How to Build a Gaming PC #Helpful Post

hey guys this is Austin and today I'm

here with my 2017 gaming PC build

tutorial so if you guys have never built

a computer before it is really

straightforward but I'm going to walk

you through step by step also I sound

like some infomercial guy call now for

your three quick tips on how to build

yourself a gaming PC for tools it's

pretty straightforward all he is a

Phillips screwdriver now beyond that you

need to have a decent size workspace so

I'm going to be using this table as long

as you have an area that's big enough to

set out your parts you're fine beyond

that you should if possible do this in

an area without carpet as static

electricity is not a good thing with PC

parts so first step is to grab your case

and pull it out of the box now this is

by far our biggest component and this is

as the case name applies where all of

our parts end up going so this is the

case now the first step here is just

going to be opening it up so around back

they're going to be four screws and all

it's going to allow us to do is take off

the side panel inside here all we do is

get all of our cables out so this is

what's going to go into the motherboard

later we also have a little bit of

hardware as well as some cable ties for

our cable management the first thing to

install is going to be our power supply

so this is a literal heart of our build

and one of those important things when

picking a power supply is to get a high

quality unit there are lots of very

cheap units that say they have a lot of

power but really you should be looking

for something within 80 plus rating

whether it's 80 plus bronze gold silver

whatever that means that you're going to

at least get something with decent

quality so inside the power supply box

nandu we actually have the supply itself

we also have the cable as well as we

have a few extras little accessories the

most important thing here is we have

four little screws that we were going to

use to actually mount the supplying

something else to keep in mind when

picking up a power supply is modular

versus non modular so this guy is non

modular and these are typically cheaper

and the only thing that really means is

whether the cables are attached or not

so over this system we have plenty of

room for cable management inside so it

really doesn't matter that we have a

bunch of extra cables but we aren't

going to use especially if you're doing

a smaller system where every little bit

of space matters anyone spend just a

little bit extra to pick up a modular

supply and so on the power supply is

pretty straightforward one thing you

need to watch out for is where the fan

is this always needs access to cool air

so cases actually will handle this a

little bit differently sometimes so some

cases will actually put it on the top

which means that you should have the fan

facing upward but for this guy since

we're going to be putting on on the

bottom as simple as putting the stand

face down lining it up and it should

just slide right into place to give this

guy in place all we do is use the four

screws that comes with and they're going

to be corresponding holes on the case

plenty to do is just get this in let's

do it super tight or anything but once

we get these guys in place the power

supply is not going to be going anywhere

one little tip when it comes to printer

screwing anything in is you want to use

a cross pattern so I'm going to do this

one then this one and this one and this

one this just helps that pinch anytime

you're mounting hardware to make sure

that you're applying even pressure

instead of just doing like one side

maybe like slightly out of place so that

is all we have to do with the power

supply for now the next step is to move

our case out of the way and grab our

motherboard so this might not look like

much but it is essentially what

everything in the computer connects to

this is the motherboard so there are

different sizes of motherboards and

that's something that you definitely

want to pay attention to before you

actually pick out all the parts for your

build so this is the sort of medium size

known as micro ATX now thankfully with

this case it actually supports full

sized ATX so pretty much any size

motherboard will fit but it's definitely

something you want to look out for

before you actually buy all the parts

for your build before we give this

install let me quickly run you through

all the different sort of slots and

ports and things that we're going to be

using for the build so start with we

have the CPU socket pretty

self-explanatory this is where our CPU

is going to go beside that we have our

memory slots this board has two but some

do have four essentially that's where

our RAM goes we also do have our PCI

slots down here different motherboards

will have different amounts of PCI slots

but this is generally speaking where

you're going to put a graphics card and

sometimes you're going to put other

adding cards just like a network card or

Wi-Fi card beside the memory we have

four SATA ports so these are going to be

used for things which is installing our

SSD maybe a hard drive region an optical

drive and over beside that we have our

into slot so this is a newer motherboard

not all motherboards are going to have

this but this is going to be if you want

to install a newer faster SSD we're not

taking advantage of it for this bill but

the motherboard does support it now if

you actually want to flip the

motherboard around you're going to see

that over here we have all of our ports

so these are going to be what's going to

stick out the back of the case so say

you want to plug in something like USB

or Ethernet or whatever that's where all

these are going to go we're also going

to have to get powered

to our motherboard so first of all we

have our 20 plus 4 pen so this is going

to provide most of the power for pretty

much everything on the board we also

have either a 4 or an 810 CPU power

connector this board has an 8 pen there

works the exact same way next it's time

to install the processor so this is

going to be a little different depending

on whether you're using intel or AMD but

I'll walk you through it on both sides

it's basically the same process so

inside we're going to have some

paperwork which we don't need at all as

well as our CPU cooler and processor so

you want to be a little bit careful with

the cooler that's so much the top but on

bottom there's going to be a little bit

of pre applied thermal paste do not

