We asked our team what they’d advise a customer if they could only say one thing.

Windows 10

Just a heads up—Windows 10 support will end in October 2025, meaning no more updates from Microsoft. Computers over 6 years old won’t work with Windows 11 due to its new security features. You’ll need to upgrade, and we offer both new and refurbished devices that are compatible. Reach out for details!

Scott

Backup

Always remember the golden rule of data protection: keep three copies! We have many data recovery methods, but it’s best to prevent data loss. Use cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive, or local solutions like Acronis for automatic backups. Consider adding an extra drive to desktop PCs or using cheap, large USB drives to back up your backups!

Chris

Solid State Drives

When it’s time to rejuvenate your aging computer, upgrading from a slow hard drive to a fast solid state drive is a brilliant idea. We’ll meticulously transfer everything from your old drive—including Windows and all your programs—to the new one. Your system will operate just like before, but with enhanced speed and responsiveness, invigorating your computing experience.

Craig

Network extension methods

Are you experiencing poor WIFI reception in your home? Fortunately, there are numerous solutions available to enhance your internet connectivity. Options such as WIFI extenders, internet-capable wall sockets, and technologies designed to eliminate dead zones can be highly effective. Installing modern network equipment like signal boosters, powerline adapter kits, or mesh WIFI systems can significantly improve your reception in a straightforward and swift manner.

William

Babysteps

Upgrading and building your own PC can be as exciting as binge-watching your favorite comedy show, except when it turns into a horror flick! You see, a lot of folks dive into this techy pool after being inspired by influencers who make it look easier than baking a cake. Here’s a tip: if you’ve never wielded a screwdriver on a PC, maybe don’t start by trying to assemble a digital Frankenstein. Begin with simple heart transplants like RAM or storage, or maybe get adventurous with a GPU upgrade. Hold off on buying the whole tech store until you’re sure you can get more than just a very expensive paperweight out of your efforts!

Piotr

A little look at the team who make your IT dreams happen

Most of you will be familiar with the man in the middle of the picture above, William has been greeting you all at the front counter for the past six years now, giving you the benefit of his very broad range of knowledge in IT, especially in networking, and his primary passion, computer gaming! As our technical team are busy beavering away, working to help get your computer systems working, you don’t get the opportunity to meet some of the rest of the team. Like our Piotr…

Piotr joined us in 2020 as our apprentice after having completed an HNC in Technical Support after having realised that he was spending more and more time on his computer at home, usually playing games! Piotr is in charge of overseeing the construction, configuration and testing of all of our new computers and really enjoys working on the latest equipment, learning something new every day.

Piotr also ensures all of our phone and tablet repairs are completed which gives him an enormous amount of satisfaction as Piotr loves problem solving and fixing broken devices.

When Piotr isn’t working, he spends a lot of time playing computer games, and plays in goals for his five aside team. Given the chance he’d love a pet chimpanzee; no surprise as he loves monkeying around!

Craig has been doing his job for a while, he started with us over twenty-five years ago having previously worked for IBM, and has kept studying throughout that time, gaining qualifications from CompTIA. Craig is also our main Apple technician and is known to answer to “Macman” on occasion!

Craig isn’t limited to Apple products, and can turn his attention to desktops and laptops, hardware and software faults and gets a lot of pleasure from successfully fixing problems. When he’s not working Craig is often found playing Football Manager, or fishing, but most of all loves walking his dog.

An insight into one of our most popular systems

We always keep a very close eye on value for our systems, we don’t like spending money for little to no advantage, so why should you?  Fancy features and components can be nice to have, but few among us have unlimited funds to spend on PC’s.   So, when we’re designing computer systems, “bang for buck” is very important to us.  Right now, our best expression of this philosophy in our Arena Gaming range is probably our Royale Pro.

The Royale Pro is a system where we have taken “bang for buck” to the limit: we have sucked out every penny we can from where it doesn’t make the computer run faster, yet put the money into the performance per pound champions with a core system that can run against the very best on the market.

“We bought this PC for my son for Christmas 2023, he absolutely loves his Gaming PC, he’s always on it, using it for his Games, Discord and chatting to his friends around the world“

The heart of the system is AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor: this CPU may come from the previous generation, but it still performs well in comparison to the latest mid-range alternatives, and still puts up a good fight against the best on the market.  Simulation games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 benefit from performance that is close to state-of-the-art processors, showing there’s plenty of life left in last year’s best gaming processor.

Good processors may make a good basis for a high-performance machine, but the graphics card you partner it with is critical.  The majority of us are using 1080P resolution screens, so for the Royale Pro we look to achieve high performance at that resolution and currently the Nvidia RTX4060 is our value king at this resolution.  The card is capable of providing high framerates in popular games such as Fortnite (Epic, 120FPS), CS2 (200+FPS), or Hell Divers 2 (Ultra, 60+FPS) without breaking the bank.

“Investing in the Gaming PC has brought a lot of joy, the team at Creative Computing designed the PC around the games“

These choices allow us to build a computer that performs really well out of the box, but still leaves scope for upgrading when you feel the need for more speed.  We incorporate sufficient high-performance RAM, storage and network connections housed in a basic but well-ventilated case and with a power supply that still leaves scope to add more power at a later date.

All of this comes without compromising on reliability of course, the computer is backed by our Two-Year Parts & Labour Warranty, and comes with both Ethernet and Wifi connections, a year’s subscription to Norton 360 For Gamers and pre-installed & optimised Windows 11.

“My son loves his Arena Royale Pro PC“

Find out more about the Royale Pro here.