What advice would you give to a beginner pc builder?

[Spiritable]

This topic occured in my head right now  so i needed to get my answer.        My advice would be to not look at any fancy videos like: BEST WARZONE PC!!!!!!!! or something like that. If you want a pc for example gaming you should look at a budget build first of. Becuase down the line if you want to spend it on any other stuff not just on  your computer you are going to not have the money and maybe need to sell your machine. Second of, if you play for example warzone you should look for a middle ground computer that gets the job done easily and smothly. A question that would go hand in hand with this would be: What is a rule to go by if you are a beginner pc builder?

 

Would love to get peoples thoughts so leave them down below!

[IkeaGnome]

Don't cheap out on power supply or case. Both can last you many upgrades.

[curiousmind34]

Don't overspend on a motherboard, especially don't overspend on a motherboard because it has wifi built in

[iNSUFFZ]

Ltt has gr8 videos for beginner builders, most importantly make sure parts you throw together are compatible, a rule to go by would be never forget thermal paste, take time to learn the general dos and don'ts, try and ground yourself, don't mix screws, a magnetic bowl might help, magnetic tip screwdriver is your friend, save the packaging aand yeah, happy building

edit 1: always follow the manual, it helps, no exceptions
edit 2: peel the plastic off coolers

[Mark Kaine]

I agree some midrange stuff is best to start out with, I would definitely also say to make sure it has proper cooling/ airflow ( no watery stuff though that complicates things needlessly) and make sure it's a good psu. 

 

 

26 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

case

The worst/ best decision I made when making my first pc... inwin case,  absolutely beautiful and very high quality,  especially the glass panel is incredibly sophisticated and easy to remove... but boy is it a pain to build in, they didn't think of cable management at all, and only barely about cooling lol.

 

The actual worst decision however was listening to someone telling me "4 cores" are enough and getting a 2200G,  which sure was cheap,  but also hopelessly outdated even at release and not adequate at all for a proper gaming pc... 

 

 

[Jtalk4456]

avoid the verge XD
on a serious note though:
 

4 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

Don't cheap out on power supply or case. Both can last you many upgrades.

While I get that they can last you many upgrades, IF you have to fit in a budget, the case in most cases (pun not intended but welcomed) will not affect the longevity or functionality of your build and can be easily upgraded later. It doesn't have to meet any real specs like a power supply does with W. So If you have to cut to make a budget the case is the first place I'd cheap out on. Followed by a lower speed ram  if they're trying to get 3600-4000, followed by seeing if they're getting more mobo/cpu than necessary
PSU I agree on though. you can go medium there, but never cheap out on the one piece that can make or literally break your whole setup.

17 minutes ago, curiousmind34 said:

Don't overspend on a motherboard, especially don't overspend on a motherboard because it has wifi built in

Amen, I'd really love to see someone do a video going over the different marketing tactics and features shown for motherboards and break down what really matters. I'm sure someone's done something similar but I haven't seen it yet
Also EWWW WIFI, just use a cord! XD

 

Now my advice:
PCPARTPICKER and LTT forum!!!!!!!!
no matter how good you are at pc's there's a lot of factors for compatibility, software and physical size of hardware and pins/connectors, etc. Build in PC Part picker always, then post your build on LTT forum or something similar. You're invested in this, so your vision might be clouded. A set of fresh eyes might notice something you didn't. If it means reducing hours of headache trying to fit a long or tall part where it wont, followed by days or weeks of returning and waiting for refunds and new parts and all that Jazz, I'll happily give an hour on the forum to let people check just in case.

 

Record all warranties and information somewhere
What I do is I repack the case box with all the other stuff. So once I'm done setting it up, all the extra pieces go in their respective boxes, and the boxes and any warranty or paperwork gets stacked in the empty case box. I put that in a closet/garage and I always know where my paperwork or parts are. If I need to return/rma something, I've got all the original packaging and papers and receipt right there and ready to go.

[IkeaGnome]

Just now, Jtalk4456 said:

While I get that they can last you many upgrades, IF you have to fit in a budget, the case in most cases (pun not intended but welcomed) will not affect the longevity or functionality of your build and can be easily upgraded later.

I completely agree with that. I was more talking about the h510 line, the P5/p3 line I went down as my first. There's many "cheap" cheap cases.

9 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

The worst/ best decision I made when making my first pc... inwin case,  absolutely beautiful and very high quality,  especially the glass panel is incredibly sophisticated and easy to remove... but boy is it a pain to build in, they didn't think of cable management at all, and only barely about cooling lol.

Not to date how late I got really into computers, but my first case was a Thermaltake P5... In a house with dogs...

