Don't forget these 6 important specifications before building or buying a new PC

Key findings

Don't neglect the TDP of your CPU and GPU as it determines both performance and cooling needs.
The PCIe generation of the motherboard's M.2 slots determines the maximum speed of your SSD.
If sustained write performance is important to your workload, a DRAM SSD can make a big difference.
The power class of your power supply and the component spacing in the chassis are critical to reliability and compatibility.

If you are building a PC for the first time, you might be aware of the common mistakes to avoid, such as buying incompatible components or forgetting to install some things. Even if you are buying a pre-built gaming PC, you need to check if it is good enough for gaming. Similarly, before buying a laptop, you should make sure you understand the detailed specifications.

However, there are many more aspects that you should pay attention to when building or buying a new computer. I am talking about certain critical specifications of the main components of your PC that can make or break its performance and reliability. These specifications may not be as obvious as others, which can cause inexperienced buyers to regret their purchase later.

An image showing the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Gaming OC GPU installed in a PC with RGB lights.

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6 PC case: Check physical compatibility

It is annoying when the radiator does not fit

A PC case is one of the highlights of any build – it defines the external appearance of the PC and also determines things like airflow. However, if you choose a case based solely on looks and mesh panels, you may be doing yourself a disservice. Many of your components need to fit comfortably inside your case. This includes AIO radiators, graphics cards, power supplies, and case fans.

If your chosen case doesn't have enough space for a cooler or graphics card, it can quickly become a nightmare. You can easily check the product page of your chosen cases to compare the stated clearances with the size of your components. A little check before buying can prevent unnecessary suffering later.

Forget the frills. Here are 6 things to look for when choosing a PC case

Because aesthetics is not everything

5 Power supply: See the tier list

Wattage and efficiency are not sufficient

Choosing a power supply is perhaps one of the most important tasks when building a new PC. And getting a reliable unit becomes even more important when buying a pre-built PC, as many PCs ship with substandard equipment that can compromise your entire build. A power supply with enough and more watts for your components and a solid 80+ rating isn't enough – you'll also want to make sure the power supply uses high-quality internals and follows best practices.

One way to do this is to consult a well-known power supply rankings that classify power supplies into different tiers based on actual testing and teardowns. Cultists' power supply rankings are one you can rely on. They list most models on the market, along with some of the newer ATX 3.0 power supplies. It's not a perfect source, but using it can help you minimize the chances of getting a model with known defects.

How do I choose the right power supply for my GPU?

You don't want this to go wrong.

4 SSD: DRAM makes the difference

You may not want an SSD without DRAM

A rendering showing the inner workings of a Samsung 980 Pro SSD.

If you are buying a desktop or laptop PC for gaming, it doesn't matter if your SSD has DRAM because gaming requires a lot of data to be read. However, for sustained writes where you need to write a lot of data to the SSD, DRAM will speed up the process significantly. This is because DRAM is a memory buffer that is faster than NAND flash and stores frequently accessed information.

An SSD without DRAM may not boot your operating system or load your games any slower than an SSD with DRAM, but performance will certainly degrade if you frequently write a lot of files to your SSD. So evaluate your use case carefully and then decide whether you need an SSD with DRAM or not.

User holding the Crucial T700 SSD in his hand

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There are several ways to determine if you have an SSD with or without DRAM.

3 Motherboard: M.2 PCIe generation and fan connectors

Avoid a poorly equipped board

You may be excited to use your speedy PCIe 5.0 SSD on your new PC, but if your motherboard doesn't have a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, you're just wasting money. When buying a motherboard for a new machine, pay close attention to the ports and expansion slots, especially the M.2 storage slots. Your blazing-fast SSD will only run at the maximum bandwidth allowed by the PCIe slot on your motherboard.

You have to order or buy a fan hub, wait hours or days for your build to be completed, and ruin your very first building experience.

Another thing you may overlook is the number of RGB and ARGB fan headers on the motherboard. You may be nearing the end of the build process and realize that you have no more headers to connect all of your RGB fans or strips. This is one of the most annoying mistakes you can make when building a PC. You will have to order or buy a fan hub, wait for hours or days for your build to complete, and ruin your very first building experience.

If you're buying a laptop, checking for the M.2 PCIe generation still applies, but it's probably more relevant to a future SSD upgrade than the one built into the laptop.

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2 Graphics card: Know your GPU chip and TGP

Not all graphics cards are the same (even the same models)

A similar scenario can occur when choosing a graphics card for your new build. Although it is relatively easy to judge the performance of desktop GPUs by their model names (though not always – *Cough* not yet launched RTX 4080 12 GB *Cough*), You have to be especially careful with laptop GPUs.

Starting with the RTX 30 series, Nvidia no longer uses the Max-Q branding to distinguish GPU models with the same name but different TGP.

Some of the worst RTX laptop GPUs of all time were riddled with egregious naming practices that could easily mislead consumers. Starting with the RTX 30 series, Nvidia stopped using Max-Q branding to distinguish GPU models with the same name but different TGP (Total Graphics Power). This naturally confused buyers who could have easily purchased a laptop with an RTX 3070 (80W) instead of an RTX 3070 (115W).

Two graphics cards with the same name may contain different GPUs, resulting in performance differences.

Even with RTX 40-series laptops, it's the buyer's responsibility to figure out the power limit of the laptop GPU under the hood. The GPU chip is another important spec to look out for – it's basically the actual GPU silicon chip at the core of the graphics card. Two graphics cards with the same name can contain different GPUs, resulting in performance differences. The older 6GB and 3GB GTX 1060 variants are common examples.

Even today, some uninformed users may consider the RTX 4060 to be just a slightly stripped down version of the RTX 4060 Ti. Even though the model names are different here, the potential confusion still exists. Most users may not realize that the GPUs contain completely different silicon chips, with the RTX 4060's GPU die being about 15% smaller.

nvidia geforce rtx 4080 super fe stood in front of its packaging

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1 CPU: Don’t forget TDP

You can lose at both ends of the spectrum

The TDP, or Thermal Design Power, of a CPU is the maximum amount of power it can consume under normal operating conditions. It is measured in watts and is an indication of both the performance and heat output of your CPU. The higher the TDP, the better the CPU cooler needs to be to keep it cool. Conversely, the lower the TDP, the more likely your CPU is to be power limited, as is the case with mobile (laptop) CPUs.

The result is a high power consumption CPU that gets too hot to be handled by a cheap CPU cooler.

If you only focus on the number of cores, clock speed, and cache when buying a CPU, you may end up with a power-hungry CPU that gets too hot to handle a cheap CPU cooler. Not only will you have spent more than you need to, but you'll probably be stuck with a CPU cooler that doesn't have enough power.

The same CPU model can have different TDPs on different laptops, depending on the type of user the device is intended for.

On the other hand, when you buy a laptop, pay attention to the TDP that the manufacturer has set for a particular model. The same CPU model can have different TDPs on different laptops, depending on the type of user the device is intended for. If performance is more important to you than battery life and heat generation, you should buy a laptop with the CPU running at the maximum possible TDP. Unfortunately, this information is rarely provided by laptop manufacturers.

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Easy to forget, hard to fix

These essential component specifications are easy to forget, but the problems they cause are not easy to fix, so make sure you invest enough time in the research phase before building or buying a new PC so you are informed about all the important aspects of the purchase. Some of these mistakes can be made even by experienced users, which underlines the crucial nature of the specifications that underlie them.