Building a New Gaming Rig

Putting together a new gaming build by yourself for the first time can feel like a rather daunting task, though with a little help from this article hopefully you’ll feel more confident in your newfound knowledge!

The reason why many of us choose to build a PC ourselves rather than simply buying a pre-built system is that we often overpay for pre-builds. Companies tend to make their pre-built systems look and sound better than the performance the components inside them will truly offer.

This is not to say you should write off buying a pre-built gaming system altogether though, as some companies, especially those online, offer services in which you can choose each specific component in your custom build. These companies will often add a fee onto the cost of the build for their services however – you’re simply paying a little extra for convenience.

For those of you looking to save a little bit more money on your build, whether budget or otherwise, purchasing your own parts and putting together a build by yourself at home can save you hundreds on your next PC. Most components, when bought separately, will cost you much less than a pre-build or a custom PC building site would, and is the best option for any consumer that feels up to the task. Many people are too scared or think building their own PC will be too difficult for no good reason – it’s really just like Lego for adults!

Issues to be aware of

The only thing you really need to look out for and be cautious of when picking your new components is their compatibility. If you end up purchasing a number of powerful components, but they all have compatibility issues, you will be unable to complete your build and will have to go through the process of returning and repurchasing components.

There are multiple sites online that can aid you when trying to determine which parts are compatible with one another – one of these sites is ‘PCpartpicker’. Using a site such as PCpartpicker, in conjunction with purchasing your own components, will ensure that you purchase compatible components much cheaper than you would otherwise receive in a regular or custom PC build.

Choosing your components

Everyone has different opinions when it comes to which component is the ‘most important’ part of a gaming PC. The reality is that the most important thing is that all of your components work together efficiently. Choosing a motherboard that fits all these components appropriately is probably the first thing you’ll want to do. Motherboards come in all shapes and sizes, but the important thing is to ensure that the chipset you choose is compatible with the CPU you decide to go for.

Once you have decided upon a motherboard and CPU, you can start looking into other components such as appropriate cooling systems, RAM and in-case fans. Gaming PC enthusiasts tend to go for components that feature RGB lighting – remember though that this is purely aesthetic and by no means affects the performance of your rig.

Once you have made a decision on which components you’ll be using, it is important to calculate how much power your PC is going to pull from the mains. You’ll need to choose a power supply with an appropriate wattage, otherwise your new build may not run as well as it should. There are many websites that can be used to calculate this figure, so you should have too much of a hard time working all of this out.

After selecting all of your components, it will be time to build your PC. Remember how we talked about PC building essentially being an adult Lego set? Well, it really is that easy to build! Following YouTube tutorials, online guides, and simply reading the instruction leaflets provided will help you to breeze through the build process.

Many people will have used the same components as you previously so there will be lots of component-specific information available for you to use online. Once you’ve started, you’ll find that everything clicks and it’s really easy to keep going. You don’t have to be a hardware expert to build a great PC!

Resources:

Gaming PCs - American Preparatory Schools

Gaming PC Bundles - Azure DevOps

Cheap Gaming PC Bundle - Dovetail Learning

Motherboard Bundles - Greenwood Consolidated School District