[Battlestations] therichwoods:
When I saw the topic of a beginner's guide to building a PC, I jumped for it because I remember building my first PC. It actually wasn't nearly as long ago as you'd think. I also remember how clueless I was. Obviously, I know about everything that goes inside of a computer, but once I was faced with the task of putting all of that together, I was like a deer in headlights.

Prerequisites​

Let's start off with a list of everything that you're going to need:

CPU

Thermal paste

Motherboard

CPU cooler

Case

Power supply

RAM

Storage

GPU (optional unless you have an Intel F-series processor)

An operating system

And then, of course, don't forget about the necessary peripherals:

Monitor

Keyboard

Mouse

Speakers

Webcam

External peripherals are beyond the scope of this post, but take note of what you need, keeping in mind that the PC you're building doesn't have the built-in parts of an all-in-one PC, like a microphone, speakers, and a webcam.

How to get started or: Pick a CPU​

First of all, and I cannot stress this enough, PCPartPicker is your friend. The site lets you plug in a list of parts that you're planning on using and it will tell you if there are any compatibility issues. It's super useful. In fact, even if you know that your parts should be good to go, run them through PCPartPicker anyway just to make sure.

The other key thing you need to do when getting started is to pick a CPU. This is an important first step because you're pretty much building out the PC around this choice. There aren't any motherboards that support both Intel and AMD CPUs.

Choosing between AMD and Intel (see, I didn't put the same company first twice in a row so you guys can't yell at me) is the first step. Once you do that, you can decide what kind of performance that you need. I wrote a guide to Intel CPUs and what the product names mean. With AMD, you have Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7, and Ryzen 9, and performance goes according to how high that number is. The same goes with Intel and the Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9.

Intel has a bunch of different suffixes. If there isn't one, it's a standard 65W desktop processor, so something like a Core i5-11600 is pretty mainstream. Add a K and it's now a 125W processor that's unlocked for overclocking. And as mentioned above, an F means that it does not have integrated graphics, so you'll need a graphics card.

Pick a motherboard, or a case, or both​

Next, you have to pick a motherboard and a case. I'm including both in this section because it's a matter of priorities. Do you want a case that fits your motherboard or a motherboard that fits your case? If you already know what case you want to use, start there and find motherboards that work. If not, start with a motherboard that has what you want.

First, let's cut your motherboard choices in half. If you're using AMD Ryzen, you need an AM4 socket. In you're using Intel 10th- or 11th-gen, you need an LGA 1200 socket. Note that with Intel, 12th-gen will use a new socket, so this is not upgradeable.

Next, you have to pick the size of your motherboard, and this is where compatibility with the case comes in. There's eATX, ATX, mATX, and mini-ITX, all in size order. This very much comes down to how big of a PC you want to build. Looking for something that's super-small and can hide behind your monitor? That's where mini-ITX comes in. Want something big and beefy that's going to have some serious power and thermals? Go for eATX.

When picking a case, it will tell you what size board it can fit. Obviously, the CPU, motherboard, and case choices go hand in hand.

Now that you've narrowed down your motherboard choices to the socket and the size, you're in good shape. It's time to start looking at ports, PCIe slots, and more. Make sure that you've got the ports to plug in what you need and the latest USB standard. Make sure you've got enough memory slots. A big one is the graphics card you want to use. Make sure there's room for it not only on the board, but in the case.

Pick a CPU cooler and thermal paste​

Now, it's time to figure out how you're going to keep that CPU cool. Here's the bottom line. The more your CPU heats up, the worse the performance gets. The cooler you can keep it, the more it can sustain peak performance.

The first thing that you have to choose between is air cooling and liquid cooling, and there are pros and cons to each. Air coolers can be easier to install and more cost-effective, but if you want a good one, they take up a lot of space. Liquid cooling can be better if you plan on doing a lot of overclocking.

Personally, I'm a big fan of air coolers from Noctua. I use a Noctua NH-U12A, which is not only designed to be one of the best air coolers around, but it's quiet too.

So, after you decide if you want liquid or air cooling, you then have to looking at how cool it keeps the CPU and also how much noise it makes. That noise is important.

