We’ve spoken before of a decent monitor for your PC, or even a review of an AMD CPU, but never how to prepare yourself for when you’ve bought all the components necessary.
Finding the right hard drive and graphics card can be an adventure in itself, especially after weeks or even months of research in finding just the right component for your future PC build.
There’s a moment, as I discovered when I was about to start building mine in January, of final checks. Making sure that the CPU matched with the Motherboard, or making sure that the hard drive was the right type, and the right size.
It can be daunting, so with that, here’s some pre-checks before you start building your dream PC.
Even More Research.
Regardless of the fact that you now have a stack of boxes that equal a PC when built, it still helps to research just how to slot each component in, which one to start and end with, alongside anything to avoid.
Doing this keeps you prepared and also to miss any potential pitfalls. Some components even come with a guide, and even a video guide too; the motherboard I bought came with QR codes, so you could scan it with your smart device, and be brought directly to a YouTube guide. This saved a lot of confusion.
Make sure the CPU fits with the Motherboard.
May sound obvious, but this is one of the most common pitfalls. You may find a great deal on a motherboard, but you find out, to your horror, that it only accepts a socket from an AMD CPU, not Intel.
Make sure that the motherboard matches with the CPU, otherwise you may find yourself in a bind before you even begin, so make sure that they are both bought at the same time, or at least close to one another.
Is the PSU the right amount of Wattage.
Power is everything in a Gaming PC; if you buy a GeForce 2070 Super and the PSU only has 350W, then there’s going to be a lot of bottlenecks.
A PSU is what gives every component its power in order to work efficiently. If there’s not enough, the PC will be a world of hurt, and will struggle to run, so make sure you have a PSU with enough wattage, but with enough surge protection, because you never know when a lone lightning strike could occur.
Make sure the Motherboard fits in the case
Another tip that may sound obvious, but make sure you have an ATX case that fits all the components you’ve bought. A quick search on Amazon shows the variety of cases you can buy, from a micro ATX to a full tower. If you buy a high-tier graphics card, it usually comes in a design that features three fans, which usually means a lot of space is required for that section of the case. When you consider potential extra wires for RGB and fans, there needs to be good airflow for the components, so make sure that there’s plenty of room for the components to breath in the case.
Have a backup plan
There’s always a chance that even though you will be doubly-prepared, with everything ready to go, a component could fail.
Or even if you’ve already set up the PC and you’ve decided to add a second hard drive, just so you can add some more Steam games in the Summer Sale, it could fail as soon as you plug it in. This example happened to me after purchasing a 4TB HDD, and I simply requested a refund and bought another brand.
But if it fails at the first hurdle, have the refund details ready for every component; make sure that the order confirmations in your mailbox is in its own folder, so you can easily access them when needed.
READ MORE: Steam Summer Sale, How to get a £100 Top-Up Card
There you have it; five pre-checks to make sure that you’re on the right track. We’re confident that you’ve made sure that you’ve bought a motherboard that only works with an AMD or Intel CPU, otherwise you may have to look at a refund.
But the five pre-checks from the above can make sure you’re in good stead for when you’re spending a weekend slotting everything in, and making sure that the BIOS gives a green tick that you’re good to go in installing Windows.
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!
Features