So after my guides on how to avoid scams, overclocking the processor, overclocking your GPU, optimizing your storage drives, and cleaning out junk files so the computer runs at peak efficiency, many people are still wondering one thing.
"Oh Great Cthulhu, how do I actually build one? How can I choose parts that logically work together? What's the cost?"
Well, dear reader, it's easier than it's ever been to assemble a computer, in fact, in terms of the actual construction of the computer, not much has really changed, but consideration on parts has changed a lot. That includes processors, RAM, storage, graphics cards, and such.
I decided to do this now, because the official PC building thread, while a fine, straightforward guide, is a little dated, and I decided to go ahead and update that thread.
Without further ado, let's get to building.
WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO WITH THE COMPUTER?:
Since one of the most common reasons people will be building a PC is for workstation use and gaming, this guide will be focused on that specific use case.
PART SELECTION:
Before you can build a computer, you'll need all the parts to build one. Sorta makes sense eh?
What you're likely saying right now.
But what really turns a lot of people off from building a PC is selecting the right parts for them. A lot of people aren't learned in what parts go together, what motherboard chipsets are, what is a good processor, etc.
And that's why I'm here, to help y'all out. Because really, many people overthink part selection. They get overwhelmed and that impedes in your ability to make rational, smart decisions.
So we'll go over each part of a computer, and go over the considerations you want to look for in terms of what the ultimate end goal of the build is. Since we're focused on workstation and gaming use cases, this guide will be tailored to that.
CPU:
The CPU, or Central Processing Unit is the brain of the computer. It handles the everyday tasks of the computer like running the operating system (OS), opening web browsers, handling AI in games, loading a game, etc.
In short, every process that you want to execute, like opening a web browser, downloading software, opening a game, moving the mouse cursor, and every process required to keep the computer running is handled by the CPU.
How it works is through a four step process:
This is the basis by which we measure the speed of the CPU, and that's called its clock speed. What we're literally looking at here is how fast the CPU executes instructions. This is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).
So therefore, that's your first consideration when shopping for a CPU, look at its clock speed. Most modern desktop processors run at a base clock speed of around 3.7 GHz, and then AMD and Intel have a "boosted" clock speed, where the CPU ramps up the speed to somewhere around 4.0 GHz.
As you can imagine, a CPU executing instructions faster makes for a better processor. Thus this was the basis around the GHz war between Intel and AMD during the late 90's and early to mid 2000's.
Then everything started to change. Since the mobile computing craze took off, that means AMD and Intel had to come up with different ways to get decent performance out of a processor that runs off a battery. In a laptop, raw performance takes a backseat to power consumption.
AMD out competed Intel in this area by packing on more physical processing nodes on their processors. The logic is simple, the more cores for processing instructions, the more efficient the CPU can execute instructions right?
But where Intel has, until recently, out competed AMD at is in how many instructions the processor is processing with each cycle. Many enthusiasts call this "core strength." That is, a CPU that's stronger is executing more instructions in each processing core, and doing it efficiently.
This leads us to the second consideration in choosing a CPU, its IPC (Instructions Per Cycle). A CPU with a higher IPC count is going to be stronger than one that just blazes through a fewer number of instructions really fast.
The third consideration for a CPU you have to make is core count. As I've stated, a processor with more physical processing cores is going to be better than one with fewer cores. These days, don't consider anything below 4 core CPU's. Since modern games are benefitting from multiple processing threads, they can leverage the power of a CPU with more processing cores more efficiently.
But what are threads? Processing threads, or hyperthreading as Intel calls it, is intelligent scheduling that in a way doubles the processing potential of the processor itself, by making sure it's always working and not sitting there doing nothing.
Your CPU without processing threads or hyperthreading.
There's in fact a great video by Linus Sebastion of Linus Tech Tips and Techquickie explaining hyperthreading or processing threads.
So your considerations for a CPU are based on clock speed, IPC, core count, and whether or not it his hyperthreading. Add in the fact of whether or not the CPU is unlocked for overclocking, and you have everything you need to choose a CPU wisely.
What you measure this against is what gives you the most performance, features, and quality for the money you spent.
As far as what to choose between AMD or Intel, let me just say that while AMD and Intel are the only desktop processing companies to choose from, the consideration between them is entirely based on what works for your build, because both AMD and Intel make very high quality processors.
CPU COOLER:
If you buy an overclocking CPU, stock cooling solutions may not be enough. And if you bought a mid-range unlocked processor or a high end processor, they may not come with a cooler at all.
