Assembling a computer can be an expensive quest to choose components, and as you move up the performance ladder between the various models, prices can quickly exceed what you earn on the performance side.

Although there may not be a big price difference between a single component and the next highest in quality, applying this logic across an entire set of components will cause the price to grow rapidly.

It’s easy to get a PC component upgrade process up and running while spending little money and then ending up with the conclusion that it’s a common PC and average for the majority.

A high-end gaming PC may not be practical for many people, and that’s partly because PC parts can be expensive. Most importantly, there are many different interpretations of what “high-end” really means.

The good thing about this guide is that regardless of the budget to have available, the components are largely interchangeable: you can use almost everything, from the CPU and motherboard to the memory and graphics card of the version principal.

The box and the fridge are the only potential pain points, but otherwise comparing and contrasting top and high-end options is a great way to find out what works best for you.

As for monitors, the 1440-pixel 144Hz ones are recommended as the best overall value, potentially ultra-wide if you prefer, and that’s not part of the price.

However, the good thing is that this gaming PC will not be assembled exclusively for games, since with its maximum quality and 4K, you can also use it to be a YouTube streamer, software developer, CAD / CAM modeler, or any other job that requires so much PC power as possible.

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Table of contents

1. Advantages of building your own gaming PC
2. Assemble or buy
3. Guide to mounting a gaming PC

• 3.1 Tools needed
• 3.2 Assembling your gaming PC
• 3.3 Installing the memory
• 3.4 Microprocessor Installation
• 3.5 Installing the heatsink
• 3.6 Motherboard installation
• 3.7 Install everything else
• 3.8 Hard drive installation
• 3.9 Installing the control panel
• 3.10 Connecting the power cables
• 3.11 Turn on the gaming PC
• 3.12 Error messages?

4. Components for the gaming PC that we have assembled

• 4.1 CPU: Intel Core i3-8100
• 4.2 Other higher-end microprocessor options
• 4.3 Motherboard: H370 Aorus Gaming 3 Wifi
• 4.4 Another option: Gigabyte X299 Aorus Gaming 9
• 4.5 RAM memory: 16 GB Aorus DDR4 3200 MHz
• 4.6 Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
• 4.7 Power supply: Gigabyte P650B
• 4.8 Storage: Crucial BX 240GB
• 4.9 Enclosure: Aorus AC300W

5. What screen do I choose?
6. And the operating system? Windows 10 or earlier?
7. Mouse
8. WiFi card
9. Keyboard
10. And do I need a Joysticks?
11. Final words and conclusion about how to assemble a computer

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Advantages of building your own gaming PC

Laptops are in a strange phase of transition, with companies now starting to push for 2-in-1 devices that combine the portability of a tablet with the functionality of a laptop. However, PCs have not been affected by the constant changes in the market. Although demand has decreased in recent years, desktops are now cheaper than ever.

Assemble or buy

Want to play the latest and greatest PC games at maximum settings? While you can buy high-end gaming PCs online or physical stores, you can probably get a better result in both performance and price if you assemble it yourself.

However, building a gaming PC from scratch is not for everyone. The process can be long and stressful if you don’t know what you are doing. As with any difficult decision, there are pros and cons to buying a gaming PC rather than building it yourself.

Buying a computer from a manufacturer like HP, Dell, or Lenovo can be very cheap. Prices have dropped to all-time lows and you’ll have a device that works, in most cases, right out of the box. Not to mention, these kits also come with technical support and warranty.

Things get a little more expensive when you start looking for better-equipped models, or you start adding newer and faster components. And if we want it thin and weighing little, its price begins to rise like foam. Businesses make money on things like extra memory, more storage, and upgraded video cards.

On the other hand, assembling your own gaming PC allows full customization and gives you the ability to update the internal hardware whenever you want, something that cannot be done with most factory models. You can build a powerful desktop for less than those expensive high-end models, with the added bonus that you won’t have to pay anyone to install it.