touch that and inside this little

plastic piece here we have the processor

itself you actually do want to be

careful with this guy so when you're

handling a processor you always want to

grab it from the side do not touch any

of these little pads it's especially

important with a and D processors

instead of having pads that have pens

and if any of those get bent you were in

serious trouble one thing to look for on

the bottom of the processor is this tiny

little gold arrow that's going to match

up with a corresponding arrow on the

processor socket and making sure that

you're not going to put this in sideways

or upside down it's pretty

straightforward to install so we just

need to pull the arm back and open up

the socket line our CPU up being very

careful not to drop it too hard and then

once it's in place we just need to push

this arm back into place and our CPU is

installed pretty easy the next step is

putting on the heatsink again it's going

to be pretty straightforward so they're

going to be four pins which will line up

to the corresponding notches on the

motherboard so all these do is line it

up make sure that we don't actually let

that thermal paste touch yet and then

once it's a place only to do is just

press it in until it clicks then we just

have to plug in the fan so we just need

to unwind a fan header from around our

CPU cooler so for this motherboard we're

going to be plugging it in right here

however it's because of the cable just a

little bit long what I like to do is

actually just tie a little bit of a knot

to get rid of some of the slack

now the actual fan header itself will

only go in one way because these two

little notches so if we line it up and

press it in tuck our cable away and

we're pretty much good to go the next

tip is installing our memory so that was

going to be pretty straightforward so

there are different types of randant you

need to look out for so most newer

systems this one included are going to

be

ddr4 memory if you're doing a slightly

older system that will be using ddr3 but

basically the same thing as far as

installing it might sound obvious but if

you have a ddr4 motherboard you have to

use ddr4 Ram and vice versa with ddr3

now it can be a little tricky because

these do look very similar but ddr4 does

have a different pen layout what is

pretty much the same between the two

there's going to be a little notch about

two thirds of the way down the memory

that's going to correspond to a matching

notch on the motherboard so this is only

going to go in one way so let me do is

line it up and just press down firmly

until you get the click and your memory

is installed before ready to actually

install our motherboards though we want

to get the i/o shield ready so this is

what's going to essentially go over the

ports right here but instead of putting

on the motherboard we're actually going

to put it on the case you do want to

make sure the shield is facing the

correct orientation once you get it all

you do is just line up with the back of

your case and once you do just pop it

right and that sounded a lot more

violent than it actually was

now used to go into the bag of hardware

that comes with your case inside we're

going to find these standoffs so these

are going to be what we actually use to

mount the motherboard so on one side

we're going to screw them into the case

and on the other we're going to mount

the motherboard so as I shall now

demonstrate with my wonderful assistant

Wes all you need to do is first take the

motherboard and just kind of test fit in

here

don't let it all the way down what you

can do is you can see that we have six

holes on the motherboard and that's

going to line up with these six holes

that are going to be in the case now

because this is a bigger casement for

ATX motherboards you'll see that we have

a bunch of extra holes what we do is put

these standoffs in the correct locations

so if the standoffs all you do is just

get them in finger tight they don't have

to be super super hard in there but

again just make sure that you get all

the stand ups and the right locations

the next step is removing our PCI covers

so this case actually does it a little

differently than most so essentially

right back here is where our graphics

card is going to go and typically you

would just unscrew it and take it out or

with this case we actually have to just

push them out of place there go the way

harder than it should be so once you get

the first one out it's not so bad but if

you get

case that actually just a little ow you

to unscrew it that makes things a lot

simpler otherwise you have to wiggle it

back and forth until it pops out all we

have to do now is just take our

motherboard line it up with our

standoffs

and take careful attention to the i/o

shield you wanna make sure that all the

ports are going to be fully visible

through the back which they are once you

have it lined up then you have to screw

it in place so we have a little bag of

screws here most of the time cases will

actually have lots of different very

similar-looking screws so it might take

a little bit of trial and error but just

get a few these screws out and we should

get this guy into place this is

definitely time where you want to use

cross threading on your screws so say if

you want to do one side and then the

other what can happen is the boardwax is

slightly shift so just do one corner

then go to the opposite corner opposite

corner opposite corner until we make

sure the board is all the way in place

so for this bill we are using an SSD

instead of a hard drive but the process

of installing and especially cabling it

is basically the exact same thing the

biggest difference is an SSD is just

going to be a physically smaller drive

which means that use a slightly

different mounting point with this case

we're going to be using the full three

and a half inch drive bay which is

typically used for bigger hard drives

however we do have the mounting points

for an SSD so only thing you have to

watch out for here is to make sure that

the connectors for the SSD are going to

be facing backward towards the back of

the case otherwise your cable management

is going to be challenged once you

launch a SSD up it's as simple as just

using a few screws to hold it into place

and this guy isn't going anywhere and we

just slide our SSD into the case and

that's pretty much it we are almost done

with putting Hardware in the case the

next step is to start with our wiring so

this can look a little intimidating but