So therefore, a CPU cooler is an important choice to make.
Your choice is mainly between two options, air cooling/heatsinks, or water cooling.
A heatsink works by a basic principle in thermodynamics. That is, heat tends to move towards a cooler object, warming up the cooler object and cooling off the hotter object. Then the fan attached to the heatsink exhausts the air away.
Your main consideration for a heatsink, if you go the air-cooled route is the thermal mass of the heatsink. The higher the thermal mass, the better.
But water cooling has caught on, and many companies are offering all in one liquid coolers.
Water cooling works essentially the same way as a heatsink, except liquid is more efficient at this process. The liquid then takes the heated up fluid to the radiator, where the radiator fan cools down the liquid in the radiator before it goes back through the loop.
For water cooling with an AIO, the considerations here are radiator size and fans. High static pressure fans are better because they're strong enough to blow air through the radiator fins. The size of the radiator is more important, however, as its the radiator's job to cool the system down.
Generally, either choice is perfectly fine. Aftermarket cooling solutions are a necessity for tweaking and overclocking, as their better thermal performance allows you to run a processor much cooler. Water coolers do allow you to push a processor a bit more, while heatsinks offer very comparable performance.
So choose the one that works best for your build.
MOTHERBOARD:
One of the most complicated choices, even for experienced techies. That's mostly because a lot of motherboard manufacturers advertise gimmicks rather than the features that really matter.
First off. If you buy an unlocked processor, don't pair it with a motherboard that doesn't support overclocking, and vice versa.
Second is the expansion ports the mobo has. That is, how many SATA ports does it have, USB 2.0 and 3.0 headers, PCIe lanes, RAM slots, and such are all important things to consider when choosing a motherboard.
Also, make sure that the processor you chose actually fits in the motherboard that you've chosen. While it is easy to determine this, in some cases it requires a bit of digging to figure this out. If you don't know, ask someone more knowledgeable than you. This is especially important when modern processors are both forwards and backwards compatible. In this situation, if you pair a more modern CPU with a motherboard a generation older, a BIOS update is in order.
So it never hurts to ask!
Second is form factor. There's four main sizes of motherboards:
RAM:
RAM stands for Random Access Memory and is a volatile form of data storage. By that, I mean that when you restart or turn off the computer, all of the data in RAM is wiped off, as opposed to storage drives which are permanent.
The CPU needs to access RAM to get instructions it needs to execute the functions it needs to do, so RAM choice is very important. In the previous PC building thread, the author suggested running DDR3, which stands for Double Data Rate Generation 3. However, these days with the launch of Coffee Lake from Intel a generation or two ago, and AMD's Zen architecture with Ryzen, we need DDR4.
DDR4 has numerous benefits over DDR3. Namely:
In the previous thread, the author said that modern computers require at the very least 4GB of RAM. However, computing needs have changed, and I say that the minimum now is 8GB of dual channel memory, that is two sticks of 4GB.
If you plan on gaming, since modern games are now taking advantage of multiple threads and multiple processing cores, the minimum I suggest for gaming is 8GB, though I'd strongly suggest 16GB if you can afford it.
In terms of RAM frequency, here's where modern computing needs deviate from the previous great information the author of the previous thread suggested. He originally suggested going for lower frequency RAM for more everyday needs.
However, for DDR4, it now depends on your CPU. For Intel, they don't leverage faster RAM, so you can get away with 2144MHz of DDR4, or 2666MHz without any issues.
However, for AMD's Ryzen, it requires a bare minimum of 3000MHz. So, if you plan on using an AMD Ryzen CPU, the bare minimum of RAM requirements should be 8GB (2x4GB sticks) of DDR4 at 3000MHz.
If you go lower than this for Ryzen, you could run into compatibility issues.
That said, for RAM considerations, it depends on your CPU and the type of things you plan on doing with the computer. I'd strongly suggest 16GB for gaming these days, though you can get by with 8GB, and I'd strongly suggest 32GB for workstations, though you can get by with 16GB.
In terms of how many DIMM's to buy, there's no reason whatsoever to buy one stick, especially if you're on a budget. Always opt for going with two sticks of RAM so you can get the massive benefits of dual channel memory.
