If you’re one of many Malaysians obsessed with playing PUBG on your mobile phone, you might have thought about taking your gaming to the next level with a gaming PC. Although you could just buy a standard gaming PC, true gamers know the ultimate gaming machines are the ones you’ve built yourself to suit your own preferences.
But building a gaming computer is more expensive than you might think and you’ll probably need to save for it – the most powerful computers can cost in the tens of thousands of ringgit. So here are our tips to help you save for a gaming PC!

1. Look at your budget
   Look at your budget to see how much you can afford to set aside every month to save for your computer. You might have to move around some of your spending on things which aren’t important to fit this in.
   That said, make sure you don’t eat into your budget for your priorities, like saving for your retirement, insurance payments or paying off your loans. Instead, maybe reduce your budget for eating out or shopping for the next couple of months until you’ve saved up for your computer. If you don’t already have a budget, read our guide to understand how to plan a budget.
2. Make a list
   Come up with a list of each item you need to buy to build your ultimate gaming computer.
   Here are the basics:

• Processor
• Motherboard
• Memory stick
• Graphics processing unit
• Storage
• Power supply
• A computer case
• Gaming microphone and headphones set.Make sure you look at prices in at least three different shops to know if you’re getting the best price for your computer parts. If you’re not sure where to start, look up online forums to know which shops people usually go to and why (they’re usually quite informative).

3. Stick to your budget
   Once you know how much you can save monthly and how much the computer costs, just start saving and stick to it. If your computer will come up to RM5,000 and you can save up to RM500 monthly, it’ll take you 10 months. If it’ll cost RM10,000, it will take you 20 months. That might seem like a long time, but the most important thing is for you to stick to your budget.
   If you don’t stick to your budget, you might find yourself using money you’ve set aside for other expenses that may be important or you may start dipping into your emergency or retirement savings.

Things to consider
If you’re thinking of taking a personal loan for your computer, you need to ask yourself two questions:

1. By gaming on this computer, can you earn money that will help repay your loan? Will this computer be a source of income that will help you repay your loan?
2. If not, will you be able to make the monthly loan repayments without eating into your budget for your necessities?

If your answer is no for both those questions, you might want to rethink taking that loan. Remember, you’ll be charged interest on the loan. Also personal loans are the number one cause of bankruptcies in Malaysia – do you really want to take on debt to pay for something that’s not a necessity? (You can also read this guide to learn more about personal loans.)
Following these steps will help you reach your goal of getting a good gaming computer without impacting other parts in your life. Try using these steps when saving for other big purchases too!