Individual components are warranted, but it is your responsibility if something goes wrong. There is no 24/7 technical support line so you can call when something is wrong with your gaming PC. Although we can help you try to solve it, we have been doing it for more than 7 years for free.

This shouldn’t discourage you from setting up your gaming PC, but rather make sure you know the risks involved. If you take your time and do the proper research, building a PC isn’t that difficult. Not only can it be a great learning experience, but it can also be a lot of fun.

Guide to mounting a gaming PC

Before you start building a gaming PC, you will need the components. The first thing you need to decide is how powerful you want your PC to be and how much you plan to spend.

Tools needed

All you need is:

• A standard Phillips screwdriver
• Discharge static electricity
• A lot of patience and want to do the assembly

Assembling your gaming PC

Once you have all the necessary components, it’s time to get to the PC assembly. Generally, the first thing you should do is test the system out of the box to make sure all the parts work together smoothly.

Use the static bag and foam to carefully position the motherboard. Then add the memory, processor, heatsink, and video card. Connect the power supply cables. Turn it on once to make sure there are no errors. Then remove the video card to put everything in the box.

Installing the memory

Memory is one of the easiest parts to install. We have chosen a kit that Aorus has sent us for the occasion, we have already reviewed it and it is beautiful. It also offers high performance for fat tasks and takes advantage of its high speed.

Memory is one of the easiest parts to install. We have chosen a kit that Aorus has sent us for the occasion, we have already reviewed it and it is beautiful. It also offers high performance for fat tasks and takes advantage of its high speed.

How do I choose the RAM? You can check the compatibility with the QVL list offered by the motherboard manufacturer, but if you choose the Intel platform all the memories have an XMP profile and we can set their values ​​with a couple of clicks in the BIOS. Features to take into account when purchasing a RAM memory:

• Capacity: Choose a kit with 4,8,16 or 32GB modules
• Format: It is not the same to mount a DDR4 or DDR3 RAM. If it is a laptop or a mini PC, it may mount special SO-DIMMs
• ECC or Non-ECC memory. We will mount Non-ECC memories that are unregistered and are the cheapest. ECC memory is normal to find in servers or Workstations, yes, they are much more expensive.
• Speed: It is measured in MHz. For Gaming, it is recommended to choose memories of + 3000 MHz
• Voltage: If they are new memories, they usually have a voltage of 1.35 or 1.5v. If we raise the voltage too much they can burn

As we have mentioned, its installation is very simple. First, we locate the RAM memory slots on our motherboard and just start by pressing to open the two tabs on either side of the slot. Check the manual that came with the memory to see if you are in the right direction.

Once the RAM memory is put in its sockets, we will push it down hard. You can do it from the bottom as well as the sides, but both tabs should close and you hear a click. Once installed, repeat the steps for the second, third, or fourth additional memory.

In our case, we have installed a kit of 4 16 GB Aorus RGB RAM memory modules. Two of it have a capacity of 8GB but the other two are fake as they only offer light. It is very important to insert the two good ones in the channel to make the dual-channel.

Microprocessor Installation

Remove the microprocessor from its protective plastic. Do not touch the gold pins at the bottom, although most current microprocessors do not have pins (An exception is the AMD Ryzen of the AM4 socket). In fact, the connection pins are often found on the motherboard itself.

Always check the instructions provided by the motherboard and CPU for accuracy. In most cases, the metal bar on the CPU is unlocked and the bracket is opened.

It is very important to keep in mind that it is placed in the correct direction (the arrows marked on both will help you align it), the bracket closes and it is locked with the metal bar.

Once installed it will be as we see in this image. The next step is to find a solution to refrigerate it properly. We continue!

Installing the heatsink

Mounting the heatsink is also hardware dependent, but generally connects through the 4 holes closest to the processor socket. The installation of this Aorus heatsink is not an easy task, and it is one of the most complicated that we can find and we must follow the manual very well. If we don’t, we’ll end up looking for it and using it.

