Gaming indeed a nice item that helps to pass a leisure time when it in laptop, hopefully, the fun level uplift significantly. That comes true due to some blissful features of a laptop, like portability, charging facility, etc. However, when it comes to gaming PC, users want to build their own, but the scenario is different for laptops. This article lets you everything you need for how to build a gaming laptop.
Before we enter into how to build your own gaming laptop kit, we want to clarify the budget because it means which rig you can buy.
Budget: What Items You Can buy with Your Money?
Budget is the most important factor while choosing items for a gaming laptop. Typically, we don’t keep unlimited amounts; instead, we fix spending behind purchasing. Here we enlist three price ranges and show you what items you can purchase with that budget.
Below $1,000:
At this price range, you may find a notebook having an Intel Core i5 processor. On the other hand, in terms of PC, you can buy a 7th-generation Intel Core i7 CPU along with RAM size 8GB. Really awesome, but the laptop’s flavor is different. However, SSD is a common component for a gaming rig, today and if your budget is below $1000, you can easily manage a solid SSD.
Plus, that budget will give you 1TB HDD (typically, the rpm is 5400). Without GPU, you can say the PC is a gaming rig, don’t worry, your budget will help buy Nvidia GeForce 1050 or 1050 Ti GPU. So, what about the display? Well, the budget will cover a 1080p display.
$1,000 – $2,000:
This budget is hopefully enough who don’t need a high-end gaming laptop. However, this price range will provide you Core i5 easily. Also, you can manage a quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU along with 16GB RAM at this range.
Moreover, the price range is enough to get SSD and HDD (5,400 to 7,200 rpm). Plus, the GPU is honestly awesome, like Nvidia GTX 1060 or 1070 GPU along with VRAM size 6GB. Hopefully, those components are enough to play most games easily.
$2,000 – $3,000:
At this price range, a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with at least 16GB of RAM is the common component. To enjoy the gaming scenario, you can manage the monitor with screen resolution ranging from 1920 x 1080 to 3840 x 2160. However, the price range will give you new PCIe SSDs, which will make your game installing and loading fast.
If you like a lightweight laptop, this price range will help to get a Max-Q laptop. With that rig, you can tension-freely play any game at the highest settings.
$3,000 or more:
Honestly, a crazy budget for those who want top-rated components. That budget will help get two 1080 GPUs in SLI configuration where each card allows the VRAM size 8GB. Plus, you can easily manage four SSD along with 65GB (max) of RAM. Interestingly, this high budget allows you to use VR headsets such as HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.
Can You Stream From A Gaming Laptop?
Thankfully, you can easily set up an ideal game streaming platform at home. For that, you don’t need a high-quality PC; instead, an affordable gaming laptop is enough to steam games while playing. Notably, that gaming rig should have all the required specifications and the right software. Now, let’s see our suggested specification will help you in better streaming.
- GPU: You can buy Nvidia’s RTX 3000-series, for example, the full-fat RTX 3080 and 3070.
- CPU: A gaming laptop with AMD Ryzen 4000 and 5000 will offer you great service in streaming. Moreover, Intel isn’t out of the syllabus; their best product in this arena is Comet Lake H-Series 10th-generation.
- A reliable and fast internet connection
- Additional Monitor
- Camera & Microphone.
How to Select the Best Gaming Laptop: The Basics
While choosing the best gaming laptop, you need to focus on the following things.
CPU or Processor
- Clock speed:
GHz or gigahertz is the measurement of the clock speed. Here the number indicates how faster the clock speed is. Try to choose the higher clock speed to run the application smoothly and fast.
- Core count:
Core indicates the processing units; for instance, the single-core means a single processing unit, and the multi-core processor means multiple processing units. Here each core works individually to perform the assigned task. Though you intend to buy for gaming, you can choose two or four cores.
Our suggestion for CPU:
If you haven’t a problem with the budget, then you can choose one from the Intel® Core™ H processor series. However, your budget is low budget; you can choose the Intel Core i5-9300H processor or Ryzen 5-4600H.
Storage
- NVMe SSD.
You will get fast random read and write speed than the older SATA interface while using NVMe SSD.
- SATA SSD.
This storage offers much more durability and fast processing time than a traditional hard disk, not than NVMe drives.
- External storage:
If the existing storage can’t fulfill your demand, you can use external hard drives or SSDs. That may be affordable for you.
RAM
The RAM amount depends on your planning of what type of game you want to play on your laptop. Let’s see the RAM amount and their usages.
- 2GB to 4GB:
This RAM amount is ideal for surfing the internet, older games and performing lightweight applications.
- 8GB:
If you want to play any mid-range game, you can choose this RAM amount. Today, you will find the latest game demand 8GB of RAM minimum.
- 16GB:
A perfect amount to run the latest and resource-intensive games. That amount lets you play the game at higher settings. Plus, it allows running multiple apps in the background, such as video recording, voice chat, etc.
