How to Build a Gaming PC! (2016) #Helpful Post

Time to build a gaming PC. When it comes to building your own computer it’s surprisingly

easy and you still get all the benefits of getting the exact PC you want. Get yourself

a decent sized workplace and a Phillips screwdriver and we’re good to go. Start by pulling the

case out of the box, unscrew the side panel and pop it off so we have some room to work.

Inside you’ll find the accessories like the hardware along with the power supply.

This case comes with it preinstalled but it’s easy enough to do yourself, just make sure

the fan is pointed in a direction where it can pull in air, in this case it’s mounted

on top but some PCs have it on the bottom. There are guides to slide it in and then it’s

as simple as using the four included screws to tighten it down. While we’re here grab

the bag of hardware that came in the case and pull out the small brass standoffs, sometimes

these are preinstalled but it’s as simple as screwing them in for whatever motherboard

you have, in this case it’s MicroATX. If you have any doubts you can use test fit the

motherboard to measure where the screws need to go, here we need six standoffs. For now

set the case aside and pull out the motherboard. It’s wrapped in an anti static bag so be

careful to pull it out by grabbing it by the plastic pieces and set it down on the cardboard

box. There are also a few accessories included that you’ll need like the SATA cables and

I/O shield. This is installed in the rear of the case, it can be a little fiddly but

just pop it into place with the audio ports on bottom. Before we continue let’s take

a quick look around the motherboard. Basically everything in the build connects here, for

example this gray socket in the middle is where the processor is installed. To the right

of that are the RAM slots for memory and on the bottom are the PCIe slots which is where

we’ll be installing the graphics card a bit later on. On the bottom corner you’ll

find two of the four SATA ports to connect hard drives and SSDs. Most of your ports are

on the back side which will be where you’ll plug stuff in at the rear of the case. Right

beside the RAM slots is the 20+4 pin connector which delivers the main power for the board,

there’s also a smaller four pin connector near the CPU socket which provides power for

the processor. Speaking of let’s crack open our CPU. Inside you should find the processor

itself along with a heatsink and fan, this is essentially the heart of the build and

it’s fairly fragile. This AMD chip has lots of delicate pins on the back which you want

to be careful with, if any of these get bent you’re in trouble. If you look at the bottom

of the heatsink you’ll see a thin layer of thermal paste, this is fine to use as is

for this build but try not to touch it before applying. Pull the lever by the socket back

and find the tiny gold triangle on the corner of the CPU, this matches a corresponding triangle

on the socket so gently set the processor down and pull the lever to lock it into place.

Now it’s time to install the heatsink, set it down square on the processor and for AMD

there’s a latch to press down that locks everything in place. Grab the four pin fan

connector and connect it to the CPU power on the motherboard and that’s it, the CPU

is installed and we’re ready to move on. Now grab the memory, this is super easy to

install. You’ll see a notch about two thirds down, this is what you’ll want to line up

on the slot on the motherboard and firmly press it into place until it clicks, that’s

all there is to it. Now it’s time to grab the case and drop the motherboard in on the

brass standoffs we installed earlier, just make sure all of the ports are properly lined

up with the I/O shield around back. Grab the small screws out of the bag of hardware that

came with the case and screw the board into place, starting at the corners and making

sure you tighten the board down nicely. Flip the computer back upright and we’re well

on our way to having a working gaming PC. Next up let’s install our SSD. Since this

is smaller than a normal hard drive you’ll want to mount it to the bottom of the case

instead of using one of the drive cages but you’ve got plenty of room to install multiple

drives in this case. Now it’s time to start cabling, first up grab the cable running from

the rear fan and plug it into the system fan header on the motherboard. Next you should

find the four pin CPU connector from the power supply, hook it up to the motherboard on the

top left. Next grab the long 20+4 pin cable and plug that into the corresponding connector

on the board. While we’re here let’s power the SSD which has two connectors on the end,

grab a SATA cable from the power supply and hook it up using the larger of the two ports

on the drive. Next there’s the SATA data cable that came with the motherboard, you’ll

see it has a notch on one end so it only goes in one way. Hook one end of the cable into

the motherboard SATA port and the other into the SSD, it’s as simple as that. Going back

to the cables inside the case you should see an AC97 and HD Audio connector, grab the HD

Audio and plug it into the matching plug on the board. You’ll also see a USB cable for

the front ports on the case, it’s the same story here and as before it only goes in one

way thanks to a knocked out pin. Along the bottom you’ll also find the front panel

connectors, these are a bit fiddly but they’re marked on the board as well as in the manual.

Just plug these in individually making note of which side is positive and negative, it’s

easy to mix up so if you have any problems turning the PC on later this is a great place

to double check. Grab your screwdriver and remove the two PCI slots on the back of the

case to make room for the graphics card. Like the motherboard this comes in an anti-static

bag and while it isn’t incredibly sensitive you should still handle it by the plastic

instead of the board. This is a fairly small card but they’re typically pretty similar,

you’ll find your video outputs on the rear and the PCIe connector on the bottom which

connects into the motherboard. Slide it into the top slot on the board until it clicks

into place then screw it in to keep things secure. Most power supplies have a six pin

PCIe power connector but since this doesn’t we’ll need a Molex to PCI adapter. Molex

might be a weird looking connector but it’ll get the job done, connect two cables into

the adapter and then plug it into the six pin on the graphics card and it’s powered

and ready to go. At this point we’re nearly done, especially with a budget build like

this cables aren’t going to be the neatest thing in the world but don’t worry about

that just yet. Grab a monitor, mouse and keyboard and plug everything in. If all is good it

should come right to life when you hit the power button, if not unplug and run through

your cables and connections to make sure everything is right. If it doesn’t automatically go

to the BIOS hit Delete or F9 on the keyboard to quickly run through to make sure everything

is present and working correctly. As long as everything looks good you can turn it off

and clean up what cables you can and you’ll be ready to throw a copy of whatever operating

system you’d like on it. Congrats, you’ve built yourself a gaming PC! If you need any

more info on the parts I used I did a video about that as well as the performance and

if you guys enjoyed this tutorial definitely consider subscribing for more videos like

this! Anyway guys thank you so much for watching and I will catch you in the next one.