STORAGE:
Storage requirements these days has also changed. Nowadays, with SSD prices dramatically going down, even with M.2 drives, there's no reason to not get an SSD, at least in a 2.5" form factor. Mechanical hard drives these days, even high capacity ones are now so cheap that I'd spend the money on getting a 250GB or 500GB SSD, and just buy a mechanical hard drive later. Seriously, 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM mechanical hard drives cost around $40. You can just buy one later.
The reason being, SSD's have significantly higher data rate and transfer speeds compared to a mechanical hard drive, and cases accommodate all forms of SSD's, and even motherboards are now offering M.2 solutions for multiple M.2 SSD's including special slots for them, and DIMM.2 solutions.
So my consideration here, even for a gaming PC, is to buy a 250GB or 500GB SSD, preferably a 2.5" or M.2/NVME SSD, and just buy a mechanical hard drive later.
If you have the budget, buy both.
Sticking with mechanical hard drives these days for key applications and the OS isn't as beneficial as an SSD. There's now no reason to not buy an SSD.
This holds especially true for a workstation PC, as many workstation builds have multiple M.2 SSD's running in RAID 0, and in some extreme cases, over 1TB of wicked fast storage.
GRAPHICS CARDS:
This part is responsible for processing and rendering visuals and graphics, and in a gaming system, is the heart of the build. This part, in a gaming system at least, is the single most important piece of equipment right after the CPU.
But shopping for a good graphics card is a little difficult, as both AMD and Nvidia will spout TFLOPS this, and Stream Processors and CUDA cores that, while never really telling you how that card actually performs in real world games.
Thus, my advice for shopping for a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is to do research and see how the card you're looking at actually performs in real world games. Look at real benchmarks from trusted tech sources and determine what level of graphical quality they're testing the card at, the resolution, and how many frames per second that card gets.
Your monitor is also going to play a role in choosing the right graphics card for you. If you plan on gaming at 1080p @ 60 fps (Frames Per Second), then you can afford to go for a lower end graphics card and still play many games at ultra. If you plan on going at 1080p @ 144 fps, you'll need a stronger graphics card, and so on and so on.
With real time ray tracing making a big splash when Nvidia launched the RTX line, ray tracing graphics cards are all the rage these days. Ray tracing is a rendering technique for generating an image by tracing the path of light as pixels in an image plane and simulating the effects of its encounters with virtual objects. The most recent GPU's are now using this technique in real time, greatly increasing graphical fidelity.
Nvidia's picture showing ray tracing. Quite a dramatic difference.
Another thing to consider is SLI or Crossfire. SLI and Crossfire, both by Nvidia and AMD, respectively, is running multiple GPU's to get more performance. However, these days, I'm going to keep it simple.
Buy the single strongest GPU that your budget can afford, period. These days, SLI and Crossfire is more headache than it's worth, and you're only really gonna see the benefits at enthusiast levels.
POWER SUPPLIES:
Power supply requirements, thankfully haven't changed since the last thread. I'm just going to echo that thread's sentiment. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES CHEAP OUT ON THIS PART!!!
Buy a power supply from a reputable company like Corsair, EVGA, SeaSonic, Cooler Master and the like, and I'm going to suggest making sure your power supply is at least 80+ certified.
CASE:
The consideration here is simple. Buy a case that you can fit everything in it.
However, I'm gonna go further and look at cases that have the power supply in the bottom, and have cable routing grommets built into them.
On top of that, if you plan on showing the internals, because you opted for parts with RGB lighting, then look at ones that have acrylic or tempered glass side panels.
Most cases these days have front panel USB 3.0, so there's no reason to get any case that doesn't have front panel USB 3.0.
Once you got your parts selected, you'll have to assemble the computer.
ASSEMBLING THE COMPUTER:
Here, I'm going to defer to the fantastic Linus Sebastian from Linus Tech Tips.
Take it away Linus!
You don't have to go out and build the exact machine that Linus is building, because you can just follow the general principles here and be completely fine.
Since the parts and connectors are keyed so they only go in one way, and all you need as a Philips head screwdriver, I'm going to say that anyone can build a PC.
If you have any concerns or questions, please, ask. I'm more than happy to answer questions and concerns.
"Oh Great Cthulhu, how do I actually build one? How can I choose parts that logically work together? What's the cost?"
Well, dear reader, it's easier than it's ever been to assemble a computer, in fact, in terms of the actual construction of the computer, not much has really changed, but consideration on parts has changed a lot. That includes processors, RAM, storage, graphics cards, and such.
