If you’re thinking about building a new desktop PC, there are plenty
of important things to consider. Should you go with an Intel or AMD CPU?
Are integrated graphics enough, or do you need a dedicated graphics
card? What about picking a hard drive over an SSD? However, if your
budget’s tight, you certainly can’t opt for the best of everything.
By making smart and cautious decisions, you can wind up with a
surprisingly capable system without spending more than you need to. We
already touched on the money-saving idea of
.
Here, we’ll guide you through some basic things you should keep in mind
when choosing your components. These tips should serve you well,
whether you’re building a $300 budget PC, or a multi-kilobuck gaming
powerhouse.
High-end motherboards are decked out with flashy heat-sinks, and a
slew of slots, connectors, and pin headers than you’ll probably never
use. Most of the highest-priced boards are built for extreme
overclockers anyway. These mobos are loaded up with a multitude of
features that aren’t worth deciphering, unless you’re a hardcore DIY-er.
Unless you’re building a high-end, high-priced system, you can
usually get a motherboard with a sufficient amount of features for under
$150. Some things you probably want in your motherboard include USB 3.0
ports, SATA III (6GBps) ports, at least one PCI-Express x16 slot (in
case you want to drop in a graphics card for gaming), Ethernet, and
perhaps built-in Wi-Fi.
Don’t get a more powerful processor than you need
For basic computing tasks, even a modern, budget-priced processor is
fast enough. Unless you’re frequently doing CPU-intensive tasks, like
editing or trans-coding video, or some other kind of serious media
creation projects, even an Intel Core i3 processor is plenty powerful
enough. Keep in mind; desktop CPUs are generally much more powerful than
their similarly named laptop counterparts.
If you’re a gamer, the money you’d save by getting a lesser CPU is
much better spent on a graphics card. In general, you can skip the Core
i7s, and opt for a Core i5 (or a decent AMD FX chip). Anything more than
that isn’t really going to improve your gaming experience in any
appreciable way, unless you’re also opting for a very powerful graphics
card, like AMD’s $1,500 Radeon R9 295X2.
Unless your budget is very tight, get an SSD
Mechanical hard drives are cheap and spacious, but solid-state drives
(SSDs) are very, very fast. From sub-10-second boot times (in Windows
8, anyway) to near-instant program loads, an SSD can make a PC feel
speedy like nothing else.
I’ll put it this way. For everyday computing and productivity tasks,
I’d much rather use a system with a good SSD and a Core i3 processor
than a PC with a mechanical hard drive and a high-end Core i7 CPU. An
SSD makes that big of a difference.
Though SSDs are certainly more expensive than hard drives, they have
never been cheaper than they are today. For instance, you can pick up an
SSD with 120GB of storage for under $80, or a drive with twice that
space for about $150. Of course, if you have a large media library, that
may not be enough to store your stuff, and you probably don’t want to
spend around $500 for a 1TB SSD.
But that’s the beauty of rocking an upgrade-able desktop. There’s
almost always room for at least a few drives. So, you can grab both an
$80 SSD and, say, a $60 1TB hard drive now, or buy one drive now and
pick up a second drive later when you can afford and/or need it.
Either way, you should start with the SSD. You’ll want to install
your operating system and most of your programs on it too. Once you see
how fast your new system is, you’ll thank us.
Don’t buy more (or faster) RAM than you need
RAM prices can fluctuate quite a bit. As of this writing, they’re
fairly high, making the 4GB I’d generally recommend to be a bit of an
investment, starting at about $45.
The good news is, unless you’re a content creator working with large
files, or you like to have loads of browser tabs open, you don’t really
need much more than 4GB. For a good mid-range machine, 8GB is plenty.
Even serious gamers don’t need more than that, as most modern games
can’t currently access more than 2GB of system memory anyway. The amount
of dedicated memory on the graphics card (as well as that memory’s
speed and bandwidth) are much more important for good gaming
performance.
