When you finally get started building a PC, you'll naturally ask your friends, family, or community members online for advice. While people are happy to offer best practices, parts recommendations, and PC building mistakes to avoid, rarely does anyone point out the unspoken things about PC building.
This can range from new PC builders' ideas about what makes a “good PC” to some of the more overwhelming aspects of building a PC. Let's dig deeper into each of these things that people don't usually tell you before you build your first PC.
5 You don't need the best hardware
Buy what suits you
As a newbie building a PC for the first time, you probably have some preconceived notions about PC hardware. All the marketing and community discussions surrounding PC components may have convinced you that if you don't buy the absolute best parts, your PC will be bad or soon become obsolete.
If you are only interested in e-sports and relatively simple games, even a cheap gaming PC will be perfectly sufficient.
However, this couldn't be further from the truth. Not everyone needs to have flagship or even high-end components in their system. Mid-range hardware is probably ideal for many PC users. Interestingly, even a budget gaming PC will be perfectly sufficient if you're only interested in esports and relatively basic titles.
Even though PC building has become much more expensive than it used to be, it is still possible to build a great budget system for around $700-$800.
4 Cable management is not as easy as it looks
No one wants to do it
Anyone will tell you that perfect cable management is important for both airflow and later diagnostics. What they don't tell you is that it's not as simple as routing the cables correctly and tying them in the right places. When you first start doing this, you'll be rightfully horrified by the number of cables in your case at the end of a build, especially behind your motherboard.
Maybe you've just had enough of it, clamp everything against the side wall and call it a day.
Even if you have a PC case with the best cable management features, you'll need to get a little creative to get it right. You'll need to watch at least a few in-depth tutorials and spend a lot of time tidying everything up. You might just get fed up with it, clamp everything against the side panel and give up.
Cable management cannot be perfected on the first try and it is OK to do a sloppy job on the first build. As long as you do not place undue stress on any cable, you will be fine. Just do your best and do better next time.
3 Your first build will be stressful
This is just the rite of passage
PC builders don't like to tell newbies that building a PC is stressful, but for a beginner, it definitely is. No matter how many tutorials you watch or how detailed your research is, when it comes to working with components you bought with your own money, you're bound to get a little nervous. If nothing else, the process will take a lot longer than you'd expect.
In some cases, parts such as case fans or radiators may not be installed correctly even though you are absolutely sure that they are compatible with the case.
Until the build is complete, you'll probably be afraid of making a mistake or damaging a part or two. Installing an AIO liquid cooler or your motherboard's standoffs will have you going back and forth between the build and the manuals. Finding the right PSU connectors will take you several tries, and you might even forget to connect some important cables.
Many components and connectors require more pressure than you'd like to apply when installing them. In some cases, you may not be able to install parts like case fans or radiators properly even though you're absolutely sure they're compatible with the case. The front panel connectors on some cases will really annoy you, and eventually you may forget that you need another PC to prepare an operating system installation drive.
2 You have to fix (a lot of) errors
A successful build doesn't mean it's over
Even if your new PC successfully turns on and you boot into the desktop, some things may not work properly right away. You may open Task Manager and find that your RAM frequency is not what it should be. This means you need to go into BIOS/UEFI to enable XMP/EXPO. After enabling the correct XMP/EXPO settings, your PC may not boot.
You may have RAM that is not included in your motherboard's QVL or is not supported by your CPU's IMC.
Not every memory kit is compatible with every motherboard or processor, so you could end up with RAM that's not on your motherboard's QVL (Qualified Vendor List) or isn't supported by your CPU's IMC (Integrated Memory Controller). Plus, you could forget to initialize your SSD so your PC can recognize it.
Your CPU and case fans might be running at full speed, in which case you need to go into the fan settings in your BIOS/UEFI and switch them from DC to PWM mode. In the worst case scenario, your system will keep crashing due to excessive overheating, especially if you are using a modern 13th/14th Gen Intel CPU or Ryzen 7000/9000. This could simply be due to an improperly seated CPU cooler, so you will need to remove and reinstall it.
1 You can't prepare for everything
Remember this and you will be more relaxed
Even if you avoid the most common mistakes and do everything right, you can't prepare for every eventuality. The only surefire way to do this is to be mentally prepared for surprises – you could get unlucky and get a DOA component, you could lose the silicon lottery and get a substandard chip, or your PC could simply not turn on.
You may even find yourself in a situation where your CPU can only be protected from overheating by replacing the thermal paste.
In other cases, you may get a motherboard that hasn't had its BIOS updated to work with your latest processor. And you might even run into a situation where the only way to stop your CPU from overheating is to replace the thermal paste. This kind of thing might not happen to everyone, but you should be prepared for the worst. This way, you won't panic and you'll be able to think clearly when diagnosing the problem.
Be open-minded before building your first PC
Building your first PC can be endlessly fun and a great learning experience, even if you encounter a few problems along the way. So it's best to go into it with an open mind, do your research, ask as many questions as you can, and be prepared to make mistakes. If you're careful and take instructions seriously, you'll rarely break anything.