I decided to do this now, because the official PC building thread, while a fine, straightforward guide, is a little dated, and I decided to go ahead and update that thread.
Without further ado, let's get to building.
WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO WITH THE COMPUTER?:
This is the first question you should ask yourself before assembling a machine. What do you plan to do with it? What are your computing needs? Do you plan to game on it? Do you need a more powerful computer for real work?Since one of the most common reasons people will be building a PC is for workstation use and gaming, this guide will be focused on that specific use case.
PART SELECTION:
Before you can build a computer, you'll need all the parts to build one. Sorta makes sense eh?
What you're likely saying right now.
But what really turns a lot of people off from building a PC is selecting the right parts for them. A lot of people aren't learned in what parts go together, what motherboard chipsets are, what is a good processor, etc.
And that's why I'm here, to help y'all out. Because really, many people overthink part selection. They get overwhelmed and that impedes in your ability to make rational, smart decisions.
So we'll go over each part of a computer, and go over the considerations you want to look for in terms of what the ultimate end goal of the build is. Since we're focused on workstation and gaming use cases, this guide will be tailored to that.
CPU:
The CPU, or Central Processing Unit is the brain of the computer. It handles the everyday tasks of the computer like running the operating system (OS), opening web browsers, handling AI in games, loading a game, etc.
In short, every process that you want to execute, like opening a web browser, downloading software, opening a game, moving the mouse cursor, and every process required to keep the computer running is handled by the CPU.
How it works is through a four step process:
- The processor has to fetch instructions from memory, either using its own onboard memory, called cache, or by accessing RAM. Barring those, it'll access the storage drives.
- Once it finds the instructions it stores it to be processed.
- It processes the information to find out what to do.
- Finally, once it processes the instruction, it executes a function.
This is the basis by which we measure the speed of the CPU, and that's called its clock speed. What we're literally looking at here is how fast the CPU executes instructions. This is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).
So therefore, that's your first consideration when shopping for a CPU, look at its clock speed. Most modern desktop processors run at a base clock speed of around 3.7 GHz, and then AMD and Intel have a "boosted" clock speed, where the CPU ramps up the speed to somewhere around 4.0 GHz.
As you can imagine, a CPU executing instructions faster makes for a better processor. Thus this was the basis around the GHz war between Intel and AMD during the late 90's and early to mid 2000's.
Then everything started to change. Since the mobile computing craze took off, that means AMD and Intel had to come up with different ways to get decent performance out of a processor that runs off a battery. In a laptop, raw performance takes a backseat to power consumption.
AMD out competed Intel in this area by packing on more physical processing nodes on their processors. The logic is simple, the more cores for processing instructions, the more efficient the CPU can execute instructions right?
But where Intel has, until recently, out competed AMD at is in how many instructions the processor is processing with each cycle. Many enthusiasts call this "core strength." That is, a CPU that's stronger is executing more instructions in each processing core, and doing it efficiently.
This leads us to the second consideration in choosing a CPU, its IPC (Instructions Per Cycle). A CPU with a higher IPC count is going to be stronger than one that just blazes through a fewer number of instructions really fast.
The third consideration for a CPU you have to make is core count. As I've stated, a processor with more physical processing cores is going to be better than one with fewer cores. These days, don't consider anything below 4 core CPU's. Since modern games are benefitting from multiple processing threads, they can leverage the power of a CPU with more processing cores more efficiently.
But what are threads? Processing threads, or hyperthreading as Intel calls it, is intelligent scheduling that in a way doubles the processing potential of the processor itself, by making sure it's always working and not sitting there doing nothing.
Your CPU without processing threads or hyperthreading.
There's in fact a great video by Linus Sebastion of Linus Tech Tips and Techquickie explaining hyperthreading or processing threads.
So your considerations for a CPU are based on clock speed, IPC, core count, and whether or not it his hyperthreading. Add in the fact of whether or not the CPU is unlocked for overclocking, and you have everything you need to choose a CPU wisely.
What you measure this against is what gives you the most performance, features, and quality for the money you spent.
As far as what to choose between AMD or Intel, let me just say that while AMD and Intel are the only desktop processing companies to choose from, the consideration between them is entirely based on what works for your build, because both AMD and Intel make very high quality processors.
CPU COOLER:
If you buy an overclocking CPU, stock cooling solutions may not be enough. And if you bought a mid-range unlocked processor or a high end processor, they may not come with a cooler at all.
