Since you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you own a PC that you at least occasionally use for gaming, and there’s an equally good chance that you don’t have the newest, fastest hardware out there (although if you do, congratulations!). If not, then maybe we can point you to some upgrades that might help you get the performance that you, frankly, deserve.
Intel’s new Coffee Lake i7-8700K
Are you hiding from hostile mages for fear that their particle effects will bring your PC to its knees? Did you get a new Guild Wars 2 mount, but you can’t make sharp turns without waiting 10 seconds for your screen to catch up? Well, you might need a new processor! Intel has helpfully come out with a new 8th generation i7 core processor (and also i5 and i3, if you’re into that kind of thing) that is supposedly 45% faster than the 7th generation i7’s. And you can get it and a motherboard for less than the cost of a new Xbox One X. (Wait, is that really what it’s called? What happened to Xbox One II through IX?)
Zalman CPU Cooler
Actually, if you’re getting poor frame rate with a newer video card, you might want to check your CPU temperature. You might just need a new CPU cooler to keep up with the non-GPU-accelerated parts of the game engine. This giant chunk of metal with fans fits comfortably into a mid-tower case and is compatible with a whole bunch of Intel’s recent sockets. If you’re hoping to avoid a really expensive upgrade, this might be worth a try, especially since there’s no new line of NVidia GPUs out this year to push down the price of last year’s GTX 1050-1080 series.
Samsung 4K curved monitor
I have to admit, my first reaction to curved monitors was, “That’s a neat trick, but why would I want one?” Then I saw one in person, and even in the 1920×1080 version, the difference in immersion is noticeable. It’s like I never noticed all of the constant refocusing necessary to look at a wide, flat screen until there was an alternative! If your old monitor is looking a bit flat, consider getting this 4K 32″ curved monitor, guaranteed to give your old MMO a new perspective. (Warning: If you’ve been putting off your GPU upgrade, a 4K monitor might be what pushes you over the edge!)
Logitech G13 Programmable Gameboard
This dedicated left-hand gameboard has been out for a couple of years, but reviews are solid and the price is down below $60, so if you’ve been thinking about getting an accessory to help you reach those hard-to-reach F-keys, it might be the right time to try this out!
Thanks for reading, and happy shopping to you!
