Category Builds & Upgrades

Summary Every year someone asks me what the best cooling pc gaming setup looks like, and every year the honest answer is the same: it depends on your CPU, your case, and how much you want to spend. What changed…

Summary Spend ten minutes in any PC building forum and someone will tell you that a 360mm AIO is the only responsible choice for a gaming build. Spend another ten minutes and someone else will tell you it’s a waste…

The number of people who’ve asked me “what’s the cheapest PC that can actually game?” is honestly embarrassing at this point. And the answer keeps changing because in 2026, parts prices aren’t doing anyone any favors. RAM and SSD costs…

The HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop keeps showing up in “budget gaming PC” lists, and for good reason when you grab the right configuration, it’s a solid 1080p workhorse that won’t drain your wallet. But here’s the problem: the HP Pavilion…

You’re staring at your Steam library on a system that barely hits 45 fps in anything newer than 2019, and your wallet is telling you to be smart about this. Been there. The good news is that right now, you…

Building a gaming PC sounds scary until you realize you’re basically assembling a system where every part has one specific job. It’s not magic; it’s just making sure everything fits together and does what it’s supposed to. The key is…

Builds & Upgrades · 2026 Guide Buying used PC parts right now isn’t just a budget move. It’s the only realistic path to high-end gaming performance for most builders in 2026. RAM that cost $80 two years ago now pushes…

Most first-time builders waste gaming budget in the wrong places. They’ll drop serious cash on a flashy RGB case and an overkill CPU, then pair it with a GPU that can’t push decent frames. The result? A system that looks…

So you’re tired of being the only one in Discord with 30 FPS while everyone else is flexing their smooth gameplay. I get it. Been there. But here’s the thing nobody tells you when you start googling “budget gaming PC”…

Nobody tells you the real number up front. You Google it, get twelve different answers, and end up more confused than when you started. So here it is straight: how much does it cost to build a gaming PC depends…