Mistakes to avoid when building a PC

There’s nothing quite like building your first PC. Especially now during the pandemic, many people have started building or buying their first computers at home. Yes, gaming laptops are out there, but a gaming PC is still a sight to behold, and the power isn’t even comparable. A lot of people, though, don’t know where to start. The jargon that is used in today’s PC market can be mind-boggling for the uninitiated. You can get suggested a build that isn’t actually the best you can buy with your budget.

This article was written by Andre Co.

It’s easy to get lost with all the parts you need to buy for your PC. Doing your due diligence of researching which parts are for you will maximize your budget. Hopefully, we also can help you in choosing the right parts and not make any mistakes. So, what are the common mistakes when buying PC parts?

Choosing a cheap, low-quality power supply

There is an abundance of power supplies out there in the market. The easy suggestion here is to find a rated power supply. This is a power supply that guarantees reliability and efficiency. A power supply with an 80 plus rating means it is at least 80% efficient at different loads. This is compared to unrated power supplies where you don’t know how efficient or reliable the power supply is. Even if you purchase an unrated power supply with 800W, you wouldn’t know if it can reach that high or how reliable it will be at high loads. Low-quality units and unrated power supplies usually have a lower wattage than what is said.

So choose a power supply that fits the parts you want to buy and make sure it is a rated power supply. If not, be ready to risk your whole build as a faulty power supply can fry your parts when power fluctuates.

There are different kinds of power supplies out there, but most popular brands have their own rated power supplies, which will guarantee you some peace of mind.

Spending too much on things that aren’t that important

A common mistake these days is that people get too distracted by things that your PC actually doesn’t need. Some people spend thousands of pesos buying parts that have little to no impact on PC performance.

We’re not saying that you should not buy the coolest and brightest RGB lights out there or avoid that PHP 20K full ATX PC case. We’re just saying to check your budget and prioritize the important parts first. If you can resist the urge to get all the best peripherals and the fanciest RGB lights, we suggest moving that budget first to get a better processor and video card. These are the parts that will actually affect your experience in using the PC the most. They are also typically the two most expensive parts, so it will do you better, in the long run, to spend as much as you can on them.

Just try to balance things you want, like mechanical keyboards, versus the things you will actually need first in a PC build, like more memory or a bigger hard drive. You will never regret having a more powerful PC but will always complain about lag or not having enough power because you skimped on the important parts.

Using incompatible parts

Make sure you pick parts that are compatible with each other. For example, if you buy a Ryzen processor, make sure you get a motherboard compatible with it, like an X570 or a B550 motherboard. The best way is to see which socket your processor uses and check the motherboard you want to purchase if it is compatible with the processor you are getting.

Get the right memory or RAM for your PC as well. You wouldn’t want to buy DD3 memory and place it into a DDR4 motherboard.

And lastly, pick parts that will fit in your PC tower or case. You might end up buying a large video card that won’t fit in your PC case, or you buy the wrong form factor motherboard for your tower. Ensure you know the measurements of the parts you are buying and how much space your tower has.

Not having an SSD or Solid State Drive

SSDs are much faster than traditional Hard Disk Drives or HDDs. So if you want to feel like your PC is blazing fast, install your OS or Windows into the SSD and watch your computer startup instantly!

If you’re on a budget, try and get a small SSD with at least 128GB of memory that can fit in Windows and maybe a game, then buy a secondary HDD, which is cheaper, to store all your other files like photos, videos, games, etc.

Not having enough or having too much memory

The sweet spot for memory or RAM these days is 16GB. Most games and apps don’t need much more than this, and it allows you to multitask by having many windows or tabs open. So make sure you have at least this much. On the other hand, 8GB might be pushing it when it comes to doing many things simultaneously on your PC, and most games will require 16GB.

On the flip side, depending on your needs, you don’t really need 32GB to 64GB or even more ram. Professionals, of course, need a lot of memory for their needs, but 16GB should be more than enough for everyday and gaming use.

Not buying the right monitor

So now you’ve bought the PC of your dreams, you have the latest and greatest graphics card like an RTX 3090, but you end up playing on a monitor that just runs at 60Hz. As a result, you’re not making the most of your PC’s power, and you won’t have an optimal gaming experience when doing so.

If you have a budget for a powerful gaming computer, don’t forget to also budget for a decent monitor. At least a monitor that is 1080p and has a high refresh rate of over 120Hz. This will offer you a smooth experience when doing anything on the computer and will guarantee that you won’t ever go back to looking at slower refresh rate monitors.

Remember your operating system

Don’t forget to grab a copy of Windows if you are building a PC. Unfortunately, motherboards and other peripherals do not come with a copy of Windows, and you actually have to buy a license.

The trick here is to find sites (or even YouTube affiliate links) that sell Windows for discounted prices. You can get them as cheap as USD 10PHP 587INR 847EUR 10CNY 73 in some places online. So don’t forget that without your operating system, your PC can’t do anything!

Building and buying your own PC can give you guys a lot of satisfaction and, at the same time, a lot of headaches too. The vast amount of parts and peripherals out there can be dizzying for someone just coming into this space. So we suggest, aside from reading this article, to research online, watch videos and ask people.

Hopefully, we have somehow helped you guys get started with your PC building journey. But, just remember, this is a deep, fun rabbit hole that most, if not all of us, can’t get out of!