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Step by step guide to building your gaming PC

Step by step guide to building your gaming PC

Many of us want to get into the PCMR. Those high framerates, maximum graphical fidelity, mods and the ability to record and stream games at the same time is something every gamer wants to do. But as we know, pre-built PCs are expensive and with system integrators throwing in a massive premium for building the PC and adding in their own bloatware many are skeptical of buying a prebuilt PC. It’s because of this that quite a few people might want to look into building their own computer themselves. So let’s help you build your own gaming PC.

Precautions:

Right off the bat, it’s very difficult to mess up building a computer. As long as you don’t bend any pins during the installation process of the CPU, you should be fine. Another thing to know is that electronic components are sensitive to static discharge. Make sure to ground yourself before building the computer. This can be done by taking off all footwear including socks(go barefoot) and staying away from carpet or anything that may build up static electricity(sweaters). Ground yourself by touching anything metal that’s connected to the ground wire on a plug point. Plug it in and touch it. You can get an anti static bracelet for extra precaution, but you should be fine without it as long as you follow the above mentioned steps.

Getting the right parts:

To build a computer, getting the right parts is necessary. pcpartpicker.com is an amazing site to look for compatible parts. The prices aren’t usually very accurate in India but it should give you a decent understanding of what parts to get and what is compatible with what. For part recommendations, I’d suggest check out our guide on picking parts for your gaming PC. It will get you a better understanding of the components and their pricing. Order parts only after cross referencing every site. Newegg is a good site to get PC parts, if in the US. For India, I would recommend Amazon, but their prices tend to be slightly higher. You should also check with local vendors.

Also, if you are from Delhi, you can visit Nehru Place and if you’re Mumbai, you can visit Lamington Road. The shops will offer you better pricing, but you should also stay aware of scammers.

A general rule of thumb is that if the price is too high or too low, you should stay away from such dealers as there’s a risk of a potential fraud/scam.

Now to the final part, putting the components together i.e. actually building the PC.

Building the PC:

This build guide is mainly for an AMD system, but if you’ve gone Intel, then worry not, for the general way to go is basically the same after the installation of the CPU. Make sure you have a build guide video open on the side, preferably from a reputable source like Linus Tech Tips or JayzTwoCents. If that’s not possible, watch a bunch of them before building the computer.

To start off, I’d suggest taking the motherboard out of the box and promptly putting it on the box it came from. The box is usually cardboard, which means that it’s non conductive and can act as a makeshift soft table.

Step 1:

For the CPU(AMD), first list up the retention arm on the motherboard GENTLY. After doing this,  line the triangle at a corner of the CPU with the triangle given on the CPU slot of the motherboard. The CPU should just drop in. Make sure no pins are bent. If it doesn’t drop in, take it out gently and realign.

Locking the socket’s retention arm (Source: eteknix.com)

Once this is done, put the retention arm back where it was and congratulate yourself for completing the hardest part of the build. 

Step 2:

As for the RAM, if you’ve gone with 2 sticks as we recommended, make sure you check your motherboard manual to see which slots they go into first. On the majority of motherboards, the ram goes into slots 2 and 4 from the CPU to get dual channel working. Why 2 and 4 instead of 1 and 2 or 3 and 4? I honestly don’t know, but it is as it is for a reason, so just follow it.

Make sure to pull back the retention clips on the ram slots before installing the RAM.

Pulling back the retention clips (Source: ifitjams.com)

Also while installing, make sure to push on both sides of the ram stick with two fingers when pushing it in as to apply even pressure. The stick should make an audible CLICK sound when it’s installed properly.

Installing the RAM stick (Source: ifitjams.com)

Step 3:

As for the SSD, if you’ve gone with an M.2 non-NVME SSD, plug it into the M.2 slot on the board and screw it down with the screws that came included with the motherboard.  The screws are pretty small so I’d suggest going with a magnetic screwdriver.

Before we talk about installing the SSD, it is important to know what type of SSD you have. In case you don’t know which one you have, refer the below image and you’ll find out the type of your SSD drive.

Pin differentiation of SATA M.2 & NVME M.2 SSDs (Source: blogs.umass.edu)

If you’ve got an NVME SSD, then go ahead and plug it into the NVME SSD slot on the motherboard. This slot looks identical to the m.2 slot and usually has some sort of marking on it to indicate that it is for NVME SSDs. Some manufacturers write ULTRA M.2 where the NVME SSD is supposed to go.

