Optimizing Your Custom Gaming PC for the Best Performance

A custom gaming PC can look great on paper, in your cart before checkout, and especially once it’s set up next to your desk. But to get the best gaming experience, there’s an often-overlooked challenge: fine-tuning your system settings for peak performance. Ensuring your custom desktop PC is running optimally involves keeping drivers up to date and tweaking game settings for the perfect balance of visuals and framerate.

Our production team checks to ensure your custom PC has the latest bios and updates before shipping, so if you purchase a PC directly from us, then there should be minimal setup other than adjusting your game settings once they’re installed.

Keeping Your Drivers Updated

Every component in your gaming tower relies on driver software to communicate effectively with the system. While most components come with default drivers for plug-and-play functionality, updating them regularly ensures compatibility, stability, and optimal performance.

Finding the Right Drivers

Manufacturers provide dedicated support pages where you can download updated drivers for your hardware. Drivers are easy to approach, the hardest part is gathering the list of your part models for components. (I recommend making a list once and then saving it with reference to each manufacturer’s part page.) It’s a good habit to check for updates monthly.  Key components that require driver updates include:

• Motherboard (chipset, LAN, audio, BIOS updates)
• CPU (chipset drivers, power management updates)
• GPU (essential for gaming performance and new feature support)

To locate your hardware details, you can check System Information (for motherboard details) and Device Manager (for most devices). Keeping a list of your hardware model numbers and their corresponding support pages will make monthly updates much easier.

Every part in a PC needs ‘driver’ software to work in conjunction with the motherboard. Parts usually have a default driver that is built into the device for easy plug-and-play installation.

Manufacturers keep webpages for each part they release. For the most part, PC parts receive updates for 3-5 years from the initial release. You will need to find and locate your parts through System Information (motherboard info) and Device Manager for most devices.

You can plug the model names into a search to find the support pages. You mainly need drivers for the motherboard, CPU/chipset, and GPU. There are others, but these are usually updated through published Windows updates.

Fine-Tuning Game Settings for your Custom Gaming PC

Almost every game offers a variety of settings to adjust how graphics are rendered. Customizing these settings can significantly enhance your gameplay experience. The ideal setup depends on your preferences: some gamers prioritize stunning visuals, while competitive players often lower settings to achieve the highest frame rates possible.

Optimizing Your Display Settings

• Resolution & Framerate: Ensure the game’s resolution and refresh rate match your monitor and Windows settings.
• Window Mode: Fullscreen generally provides the best performance, but Windowed Fullscreen can help with smoother ALT+TAB switching. For smaller games, standard Windowed Mode might be preferable.
• Anti-Aliasing & Draw Distance: These settings impact how crisp objects appear and how far the game renders details. Adjusting them based on your hardware’s capabilities can improve performance without sacrificing too much visual fidelity.

Choosing the Right Balance

Different games benefit from different settings. For example:

• Fast-paced shooters: Lower visual settings for the highest frame rates.
• Story-driven adventures: Max out visual settings for immersive graphics.
• Locked framerate games (e.g., Katamari Damacy REROLL): Prioritize visuals since frame rate adjustments aren’t an option.

Future Insights on Custom Desktop PC Optimization

There’s much more to explore when it comes to fine-tuning your custom desktop PC. In future articles, we’ll dive deeper into advanced settings, benchmarking tools, and overclocking techniques to push your system even further.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more tips on optimizing your gaming experience!