Part One of ‘How I Built My PC’
Since the age of 12 or so it was my deep wish to build my very own PC, but not only any PC. I wanted it to be high end – of course. Fast forward to 15 years later, eventually I have the time and the money to build my very own high-end PC.
I am a tech guy, but I do have no background in IT or anything like it, so I had some research to do and asked my IT friends a lot of question. In the process of building this PC I learned a lot. Much so, that I think I can break it down systematically for someone as little experience as I had. In this post, I’ll explain how you can find your hardware.
1. Requirements
In order to know what to look for, you need to know what the requirements for your PC are. So, first of all you should answer the following questions:
What do you need your PC for?
I knew, I need my PC for studying and working, which means I surely use it like many of us for MS Office applications, but also for more demanding CAD programs. Occasionaly, I code and and want simualte a mathematical model. Also, I need the PC for RPGs and strategy games like Fallout, Hogwarts Legacy or Civilization.
What do you want your PC to have and look like?
Only because you need your PC for certain things, doesn’t mean it should not be able to do or have more. Amirite?! Many men like to buy a fast cars, although nearly anywhere you’ll have a speed limit, which wont allow you to go as fast as you would like. The same goes for your PC.
Maybe you want to be able to reach a certain amount of FPS or have very high resolution. Or you want your PC to have rainbow-y RGB lights everywhere with a big side panel, which allows you to look inside it. For me it was the side panel with some RGB lights set to white. Also, I wanted to be able to put in a good old CD, DVD or blu-ray, even though I knew I could just use one of my gaming consoles for that.
Buying more than you need might sound stupid and maybe it is. But why do people buy expensive, pointy business shoes although they are crippling their feet? It’s a lifestyle and if you want your PC to perform much higher than it needs to be, you can at least tell your s.o., you did it as an investment for the future. Which in my opinion isn’t a bad argument. A self-built PC will last you for years to come if you chose the right parts. Also they replaceable, which means you will be able to update your PC very easily to the newest standard – unlike with a laptop, a car or pointy business shoes.
Last but not least:
What’s your budget?
And does this include your monitor(s), cables and a new table as well?
In my case, enough money for a high-end PC meant about 2500 Swiss francs (2826 USD or 2618 EUR, August 2023), which would maybe include one monitor of eventually two.
2. Pick a CPU and a GPU
There are a lot of critical parts in a computer. Where do you start which hardware piece you’re going to chose? That’s what I probably struggled most with in the beginning. I’d recommend to start with the CPU and GPU. They are definitely the most important parts of a PC (together with the motherboard).
This site will give you a great overview of the performance of the different GPUs on the market. It helped me also to get to know the most commonly known GPUs.
This site allows you to compare different combinations of CPU and GPU regarding specs and performance. More so, it gives you a sense for if it’s worth spending the extra money on a more expensive CPU or GPU.
If you like to get a better understanding of the different parts of a PC or feel lost on your way choosing your parts, I can recommend this guide. I found it in the subreddit /buildapc, which I can recommend in general.
3. Pick the rest of your critcal hardware
Once you have your CPU and GPU, you go to pcpartpicker.com. Probably, the best site for building a PC. It’s an absolute must-need in my opinion! Start making a list for your PC parts. After that go to the category ‘Completed Builds’ and filter for completed builds with your CPU and GPU and sort for the highest ranked builds.
What was interesting to see in my case, was that different users choose often the same PC parts. I strongly assume it will be similar in your case. Find your remaining parts in the following order:
- Motherboard
- RAM
- Storage
- PSU
Always compare and look for other parts on your go-to hardware website. For me, it was digitec.ch. It’s probably the best side for comparing and buying hardware in Switzerland. About 80% of my PC parts did I buy there. However, I’m sure you’ll find a similiar site in your region as well.
4. Get the looks and stuff
If you added all parts in your list on pcpartpicker.com, you should see if they are compatible with one another. If not, go back to step 3. and switch the parts with compatible ones. Disclaimer: It’s possible that some compatabilities have to be checked manually (i.e. if the GPU length does not exceeds the max length of the case). If everything is compatible, you want to find a compatible case, which also fullfills your practical and asthetic needs.
After that, you can get fancy and look for your flashy RGB vents, LED stripes and so on.
At this point or maybe even at step 3. you can go look for monitors.
5. Buy all your parts
Congrats, you’ve chosen all your PC parts. Now, it’s time to get them – cheap preferably. The shopping site of Google is always a great place to start comparing prices of different sites. However, Google has the tendency (at least for Swiss online shops) to not list all of them, when comparing prices. That’s why I recommend to check manually, if other sites offer your parts for a cheaper price. In Switzerland, we’ve got this site called toppreise.ch, which does even a better job of comparing prices than Google. I’m sure there is a similar site in your country.
At this point, I’d like to recommend following sites for the readers living in Switzerland:
- brack.ch – probably the next best site to digitec.ch, great prices and great selection
- microspot.ch – a pain in the ass to find something, but worth for price comparsions
- pc-ostschweiz.ch – if they do have what your looking for, they’re probably the cheapest
