See that big white case on the left? I'm going to put all these labeled parts into that case to make a super-powerful computer that will play video games in 4K.
In case you want to build a PC exactly like mine, I'll list each component as they come up. There's also a full list of everything I used at the very bottom of this story.
This is the motherboard, which acts as the host to most of the parts.
This is the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GA-Z170X 7 motherboard — you can buy it here. It's specifically designed for gaming, as it has some extra features that gamers will appreciate, like better internet performance. Gaming motherboards are also often built at a higher quality than regular motherboards, which means they're often more expensive, too.
To be honest, gaming keyboards are overkill for most gamers, including myself. However, I chose a gaming motherboard because I went for quality over value with this build.
I started by installing the CPU (the square thing I'm holding) into the motherboard. It's probably the easiest part of the whole build.
The CPU is the brain of a computer, as it's coordinating pretty much everything that's going on in the computer.
I bought the Intel Core i7 6700K processor — you can buy it here. It's one of the most powerful CPUs you can get at the moment and it's total overkill for today's gaming needs, as you can run games pretty smoothly with older and less powerful CPUs.
However, I'm planning to make this computer last a long, long time, so I wanted to future-proof it as much as I could with a powerful CPU that'll exceed specifications for several years.
The CPU is installed and ready to go after I close the clasp that holds it down!
The clasp is extremely tight on the CPU. I thought I was doing it wrong and it was going to break the chip, but everything was lined up and there was no reason for anything to go wrong.
Now it's time to install the RAM into its designated slots.
I got two sticks of the latest DDR4 RAM, with 16GB of RAM each for a total of 32GB of RAM, which is totally unecessary and excessive. The brand is Corsair and the model name is Vengeance LPX. You can buy it here.
The RAM is a computer's short term memory where it stores all the apps and files you've opened since turning on the computer, which lets you re-open those apps and files quickly. It's as easy as plugging in a USB mouse into your computer.
Now it's time to whip out the case and peel back that plastic film over the window panel. So satisfying.
This case is called the Fractal Design Define R5 — you can buy it here. I opted for a windowed side-panel because I had never used one before, and I wanted to show off the powerful-yet-pricey parts, mostly to myself.
I also went with a white color theme to be a little different, as so many PCs are drab and black.
The cables and wires that connect parts to other parts all go on the other side of the case, which has a dedicated cabling section.
Before the build, it's important to feed your body and soul for the adventure ahead.
This is a roast beef and cheddar sandwich with olive oil mayo and potato bread. Untoasted. I can't guarantee any PC build will work if you deviate from these sandwich specifications.
Once the feeding process was complete, I took out the "drive cages" that usually house hard drives and CD drives on the right of the case.
One of the reasons I picked the Fractal Define R5 case is because it lets you remove all the drive cages.
Since I'll only be using one SSD for storage, I don't need any of these drive cages, which take up space and block airflow from the fans once the computer is up and running.
It's time to install the motherboard's "I/O shield." It's important to do this before installing the motherboard because you can't add the shield afterwards.
Next up, installing the CPU cooler, which will, er, cool the CPU.
If there's one thing that CPUs hate, it's heat, so it's a good idea to get a good CPU cooler. I ended up choosing the Enermax ETS-T40F-W — you can buy it here.
This particular cooler is a radiator that sits on top of the CPU and sucks up all the heat into those metal fins in the radiator. Fans on either side of the radiator blow cool air through the fins so it can keep absorbing the heat from the CPU.
It comes pre-assembled the way it's shown above, but you can add another fan on the right side if you want.
Before installing the cooler, I needed to add a smidgen of what's called thermal compound, which helps transfer the CPU's heat to the cooler's radiator. I just dabbed a little bit of it right on top of the CPU.
This thermal compound is popular among PC builders, and it's called Arctic Silver 5. You can buy it here.
At this point, I wanted to see if the the parts I had installed were working. But before I could do that, I had to install the power supply unit and plug the power cables into the motherboard and all the parts connected to it.
This power supply unit is the Corsair RM650X. You can buy it here.
If the power supply unit was compared to a body part, it would be the heart, as it's pumping power through to all the parts in the computer.
The motherboard's own basic display flashed the error code "55." After looking it up in the motherboard's manual, I learned that "55" meant there was an error with the RAM.
I checked the RAM and noticed one of the sticks wasn't quite pushed all the way into its slot, and it was sitting higher than the other.
I tried booting up again after making sure the RAM was well seated into its slot, and it worked! The build continues.
The screen is showing what's called the BIOS. It's the motherboard's own operating system designed for tweaking and maintenance for your computer parts.
The reason why it's not running Windows at that time is because I hadn't yet installed the SSD where I had Windows 10 installed.
Now it's time to install the graphics card. This is the most important part of a powerful gaming PC, and it's the most expensive.
The graphics card is the muscle of your machine, as it provides the processing power for super-smooth gameplay and super-high resolutions. For this build, I went with the EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC.
None of this would be useful if I didn't have internet, and since I don't have Ethernet in my house, I had to get a WiFi adapter card.
Surprisingly, few motherboards come with built-in WiFi. At the same time, built-in WiFi probably wouldn't be very good anyway, so you're always better off getting a dedicated WiFi card.
This WiFi card it the Asus PCE-AC56 802.11ac Dual-band Wireless AC1300 PCI-E Adapter. Such a memorable model name. You can buy it here.
Then it was time to install the SSD for storage. Thankfully, this case has SSD mounts in the cabling section. This is before I added the power and data cable to the SSD.
For the SSD, I went with the Samsung 850 EVO 500GB. You can buy it here.
I just needed to connect the odd cable here and there for things like the case's power buttons, power LEDs, and audio jack at the front, and I was basically done. Time to see if it all works!
After a couple days of tweaking and testing, I eventually switched out the original white CPU cooler with a liquid-based cooler because it was quieter.
For the liquid-based CPU cooler, I went for the latest Corsair Hydro Series H115i — you can buy it here.
Heat in the radiator is blown away by these two fans in the front of the case. The water-based cooler kept the CPU cooler than original cooler while producing less noise. It also doesn't look as bulky in the case.
Here's a complete list of the parts I used.
Just so you know, this computer is excessively powerful for the average gamer, and it's pretty expensive, too.
Case: Fractal Design Define R5
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1 Gaming GA-Z170X 7
CPU: Intel Core i7 6700K
CPU fan: Enermax ETS-T40F-W
CPU water cooler: Corsair H115i Hydro Series
Thermal compound: Arctic Silver 5
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR 4 32GB
Power supply unit: Corsair RM650 X
WiFi card: Asus PCE-AC56 802.11ac Dual-band Wireless AC3100 PCI-E Adapter.
LED lighting: DeepCool RGB 330
All those parts came to a total of around $2,000. I must add that I had little regard for money on the day I decided to buy these parts, which is incredibly silly. At the same time, this computer will last me a long, long time, and I won't need to buy parts for several years to come. And as I mentioned earlier, I went with quality over value for this particular build.