So therefore, a CPU cooler is an important choice to make.
Your choice is mainly between two options, air cooling/heatsinks, or water cooling.
A heatsink works by a basic principle in thermodynamics. That is, heat tends to move towards a cooler object, warming up the cooler object and cooling off the hotter object. Then the fan attached to the heatsink exhausts the air away.
Your main consideration for a heatsink, if you go the air-cooled route is the thermal mass of the heatsink. The higher the thermal mass, the better.
But water cooling has caught on, and many companies are offering all in one liquid coolers.
Water cooling works essentially the same way as a heatsink, except liquid is more efficient at this process. The liquid then takes the heated up fluid to the radiator, where the radiator fan cools down the liquid in the radiator before it goes back through the loop.
For water cooling with an AIO, the considerations here are radiator size and fans. High static pressure fans are better because they're strong enough to blow air through the radiator fins. The size of the radiator is more important, however, as its the radiator's job to cool the system down.
Generally, either choice is perfectly fine. Aftermarket cooling solutions are a necessity for tweaking and overclocking, as their better thermal performance allows you to run a processor much cooler. Water coolers do allow you to push a processor a bit more, while heatsinks offer very comparable performance.
So choose the one that works best for your build.
MOTHERBOARD:
One of the most complicated choices, even for experienced techies. That's mostly because a lot of motherboard manufacturers advertise gimmicks rather than the features that really matter.
First off. If you buy an unlocked processor, don't pair it with a motherboard that doesn't support overclocking, and vice versa.
Second is the expansion ports the mobo has. That is, how many SATA ports does it have, USB 2.0 and 3.0 headers, PCIe lanes, RAM slots, and such are all important things to consider when choosing a motherboard.
Also, make sure that the processor you chose actually fits in the motherboard that you've chosen. While it is easy to determine this, in some cases it requires a bit of digging to figure this out. If you don't know, ask someone more knowledgeable than you. This is especially important when modern processors are both forwards and backwards compatible. In this situation, if you pair a more modern CPU with a motherboard a generation older, a BIOS update is in order.
So it never hurts to ask!
Second is form factor. There's four main sizes of motherboards:
- ATX. This is the standard size of motherboard.
- Mini-ATX. This is a smaller size of motherboard, designed to fit in smaller than normal cases.
- Mini-ITX. The smallest of motherboards, designed to fit inside very tiny cases.
- EATX. The largest motherboard size. Think of this as "Extended ATX."
RAM:
RAM stands for Random Access Memory and is a volatile form of data storage. By that, I mean that when you restart or turn off the computer, all of the data in RAM is wiped off, as opposed to storage drives which are permanent.
The CPU needs to access RAM to get instructions it needs to execute the functions it needs to do, so RAM choice is very important. In the previous PC building thread, the author suggested running DDR3, which stands for Double Data Rate Generation 3. However, these days with the launch of Coffee Lake from Intel a generation or two ago, and AMD's Zen architecture with Ryzen, we need DDR4.
DDR4 has numerous benefits over DDR3. Namely:
- Higher module density.
- Lower power requirements.
- Higher data rate and transfer speeds.
- With some DIMM's, paired with Threadripper, up to 1TB of memory capacity.
In the previous thread, the author said that modern computers require at the very least 4GB of RAM. However, computing needs have changed, and I say that the minimum now is 8GB of dual channel memory, that is two sticks of 4GB.
If you plan on gaming, since modern games are now taking advantage of multiple threads and multiple processing cores, the minimum I suggest for gaming is 8GB, though I'd strongly suggest 16GB if you can afford it.
In terms of RAM frequency, here's where modern computing needs deviate from the previous great information the author of the previous thread suggested. He originally suggested going for lower frequency RAM for more everyday needs.
However, for DDR4, it now depends on your CPU. For Intel, they don't leverage faster RAM, so you can get away with 2144MHz of DDR4, or 2666MHz without any issues.
However, for AMD's Ryzen, it requires a bare minimum of 3000MHz. So, if you plan on using an AMD Ryzen CPU, the bare minimum of RAM requirements should be 8GB (2x4GB sticks) of DDR4 at 3000MHz.
If you go lower than this for Ryzen, you could run into compatibility issues.
That said, for RAM considerations, it depends on your CPU and the type of things you plan on doing with the computer. I'd strongly suggest 16GB for gaming these days, though you can get by with 8GB, and I'd strongly suggest 32GB for workstations, though you can get by with 16GB.
