90 DECEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 382
RAM RECOMMENDATIONS
PRODUCTNAME PARTCODE SPEED CAPACITYPRICESUPPLIER
CorsairVengeanceLPX 8GB CMK8GX4M2A2666C16 2,666MHz8GB (2x 4GB)£ 45 http://www.amazon.co.uk
HyperX Fury8GB HX424C15FBK2/8 2,400MHz8GB (2x 4GB)£ 55 http://www.ebuyer.com
CorsairVengeanceLPX 16GB CMK16GX4M2A2400C16 2,400MHz16GB (2x 8GB)£ 73 http://www.amazon.co.uk
HyperX Fury16GB HX424C16FB2K2/16 2,666MHz16GB (2x 8GB)£ 71 http://www.amazon.co.uk
CorsairVengeanceLPX 32GB CMK32GX4M2A2400C16 2,400MHz32GB (2x 16GB)£ 145 http://www.amazon.co.uk
CHOOSEYOUROWNPC
T
he benefitof buildingyour own
computer is thatyouget to pick the
exact specifications thatyouwant. To make
things easier,ComputerShopperhas tested
all thetopcomponentsto help youmakethe
rightchoices.Just check out ourBest Buys
section on pages 48to 65 to see our
top-rated storage devices, graphicscards,
and ourrecommended specsforbudget,
mid-range and premium PCs.
The budgetmodel specification is ideal
forbasic weband email use, and some
low-intensity officework. Look forthe
mid-range PC ifyouuse your computeralot
forwork andyouwanttodosome video or
photo editing, while ifyouedit alot of photos
or video, the premium PCcore spec is a
great choice, and it’sideal foragaming rig.
Each speccanbetweaked fordifferent
uses, andyou’ll also needto add afew
components.In additionto thosecore
specs,you’ll needapowersupply unit (PSU).
We recommend theCorsair TX550Mfor
budgetPCs, Corsair RM750iformid-range
PCs, and theBe Quiet! Dark PowerPro 11
850Wfor premium PCs.
While these specs will getyou started,
thereare some tweaksand adjustments
that youshould makebased on the typeof
PC youwant.
RAM
Memory is usedto stor eany information the
CPU mightneed, from applicationsto data.
Whenyour computer runs short on memory,
virtual memory is used, storing some data
on your harddisk or SSD.This is farslower
than using RAM, whichcanmakeyour
computer startto feel sluggish.
Installing moreRAM canmakeyour
computerfeel faster and makeite asier to
run multiple applications at once. So how
much RAM shouldyouhave?
We recommendaminimumof 8GB for
budgetcomputers, whereemail, web
browsing and some productivity softwareis
used. Gofor16GB of RAM ifyouedit alot of
photosortend to run alot of demanding
applications or games.Even32GB wouldn’t
be exce ssivefor aworkstation PC or
dedicated multimedia rig, although this is
wherememory startsto getreally
expensive.Oneofthe best things about
RAM is that it’seasytoupgrade in the
future, especially ifyouhavea
motherboardwith spareslots.
If youbuy anew PC,
you’ll needto use DDR4
memory.Buy your RAM in
dual-channel kits, with two
identical sticksofhalf the
tota lcapacity(soatota lof
16GBof RAM would come as
two8GB sticks).Bysplitting
the available memory
between twochannels, the data
on themcanbeaccessed moreefficiently
than withasingle stick inasingle channel,
similarto howhaving moreCPU threads
canimprove your PC’sperformance.
Lastly,there’s the issueof clock speed.
Also just likeaCPU,RAM isratedata
certain operation speed, whichcanbe
overclocked if desired. This particular spec
isn’t as importantasthe tota lRAM pool
size, however; 3,000MHzkits won’tbe
significantlyfaster than 2,400MHzkits for
most uses, so buy the cheapest,fastest
memory thatyoucan.
GRAPHICSCARDS
Do youreally needagraphicscard and, if
so, howmuch shouldyouspend on it?
The answertothose questions depends on
whatyouwanttodo. If you’rebuilding a
budgetPCand ar eusing anInte lCPU,you
getintegrated graphics, so there’s no need
to buy an additional graphicscard.Ifyou’re
buildingaRyzen system, thenyoudon’t get
integrated graphics, soyou’ll havetoadd a
separategraphicscard.The budget
SapphireRadeon HD 6450 (£35,www.
ebuyer.com)serves the jobof feeding a
monitor,although it lacksaDisplayPort
output, and has onlyDVIDual-Link and
HDMI 1.4 outputs, soyoucan runadisplay
with amaximumresolutionof 2,560x1,600.
Buying abettergraphicscard,such as
thosefeatured in ourBest Buys section,can
haveseveral advantages. First, if youwant
to run ahigher-resolution monitor,such as
forviewing twodocuments sideby side or
forhigh-resolution video and photo editing,
it’sworth spendingabit more. Second, if
youwanttodoalot of productivitywork, a
graphicscard canaccelerat ethe work in
video editing and photo editing with
applications such asAdobe Photoshop.
Finally,ifyou want to play games, then
you’ll needto installagraphicscard.
STORAGE
If there’s one thing thatwe recommendfor
anyPCofany budget, it’sasolid-statedrive
ABOVE:Corsair’sRM750i isagreat powersupply
unitformid-range PCs
expensive.One
RAMisthatit’
futu re,e
mo
th
bet
on themcanbe
than withasing
simila to hh
