Hand-built by our team of PC building experts (and avid gamers), our range of gaming PCs feature the very best graphics cards from NVIDIA RTX 30 series GPUs to AMD Radeon RX series cards.
Not only that, but each component in our systems is carefully selected to create a powerful, reliable, balanced system that will provide you with years of uninterrupted gaming.
And, with additional benefits such as an industry-leading 3-year collect and return warranty, free delivery, free technical support and advice, and 0% interest for 4 months, there’s never been a better time to make your gaming PC dreams come true!
PCs for gaming: what you need to know
What is a gaming PC?
What makes gaming PCs different from other PCs? It’s a question we get asked a lot here at CCL.
So, here’s our answer…
Gaming PCs are PCs which are designed specifically with gaming in mind. They feature gaming-centric components such as graphics cards, with other components and technology also selected with gaming in mind.
They are designed to deliver high frame rates at high resolutions, with low latency and plenty of storage.
At CCL you’ll find that our affordable gaming PCs feature excellent specifications, with some of the best CPUs, quiet PSUs that are equipped to handle the power demands of top graphics cards, sophisticated cooling mechanisms (such as water cooling on some models) and large amounts of RAM (some models will have 32GB of DDR4 RAM with high MHz or more).
The very best gaming PCs will have performance that far outstrips top gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series X.
Top quality gaming PCs will also have various inputs and ports such as Thunderbolt, DisplayPort, Ethernet, built-in WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth, USB and more.
It’s not just about the functionality either. Great gaming PC setups also look great too, with RGB fans, different coloured parts, stylish cases with top airflow designs, and tight cable management.
What is the best gaming PC?
Now you know exactly what is meant by the term gaming PC, you’re probably wondering what is the best gaming PC?
Well, that’s an easy one to answer - a CCL gaming PC!
Seriously though, if you want to buy the best gaming PC, you’ll want a system that’s powered for a wide range of tasks - not just playing your favourite game.
If you’re going to be using it for things like music production, then you’ll want the quietest PSU.
When you do want to undertake AAA gaming, then you’ll want to keep the temperature cool with a water cooled system. And, if you want to become a master at the highest level of eSports, then you’ll want extreme performance from your graphics card and massive processing power from your CPU.
You’ll want it to have a selection of the best parts with the highest performance (if you’re willing to spend). You don’t want to be limited by a particular component at a later date.
In other words - if you want the best gaming PC, you should buy the one that your budget can stretch to.
Do you sell branded gaming PCs?
Yes. In addition to our own in-house designed and built Horizon and Nazare gaming PCs, we also stock branded gaming PCs from leading brands such as:
Gaming PCs - how much are they?
What you pay for a gaming PC will depend on what specification and components it has.
If you want a specialised top of the range gaming PC with a high-end graphics card, then you can pay into the thousands of pounds.
Likewise, if you just want a gaming PC for very basic gaming (such as playing indie titles), browsing the internet and doing basic work, then you can pick up a great system in the mid-hundreds of pounds.
Here at CCL we recognise that not all gamers are the same, so we provide systems that cater to every type of gamer across all prices. So, if you want to spend as little as £300, or as much as £5,000, you’ll find your perfect PC for gaming here at CCL.
Whether you’re shopping for cheap prebuilt computers with integrated graphics for beginners or the fastest gaming setup with a highend GPU, there will be a desktop PC at CCL for you.
Do you offer discounts or gaming PC bundles?
Yes! We are specialists at offering some of the best deals and cheapest bundles around.
Check out our deals section to find your perfect PC bundle and pick up a bargain.
Compare different deals on various components and find cheaper items than you’ll find anywhere else online.
Explore great deals on discounted laptops, towers, monitors, accessories, motherboards, cables, controllers, lights, electricals, PSUs, printers, projectors, keyboards, speakers, notebooks and much much more!
As well as discounted parts and components, you’ll also find great deals on bundles across the CCL site, with peripherals included in great priced packages.
Plus, sign up to the CCL VIP Club and we’ll let you know about giveaways, sales, special edition releases, discounts codes, competitions, and more.
What gaming PC should I buy?
