MUST KNOW PC building tips of 2020

Hi gamers. So you want to build a PC in 2020 and want to make your console friend jealous. But if you have gone to the PC building market, you must have turned back with a broken heart because of the huge number of options. Which is actually the correct option for you then? How to beat the "powerful" next gen consoles with your PC? How to be a part of the master race? Today we will be talking about that in this post.

Are PCs getting weaker? Now you might ask, consoles are becoming so powerful, will PCs get weaker now? The answer is a strict no. The features that the new upcoming consoles are packing have come to PCs for more than two years now. SSDs have lived for such a long time that every PC now packs them. It is a matter of how much money you want to spend. If you put money on all the new hardware for PCs, you will definitely get a better PC.

Importance of consoles in gaming. So, with more powerful PCs in one hand, now a question arises. Why are consoles important then? Well, they are important. They set the baseline for PCs nowadays. Your PC might be rocking a dual core CPU, but that definitely does not promise AAA gaming in 2020, right? But why? Console hardware is the answer.

CPUs. Alright, enough of the introductory notes now. Let's dive into what you should get for your "console beating" PC.

-AMD vs Intel. Okay, so there are two big boys in the CPU market. AMD and Intel. Get this clear now, Intel has been beaten by AMD for quite a while now, and the 5000 series is strengthening AMD's foothold as the best gaming PC level. The new consoles are packing 8-core CPUs. So make this clear, you need at least a 6 core CPU to beat the consoles. The Ryzen 5 3600 is a good hexacore CPU, and it will be capable of AAA gaming for quite a while still. But if you already are at a level of 8 cores, like the Ryzen 7 2700, then you can put a step forward and get the new 5000 series for even better performance for several years now.

-Steam Hardware Survey. The Steam Hardware Survey provides another interesting insight into PC gaming. It shows that maximum people are still at the level of 4 cores (47.5%), but the number of people moving to the 6 core and 8 core is on the rise. So you should consider that too.

GPUs. Now let us talk about the heart of gaming- the GPU. What is the PC equivalent of the GPU that consoles are packing? It is the RTX 2070 Super 8GB variant. Now you might scream, that card is damn expensive, what can we do? So let me tell you a fact- the consoles are targeting 4K gaming, and it has to last for the next 7 years, so the manufacturers have to put in powerful hardware now. But PC is more flexible, you can game at 720p, at 1080p, at 1440p or even at 4K. Get a video card according to that. For 1080p gaming, the card that can last you is the 1660 Super 6GB, and if you want to pump up resolutions, then the 2060 Super for 1440p gaming will be enough along with RT and DLSS, and the 3070 for 4K (as well as 8K, if you have the money).

-VRAM. Okay, so now it is the time for how much VRAM you should have, if you are an AMD fan, and do not want to follow the nVidia standards mentioned ago. The new consoles are targeting 4K gaming, so textures will be high definition too. That means more VRAM. Flatly, the day of 4GB is gone. Even the most common graphics card, according to Steam Hardware Survey is 1060 and that packs 6GB VRAM for years now. So consider the 6GB cards for mid-range and 8GB or more for high-end gaming.

RAM. For quite a while 8GB RAM has been enough now. But within the next two years you can see the crown being transferred to the 16GB guy. So it is high time that you get 16GB RAM in your PC, more will always be better if you are a multi-tasker, but for gaming, 16GB is good to go. That is obvious as most games are pulling as high as 14GB RAM and more.

Storage. Okay so now the storage. The next gen consoles are packing NVMe SSDs, but you do not need that, you can definetly use SATA SSDs, as the difference between loading times won't make you rich, but the money you saved definitely can.

Old Hardware? Now there is a lot of buzz around this. Old hardware like those which suppot DX11 and DX10 are way cheaper than those that bring the DX12 or even the newer DX12 Ultimate. Never go for the older cards, spend a little more and get the new DX12 guys and you can make a lot more future-proofing that way. Also this rules applies for CPUs, do not fall for the 2000 series AMD processors by the price tag. Get at least the 3rd gen, if you want to beat the consoles.

What is outdated now? Alright, so a little update for our update guys. What hardware will be outdated now? All pre-Ryzen and pre-8th gen Intel processors will be outdated now, and cars that pack less than 6GB graphics memory are outdated. And also, don't go for GPUs with GDDR5 memory. So, in a nutshell, the 16-series is the minimum now.