine, and with the help of CLX Gaming experts, you can make sure that everything works together cohesively. There has been a lot of buzz around the upcoming release of the Steam Deck. This is not the first time a video game company tries to enter the extremely niche portable gaming market, and won't be the first time we see a big tech giant fail at this. Nintendo, Sony, and SEGA have all released portable gaming devices, with varying degrees of success. Other companies, like Dell, have announced similar projects that hope to capitalize on the small but dedicated market of portable gamers. The big difference between the Steam Deck and devices by Nintendo and Sony is that the Steam Deck isn´t just a low-power handheld that will only play ported games. It´s a tiny PC that you can plug into your TV and run almost any app you install into it. So, is the Steam Deck a mini gaming PC? The Steam Deck is not a dedicated gaming device like all iterations brought by Nintendo. It is a mini PC that runs on the Windows 10 operating system. This means that it can be used for a variety of tasks, such as browsing the web, watching videos, or playing games. It also has a built-in graphics card, which is a major advantage over devices like the Nintendo Switch or the fondly remembered PlayStation Vita. According to the specs revealed by Valve, the thing can run more games than anything that has come out in the portable gaming market ever. The secret lies in its internal processing power. AMD engineered a four-core/eight-thread CPU that can be maxed out at a decent 3.5GHz. The graphics will be driven by a powerful 8-core RDNA 2 GPU. For comparison, Valve asserted that it would be like having a custom mini gaming PC running on a decent Zen 2 Ryzen 3000 and an RX 6000 for good measure in the palm of your hand. All units will come with an un-upgradeable 16GB of RAM, but users can choose between three versions that will provide user-replaceable m.2 modules for storage. However, the unit does not seem to be as portable as one might think. The 7-inch, 1280x800 LCD touchscreen will be embedded into a more-than-bulky unit that houses components that belong inside a laptop, a sizable (and heavy) battery, enough fans to keep temps under control, and a broader user interface full of buttons, triggers, control sticks and a couple of haptic touchpads. The result is a 12-inch monster that is the same size as 2 Xbox controllers put together side by side. While there is a lot of visible hype around this new gadget, we must remember that this is not the first time Valve has attempted to create its own hardware. The company released the Steam Controller in 2015, which was a failure by all accounts. So, we recommend caution when approaching these new shiny gadgets. On the other hand, the asking price is kind of steep for being basically a glorified laptop. For a few hundred more, you can get an incredibly powerful custom mini gaming PC that comfortably fits any living room and will hit more FPS than any handheld device. Start building your high-end gaming rig by visiting CLX Gaming today. The world of prebuilt gaming PCs is constantly evolving. It seems that makers and online stores finally found ways to create true high-end computers that rival custom-built rigs and are even living-room friendly, giving traditional consoles a run for their money. Not long ago, the best way to get an affordable gaming PC that was ready from the get-go was to rely on big box stores that would often skimp on components and optimization. These computers did deliver decent gaming power. However, when you opened the chassis and took a look at what was under the hood, you would soon find out that their innards were full of generic components that ultimately put the rest of your rig at risk. This was especially true with power supply units that are soldered to the computer case and never deliver the power stated on the data label. Generic PSUs have thinner cables that overheat and cause a lot of electrical noise that will impact your CPU and GPU performance and efficiency. Moreover, they waste a lot more energy, so most of your electricity bill money will go into it without you paying for more FPS. The problem is that generic PSUs are way cheaper than certified ones and people don't think too much about the energy needs of their rigs. This makes them ideal for boosting profit margins. Some stores even go as far as installing cheap RGB fans on cheaply made PCs and then labeling them "Gaming Grade" as a way of jacking up prices and attracting unsuspecting customers. However, as the gaming PC industry became more competitive, many manufacturers started coming up with their own gaming PCs. You can now find cool rigs that can easily belong in your living room, look like alien spaceships, and vastly outperform last-gen consoles. However, their chassis design does not allow users to tinker much with components because everything is so tightly put together. Moreover, their production process requires manufacturers to purchase components way in advance so, the minute their products hit the shelves, the PC is already updated. Thankfully, this issue is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past. Namely, because online stores like CLX Gaming offer prebuilt gaming PCs that come with high-end, certified power supplies and bleeding-edge components. Many of their most powerful configurations come in small form factor chassis, making them perfect for the living room or reduced spaces. These mini gaming PCs are completely customizable, so they hold better in time than OEM products and consoles without sacrificing versatility. The downside is that they can be a bit more expensive than the traditional big-box prebuilds, but in the long run, they are a lot more cost-effective both in terms of performance and efficiency. Plus, CLX Gaming offers a wide range of services and warranties that protect your investment for years to come. So, if you are in the market for a high-end gaming rig, get a prebuilt gaming PC from CLX