Microsoft's new guide to PC gaming hardware is very slightly more useful than you might expect but oddly has never heard of upscaling

Here's one we missed a few weeks ago. Microsoft has posted a new guide to PC gaming hardware. It's a pretty broad overview and not actually a completely terrible starting point for PC hardware novices. But there are some frustrating oversimplifications, some notable omissions and at least one example of unforgivable marketing nonsense involving Microsoft's Copilot+ PC standard.

Titled "How to optimize your gaming PC setup," the guide touches on most key hardware issues, albeit with one fairly obvious omission. It kicks off with CPU and GPU recommendations.

Frankly, an actually useful guide to all the currently available CPU and GPU options would make for a lengthy dissertation on its own. So Microsoft boils it down, thus:

Entry-level gaming (1080p, medium settings)
CPU: At least a modern quad-core like AMD Ryzen 5 5600 or Intel Core i5-12400
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super or AMD Radeon RX 6600

Mid-range gaming (1440p, high settings)
CPU: 6-core or better, such as AMD Ryzen 5 7600 or Intel Core i5-13600K
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti / 4060 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

High-end/4K gaming
CPU: 8-core or better, like AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D or Intel Core i7-13700K
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4080 or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

While one could certainly pick holes in that, it's a reasonable enough summary. The main problem is that it only mentions a small fraction of the available CPU and GPU options. Where does, for instance, an Nvidia RTX 5070 fit in, exactly? Microsoft doesn't say.

Microsoft goes on to explain that you should, "pair your GPU with your monitor’s refresh rate. If your monitor tops out at 144 Hz, you won’t see a benefit from a GPU that can push 240 fps—save your budget for faster storage or a better cooling solution."

However, there's no information on which hardware setups are likely to result in a given frame rate with any specific game you might care to mention. So, it's hard to know what PC hardware neophytes are meant to do with that kind of observation.

And that, of course, is the problem with a guide like this. It raises lots of issues like, "don't overspec your GPU for a screen that won't benefit," but provides limited guidance on how to actually execute on that.

That said, there are useful summaries of the kinds of refresh rates you should aim for, simple overviews of the three most popular screen technologies (IPS, VA and OLED) and basic guides to components like motherboards and storage that will serve as tolerable workable starting points for absolute beginners.

Less useful or even forgivable is Microsoft's shameless plugs for Copilot+ AI PCs. Right up top, when discussing basic CPU and GPU configurations, Microsoft says, "if you’d rather skip the part-matching headache, Copilot+ PCs come pre-configured with the latest CPUs, GPUs, and thermal designs tuned for gaming, so you can dive straight into the action."

And that, ladies and germs, is a pretty blatant falsehood. The main requirement for a Copilot+ PC is a hardware NPU. There's no other specific CPU or GPU requirement, and there are plenty of Copilot+ PCs which would be very poor choices for gaming. In short, the Copilot+ PC standard has pretty much nothing to do with gaming.

That travesty aside, there are a few notable omissions. Microsoft, for instance, doesn't mention upscaling technology at all. Presumably, Microsoft didn't want to plug the likes of Nvidia's DLSS or AMD's FSR technologies.

But the result is a pretty gaping hole in a guide that's meant to teach wannabe PC gamers the basics. These days, upscaling is such an important technology, it's definitely something to which beginners need to be introduced.

Anywho, those shortcomings aside, the guide is probably a bit better than you might have expected from Microsoft. It's a reasonable starting point for beginners. If you want something that's a bit more useful when actually configuring and buying a PC, I'd commend our own budget, mid-range and high-end PC build recommendations, complete with prices and buying links.

Best PC build 2025

1. Best CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

2. Best motherboard: MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi

3. Best RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB DDR5-7200

4. Best SSD: WD_Black SN7100

5. Best graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 9070

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