Key Takeaways
- Playnite allows you to launch video games from completely different platforms multi function place, and Moonlight allows you to stream them to different gadgets.
- Applications like Nvidia FrameView and HWiNFO may help you determine how nicely your gaming PC is functioning and even how briskly it is performing.
- CurseForge allows you to obtain and handle mods for varied video games in a single place.
One of many highlights of PC gaming is how you are able to do any variety of strange issues along with your gadgets — inside and outside of your gaming periods. The following greatest profit is the huge variety of free applications on the market which are all designed to make your life slightly simpler in a single capability or one other.
As a seasoned PC gamer, these 11 picks are a few of my favorites as a seasoned PC gamer. From benchmarking seemingly un-benchmarkable video games to putting in all my must-have apps with a single click on, these apps have made my PC gaming expertise a lot simpler and extra pleasurable through the years. In my view, all PC avid gamers ought to attempt these lesser-known gems.
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1 Playnite
Launch all of your video games from one app
Totally different recreation platforms have their particular person perks. Whether or not it is Steam, Epic, Battle.web, or one thing else, in some unspecified time in the future most PC avid gamers will launch video games from a wide range of completely different platforms and launchers.
Playnite is a free app that means that you can maintain your video games on these completely different platforms however launch them from a single, unified hub. As soon as you’ve got linked your accounts (or allowed Playnite to scan for put in video games, should you’d relatively not hyperlink accounts) you possibly can launch any recreation you personal from the Playnite launcher — you now not have to recollect which recreation runs on which platform. It makes use of open-source code, too, which provides an additional degree of credibility to its safety.

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2 Moonlight
Sit again and stream
Moonlight-stream / Pocket-lint
PC gaming is healthier than console gaming for some issues, however streaming video games to TVs and different gadgets is not certainly one of them. If you wish to sit back and calm down on the couch and play a recreation in your laptop computer, pill, or TV, issues can get troublesome.
Moonlight is a free program that may assist with this when you have an Nvidia GPU, which helps you to stream PC video games to iOS, Android, Home windows, Mac, Chromebook, LG WebOS, and extra gadgets. It makes use of GameStream in Nvidia GeForce Expertise to stream video games out of your gaming PC to the Moonlight app on a paired system. So, no extra want for 20-foot HDMI cables.

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3 CurseForge
Hold observe of your mods
One of many many advantages of PC gaming is the power to change your video games with mods, plugins, and add-ons. You could find mods for all types of issues, from monitoring timers in League of Legends to including extra dialog choices in The Sims 4.
Downloading, putting in, and managing all these mods could be troublesome, although, which is why CurseForge exists. CurseForge acts as a central mod repository for tons of video games, together with Minecraft, World of Warcraft, The Sims 4, and extra, permitting you to obtain, replace, and handle all of your mods in a single place. The free model has advertisements, however CurseForge says mod authors get 70% of the app’s income, and there is the choice to improve to the paid model everytime you need.
4 Nvidia FrameView
Benchmark video games with no built-in benchmark
Nvidia / Pocket-lint
A private favourite of mine, Nvidia FrameView has saved me tons of bother benchmarking video games for {hardware} evaluations. Nvidia FrameView is a free app that means that you can measure and document in-game framerates, body occasions, GPU performance-per-watt, and GPU energy, for a set time frame utilizing a hotkey. That is nice for getting correct benchmark information.
Maybe you wish to change some in-game settings and see precisely how a lot your efficiency improves. You may choose a small space of the map or degree to make use of, set your self up, and hit the FrameView hotkey to begin recording framerate information for a set size of time (say, 30 seconds). Then, you possibly can change your settings, do the identical once more, and it’ll document that information, too, including it to the identical spreadsheet saved to a most well-liked file location. It is excellent for video games that lack built-in benchmarks.
5 HWiNFO
Verify your GPU and CPU temps
We PC avid gamers often prefer to know what is going on on underneath the hood inside our PCs. As an illustration, it is a sensible concept to periodically examine your CPU temperature for thermal throttling.
HWiNFO (AKA HWiNFO64) is a free program that does real-time system monitoring and reporting, permitting you to examine all the pieces out of your GPU temperature to your motherboard’s CPU +12V voltage. You may present information over time on a graph, and even add a specific sensor (similar to CPU temperature) to your taskbar to examine it on the fly.