- 32GB:
If your job is to perform resource-intensive multitasking like video editing, gaming, content creation, you can choose this amount. That amount lets you perform the task without facing lag, stuttering, any type of performance and graphical hiccups.
Graphics or GPU
- Frame rate and resolution:
Frame rate works to make the game enjoyable and playable, and the resolution help to make the game beautiful. However, you need to ensure GPU and CPU from your gaming laptop can touch consistent frame rates when translating the proper resolution of the existing display.
- Display refresh rate.
If you spend to get a 144Hz screen, you need a GPU that can achieve 144 FPS or above. After that, you will get the ultimate amenity of the higher refresh rate.
- Ray tracing.
Ray tracing helps to produce incredible lighting effects; therefore, the graphic seems more realistic. So, check out the GPU specification to get this technology.
Cooling System
The cooling system is one of the important parts because it retards the laptop from overheating. While the normal laptop needn’t’ run continuously, the gaming laptop typically runs for a long time and becomes overheat afterward. To reduce the heat, the manufacturer attaches the cooling system inside.
There are four types of parts that make a cooling system in laptops: fans, vent, heatsinks, and cooling pipes. Apart from that, you can also attach an external cooling system.
What else can you customize?
Typically, the manufacturer doesn’t keep much space to customize a laptop. Unlike the old model, some new model allows upgrading a few items like memory, battery (removable), etc. Today we see the gaming popularity surge significantly especially laptop gaming. Due to the new arrival of the game, the manufacturer also allows some essential items to upgrade.
Customize the component helps you to get your desire power from the system. Now, let’s take a look at the following list to know which components allow you to change.
- GPU (Graphics Card)
- HDD and SSD drives
- RAM (Random-Access-Memory)
Let’s see the discussion on those components specifically.
Graphics Card or GPU
When you replace the latest mode GPU, your system’s performance will increase significantly. While it is easy to upgrade GPU on a regular PC, the upgrading process is slightly different in the laptop.
You can upgrade the GPU in your gaming laptop when there is no pre-built GPU in the motherboard. Interestingly, a laptop model named Alienware AREA-51M allows the user to upgrade the GPU to an Nvidia RTX 2080 SUPER.
One word of caution: When you install a powerful GPU, it will produce more heat, hence may seriously damage adjacent parts. Another caution is the built-in cooling system is made to serve the original GPU.
Another issue like not available cards in the market is also liable to retard upgrading the GPU in the laptop.
However, when you install a powerful GPU that will increase heat and that overheating may seriously damage other parts. Moreover, the in-built cooling system is only optimized for the original GPU. Our suggestion is if you want more GPU on your laptop, you can buy a new one having a stronger graphics card.
RAM
When you look at the latest games, you will find they demand 8GB of RAM. If your gaming laptop has less than 8GB, you have to give up playing popular games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. If you play forcefully, they start to crash, lag, and even won’t start. That’s why it is recommended to upgrade the existing RAM to play the latest game.
Today, manufacture let the user upgrade the current RAM or provide multiple slots to keep additional RAM. When you upgrade the existing RAM, you have to look at how much it supports. The latest gaming laptop, such as Alienware AREA-51M, allows the user to install up to 64GB of RAM.
However, while upgrading the existing RAM amount in your gaming laptop, you need to open the backside of the laptop. Once you open the backside, you will see the memory banks. Note: While conducting this RAM changing task, you have to turn off and unplug the laptop to avoid any physical damage to the parts.
Now, you need to push both sides’ clips gently and then pull out the current RAM.
After that, take the new RAM and gently push on the slot and then click those security clips.
Storage
We can see two primary storages: the hard drive (traditional HDD) and the other is SSD or Solid State Drive. Luckily, both storages allow the user to upgrade their gaming laptop. Notably, the HDD’s performance depends on how fast the HDD spins. For instance, the performance of the 1TB HDD with 7200RPM (revolutions per minute) will better than the HDD with 5400RPM.
SSD offers a super-fast performance than the traditional HDD because here uses non-volatile flash memory.
FAQ of how to build a gaming laptop
What should I look for in a display?
Here are the things you need to look at in-display while buying a laptop.
- Resolution: The higher the resolution the display has, the clearer picture you will get.
- Refresh rate: If your display has a higher refresh rate, you will get a smooth picture.
- Screen size: Naturally, the bigger screen size lets you enjoy the in-game scenario than the small one.
- OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode): OLED technology offers a better display, faster response times, less power consumption, and wider viewing angles.
The Best Cheap Gaming Laptops for 2021
If you have a question, “how to build a gaming laptop cheap,” then give up that and look at our selected cheap laptop list. Hopefully, it will easy to buy pre-built than making.
- Dell G5 15 SE (2020)
- HP Gaming Pavilion 15-dk0046nr
- MSI GF63 8RB
- Acer Nitro 5
- Lenovo Legion 5i (15-inch)
Final Thought of how to build a gaming laptop
Hopefully, we let you everything you need to know about “how to build a gaming laptop.” However, for any query, ask in the comment box; we will try to notify that.