When looking to buy a gaming PC, you should determine exactly what you want to do with it. This will influence which gaming PC you should buy, and help you pick the perfect rig.
For example, if you’re only an occasional gamer and will mostly be using your PC for standard computing and browsing the web, then you’ll be able to get away with choosing a more budget-oriented system.
On the other hand, if you want to play the very best AAA gaming titles and simulators, then you’ll need a system with a graphics card, a decent amount of memory (at least 16GB RAM - or more if you can afford it), and enough storage space to save all of the games and programs you’ll want to use.
The same goes for content creators. If you want to use your PC for 4K or 8K video editing, 3D rendering or other intensive applications, then you’ll want to choose a workstation PC with a high-end graphics card and other quality components. Workstations are designed to handle the level of multitasking required by programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro.
If you’re aiming to be one of the top YouTubers or Twitch streamers, then you’re going to want a PC that’s got the perfect components for streaming, such as a multi-core CPU for multitasking, and a powerful GPU that’ll ensure smoothness for your streams.
You may also want to ensure your system includes a capture card or other streaming-specific components so that you can livestream as well as possible.
Many gaming PCs will also be more than able to handle in-depth tasks and programs such as coding and programming too.
Simply use the filter on the left hand side of our product pages to find PCs based on the characteristics and components that you want.
Can I create a custom PC?
Yes! Here at CCL we make it easy for you to design the PC of your dreams.
Many of our gaming PCs are completely customisable; simply click on the ‘Customise this PC’ tab in the product description and you can upgrade individual components. Give our team a few days to build it, and you’ll have your upgraded PC in no time!
Alternatively, we can build a custom PC completely from scratch for you, with our custom PC building service.
Use our easy configurator to create a system that’s completely bespoke and tailored to you to match your style. No matter what configuration you want (provided it works!), we can build. Customisation is our middle name (well, not quite).
So, whether you want a PC that’s built to be silent, a PC with a quadcore or ThreadRipper CPU, a PC with a compact chassis, a watercooled system, a system with a graphics card with plenty of GDDRX memory, fans with different colours, with dual channel memory, with tempered glass sides, or a system with plenty of overclocking potential, CCL can configure and build a customised PC for you!
Are gaming PCs upgradeable?
You need to be careful when selecting a PC if you have upgradability in mind.
Things change so fast in the world of PC gaming, that you’re generally better off buying the most-powerful PC you can afford so that you get the longest life out of it - rather than trying to make a PC upgradeable.
If you are concerned about upgrading your system, you should focus on things like the motherboard (and the kind of socket and chipset it has). The motherboard is generally the main limiting factor when it comes to upgrading a gaming PC. It’s the key thing to think about when looking at whether a new part will be compatible or not.
Should you like to find out more about upgrading PCs, the CCL Tech News blog is a great place to start.
What size gaming PCs do you offer?
We offer all main sizes of PC. Using our custom PC building service we can offer everything full tower and mid-tower PCs all the way down to the smallest mini-ITX PCs.
Whatever your sizing preferences, we can offer you everything from the smallest portable micro or mini PCs, through to the coolest, maxxed out full tower gaming PCs.
What do you need for a gaming PC?
Gaming PCs require four core components to allow you to play the best AAA titles.
These four core components are:
- Graphics card (GPU).
- Processor (CPU).
- Memory (RAM).
- Storage (HDD and/or SSD).
Graphics card (GPU)
For many gamers the graphics card is the most important part of their system. The GPU allows your system to render graphics, images and animations quickly - creating an impressive, immersive gaming experience.
A graphics card performs the fast-math calculations required by top games, freeing up the processor (CPU) and other parts of your system, so that everything runs smoothly whilst you’re gaming.
Nearly all of today’s games rely on graphics cards, so if you’re looking to play any of the top titles, you’ll definitely need a system that contains a graphics card.
Here at CCL we build our systems with either NVIDIA or AMD GPUs. Use the menu on our website to choose from systems featuring NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards or AMD Radeon RX graphics cards.
Get the right graphics card in your PC and you’ll stand a better chance of beating your online competition.
NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards
NVIDIA is widely regarded as the leading manufacturer of graphics cards. Their cards such as the RTX 3090 are extremely sought-after as they provide ‘set and forget’ 60 FPS gaming at 4K, and can even handle gaming at 8K.
Beyond the 3090, NVIDIA’s RTX 30 series cards are all excellent. They are built around NVIDIA’s Ampere 2nd gen architecture and include features such as Dynamic Boost 2.0, advanced ray tracing cores that create incredible light effects in games.
NVIDIA’s RTX 30 series graphics cards also feature AI-acceleration, supporting DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) that boosts frame rates and generates incredibly sharp, rich images in-game.
AMD Radeon graphics cards
AMD’s Radeon RX series graphics cards are also high-performance GPUs which have gained many fans amongst dedicated gamers.
The AMD Radeon RX 6000 series of graphics cards are built around AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture which offers up to 1.65 times more performance over the previous generation RDNA architecture.
The RX 6000 series also has features such as AMD Infinity Cache, which is a revolutionary memory architecture that delivers very high levels of performance and efficiency. You’ll also find ‘Ray Accelerators’ which deliver high-performance ray tracing.
Processor (CPU)
Another essential component in a gaming PC is the processor (also called the CPU). Think of a CPU as your computer’s ‘brain’.
It’s the job of a processor to process data and execute instructions to allow your computer to perform the range of tasks that are required to let you play a game.
So, if you want your gaming PC to be able to play the very-best games without any hiccups, it’s vital that you choose a system with a high-quality CPU. Look for quad core, six core or even eight core processors.
At CCL you can choose from gaming PCs with either Intel or AMD CPUs.
Intel Core processors
Intel has long been associated with creating great performing processors. Their range of Core processors combine great clock speed with multiple cores to create CPUs that are great for high-end gaming PCs.
Intel’s latest generation of processors are making use of a new architecture which features both performance cores (P-Core) and efficient cores (E-Core) to create a ‘hybrid’ architecture which unleashes more performance gains.
Some Intel CPUs can also be overclocked, meaning you can squeeze more processing power out of them.
AMD Ryzen processors
AMD is another well-regarded producer of processors. With their Ryzen series, AMD offers CPUs with multiple cores and threads and high clock speeds that’ll handle almost anything your gaming PC can throw at them.
AMD CPUs can also be overclocked, so that if you wish, you eke out even more performance from them.
Memory (RAM)
If you're going to have an enjoyable experience with your gaming PC, then it’s vital that you select one with enough RAM (Random Access Memory).
RAM, also referred to as memory, allows you to perform multiple tasks at once. It’s your computer’s short-term data storage, and as such, if you have enough RAM, you’ll be able to have multiple programs running at once.
For many gamers, 16GB of DDR4 RAM is considered the baseline amount of RAM needed for playing top games.
However, if you plan on doing more than just gaming with your PC (such as content creation/streaming), we’d highly recommend choosing a system with 32GB of RAM. This will provide you with enough memory to play games, have a chat open with your friends, and be streaming all at the same time.
Storage
The fourth core component that you require in a gaming PC, is storage.
Storage is where you store all of your computer’s games, programs and even your operating system.
When buying a gaming PC, it’s important that you select one that will have enough storage for your needs. For example, if you want to save a large number of high-end games on your system, you will need a considerable amount of storage capacity.
Aside from thinking about the amount of storage capacity, you’ll also need to decide what type of storage you want in your system.
Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
Hard disk drives have long been the standard form of storage in PCs. Hard disk drives contain a platter (also known as a disk) which is used to store data. The platter is read by an actuator arm, which reads and writes data to the platter.
It’s possible to buy hard disc drives in very large capacities of as much as 20TB. And, it can be worth buying as high a capacity HDD as you can afford.
However, hard disk drives can be slow to read and write data, which has led to the rise of another popular type of PC storage…
Solid State Disks (SSDs)
Solid state disks have become popular in recent years primarily due to the rapid speed with which they can read and write data.
