Have you ever thought of how computers work? Maybe how they’re put together? Today I’m going to talk about how to build a PC. It wont be from scratch, but it will be assembling the parts. But first, lets start out with why you should build your own PC. I believe I have knowledge in this field because I have researched into this topic pretty deep, and I have built my own.
Why build a PC?
So why would you want to build a PC? From a company standpoint building your own PC for intensive programs would make them run faster and more efficient. For example, if you own a modeling company. By making your own PC you could run that same program faster and more efficiently, which can save lots of time. The same can apply to coding/compiling. Sometimes even on the strongest PCs completing a build (compiling everything in a program) can take hours and even days. So as a company its very useful to cut that time.
Building a PC can have many advantages compared to buying a pre-built build. One advantage is that you can pick and choose what stats your PC has. This can range from any part that the PC uses. When buying a pre-build, they also make it hard to upgrade/customize it, meaning when you try to replace a part it the company that made it may have tightly locked it down under some screws so it looks nicer. Its also better quality for the price.
Parts and function
Parts and function for a PC can be confusing, so Ill talk over the main components for a basic PC.
CPU (Central Processing Unit): The CPU is the brain of the computer. It takes instructions from the RAM, decodes it and executes the instructions. The instructions can be basic math, comparing numbers to other numbers, or just moving them around. (Since everything with computing is math related). The CPU can also use the other parts of the system to complete its process, like store it in your storage on your computer. The speed of a CPU is also amazing. Speed for CPUs are measured in gigahertz(GHz). And each GHz is equal to two billion cycles per second. So a CPU with 2.3 GHz can carry out 2.3 billion calculations per second.
RAM (Random Access Memory): RAM is one of the most important components to any device. Without it, doing basically anything on a system would be extremely slow. You can think of it as a devices short term memory. It temporarily stores (remembers) everything that runs on your pc, like all the services, your browser, or the game you’re playing. You don’t want your CPU looking through your storage every time you open a new browser tab. That’s why we need this short term memory to store it so we can access it extremely fast.
There are different types of RAM, but we don’t need to get into that too much. We just need to know the generations for now. So RAM comes in different types, like DDR4, DDR3, or DDR2. This may seem confusing, but its just the generations of ram. New systems use DDR4 RAM, and older systems can use DDR2 RAM. The number simply means how much faster it is, so the higher the number the fast the RAM. They also have physical differences, so they’re not interchangeable. This also limits what RAM you can have in a motherboard.
Storage (Hard disk drive/solid state drive): Storage is very important on a computer, so you can.. store things. But there are different types of storage. Ill start off by explaining a hard disk drive. A hard disk drive (HDD) is your basic storage unit for a computer. You can think of it like a record player, but reverse. It stores things by moving an arm over a spinning disk, using magnetic storage to store and retrieve data. This is a very safe way to store a LOT of data. Since it has a moving part, it must be screwed down or shaking could make it malfunction.
Next, we can talk about solid state drives(SSD). An SSD is also a storage unit but is many times faster than a HHD because this stores data directly and doesn’t using a spinning disk. It uses chips to store data. By doing it this way its even safer than using a large spinning disk. The only problem is, its way more expensive for an SSD. Its also smaller and does not need to be screwed down.
GPU(Graphics Processing Unit): a GPU is basically a CPU, it performs complex math and geometric calculations, except the calculations are only for graphics rendering. That’s pretty much it.
PSU(Power Supply): A power supply is, you guessed it, a power supply. This is a unit that converts AC(Alternating Current) into low voltage DC(direct current) for the components of the computer. There are different types of PSUs, and the only difference really is the amount of voltage.
MOBO(Motherboard): A mother board is basically the “plug ins” for the other parts. The motherboard doesn’t perform any calculations, it just simply organizes them and its used as a “middleman” between all the parts. Some MOBOs are newer than others, resulting in more functionality and compatibility, which I will explain later.
Picking the parts
So how do you determine which parts to pick? Sadly its not as easy as “I want this and that and this”. Each part must be compatible to other parts. For example, you need the correct chipset if you want to use this CPU with this MOBO, and you need DDR3 ram for this MOBO and not DDR4. Luckily, there are websites that you can use to pick your parts. For example, pcpartpicker.com is a great website because it has you pick each part individually, while keeping track of if its compatible or not. In the end, the part you chose can either be based off your budget, or how strong you want your machine to be. For a low end PC you would be looking at about 500-800 dollars, while the medium end would be 800—1,300, and for the upper end its 1,500+.
