If you’re looking for a new hobby to get into this year, PC gaming is the way to go. After all, not only is it fun and accessible, but it’s also a very well supported industry, with Data Quest reporting that the online gaming market will be worth $256.97 billion by 2025. This is at a year-over-year growth rate of 9.17%. Indeed, game developers are always trying to create new titles and improve the experience for existing ones, which has attracted billions of players across the country.

However, to truly enjoy the experience, you’ll need a decent PC that can run your games. But this will be dependent on many factors, from the kind of titles that you play to your budget. We’ll cover most of them in our discussion today.

Table of Contents

A powerful GPU

The GPU is arguably the most important component in any online gaming PC, as it dictates the kind of games that you play and the quality of the graphics you can run them on. It’s always a good investment to buy the latest GPUs on the market, like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, so you can play any game at the highest graphics available. However, they’re also very expensive (around $399 each). If you’re working with a strict budget, you need to find the lowest GPU model that can deliver the best graphics for the type of games you play.

For instance, one of the titles in The Spectrum’s awaited games, Cyberpunk 2077, used a lot of fancy settings like ray tracing, DLSS 2.x, and DX12 to support its graphics. This made the game’s assets look very realistic (and they load in a blink, too), but it’ll only look good at 1080p with a GPU that’s at least a GTX 1660 Super.

But if you’re playing 2D web games like Transformice and Intertops Poker, you don’t need to invest as much in the GPU. Among the online slots from Ladbrokes is the title Slingo Starburst — a web-based slots and bingo hybrid whose exciting gameplay is only matched by its equally dazzling space-themed graphics. In fact, every time the player re-spins or clicks the Chance Wheel, more bursts of color are displayed on the screen. But even these added effects don’t need a very high GPU. Something like a GTX 1060 should be more than enough.

An SSD RAM

RAM is where your PC temporarily stores data and programs while a software or window is active. A fast and big RAM is vital to ensure that your online games don’t lag. The standard for a gaming PC is 8GB SSD RAM. According to an article on Tech All Time, an SSD is a type of storage device that uses memory chips (instead of spinning disks like hard drives) to store data. The result is near-instant processing speeds, which leads to smoother gameplay. If you’re playing extremely graphics-intensive games like Cyberpunk 2077, also consider purchasing a video RAM (VRAM) — a specialized type of memory that works directly with your GPU. Its main purpose is frame buffering, which can increase the render speed of your GPU. A 4GB VRAM is more than enough for this.

A decent CPU

The CPU can be less or just as important as your PC’s GPU depending on the games that you play and who you play them with. The CPU dictates how many processes you can run at a time. The number of processes is determined by the number of cores in the CPU. There are six types — from single-core to deca-core, but online gaming PCs have no need for a CPU over a hexa-core.

Hexa cores are ideal for online gamers that play with friends over Discord, as each open software takes up at least a core. Hexa cores are also useful for people who play browser games like Thunderstruck II and Slither-dot-io since browsers take up extra processing power for every open tab and active plugin. Top online gaming provider Gamesys, are always looking for ways to expand their offerings, and they even have a bingo page with a pop-up chatroom that players can use to interact. However, since popups like these are separate scripts from the main game, they’ll also require additional CPU power to function.

There are online games that are best-played solo and on a single window though, like action RPG Warframe and competitive card game Magic: The Gathering Arena. If you play these, you can get away with a quad-core CPU.

Other components that you’ll need (whichever of these you choose will no longer affect online gaming performance):

  • Motherboard
  • Storage (1TB is the standard, but you can increase it if you plan to download a lot of games)
  • Power supply unit
  • Cooling system
  • PC Case

The perfect online gaming PC isn’t dependent on how new your components are but whether or not they meet your needs. Those who play browser games more often may need to invest more in a CPU, while those who download games from Stream and Epic are better off with an expensive GPU. Do your component research before you enter the market.