it's really not that bad so to start

with we can find the little three pin

connector from our fan and all you do is

you plug that into the system fan header

on the top left of the board there's a

lot of extra slack here so we're going

to tuck that around because you know

totally now I'm going to notice that

right now we have to find the 20+4 pin

connector from our power supply so it's

going to be probably the biggest one out

of all your power supply cables so just

note that there's going to get a little

clip on the side all you do is just line

up with the larger connector on the

motherboard and just press it until it

clicks into place working our way down

the right side of the motherboard

we now need to go and pull all these

cables that are connected to the case so

for here in this build we have a USB 3

header so there's one USB 3.0 port on

the front of the case now this is a

little bit of a tricky connector mostly

because if you get it kind of stuck I've

actually seen that the whole front of

this will actually pull off so you

definitely want to make sure that you

kind of line up correctly but just like

the other one there's going to be a

little notch so it's only going to go in

one way so we plug into a USB 3.0 header

right here and just press it into place

and we should be good well we're here

let's plug in the front panel connectors

so these are the tiny little connectors

that are going to be running from the

front of the case so essentially this is

going to allow things like the power

button to work and the LEDs that kind of

stuff now these are all going to be

labeled so there's going to be a

positive and negative so that's going to

correspond to whatever it says either on

the actual connectors on the bottom

right of the board or if you just check

the owner's manual that will also give

you the exact diagram so for here we

actually only have four of these so if

we line it up should just go right into

place

this case also has a couple of USB 2.0

ports which is what this cable is for so

this is a pretty straightforward

connector so it actually has one pin

knocked out so you can only put it in

one way and for this case we're just

going to plug it into the white header

here so just line it up and press it all

the way em simple acts

last but not least we have the audio

connector so as the name implies is

going to allow the headphone and

microphone jack on the front of the case

to work and just like the USB port

there's going to be one little pen it's

knocked out so you can't put it in the

wrong way so just line it up but then

and we're done with the little fiddly

stuff we're almost ready to install the

graphics card but before we do that we

just need to plug in the CPU power

connector so it's basically two four

pins that can go together as an eight

pen so with this board we need to use

both but a lot of motherboards you only

have to plug one end now is the fun part

this is our graphics card so with a

gaming PC when it comes to picking parts

that really kind of impact gaming

performance the graphics card really is

pretty much the most important part

now the graphics card isn't especially

fragile so you don't have to be super

careful with it but generally speaking

you should touch it by the plastic bit

or the metal as opposed to the board on

the back this is about as small as a

graphics card gets but it works the

exact same way even if you have a much

larger more expensive card plenty do is

flip it around

so that you have the board on the top

and once you have your PCI slot and your

cover is open just line it up and all

you do is press it until it clicks into

place

all we have to do is just make sure the

graphics card is lined up with the holes

on the side of the case and just screw

it into place so we're gonna use two

screws to do this and that's pretty much

it so because there's a little bit of a

lower part of graphics card you actually

don't need to do anything else but for

most graphics cards you're also going to

want to run a 6-pin connector from your

power supply it's gonna look a little

something like this

and plug it in but again with this card

we plug it in it's good to go we are

almost there

next step is to pull out these SATA

cables that came with the motherboard

and all you do is grab one end and plug

it into the board right here these are

not so they're definitely not going to

go in the wrong way and then if we wrap

the cable around back so it doesn't get

in our way then we just plug the data

cable into the back of the SSD so it's

going to be the smaller port and this

guy's going to click in place and that's

pretty much it now we have to run power

we're going back to the power supply we

have these SATA leads so it looks very

similar to the data so it's a long flat

cable with a little notch and just like

before all you do is line that up with

the back of the SSD plug it in and our

SSD is a Harmsen ready to go well we're

back here we need to plug in the front

fan so we actually have two options of

doing that so typically we're going to

want to use the little three pin header

to plug it straight into the motherboard

however this board actually doesn't have

another slot so we can actually just use

the molex so this is another cable

you're going to get off the power supply

well it looks a little crooked and weird

all we do here is just plug it into

place so quicks

and our fan is going to be good to go

now the system is basically done so this

is always the most exciting part does

the computer work so once you get a

mouse keyboard monitor and plug

everything in hopefully everything works

so it's the best feeling ever when it's

actually boots on the first try so the

next thing we have to do is give it

about thirty seconds or so and we should

get video up on the monitor or less than

30 seconds that actually is really quick

so if you've gone to this point

congratulations you have a fully working

computer now is the point to turn the PC

off unplug it and start doing some cable

management

this may be not quite the clearest thing

in the world but once you get all that

ready you're good to install windows and

have a fully working gaming computer if

you want more information on the actual

parts ideas for the system you can check

out the photon 3.0 build guide and if

you enjoy this video definitely be sure

to subscribe to the channel to see more

gaming pc and lots of other cool tech

videos like this anyway guys thank you

so much for watching and I will catch

you in the next one