A SATA M.2 cannot go into the NVME M.2 slot. If you’ve got a 2.5 inch or SATA SSD, then connect the SSD to the SATA ports on the motherboard and the SATA cables on the Power Supply. This SSD can be mounted onto the case later, where SSD mounts are provided. Or let it just flop around in the case. SSDs don’t have any moving parts so they can just sort of lay around. But for better life & aesthetic purposes, mount it.

For installing the HDD, you just have to plug in the SATA cables into the SATA ports on the HDD & connect the power pins.

Plugging SATA cable into the drive (Source: alphr.com)
Plugging SATA cable into the motherboard (Source: alphr.com)

Also, you have to mount the HDD into the mount tray.

Inserting HDD into the drive bay (Source: alphr.com)

Step 4:

Most AMD CPUs(except the 3rd gen XT series and the 5800x and above) come with a system fan included in the box. If your CPU doesn’t come with one, you’ll have to buy it separately. We recommend to replace the stock cooler if your CPU is from Intel, as Intel stock coolers are ineffective and the build quality is isn’t that good.

Mounting the cooler should be pretty easy. First off, take out the plastic adapters on the board and use the backplate of your motherboard to mount the cooler. The adapters are useful when mounting a different cooler if you want to upgrade in the future. If you also bought thermal paste or had to buy it because your aftermarket cooler doesn’t come with it, then apply it in an “X” pattern. After doing this, if your cooler already had thermal paste, then use isopropyl alcohol to wipe it off clean and then put the cooler on top of your CPU. The pressure from mounting the cooler should spread the thermal paste evenly across the surface of the die.

Installing the AMD Stock Cooler (Source: HardOCP TV)

Screw in the cooler going 2 rotations on each corner at a time, as going in completely tight on each side risks damaging the motherboard. Repeat until every screw is tight. Now that this is done, plug the fan cable into the system fan 1 pins on your motherboard or whatever your motherboard manual recommends. If the cooler has RGB, then plug it into the RGB header as well. With that, the cooler should be mounted and installed. Case fans also plug into the motherboard.

Step 5:

P.O.S.T(Power on self test) .This isn’t a completely necessary step but it’s a nice thing to do. Plug in the graphics card into the port nearest to your CPU, which is the PCIE x16 slot. After doing this, if it requires more power, then plug your power supply into the gpu as well. The cables on the power supply should read PCIE power. Plug the rest of the cables into the motherboard and turn the power supply on. The next step is to take a screwdriver and locate the power pins on your motherboard. These are what cause the computer to turn on and off. Connect a cable from the GPU to your monitor and short those pins by touching them with the screwdriver. If you’ve done everything correctly upto this point, nothing should appear on screen because your monitor isn’t turned on. Turn the monitor on and you should hopefully see the BIOS screen of your motherboard brand.

POST Screen (Source: en.wikipedia.org)

You may take another break. If this does not happen, then check if everything is plugged in properly, including the cables, Ram, GPU and fans. As a last resort, reseat the CPU by taking it out and putting it back in. If this does not work, then it might be that one of your parts is faulty. Get a replacement and return to step one of the guide.

Step 6:

This should be easy. Just unplug all the cables and the graphic card from the motherboard after turning the PC off after posting and screw the motherboard into your case using the given screw holes and screws. Re-plug the GPU, cables and case fans and the case IO into the respective pins as directed by your motherboard manual.

Installing the GPU (Source: gamersnexus.net)

For slotting in the GPU, remove the PCIE covers on your case and screw the GPU bracket in. This may take some aiming but should be relatively easy. On doing this, check if the PC posts one last time, this time with the power button on your case and if everything powers up well, you are nearly done.

What to do after building your Gaming PC:

First things first, go into BIOS and enable XMP. Make sure your RAM is running at the speed you bought it at and press F10 to save and exit. Install windows from a USB or disc. Finally, on booting into windows, install the latest graphics drivers for your GPU from Nvidia or AMD’s site and you’re good to go! As a side note, if you have a high refresh rate monitor, make sure you go into windows display settings->advanced display settings and change the monitor refresh rate to what it actually is. Also, always make sure you plug your monitor into the GPU HDMI or display ports and not the motherboard ports since you won’t get any of the performance you paid for otherwise.

That was about it for the building tutorial. Happy building!

This article was written by Yash Singh, a guest contributor who is also an ardent gamer.

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