Hello, everyone. Welcome to this blog post where we will cover all the basics on picking the main parts for a PC.
Picking parts for a PC is a pretty interesting job since it’s all about picking what is the right part for your specific needs since you want your PC to be the best. So, we will cover up all you need to know about, from the CPU to the GPU. Let’s get started.
First, let’s go with the brain of your PC and a very important part: the CPU. Here we have two choices: Intel Core i and AMD Ryzen. It’s very important to know whether you want your PC for creative purposes or gaming purposes since Intel packs up a higher clock speed than AMD, so that makes it better for gaming because it gets the best FPS on games. For creative purposes, you want to go for AMD since they run a 7nm technology compared to Intel’s 14nm technology. They also pack up hyper-threading, which makes them the best for creative things like video and photo editing. For Intel, you want to take a look at 10th gen Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 and for AMD go check out 3rd gen Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7, and Ryzen 9. If you are looking for a bang for the buck CPU for your PC, go check out the Ryzen 5 3600XT which is a great all-rounder and goes for a really good price.
After the CPU we need a motherboard, which is rather easy to pick. I advise you to go for a motherboard of any of these brands: Asus, MSI, or Gigabyte. If you get an Intel CPU, look for Z490 chipset motherboards. For AMD, look for X570 chipset if you are aiming for the best type of AMD motherboard, normally used for overclocking and heavy workloads, or look for a B550 chipset if you want the best bang for the buck motherboards. Also take a look at the motherboard size, since they come in different sizes the most popular ones being ATX, Micro ATX, and Mini ITX, with the latter being the smaller sized one and ATX being the most common sized one.
We then need a CPU cooler which comes in 2 types: Air or Water cooling. Something important to note is that all Ryzen CPUs come with an air CPU cooler, while Intel only offers stock CPU coolers on certain models. So if you buy an AMD CPU you might not need to buy one. My recommendation is for you to get any coolers from these brands: Noctua, be quiet!, NZXT or Corsair. If you have a high-end CPU, look more into Water coolers.
Next up is RAM. My only advice here is to get at least 16GB of it, either you want to game or create content and buy all RAM in pairs or fours all being the same model. This will save you any kind of trouble with incompatibilities with different brands or speeds. Brands to look into are Kingston, Corsair, Thermaltake, and G.Skill.
Now for storage. We have 3 different options: HDD, SATA SSD, and M.2 SSD, with the latter being the fastest. My advice would be to get and HDD (which normally has a bigger memory size than the other 2 types) to store games, programs, etc. and get an M.2 SSD (faster and newer) or a SATA SSD (cheaper but still faster than HDD) to install Windows and also important programs so your system boots faster and runs faster. For PCs with creative purposes, try to get only SSDs. This will make your renders faster and storing files easier. For brands, look for Seagate, Western Digital, Sabrent, and Samsung.
On to the PSU, which is simple to choose. There are different PSU certifications: 80 PLUS Bronze, 80 PLUS Silver, 80 PLUS Gold, 80 PLUS Platinum, and 80 PLUS Titanium. My recommendation is to never go for an uncertified PSU since this could harm the rest of your hardware. Try always to aim for a Gold which is the best all-rounder, and check the power consumption of your hardware to know the number of watts you need. If you are not certain, just get an 800W unit. This amount covers most PCs unless you are building a very high-end system. Brands to take a look at are: Thermaltake, Corsair, EVGA, and Seasonic.
And finally my favorite PC part. The GPU or Graphics card. Here we have only one dominant brand which is: Nvidia with its GeForce graphics cards. For the hardcore gamers, check out Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2000 series. RTX 2060, 2070, and 2080 are the way to go if you are looking to get the most FPS at the highest visual quality with the 2080s being the most expensive ones but also the best of the best. For my recommendation, grab 2060 if you want to play the newest games with good FPS and great qualities at 1080p, good 1440p, and decent 4k. Get a 2070 Super for high FPS with excellent qualities at 1080p, great 1440p, and good 4k. Get 2080 if you are looking for the best of the best 1080p and 1440p, with great 4k. And finally, if you are all in, go for the 2080ti for the best of the best in everything. If you only want decent gaming, and you are more interested in games running rather than high qualities, go for an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 or 1660 with 1660 being the best of the two. This 1650 and 1660 also apply if you are looking to build a PC for creative purposes. For brands look into Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, EVGA, and Zotac.