Then there's the thermal paste, which sits between the CPU and the CPU cooler. The more evenly it's applied, the better the cooling. Many CPU coolers, like the one I mentioned above from Noctua, come with thermal paste. You can always shop around though. A tube of thermal paste costs under $10, so using the best one there is should be an easy way to keep your CPU cool.

Pick a power supply and a GPU​

As you can see, a lot of these parts go hand in hand. In fact, once you've put this all together, you'll find that they all go hand in hand. But we can't talk about the power supply without picking a GPU.

Picking a GPU is optional. Like I said, you might want a simple productivity machine with a Core i5 and integrated graphics. You also might want a gaming rig with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090. And then there's everything in-between.

With that in mind, you need to pick a power supply. This is an area that you'd definitely be well-off to use PCPartPicker for. It will tell you the wattage of all of the parts you've picked so far, and then tell you if there are any compatibility issues with you pick a power supply. I'd suggest picking one with plenty of wattage to spare so you can upgrade down the line.

Another thing is that you should definitely get a modular PSU (power supply unit). That means that the power cables aren't attached to the PSU itself. You can add cables as you need to, and since you're a builder now, you're probably going to need to at some point.

The other thing that's important is efficiency. You'll see an 80 PLUS rating that can be Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Titanium. This is important, because it's based on how much power is lost due to heat.

RAM, storage, and OS​

If you've made it this far, you're in good shape. This is the easy part.

With RAM, you want more, and you want faster. It's that simple. You can also look up how fast of memory your CPU supports and go for that. The same goes for storage. An M.2 SSD is the way to go if you can, but there are also SATA SSDs. You can get an HDD if you're on a really tight budget, but I don't recommend it.

As far as the OS goes, it's between Windows and Linux. Windows costs money; Linux doesn't. I'm not really here to tell you which one you should go for.

Putting it all together​

Alright, you've got all of your parts and you're ready to build your dream PC! It's the second-most exciting feeling behind the first boot.

Most of this is going to be about plugging things in where they fit, but sadly, it's not that simple. You need to start working through the manuals that came with your motherboard and your case. Those are going to tell you exactly what to plug in where, and most of it is fairly straightforward. There are few things that will actually break if you do them wrong.

The one thing that will break if you do it wrong is installing the CPU in the motherboard. It's important not to apply any unnecessary pressure when doing this because you could bend the pins on the chip or the board (depending on who made the CPU). Damage one of those and you've got some very expensive paperweights very quickly. To be clear, there's nothing to be afraid of here and it's very easy to do. Practice some healthy caution and you'll be fine.

Installing the motherboard in the case is something you'll need to follow instructions to do, which is fine, as it's easy enough. Once it's screwed into place, there will be several cables in the case that have to plug into the board. These will be for fans built into the case, for additional USB ports, and so on.

The other thing you'll have to install in the case is the PSU. Read the instructions and make sure the fan in the PSU is facing the right way. This is not something that you want to do incorrectly. There are a few cables to plug into the case and the board. Once the GPU is installed, you'll have to plug that in too.

Next, you'll probably be installing the CPU cooler. Make sure to apply thermal paste before you do. A pea-sized dot right in the middle of the CPU will do it. Do your best to bring the cooler directly down on the CPU, rather than doing it from an angle. This will spread it evenly across the chip.

Obviously, the graphics card, the storage, and RAM can fit into their respective slot. Note that for most boards, if you have four RAM slots and you only have two RAM sticks, you're better off separating them by one slot for dual-channel memory.

Once that's all done, you should be ready to plug it in and boot it up. You might not want to close the case on first-run, so you can make sure all of the fans are spinning. You can plug your USB drive with the OS into a USB port and boot into it to install the operating system.

Something went wrong!​

Well, you've made it this far and now something doesn't work. Isn't that always the way it goes?

The most common problem is probably that you pressed the power button and nothing happened. After all, if the thing that went wrong is that you broke something, you should just buy a new one.

If it's not booting, now it's time to start checking cables. Make sure that everything is plugged in securely, particularly the CPU cooler. Make sure that the PSU cables are plugged in at both ends. If there were any steps you weren't sure about, such as if you plugged something in in the right spot, revisit it.

If you just can't figure it out, come back here and ask for help.