How To Build A Gaming PC in 2023: (Ultimate Guide)

For the latest graphics-intensive games, obviously, you need a gaming PC that can handle them like a boss. Whereas, you have two different options to go with which are prebuilds and deciding to build a gaming PC. Now the real question is, which option is worth investing in, Prebuild or custom? The answer isn’t straightforward because you must first understand a few things.

Speaking of the prebuild gaming rigs, the chances are that you’ll get a desktop under your decided budget and it’ll for sure handle your favorite games easily. This is the option that you should go for if you don’t know anything about building a rig on your own because of the lack of knowledge. Not the best option but it’ll save you lots of energy and time. However, it’s not the best decision you should make only because you don’t know much about gaming computers. Whereas when it comes to assembling a rig on your own, there’s no better option than this as here you decide on the hardware components on your own that fit your needs and wants.

Even if you never built a gaming PC, no worries as I am right here to help you with the components that you need to choose and the building process in the easiest way possible.

Note: On the other hand, if you can’t handle the hassle at any cost, go for the prebuilt gaming PCs and prebuilt budget gaming PC options which will sit perfectly with your expectations.

Just a quick overview of what I am going to help you with:

Deciding the budget for entry-level, medium-level, and higher-level rigs.
Choosing the finest hardware components that will fit your budget and give you the performance of your dreams
Importance of PC components and why you need the best of them for gaming
Performing the exact process of building a gaming rig with the right tools.

Things To Consider Before Building A Gaming PC

When it comes to a custom build, you always need to look into your needs and wants according to your budget and after reading this, I am pretty much sure that you’ll know exactly what you need to do, whether to go for a prebuild or assemble a gaming PC on your own. Moreover, you must be clear about your goal which is, of course, picking one of the builds that starts from an entry level and ends at a higher-level build. The choice is yours. Nonetheless, your own build is going to be slightly better in performance than a prebuilt rig.

Decide Your Build On The Basis Of Your Budget

Setting up your budget is the priority here as this is the only step that is going to decide exactly how powerful your gaming PC build is going to be. Whereas, the prices depend purely on your expectations from a gaming PC and have a wider range, starting from $400 and it goes above the $1000 range. This means that as your budget increases, the gaming PC that you’re about build will be powerful and a perfect beast for the latest AAA titles and other game genres. Here’s an overview of each build that is going to give you an idea to decide to pick a budget and move forward with other steps.

PC Level	Budget
Entry-Level	$400 – $600
Mid-Level	$600-$800
Higher-Level	$1000+

Edit Table

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Note: Please remember that the decided budget does not include the necessary peripherals for gaming like a mouse, keyboard, and monitor. You need to consider investing extra in these peripherals.

Entry-Level Gaming PC Build

In a $400-$500 budget, you’ll have a PC that will run most of the eSports games but you can’t expect it to run the AAA titles like God Of War, Far cry, Cyberpunk 2077, etc. Whereas, the old titles are supported by this build and can run smoothly here in low settings. However, you also need to understand that building an entry-level gaming desktop also limits the number of oldest graphics-intensive games that you can play on this rig.

Moreover, a little more investment of $100 in a graphics card or CPU can make lots of difference in an entry-level gaming PC. For $600, you’ll build a rig that will beat the consoles, with the possibility of playing some of the graphics-demanding AAA titles in low settings.

It can be a better PC for you if you can resist your gaming cravings anyway. However, I’ll strongly recommend holding your horses and waiting for a little more money to come in, and then I suggest proceeding to build a better gaming PC that will give you a much better performance than this one.

Mid-Level Gaming PC Build

If you have a goal of achieving 1080P gaming, a minimum of $600-$800 budget is more than enough for you. This build will also allow you to have a VR gaming experience. On top of that, this rig can also drive 140+ FPS for most modern titles.

Moreover, in case you used the AMD processor on this $800 build, it’ll also give you the multi-threading feature alongside the other ones. Whereas, you have versatile options of games here that can be played on a gaming PC built like this. All in all, this one is way better than the entry-level build that I talked about earlier.

High-Level Gaming PC Build

Now comes the complete beast with powerful hardware components that can run any title smoothly at 1440P settings and it’ll cost you only $1000. This means that things are way beyond simple gaming and you will get what you have always dreamed of.

Moreover, if you invest more in this rig, the performance will get much better and you can take your gaming experience to a whole new level. Let’s say, you have added the latest graphics card from AMD or Nvidia, a processor from intel that can crush any title like a beast, a little more addition of memory can make this build a game-changer. This means that 2k gaming with the right drive of your desired FPS and things are never going to be the same for you.

