Building a Personal Computer (PC) is one of the best things that we enjoy. As a beginner, you may worry about perfection. Don’t worry, here I can give complete information about the PC building. So, you can clearly understand what to choose. And how to do it?
You need to buy the components of the computer either in your local store or online. If online is your choice, then I suggest you buy the products on Amazon. Because the computer components like motherboard, processor, etc are delicate and that’s why we need a good packing and shipping service.
Amazon is great in that aspect. Also, I want to clarify one thing. If you ask me a question, how much does it cost to build a PC? My answer is that it depends on you. Because PC specification requirements are not the same for all.
Some people want more RAM to run more software at a time. Some want more storage for entertainment or education. And gamers need more GPU capacity to play games smoothly.
Like this, computer requirements are not the same for all. And this post is not related to building a PC under any specific budget.
Introduction:
Before starting the build, make sure you have all the PC components or parts. I have listed the required components for a computer. If you miss any of them, then the PC build becomes incomplete.
Along with the computer parts, you need a computer tool kit to fix the screws. Although PC build is a physical process, you must need the best tool kit for the work.
Do nothing blindly because all the latest technology is coming up with integrated circuit architecture. The integrated circuit (IC) is so delicate compared to the normal circuit. Here you can find what the circuit means.
What parts do you need for a PC build?
You need to pay more attention while selecting the parts of the computer. If any component is mismatched for the setup, the computer won’t turn on.
The motherboard has complete details about its compatible components as a supported processor, RAM type, storage capacity, etc. So, before going anything else, you should give priority to the motherboard.
A PC build needs a motherboard, processor, GPU, stock cooler, CPU cabinet, SMPS, RAM, Hard disk, SSD, Cooling fans, and a speaker. These are all the compulsory parts of the computer.
However, the main advantage of building a PC is you get the right value for the money.
You need to choose the best monitor and a keyboard and mouse combination, along with the CPU components. You must select these parts based on your work convenience.
For example, if you are a gamer, a normal keyboard and mouse don’t suit you. Likely, a writer like me prefers a smooth writing keyboard. And that’s why I suggest you choose a keyboard and mouse that is comfortable for you and your work.
Also, there are optional computer parts. You can choose them only if there is a necessity. Here is the complete list of components in a computer.
Build a PC (step-by-step):
There are different steps involved in a PC build. I will explain them one by one. For you to better understand, I will provide my PC building steps here.
Let us take a look at the various steps involved in a PC build.
- Collect all the necessary parts
- Insert a processor on the motherboard
- Provide a stock cooler cooling
- Insert RAM sticks into the slots
- Install fans to the CPU case
- Mount the SMPS to the cabinet
- Place the motherboard on the cabinet and tight with screws
- Add SSD or Hard disk to the PC
- Make the necessary connections in the CPU cabinet
- Insert the Graphics card
- Add a monitor and a mouse
- Complete the PC build
Collect all the required parts
The first thing you need to do is to collect all the required parts or components for your PC build. You already know what are the basic parts that you need.
Collect all the required parts for a PC build. It improves work efficiency while building.
Keep your hands clean before anything you do. Because, if there are any unknown oil or dust particles on your hand, it may lead to damage to the PC parts. So, by the safe side, clean your hands.
Insert the processor into the motherboard
The motherboard and processor are the most delicate components in a computer, so handle them carefully. Take a processor from the box or package carefully. You can use your dry hands (wet hands are not recommended). And insert the processor into the motherboard. You need to know some instructions before going to do this.
- Use your fingers to take the processor out of the box
- Avoid touching the copper side of the processor
- And install the processor on the board in the correct direction.
- Lock with the processor locker on the motherboard.
There is an indicator on the processor, it will show you the right direction to insert. And lock the processor properly. It’s ok to apply the pressure while locking.
- Useful Read: Causes and symptoms of a dead motherboard
Insert the stock cooler cooling
The computer needs cooling. Because when you are using the computer, the CPU and the other components release energy in heat (mainly the processor). This excessive heat coming out from the processor leads to burnout of the CPU and motherboard. So to avoid this problem, we need a cooling system for the computer.
On my PC, I am using a stock cooler with copper rods. I found a vast difference in the temperature of the CPU after replacing the normal stock cooler with copper technology. Here you can find the importance of CPU cooling in a computer.
These are the steps involved to install a stock cooler on the motherboard.
- Apply a drop of thermal paste to your CPU. Just a drop is enough. The paste acts as a mediator between the stock cooler and the CPU.
- Place the stock cooler in the right position for the motherboard and the CPU.
- Lock it by pressing the screws into the board. Don’t push hard, it will cause the breakdown of the motherboard or any other component.
Applying thermal paste in a bulk quantity causes problems while locking the stock cooler to the motherboard.
Some stock coolers are coming with the inbuilt thermal paste. In that case, you don’t need to apply the additional paste. Click here to find out how often to replace thermal paste in a computer.
