Gaming PC

A gaming computer is a personal computer designed for playing computationally demanding video games. Due to the integration of common hardware components onto the motherboard since the 1990s, a modern gaming computer is comparable to a mainstream computer with the addition of a performance-oriented video card. Gaming computers are often associated with enthusiast computing due to an overlap in interests; however, while a gaming PC is built to achieve performance for actual gameplay, enthusiast PCs are built to maximize performance, using games as a real application benchmark. Whereas enthusiast PCs are high-end by definition, gaming PCs can be subdivided into low-end, mid-range, and high-end markets: video card manufacturers earn the bulk of their revenue from their low-end and mid-range offerings.

Because of the large variety of parts that can go into a computer built to play video games, gaming computers are frequently custom-assembled, rather than pre-assembled, either by gaming and hardware enthusiasts or by companies that specialize in producing custom gaming machines. In order to generate interest, gaming computer manufacturers that sell complete systems often produce boutique models, allowing them to compete on aesthetic design in addition to the hardware inside.

Historically, gaming computers had several distinct hardware components that set them apart from a typical PC. The push for better graphics began with color fidelity, from display systems such as CGA eventually graduating to VGA, which was adopted for the mass market. Gaming also led the push for the adoption of sound cards, a component that is now commonly integrated onto motherboards.

In the 1980s, several non-IBM PC compatible platforms gained a measure of popularity due to advanced graphics and sound capabilities, including the Commodore 64 and Amiga. Video game developers of the time targeted these platforms for their games, though typically they would later port their games to the more common PC and Apple platforms as well. The MSX was also popular in Japan, where it preceded the video game console revolution. Japan also had several other popular gaming computers during the 1980s to early 1990s, including the very popular PC-88 and PC-98 as well as the powerful X68000 and FM Towns.

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