Now you know that building the cheapest gaming rig can cost you $400 and it can go up to more than $1000 for a super-powerful gaming PC where you’ll be able to play games in 4k resolutions without a single lag.

How Much You Should Spend On A Gaming PC?

Leaving your hard-earned money on the table for an expensive PC isn’t always the best option as most of the rigs lose value because of the new evolutionary changes in components. For $600, you’ll get a PC that is to some extent acceptable but not recommended by us. However, to get the most out of your budget, getting a $1000-$1200 gaming desktop is a good start to stretch out the 4k gaming. Later on, as the new hardware components are released, you can proceed with upgrading your rig to take your gaming experience to a whole new level. Investing too much in your rig at the beginning is not good rather go slow with the building process.

This means that no one can afford a gaming PC that will be outdated in just a couple of years. A smart investment in a gaming PC is much better rather than going for the powerful hardware components at once just because you think that the more money you put into a gaming rig, the better the performance will be(Not denying it but if things can be done in $1200, why waste money).

Is it worth building a PC for gaming? (Build A PC VS Prebuilt)

Now that you know exactly the budget for your next gaming PC build, here comes another query that most of you always ask about. Building your own PC is good in terms of the satisfaction the assembling the parts and doing everything to get a perfect rig. Whereas, a prebuild is for a person who is not tech-savvy. Shortly enough, let’s discuss the pros and cons of both options.

Prebuilt

One of the benefits that come with the prebuilt PC is that you don’t need to build or assemble anything and go straight away for playing games. However, you might not get what you actually want and rather receive a rig that has very few customizable options. It doesn’t mean that the prebuilt rig is not powerful, of course, it’ll be according to your expectation and yes, it’s also expensive.

Whereas, make sure that you have the option of upgrading the PC in the future because putting too much money into a gaming PC isn’t worth it if you can’t upgrade it.

The reason why you should go for a prebuilt is that some of you might not be tech experts and don’t know how to build a gaming PC. This means that you might make some mistakes that will ruin everything for you although you’ll be thinking that you’re doing everything perfectly.

Let’s say, you bought the hardware components and now it’s time to assemble a gaming PC, you made a slight mistake and damaged one of the hardware components. It will result in the wastage of a big portion of your budget and you’re going to need another component for your gaming desktop to keep things going. Moreover, when it comes to prebuilt gaming PCs, they come assembled straight out of the box and you’re going to have some quick gameplay as compared to waiting for building your custom gaming PC.

Self-built Gaming PC

Ever felt like you have self-accomplished something? That’s the feeling that comes with building your own gaming PC as everything during the process is done by you. This means that you’re the one who decides the hardware components and even the PC case for better aesthetics.

Although, you also need to know the process and your main goal must be to complete the gaming PC no matter what hurdles you face. For that, you must be tech-savvy and be able to pick the right part required for a powerful gaming desktop that can handle the latest graphics-demanding titles.

Whereas, in comparison to prebuilds, it’s always recommended to go for a custom PC of your own because it’s not expensive and you have plenty of options to choose from. Later on, you can also upgrade the PC because you’re the one who built it and knows what to do next.

Note: If you don’t know how to build a gaming PC, you must hire a tech-pro to get the job done for you but keep in mind that you’ll have to pay for his services. The con of it is that you’ll always have to go to that tech-savvy to fix things for you and you always have to pay him and I am not in favor of that.

Is it hard to build your own gaming PC?

In a simple one-word answer, No, it’s not hard but rather Most of the newbies are confused about choosing the right parts for their build which isn’t hard too. You can find help from the experts on the internet and there are also some good articles like this one specifically written to help you build a gaming PC and choose the right hardware components. You don’t even need to approach a person with a better understanding of gaming PCs and let him build it for you.

What tools are needed to build a PC?

The right components are the essential part of the process and without them, you’re not able to build a gaming rig. I am going to list them in a bit and if you already have them, you’re good to go, if not please make sure you get them from any of the online stores before starting the building process.

Workstation.
Phillips screwdriver.
Antistatic Gloves.
Isopropyl alcohol.
Thermal paste.
Paper towel.
cable ties.

Workstation

First things first, you need a clean place with a flat surface to start the building process. it’s not necessary to have a full-fledged setup but rather a place where have peace of mind and you can focus better on building your gaming PC.

One thing you need to make sure of is that you install lots of lighting in the room in order to have a better vision of everything during the process. On the other hand, if you have an anti-static mat at home, grab it and lay it down in your workstation in order to prevent your sensitive hardware components from any damage as a result of electrostatic discharge release. Other than that, you’re a good go.

