- 18 hours ago
In this video, Jason walks you through how to build gaming PC for beginners breaking down the entire process step by step. He covers all the essential PC components, including the motherboard, CPU, RAM, power supply, storage, and case, with a special focus on how to install a graphics card for maximum gaming performance and how to install a processor with liquid cooling for optimal thermals and reliability.
Along the way, Jason shares practical tips for proper PC cable management, airflow optimization, and avoiding common PC-building mistakes, so your setup looks as good as it performs. Whether you’re following along with your first-ever gaming PC build, upgrading an existing rig, or just need a refresher before swapping in new parts, this guide is designed to help you build a high-performance gaming PC with confidence. Perfect for beginners, enthusiasts, and anyone looking to level up their custom PC build.
Along the way, Jason shares practical tips for proper PC cable management, airflow optimization, and avoiding common PC-building mistakes, so your setup looks as good as it performs. Whether you’re following along with your first-ever gaming PC build, upgrading an existing rig, or just need a refresher before swapping in new parts, this guide is designed to help you build a high-performance gaming PC with confidence. Perfect for beginners, enthusiasts, and anyone looking to level up their custom PC build.
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00So how do you build a PC? I guess we're going to find that out together, aren't we?
00:05I'm here at Scan in Bolton. For those watching in the US, think about this place slightly
00:09equivalent to like a Micro Center, an NZXT, the kind of store that does a whole lot of things
00:16in the world of computing, but their bread and butter is gaming PCs. And you can get these in
00:21several different flavors. You can either buy the pre-built straight out, you can even pay to watch
00:26them build it on the live stream, or like I'm about to do, you can just come down and build
00:33it
00:34yourself. Now, I've got to be transparent about something here. I've never actually built a PC
00:40from scratch, but I do have my own personal scam bodyguard who's currently behind the scenes
00:45who will either nod his head or shake his head if I'm doing something horrendously wrong, which
00:53I believe I won't. If my primary school friend who, no word of a lie, I saw him eat so
01:00much glue
01:00when we were in class, can build a PC, then I can too. Surely. So what I'm looking at right
01:09here
01:09is all the pieces that you will need to build a PC on a pretty sweet little turntable. Now to
01:17sum it
01:17all up, basically, you're going to need a CPU for all of the computer processing stuff, you're going
01:23to need a GPU for all the gaming, RAM to help with the multitasking, the SSD to like store all
01:29the games
01:29and files that you've got. But essentially, what you would do is you take these two screws off, you
01:33will take the peel off of this heatsink, pop it in, make sure you've got the riser on it as
01:38well, because
01:38you don't want the SSD to bend back, pull it all in, screw all in, job's good. And then of
01:43course, you're going
01:44to need the whole motherboard to put everything on to, thermal paste to put on the CPU to then place
01:50the cooler and its fans, then a power supply to, well, power it all. You can see that scan has
01:56already
01:57done me quite the favor. And of course, as you see, a case to put everything into. And probably the
02:03most
02:04essential bit is the screwdriver. Now, just to let you know what I'm using here, this is an ATX case,
02:11it's probably going to be the easiest to build into, the best to kind of like expand upon as well,
02:16modularity to it as well. Oh, wait, it's me back in my room again. And I just wanted to give
02:20you
02:20some tips on how to pick the right components for what you want to do. I want you to think
02:26about the
02:26components that you choose, kind of like a full host pipe system, because you need to make sure
02:31you get the right balance of things going through so that you're making the most of everything that
02:36you've got. The nozzle for the host pipe is your GPU. Obviously, don't spray water through your
02:42graphics card. The bit in the middle, the host pipe, that is going to be your CPU. If you've got
02:48a big nozzle on the end, like a 5090 or something like that, you're going to need a good industrial
02:54strength host pipe in the middle to be able to support all the water to go through to that nozzle
03:00and use it to its fullest extent. But if you have something more baseline to mid-range, then you're
03:05not going to need that industrial strength pipe. Kind of a waste of money. So you could go something
03:10lower than that. And then the power supply is the tap. And if you don't have enough power coming from
03:16that power supply to go through all of the other components, you're going to run into some problems.
