PC_Advisor_Issue_264_July_2017

GROUP TEST
GAMES
For the ultimate gaming experience
you need a powerful PC. Paul Monckton
tests out five of the latest and best
to pay more for PCs with more extreme
overclocking. You can overclock the
processor yourself if you wish, but it can be
a good idea to buy a pre-overclocked system
such as the ones reviewed here, which are
covered by the manufacturer’s warranty
when running at the higher speed.
Motherboard
There are several points to consider when
choosing the right motherboard for your PC,
if you’re not into technical details you may
be tempted to overlook the motherboard and
concentrate on the processor and graphics,
but the motherboard is extremely important.
All AMD Ryzen processors are
overclockable, but only motherboards with
the X370 and B350 chipsets support this.
You should also try and get a board that
supports the latest USB 3.1 gen 2 sockets
(which run at 10GB/s) and has a highperformance
PCI-Express M.2 SSD slot.
Premium motherboards such as these
may offer additional features such as the
higher-quality built-in audio and faster
network cards designed to reduce lag
alongside nice, but unnecessary, things like
better looks and even colour-changing LEDs,
Graphics card
It’s usually the graphics card that determines
the overall quality of your gaming
experience. Once your processor is fast
enough, it’s down to the card to deliver
the game to your screen. This is why we
suggest gamers go for a Core i5 or Ryzen 5
processor rather than the more expensive
Core i7 as the difference in price will almost
certainly serve you better spent on the
graphics card rather than on the CPU.
To ensure the smoothest possible
gameplay, you generally want to achieve
a minimum of 60 frames per second (fps)
in your game. This is the limiting speed of
most PC displays, so you won’t really need
to go faster than this unless you have a
high-speed gaming monitor that allows for
faster refresh rates. Any extra performance
will then allow you to increase the quality
settings in your game, making characters
sharper, textures more realistic and
graphical effects more immersive.
Right now, Nvidia offers the fastest cards
(at high prices), but AMD also has some
great-value offerings such as the RX 480.
That’s just been superseded by the RX 580,
which is a bit quicker for similar money,
so ask to upgrade to this if you order the
Overclockers UK machine.
Monitor
The PCs here don’t come with monitors. If
you don’t have a good one already, then,
for more immersive gameplay, opt for the
largest display you can find and one with a
good contrast ratio. A fast response time
will ensure that fast, frenetic gameplay
remains free of blur, although not all game
players will notice any difference.
TN-based monitors will cost less and
provide most of these features, but IPSbased
displays will give you better overall
colour reproduction and wider viewing
angles, although response times tend to be
slower. For a more responsive display, go for
a gaming monitor with a high refresh rate of
120- or 144Hz, although you’ll need powerful
graphics to supply frames at this speed.
For the very smoothest gameplay from an
Nvidia graphics card, look for a monitor
that supports Nvidia G-sync. With G-sync,
the monitor stays in step with the graphics
card rather than the other way around.
This means less blurring or image
tearing even at lower frame rates and will
be of great benefit to mid-range graphics
cards such as the ones found in these
PCs. AMD offers a competing technology
called ‘FreeSync’ and these monitors are
generally a lot cheaper than G-sync ones.
Peripherals
If you’re using your PC on a desk with a
monitor, you’ll benefit from the improved
responsiveness of wired rather than
wireless devices. Look for high-resolution
mice, and keyboards with programmable
keys and backlighting.
To ensure the smoothest possible gameplay, you generally
want to achieve a minimum of 60 frames per second (fps) in
your game, which is the limiting speed of most PC displays
High-grade mechanical switches in
keyboards have a better ‘feel’ and provide
longer life than cheap membrane switches.
Some draw attention to the W, A, S, D keys
with a different colour or texture. A gaming
sound card can provide a more immersive
experience by adding multiple sound effects,
with improved audio fidelity. Also consider a
gaming headset with a built-in mic.
However, if you’re planning on playing
from the sofa, you’ll want wireless
controllers. For keyboard input, we would
recommend a wireless model that comes
with an integrated pointing device, such
as a trackball or trackpad.
We’re not used to seeing many gaming
PCs coming with optical drives these days,
and none of this month’s PCs have one.
If you’re still playing games delivered on
disc, you may need a USB optical drive –
some of the latest cases don’t even have
a bay for an internal drive.
Power consumption and noise
If you’re using the PC as a home
entertainment hub, you’ll want to consider
idle power consumption and noise. The
more you overclock your PC, the more power
it will consume and the louder it will get.
Warranty
Warranty terms are crucial when it comes to
gaming PCs and a key advantage of buying
a pre-built overclocked PC is that all of the
overclocking will be tested and covered
by the vendor’s warranty. The longer the
better, but also look for a collect-and-return
rather than return-to-base option. Also pay
attention to whether parts and labour are
both covered and for how long.
TEST CENTRE
July 2017 www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews 61