Why it matters to you
Nvidia is making it easier for you to pick a new gaming PC by tweaking its Battlebox certification program.
If you’re in the market for a new gaming PC and don’t want to build your own, then you have a huge number of options to choose from. In fact, the number of configurations and pricing levels can be dizzying, and selecting a machine at various price points that nevertheless provides the right level of performance can be daunting.
Nvidia has a vested interest in making things a little easier for gaming PC buyers, and so it introduced its Battlebox certification program a few years ago. The certification essentially provides assurance that a gaming system will perform well for its stated purpose — namely, to run modern games at high frame rates and excellent quality levels. Now, the company is updating the program to better reflect the modern PC component environment, as PC World reports.
The biggest difference between the old and new Battlebox programs is that Nvidia is now accounting for the much-improved price-performance equation of AMD’s Ryzen processors based on the new Zen CPU architecture. In the past, Nvidia focused on Intel processors given the relatively poor performance of AMD’s previous Bulldozer architecture.
Today’s Nvidia Battlebox program will now certify two levels of PC gaming machines. The highest-level systems will be designated as Battlebox Ultimate and will require a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GPU and either an Intel Core i7 processor or AMD Ryzen 7 (at least), along with at least 16GB of DDR RAM. The lower-end certification, Battlebox Essential, will also require a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, but reduces the CPU requirements to an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5, and the minimum RAM to 8GB of DDR4 memory.
Other Battlebox requirements include using a solid-state disk (SSD) for storage, G-Sync support if a monitor is included in a package, and Windows 10 as the operating system. Nvidia is aiming the Battlebox Ultimate certification at gamers who want the complete 4K and virtual reality (VR) gaming experience, while Battlebox Essential machines will ensure great 1080p gaming.
You can check out Nvidia’s Battlebox page for more information on the program and start exploring some of the manufacturer options. PC gaming system makers who are planning Battlebox systems or who already have some in the pipeline include Cyberpower, Origin, Maingear, and Velocity Micro. No matter which manufacturer you choose, selecting a machine with the Battlebox certification should help ensure that you have the expected level of gaming performance.