These days, many gamers are deciding to upgrade to a PC rather than the conventional consoles, arguing that it makes more sense to upgrade a computer with a new part every few years than to buy a new console they can't repair on their own. Besides, as the console war continues to rage, many games are being scooped up as exclusives — but they still come to PC.
It's one thing to decide to build a PC, and it's another thing to actually follow through. The process can seem overwhelming and articles or videos online meant to help builders through the process can often seem incomprehensible without a degree in hardware engineering. These tips will help any gamer get started building their rig in 2021.
10 Use A Parts Picker
Planning out everything — and I mean everything — before you order or put together the PC's parts is perhaps the most important part of the process. To this end, use a site like PCPartpicker, which allows its users to assemble an imagined PC.
It will warn you if your graphics card isn't compatible with your motherboard, if you need to be careful about clearance on a large part (clearance refers to how much space there will be between one part and another), and even remind you to order things you might have forgotten in your original plans, like a headset or a wifi card.
9 Get A Friend Who Knows What They're Doing
Building a PC is daunting, especially the first time. It's easier than it looks — so long as the builder is careful and does their research — but the thought of all those wires and tiny pieces makes some people anxious.
Having a friend around (via video call or in-person) who knows what they're doing is a huge relief — on a practical and mental level. Even someone who has only been through the process once might be familiar with the general parts and may be able to translate things in the manuals or online that you don't quite understand.
8 Don't Collect Parts Slowly
When people first decide to build a PC, they often choose one or two pieces online and tell themselves they'll save up for the rest. Assuming that they're even able to keep this promise to themself and the first few pieces don't just gather dust in a drawer somewhere, it's still not a great idea.
The problem is that, once something goes into a PC build with all the other components, you may not know that it's not compatible. Ideally, PC builders have done the research to avoid incompatible tech, an odd plug type, a lack of clearance, or any other problem that might crop up during the building process. If you bought your parts slowly and they've been sitting around for a long time, there's probably a slim chance they're still within their return window.
7 Expect Shipping Delays and Sold-Out Parts
In 2021, with a global pandemic shutting down regular practices, there will be parts you can't obtain and delays in items getting to you. It may be worth the peace of mind to buy the insurance on particularly expensive items, even if pre-pandemic videos or articles say not to bother.
Become familiar with all the sites to find varied PC parts (especially so that you can compare prices); there are well-known places, like big-box stores, and slightly more niche sites, like Newegg and Microcenter.
6 Don't Cheap Out On The Important Stuff
It's easy to be upsold on the absolute top-of-the-line tech and get the impression that you have to have the newest parts or else your games will look terrible. This might be fun for a while, but it gets unnecessarily expensive very quickly.
Usually, you can compromise for a few great parts that you think are important and a few mediocre parts you don't care about as much. For example, experienced people often advise new builders that RAM is something they want to be sufficient for their needs, but can kind of cheap out on. Remember that the parts you care about may be different than someone else's.
5 Get A Monitor Equal To Your Graphics Card
Gamers love to brag about their framerate or new graphics card, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that; the technology is unbelievably impressive and worthy of praise! However, lots of gamers get by fine with older graphics cards, like the Nvidia 1080 TI.
And, on an older graphics card, there's not much reason to buy a top-of-the-line monitor to pair it with, like the super ultrawide options. It's good sense to upgrade your computer's graphics card and monitor at the same time.
4 Plan Your Desk Setup In Advance
Builders love to create elaborate designs worthy of posting on Discord servers, Imgur, Instagram, Reddit, and more. For people planning to create a full setup, rather than something that will just suit their needs, they should incorporate this knowledge into their planning phase.
The desk setup will determine any number of things: how big of a case you can buy, what kind of gaming chair will fit, what style of speakers is best, how many monitors will fit, and more!
3 Have At Least One SSD
New builders may have done a bit of googling and read online somewhere that the Xbox One didn't have an SSD. Why should they get one, then? The truth is, a few years ago, not everyone felt the need for an SSD if they had enough space on their hard drive.
These days, however, having an SSD is essential to running the newest tech. That doesn't mean that everyone should buy huge SSDs; it's perfectly normal to get whatever SSD the builder can afford and supplement it with a hard drive or two for extra storage as needed.
2 Check The System Requirements For Your Favourite Games
One way to make sure that you're not buying a piece more high-tech (and probably more expensive) than you actually need is to check the suggestions on the games you play regularly.
Many video games come with a list of "minimum system requirements" (which a good PC build will meet no problem) and a list detailing the "preferred/optimal system requirements," which will give gamers an idea of how well a game will run on their console. By comparing the lists from each of your favorite games, you can estimate which parts are most important for your build and how much of a downgrade is too much.
1 YouTube Is Your Friend
YouTube is practically essential to the PC building process. Even for people who have friends, unless they're the kind of people who build a few PCs or more a year, YouTube will come in handy.
To start, look for a step-by-step video of someone putting together their gaming PC. It should be someone who speaks clearly, with bonus points if most of their parts are similar to your own. You'll be able to play and pause this video as you follow the steps. While building the PC, if you have questions about how to install or set up a part and the paper manual just isn't cutting it, most companies will include video tutorials online (otherwise, look for someone reviewing it — they might have good advice).