Read This Before Building Your First PC

CONSIDER THIS

✓ Parts to compile for the build

It all comes together

✓ Have some confidence

Don't worry, you're probably doing it right

✓ Finesse and be firm

Some parts may lock into place more easily than others

✓ Trial and error

If at first you don't succeed, try again

Total build cost: $500

A Quick Guide to Building Your First PC

Building your first PC can be one of the most daunting, nerve-racking experiences, no matter how much research and preparation you put in beforehand. I built my first PC, a mini ITX, for $500 and wanted to share my experience as a total newbie (the good and bad!) so that it can hopefully be of help to you as you embark on your first build.

When building a PC, the obvious and most important aspect to consider are the parts you compile for the build. Every single part contributes to the computing experience. My recommendation is to seek veterans for their opinions and recommendations. There are plenty of different combinations that can optimize what you need in a PC.  It can become quite complicated as a first-timer when you’re trying to gauge what you have to do. Reddit has become the go to for many when it comes to gathering information. In my case, I had a combination of Engineer/Gaming co-workers and Reddit sages to consult with in picking out my parts.

I highly recommend using PCPartPicker to facilitate an initial parts list. This website allows you to mix and match parts to see what works. Best of all, it estimates your power consumption so you can buy the proper power supply for your build. Just remember that there are a lot of schools of thoughts when it comes to building a computer. Even after purchasing parts, you may still doubt your choices, but that’s just part of the journey.

Finesse and Be Firm

Building your first PC can also be daunting because even if you’re following the instructions, you may still question if you’re doing things correctly or inserting parts the right way. Honestly, until the boot screen populated, I was completely holding my breath. I was constantly concerned that I broke the motherboard or forced in the RAM too hard throughout the building process. One of my biggest roadblocks required me spending hours scourging YouTube trying to determine why my RAM wasn’t locked into place. Not pressing the RAM into the slot with the correct force is a mistake plenty of first-timers commit. Even knowing that fact, I still made that mistake. Building a PC requires patience and the desire to troubleshoot when you don’t succeed. My advice would be to gather confidence in yourself that even if you did place something incorrectly, know that it’s not breaking anything immediately. 

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Have Some Confidence

In hindsight, there were many moments I wasted time on. It took me hours to build my first PC! I know many of you experienced builders are watching and laughing as you could probably do a build in under 40 minutes. I worried primarily about my SSD and hard drive. The Mini ITX I was building, which I affectionately named Snow Cube, has a somewhat frustrating mounting bracket that snaps the hard drive and SSD into place. There’s a certain finesse required when inserting these pieces into that bracket in order for the tray to clip back into the PC on the case. Finding the correct place to re-insert the tray into the PC was quite a hard puzzle to solve. I spent 40 minutes attempting to wiggle the piece into the lock, wondering if I had accidentally broken something. Ironically, after deciding to just use physical force, it actually locked into place! My lesson learned is that finessing is important, but being firm is equally necessary for many parts in a build.

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As someone who is admittedly not handy at all, through the process of building my first PC, I learned a lot about how a computer operates. At the end of the tunnel, there is an immensely satisfying feeling of relief seeing this project you conceived from start to finish boot up for the first time. I’m confident now that I can build another PC in a fraction of the time (hopefully), as I fundamentally understand where each piece fits much better than before I attempted the process. While no two PCs are the same, with each build you gain more confidence in yourself and the process.

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