As we can see in the previous images, it is a single tower heatsink with two 120 mm fans. It has a base of 3 copper heat pipes that will keep our i3-8100 well cooled, more than enough to last a lifetime.

Usually, this is done via locking plastic screws or pins. In our case we had to install a small backplate at the rear, then take it with various screws and nuts.

The next step is to spread with the help of an old credit card the thermal paste that the heatsink brings us. If you don’t have it, you can leave a ball like a pea and install the heatsink.

Remember to connect the processor fan to the motherboard so that it receives power. There should be a fan connector near the processor. It is very important to orient the heatsink fans so that they blow the air out of the case, a very common mistake is not conducting the air well. Fans usually have a small arrow that tells you in which direction the air is expelled.

Motherboard installation

Remember, your motherboard is a huge circuit board that hates being scratched by metal, and there is a lot of metal in your case. So it is important that you place it with the utmost care, aligning it with the I / O panel and screwing it down.

A good trick is to install the heatsink and RAM memories before installing it in the chassis. When we insert the motherboard into the chassis, I recommend that you bend it slightly, so that it fits perfectly with the backplate.

Once fitted we will fix the 9 screws of the motherboard in our chassis. With this, we will get the motherboard installed 100%. We move on to the next step! The worst is over, guys!

Install everything else

Once your motherboard is assembled, everything else is easy. To install the graphics card, be sure to remove all expansion slot covers on the back to make room, insert it, tighten the screws, and connect all the cables.

The power supply is one of the most important components of a PC assembly. In our case, we have chosen a power supply with 80 PLUS Bronze certificate and it does not have modular cables. But with a good organization, we will hardly notice this lack. For the moment we leave it installed and a little later we will begin to connect the power cables.

Hard drive installation

Remove the hard drive bracket found in the PC case. Secure it to the back of your hard drive. Then slide the bracket with the hard drive back into the drive bay. As we can see in the image, the connector on the left is the power and the one on the right is the data cable. Connect it and we have our main storage ready.

Installing the control panel

The most insignificant things are those that make the difference or we think that the PC does not work. The control panel can be one of them, in it we will connect the buttons and LED states of our chassis. The most common are:

• Power LED: It is the LED lighting status of our chassis. It tells us that it is on. (important to look at the polarity, we can melt the LED)
• Power: It allows us to start the PC. (nothing happens if we can reverse the polarity)
• Reset: It allows us to restart our PC. (nothing happens if we can reverse the polarity)
• HDD LED : (important to look at the polarity, we can cast the LED)
• Speaker: Less used but extremely useful. With a few slight beeps, we can identify what the problem is, the use of a DEBUG LED that quickly tells us what the problem is has been its successor in many mid-range and high-end motherboards.

Connecting the power cables

The video card will need power from the power source. The appropriate cables should already be at the source, if you do not use the adapter supplied with the video card box, the motherboard will send you a message that your graphics card lacks power, that is, it is 100% necessary and avoid using thieves from Molex to PCI Express, buy a new power supply. The hard drive or SSD will also need a power cable, as well as a SATA or data cable.

As for motherboard power cables, two connectors are critical. The one we see above is the 24-pin ATX connector, this is 100% necessary to make it work, without it the current will not reach the motherboard.

It is also important to connect the EPS cable to the motherboard. Normally they have 4 or 8 power pins, on larger motherboards we can find two connections. You have to take into account that the PCI Express power connectors are not valid to connect it to this connection, you can create a short circuit. Your power supply must provide you with these cables, if it doesn’t bring them, follow our guide to the best power supplies you’ll find in the top menu.

When in doubt, check the manual of your motherboard if you need more power or you can always ask us. Some require an additional cable. This is also a good time to plug in any remaining fans or LEDs.

Turn on the gaming PC

Once everything is plugged in and secured, press the power button. Install the operating system CD or USB and follow the onscreen instructions to install it. Once you’re on the OS desktop, install a game to celebrate you’ve just built an awesome gaming PC.