Which part should I get you ask? Well, that’s up to you and what you want. There are a lot of good parts for the cost, and that will have to involve some reading and research on the parts. At the time this was written, AMD CPU’s are very good because they’re cheap and high quality. You can use userbenchmark.com to compare parts, and you can even use it to compare a build to another build.
Comparing to pre-builds
To show you that making your own is better, I put together a system and we will compare it to a pre-built of the same price.
Our system:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 6 3600x 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4
PSU: Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX
Storage: 1 TB Samsung HHD
These parts added up cost about $985, but we still need to add a case, and an operating system. When these are added that brings our total to about $1,100. The reason I’m not going to talk about the other parts is because those parts do not contribute to the stats of the PC.
We will be comparing it to an Alienware Aurora R8
There system:
CPU: Intel i5 9400 6-Core 2.9GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB
RAM: 16 GB Dual Channel DDR4-2666
Motherboard: Not listed
PSU: Not listed
Storage: 512 GB SSD
Lets start the comparison. I will use userbenchmark.com to do the comparing. Our CPU is about 10% better, because it has a higher GHz processing speed. Our GPU is about 30% better because there GPU is part of the GTX series, and our GPU is part of the RTX series, which is a new and better version. For the RAM, they didn’t list the brand, but we can compare the speed of the ram, and see that ours is faster. They also didn’t list the motherboard or the PSU, but that’s not needed for the comparison. For storage, our 1TB HHD costs less than there 512GB SSD, and we can put more things on it. Sure an SSD is better than a HHD, but if it is your only storage unit it will get filled up quickly and SSDs are mainly used for specific programs or important data.
So after the comparison, we can see that we have a better system just by assembling it for ourselves.
How to assemble the parts
So now it’s the big finale, how to put it all together. You might think that its going to be scary, but its basically playing very expensive Legos.
For prep, make sure to set your case and parts on a hard surface, like a desk or table. Now take your socks off, and make sure you’re doing this on a hard floor, basically not carpet. Why? Static electricity will ruin some of the parts, you can also take a precaution by getting an anti-static electricity band.
When you receive your motherboard, there will be a manual in there. The manual explains where to plug things into, and what plugin goes to what pins. Since every motherboard is a little different, it’s hard to tell you how to do this exactly. The process may be a bit different for you, but here are some steps to help you.
For installing the CPU, go ahead and take it out of the box, along with the cooler. Don’t touch the “gray” paste on the bottom of the cooler, because that will be used to contact the CPU, or the bottom part of the CPU(the side that isn’t smooth). Next, slide the CPU into socket. There is a little triangle on the CPU and the socket, make sure to line those up and then put it in. After that, put the lever back in place and we can move to the cooler. For the cooler, simply put it on top of the CPU, and click it into the motherboard. Next, take a look at your motherboard manual and figure out where to plug the cooler in.
Next lets move on to RAM. There will be a 4 slot section on the motherboard, and this is for RAM. Around the area there will be some text that says the correct way to install them. For RAM you do alternating sticks, so if you have 2 sticks, you should use the 2nd and 4th slot. Simply take your RAM stick, and place it into the socket, and push down until you hear a click.
Next, you should take your motherboard and screw it into the case. If you did this already, no problem, but if you haven’t this is the time to do it. All you need to do is find the contact points on the motherboard and screw them to the inside of your case.
Next, lets install the PSU. Simply slide the PSU into the case at the back, and line it up and then screw it in. Once that is done, consult your manual to find what pins the cable plugs into.
Next, we can install the storage drives. If you have a hard drive, find the spot in the case that looks like the drive could slide into. Once you have done that, screw in the drive with some small screws and then connect a data cable and a SATA cable to it, and look at the manual to see where those connect to. The SATA cable usually has a “SATA1” or “SATA2” plug-in on the motherboard so you can just look for that.
Finally, we can hook up the GPU. To do this, take your GPU and find the corresponding slot and plug it in. Then, connect the PCI-E cable to the GPU, and then plug in the power cable which your manual will tell you about.
By this time, your PC is up and running, but you still need to install drivers and such. To do so, simply look up a video on how to do that because it can vary based on the operating system and GPU. If you were building along, and you pressed the power button, and nothing happened. You probably did something wrong. All motherboards come with a tiny speaker that you can plug into them, so if you did something wrong, there will be a beeping sequence for what mistake you have made. Just simply look up the beep code that was played to you, and websites will tell you what is wrong and how to fix them.
By this time, everything should be complete and your PC should be running smoothly. Building a PC is very intimidating, but once you understand the process and learn a little bit of things about the system, its pretty basic. I hope this guide helped you or at least answered some questions you have about PC building.
Edited by: Steele, Marissa
RIPE Magazine | Volume 1 