PC makers have long emphasized user-friendliness for consumer PCs. But usability has tended to be an afterthought for gamers, especially those building their own machines. Until now.
A new class of PCs, laptops, and components is changing the game with high-end performance and user-friendly designs, making building, tweaking, and upgrading a snap (literally, in some cases). Here’s what to look for.
Motherboards
Gamers and PC builders need motherboards that simplify swapping out graphics cards, storage, and other components so they can easily upgrade their systems and try new configurations. That’s why fast installation and removal features are a must for gaming-friendly motherboards.
For example, new GIGABYTE motherboards (the AMD AM5 X670, B650, and Intel Z790 series) come with EZ-Latch mechanisms to ease adding or swapping out the latest-standard PCIe 5.0 graphics cards. Adding or removing M.2 connector solid-state drives is equally uncomplicated thanks to quick releases designed without screws.
Gaming-friendly motherboards also need to provide easy access to memory overclocking functions to boost performance during peak processor loads. For that, you want to look for motherboards that support the latest DDR5 overclocking features from major memory module makers. GIGABYTE motherboards deliver the goods here as well by allowing users to configure individual overclocking profiles for different scenarios and add them to a BIOS menu for easy selection on startup. For those memory overclocking newbies, GIGABYTE also offers pre-defined and retrievable profiles to reach better performance more easily.
Graphics cards
The graphics card is at the heart of any respectable gaming system — one reason for clear PC cases to feature them prominently. Some cards even sport light-up onboard cooling fans to show them off to the fullest extent. But the best graphics cards make visibility useful as well as flashy.
For a performance-enhancing extra, look for LCDs built right into graphics cards, like the AORUS RTX™ 40 series MASTER models. Equipped with LCD Edge View, it can provide critical information such as temperature — for keeping an eye on performance-degrading spikes or cooling system issues — clock speed, and fan speed.
GIGABYTE takes graphics card displays a step further with user-customizable content like team logos, slogans, animated GIFs, and more. GIGABYTE RTX™ 40 series air-cooled graphics cards also feature anti-sag brackets to take the strain off mounting points and add visual appeal.
Desktops, monitors, and laptops
If you want a head start on your PC builds, look for towers that come pre-configured with essentials such as motherboards, graphics cards, and cooling.
Builder-friendly PCs make swapping out even pre-installed components quick and easy. They also provide interior cable management that keeps visual clutter down and contributes to hassle-free component connections. See: the Stealth 500 desktop from AORUS, which has a specially-designed chassis where all the headers are moved to the back of the motherboard and the power connector is relocated to the bottom of the graphics card in order to create a tidy visual.
Just as builder-friendly PCs make it easy to swap out components, monitors with onboard KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switches — as found in GIGABYTE’s M series — let you choose between multiple machines on the fly. All of GIGABYTE’s gaming monitors also have built-in tactical features such as black equalizer and aim stabilizer to give gamers extra advantages. AORUS models even feature active noise cancellation, which is able to reduce background noise by monitoring ambient sound with the onboard microphone. The latest M32U and M28U ARM Edition also offer an ergonomic monitor arm that’s designed for mounting to the desk directly, which allows you to adapt to every desktop scenario from PC gaming, to console gaming, to streaming media.
For those who prefer portable devices, GIGABYTE’s gaming-friendly Alder Lake H series AORUS 17X/17 laptops feature a 90 percent screen-to-body ratio with four-sided 3mm super-thin bezel for a larger viewable area that can improve both gameplay and work at the desk or on the go.
So whether you’re a PC builder or a gamer, GIGABYTE’s user-friendly components and PCs can help you build your ideal setup. You just need to pick the right ones.