For serious gamers, a high-end gaming PC is essential. But, out of the box, there’s no guarantee that your PC will have all the essential programs to get the most out of your gaming experience. To help optimize your gaming rig, we’ve identified a list of must-have gaming programs.
For starters, Overwolf is a great program that allows gamers to add extra functionalities to their games. Overwolf is able to add useful features such as video recording, game capturing, Twitch streaming, and Discord integration. With Overwolf, gamers can customize their PC, bringing more enjoyment out of their gaming experience.
Another great program for gaming PCs is Geforce Experience. Geforce Experience can automatically optimize game settings, ensure that your drivers are always up-to-date, and even provide free game ready drivers. Geforce Experience also offers an In-Game Overlay that can be used to broadcast, capture screenshots, and record videos.
Steam is another must-have for gamers. This popular gaming platform makes playing games, buying DLCs, and tracking your achievements a breeze. Not only is Steam capable of downloading games, but also keeps them up-to-date and organized in your library.
Advanced users will also want to install Nvidia Control Panel. This must have a program adds a ton of tools and features to customize your gaming setup. Topping out the usefulness of the program are advanced gaming features such as G-Sync, 3D Vision, and SLI configurations to fine tune your gaming experience.
For online gamers, Discord is a must-have. This gaming-focused chat platform has become quite popular due to its user-friendly features. With Discord, gamers can easily setup and join chats with their friends and then play together without any lag or delay.
Finally, CPU-Z is a great utility program that lets gamers know all the technical details of their gaming PC. This program can quickly tell you what type of processor and RAM you have inside your gaming rig and other useful information including processor speed, memory type, and even the motherboard.
Optimizing Your Graphics Settings
In order to get the best performance out of your gaming PC, you’ll want to take the time to optimize your graphics settings. This includes setting the resolution, VSync, anti-aliasing, and anisotropic filtering. It’s important to remember that the higher the graphics settings, the more power your PC will need to run the game.
You can take optimizing your graphics settings a step further by customizing the graphics options in your game. Most games offer options such as texture quality, draw distance, and shadow quality. Taking the time to adjust these settings will yield better performance and a more complete gaming experience.
For a more detailed level of optimization, you can look into tools like SweetFX or ENB. These graphics enhancers are capable of adding features to your game such as color correction and bloom effects. As with all optimization tools, SweetFX and ENB should always be used with caution as they can also cause undesired effects.
If you want to modify your graphic settings without having to manually tweak each setting, then you’ll want to look into Nvidia Inspector. This is a program that allows users to adjust the in-game settings of their games via the Nvidia driver interface.
Finally, if you’re looking to get the most out of your gaming PC, then you’ll want to keep up with the latest driver releases. Graphics driver updates often come with performance improvements and bug fixes so it’s important to keep them up-to-date.
In-Game Communication Tools
Just as important as optimizing your graphics settings is investing in in-game communication tools. This is especially true if you’re playing an online game that requires teamwork or organized strategy. For example, players playing a MOBA or RTS title will benefit greatly from investing in a good quality headset.
Having a good headset will provide you with clear audio and make it easier to communicate with your teammates. It’s also important to remember to not just focus on the hardware, but also investing in decent software. Two popular pieces of software for gamers are Ventrillo and TeamSpeak.
Ventrillo and TeamSpeak are communication programs that allow gamers to create virtual chat rooms with their friends and talk to each other in-game. Not only are these programs free, but also provide gamers with a reliable way to communicate with their teammates. With Ventrillo and TeamSpeak, gamers can coordinate in-game strategies and work together to achieve victory.
Finally, if you’re looking for a more modern approach to in-game communication, then Discord is a great option. Discord is a chat platform designed specifically for gamers and allows them to communicate with their friends and create dedicated servers with their own set of rules and features.
Optimizing Your Gaming PC
To get the most out of your gaming PC, it’s important to take the time to optimize your PC for gaming. The first step to optimizing your PC is to ensure that all your drivers are up-to-date. This includes not only your graphics drivers, but also your motherboard and sound card drivers.
Another important step to optimizing your gaming PC is to ensure you have enough RAM. The more RAM your PC has, the more efficient it will be at running multiple programs at once, as well as multitasking. Make sure to get enough RAM for all the games you plan on playing, as well as any other programs you’ll use.
Of course, if you’re looking to get the most out of your gaming PC, then you’ll want to invest in a good cooling system. This could mean investing in a good CPU cooler, or even water cooling if you want to take things a step further. Having a good cooling system will keep your components from overheating and ensure your gaming PC runs at peak performance.
Finally, if you’re looking to really get the most out of your gaming PC then it’s a good idea to invest in an SSD. An SSD will drastically reduce load times, giving you a smoother gaming experience. Keep in mind that not all games will benefit from having an SSD, so be sure to research the games you plan on playing and decide if an SSD is worth the investment.
Power Management
It’s also important to pay attention to power management when it comes to your gaming PC. To ensure your components last a long time, you’ll want to adjust your power settings so that your PC doesn’t consume more power than it needs to. This can be done through the Control Panel, by setting the Power Options to High Performance.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to save power but still get the best performance out of your gaming rig then you may want to consider using Nvidia’s G-Sync technology. G-Sync is capable of automatically adjusting the refresh rate of your monitor based on your GPU’s performance, reducing power consumption while still providing an optimal gaming experience.
You can also use your BIOS to adjust your power settings. This can be done by setting the CPU and GPU frequency, as well as the CPU voltage. When tweaking these settings, remember to be careful as making a wrong adjustment can result in a system crash.
Finally, make sure to pay attention to your overclocking settings. Overclocking can be a great way to get more out of your gaming PC, but it can also drain more power if not done properly. Make sure to read the manual before overclocking and always the use the latest drivers when doing so.
