After nearly 8 years of service, my Lenovo G505s laptop had enough of it. While still performing pretty well, it was obvious I required a new computer.
Having always wanted to build a custom PC of my own, I spent several weeks leading up to Christmas 2020 researching on the topic before finally getting my build completed over the last week of 2020.
Building a computer from scratch provides one the perfect customizable machine for one’s needs, but it can be daunting the first time around.
Altogether, it was a wonderful learning experience which I would like to share here today, alongside some tips and resources that I found real handy for those among my audience who might want to give this a try as well.
The immediate pros of building your own PC is that it offers a viable option for a customizable workstation at home for a price range that you get to fix for the most part. With most of us still working from home during this pandemic, it is also an awesome project to have at hand as a thoughtful distraction. The cons to building a PC is largely restricted to one’s own dedication and patience. It is one particular endeavor where some prior research and reading can really pay off, and that is where my journey began as well.
Even before I started on building the PC, I spent nearly a month reading through tutorial guides online, and watching several Youtube tutorials to get the general gist of things. This gave me the initial courage required to put my foot through the door. My top three resources on this note would be the following:
How to Build a Computer: The Complete Guide
How to Build a PC! Step-by-step (2020 Edition) – Robeytech
How To Build A Gaming PC COMPLETE STEP BY STEP Beginners Build Guide 2020! – PC Centric
Having done my relevant research, it was time to choose the type of system I required. I wished for something that was in the middle of the road with options for upgrades if ever required, but having enough juice to satisfy my gaming and artistic interests. It was then time to select the parts of my system, the Lego blocks that I would put together.
Every fully-functioning computer is made of pretty much the same basic components:
(1) The Central Processing Unit (CPU) – the brain of the computer. The better the CPU the more tasks it can perform at once, and perform them faster. At the same time, unless you’re performing intense tasks like video editing, streaming, or high-end gaming, you will most probably not take advantage of your CPU’s full speed.
(2) The Motherboard – the foundation/base of your system upon which all your components get aligned. The motherboard is no different than a circuit board and provides all the relevant features your machine would need like USB ports, expansion card slots for audio, video, and Wi-Fi etc.
(3) The Random Access Memory – the RAM is the short-term memory of your computer. It stores data and also helps your computer run programs faster and more than one at a time. The larger the RAM the more programs you can run simultaneously.
(4) The Graphics Card – basically handles the graphics. Your monitor hooks to the graphics card and basically draws what you see on your desktop. Some motherboards usually come with an integrated graphics card, and others don’t. The more high-end games you wish to play, the better your graphics card must be.
(5) Drives – Basically your storage, and long term memory of your computer. Hard drives (HDD) were the norm and still are to a certain extent though there has been a shift towards Solid State Drives (a miniature version of the bulky HDD). SSDs are generally more expensive, less bulky, faster, and use less energy while HDDs are less expensive, more bulky, slower, and use more energy.
(6) Power Supply- Directs electricity to the components in your machine. Generally, the higher performance system you have, the higher the wattage power supply that will be required. The last part to buy, once you’ve finalized all your other parts and how much electricity they require.
(6) Other Parts to Consider – If you are old school and still have some CDs and DVDs lying around, consider buying an Optical Drive (I did). A computer case will hold all your parts together. If you wish to have Wi-Fi rather than wired Ethernet, you may require a Wi-Fi card. Most obviously, you will require a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and of course the relevant operating system software you wish to use (Windows or MacOS).
While at first read, this may seem overwhelming https://pcpartpicker.com/ provides a wonderful System Builder resource alongside an in-built catalogue of PC parts on the market with their pricing information to assist in making your builds. Upon choosing your parts, the System Builder checks for any compatibility issues in the parts chosen, and also offers suggestions for the estimated Wattage which helps gauge the type of power supply you want to buy. The community at PC Part Picker is a friendly reference where you can get the opinion of other amateur PC builders and pros alike for their opinion on your build.
Once you have decided on your parts, I would ideally choose a sales period to make your purchases so that you can save as much money as possible. In my case, I purchased all my parts during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. My purchases varied directly from the vendor or through third party services such as https://www.newegg.ca/, https://www.memoryexpress.com/ (for those in Canada), Amazon, Bestbuy, etc.
Building the PC in and of itself was quite similar to building a Lego House from scratch. The videos referenced earlier alongside the PC guides were my go-to references. The PC parts themselves come with straightforward instruction pamphlets on putting the components together. At this stage, my biggest advice would be to have a clean surface, a magnetic/ordinary screwdriver kit, and a timely reminder to discharge any static electricity on yourself by touching a metal surface (like your PC case) regularly.
With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed building my PC. It is a confidence boosting exercise on its own, and it feels damn good when you complete it. If at all one does get stuck at some point, as I did on many occasions, DO NOT GET frustrated. Take some time away, and return to the puzzle with a fresh mind. If at all possible, reach out to your gamer friends as there is a fairly high chance that some of them have built their own PC. In my case, it helped for pure enthusiasm that Superman aka Henry Cavill started and finished building his PC around the same time that I did.
For those among my readers who have any questions related to building a PC or are in the process of building their own PC, feel free to leave a comment.
I will see you all soon with a new post!
The Pensive Reverie 