DIY tech guide for building a custom gaming PC

Enter To LearnFebruary 12, 2024

117 5 minutes read

DIY tech guide for building a custom gaming PCI .believe it’s safe to say that Building a Gaming PC for Beginners is my kids’ favorite family engineering project to date.

The story began when I discovered that my 12-year-old son intended to purchase Funko Pop figurines with the birthday money he received from his grandparents. While I can see the appeal of action figure collecting as a pastime, I can’t help but feel that spending money on toys that are only displayed in their boxes is a poor use of it. Because he is so passionate about video games, I asked him whether he had ever considered purchasing a gaming PC.

Table of Contents

DIY tech guide for building a custom gaming PC

We use affiliate connections to attempt to offset the costs of maintaining this site, and when products are bought through our Amazon.com links, we get a tiny compensation. That being said, here is the link to Amazon’s Funko Pop figures—which, while my son might argue, are a terrible investment—: Pop Figures from Funko

Why Construct a PC for Gaming?

My four children like playing video games, but they are often complaining about how sluggish and unreliable our home computer is. “Daddy, it’s taking so damn long to load!” There are major glitches in Minecraft. I keep getting murdered! These are grievances that I used to frequently hear, particularly when someone was playing anything in online multiplayer mode.

I then suggested to my two boys, who had already saved up some money, that they get a gaming computer. I asked them if they would want to construct anything on their own that would fit inside their budget after they looked into it a little and objected to the pricing. I was secretly thrilled about the lessons we would discover working on the project.

To assist them in determining whether constructing was a good idea and what kinds of parts they would need, I offered them a list of topics to research.

Which PC games pique your interest? Which games demand what kind of system?
What is the price of pre-built gaming PCs that fulfill all of these specifications?
What components are required to assemble a gaming PC yourself? What is the price of each component?

Building a Gaming PC

Although it does need some planning and labor, building a gaming PC is actually much simpler than most people think, and the experience is priceless.

Ultimately, they managed to persuade their elder sister to assist, and I made the decision to assist as well, in order to utilize the more advanced equipment for editing videos.

Where to Purchase Gaming Computer Parts

If, like us, you are buying the individual parts online, you should compare the prices offered by Amazon, Newegg, and SuperBiiz. Following your decision on the components list, it is a good idea to keep an eye on costs for a few days since PC parts can fluctuate in price quite fast on a daily basis.DIY tech guide for building a custom gaming PC.

If you would rather buy straight from a retailer, Microcenter and Fry’s are also excellent choices. Both businesses have respectable options and occasionally provide price matching. Although there will be some markup in the store, Microcenter also has good bundle discounts.

Parts for a gaming PC

The Components of a Gaming Computer
The Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The CPU is the computer’s brain. One of the most costly parts, there are a few factors to take into account, including speed and the number of cores (more cores enables more parallel processing).

Motherboard

The motherboard serves as the computer’s foundation. It controls the main functions of the computer and connects all of your components (number of USB ports and expansion slots for graphics, audio, and Wi-fi). It also influences the PC’s size and the kind of case you’ll require in part.DIY tech guide for building a custom gaming PC.

The PC’s short-term memory, or memory RAM, holds the information the machine needs to access quickly. There is a minimum amount of RAM that PC games demand; we discovered that many games require 8GB. Having a lot of RAM also helps to keep the computer operating quickly while you are using many apps at once.

Keepsake

All of the PC’s files are kept on the hard drive, often known as the SSD (solid state drive). While SSDs have the benefit of quicker load times, hard drives are still the less expensive alternative per GB. We chose to design our PC with both a hard disk for file storage and an SSD for the operating system and applications.

Graphics Device

A crucial part of a gaming computer is the graphics card, which includes a processor specifically designed for the GPU (graphics processing unit). Although a lot of motherboards come with built-in graphics, demanding 3D games require a standalone graphics card.

Situation

Simple and unassuming, the casing has little bearing on the computer’s functionality. Since this is the only area of the PC you will see, it is crucial to take compatibility with your motherboard, space for routing cables and installing fans, and aesthetics into account.DIY tech guide for building a custom gaming PC.

Energy Source

All of the PC’s components are powered by the power supply. After choosing every other component and determining how much power each would need, it is a good idea to choose the power supply.It’s a good idea to use an online compatibility test to make sure there are no issues utilizing the components together once you have chosen all of your pieces.DIY tech guide for building a custom gaming PC.

Our $600 Gaming Computer Configuration

We had to work with an around $600 budget for our project. The monitor, keyboard, mouse, and Windows operating system are other things that are not included here but should be considered if you do not already have them.

Processor

An AMD Ryzen 5 3.2GHz quad-core CPU was our choice. The amount paid was $145.

Motherboard

The AS Rock AB350 Pro4 was our choice. The amount paid was $55.The lack of built-in Wi-Fi on the motherboard was one feature we overlooked. After a brief trip to Microcenter, we were able to resolve this issue and are quite pleased with the functionality of our TP-Link N900 NIC card. $30 was the price paid.

Recall

8GB of DDR4-2133 RAM from the G.Skill Ripjaws V Series was our choice. The amount paid was $70.

Keepsake

We chose a 1TB Hard Drive from WD and a 250DB SSD from SK Hynix for storage. We use the hard disk to store files and keep the operating system and all apps on the SSD for quick loading times.DIY tech guide for building a custom gaming PC.