How to simply build a cheap pc

Building a computer is easy, but building a
budget computer is hard, especially if you're
aiming for performance. However, you might
find that you’re happier with a custom-built
machine, especially if you want maximum
performance for your budget. It also means
it’s perfectly crafted to fit your needs, whether
you’re a gamer, video editor, or just trying to
build a home theater PC. In some instances,
your budget PC may be more powerful than a
pre-built desktop. That said, selecting parts,
buying and building consumes time. In this
wikiHow, you'll learn about the buying of parts,
building, and installation process, step-by-step.
Part One of Three:
Understanding Machine Types and Their
Costs
Come up with a rough idea of the
kind of performance you want from
your machine. The easiest way to do that
is to split builds it up into general
categories:
Low Performance: If you’re looking
for a simple PC for web browsing,
email checking, or video watching, a
low performance machine is probably
the way to go. These are small, very
low budget, don’t draw a lot of
power, and are usually pretty quiet
(obviously you won't need much
performance for those activity).
Home theater PCs, simple office work
PC fit into this category. Such
machines range from $200 to $500.
Mid Performance: This is a great
option for the majority of users,
especially since you can stretch the
machine’s power and your budget to
fit almost any scenario. Such
machines will sit in a smaller case,
with enough power to play some
casual games and run multiple
programs at once. If you’re looking
for a multipurpose computer that
won’t break the bank, this is where
you want to go. Such machines can
vary quite a bit in price, but in
general they range from $500 to
$800.
High Performance: These will stretch
you budget to its end. Users doing
more resource-intensive tasks:
converting and editing video, playing
latest games at low to mid settings,
making 3D art, running operating
systems in virtual machines will need
more performance. These also use a
generous amount of electricity.
Typically such a machine may cost
anywhere from $800 to $1200.
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Part Two of Three:
Choosing Parts of a Computer
Do specific research on the parts you
need. Even with the following steps,
this process is going to be overwhelming—
especially if you don’t keep up with all the
latest hardware news (as many of us
don’t). Note that these descriptions are
bound to become outdated as time goes
on, so in addition to reading the
information below, check out some pre-
built systems comparable to what you
want to build. That’ll help you figure out
what kind of processor applies to mid-
range builds, how much RAM you’d find in
a high-end build, and so on.
You should also consider the OS you
want to run, and the programs you’ll
be using, and check their
recommended system requirements.
Make sure you avoid bottlenecks,
where one component can’t reach its
full potential because another part is
too slow. There will be a few
reputable brands mentioned in each
category, but we recommend reading
up on when brand really matters (and
when it doesn’t) so you don’t fall into
advertising trap.
Pick a processor. The Processor
(CPU) is the “brain” of your
computer. Better CPUs can perform more
tasks at once, and perform them
faster.The high performance models are
only really crucial if you’re performing
intensive tasks. It’s also one of the most
expensive parts of a machine.Hence
picking the “right” processor is important,
you should do some research so you don’t
want to end up wasting money. Lets start
with the basics:
Consider clock speed and number of
cores. A processor’s clock speed
determines how many instructions
one core can carry out in one
second. Thus, higher clock speed
means your computer carries out
instructions faster, while more cores
means it can carry out more sets of
instructions at one time. Some
programs can utilize multiple cores at
once, making them extremely
efficient with multi-core CPUs, but
also multitask well since they can
carry out multiple sets of instructions
simultaneously. Low performance
machines probably will need a dual/
quad-core processors, mid-range
builds will probably want quad/six-
core processors, and high-powered
machines will definitely want six/
eight-core or above.
Look at clock speed to determine
how fast that processor is. For
gaming, clock speed is more
important than number of cores,
since most games are not designed
to use more than one or two cores
(though this is starting to change).
Assuming you never do any CPU-
intensive tasks, a dual-core is
probably the highest you need—no
hyper-threading needed. If you’re
converting video or gaming, the
program you use might support
multiple cores, in which case a higher
number of cores is more important.
Those are two basics, but not the
only ones, and you don’t want to rely
on them alone. It's recommended to
look at benchmarks for the
processors you’re interested in, to get
an idea of how they compare.
Be sure to look for other features you
may need, too. If you aren’t gaming
or editing video, you’ll want to make
sure your CPU supports integrated
graphics.
Brands to Watch For: AMD and Intel
are the two CPU heavyweights.
Though Intel’s processors tend to
perform better and use less power,
AMD’s processors are generally less
expensive for the same clock speed
and more cores.