Our PC at the moment looks this good. What do you think?

Error messages?

Your gaming PC will warn you if something is disconnected, like the hard drive or keyboard. So keep an eye out for messages or check your motherboard manual in case your card has LED warning lights or a noise associated with the missing item. Most of the time you just need to turn it off, fix what’s causing the problem, and turn it on again.

Components for the gaming PC that we have assembled

CPU: Intel Core i3-8100

The Core i3-8100 has a very good clock speed. It has a total of four cores and 4 threads of execution. This gives us a huge increase in overall processing power compared to early Kaby Lake processors.

Compared to the refreshment of the new generation of Intel processors. The giant has not chosen to refresh the i3 in the ninth edition (at least the model without an integrated graphics card is not for sale). If we want to improve performance and have something for a longer time, we recommend buying an Intel Core i9-9900k or an Intel Core i7-9700K.

The AMD Ryzen 5 and AMD Ryzen 7 also give great performance at a lower cost. The motherboards are also cheaper and allow us to overclock. It is a very attractive alternative for many users today.

Other higher-end microprocessor options

While you can usually get everything you need from a CPU running Core i5 / i7 or Ryzen 5/7, there are a few ways these models fall short.

First, it is the number of cores and threads. Processors with 6 cores and 12 threads have existed since 2010, but currently, we already have processors with 10 cores and 20 threads, which is what the Intel i9-7900X can offer us, for example, but you can also opt for the i9-7920X, i9-7940X, i9-7960X or i9-7980XE. It’s really just about how much you are willing to spend.

The Core i9 processors from Intel then double the amount of CPU PCIe slots, providing room for future growth.

What about AMD’s Threadripper 2950X, which will give you 16 cores and 32 threads for the same price as the i9-7900X? It’s a viable option for professional work, but when it comes to gaming, sometimes you don’t like the added latency and slower performance per core of Ryzen. Although we will carry out your analysis soon, after purchasing one to get the most out of it.

If you really want to buy a pair of RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards, try buying Intel processors. Perhaps Ryzen 2 will correct the deficiencies next year, but for now, Intel is still the best gaming mike company. It’s time to wait for the third generation of AMD Ryzen. We’ll be alert!

Motherboard: H370 Aorus Gaming 3 Wifi

8 + 2 power phases, compatibility with eighth and generation Intel Core processors, four 2666 MHz DDR4 RAM memory slots, and a maximum capacity of 64 GB in dual channel.

One of the most important advantages of this H370 motherboard, remember that it does not allow overclocking, is that it incorporates two NVMe PCI Express slots for solid-state drives. One of it brings a heatsink that will drastically lower temperatures.

If you want to upgrade to an i7 or i9 processor in the future and overclock, we recommend using the Z390 chipset. With this, we cure ourselves in health and normally they bring better components: Power phases, refrigeration, more storage connections, etc …

Another option: Gigabyte X299 Aorus Gaming 9

Getting 4.5 GHz performance across all 10 cores is great, and 4.7 GHz with good cooling is also possible. The X299 Aorus Gaming 9 motherboard also includes three M.2 slots, 802.11ac WiFi, dual Gigabit Ethernet, RGB lighting, five x16 hardened PCIe slots, and much more.

Aorus also offer multiple X299 boards at various prices, so you will have several interesting options in this category of components.

RAM memory: 16 GB Aorus DDR4 3200 MHz

RAM can often be a question mark when building a gaming PC. Should you go for the clock speed or the number of gigabytes?

While quantity can be a factor to some degree, going beyond 16GB requires very specific workloads before you can really benefit. As such, the most reasonable thing is to go after a well-known brand memory: Corsair, Kingston, G.Skill, or the new Aorus, which has extremely tight latency parameters.

Compared to the typical DDR4-2400 with CL15 latencies, the memories with speeds of + 3000 MHz already offers us a plus while we play and in high-performance work.