 

As far as a bit more advice. GamersNexus. The detail and repeatability on their reviews is absolutely amazing. The more you see how they do their testing(even down to leveling AMD vs Intel in fair ways[Not using motherboard boosts and just CPU clocks and Intel/AMD's spec]) is truly mind blowing. I used their reviews a bit, but after the NZXT H1 fires started looking more into GN videos. If you want to see how in depth they are, just watch that three part series. Including microscoping of risers and xrays of PCBs

[Jtalk4456]

8 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

The actual worst decision however was listening to someone telling me "4 cores" are enough and getting a 2200G,  which sure was cheap,  but also hopelessly outdated even at release and not adequate at all for a proper gaming pc... 

*Presses F

[Mark Kaine]

35 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

*Presses F

I'm fairly certain (99.9999%) what they said was even worse: "games will never use more than 4 cores" lol.

 

This is also why I'm saying midrange,  on the low end you make too many compromises and as a beginner you can't tell necessarily which of those are important and should be rather avoided .

[MajorCasualties]

1 hour ago, IkeaGnome said:

Don't cheap out on power supply or case. Both can last you many upgrades.

I defiantly agree with this.  Power supply is one of the few items that can be "future proof" for many years.  As for the case if its something that will be visible and not hidden away make sure you get exactly what you want because as long as you get a decent one that you like there is no real reason to upgrade down the line, even if that means waiting a few more paychecks to afford what you want. 

[AlexP11223]

Buy prebuilt and wait till 2023.

[Giganthrax]

- Never cheap out on the power supply. Buy at least a bronze Power Supply from Seasonic, Corsair, or some other reputable maker

- Take it slow and be gentle. Nothing in PC building requires you to push too hard to apply a lot of pressure

- Always build on a wood table or floor. Plastic tables are good as well if you have one

- You don't need high end hardware. A gtx1070 still runs everything on high/ultra on 60+ fps on 1080p. If your main games are esport games like CSGO, LoL, Valorant, etc., there's simply no reason for you to buy expensive GPUs or CPUs

- You don't have to buy Windows 10. You can use it for free forever, you'll just have the Activate Windows message in the corner, and won't be able to customize some parts of the OS appearance, but who cares, right? 

[Lord Szechenyi]

I wouldn't

[Lord Szechenyi]

13 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

I'm fairly certain (99.9999%) what they said was even worse: "games will never use more than 4 cores" lol.

 

This is also why I'm saying midrange,  on the low end you make too many compromises and as a beginner you can't tell necessarily which of those are important and should be rather avoided .

 

14 hours ago, Jtalk4456 said:

*Presses F

i have a 4 core CPU and have no issues in gaming

[ShadowUsher_26]

Just go for an nzxt or redux prebuild if you are in a hurry. Personally i think that it helps to have a

• general understanding of the basic stuff like the hardware, compatibility like the chipsets, sockets, PCIe generation and lanes, the number of various connectors, just so you can make an informed and a reasonable decision.
• And when you go really high end say from a 3600x to a 5600x. The performance definitely increases but for the most part a regular user even a gamer wont really notice the fps jump from the already nice 180 fps to say 220 fps. So dont go for the high end unless you are sure that you really need the extra performance.
• Dont go will sli cuz its dead and dumb
• Its a process of continuous learning so just keep watching pc videos, hardware reviews and what not. I am not stressing it but if you are really interested it wont feel like a drag.

[AlexP11223]

29 minutes ago, Giganthrax said:

You don't have to buy Windows 10.

Yep. You can just install Linux.

[Giganthrax]

8 minutes ago, AlexP11223 said:

Yep. You can just install Linux.

Eh, I wouldn't recommend Linux to anyone who isn't a power user.

 

Maybe if someone needed a ChromeOS-like computer, I would install them Neverware Cloudready, but aside from that I'd stick with a user-friendly OS like Win10.

[Kanna]

Go ATX unless you really need that minimal look, don't cheap out on motherboard or PSU case neither, don't do to much thermal paste, build on the motherboard box, don't put on side panel nor route cables before you know it works

[sub68]

Buy one PH2 screwdriver ( prferbly a ok one)

PSU's are very interesting get corsair or seasonic or good company.

Buy a tube of thermal paste.( i personaly use noctula but people have opions)

don't buy a MOBO cause it does have wifi, PCIe card exists (unless your doing mini itx)

umm I have nothing more but fun

[HerrKaLeu]

16 hours ago, Jtalk4456 said:

While I get that they can last you many upgrades, IF you have to fit in a budget, the case in most cases (pun not intended but welcomed) will not affect the longevity or functionality of your build and can be easily upgraded later. It doesn't have to meet any real specs like a power supply does with W. So If you have to cut to make a budget the case is the first place I'd cheap out on.

Disagreed. The case is responsible for cooling performance, which impacts longevity. Lack of cooling also causes thermal throttling, which will negate the top $ you spend on high power GPU/CPU. 

And buying a $20 cheaper case now, and then buying a better case later doesn't' really save money. 