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6 A VPN
Safe, non-public, and tricksy
There are such a lot of causes a gamer may wish to trick a recreation server into considering they’re connecting from a unique location. Maybe the sport you wish to play is geo-locked for folks in your nation. Or, the sport servers in your area are down for upkeep. Chances are you’ll even simply desire the participant base in one other area.
Some video games won’t enable VPNs, so examine the foundations for every recreation you play, and use them at your personal threat.
If you wish to make a recreation assume you are logging in from elsewhere, a virtual private network (VPN) is a helpful device. A VPN creates a safe, encrypted connection between you and the VPN server, which acts as a go-between on your PC and the sport server or another web service you hook up with. So, you possibly can select a VPN server abroad, and the sport you hook up with will assume you are enjoying from there.
When deciding on one of many
best VPN services
or choosing from the
best VPN deals
, select a quick one that gives a low latency connection. This may create a greater on-line gaming expertise.
7 WinDirStat
See what’s clogging up your SSD
Even the best SSDs with 1TB or 2TB storage capability can rapidly develop into saturated by giant recreation installs. Throw in some video downloads and different purposes, and also you may end up desirous to eradicate some pointless information and improve your free cupboard space. Sadly, Home windows nonetheless does not give us a simple or intuitive option to discover out which information and folders are taking over essentially the most house.
WinDirStat is extra helpful than the Home windows “Add or take away applications” function as a result of it not solely exhibits the set up dimension of various purposes, however of all information and folders.
That is the place WinDirStat (Home windows Listing Statistics) is available in. WinDirStat is a free disk utilization statistics viewer and cleanup device that exhibits you which of them applications and information are consuming up house in your SSD or HDD. It offers you a visible illustration of the proportion of your storage that completely different information and folders are taking over. As proven within the image above, Steam takes up about 92% of my Program Information (x86) folder, of which my DOOM Everlasting set up accounts for the biggest portion.

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8 Revo Uninstaller
For once you actually desire a program uninstalled
The “Add or take away applications” function in Home windows is enough for uninstalling a number of applications, however not all. Some applications, regardless of being “uninstalled” by Home windows, can go away traces behind, similar to registry entries. This could be very true for video games that bundle different issues (similar to anti-cheats) in with their installations and maintain themselves hidden and buried in your system after a supposed uninstall.
Revo Uninstaller may help with this. It is a program that may not solely uninstall your purposes just like the native Home windows uninstaller does, but additionally scan for leftovers after this commonplace uninstall, and it consists of some extra cleansing instruments. (That is all included within the free model, however should you improve to Professional, you achieve entry to a variety of different options similar to prolonged scanning for leftovers and a multi-level backup system.)
Be sure to will not want any of the leftover set up information and registry entries earlier than hitting Uninstall. Use at your personal threat.
9 Show Driver Uninstaller
For once you actually desire a GPU driver uninstalled
Show Driver Uninstaller
Generally, utilizing DDU is critical.
Show Driver Uninstaller (DDU) is a type of applications you will not often have to make use of, however will be grateful for having once you do. You do not often must uninstall drivers in any respect, except you are switching element manufacturers (similar to from AMD to Nvidia), and even then, you possibly can often do that by way of the Home windows Management Panel. However typically, utilizing DDU is critical.
DDU uninstalls your graphics drivers or different system drivers to make sure all traces are gone, permitting you to put in new drivers utterly contemporary with out risking any driver conflicts. This may be particularly helpful for troubleshooting issues that could be brought on by a driver battle or corrupted driver, or for stopping such conflicts and corruptions should you’ve been tinkering slightly an excessive amount of.

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10 Rainmeter
Full desktop customization
FiiZzioN / DeviantArt
One of many many advantages of PC gaming is the truth that you get to make use of a closely customizable system to recreation on. You should use no matter elements you need, change up your peripherals, use completely different lighting, completely different software program, completely different displays. The record is limitless.
Rainmeter, a free and open-source program, means that you can prolong this customization onto your desktop, past the conventional Home windows desktop customization choices.
It means that you can configure your desktop format, theme, colours, animations, and so forth — all the pieces out of your launch icons to your background and widgets. In reality, it permits a lot customization which you can replicate utterly fictional or futuristic desktops from films. You may hook real-time information to show, too, such an RSS feed for up-to-date gaming information, and even your GPU temperature as reported by HWiNFO. And if doing all this your self appears like an excessive amount of problem, don’t fret — many different customers have already created Rainmeter skins which you can obtain and use.

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11 Ninite
Cease losing time with particular person installations
Should you simply acquired your fingers on a brand new gaming PC or arrange a contemporary Home windows set up, you may in all probability want to put in a good few applications to get your system up and working the way you need it. If the considered this fills you with dread, don’t fret, there is a program to resolve simply this downside.

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Ninite will solely set up the required elements, so there isn’t any bloatware or doubtlessly undesirable applications.
Ninite is a free bulk set up device that is nice for contemporary installs or batch updates. Merely examine off the completely different software program you wish to set up from its intensive record and Ninite will do all of the be just right for you, downloading and putting in all the pieces within the background. It’s going to solely set up the required elements, too, so no bloatware or doubtlessly undesirable applications.

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