Budget
Your budget is the most important part of any build, It determines what kinda of specs you're in the market for and if you don't have enough cash then there's no, PC build or prebuilt, so go determine a budget and get to researching!
Research
The first step, post moneys, in building a PC is research! you need to know what works with what, and which parts of your computer are the most important to you. Most importantly of all is to find out which motherboards are compatible with your CPU. Your CPU is the brain of your pc and if it doesn't rest with your motherboard and vise versa then the build is ruined.
Requirements
there aren't that many pieces when you get down to the build, most of what you'll need are large pieces to a lego set, a very expensive lego set but a simple one at that, below is a list of what is needed in no particular order of importance
- CPU (Central Processing Unit)
- Cooling until (usually comes with CPU if not a custom one)
- GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
- MotherBoard
- HDD/SSD (Hard Disk Drive/Solid State Drive)
- RAM Chips (Random Access Memory)
- Power Supply
- OS (Oprating System)
- Tower
What do these parts do?
The CPU is like the Brain of your computer, without it your PC wouldn't be able to send or receive data. This bad boy is what runs most everything in your computer. The Cooling unit is what keeps the CPU's heat in check, processing as much data as a CPU does causes a lot of heat to build up and if left unchecked/cooled with a Cooling Unit can lead to permanent damages of the CPU and affect the performance of the computer. If your CPU is Batman then the GPU would be Robin, The CPU is built to hand multiple tasks, while the GPU is good and doing repetitive tasks like rendering for instance at a lightning fast pace, its purpose is to reduce the work load of a CPU by taking on these repetitive task, for a more in depth reason as to why the GPU is so important there is a video at the bottom that you can watch for a better understanding. The Motherboard is kinda like how it sounds, its the 'mother' of all these parts, all parts are put onto the motherboard through multiple electric channels on the motherboard they interact with each other to get tasks done, the motherboard will always come with exit ports for display, USB, and other essential ports. Your HDD/SSD is where all data gets stored, when ever you download/install anything thats where it will end up. RAM, random access memory is what it sounds like, it stores random data that is accessed frequently and helps run to run said things smoothly. Your power supply is what powers your computer, without it you wouldn't be able to turn anything on. Your OS, is what software you choose to run on your Pc, Window/MacOS/Linux. Lastly your Tower is where all your components will reside after the motherboard, it's what most people will see when looking at your 'rig'.
Tools
Tools you will need is also pretty simple. A Philips head screwdriver, a Flat head screwdriver, and some thermal paste
Build Tower Side
The tower side, pre mount of motherboard, is pretty easy all you have to do is attach the power supply in the correct area which the tower instructions will specify. Finally you'll want to mount your HDD/SSD again where your tower specify. remember EACH TOWER IS DIFFERENT
Build Motherboard Side
To start things off, you will want to mount your cpu onto your compatible motherboard first, there is a component on the center of the motherboard that usually has a latch or a lock which will allow the CPU to sit snuggly inside. Second you will want to apply a dab of thermal paste to the top top of the cpu, DO NOT USE A LOT OF THERMAL PASTE, then you will proceed to put the Cooling Unit onto the CPU where the thermal paste was applied. once placed on the cpu the cooling unit will have mounting method to the motherboard to lock it in place. After that's done you can attach the RAM chips to the motherboard, There are little clip like sections on the motherboard where all RAM goes usually in sets of 4 channels, Be sure to put the chips in spaced channels, like, 1/3 or 2/4, these orders give best performance outcome. Proceed to then mount your GPU to your motherboard on your motherboard there are a couple of options on for where you want to mount, each one will look similar to were your RAM chips would go except they are more spaced apart and have a break in the slot for the dual sided piece of the GPU and other additions you might want to add later down the road. and with that being installed you're now ready to mount the motherboard to the tower!
Mounting the Motherboard to the Tower
Alright so you've prepped both the tower and the motherboard and all that's left is to combine to two together, this is where you'll need your screwdrivers, depending on what screws your tower came with will determine your screwdriver. Your tower will have a lot of little screw ports that will match up with holes that reside on your motherboard, not all will but that's fine, only the ports that match with your motherboard comfortably will work and the rest are for other types of motherboards. Carefully mount your motherboard in the tower where the exit ports face out of the tower and begin to check that all exit ports are exposed, your tower will have extra ports of entry that you can open if needed. once everything looks snug you can go ahead and begin to screw in the motherboard, do not tighten too much so that you don't damage the motherboard! With both parties successfully mounted you'll need attach your HDD/SSD to your motherboard as well through SATA cables, these came with your motherboard and/or HDD/SSD. Check if your tower came with any fans built in and the towers button functions (power button, reset button, etc) and attach those to the motherboard as well, these will be easily identified and attached and if not the tower instructions will specify. Finally, attach the power supply to the motherboard, there are a lot of power ports on the power supply. Not all will be used, but the main ones will be the Cooling fan's, the Motherboards main power. with that being done you can close your tower and you're ready to go!
Installing OS
Finale
With all that being said you have now successfully built your own computer! in the end its a fairly simple process and after the first one it only gets easier from there, its might sound complicated when put into words, but as long as you approach this task as if you were building expensive legos with an instruction book the process feels a lot simpler and goes a lot smoother.