During the summer of 2016, I finally decided to delve in and join the pc master race. Having built my very first custom pc, I’d like to share my experiences and views on the products that I’ve handpicked for my pc as well as the challenges that I tackled in dealing with some issues that have occurred during the build. Whilst building your own pc may seem to be a daunting task for most people (I was one of them), I have found it to be a rewarding and fruitful experience similar to learning on how to ride a bicylcle and/or learning how to play an instrument. During the build it taught me to be resourceful, more organised and improved my time management. 

If you are thinking of building a pc, there are a few things that you may need to think about before even buying the components for your very own custom pc. Firstly, what are you going to use it for? One of the more obvious reasons for this is gaming as a custom pc can outlast the latest generation of consoles making it a good investment in the long-term. I say this because you can upgrade any of the components of your pc in the near future if you decide to do so. This is what you lose out on when you buy a console. You can also get good online deals on games that you wouldn’t normally get on a console.

My first build. Can you guess what’s missing?

Second is how much are you planning to spend on your custom pc? There are various sources on the internet (youtube, pc forums, etc.) that are readily available for you in order to help you find the pc components that fits your preferences and your budget. Initially I went on tomshardware to check out what they found to be really good pc components based on their various tests. I also had a look at jonnyguru‘s website for their incredibly detailed reviews on power supply units (PSU) as the ones I bought were from a guy through gumtree. Once I had a vague idea of the components I wanted, I went over to pcpartpicker to help me plan out what components I needed for my custom pc. I should also mention that pcpartpicker also checks the lowest possible price for the component of your choice (assuming it’s on their database) and where you can buy it. This is really good for some people who are looking to save a bit of cash that can be bought from a reputable online retailer.

Finally, time management. The actual building of the pc only took me a few hours one Saturday afternoon from start to finish. It’s the planning and buying of the components that took a fair bit of time as I had to source the components from different online retailers to get the best price. I also went on Ebay, Gumtree and CEX for some of my components and peripherals to cut down on costs. My pc is actually a combination of brand new and mint condition components as well as used peripherals but once I got it all together it was worth it. I’m already thinking about upgrades for my rig as I write this first entry. So be sure to check back for my upcoming reviews of the components let me know that you guys think about the blog down on the comments below.