Avoid these mistakes when choosing gaming build components!
Having the funds to construct your ideal gaming PC is the most challenging aspect of the process, but choosing and assembling the components is equally challenging.
Making a poor choice can cost you money, and possibly more. There are dozens of options on the market; you will find many processors and graphics cards in all categories—economical, medium, and high-end—and in each category, you will find yourself facing a barrage of terms, generations, and versions, and as long as you want to build your device yourself, you must know the differences and the best parts that suit your budget. In this article, we will try to help you and tell you the common mistakes that some people make when assembling a gaming device for the first time.
Assemble the gaming device
Let’s not kid ourselves; who cares about power supplies as much as they do about the processor, graphics card, RAM, or motherboard? Thankfully, awareness of the importance of power supplies has increased, but it’s still not enough. After all, if you’re pairing an entry-level or mid-range 30-series RTX with a 6-core processor like the Ryzen 5600X or i5-12400F, a 650W 80Plus-certified power supply should do the trick. If you want to be safe and leave some room for upgrades, go with 750W and above.
Upgrading the processor alone could require an additional 100 watts, and for the graphics card, it could be 200 watts or more; this would happen if you wanted to upgrade the Ryzen 5600X to the 9950X, for example, or the RTX 3070 to the beastly 4090. In short, if you think you'll need to upgrade your rig in the next 3-5 years, it's best to invest in a decent power supply.
If the power supply is not important to some, the case is just a piece of iron or scrap that has no role other than containing the assembly parts for others, and this is a disaster, of course! The role of the case is not limited to containing the assembly parts only but extends to other vital functions that affect the performance and stability of the computer; imagine that you may get high frames thanks to the case, and vice versa!
Before we get into the case-frame ratio, let’s first tell you about the two problems with small cases; first, the size of the parts may not match the internal space of the case, especially if we’re talking about a graphics card. For example, it doesn’t make sense to buy a Micro-ATX case for an RTX 4090 or RX 7900 XTX! Second, it will be very complicated, and perhaps even impossible, if you’re thinking of upgrading.
As for the relationship between the case and the frames, it is related to cooling. The better the cooling inside the case, the more capable the processor and graphics card are of working at a higher performance without being exposed to the problem of "thermal throttling," which maintains the stability of the frame rate during gaming, and vice versa, as when the temperature of the card or processor reaches high levels (usually from 85 to 90 degrees Celsius and above), the components automatically reduce their speed so as not to burn out, which leads to a decrease in performance accordingly.
We conclude from this that the case is a very important part of the gaming device that you aspire to assemble, so pay attention to its size and the cooling capabilities it has.
When selecting random access memory, size is unquestionably the most crucial factor to consider, but it is not the only consideration.
In general, relying on two pieces of RAM and taking advantage of the Dual Channel feature is better than buying one piece and also better than buying 4 pieces because the more pieces, the more pressure is placed on the memory controller in the motherboard, which may lead to stability issues and difficulty in reaching the maximum possible speed of the RAM. Speaking of speed, it is preferable to go with DDR5 to get better frequencies, but first make sure that the motherboard supports it.
Ultimately, based on my own experience, if your motherboard has only two slots, consider purchasing RAM in the form of two 2x16 modules. While 16GB is sufficient for the majority of games currently available, having only two slots can restrict your future upgrade options. For instance, if you opt for two 2x8 modules, you may find yourself needing to sell one or both down the line—so why put yourself in that position? If your budget permits, it's wise to invest in two 16GB modules right from the beginning.
When selecting a motherboard, it is essential to ensure its compatibility with your chosen processor, as both AMD and Intel processors rely on specific chipsets that vary by manufacturer. These chipsets influence the features and functionalities supported by the motherboard, including different PCIe versions, the quantity of USB ports, and overclocking options, among others.
Furthermore, if you are aiming to build a gaming rig, overclocking is likely a priority, so opt for a chipset that accommodates this feature. Consider Z chipsets, X chipsets, or certain B chipsets, depending on your financial plan.
With the proliferation of multi-core processors, such as 12- and 16-core processors, it may seem that choosing a processor with a higher number of cores will give you better performance, and this is often true, but most modern games only benefit from 6-8 cores, while the excess number is just a show-off with no real benefit at the gaming level. You should really care about the number of cores if you intend to benefit from the assembly for things other than games, such as editing or 3D design; then it will be worth investing in a processor with a higher number of cores. By the way, the most powerful processor for games currently, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, comes with "only" 8 cores.
There’s no doubt that choosing a powerful graphics card is the best thing you can do for your gaming rig, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of other components; you should balance performance and cost rather than chasing the latest, most expensive card available. First, you need to decide what kind of gamer you are; do you like story-driven games with the best possible graphics quality? Or do you want to enjoy eSports and indie games that rely more on the processor than the graphics card? And what about resolution? Is 1080p satisfactory for you (go with the RTX 3060 or RX 6700 XT)? Or is the least pleasing image for your eyes starting at 1440p (go with the RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT)?
Buying a powerful graphics card at the expense of other components may cause many problems, the most important of which is the bottleneck. For example, having a powerful card like the RTX 4090 with a mid-range processor like the Ryzen 5 5600X will prevent you from taking full advantage of the card.
Finally, we recommend that you supplement the information in this article with the information we covered in our article on the most important tips when assembling a new gaming computer. If you want even better advice, it would be to seek the help of a specialist during the computer assembly process so that you can do it.