PC Building

Some notes about PC building for reference. There are a lot of sites and video channels to learn PC building. So I can’t replicate that here. However I can provide some direction and general notes and grow this as I go.

Major Components

The major components you need for a PC build are as follows:

• Case / Enclosure
• Motherboard
• CPU / Processor
• CPU Fan/Cooler (sometimes comes with CPU, but you can also buy higher end ones)
  • Typical is a fan blowing on a metal finned radiator attached to CPU
  • Watercool variations exist
  • Most basic builds the CPU stock cooler or a nice 80-120mm fan / heatsink combo is great
• RAM stick(s) –
  • I’d recommend 8GB or higher even for old builds.
  • 16gb min for new builds
  • 32-64gb is fantastic
• Power Supply (PSU) – quality ones are worth money for longevity and electronics protection
  • Corsair is great, but so are others
• Video Card – (occasionally processors have onboard video that motherboards can use, )
  • Nvidia – several flavors
  • Radeon – several flavors
  • As of 2021, Nvidia 1660 super, 2070 super, 3060, 3070 all great
  • AMD Radeon I don’t know models well but RX 6800XT is the new beast
• Hard drive – You can get spinning disc or flash SSD type.
  • There are also a newer style called M2, which go into a slot on the motherboard
  • Samsung, Crucial are good brands, there are many offbrands
• Monitor screen
  • Needs to have proper connection from motherboard, or video card. HDMI, Display Port, DVI or VGA
• Speakers or Earphones – you can get USB speakers or speakers that use the 3.5 jack
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• USB flash drive(s)
  • Having a couple 8gb – 32gb flash drives is a good thing for loading files and Operating System ISOs