How to Know What Parts to Pick: A Guide to Your First Gaming PC Build

How do I decide which parts to use? How much does building a PC cost? Why build a PC when I can buy pre-built? If you don't have a lot of knowledge on computers it can be daunting, but it's not as complex as you might think. So, let's answer these questions and hopefully it will make the process easier for you now and in the future.

How do I decide which parts to use?

Picking the right parts can be a little confusing sometimes. My recommendation is to use a website such as PC Part Picker it's my go to for picking out parts, because they make it quick and easy to put together a PC part list. After choosing a part on PC Part Picker they will automatically remove non compatible parts from their list which takes a lot of effort out of the planning portion of the build. Now, you have a tool to put your shopping list together but you may be having trouble choosing which parts will work best for you. My favorite site to remedy this is Tom's Hardware this site is full of articles that compare and contrast any part you can think of making it easy to decide on what to use.

How much does Building a PC cost?

PCs can be fairly expensive my estimates for a decent mid range PC at the time of writing this is between $1300 and $2700 USD. Let me break down where those amounts originate from.

• Typically for a gaming PC, you would want your GPU (Graphics Card or Graphics Processing Unit) to be your highest expense ranging from $500-$900, I would recommend that the amount you spend on your GPU is equal to the amount you spend on your CPU and Mother Board combined.

  
  

• Now for the CPU, this is the brain of your computer, they typically range from $100 to $400, usually I'll spend about twice the amount of the Mother Board on the CPU. Often, a CPU will come with a cooler but that's not always true, so be sure to double check before making your final purchase.

• Next, the Mother Board, this can range from $50 to $200, one of the most important things about the Mother Board is to make sure it'll fit inside your case.

  
  

• RAM (Random Access Memory or Memory) is the short term memory of your PC, your CPU will store quick access data inside your RAM, essentially if your CPU makes a calculation that it will need to recall quickly it will store the information into your RAM. For gaming the recommended amount of RAM you'll need is typically 16GB, when you go to pick out your RAM, look at the Mother Board you chose and double check the amount of RAM slots it will have most will have at least 2 slots but a lot of them have 4, when choosing RAM also try your best to match them, sometimes your computer won't like mixed brands and will give you some trouble.

  
  

• Next up, storage, either SSD (Solid State Drive) or HDD (Hard Disk Drive) these can range between $60 and $200 depending on your needs. I recommend purchasing 2 storage drives, an SSD for your OS (Operating System) as SSD's are typically faster and this will allow for quicker booting for your PC, for these you can get away with 250GB - 500GB (or sometimes even less), the idea is to only put your OS and it's updates on this drive and the other drive which could be either a HDD or an SSD would be for the bulk of your storage look for about 1TB. Games have large files and the more storage you have the more games you can have downloaded at the same time.

  
  

• The final important piece of the puzzle will be your PSU (Power Supply Unit) all power supplies are given a rating you want to try your best to get a PSU that has at least an 80 plus gold rating or better, you can get away with a silver but its not really what I would recommend. Also make sure you are picking a PSU that will provide enough power to your PC, if you're using PC Part Picker they will typically help out in figuring this out.

  
  

• There's 3 more things to look at when building a PC. First, OS I recommend Windows it's pretty standard and will run you about $110 for a regular copy, be sure to get the flash drive version unless you have a disk drive to run the CD.

  
  

• Next is the Case, these are mostly cosmetic. Like I mentioned in the Mother Board section make sure you pick a case that will fit your Mother Board, the other thing to consider would be airflow, most PCs are air cooled and if there is not adequate air flow it can lead to overheating issues, a lot of cases come with pre installed fans as well, its up to you to determine what is enough.

  
  

• Finally, your monitor which deserves it's own article as there's so much that goes into it, my recommendation is to look at the refresh rate, which is usually measured in Hertz (Hz), a good refresh rate would be about 75Hz as this is the hard cap for FPS (Frames Per Second) on any game you'll play, you may see your game running at higher FPS but you will only ever be able to perceive the total of your refresh rate.

Why build a PC when I can buy one Pre-built?

After reading all that you might say "it's too much work, I can just get one online." And that's true there's no real difference between a pre-built PC and the one you build yourself. However, when you buy a pre-built PC it's not uncommon for the company you buy from to add a significant mark up (my estimates are usually around $300 extra but could be more or less). Also buying pre-built can take away a lot of the customization options you may want. Maybe 64GB of RAM is way more than you need, or maybe you want less storage as there's just no way you'll use a full TB, the customization options you get from building your own will help you lower the total price of your new PC. If it's still too much work or too daunting of a task for you to attempt yourself consider hiring a service to build a PC for you, they can typically be cheaper than a pre-built while still allowing for the same options you would get from building your own, and you are able to use their expertise to help find the parts you need to take your PC to the next level.