Insert RAM sticks
Installing the RAM sticks is easy compared to the stock cooler installation. You can see the perfect locking of a RAM stick in the below picture.
It is all your wish whether to install the RAM before or after placing the motherboard on the CPU case. Here I place the RAM after installation.
You need to be careful while installing the RAM on the motherboard. Avoid these mistakes in order to successfully complete your PC build.
- Touching the RAM sticks on the copper side
- Inserting in the wrong slot (graphic slot)
- Ignoring or mismatching the breaker while placing the stick into the slot
- Applying too much pressure
- Skip locking the RAM
Avoid these mistakes and make the proper installation of RAM.
Install the fans to the CPU case
The CPU case is used to cover the internal parts of the computer and is also used to provide cooling. To cool down the CPU, we use an air cooling system.
I recommend you install the cooling fans as much as your cabinet supports. Each fan helps to control the temperature of the CPU and other parts. If you have an overheating computer, this optimization technique will help a lot and protect your PC from damage.
A fan with a high diameter and RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) gives more cooling to the CPU.
You may have so many doubts, like which side I can install a fan on. Which is the best PC airflow? What is the direction of air through the fan? Etc.
You will get to know why we need a cooling system for the computers and how fans help to cool down the CPU. All this valuable information is available at the link below.
- Useful Read: How to optimize your PC airflow?
Mount the SMPS to the cabinet
In every CPU cabinet, there is a specific location for the SMPS or Power Supply Unit. Some cabinets have the SMPS location at the bottom and some have it at the top.
Irrespective of the location, you need to know that the air coming from the SMPS needs to go out. Keep this in mind whenever you install an SMPS on a PC.
This is my 450 watts SMPS. To my PC, this SMPS is enough because the power consumption does not exceed the source. Here you can find the power consumption of a computer.
The output from the SMPS is enough to supply all the electronic components in this PC like motherboard, processor, RAM, Stock cooler, RGB fans, Graphics Card, etc.
For gamers, I recommend installing the high watts PSU. Because their PC power requirement is heavy. Especially, high-end Graphic cards and motherboards need more power.
When you look at the picture of SMPS, you will find the number of wires in different colors. All of them are going to connect with the different components in the CPU tower. For now, leave the connections and install the PSU in the cabinet.
Place the motherboard inside the cabinet
Till now, we are making all the connections and installing two sections in the CPU cabinet and on the motherboard. Now, it’s time to combine them.
You need to insert the motherboard into the CPU cabinet and lock it with the screws carefully.
Make sure you’ve inserted the IO shield at the IO pins on the board. The shield helps to protect your PC from dust. So, don’t ignore it. Here is the importance and installation guide of an IO shield.
One more thing, place the M.2 storage device now in case your motherboard has this option. After the installation of the motherboard, you can’t install M.2.
Add SSD or Hard disk to your PC
Now it’s time to place the storage devices on your PC.
Hard disk and SSD are a part of ROM (Read Only Memory) on the computer. We use ROM to install the Operating System on the computer. And also, we can store our public and private information on these storage devices.
Unlike M.2, the SSD and Hard disks are easily installed even after you place the board on the cabinet.
If you want a good-performing PC, I recommend you install an SSD or M.2 instead of a hard disk for the operating system.
Installing the hard disk to a computer is simple, just by fitting the screws in the right location. There is no problem with multiple hard disks on your PC. The only question here is, does your motherboard support the storage capacity?
You find my 1 TB Seagate hard disk in the pic. Here also, you can just install the hard disk or SSD in the cabinet, and there is no need to make the connections in this step. Be careful, it weighs a bit more than the other components. Here is the comparison between the hard disk and SSD.
While selecting the hard disk for your PC, make sure it is worth your money in both quality and quantity aspects. Because a bad storage device can cause a Blue Screen of Death problem and more than that, you’ll lose all the data on your PC.
Make sure the connections from A to Z
This is the primary step in the entire PC build. In this step, you will find a lot of cables in the CPU cabinet. Cables from PSU and also cables from the front panel.
Without confusion, you will make the connections in the following steps.
- Connect a 4 Pin or 8 Pin power connector on the top left to the motherboard
- Connect a 3 Pin socket of the stock cooler to the 3-pin fan header. Some motherboards have a 4-Pin connector. This fourth pin helps us to regulate the speed of the cooling fan.
- Observe the cable and place it in the right port
- The bunch of wires you are seeing on the right side of the below image is an ATX connector. These are the power connection cables in the CPU. This is also called the 24 Pin Power cable. Its function is to supply power to the main components of the motherboard, like RAM, Graphics card, etc.
SATA cables are used to connect a hard disk to the motherboard. These cables have a flat and wide structure.
Also, there is a cable from the PSU that we used to connect the Hard disk or SSD to the motherboard.
