How to Build A Gaming PC: An Ultimate Guide

With the current situation today, most people are in their homes. They may be bored; they may be looking for something to do. But thing is, there’s only so much that one can do before you run out. Well, we’re here to offer you another way to keep yourself occupied, and that’s through building a Gaming PC. Looking for a how to build a gaming PC guide? Continue down below and start creating the desktop of your dreams.

What Will You Need?

There’s a lot of components that you’ll need when making a Gaming PC. And each has an important part in playing your games. Some having more importance than others on specific titles. But first, let’s talk about what they are, and what they do. Take note though that you’ll need to ensure that the parts you’re buying are compatible with each other. After all, it’s a huge hassle to have bought a $150 Processor, only to find that it doesn’t fit your motherboard.

Processor (CPU)

Your central processing unit, or CPU, is often said to be the PC’s brain. It controls the tasks your PC can do at once and how fast it can finish said tasks. It’s the 2nd impactful component on your PC’s gaming performance. And is the big kahuna for content creation. Some games might need the CPU more for getting high FPS as well.

In addition to this, there are 3 things to know about the CPU. These are Clock Speed, Cores, and Threads.

Clock Speed

Clock Speed is how fast the CPU’s processing speed is in gigahertz (GHz). Cores are assigned to various tasks in the PC’s system, but certain apps may use multiple cores at once.

Threads

Threads are used to correspond to the cores, but a lot of high-end CPU’s now have tech called “hyperthreading”. This gives a thread per core. In short, it gives you an additional virtual core for your PC’s use.

Recommendations

A recommendation for people who are buying components of their PC is that you must always try and purchase up-to-date CPU’s. If you’re confused about a CPU’s performance in comparison to others there are tools like UserBenchmark that allow you to check and compare them in raw performance.

As for recommended CPU brands, we’ll go for Intel and AMD. These two brands offer the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to CPU’s, Most notably the Intel i5-9600KF and the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G.

The AMD Ryzen 5 3400G is another solid choice but this isn’t a CPU, more of an Accelerated Processing Unit. It’s made for lower-end builds but can still put out when it needs to. A solid choice if for those that wish for a good quality unit that’s easy on the wallet.

Motherboard

Did you pick your CPU? Good. Let’s talk about your motherboard.

One of the first things you need to do is check if your desired motherboard is compatible with your other components. Wouldn’t want to buy one and then find out it ain’t fitting in your CPU when you’re making the PC. That takes a huge chunk of your funds as well. Since you’ll need to buy SAID compatible Motherboard and just storage the incompatible one. Which is a waste, right?

The motherboard contains the parts of your gaming PC. it takes the many pieces, once attached, turns them into a harmonious orchestra of virtual harmony. Great stuff.

In addition to this, the difference between low-end and high-end motherboards is on how good they are in overclocking your PC, and on what components you’ll need to overclock them in the first place. This is only if you decide to overclock your PC though.

As for brands and products, we recommend the AMD MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX and the Gigabyte Z390 UD.

What is Overclocking?

Now you might be wondering, the hell is Overclocking and how does that relate to my PC? Well, overclocking is you increasing a PC component’s clock rate. AKA, running said part at higher speeds than what it was designed to run in. Now usually this applies to the GPU and CPU. But the other parts can also be overclocked if you so wish.

Increasing their clock rate gives it the ability to perform more operations per second. But the drawback is that they produce additional heat. And if you’ve followed the trend, additional heat equals lots of detriments. Most notably an increased chance of fire. So if you’re planning to overclock your PC, try to invest in additional cooling.

The AMD MSI B450 is a reliable motherboard that’s built to provide the same performance power as other CPUs. A great choice if you want consistent performance from your motherboard.

Meanwhile, the Gigabyte Z390 UD is a great entry-level motherboard that gives a consistent performance. You can expect the motherboard to perform admirably. This product is something you would want inside your gaming PC.

Graphics Card (GPU)

The graphics processing unit, also known as the GPU (Also called Graphics Card and Video Card, but you do you.) is what some may say a flashy part of your PC. It impacts gaming performance the most in many titles.

Here’s an explanation: Think on a game like Dota 2, The CPU keeps track of the many player’s actions, where they are on the in-game map, what skills they’re using, if they’re attacking anyone, even if you can’t see it due to fog of war.

The GPU takes this info, and then renders the graphics you’re seeing, at the resolution and options you’ve inputted.

Do note though that while the GPU is by far the most important part of a Gaming PC build, you’ll still need a comparable CPU for it to function. This is because if the CPU isn’t at the very least comparable to the GPU, it won’t process what’s happening in the game as fast as it should be, thus bottlenecking your GPU’s visual output. Not cool.

Due to this, as a rule of thumb for most gaming PC builders, you should always try to not spend anything less than half of your GPU budget on your CPU.

When it comes to the GPU’s though, looking at their spec sheets will usually be less than helpful.

Importance of VRAM

Clock Speed, for example, is not that indicative of overall performance in a GPU. While VRAM (Video RAM) on the other hand is a more helpful measurement. Do note that not all GPU’s are created equal. And there’s a HUGE benchmark when it comes to VRAM. As a general rule:

• 2GB VRAM: You can expect acceptable performance in 1080p games with standard-definition textures.
• 4GB VRAM: You can play 1080p titles with high-def textures, and get a decent performance in a lot of 1440p titles.
• 6GB VRAM and Higher: You can play VR Titles, 4K titles, and 1440p titles with lots of high-def textures.

Something to keep in mind though is that it’s usually recommended to look at the benchmarks for this type of thing. For instance, if you’re looking to buy an AMD Radeon RX 550, you’ll want to search “AMD Radeon RX 550 Benchmarks” or something similar on Google.

Recommendations

As for products, go for the AMD Radeon RX 590 XFX and the EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti XC Gaming.