How to build your own PC for gaming

Get the most bang from your buck and build your own perfect PC for gaming ꦿ༺in 2019

It's January 2019, and you're likely looking for a new challenge in your life. One thing you could do is build your own PC for gaming, like you've always wanted to do, but were always a little afraid of. That's understandable - it can be hugely intimidating to build a PC from scratch, and the internet is filled with technical jargon and a wealth of opinions on how to do it best. That can make it daunting, and you may find it's just best to buy one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming PCs pre-built, which is fine if a little more expensive and impersonal th🐻an doing it yourself. However, if you build your own PC for gaming not only can you save money, you can also tightly control the specs of your machine AND upgrade it in the future when you have more money or feel more confident about the components you need.

So where to start? How do you pick parts and ensure they’re compatible?

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The first step is to establish a budget for yourself, and figure out where a PC fits into your life; what you’ll use it most for, how much you afford to allocate for it, how much time and effort you want to devote to doing research and shopping around. Ideally, you should assign as much as possible to future-proof your PC, so right now you can probably build a decent rig for about $1000 / £1000. It's possible to g꧃et a good budget PC together for about $650 / £550, and at the extreme end... you could spend $3000+ / £2700+.

Of course, the last thing you want is to grab a bunch of parts and discover that none of them fit together properly, or during that first baited-breat🍌h boot sequence find yourself confronted by nothing but a black screen. Luckily, there are a huge number of sites available now aimed specifically at avoiding those problems, and several with a unique take on the parts picker formula tailored to specific needs.

The best parts picker and build assistance sites 

- The granddaddy of parts pickers, it will let you select each piece individually or recommend a build based on your needs/desires. Do you want a gaming rig or a versatile desktop? Any strong preferences for Intel, AMD, or Nvidia? They also feature a number of suggested builds that you can then modify to your𒉰 heart’s content, and compare retailers for each🍒 part.

- ChooseMyPC presents you with some simple questions upfront (how much do you want to spend? Do you need a copy of Windows) and then recommends a build based on your specifications. It also hosts some ♛great, in-depth guides to picking the right parts and putting everything together, with solid breakdowns of some popular models and which pieces you should prioritize in your build.

- As the name suggests, Logical Increments l🔯ists a huge range of different built suggestions that start at just over $200 and span all the way up to ~$5,000 monsters. If you follow a row all the way across, everything’s guaranteed to work in harmony, and there a🔯re also some handy suggestions and guides if you want to stray outside the lines.

Another option is to start with a barebones kit and build up fro💞m there. These usually include a case, motherboard, CPU, and power supply, and let you fill in the blanks with whatever hardware you like. They’re a great jumping off point and generally about as affordable as buying each piece individually and assembling them yourself. And don’t shy away from refurbished parts, as long as they’re under warranty and sold by the manufacturer or a reliable retailer. These ‘white box’ deals can often be the best way to get high end parts at the lowest possible prices.

 A sample mid-range gaming build 

If you&r🐠squo;re looking for a quick suggested build, the following is a solid mid-range PC that you can pick up for around $1,000 / £1000 that prioritizes gaming performance over standard workload. This isn't the most powerful, nor the cheapest, but it should give you an idea of what you need and what the standard parts look like / cost. Check out our separate guides to help you figure out where you can spend or save money based on what you actually need.

Obviously, if you're buying for gaming, the most important parts are the GPU (graphics card), the RAM, and the CPU. We'd also recommend saving some cash for the best monitor you can aff♌ord too, because power is nothing unless you can display it properly.

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core

For a more complete guide, check out our picks for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best CPUs for gaming, but this Core i5 will provide enough computing horsepower for your gaming needs, while not exploding your budget for more processor than you'll ever use. Intel's 6th generation Skylake line sits right at the crossroads of cost vs. performance, and also haveꦛ plenty of overhead for those inclined to go down the overclocking route.

☆☆☆☆☆

Motherboard: Asus H110M-A M.2

The H110M-A actually provides better pe🌜rformance than a number of its competitors and, unlike some of the cheaper competition, offers an M.2 (NGFF) slot for faster solid state storage. It's a great choice in this price range despite some minor issues with the 3+1 powe♉r phases, which will only manifest as potential additional heat under incredibly high multitasking loads.