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So you’ve looked over gaming PCs and you’re ready to build one of your own. With so many choices out there, and such different price ranges for equipment, you can feel a little lost in the computer hardware shuffle. Don’t despair, because we’ve got a little help for you!

We’ve researched the components for you, and found which ones will offer the best cost to performance ratio available today. You won’t even need thousands of dollars! All you need is a CPU and video card (GPU) combination that can handle even the most intensive games and enough system RAM to pull it all together.

You need only consider three components to build s great gaming PCs: the CPU, the GPU and the system RAMThere are some astoundingly powerful CPUs on the market today. They carry truly astounding price tags, too. Most of those high-end processors won’t offer you the processing you need for gaming, though. At around $100 you can buy the Athlon II X4 620 by AMD and not have to worry if your CPU can handle your games. The Athlon II X4 620 provides fantastic game processing at a price that won’t hurt your bank account. Higher end processors like the Intel Core i7 965 or the AMD Sempron 140 are more powerful, and cost more, but they don’t handle gaming nearly as well.

Once you’ve found your CPU, it’s time to pair it with a video card (GPU) that will handle your game’s graphics. You can easily find GPUs that offer 2 GB of video RAM, but they don’t really provide better performance. A GPU with only 896 MB of video RAM can handle just about any game you throw it beautifully. You can spend about $130 on the Nvidia GeForce GTS 250, or $160 on the AMD Radeon 5750, and render stunning gaming environments for relatively little out-of-pocket cost.

You may have noticed that recently computers are carrying higher and higher quantities of system RAM, sometimes as much as 24 GB. With RAM prices as high as they are this is likely to be the most costly portion of all gaming PCs these days. Fortunately, you don’t need nearly that much.

Now it’s time to consider your system RAM. Most high performance computers these days support 12 GB, or even as much as 24 GB of RAM. You don’t need that much. The difference in performance becomes negligible once you’re past 4 GB. At the moment, though, this part of your gaming PC is likely to be the most expensive, as 4 GB RAM packs can cost as much as the CPU and GPU combined. Keep in mind, if you want more than 3. 5 GB of RAM you’ll need a 64-bit operating system. Windows XP x64 is probably the most stable OS you’ll find right now, but 64-bit versions of Windows Vista or Windows 7 aren’t bad investments either.

Finally, if online gaming is what you’re looking for, you’ll do fine with the Realtek Ethernet chipset included in your computer. Most gaming network cards cost a lot more and don’t really improve your connection, so don’t waste your money. Instead, invest in a good router and lightning-fast Internet service.

Andrew Johnson is an expert in electronic consumables. If you want further information about varieties of gaming PCs or are looking for a trusted computer retailer please visit http://www.ebuyer.com