03:20And like I said, it's about finding a good balance between all of these things to make sure you get
03:26the most bang for your buck. And then in terms of like calculating the balance between the CPU and the
03:31GPU, what you could do is Google search Ballnet Calculator. There's hundreds of them. And they are
03:39kept well up to date with the GPU's demands and the CPU's demands. So you can see whether you're going
03:46to
03:46get just the right Zen light balance between the components. Anyway, back to me building the PC.
03:52It's best to build on the motherboard outside of the case. Obviously, each motherboard is going to
03:57be a bit different. So for example, on this one, I've got the ASUS TUF Gaming B50E plus Wi-Fi.
04:04Can't forget that bit. And in terms of some of the way that these connectors down at the bottom are
04:09going to be labeled on some of these motherboards, that will differ by brand. Make sure that you're
04:13checking the supplier manual to kind of see how things are differently labeled on each motherboard.
04:17It's time for probably the most delicate bit, which is installing the CPU. Now the CPU is going to be
04:27smack bang in the middle here, but there is a shield on this. Do not touch it and do not
04:32lose it. If you
04:34need to ever sort of like return it under warranty or anything like that, if you don't have this,
04:39they will not take it. This is protecting the pins underneath and they're incredibly sensitive.
04:43So do not touch them and just gently lift that up to reveal the pins. Like I said, no touching.
04:52You
04:52will see a gold triangle to kind of tell yourself which way the CPU is going to go. And you're
05:01going
05:01to correspond that with the triangle on the actual CPU area. Once you've got those matched up,
05:09what you will then do is just very carefully line it up and it should sit completely flush.
05:19You can then close the lid
05:22and then put the CPU brace arm back down and then that will come off.
05:30Next up, it's time for the RAM sticks. But the most common mistake is that the RAM sticks are kind
05:34of put
05:35closer to the CPU, as if people are thinking that's going to be kind of like the same as that
05:40when you
05:40put the GPU closest to the PC. The assumption is if I put them in here, it's closest to the
05:46CPU,
05:46so I get the most speeds, whereas actually that's not the case. What you could actually do is
05:51essentially half the speed of your RAM. You're not getting those high transfer speeds. So the common
05:57rule of thumb with installing RAM is that you pull it in slots two and four if you have two
06:04sticks.
06:04So what you're going to do on slots two and four is just open up the clips and then you're
06:09going to
06:09take a look for the little slits and you're going to line it up with the line that goes on
06:16here.
06:16Give it a bit of a push down and you'll hear a pretty satisfying click. And then once again
06:23with the second stick, this is all very therapeutic isn't it? So we need to keep it cool. And you've
06:30got
06:30two options. A and probably the most cost effective and easiest one to install is a fan cooler. B is
06:37an
06:37all-in-one liquid cooler. Now for an AIO cooler, you're going to want to install that after you've
06:43put the motherboard in so that you can like measure it all out properly and make sure that it's all
06:47in
06:47there. But with a fan cooler, given it's much smaller dimensions in this way, you're going to want to
06:52put it on now. That way it saves you a lot of hassle of just having to kind of like
06:57try and
06:57eye it up when you've got it in the case. You're going to start with what's called the risers. This
07:01essentially suspends the CPU cooler over the top so that the contact point will just be the bit that's
07:07supposed to cool it. Luckily for this one, there is instruction manuals and stuff like that that you
07:12can follow. But then also on the back of it, they've been very kind as to put specific labels on
07:18it.
07:18So you know where it's supposed to be pointing to. And for those who are curious, this is a Noctua
07:23CPU fan cooler. So what you'll do here is you'll start to put on the standoffs just to raise the
07:31cooler here and then same again on this side and this motherboard, the zero millimeter hole. And then
07:39when you've got the bracket on, it's time to figure out how the cooler is going to make contact with
07:44the
07:44CPU. Because if you have two pieces of metal touching without any sort of way of transferring
07:50thermal energy from the CPU to the cooler, you're going to have a very bad time. And chances are
07:56your house may smell like burnt metal for a little bit. And that is where thermal paste comes in. But
08:04the
08:04general advice that I have always followed is just to apply a pea sized amount right in the middle.
08:14I know that we've put this straight in the middle, but the contact between this
08:17and the CPU will spread it out anyway. Yep. And once you've eyed it, screw it in.
