WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.480 If you're building a new gaming PC, there's a good chance that you've heard this piece of advice. 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:09.760 Balance your build, which is an important rule to follow, 00:00:09.760 --> 00:00:12.840 but balancing is kind of a vague term. 00:00:12.840 --> 00:00:17.440 So we're gonna explain what balancing means and what it doesn't mean. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:21.760 The basic idea behind it is to minimize the impact of bottlenecks. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:27.280 A bottleneck occurs when a weaker component prevents a stronger one from performing its best, 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:31.800 lowering your overall system performance in the applications that you care about. 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:36.920 A common bottleneck is overspending on a top tier gaming CPU 00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:42.120 and then underspending on your GPU. However, it's worth noting that this blade 00:00:42.120 --> 00:00:45.400 can cut both ways and a weak CPU 00:00:45.400 --> 00:00:48.440 can also result in lower than expected frame rates. 00:00:48.440 --> 00:00:54.360 Making matters even trickier, the ideal CPU-GPU balance is going to differ 00:00:54.360 --> 00:00:57.400 depending on what kinds of games you play. 00:00:57.400 --> 00:01:01.400 Say for example, you're the competitive type and you play eSports titles 00:01:01.400 --> 00:01:04.440 where you're chasing the highest possible frame rates 00:01:04.440 --> 00:01:09.840 instead of maximum visual fidelity. Well, for you, balancing your build 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:15.000 would mean making sure that your CPU can pump out hundreds of frame rates per second, 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:20.320 reducing latency and giving you a competitive edge. And a good CPU might matter more than you think 00:01:20.320 --> 00:01:24.120 if you play simulation-type games like Cities Skylines. 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:27.080 Large cities can drag the game's simulation speed 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.560 to a crawl, literally slowing the in-game clock. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:36.040 But on the flip side, if you like to enjoy beautiful AAA single-player experiences 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:39.560 at the highest fidelity, you are almost certainly better off 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:43.120 allocating all of your character sheet points to your GPU 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:49.080 before you even begin to allocate anything elsewhere because modern techniques for rendering lighting and shadows 00:01:49.080 --> 00:01:53.120 are almost entirely dependent on having a strong GPU. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:56.400 So your best bet in any case is to figure out your budget, 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:59.600 then read independent reviews for the games 00:01:59.600 --> 00:02:05.080 and the hardware that you're interested in to see how different CPU and GPU combinations 00:02:05.080 --> 00:02:09.040 play with each other. Remember, the GPU is often the bottleneck 00:02:09.040 --> 00:02:12.480 when trying to run at high resolutions and high quality settings, 00:02:12.480 --> 00:02:17.960 but the CPU is often the bottleneck when trying to reach the highest possible frame rates. 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:21.920 As you go through this exercise though, remember that balancing your build 00:02:21.920 --> 00:02:25.040 does not mean buying the highest end component 00:02:25.040 --> 00:02:29.200 just because you splurged on a different component elsewhere in your system. 00:02:29.200 --> 00:02:32.840 Don't be pressured into spending fistfuls of money on, 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:38.360 let's say a fancy liquid cooler if an inexpensive heatsink is good enough for your needs. 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:43.840 Another example is extra CPU cores. Well, those can be worth spending money on 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:48.940 if you're performing tasks that use them, like video encoding or 3D rendering. 00:02:48.940 --> 00:02:52.560 But I pretty much guarantee you that most of the games you play 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:56.800 only use a handful of cores and a mid-range chip is gonna do just fine. 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:00.280 Another core component to balance is your RAM. 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:05.240 Avoiding critical bottlenecks typically means having enough RAM to run all of the programs 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:10.840 you need at once without running out. And in modern games, that can be a lot these days 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:15.400 with 32 gigabytes quickly becoming the recommended amount to reduce stutter 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:19.120 and even shorten loading times as you move to new areas of the map. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:22.120 But that doesn't mean that you should go overboard 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:26.240 and over buy. In the old days, it could be worthwhile 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.400 to load your system up with as much RAM as you could afford 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:32.520 because newer programs might need more in the future 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:36.560 and if you filled it up by accident, it could result in a full system crash. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:39.960 But modern systems will use their drive as an overflow 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:43.440 which will slow down performance but it won't lock up your system. 00:03:43.440 --> 00:03:47.000 So you can just head to the store at your leisure for an upgrade. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:50.600 And besides, if you have extra budget for your RAM today, 00:03:50.600 --> 00:03:54.740 I'd consider putting it towards faster RAM rather than more of it. 00:03:54.740 --> 00:03:58.880 Though there is a point of diminishing returns. So again, read reviews to figure out 00:03:58.880 --> 00:04:02.200 what speed of RAM to buy for your needs so you aren't buying something 00:04:02.200 --> 00:04:05.880 that's so fast you're wasting your money. Balance. 00:04:05.880 --> 00:04:09.580 Outside of these core components, CPU, GPU and RAM, 00:04:09.580 --> 00:04:14.720 there are some other considerations for balancing that may not affect your frame rates in your games 00:04:14.720 --> 00:04:19.740 as directly but can still save you money. For example, there isn't much point 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:24.240 to getting some kind of gargantuan power supply that's rated far and excess 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:29.360 of what your system actually draws under load. A good guiding star is to look for a quality unit 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:33.320 with 100 to 200 watts of headroom for future upgrades. 00:04:33.320 --> 00:04:37.080 Cybernetics certifications on the box, never a bad sign. 00:04:37.080 --> 00:04:41.800 And I could actually say something similar about components like your motherboard and your case. 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:45.640 For example, getting the motherboard with the right chipset is important 00:04:45.640 --> 00:04:50.080 so that your CPU will fit in it. And so you'll have enough PCI express lanes 00:04:50.080 --> 00:04:54.880 and other key features you might want. Like fast networking or USB ports. 00:04:54.880 --> 00:04:58.880 But is there really a point in getting a super high-end motherboard 00:04:58.880 --> 00:05:02.040 with a ton of extra headers and overclocking tomfoolery 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:05.720 you're never gonna use? In a different vein, do you really need 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:09.760 a gigantic space hogging case if you're just rocking a mid-range graphics card 00:05:09.760 --> 00:05:14.880 and a single M.2 storage drive? We can't talk through every scenario like that. 00:05:14.880 --> 00:05:19.760 There's a lot to consider to have a well-balanced system. But the underlying concept is simple. 00:05:19.760 --> 00:05:23.960 Figure out how you're going to be using your computer and buy the components 00:05:23.960 --> 00:05:28.840 that fit your use case without overspending. And just because you spent a whole paycheck 00:05:28.840 --> 00:05:35.440 on an RTX 4090, that doesn't mean you have to spend two more paychecks on a 64-core CPU. 00:05:35.440 --> 00:05:39.000 You're not gonna hurt your graphics card's feelings. I promise. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:42.320 Thanks for watching, guys. If you liked this video, check out our other video 00:05:42.320 --> 00:05:45.960 on PC components that are surprisingly overrated.