These are the PC parts we never upgrade

The release of new graphics cards, motherboards, CPU’s and RAM always lead to excitement.

New hardware means better graphics, smoother framerates and an all round better experience.

However PC’s aren’t just made up of those four components, what about all of the other parts that keep your gaming PC running smoothly? The ones you never even think to upgrade?

Check out the full list below:

Power Supplies

The standards for PSUs has not really changed over the last 6-8 years (since the introduction of the ATX12V standard).

While more power-intensive components may have required you to bump up the wattage to a larger PSU, chances are a 550W or bigger power-supply you bought in 2008 is just as worthy of your glorious gaming PC as one bought straight off the shelf.

While we wouldn’t recommend buying a 2008 supply due to deterioration issues, most can last between 4 and 5 years before any noticeable difference in performance occurs.

Sound Cards

Yes, sound cards are still a thing, even if you haven’t heard them in hardware conversation since the late 90s.

While most would argue onboard audio is enough, serious audiophiles realise the importance of having a dedicated sound card.

Sound cards have actually got progressively worse since their heyday, as many of the newer cards don’t have the audio loopback device commonly called “Stereo Mix”/”Wave out mix”/”Mono Mix”/”What U Hear”.

Optical drives (DVD, Bluray, Other)

This one is quite obvious. Most media consumed by modern gamers is digital, meaning the requirement for optical drives has decreased considerably.

The fact that Bluray never really took off the same way DVD and CD did meant gamers never had to adopt the new format and instead opted for bigger hard drives.

Of course, once a year there comes a moment where you absolutely have to have a nearby computer with a working disk drive, so we can’t advise you get rid of them just yet.

Cables

They’re inexpensive, easy to find, and unless you have introduced completely proprietary hardware into your Gaming PC in the last couple of years, chances are you haven’t needed to change your cables in years.

Some gamers may choose to colour-code their builds and go for better fitting cables so that their cases are more aesthetically pleasing, but functionally they do exactly the same thing.

Honourable mentions

Every gamer is different. We don’t presume to know what you have or haven’t upgraded over the last couple of years but we do mention the above and below from past experiences.

For example, chances are slim that you will actually run out to buy a 4K ultra-wide display when the monitor you’ve had for several years will do (at least not immediately).

Ditto for hard drives, keyboards, mice and cases which can always be upgraded for something bigger and better but don’t drastically change what’s happening in front of you.