Whether you're after a new gaming rig or something a little simpler, when it's time to get a new PC the toughest decision is not which bells to include and which whistles to exclude but whether you should build it yourself or just buy a pre-built computer.

Nothing tests your resolve to identify a certain way like a big, bank-breaking purchase. In December, after five years of back-and-forth, I took the dive and bought a gaming PC. Until I was standing in the Micro Center checkout aisle with a big, stately "PowerSpec" box in my cart, I kicked and screamed the whole way there. "Buying in" is a scary thing, especially when your lifestyle is still possible, but significantly compromised, without doing so.

Ever been tempted to buy the latest shiny thing just because it has more features than its competitor? We call this "checkbox syndrome". It involves jumping at a new product just because it's an "upgrade", not because it's better. Before you fall for a list of tech specs designed to impress an audience during a big flashy announcement, stop and think about whether it's really an upgrade for you.

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers, including: Watch the 2017 Australia Day lamb ad, Volta launches wooden PC desktop, a bittersweet farewell to the Nintendo Wii.

2016 was yet another year that showed PC gaming is, in many ways, on the forefront of gaming. So many of video game's most popular trends -- the proliferation of Early Access on consoles (for better or worse), survival game elements in everything, multiplatform mods, esports and virtual reality - all started on PC. Even as it inspired other platforms, PC gaming itself evolved this year, both makng big strides and taking ugly spills.

Dear Lifehacker, I'm looking to build a new PC that's capable of running high-end video games and 3D graphics applications. In other words, it's going to get pretty hot! I'm seriously considering a water cooling solution but don't really know where to start. So my questions are: is water cooling worth the effort and what type of skills do I need to pull it off?