08:25It's good practice to kind of alternate between sides as you screw it in as to not bend one side
08:35more than the other. Not necessarily the worst thing in the world if you do, but also you're
08:40spending a lot of money on this stuff. So obviously it pays to be careful. And then once you've screwed
08:45it in as tight as you possibly can, it's time to put these two fans on here to ensure that
08:50there is an
08:50airflow that's going through this radiator in order to keep the CPU cool. Also good general practice
08:56with fans. Usually it is the logo side of the fan that the air comes out of. So if I'm
09:03to do this,
09:04you'll notice that the air kind of comes in one side and out the other. Also good to know for
09:08like
09:09case fans and stuff like that. And with this clipping mechanism, you're going to want to make sure that
09:13this bigger bit goes over this ridge in the cooler. And that is exactly what we're going to do.
09:20We'll sit it nice and flush. And now you have a motherboard bit that is starting to look a bit
09:29more like a PC. Nice. And now before we do anything else, we want to make sure that this is
09:35plugged
09:35into the motherboard so that the fans go whirr when I turn the computer on. So we've got a splitter.
09:41We'll go ahead and connect this all together. Give them a bit of a wiggle, give them a bit of
09:47a push
09:48to make sure that they're in. And then you're going to want to go for the CPU fan header,
09:52which as you can see labeled on this motherboard is that bottom one. Click it in, sorted.
09:59So now that we've got this bit sorted, the best way to do this going forward, given the
10:05heft of the graphics card, is to put this in the case first as to ensure that you can have
10:11this
10:11laying flat and you can make sure you've got a proper connection with this,
10:14while also sorting out your cable management around the back. 99% of the time your case is
10:21going to come with fans, but in the situation where they don't, you're going to need to get
10:26some additional fans. And you've got to think about the airflow. Remember what we talked about
10:30with the CPU cooler, whichever way the logo is facing, the air is going to come that way.
10:35So in this computer, you're going to get the full airflow kind of coming through and out the back.
10:40So long as you're thinking about this stuff and keeping it thermally efficient in that way,
10:45you're going to be just fine. Because the last thing you want to do is cook your computer while
10:51trying to play Cyberpunk. Gently lay it down on its side. And one of the differences you're
10:56going to notice in some of these cases is exactly where you're going to screw in the motherboard.
11:01So you'll notice all the screw holes that you've got here to place it into.
11:04Well, you want to make sure that you've got the risers in the case to put the motherboard onto,
11:10because the last thing you want to do is have all of this work on the back.
11:15Make contact with any of the metal off the back of the PC. Otherwise that could cause some problems.
11:24And you're going to start to screw it in.
11:33And then once you have all the screws in, it's probably pretty good practice now to actually
11:39think about getting the cables through from the case into the motherboard itself.
11:44You've got certain slots for certain things. So you will have a motherboard plug that has two cables
11:51that goes in and it goes up to usually this long ass one here, but that will go through and
11:57power
11:58the motherboard itself. Then you have the CPU and PCIe plugs. When you go to something like
12:04this beast over here, then you'll find a direct 16 pin connector right here on this PSU, which goes around
12:14to this one, which is all the power that you will need. So we'll take the CPU plugs
12:20and as it's convenient being organized for us here, we'll feed them through this top bit.
12:26Make sure that you're lining up the actual shape of the connectors with what's going on in there.
12:32And then you'll take the 24 pin connector of the motherboard, feed that through the channel
12:36where it's going to be closest to that as well, just to keep the cables nice and tidy.
12:40Once again, wait for that click from Sol. And then it's time for the USB-A and USB-C
12:47connections onto the motherboard so that you can get the USB ports on top working just fine for you.
12:53You'll just have to line up the groove on it with the groove in the socket.
13:00And then with this one, it's kind of hard to see, but like there's a slightly bigger corner edge of
13:08it.
13:08And if you match that to like the bottom of the port, then you'll be able to line it up.
13:16If you're not feeling it go in, try not to wrestle it in.
13:22You don't want to break your motherboard.
13:24And now that we have a CPU, sticks of RAM, cooler, SSD, everything is plugged in.
13:31The power supply has all the cables going through, connected to the motherboard.
13:35The USB on the front panel is connected as well, including the power switch.
13:39Otherwise, we're not going to be able to turn this bloody thing on.
13:42It's time for the main event.
