The easy part is over, and now it’s time to go over the rest of the build: the GPU, case, storage, and finally the PSU to power it all! Let’s go over the case and storage first:
The case I chose was pretty basic: the CoolerMaster NR600 Masterbox. It’s your basic case with a tempered glass side panel. It has plenty of room for fans and enough room to move your hands around without banging around too much. I also purchased some extra fans for cooling. The Masterbox comes with a couple installed already but I added 3 more for added airflow. My last case was a CoolerMaster as well and this one is a nice choice for the price.
Nowadays, your options for storage are varied. There’s M.2 drives that are superfast, SSDs that are becoming more affordable, and the old reliable HDDs available for data storage on your PC. I really wanted to stretch my budget for a M.2 drive, but I opted for a 240 GB SSD for the OS and frequently used apps and paired it with a good old 2 TB HDD for general storage. I know, HDDs are kind of old tech, but that much storage for under $100 is a great value. Plus, there’s always room to upgrade to one of those M.2 drives in the future.
Finding a GPU at a decent price was an adventure. First, I had to ask myself: “AMD or Nvidia?” In the past, I used a Radeon card in my PC but for my new build I wanted to try an Nvidia card. I wanted something that would be powerful enough to play AAA games on Ultra settings at 1080p with at least 60 FPS. I used the Logical Increments guide and at first I was looking to get a RTX 1660 Ti for the build. GPUs were tough to find all around. Out of stock at retailers and overpriced by scalpers. I looked for another card, something a bit more powerful but still within my budget, which I extended since I saved a few bucks on some of the other parts. The 2060 Super sounded like a great deal if there were one to be found at a decent price. Most offerings were at least $100 over regular retail. Heck, most of the GPU prices were boosted $50-$100 beyond their regular retail. At first, I figured I’d wait for stocks to refill and prices to normalize until I did a little research on the subject. Prices and stock sounded like they’d be iffy for a while, so I jumped on it and went for a vanilla 2060: the MSI Ventus XS. I was also eyeing the Phoenix edition, it had a compact design but only one fan, and the reviews noted that it gets a little warm under load, so I opted for the Ventus for the GPU. The price wasn’t terrible (I think it was about $30 over regular price) and it was more than enough to power the games I was looking to play. If you’re building a PC right now, think about getting a lower end card now, and upgrade next summer when the GPU situation is resolved.
Finally, there’s the PSU to power it all. I did a bit of research (maybe not enough) and read some articles on what to look for in a PSU. I’m actually not sure if the research helped (more on that in my next article) but I ended up going for an EVGA Supernova 650 GT modular PSU. It’s a brand I’ve heard of, it had at least 600W which gives ample overhead for upgrades, and it had a 80+ Gold rating. I’m still at a bit of a loss on what these ratings actually mean, but I figured it looked like a quality PSU with Japanese capacitors. Keep in mind your power needs when buying a PSU, there are several calculators out there to estimate these numbers to help you select a unit that will be adequate for your needs.
That’s it for today! The parts are acquired and the build is ready! The next and final part will be putting it together and firing it up! After that, I go into my long descent into Night City for a while, so stay tuned!
Benny's Bits and Bytes 