That perfect gaming rig

'All work and no play makes Mampush a dull boy'

See if you can identify yourself with this scenario — you spent hours upon hours in gaming cafes instead of the O' Level classes you should have been in. And here you are now, stuck in a cubicle, repeating the same sort of bonded labour day after day after day. For the uninitiated, gaming personifies everything lazy, or unproductive. Ask a gamer, or a has-been gamer, and they will tell you that it not only acts a healthy way to deal with stress, but also encourages problem solving on the spot.

Many gamers usually prefer consoles as those offer an easy access to high quality games without paying the hefty hardware toll. For the proper gamer though, the console is just one small part. Their true weapon is the PC, and for good reason too. You see, a console is mostly a one-trick pony, as its hardware and software is geared towards gaming, and nowadays, allows streaming from services like Netflix, but that is mostly it. A PC, as we all know, does more than just gaming. If you are the aforementioned office goer, the PC will allow you to work and play.

The unfortunate thing about gaming on PC is that you cannot game on just about any system. They require slightly beefier internal components as opposed to the ones stuffed under your desk by the office. The problem is the sheer amount of nonsense advice you have to filter through when building your dream rig.

You will find some spending over 2 lacs on something so overkill it belongs in a research lab, and then there are those who game on absolutely subpar hardware and do not care for the choppy experience. So before going over the details, let's clear up some of the confusion so you do not end up with something you would rather chuck into the sludgy bottom of the Buriganga.

First off, spending all your money on super high-end processors will not yield results you hope for. When it comes to gaming, what matters is the graphics card, responsible for creating all those wonderful visuals you see in games. You cannot say you own a gaming pc if you are running on your processor's built-in graphics setup. Sure, it saves a decent buck, but what you will end up with is a very capable office-work machine.

With that sorted, now get yourself a decent processor, not the bottom rung, nor the top of the line either. RAM should also be a concern, as too low would mean many of the game's resources would have to wait for their turn under the spotlight, leading to a very bad experience. Also, something just as important as the graphics card is the use of SSD (Solid State Drives) in conjunction with standard HDDs. SSDs are always super-fast compared to HDD, meaning the complete experience of using a PC becomes buttery smooth. The key here is to balance out on these key components.

With all that out of the way, here are three spec ideas for three budget segments, aiming to hit that perfect gaming sweet spot.

CHEAP AND CHEERFUL

Tk 42,000 approx.

Cheap does not necessarily have to be nasty, even more so when your budget gives new meaning to shoe-string and you do not have the option to whine about it. If you can make peace with kissing the '4K 60fps' dreams goodbye, and focus more on the 'FullHD goodness,' this is the right place for you. However, do not think you are headed for mayor of garbage town, because the system you can build with this budget will be more than enough for less-demanding titles as long as you keep your expectations and settings in check. This system has the Ryzen 3 processor and motherboard, or a 7th gen Intel Core i3 and motherboard, 8GB RAM, a 400W power supply and 128GB SSD and 1TB HDD combo. For graphics, its best to delve into the second hand market to get your hands on a Nvidia Geforce 750 Ti as it offers better performance at a much cheaper price than its pricier but underperforming 1030 sibling.

MAJOR MIDRANGE

Tk 70,000 – Tk 90,000 approx.

This is where you can start to stretch your gaming muscles a bit. No longer are you tied to the "that'll do" attitude, and start to get a real feel of good gaming. While the wish for '4K 60fps' still needs to take a back seat, at the very least, you would rule over the land with 1080p greatness and access to just about any game out at the moment. This system packs an AMD Ryzen 2600 with a B450 motherboard. The most competitive option from Intel is just too expensive for this build. The rest of the system involves 16GB RAM, a 240GB m.2 SSD and a 2TB HDD, and to really bring some oomph to your gaming — an Nvidia Geforce 1060 6GB.

INFINITE INSANITY

Tk 4.4 lakhs

If you recently struck oil near your area, or you experience the inconvenience of having money rain down upon you instead of water, this system will be the equivalent of the Ferraris in Abu Dhabi.

The sky is literally the limit here, and if gaming and doing other PC tasks seems menial to you, you could always attempt to do deep learning and other research based stuff, because you know, progress. This insane rig has the latest and greatest AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX and its X399 motherboard, 32GB of RAM, Nvidia's greatest RTX 2080 Ti, 500GB m.2 SSD and 12TB HDD.

Do make sure to get proper cooling though, because unlike the other systems, this will run hot, so what's a water cooling solution into the mix right?

Now that most of the homework is done, time to take the leap of faith, and enjoy the finer things in life.

Photo: Collected