If you’d rather have more RAM rather than higher performance, be prepared for a much larger price increase, and the 32GB benefits are only available if you’re running workloads that need more than 16GB. Applications like Adobe Photoshop or Premiere quickly “feed” on this volatile memory.

There is no single answer to the question of speed vs. capacity, but most users will see more benefits from faster RAM, at least once we’re at the 16GB level.

RAM prices are still quite high at the moment, due to increased demand for DDR4 from both the PC industry and smartphone manufacturers.

The Aorus kit we’ve chosen is a great option, but if you’re looking to keep prices in check, downgrading to a DDR4-2666 memory isn’t something you’ll likely feel as much in performance as you imagine. On this motherboard it does not allow us to upload the memories beyond 2666 MHz, so we are wasting the extra that the Aorus offers (3200 MHz).

Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

The GTX 1050 Ti ranks in the top spots for top-tier graphics performance. Technically, the RTX Titan XP is the most powerful GPU in the world, but it comes at a very high price, so you don’t even have to consider it.

The 1080 Ti, meanwhile, is cheaper than the latter and offers a significant improvement over the GTX 1080. It is also substantially faster than anything AMD has created so far, as the Vega 64 ended up underwhelming for consumption and poor performance compared to Nvidia graphics cards.

What do you get from a GTX 1050 Ti? More than 60 fps at Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080p), and what is more important. Then there are graphics cards like the RTX 2080 or RTX 2080 Ti the card offers close to 100 fps at 1440p. Pair it with a G-Sync 1440p 144Hz display and games will glide across it with no lag insight.

A card like the 1050 Ti will also provide great value for money. Since we do not leave a kidney on the way and we can play with a monitor for 100 to 200 euros. The experience is highly recommended.

Also keep in mind when choosing a graphics card that fans typically make noise outdoors, but help vent the hot air out of the PC case. Some manufacturers offer longer warranties. But if none of those considerations are important to you, we recommend that you get the 1050 Ti that costs less, since otherwise, the different models are all very similar. Gigabyte usually offers all of these features.

If you’re looking for ways to keep the price as low as possible, the RTX 2080 Ti graphics card might seem like an extravagance, but a gaming PC in this price range just wouldn’t feel right about not having the best card available. In this PC it can be installed perfectly but the i3 processor would be a bottleneck and we should go to the i7 or i9.

The overclocking is definitely possible with any of the Ti 1050 cards, and if you want to increase the clock speed but is serial and well wrung out. Both Nvidia’s 10th Gen GTX and RTXs.

Power supply: Gigabyte P650B

When it comes to power supplies, we must take into account what type of 80 Plus certificate it incorporates, what power capacity it can withstand, how its rails, cooling, and a thousand other components are distributed. For this, we recommend that you read our guide to the best power supplies.

Let’s be honest, this power supply is not the best we can buy today, regarding quality/price. But it fully complies with what we ask of it in this team and the guys from Gigabyte have offered it to us and we are delighted. A good alternative from the company is the Aorus AP850GM, which offers great performance, but costs a lot more.

Storage: Crucial BX 240GB

The SSDs have always been more expensive than HDDs disks and may spend a decade or two before that change. However, the advent of the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol is another step beyond SATA drives, and the performance is high enough that you probably won’t need an upgrade to your main drive for many years.

The Crucial BX 240 drive offers very good sequential read speeds and writes speeds on the SATA interface (peaking). Although the 240 GB seems few, it gives us to install several games, the operating system, and our applications. It is advisable to buy another or a hard drive to save all the data.

Another option would be to choose a 500GB Evo 970 Evo as your boot drive, and then use a more powerful hard drive like the ones mentioned above for archival purposes, including games that you are not actively playing.

Enclosure: Aorus AC300W

Modularity is excellent, and good cable management with a separate PSU partition is almost necessary. Aorus AC300W is one of our favorite chassis for mounting a PC. Then there are other manufacturers who offer very good boxes at a great price. We also recommend that you look at our guides.

What screen do I choose?