Likewise, in nearly all cases, it’s not worthwhile to pay extra for
faster (higher-clocked) memory, either. Sticking to the basic 1,333MHz
is fine for almost all builds—with one exception. If you’re building a
system with integrated graphics (be it Intel or AMD), paying for faster
RAM will give you higher frame rates. This is especially true when it
comes to modern AMD APUs.
If your system is going to be running on integrated graphics, you may
want to pay a bit extra for faster RAM. You shouldn’t pay too much more
though, because you’ll generally get significantly better gaming
performance by opting for a dedicated graphics card—even a low-end one
that’s priced under $100.
Don’t skimp on the power supply (but don’t overbuy, either)
The one part you definitely don’t want to be scraping the bottom of
the barrel for is the power supply. There are plenty of no-name power
supplies available for as low as $20. Some low-priced cases even come
with these power supplies as well. But unless you absolutely can’t
afford it, you’ll want to spend closer to $50 for a PSU from a reputable
brand (companies like Thermaltake and Corsair come to mind), who also
hopefully have US-based support teams.
I’ve personally seen low-cost power supplies burn out for no apparent
reason the minute they’re plugged in. Plus, when a power supply goes
spectacularly bad, it could fry your new components, or even potentially
set your house on fire. So, you should get something that costs a bit
more from a company you put some trust in. It doesn’t hurt to heed the
user reviews on sites like Newegg.com and Amazon, either.
On the flip side, you shouldn’t buy more power than you need, either.
There are plenty of power supplies available with 750-1,000, or even
1,500-watt ratings. However, unless you’re building a gaming PC with at
least one graphics card, or a multi-card setup, you simply don’t need
that much power.
A basic system with a mid-range CPU and a couple of drives should run
just fine on a 300-watt power supply. If you think you might buy a
graphics card down the road, you should spend a bit more, and get a PSU
that’s rated for 450 or 500 watts. Anything more than that is overkill
for most builds.
You don’t need a graphics card unless you’re serious about games or content creation
Modern desktop integrated graphics are much, much better than they
used to be. AMD generally still holds a strong lead over comparable
Intel chips. However, even Intel’s graphics on their current Core series
CPUs is good enough for HD media playback, and some modest gaming as
well.
Of course, if you want to play games like Titanfall at 1080p (or
higher) with all the settings switched on, you’ll want to invest in a
dedicated graphics card. Likewise, if you’re using Adobe’s Creative
Suite (or other pro-grade software) to render video, graphics, or
complex images, a dedicated card (as well as an SSD and lots of RAM) can
make for a much better experience.
If you’re in one of the above two camps (or both), you should
consider picking up a card from AMD or Nvidia. These days, an Nvidia
GeForce GTX 750 Ti-based card is a pretty solid mid-range option, though
cards based on AMD’s Radeon R7 260X are no slouch either, and some can
currently be had for around $130 online. The rest of us can get by just
fine without a dedicated graphics card, which allows you to opt for a
smaller case.
Skimp on the case (if you don’t care about looks)
Cheaping out on your PC’s case is also a good way to go if you want
to save some money. If you’re going to stick your tower under your desk,
there’s certainly no need to spend around $100 or more on a fancy,
flashy chassis.
You can pick up a utilitarian PC case online for less than $20. Sure,
it will probably be made of cheap, glossy plastic and thin steel. It
may also have sharp edges that could cut you while you’re assembling the
system. Nevertheless, a bargain-basement case will suffice for a basic
PC build.
The fans included with low-end cases (if there are any) may be louder
than the ones shipped with pricier shells. You may want to swap them
out. Keep in mind that the fans in your old PC might be nicer than
whatever comes with a new, bargain-basement case.
Of course, if you’re building a high-end gaming PC stuffed with
$2,000 or more worth of parts, you probably don’t want to throw them
into a budget-priced box. If that sounds like the system you’re putting
together, you should find something you find that’s both attractive and
affordable. There are currently 826 PC cases listed on Newegg, and a
surprising number of decent options are priced in the $50-$75 range.
What do you think of our PC parts buying guide? Do you have any tips
that you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments below.
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