Pick a motherboard. The motherboard
connects all the other components to
one another. It is the physical base upon
which you build everything else. It
contains a lot of your machine’s core
features, like the number of USB ports, the
number of expansion cards you can put in
(such as graphics card, etc), and also
partially determines how big your
computer size will be. Which motherboard
you pick will depend on whether you build
a low, medium, or high performance
machine. As you look at motherboards,
you’ll want to pay attention to quite a few
things. Here are some of the more
important features:
Socket Type: Your socket type (such
as AMD’s "AM2", “AM3”, "AM3+"
socket, or Intel’s “LGA 1151”,etc)
determines which processors you can
use with that board. So, if you’ve
already narrowed down the kind of
processor you want, this is a good
first step to narrowing down your
motherboard. Look for a model with a
socket type that matches your
processor to ensure that the two are
compatible.
Size: Motherboards generally come in
three sizes: Mini ITX, Micro ATX, and
full ATX. The more advanced
features you need, the larger the
motherboard will need to be, which
will also determine the size of your
case.
Number and Types of External Ports:
Look at the ports available on the
motherboard. Do you need a lot of
USB ports? You’ll either want a
motherboard that has them or enough
PCI slots to support extra USB
adapters. Do you need HDMI out? If
you aren’t using a graphics card,
make sure your motherboard has the
right video output for your monitor.
How many USB 3.0 ports do you
want? Some have more than others.
If you’re set on a motherboard that
doesn’t have a feature you need, you
can add most with expansion cards,
but life is always easier if the
motherboard has them built in.
Amount of Supported RAM: If you
plan on having a lot of RAM in your
machine, you’ll need a motherboard
that supports it. Look at how many
slots your board has, and how much
RAM it allows for.
Integrated Graphics: If all you’re
going to do is browse the web, use
Microsoft Office, and perform other
simple tasks, you may be better off
choosing a motherboard with
integrated graphics. You only need to
shell out for a separate graphics card
if you’re playing video games. If
you’re getting a separate graphics
card, then don't choose motherboard
with integrated graphics as this may
save some cost.
Number of SATA Ports: This
determines how many internal hard
drives and optical drives you can
have. For most builds, this is only
really a concern if you plan on having
a lot of drives in your computer (like
if you’re building a server or a NAS)..
Number of PCI Slots: You can only
have as many expansion cards as
you have PCI slots, so if you want a
dedicated video card (or two), extra
USB ports, extra LAN ports, a Wi-Fi
adapter, or other expansion cards,
you need to make sure your
motherboard has enough of them.
Chipset: Your motherboard’s chipset
determines a lot of the more
advanced features it has. Some
chipsets support overclocking, some
do not. Some support SLI and
Crossfire (using multiple video cards
in tandem), some do not. Others
support SSD caching. Others are
better for turning into Hackintoshes.
If you didn’t understand any of the
things I just said, you probably don’t
need to pay too close attention to
this—but if you want certain
advanced features, chipset will
narrow your selection considerably.
Generally, the more of these features
you require on the motherboard, the
larger in size and price they become,
so keep that in mind as you ponder.
Brands to Watch For: ASUS,
GIGABYTE, and MSI are probably the
biggest names in motherboards.
However, BIOSTAR and ASRock are
well known for good budget boards, if
you’re trying to keep the cost down.
Choose your power supply. The power
supply (or PSU) directs electricity to
the other components in your machine.
Generally speaking, if you have a high
performance computer with a fast
processor, a graphics card, and a few
drives, you’ll need a higher wattage power
supply than you would if you were building
a low-end PC. This is probably the last
component you’ll shop for, once you’ve
nailed down your other parts and how
much electricity they’ll require (some
cases come with their own PSU). The
power supply is actually one of the most
important choices in your build. This is not
an area you want to skimp. Reviews on
the net are rarely useful. The best you can
do is buy from a good brand (see below)
and look for these features:
Wattage: Obviously, if you have a low
performance machine, you’ll need
fewer watts to power it than you
would a high performance machine.
Generally, give yourself 100 more
watts than what you need, in case
you end up upgrading the computer
or using that power supply in a later
build.
Efficiency: Most units will have a
percentage value that denotes how
efficient they are. For example, an
“80 plus certified” 400W PSU will
actually pull something like 500W
from your wall. So look for something
with a high efficiency, as they’ll run
cooler (but they probably won’t save
you a ton of money).
Cable Types: Try to look for a
“modular” power supply if you can.
This means that the cables come
detached from the power supply, so
you can use only the ones you need
and not have the others wasting
space in your case. Also make sure it
comes with long cables, since cables
that are too short can make your life
difficult.