Here is the cable management process that you should go through.
Insert the Graphics Card
A Graphics card is also called a video card used to enhance the system performance to play video games and watch the video in high resolution. The sound quality was also improved with this.
This is an NVIDIA Graphic card. Almost all the graphic cards are coming with HDMI ports. So, we can connect a monitor and a Graphic card through an HDMI cable.
Before that, you need to install the Graphic card on the motherboard. It is simple, like a RAM stick insertion. There is a break in the Graphic card insertion slot. So, be careful while inserting and avoid damage to the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).
Gamers need high storage Graphics cards for their games. At present, NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards are popular in the market.
Add Monitor and Mouse to the CPU
The monitor is an output device to the computer, and the Mouse and Keyboard are the input devices. We don’t have so much work in this zone. Just select the perfect one for you and your work and add these components to the CPU.
A monitor has a Power cable. Put the cable into the socket of the power supply board. Don’t turn on the monitor, just plug in the power cable to the board. Here is the importance of a monitor on your PC.
A monitor is coming up with different ports like HDMI, VGA, DVI, USB, etc. Some monitors have a DisplayPort. Choose a common port for both monitor and the GPU. For example, if an HDMI port is present on the Graphics card, it should be present on the monitor too. So that you can connect the CPU to the monitor. If the HDMI port is not present on both ends (on monitor and GPU), then go with another common port.
If there are no common port exits (it doesn’t happen), you can use the converters like HDMI to VGA, Display to HDMI, etc.
Coming to mice and keyboards, there are so many products from different brands available in the market. Choose the right one for you by considering the following factors.
- A wired keyboard may have less cost, but you can’t use it flexibly. And a wireless keyboard cost is high, and it is coming with Bluetooth connectivity.
- You can not find the RGB lightning on the wireless keyboard and mouse until you pay high. I do not recommend this unless you are a gamer.
- Check the durability of the keyboard and mouse before buying.
I am using the Logitech MK275 keyboard. It is good for my work. If you are a normal user (not a gamer) and looking for the best wireless keyboard, then my suggestion is to go with this.
If you have a wired keyboard, just connect the keyboard and mouse USB cables to the ports on the cabinet. If you have a wireless keyboard like me, just plug it into the USB port and use it.
Turn ON Your Computer
In this step, I want to congratulate you on completing the PC build successfully. Now, you have a PC with a collection of all computer parts.
Just finishing the hardware setup is not enough to build the PC. A computer needs an Operating System along with the hardware setup.
Most people use Windows Operating System on their PCs. Because it has so many advantages compared to other Operating Systems like Linux.
You can install the Windows 10 OS from their official website. Here you can go through the official website to download the latest OS from Windows.
My friend Nagendra did a video on a PC build. Hope this information in a video format will help you. If you like the content, subscribe to the channel.
The PC build is complete only after you install the Operating System on the computer. Here Windows is my recommendation, you can use any other OS too.
Here you can find how to download and install Windows OS on your PC. However, Windows 11 is the latest Operating System from Microsoft.
If your PC components are eligible for that, I recommend you go with it.
How much did it cost for a PC build?
A normal desktop PC build starts from $400 to thousands of dollars. The cost of the PC depends on the components used in it. If you want a high configuration, you need to spend more.
In my situation, the PC build is for normal use with a mid-range cost. I provide a table with the components I used in my PC with their cost. So you can get complete knowledge about the PC build.
| Type | Model | Cost |
| Computer tool kit | Quad store 121 | $16 |
| CPU cabinet | Foxin | $20 |
| Motherboard | Zebronics H55 | $46 |
| Processor | Intel i7 | $201 |
| Stock cooler | Antec A30 | $13 |
| RAM | DDR3*2 | $40 |
| Hard disk | Seagate 1TB | $47 |
| SSD | Kingston SSD | $32 |
| Fans | ANT RGB fans*4 | $33 |
| PSU | Zebronics 450 watts | $6 |
| Graphics card | NVIDIA GT 710 | $44 |
| Monitor | Dell monitor | $94 |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Logitech MK275 | $24 |
| TOTAL | $616 |
I don’t hesitate to say that this is the best budget built because of its performance capability.
Conclusion
This is the complete PC build. Hope you know what to do, and how to do it in a PC building. Now you need to know the common mistakes in a PC building.
You may have doubts while building. It’s ok to have doubts and get confused. Here I am ready to solve your problem or doubt in the entire process. You can comment on your queries. I am happy to reply.
You don’t need a thousand dollars to build a PC. My PC costs around $600 and it works very well for my work.
>>Shop the latest PCs in the store
I remind you once again; you have to choose the computer parts according to your work requirements. And money also is a considerable factor. So, choose the best parts at the best prices.
Amazon products’ costs are fluctuating. Add your products to the wish list or cart. Whenever there is a price drop, buy it. You can also buy the ready-made CPU if you want.
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