The last time I built a PC from scratch was way back before 2010, probably around 2006 or so. It wasn’t terribly difficult, I had some guidance from a knowledgeable person from some message boards I frequented. It was fun and gave me the satisfaction of having a custom machine. Since then I’ve replaced the mobo and graphics card, but this is the first time since then that I’ve built a PC from scratch, so it was a new adventure being over 10 years since I’ve been familiar with PC hardware, and let me tell you, this build was an adventure indeed. Let’s jump into the build.
Now, the first thing you should ask yourself when you build a PC is “What am I going to use this PC for?” Are you going to use it for gaming? General purpose? Video editing? These important questions will be essential when you begin looking for parts.
Now, the main reason I decided to build a new PC is a bit multifaceted. First off, my graphics card crapped out on me, (I think it may be because the games I was playing may have been too demanding for the card, I’ve also heard Radeon cards tend to run on the warm side). Next, the new consoles launched recently: The Xbox series X and S and the PS5. That means a bunch of new AAA games coming to the new consoles and PC! I’m definitely hyped for Cyberpunk 2077 and I somewhat modeled my build around the projected recommended system requirements. Finally, I wanted to take advantage of some new technologies: DDR4 RAM, Ryzen CPU, and Ray Tracing for the GPU, as well as having the option to upgrade, notably the M.2 drives I’ve been hearing and reading about that are superfast. So having a nice new motherboard was a must. Let’s jump into the core components: Motherboard, CPU, and RAM, heck, let’s throw the heatsink in there too.
For the CPU I wanted the best bang for my buck. After a bit of research, the Ryzen 5 3600 fit the bill. It has 6 cores running at a base clock of 3.6 GHz which is two more cores than the Phenom II I had in my old machine, and the reviews I’ve seen for it have been positive. This CPU is a great value, and at around $200 it will leave you extra room for a better GPU, extra RAM, or any other goodies you might want to add to your build.
Next, the Motherboard. When you’re picking out a motherboard, it’s important to make sure it is compatible with the CPU socket of the chip you’re using in your build. The Ryzen 5 is an AM4 socket, so I needed a board with that socket type. I used the website Logical Increments to help pick out a lot of my parts for the build. I chose their recommended motherboard from the “Good” tier, the MSI X470 Gaming Plus Max. It’s also important to make sure your board is compatible with the RAM you’re going to be using so make sure to check out the motherboard manual of the board you choose before you lock in your purchase. It’ll save a lot of time and headaches in the end.
Let’s check out the RAM situation. Generally, I don’t buy the least expensive option when I’m purchasing RAM. Look for brand names rather than off brands. Kingston, Crucial, G.Skill and Corsair are all good brands of RAM. I went for 16 GB of G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200 RAM which my motherboard supports. 16 GB of RAM seems to be the standard these days, 32 seems to be a bit overkill but is standard by some builders these days. You can get away with 8 GB at the minimum, but I do like to run VMs sometimes as well, so 16 GB was my number.
All of these components need to stay cool to run optimally, especially the CPU. Cooling is also a must if you want to overclock your CPU. There are a ton of options out there: Tower Coolers and AIO liquid cooling setups seem to be the most popular, but I know there are a ton of custom cooling setups out there as well. I was looking for a great value cooling solution and I did a bit of research on the recommendation from Logical Increments, the Deep Cool Gammaxx 400. The reviews are good on this one and at around $25-$30 it is a great value to keep your CPU cool. It comes with a blue LED to light up your case and fits the AM4 socket even though the box doesn’t indicate it. I was sold when I checked out this review of the Gammaxx 400. It kept the CPU 15 degrees C cooler than the stock cooler in the Prime 95 test. I’m not planning on overclocking my CPU (yet), but keeping your system cool reduces the stresses of excessive heat, and is a definite must if you are overclocking your CPU.
Well, that’s all for part one. Part two will be the rest of the parts and part three will be putting it all together. I’m shooting to finish the series before the Cyberpunk 2077 launch, which is 6 PM CST, so let’s hope I don’t get too absorbed in the hype while I wait to play this game!
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