As their name suggests, they use solid-state flash memory to store data. As the data is stored in a persistent fashion, SSDs are able to provide fast boot times - so you won’t have to wait long between turning your PC on and playing a game.
At present SSDs tend to be more expensive than HDDs and don’t usually offer as much storage.
One workaround that many gamers now use is to include both a HDD and an SSD in their system. This allows them to store things they want to boot quickly on the SSD (such as their operating system), whilst they can store large, infrequently used files or programs on the HDD.
At CCL we offer many gaming PCs with both HDD and SSD storage options.
What PC monitor for gaming?
Of course, it’s no good spending loads of money on a brilliant gaming PC, only to connect it to a cheap monitor.
It’s the monitor that truly gets the maximum out of your PC’s spec.
To buy a monitor that will truly get the most out of your new gaming PC, you need to think about factors such as:
- Screen size/aspect ratio.
- Panel types.
- Refresh rate.
- Response time.
- FreeSync and G-Sync.
- Colour.
- Ports.
- Peripheral ports.
- Audio.
That way you can create a gaming experience that’s personal to you. You’ll be able to create an immersive player experience that almost feels physical!
Where to buy the best gaming PC
If you’re looking to buy a gaming PC then you want to ensure you are buying it from a top PC builder - and that top PC builder is CCL.
We are a retailer with over 30 years’ experience building high-performance, great-value gaming PCs.
Our team of experts have designed the very best gaming PC builds on the market. Explore our range of Horizon and Nazare gaming PCs and you’ll find systems that include the best hardware such as GPUs, CPUs, storage, RAM and more - all at incredible value. They’re widely regarded as the best prebuilds on the market.
But, we don’t stop there. Aside from making the best gaming PCs on the market, we also offer a fantastic range of benefits with all of our PCs:
3-year collect and return warranty
If you want to buy a gaming PC safe in the knowledge that you’ll have the best backup and support should anything go wrong, then buy a gaming PC from CCL.
Why? Because we offer an industry-leading 3-year collect and return warranty.
Should the worst happen and you have a fault with your PC, then we will cover the cost of any replacement parts and labour time required to repair your system. What’s more, we’ll even cover the cost of sending your PC to and from our workshop in Bradford.
Extensive testing
CCL also undertakes an industry-leading testing and quality assessment programme. Reliability is important to us.
Each and every CCL gaming PC is subjected to a battery of tests to ensure they are stable, durable and reliable. We benchmark their performance to ensure they are meeting their specs. They are then subjected to intense scrutiny under our quality assessment process.
By the time your PC has been packed ready for shipment, it will have been tested and inspected down to the finest detail.
Free delivery gaming PCs
We understand that your gaming PC is your pride and joy. So we work with the very best couriers to ensure that your new PC arrives with you quickly and safely.
Our PC building experts ensure that your new PC is packed and prepared for shipping in the safest way possible.
And, the best part - delivery is free! (With some exceptions for non-mainland UK and highlands locations).
Availability is a key consideration for us. So, we keep many types of our PC in stock, ready for next day delivery. When we have to modify or custom build a PC, we will aim to deliver it to you within 4 to 5 working days.
So, don’t worry about collection, we’ll bring your new PC to you!
Technical support and advice
Our support doesn’t end when you receive your brand new gaming PC.
We also provide extensive technical support and advice throughout the lifetime of your PC.
Whether you have questions about setting up your PC at the beginning, through to questions about upgrades and compatibility further down the line, the CCL team is happy to help!
We offer low-cost telephone lines for when you want to speak to someone. Even better, our email support is completely free!
Flexible payment options
To make it even easier for you to buy the gaming PC of your dreams, we offer flexible payment options such as PayPal Credit which allow you to spread the cost of your new purchase.
About CCL
Perhaps you haven’t heard of CCL before? We don’t blame you, we’re kind of a hidden secret!
We specialise in building gaming PCs. And, we always have.
As a professional specialist gaming PC builder, we have over 30 years’ experience in the industry and have been awarded multiple accolades over that time for creating bestselling customs direct to the consumer.
So, if you want the best gaming PC, speak to the professionals - CCL. It’s our mission to create the world’s best gaming PCs.
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