Purchasing a computer can appear intimidating at first, especreally to those that have not been keeping up with IT. Fortunately, it is not as difficult as it might seem, and the internet is full of people that do it regularly and test hardware for a living. Building a PC has never been easier; it is, essentially, a challenge of mixing and matching components to work well with each other and fit into a budget. Before starting with the construction, one must decide how that particular computer is going to be used and its approximate budget. For a non-competitive gamer that occasionally dabbles in some creative pursuits, such as an image or video editing, a middle-of-the-road jack-of-all-trades PC is a perfect choice. For this exercise, the budget is set at $1,500, as it will provide enough breathing room, but also necessitate more strategy than simply buying the most expensive parts.
Many of the PC components are provided by several manufacturers, which will dictate the options available. The two options for CPU are Intel and AMD, and the ones for graphics cards are Nvidia and AMD. The choice between Intel and AMD is often a matter of semi-religious debate. In truth, Intel CPUs have served many people well over the years, as have the AMD CPUs. This computer will have an Intel CPU because of pure subjective preference. An i7-9700K is a solid purchase, which is a bit expensive at $369.99, but a high-end CPU covers all possible uses of a PC. The graphics cards actually do differ, and Nvidia appears to provide better performance for its price. For this build, a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti would be the most cost-effective purchase, according to a popular tech review channel on YouTube (“NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti Review”).
The CPU’s inner workings dictate its socket type, which is LGA 1151, and it requires a compatible motherboard. GIGABYTE Z390 UD costs slightly more than the rest of the selection, but it belongs to the Z series, which offers the option of overclocking the system. The CPU also provides that function, which is why it was chosen over its less expensive non-unlocked version. The motherboard’s vendor is Gigabyte, as well as the graphics card’s, for compatibility’s sake. People from various forums report having fewer problems with Gigabyte over its competition, which is the sole reason it was chosen. The motherboard only supports DDR4 RAM, and 2666MHz is the highest frequency of RAM that is functional without overclocking. It is an additional bother to overclock a computer out of the box for it to work properly, so two sticks of 8Gb HyperX Fury 2666MHz DDR4 RAM were chosen for the build. According to Soderstrom, RAM is a secondary factor in performance, and not where the budget should be directed.
The next essential component would be the hard drive, and a one-terabyte Western Digital Black looks like a decent choice. SATA 6Gb/s is the only standard supported by the rest of the hardware, and there is not much of a difference between various hard drives besides price and capacity. A terabyte should be enough to store various multimedia, and storage is the easiest thing to upgrade. And speaking of storage, Western Digital Blue 3D NAND 250GB M.2 SSD was chosen to serve as the fast-loading system drive. The motherboard supports an M.2 type of solid-state drives, which are much faster than all other storage solutions, which is why it is better to install it from the start than to reorganize the operating system later. All that hardware will go into a Zalman S2 ATX Mid Tower with three fans and a transparent side. It will provide ample cooling and will house the ATX-sized motherboard we chose earlier. Finally, an EVGA 500 GD power supply unit will power the machine. According to power requirement calculations, 500 Watts are ise than enough for the system (Hale).
The rest of the computer matters little, as these are the parts that performance is derived from. A Dewenwils 6-Outlet Power Strip Surge Protector, a cheap HP USB 3 Button Optical Mouse, and a cheap HP USB Slim Business Keyboard will serve their purpose, and it is easy to replace them as the need arises. An Acer R240HY bidx 23.8-Inch and JVC HARX900 High-Grade Full-Size Headphone will be the multimedia suite, as they seem to be of good quality and generally liked, but can also be replaced according to the user’s requirements. The entire build comes up to $1,537.26, which is slightly over budget, but that computer will handle anything and will be a good performer for two or three years.
If obtained legitimately, Microsoft Windows will cost an additional $130, which can be made up for by omitting an SSD and the headphones from the cart. Buying any other software serves no purpose, as antiviruses are made obsolete by adblockers, due diligence, and common sense. The rest of the applications can cost from zero to thousands depending on the user’s needs and preferences, and including them in this manifest is pointless.
References
Hale, Brent, “How to Choose A Power Supply: 5 Things to Know Before Buying A PSU”, Tech Guided, 2018, Web.
Harding, Scharon, “What Is an M.2 SSD? A Basic Definition,” Tom’s Hardware, 2020, Web.
“NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti Review – The Fastest GPU for $279!” YouTube, uploaded by Hardware Canucks, 2019, Web.
Soderstrom, Thomas, “How to Choose the Right Memory: A 2020 Guide To DRAM”, Tom’s Hardware, 2020, Web.