Your Gaming PC
Setting up your PC
Please note this page has links to third party websites, while I am happy to point you in the direction of sites that I feel are safe and offer good deals I can-not be held responsible for their content and am not sponsored by any of these companies.
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All our Gaming PC's have been fitted with an Nvidia graphics card, this makes running high end games possible as it produces the image on the screen when gaming. You need to connect the PC to the monitor with either a HDMI, DP, or DVI cable through the graphics card, not the motherboard back plate.
Every machine has Windows 10 home and all the Graphics Card Drivers and updates installed. You will need to activate your copy of Windows 10 home and this can be done by getting a licence key online.
Please follow this link to a website where you can buy this key.
To activate the licence key click on the start menu and type ‘Activation Settings’. Open the App by clicking on the blue tick and click on Change product key. Enter the activation key in here.
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Looking after your PC
Generally, a Gaming PC should look after itself, however it is important to keep your version of windows updated as this will make sure your PC continues to run smoothly and will prevent Virus’s getting on your machine. I do not recommend downloading third party anti-virus software as this will slow up the PC. Instead, regularly back up important files such as photos or valuable documents onto a separate hard drive so they can be recovered if anything should happen to your PC. Remember to delete files and games you don’t use anymore to free up storage space on your hard drive, but do not ‘defragment’ your Solid-State Hard Drive.
Your Gaming PC’s biggest enemy is heat, you will notice that these machines have several fans to keep important components such as the Graphics Card, CPU, Motherboard, RAM and Power Supply Unit cool, especially when under load. Over time these fans will become contaminated with dust, this is normal, but you will want to keep this contamination to a minimum. It is important that the PC is not used on a carpet or rug, it must be kept on either a desk or on a hard surface such as a wood floor or platform and in a room that has as little dust as possible.
Always shut down the PC using the start menu and click on ‘Power’ then ‘Shut Down’. Only switch the PC off using the on/off button if you must (for example if the PC crashes and will not shut down any other way), this is done by holding the button for 5 seconds. Do not switch the PC off by unplugging it from the mains. This can cause damage to the Hard Drive and you could lose data.
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Gaming on your PC
The best monitors for competitive gaming are either 24- or 27-inch flat screen monitors, curved or wide screen monitors look great when watching a film but make it harder to look around when in game and can lower your frame rates. I have listed the best monitor resolution and Hz for each of the graphics cards I use below.
GTX 960 & GTX 1050ti – 1080p, 75Hz, 5ms refresh rate
GTX 970 & GTX 1060 – 1080p, 120Hz, 2ms refresh rate
GTX 1070 & RTX 2060 – 1080p, 165Hz OR 1440p 120Hz, 1ms refresh rate
GTX 1080, RTX 2070 & RTX 2080 – 1080p, 244Hz OR 1440p, 144Hz 1ms Refresh rate
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RTX 2070s, RTX2080s or RTX3060ti - 1440p, 165Hz OR 2160p, 144Hz
TOP TIP: All these computers can run games at higher than 60 frames per second but this may be limited by your monitor, the Hz of the monitor is the maximum number of frames that can be shown on your monitor. To activate this and get a nice smooth image, Right Click anywhere on your desktop, click on Display Settings, scroll down and click on Advanced display settings, Change the Refresh Rate to the highest Hz available.
Competitive & e-Sport gamers use a wired gaming mouse, wired mechanical keyboard and a wireless headset, these can be expensive but will improve your gaming experience, especially in fast paced games like first person shooters.
CD KEYS is excellent for buying games as they usually have discounts, these can be downloaded once purchased on STEAM or other platforms.
I recommend downloading Razor Cortex Game Booster, as this will shut down all not essential systems and improve the PC’s performance in game.
You can get online by connecting an Ethernet cable to the back of the PC or by using Wi-Fi if you upgraded. For competitive gaming Wi-Fi is not advised as it is less stable and slower than a direct connection. To avoid running a cable through the house, buy a TP Powerline Adapter from Amazon.
Upgrading to Windows 11
You will only be able to upgrade to Windows 11 if you have an 8th Generation or newer intel Processor and motherboard. This means the PC's in the Casual Gamer category can only run Windows 10 as they have 4th and 6th Generation Processors, from November 2025 Microsoft will no longer send updates for Windows 10 and while you will still be able to use and game on your PC after this date, you will need to upgrade your PC to an 8th generation or newer CPU and Motherboard to continue to receive security updates and support from Microsoft.
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All the PC's in our Moderate Gamer and Serious Gamer Range are Windows 11 Ready and can be upgraded when the update becomes available to you.
On your Windows 10 machine, go to Settings, Update & Security & Windows Update and click the Check for updates button. If Windows 11 is waiting for you, it can be installed from there.
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On some machines you may get a message stating that your PC is not Windows 11 Ready even though you have an 8th Generation or Newer PC. This means you may need to change the security settings on the Motherboard Bios that will then allow you to upgrade. If you do get this message please contact me from the Customer Support page and I will send you links that show you how to do this depending on the make of the motherboard in your Gaming PC.