It’s a little known fact that the monitor can really have a big effect on how well your gaming PC can handle games. One of the main factors that can affect the amount of demand for your graphics card is the resolution of your monitor (number of pixels on the screen, for example, 1920 x 1080).

Choosing the right monitor for gaming generally means looking for a fast refresh rate and the resolution you like to watch your games at.

If your video card has FreeSync or Gsync, try pairing them with a backup monitor. The setting at the moment is 2560×1440 resolution with 144Hz refresh rate, but these numbers are always on the rise.

If you try to play games with the highest resolution settings on your screen, this can sometimes overload your graphics card. The good news, however, is that the resolution of your monitor can be adjusted.

All monitors will have a maximum resolution, however, depending on the size of the monitor, sometimes you can choose a smaller resolution without a noticeable visual difference, but this change can make a big difference in the performance of the graphics card.

And the operating system? Windows 10 or earlier?

After spending so much time and money choosing and buying all the hardware, it’s easy to overlook the software. You will need to purchase a Windows 10 Home or PRO product key for your gaming PC if you don’t already have one.

You can buy a flash drive that has the operating system on it, or pay to download Windows 10 instead. But through Amazon and other pages, you can acquire a legal license for a very fair amount.

Mouse

There are a large number of gaming mice, so you can find a comfortable one for your hand with buttons that you can press without having to think about it. Logitech, Razer, and Corsair are great mouse makers.

There are two important factors to consider when choosing a mouse: the technology used and the number of secondary buttons.

The optical mice tend to be cheaper and offer more than enough accuracy for the needs of a player. The mice laser is more accurate and can work on any surface including glass. However, they can actually be more accurate than they need to be, detecting minor and irrelevant details that end up causing unwanted instability. Also, they are considerably more expensive than their optical counterparts.

As for secondary buttons, a standard mouse has three buttons that you are probably familiar with: a left-click, a right-click, and a clickable scroll wheel.

Gaming mice, however, can include additional buttons that can be programmed to correspond to a variety of controls, whether in or out of a game. Having these buttons programmable can be quite useful, as they allow you to run complex macros with the push of a button.

WiFi card

Unless you have Ethernet ports on your gaming PC, you will need a WiFi card to connect it to the internet.

Some motherboards come with built-in WiFi connectivity, but they might not be very good, so getting a card with an extension antenna is a good idea.

Keyboard

The keyboard is also all about comfort and feel. Many people use mechanical keys and LED lights to write in the dark.

The most important choice is whether you will have a regular membrane keyboard or a more advanced mechanical keyboard. The difference between these may be negligible or it could mean the world, but that depends on the user.

Membrane keyboards are pretty simple: a key rests on a rubber dome, and when enough force is applied to the key, the dome collapses and the key makes contact with the circuit board.

Mechanical keyboards, on the other hand, are much more complex. In this case, a key rests on top of a switch and does not need to be pushed all the way in before the mechanism is activated and the switch makes contact with the circuit board instead of the key as in a membrane keyboard. In addition, there are several types of switches, although MX Cherry is the most popular.

And do I need a Joysticks?

A lot of games are made for consoles first and only transferred to PC afterward. Because of this, it is not uncommon to see games that are poorly optimized for keyboard and mouse controls. But even if that’s not the case, some games are simply more fun to play with a joystick.

The best joysticks available right now are the Sony DualShock 4 and the Microsoft Xbox One Controller, although there are other options as well.

Final words and conclusion about how to assemble a computer

There has never been a better time to be a PC gamer. The gaming scene is vibrant – the graphical powerhouses that power games are best viewed on the PC, and it’s a must-see for indie developers creating innovative and creative games. Although some very expensive DDR4 memories during this year 2019, you do not feel like doing a migration if your computer has a while.

Ah! Another thing was missing, this PC that you have seen in images and that we have used to make this article we are going to raffle with the Aorus guys. I recommend that you pay attention to social networks because it will be done shortly. Good luck!