Screwdriver

A screwdriver is a tool that is going to be your most used companion throughout the PC building process. it’s strongly recommended to keep different screwdrivers of different shapes, sizes, and types as you’ll need them when building a rig.

The right screwdriver that matches the screw will help you assemble the attached parts on your gaming PC build perfectly and using the wrong ones can mess up things that you might not know. Later on, you’ll face issues that will cause some serious damage to your PC. Whereas, the screwdriver can damage the head of the screw which will result in facing problems unscrewing the screw later on. Using the Phillips screwdriver is going to be more convenient here and it’s highly recommended.

Antistatic Gloves

The electrostatic charges released from the body can be real damage to the sensitive hardware parts. To prevent them, wearing Antistatic Gloves is an important step to perform before starting to build a gaming desktop. You can’t risk anything just because you want to use bare hands to build your PC or maybe you’ll end up losing an important component just because of a stupid mistake.

Thermal paste

Thermal paste has a crucial part when installing the CPU alongside the fans because it prevents them from heating up and any damage. The best part is that, if you’re planning to install the cooling system on the rig, they already come with the Thermal paste and you don’t even need to apply the thermal paste in this case. Other than that, you must have it before going through the process of installing the CPU.

What do you need to build a PC?

There are many things that are required to build a gaming PC that starting from deciding the budget that I have already explained at the beginning of the article and ending with choosing the right components. On the other hand, you need to make sure to pick the parts that are compatible with each other in order to take your build to a running position. Whereas, the CPU bottlenecking the other hardware components is essential.

Things get technical when it comes to choosing the actual parts because this is the phase where our actual building process is going to start and you can’t do anything wrong here. Whereas, you also need to understand the actual purpose of each component in the computer, and building a PC will be hassle-free for you. That being said, the actual components that we are going to use are listed below and I’ll explain them in a bit for you.

Essential Components To Build A PC

Processor (CPU)
Memory (RAM)
Storage (SSD or HDD)
Motherboard (MOBO)
Power Supply Unit (PSU)
Graphic Card (GPU)
PC Case

It might be possible that you don’t have a screwdriver on you at this very time. If this is the case, you need one from here. Without it, you can’t proceed with building a gaming PC.

Understanding The Components

CPU: A processor is a part that is responsible for executing the instructions that are given to it by the operating system that might be living in the RAM(memory). Usually, it’s called the brain of a computer that is responsible for 40% of the job.

GPU: Graphics card doesn’t need an introduction anymore as you may know the component by now but let me explain it anyway. It’s the component that is responsible for handling the graphics-related tasks and a faster GPU is necessary for higher-level games.

RAM: I’ll always call it the mind of a computer because I have no other word to explain it. The main purpose of RAM is to load temporary data from the storage component and pass it to a CPU.

Storage: There are two well-known types of storage in a computer these days which include HDD and SSD. The main purpose of the storage component in a computer is to save all your data that can be of any type.

PSU: The power supply is responsible for distributing power among all the hardware components inside a computer in an organized and well-mannered way.

Motherboard: A motherboard is mainly designed for installing all the other hardware components with all the necessary ports for CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, etc.

PC Case: It’s actually the part that covers up a whole system and gives it proper form. You can call it the chassis, tower, housing, or enclosure of your entire computer.

Finally, Let’s Build A Gaming PC

I’ll be discussing all the hardware components for each budget here and it’s highly recommended to follow the guide properly which will help you understand things, leading you to make a wiser decision.

Step 1:First thing first, Put on your Antistatic strap and start by preparing your PC case by making sure that everything on the inside is alright to identify the different portions of the components where they must go. You can use the manual that comes with the PC case to help you out with the processor. Don’t Install the motherboard as long as you haven’t plugged in the parts first.

1. Motherboard

The motherboard is the main part without which no other component can survive. It’s responsible for plugging in all the components thaT we have inside a PC including the processor, graphics card, RAM, and storage alongside the other parts. When it comes to building a gaming PC, there are different motherboards for certain budgets. For a 600-1000 gaming PC, if it’s intel-based, you can use the ASRock H410M motherboard and it’s only compatible with Intel-based systems. Whereas, you can’t use the AMD processor on an H410M MOBO. For an AMD-based $600-$1000 system, the ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 is the one you need to use. Whereas, for a higher-end gaming PC, the GAMING X570-PLUS is the best option that you can get for your AMD PC and MSI PRO Z690-A for your intel desktop.

Step 2:Install the processor first in the AM4 socket or the intel ports, depending on which processor and motherboard you have picked. Intel has its own MOBOs and AMDs have its own.