Brands to Watch For: This is one
area where you don’t want to be
thrifty. It’s hard to keep track of all
the brands out there, but quality
manufacturers include Corsair,
Enermax, Enhance, EVGA, and
Rosewill. Spend the extra $20 if given
the choice; you don’t want to end up
skimping and frying a $1000 machine
in the process.
Note: Many cases actually come with
power supplies, so if yours does, you
don’t necessarily need to buy one
separately. That said, the power
supplies you’ll buy separately are
usually better than the ones that
come with cases, but it’s up to you.
It’s just something to watch for when
you’re shopping for these two parts.
Consider RAM. Random Access
Memory (or RAM for short) stores
data your computer needs quick access to.
The size determines how fast your
programs run, and help you run more
programs at one time. Thus, if you run a
lot of programs at once, you’ll want a
computer with more RAM. If you use
virtual machines, you’ll want higher RAM,
since it has to run its own programs in
addition to yours. RAM seems simple, but
you need to make sure it’s compatible
with your motherboard. When looking at
RAM, think about:
Type of Computer: Since most
system now are 64 bit, some older
model CPU's are 32 bit, especially if
you are buying second hand parts.
You must know that 32 bit CPU's can
only handle 4 GB of RAM.
Amount of RAM: At the time of this
writing, 4-16 GB seems to be the
average for a normal machine. If
you’re running virtual machines or
using other RAM-hungry apps, you
might want 16 GB, but most
machines should be fine with around
8 GB. Keep in mind that RAM is easy
to upgrade, and if your motherboard
has four slots, you can always get
two sticks now and add two more
sticks later. There’s no need to get a
ton of RAM now in the name of
“future-proofing”.
Channels: Your motherboard will
support either dual, triple, or quad
channel RAM. This decides how
many sticks of RAM you get. If you
have a dual channel motherboard,
you’ll want to buy RAM in sets of two
—for example, two 2GB sticks for a
total of 4GB (or four 1GB sticks).
Triple channel motherboards take
RAM in sets of three, and quad
channel is most optimal with a set of
four or eight sticks.
Type: Most RAM nowadays is
“DDR4”, though DDR5 and DDR5X is
starting to pop up in graphics cards.
You shouldn’t have to worry about
this too much. Just check your
motherboard’s spec list to find out
what type of RAM it supports and buy
accordingly.
Speed: Your motherboard will support
a number of different RAM speeds
(e.g., “800/1066/1333”). When you
buy your RAM, it will have one of
these numbers attached to it. RAM
speed traditionally doesn’t make a
huge difference, but it’s starting to
become more useful. Buy what you
can afford, and make sure your
motherboard supports it.
Brands to Watch For: You won’t find
a huge difference between brands.
Popular brands include Crucial,
Corsair, Kingston, PNY, OCZ, G.Skill,
Mushkin, and Patriot. Again, reading
reviews of specific sticks of RAM
can be very helpful.
Get a graphics card (optional). This
is a processor specifically designed
to handle graphics. Some processors
come with a GPU already integrated,
which is enough to manage light
productivity but not enough for playing the
latest 3D games. For those, you’ll need a
dedicated graphics card and choosing
graphics card is one of the hardest parts
of the process. If all you need is
something that can play HD video, you
don’t need to go too crazy—find a well-
reviewed card under $100 and call it a day
(or just go with integrated graphics).
However, if you’re gaming, you have a lot
more to think about.
Instead of looking at the specs, it’s
usually easier to just read reviews
and look at gaming benchmarks.
Passmark ranks cards by straight-up
performance tests, and Anandtech
benchmarks many cards using real-
world gaming situations. Think about
your budget for a video card, then try
to find the best performing card in
that price range.
Some manufacturers also factory
overclock their cards, which gives
them a performance edge over other
manufacturer’s version of the same
card, so be on the lookout for those.
Also be on the lookout for versions
with different levels of VRAM. Higher
VRAM cards are useful for high
resolution or multiple monitor, but are
more expensive.
Brands to Watch For: The two main
chipset manufacturers are NVIDIA
and AMD. The battle between them
both is pretty close with each card
that comes out. Unless you’re using
Linux (for which NVIDIA has better
support), worry more about the
individual cards than the chipset
manufacturer. Go with whatever
gives you the best cost to
performance ratio at your price point.
When it comes to the card
manufacturers themselves, you have
a few to choose from. Look for
brands with good cooling and good
customer support—XFX and EVGA
both have pretty fantastic warranties
on most of their cards, which is why
they’re two of the most popular
manufacturers around. MSI tends to
have very good cooling. Other popular
brands include ASUS, ZOTAC, and
Sapphire.