Gaming and get the best performance for the latest titles right out of the box. Not many people today will deny that building your custom PC is the best way to get the most bang for your buck. At least not with a straight face. However, that does not mean that prebuilt gaming computers do not bring anything to the table. It only means that there are different ways to get exactly what you need that do not imply being computer tech savvy. I think most of the bad rap pre built gaming computers get comes from big box stores selling poorly optimized rigs that, in order to return a profit, would skimp on components such as power supply units and even ram sticks. Many stores were so brazen, they would just increase price tags on products by just sticking the word “gaming” on them or adding an El Cheapo rgb fan. However, this only showed there was a real market for truly optimized rigs, and that high-performance gaming PCs were no longer directed at an obscure niche. In a world where 67% of American adults play games, having a gaming computer has become an actual need. Again, building a gaming PC requires time for doing your own research, finding the right components at the right price, waiting to have them all in your hands, and then spending a whole weekend putting it all together, running the appropriate tests and installing the desired apps and games. If everything goes according to plan, and it rarely does, you got yourself a nice custom built gaming PC at a fair price. However, if you count the hours you put into it in terms of unpaid wages and downtime, you soon realize you´re not getting as much value out of your total investment. And these unseen costs get even higher when a vital piece of hardware comes with defects and needs to be sent back and replaced. Fortunately for us, there are specialized online stores and system integrators that not only have all of your favorite components in one place. They also put them together and perform extensive testing to make sure everything works as intended. CLX Gaming is one of my favorite websites for this. They not only have an amazing and intuitive custom PC builder that allows you to pick the components you want. They also offer ready to ship computers for every budget and need. I often go through their inventory and find incredible deals in every price range. I usually find cheap prebuilt gaming computers with components that will allow me to run the latest AAA titles at a decent frame rate without a hiccup. But those who want to break the 144FPS barrier and stay competitive can find full tower gaming desktops that can handle the most resource demanding titles and still leave room for live streaming and other simultaneous tasks. Visit their Pre Built Gaming PC section often as they are constantly building new rigs with the latest components. I always find excellent deals that beat anything Big Box stores offer. Today, getting a desktop PC that provides enough power for simulation tasks is not as easy as it used to be. A few decades ago, the best solution was to get the fastest hardware you could afford and replace it as soon as something better came out. This approach would ensure that you could crunch numbers and complete simulations faster, giving you decent productivity increments. Still, some managers would openly voice their concerns when it takes a full minute for our computers to process a spreadsheet filled to the brim of formulas. If you work on projects that require you to solve millions of equations running in parallel, a small difference in processing power could mean days or even weeks. Yes, most of us can't afford NASA-grade supercomputers. Getting into a high-performance computer rig is everyone's dream, but that could come with a very steep price tag attached to it, and you would have to relocate your PC into an ugly-looking rack and forget about the familiar windows environment. However, building a powerful workstation today is not as hard as it was a decade ago. The relentless Moore's Law has been at work, and current chipsets today are magnitudes more powerful than they ever were. Right when processor speeds seemed to have reached a limit, multiprocessors appeared and now allow for lower clock speeds but higher core count. So, today´s high-performance processors, like the newer Intel Alder Lake chips, now hold up to 16 cores and 24 threads, surpassing the average core count of workstations used for simulations. But the division of processing labor does not stop there. Anyone with a gaming PC knows that it is always better to install a GPU to process images and video and let the CPU be freer to make its calculations. GPUs were invented as a floating-point processor that helped the main unit with all sorts of calculations that were not limited to graphics. They were at first very weak, and only took over the tasks that did not seem to need much processing power. However, they allowed for the creation of graphic-intensive games and opened up a whole new market based on processing power. But gamers were not the only ones to take advantage of this extra processing power. Architects and designers soon learned how to draw and render stunning 3D homes and astonishing structures that made a lasting impression in their client's minds. Nowadays, GPUs are used for a lot more than just giving form to breathtaking landscapes and glorious battles. Their ability to run computations simultaneously (as opposed to sequentially) has opened the door to uses such as machine learning, blockchain operations, and model simulation. However, you need a high-end computer or even a carefully tuned gaming PC to match the performance of a workstation. Fortunately for you, CLX gaming offers one of the most accessible custom PC builder systems with access to state-of-the-art components and bespoke overclocking options to give your rig the necessary power to crunch numbers with ease. Visit their website today and start building your next high-performance workstation. |
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