2. Processor

When it comes to a CPU, there are two options that you have which are CPUs either from Intel or AMD. The choice is yours but you need you can’t just go out there and get a random processor from any of these companies. There are specific CPUs for specific budgets. For a $600 rig, the latest Intel Core i3-10100F is the option that you should always go for. Whereas, for under $1000 PC, Core i5-11400F is the best choice you should make. You can go higher on the basis of your performance requirements but these two can squeeze out most of the jobs in this budget range in an Intel-based system.

Speaking of AMD, same they also have a variety of CPUs based on the gaming PC budget. AMD’s Ryzen 7 5700G is popular among the $600 systems and Ryzen 5 3600 is mostly used for a $1000 gaming rig.

Step 3: Install the RAM by pushing it down the socket so that the clips on the socket are placed in the actual position that they are supposed to be. You’ll hear a sound once it’s done.

3. RAM

The TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB is the RAM that is mostly used in almost all gaming rigs. All you need to do is to increase the memory capacity and you’re good to go. Let’s say, you’re building a PC for $600 bucks, you can use the 16GB memory and for a $1000 rig, 32GB is the ideal memory that will enhance your gaming experience in 1440P resolutions. Whereas, I won’t recommend a higher memory than 32GB for a rig that exceeds the budget of $1000 as it’s more than enough for gaming and you don’t want to waste your budget on unnecessary stuff.

Step 4: Powering up the storage isn’t hard, as you need to just plug it into the motherboard and that’s it, you have everything in hand. Make sure you install the storage properly as later on, you may face some issues.

4. Storage

The storage capacity actually depends on your gaming needs. If you plan to store only a few graphics complex titles on your system, I would recommend using the capacity of 256GB. Otherwise, go for 1TB or 2TB which will allow you to store lots of data including games, media files, documents, and programs. etc. Whereas, there are two types of storage components that are popular these days which are HDDs and SSDs. I would always go for an SSD when it comes to gaming as it’s faster than the HDD. However, you can also use the hybrid form of them on a higher-end gaming PC. Install a 256GB SSD alongside a 1TB HDD both at the same time. Make sure you install the windows on the SSD to take the performance to a whole new level and utilize the HDD for data storage.

Step 5: Now install all other components including the graphics card and Power Supply and double check all the components if they are attached to the motherboard properly.

5. Graphics Card

When it comes to a graphics card, you should not compromise on this part as it’s the only component that decides your graphics experience for your favorite AAA titles. For a high-end PC, the Radeon RX 6600 XT is the best choice, of course, you can go higher than this to GPUs like RTX 3070, and RTX 3080 but they are pretty much expensive. For a 1440P experience, RX 6600 XT is the best choice and the RTX 3070 can squeeze the most out of your games in 4k resolutions. For lower-end PCs, XFX RX 6500 XT is the one your stick to if you want to enjoy playing games in 1080P settings.

6. Power Supply

By now you know what is the purpose of a PSU inside a computer which I won’t be discussing any further. Instead, let’s get to the PSUs that you can use inside your build which includes the EVGA BQ 80+ Bronze 500W and it’s commonly used inside a 1080P gaming system, and the EVGA 650W power supply, which is found on high-end computers. Whereas, the PSU is actually dependent on other hardware components’ power consumption. If, you picked the components that are more power-hungry, using a powerful power supply inside such a desktop is highly recommended.

7. PC Case

There is a variety of different PC cases, now, it depends on your taste to decide which one to use for your build. If your goal is to go for a decent-looking rig, the Zalman S2 will pretty much perfectly with your expectations. Whereas, the Bears b-Voguish Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower is the one that is fancier than the previous one that I mentioned. However, if none of these matches your taste, you can choose from the best PC Cases that can have a variety of options.

Step 6: Now comes the time for mounting the motherboard on the PC case where you need to place all the components inside the PC case and this is the place where you’re going the need your screwdriver the most. Watch a proper video on how to build a gaming PC down below if things aren’t getting clear to you here.

Also read: Best Gaming PCs

Conclusion

So there you have it, this is how you build a gaming PC which might be a little complicated at the beginning but as you start building your rig, things get interesting. Make sure that you do exactly what the PCWIRE247 team has done here and I’ll highly recommend starting building the PC on your own instead of just paying a tech guy. Of course, you may end up making some mistakes at the beginning but over time you’ll learn how to assemble parts on a PC. It’s good for you because the next time when you attempt to build a rig, you won’t hesitate and your building process will be smooth. That’s it from PCWIRE247 on how to build a gaming PC, it’s your turn now to let us know what you think about this content.

How To Build A Gaming PC in 2023: (Ultimate Guide)

Things To Consider Before Building A Gaming PC