Building a Proper Gaming PC: Part 0 - Introduction and Theory

For a long time, like many other hapless gamer souls, I made the all too common choice of buying pre-made computers to enjoy my video games upon, not knowing any better. But with age, comes wisdom, and the last few years I have taken to building my own PCs, piece by piece, and it has truly opened my eyes to the beauty of DIY Computers. The value of pricing and buying components separately can easily allow you to buy an extremely powerful system for much less that you think. All those other gamers, running your favorite games on maxed settings, while you are barely pulling 20 fps (Frames per Second) on medium settings on your computer? More likely than not, they have built their computers themselves. Yes, you can absolutely drop 1000-1500$ on a pre-built computer and run decent settings on any game you are likely to come across, You would probably get a decent frame rate as well. But that same computer (or better) can be built for about 50-75% of the price!

If you're wondering why pre-built computers so expensive, and why people continue to buy computers this way? If DIY computer building is really so amazing and innovative and value-worthy, why isn't this much more common?

What you can't see on-screen is the twenty thousand screws pulled from this rig, 

This is Frankenstein, my first fully DIY built computer from about 3 years back. I took it apart for you to make a point - Computers are intimidating. Components are dense and intricate, with dozens different wires, just as many screws and plugs, and they all look like they would break if you just touched them wrong. This is what tends to lead people astray from custom building. But fear not! In truth, computers are so intuitive nowadays, that the most novice of enthusiasts and hobbyists can easily build a PC without much worry.

That is part of what I am hoping to teach with these sessions: I want to dispel rumors that PC building is only for experts, and that you have to have a PHD to set up a smooth, high-performing, and great value PC without having to resort to buying a fully built one. I want to show you that anyone can be successful in building a PC of their very own, and maybe even have some fun along the way.

I would like to impart some of that knowledge to you all in a multi-part series, that will ride along with my normally scheduled WASD posts about gaming and computers. In this series, not only will I talk about the advantages (and pitfalls) of building your own custom PC, I will be building one myself alongside the posts! In this, you will not only get to here theory, instruction and opinion about building a reasonably priced and powerful PC, you will get to see one built in the process, outlining each step, success and mistake I make along the way! I will include parts, instructions and my commentary on why I have made each decision. I will do top-level summary, as well as get into the nitty gritty, so any skill level; novice, intermediate or expert, will get the same amount of respect in each post! I implore you to ask questions to me, follow me on Twitter, Facebook (Implemented Later) or E-mail. I will try to speak as layman as possible, but feel free to ask any questions about terminology.

A number of components pictured here, in which we will discuss in great detail

But let's take a quick step back from all of this for a second, and think to yourself, what you want to get out of this series:

Do you want to play the best games at the best settings?
Do you want to learn what the components of a PC really are, and what each one actually does?
Do you want step-by-step tutorials on installing and use of computer components?
Do you want discussion and opinion on the best value, performance and preferred technology out in the world today?
Do you want to get over your fear of building a PC of your very own?

Well, this mini-series is for you.

There will be intricate guides, video supplemental and walkthroughs, widely opinionated (but hopefully grounded) discussion on the best way to build a PC, and a retroactively updating project log of me building a brand new custom built PC, so you all can see the finished product, the components I used, the statistics and the pricing!

Our first segment will be starting ASAP, hopefully this week, if time permits, and it will cover all of the prep work we need to complete before we even LOOK at a computer component. There will be quite a lot of prep and  I want to make sure you are prepared for the tasks to come. I will 'assign' out basic tasks at the end of each segment for anyone who truly wants to follow along with me as I build my computer,

Today's Assignment: Budgeting: How much do you want to spend on building a PC. Don't think about the component's cost yet, just come up with a roundabout figure of how much total you are willing to spend - or anticipate to spend on building a PC. Do not research into any prices online, or starting piecing out components yet, we still have a bit of prep work to do, as well as determining what kind of PC we want to build and where to invest our money to make the best value.