 

And the case also is the thing you see every time you use the PC. and when building the PC you will curse your decision to cheap out. Same with dust maintenance. 

 

Case/PSU you keep for long. Everything else ages due to new development. Don't go to Starbucks for a week and that gets you upgraded to a super Case and PSU. 

[Jtalk4456]

21 minutes ago, HerrKaLeu said:

Disagreed. The case is responsible for cooling performance, which impacts longevity. Lack of cooling also causes thermal throttling, which will negate the top $ you spend on high power GPU/CPU. 

And buying a $20 cheaper case now, and then buying a better case later doesn't' really save money. 

 

And the case also is the thing you see every time you use the PC. and when building the PC you will curse your decision to cheap out. Same with dust maintenance. 

 

Case/PSU you keep for long. Everything else ages due to new development. Don't go to Starbucks for a week and that gets you upgraded to a super Case and PSU. 

I can agree with you on cooling, but I think even most cases have enough cooling to not significantly reduce lifespan if you arrange the fans correctly. There's lots of bad cheap cases, but I think there's also ones that are perfectly acceptable. 
@TVwazhere Case god can feel free to prove me wrong here, but I don't feel like it's that big an issue to impact lifespan in most cases. Also while cheap and buying good later is not the best money saving tactic as you pointed out, I'm saying IF you're building on a super tight budget and HAVE to cut somewhere and save up for better later, the case is the item I'd rather sacrifice. That's because as you said I'd lose $20 effectively. If I replace any other component besides RGB strips, I will have spent and effectively then lost more on the initial cheap item. If the "good product" is a fixed cost of the final good build, then the extra money spent is the cost of the initial "cheap product". In this case $20. If I cheap on the PSU, $30-40; GPU hundreds, CPU $150 or so. Point being if you HAVE to do the cheap first and count a loss later, I'd much prefer cheap the case and lose $20 than cheap the other more important components and take a bigger loss. Ideally you don't cheap on anything, but that's just not always an option.

[BondiBlue]

Something I don't think I've seen in this thread: keep an updated Windows installer (or Linux if that's your thing) on hand. I always have one in a drawer ready to go. Flash drives are stupidly cheap these days, and having one around has been helpful so many times. 

[HerrKaLeu]

1 hour ago, Jtalk4456 said:

I can agree with you on cooling, but I think even most cases have enough cooling to not significantly reduce lifespan if you arrange the fans correctly. There's lots of bad cheap cases, but I think there's also ones that are perfectly acceptable. 
@TVwazhere Case god can feel free to prove me wrong here, but I don't feel like it's that big an issue to impact lifespan in most cases. Also while cheap and buying good later is not the best money saving tactic as you pointed out, I'm saying IF you're building on a super tight budget and HAVE to cut somewhere and save up for better later, the case is the item I'd rather sacrifice. That's because as you said I'd lose $20 effectively. If I replace any other component besides RGB strips, I will have spent and effectively then lost more on the initial cheap item. If the "good product" is a fixed cost of the final good build, then the extra money spent is the cost of the initial "cheap product". In this case $20. If I cheap on the PSU, $30-40; GPU hundreds, CPU $150 or so. Point being if you HAVE to do the cheap first and count a loss later, I'd much prefer cheap the case and lose $20 than cheap the other more important components and take a bigger loss. Ideally you don't cheap on anything, but that's just not always an option.

if you have powerful GPU/CPU, you likely lose performance due to throttling in a cheap case. so then you can buy a lower grade CPU/GPU if you have a cheaper case. Save even more money. 

 

I think if someone talks about RGB strips, but saves money on case or PSU... this is a matter of priorities, not budget. IMHO get good case + PSU now, add RGB later (if that really is important). 

 

Obviously this is just my 2ct. I'm someone who buys once and uses for many years and only upgrade what really became obsolete. Never had a failure. but most my PC use is working these days. so a day without PC is more than just not being able to play. 

 

if you upgrade often, component longevity may not matter. But electronics life correlates with temps. So if case temp is 10C higher, there is a higher probability of failure. 

[adigupta67]

I would say that despite Ryzen being better than intel, right now it is best to by an intel CPU because there is a decent supply of new CPUs from intel compared to ryzen CPUs which all cost 3 times MSRP and intel CPUs have good enough onboard graphics that you can wait a little longer before buying a graphics card so that you can get a good model without overpaying. I have an intel i7-8700k and with the onboard integrated graphics I was bale to play Minecraft at 60 FPS with high settings while I was trying to get a 3070 founders edition. Also if you are willing to make the time commitment it is possible to get a new graphics card at MSRP. I did it myself but it is hard.

[Murasaki]

If your case has a PSU shroud - leave the PSU hanging out so you have space to plug in cables and manage, only after you're done screw it in. I learned that the hard way.