Pick your hard drive: Your hard drive
stores all of your data, ranging from
your operating system to your documents,
music, and movies. The kind of hard drive
you choose will be determined mainly by
how much data you need to store, but
certain kinds of hard drives (like solid
state drives) can also affect your
computer’s speed. When it comes to
specs, there are a few things you want to
look for in your drives:
Size: Obviously, you want enough
space on your hard drive to hold all
your data, with room for expansion.
Hard drives are pretty cheap and
easy to upgrade, so you can always
add more later if you’re on a budget.
Speed: The faster your hard drive is,
the faster your computer will boot,
launch programs, and open files.
These days, you get a 7200 RPM
drive for a relatively cheap price.
Brands to Watch For: Western Digital,
Hitachi, Samsung, and Toshiba are all
good choices. Seagate is also
popular, though it has lately gotten a
bad reputation for low reliability.
Most hard drive manufacturers have
a lot of mixed reviews.
Select an optical drive, if desired. An
optical drive, more commonly known
as a CD or DVD drive, is what you’ll use to
read CDs, DVDs, and even Blu-Ray discs.
If you’re buying a CD or DVD drive,
you probably won’t find a ton of
difference between the different
models. Most burn discs at around
the same speeds. If you’re looking at
Blu-Ray drives and Blu-Ray burners,
though, pay attention to the read and
write speeds. The higher the read
speeds, the faster you can rip a Blu-
Ray disc, and the faster the write
speed on a burner, the faster you can
burn a Blu-Ray disc. Obviously, you’ll
have to pay more for higher speeds.
Brands to Watch For: It doesn’t make
a huge difference who you go with
here. Lite-On, Samsung, Sony, and LG
are all great manufacturers and the
prices should be pretty much the
same.
Get your case. The case holds all of
your computer’s parts together. It is
less about features of how your computer
runs and more about features that affect
you and your home—that is, how quiet it
is, how big it is, and how it looks. Still, it’s
an important consideration that is
dependent on your other choices, so you
might want to think about what you want
in terms of a case before moving on to the
shopping step (some cases come with
their own PSU which increase their overall
cost, also you might want to check their
power rating Watts and how much you
require).Your case may not seem like a
super important part of your build, but it’s
about more than looks. A good case will
be easier to build in, last you a long time,
and keep your machine cool. Here’s what
you’ll need to look for:
Size: Cases come in a number of
shapes and sizes, and what size case
you choose should match the kind of
motherboard you’re buying. If you
chose a Mini-ITX motherboard, then a
Mini-ITX Tower or Mini-ITX Desktop
box is for you. A Micro ATX mini
tower is the size you’ll find in most
pre-built computers, so know that
mid and full towers are probably
bigger than what you’re used to.
Airflow: This is something you’ll have
to look for in user reviews. Every
case is a little different, and the
better your fans are placed, the
better airflow you’ll have inside
(which will keep your computer from
overheating).
Noise: While you want good airflow,
some fans are particularly loud,
which can be annoying to some
people. If you want your computer to
stay relatively quiet, check the user
reviews and see what people say
about the case’s loudness.
Number of Drive Bays: If you need
more than just a hard drive an optical
drive, count the number of drive bays
on your case and make sure you have
enough. Keep in mind other things,
like card readers, will take up drive
bays as well. Internal 3.5” drive bays
are for hard drives, external 3.5” drive
bays are for card readers, and
external 5.25” drives are for optical
drives (and other stuff).
Ports on the Front: Almost every
case you buy will have a number of
ports on the front, which usually
include a few USB ports, a headphone
jack, and a microphone jack. If you
want easy access to USB 3.0, for
example, you’ll want to make sure
it’s on the front of your case.
Cable Management: As you build,
you’ll realize there are a lot of cables
inside a computer. Unfortunately, if
you just leave them hanging where
they fall, they’ll block a lot of air
from flowing correctly through the
case, so you want to organize them
as best you can. Some cases have
built-in holes through which you can
route cables, while some leave you to
figure it out yourself with zip ties.
The former is, obviously, a lot less
work, so see what user reviews say
about cable management options.
Keep in mind that a case is
something you can use for multiple
builds down the road. You don’t need
to buy a new case every time you
build a computer. Get a quality one
now and it should last you two or
three computers into the future.
Brands to Watch for: Corsair, NZXT,
Antec, and Cooler Master both make
some of the best cases on the
market. Thermaltake, Rosewill,
Fractal Design,and Silverstone are
also trusted manufacturers.
Get a keyboard and mouse. A very
good low priced keyboard and
mouse can easily be obtained for your
daily needs. But if your computer usage is
high then getting a bit expensive and
ergonomically good mouse and keyboard
would be better to get rid of wrist pain or
save endless clicks on the scroll wheel,
they’re well worth the money.