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When you’re building a new gaming PC it’s really easy to get carried away.

Trust me, I’m a prime example.

AMD Wraith Prism CPU cooler

A stock cooler might not look fancy but it’ll do the job if you’re leaving your CPU at stock speeds.

But shopping for components like thebest graphics cardandbest SSDsoon starts to eat up your budget.

So where can you save money?

Do you need an aftermarket CPU cooler if you’re not overclocking?

Intel stock CPU cooler

A stock cooler might not look fancy but it’ll do the job if you’re leaving your CPU at stock speeds.

Our round up of thebest CPU coolersis a great place to start.

An important part of cooling your PC is airflow.

Don’t cover up any of the intakes or exhausts on your PC case and clean it often.

XPG Cruiser

Proper air intake and exhaust is a crucial part of any PC build.

It’s not a looker, but it packs a punch.

Also comes in a 120mm version if you have a small build.

NZXT X73 AIO cooler

Liquid coolers are a winner if you’re dabbling with overclocking.

Arctic Liquid Freezer 240

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE installed in a gaming desktop PC

AMD Ryzen 9 7000

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D retail box held in front of a blue cloudy sky

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

HP Envy Move

ROG G22CH front side.

Asus Rog Zephyrus G14 Ryzen

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang addresses participants at the keynote of CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 6, 2025.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition (front) compared to RTX 5090 Founders Edition (rear)

ASRock Phantom Gaming Intel Arc A770 8GB graphics card in a PC build

Xbox controller with WD-40

Elden Ring Nightreign

MSI Claw surrounded by Steam Deck, ROG Ally, ROG Ally X, Nintendo Switch, Legion Go S, and Legion Go.

The rare Caine Trailblazer operator skin, obtainable from the Return to Verdansk event in Call of Duty: Warzone

Dune: Awakening

DOOM: The Dark Ages

Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark running on MSI Claw 8 AI+.