13:44So first of all, let's see what we're dealing with here.
13:47We've got an RTX 5080, the ASUS Prime with 16 gigabytes of GDDR7 video memory.
13:55This is, without a better way of saying it, a bit of a 4K gaming beast.
14:02So inside you get the pretty package.
14:05And I assume this is something along the lines of thank you for buying.
14:11And then you get everything in an anti-static bag, which, interesting tidbit for you here.
14:17In terms of, if you were ever to upgrade a GPU or upgrade a motherboard, if you get an anti
14:25-static bag with it,
14:26my recommendation would be to keep it and keep the box.
14:29Because you never know if you need to go back to that thing, but it's also good for preservation.
14:34You don't want to get too much static electricity running through the components that you buy.
14:50So now that we've got the card unwrapped, I mean, look at that detail.
14:55It's going to go in the top PCIe slot.
14:58I know there's other ones, but top one, closer to the CPU, closer to the RAM.
15:02More PCIe lanes going to the thing.
15:05I'm going to take out these two slots so that the entire GPU back is accessible via an HDMI or
15:14the DisplayPort cable.
15:15Which will be screws.
15:19Two and three.
15:21So these people are telling me I sound like I know what I'm doing.
15:24Let me know if you agree in the comments.
15:26So these braces come out.
15:30And now we go back to the RTX 5080.
15:35And now we're going to line it up with a satisfying click, the GPU goes in.
15:42Now, normally in these situations, if you need to get it out quick, there is a quick release switch back
15:46here.
15:47That's also a good indicator.
15:48Like when that clicks, you know, you're in place, but also give it a little as well, just in case.
15:54And now those same screws that you took out to get rid of these back plates,
15:59you're going to put those in to secure the whole thing down.
16:03And while you're here, before you forget, you might as well take that GPU cable.
16:10And plug it straight in.
16:12Ladies and gentlemen.
16:14That is a gaming PC.
16:17Oh, wow.
16:20Let's go.
16:23You didn't see me laughing about this off camera, but they got me a branded one.
16:29Put the glass straight on.
16:31And then with the mother of all satisfying peels,
16:36the Tom's Guide test bench is now complete.
16:39And as you can see, ladies and gentlemen and MBs, I did not screw up my first PC build.
16:45It passed all of Scans tests.
16:47And I would like to introduce you to the Tom's Guide test bench.
16:51I think I cooked here.
16:52So as you can see, got the custom glass side with the Tom's Guide branding.
16:56Also put my name on there just in case anyone else on the Tom's Guide team tries to take it.
17:00You can take it from my cold, dead hands.
17:03But as well, we take the side off and I can show you what we're dealing with here.
17:06So as you can see, it's not super RGB laden.
17:09And that is kind of by choice.
17:11I've never been a fan of like the overflash it in your face kind of stuff.
17:14But on the B650E motherboard, you've got yourself a Noctua fan cooler.
17:19You've got the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D just underneath there.
17:24Two sticks, 32 gigs of DDR5 RAM.
17:27You've got the RTX 5080 right here.
17:29The SSD is just hiding underneath this heatsink going on down here.
17:34Powering it up, you've got the Corsair RM850E PSU.
17:37And this is all housed within the gorgeously refined Fractal case
17:42that comes with triple fans on the front as well.
17:44Now, obviously, in the guide that I did with you,
17:46I showed you all the steps except for three, which are kind of critical to the build.
17:52Number one is installing the power supply.
17:54Number two is plugging in the fans of the case.
17:56And number three is all the cable management you do around the back.
18:00And that was because Scan had already had all of that pre-prepared.
18:03Shout out to Klaus for helping me with that.
18:05But of course, I'm keen to provide those additional steps.
18:08If you need them, do go ahead and let me know in the comments
18:11and I can build something else completely from scratch.
18:14I've been Jason England.
18:15Subscribe to Tom's Guide for more.
18:19And I'll see you in the next one.
18:21Take care.
18:22The general advice that I have always followed whenever I've been switching CPUs
18:29is to take the cap off.
18:31Sorry, mate.
18:34I've been Jason England.
18:37Subscribe to comp...
18:39How do I even say it wrong?
18:42Editor, make sure you're cutting around me making all these mistakes.
18:45I.
18:46I.
18:46I.
Comments