In terms of how many DIMM's to buy, there's no reason whatsoever to buy one stick, especially if you're on a budget. Always opt for going with two sticks of RAM so you can get the massive benefits of dual channel memory.
STORAGE:
Storage requirements these days has also changed. Nowadays, with SSD prices dramatically going down, even with M.2 drives, there's no reason to not get an SSD, at least in a 2.5" form factor. Mechanical hard drives these days, even high capacity ones are now so cheap that I'd spend the money on getting a 250GB or 500GB SSD, and just buy a mechanical hard drive later. Seriously, 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM mechanical hard drives cost around $40. You can just buy one later.
The reason being, SSD's have significantly higher data rate and transfer speeds compared to a mechanical hard drive, and cases accommodate all forms of SSD's, and even motherboards are now offering M.2 solutions for multiple M.2 SSD's including special slots for them, and DIMM.2 solutions.
So my consideration here, even for a gaming PC, is to buy a 250GB or 500GB SSD, preferably a 2.5" or M.2/NVME SSD, and just buy a mechanical hard drive later.
If you have the budget, buy both.
Sticking with mechanical hard drives these days for key applications and the OS isn't as beneficial as an SSD. There's now no reason to not buy an SSD.
This holds especially true for a workstation PC, as many workstation builds have multiple M.2 SSD's running in RAID 0, and in some extreme cases, over 1TB of wicked fast storage.
GRAPHICS CARDS:
This part is responsible for processing and rendering visuals and graphics, and in a gaming system, is the heart of the build. This part, in a gaming system at least, is the single most important piece of equipment right after the CPU.
But shopping for a good graphics card is a little difficult, as both AMD and Nvidia will spout TFLOPS this, and Stream Processors and CUDA cores that, while never really telling you how that card actually performs in real world games.
Thus, my advice for shopping for a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is to do research and see how the card you're looking at actually performs in real world games. Look at real benchmarks from trusted tech sources and determine what level of graphical quality they're testing the card at, the resolution, and how many frames per second that card gets.
Your monitor is also going to play a role in choosing the right graphics card for you. If you plan on gaming at 1080p @ 60 fps (Frames Per Second), then you can afford to go for a lower end graphics card and still play many games at ultra. If you plan on going at 1080p @ 144 fps, you'll need a stronger graphics card, and so on and so on.
With real time ray tracing making a big splash when Nvidia launched the RTX line, ray tracing graphics cards are all the rage these days. Ray tracing is a rendering technique for generating an image by tracing the path of light as pixels in an image plane and simulating the effects of its encounters with virtual objects. The most recent GPU's are now using this technique in real time, greatly increasing graphical fidelity.
Nvidia's picture showing ray tracing. Quite a dramatic difference.
Another thing to consider is SLI or Crossfire. SLI and Crossfire, both by Nvidia and AMD, respectively, is running multiple GPU's to get more performance. However, these days, I'm going to keep it simple.
Buy the single strongest GPU that your budget can afford, period. These days, SLI and Crossfire is more headache than it's worth, and you're only really gonna see the benefits at enthusiast levels.
POWER SUPPLIES:
Power supply requirements, thankfully haven't changed since the last thread. I'm just going to echo that thread's sentiment. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES CHEAP OUT ON THIS PART!!!
Buy a power supply from a reputable company like Corsair, EVGA, SeaSonic, Cooler Master and the like, and I'm going to suggest making sure your power supply is at least 80+ certified.
CASE:
The consideration here is simple. Buy a case that you can fit everything in it.
However, I'm gonna go further and look at cases that have the power supply in the bottom, and have cable routing grommets built into them.
On top of that, if you plan on showing the internals, because you opted for parts with RGB lighting, then look at ones that have acrylic or tempered glass side panels.
Most cases these days have front panel USB 3.0, so there's no reason to get any case that doesn't have front panel USB 3.0.
Once you got your parts selected, you'll have to assemble the computer.
ASSEMBLING THE COMPUTER:
Here, I'm going to defer to the fantastic Linus Sebastian from Linus Tech Tips.
Take it away Linus!
You don't have to go out and build the exact machine that Linus is building, because you can just follow the general principles here and be completely fine.
Since the parts and connectors are keyed so they only go in one way, and all you need as a Philips head screwdriver, I'm going to say that anyone can build a PC.
If you have any concerns or questions, please, ask. I'm more than happy to answer questions and concerns.
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