Current Events > I'm building a PC for the first time ever and I have no idea what I'm doing.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've been trolling around PC Part Picker and Newegg the past day or two, and I thiiiink I have something put together? Like I said though, I have no idea what I'm doing.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Vvnhk6

Right now my biggest question is, is PC Part Picker's compatibility checker legit? Like, does that list of hardware all go together?

Any help would be really appreciated since this is the first time I've ever done this lol.
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Additionally, I specifically picked that case cuz it has a built-in SD card reader. How do I know if the motherboard supports it? I know that's a stupid question, but I saw some reviewer mentioning something like "My motherboard didn't have a place for SD card readers, so I just tucked that wire away."
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If you play games don't expect much with an integrated GPU like that
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Find a case that supports the same form factor as your motherboard. A common one is atx

Also get a big case they are noob friendly. Smaller cases require more time and patience to fit everything in
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PCPP hasn't let me down as far as compatibility specs, though I've heard of people having issues. The page that has the motherboard you want should list whether is has the sd reader.

Make sure to be naked or wear one of those static straps when you put it together. 90% of the time it won't matter, but it would be shit to ruin your first time that way.

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In terms of parts compatibility with each other it's hard to go screw up. If you are going for an Intel processor then get an Intel board. Same thing with AMD
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chris60050 posted...

If you play games don't expect much with an integrated GPU like that

Luckily I don't play games. I'm gonna be using it for work mostly. The most processor heavy stuff I'll be doing is Adobe CC for graphic design and photoshop and stuff.
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best way to approach this is to look at the specs of the motherboard & the case, because every single thing in this build will connect to one (or both) of these in some way.

for your processor you want to make sure that the chipset matches the processor, in this case you are good because they're both AMD.

next up is the RAM, if you look at your RAM you are buying two 8GB sticks of DDR4 RAM. so we look at the mobo, it's got two RAM slots (good), and supports DDR4 RAM. all set there.

now we see the SSD. it's a 2.5", so we look at the case to make sure it's got a 2.5" bay that the SSD can sit in (yup). now we look at how it's going to connect to the mobo - SATA 6 gb/s, and you're all set because if you look at the mobo you have connectors for up to 4 SATA 6gb/s connections.

for the power supply you need to calculate the wattage of all your components, but also just as important is making sure the power supply can fit in your case. usually atx power supplies will fit into a micro atx case, you might need to do some research on that particular model.

for the dvd drive, look at the size of the drive and then see if the case has a bay that supports it, in this case it looks like you're good too.

last is the GPU. looks like you dont have one listed but if you decide to go for one, make sure it can fit in the case, size-wise, and has the right connector for the motherboard. and you have to calculate it into the total wattage of the system too.

other ppl can probably give you better info but this is the basics, its been a while since i built a pc tho. a good suggestion is to post your build on r/buildapc, i found that is one of the most helpful pc sites on the internet and its very active.
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Tbqh the only reason I want to build one is cuz I want 16gb of RAM for Photoshop. We got a new laptop earlier this year with 8gb, and it runs Photoshop, but not as smoothly as I want. I'm working with some pretty big image files so memory usage is a concern for me.

Also I may be using Adobe Premiere for video editing in the near future as well. Is video encoding based more on GPU or RAM?
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ClunkerSlim posted...

If you're not building a gaming rig then I'd almost suggest just buying a prebuilt that's on sale at Best Buy or Amazon. You'll probably come out cheaper and it's less work. I'm not even sure if you should bother with 16gb of RAM. There's still people here running actual gaming rigs with only 8.

This

You can get a pre built machine with expandable memory.
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When I started building the biggest thing I wish I knew more about was how to perfect what kind of heatsinks I used and also motherboards that will allow plenty of years of upgrades.
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im not 13 posted...

ClunkerSlim posted...

If you're not building a gaming rig then I'd almost suggest just buying a prebuilt that's on sale at Best Buy or Amazon. You'll probably come out cheaper and it's less work. I'm not even sure if you should bother with 16gb of RAM. There's still people here running actual gaming rigs with only 8.

This

You can get a pre built machine with expandable memory.

Oh yeah? So I could just buy one, get the memory I want, and just slap it in there before I even turn it on?

How do I know if it's expandable? Will it just say on the specifications of product pages?
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LostForest posted...

im not 13 posted...

ClunkerSlim posted...

If you're not building a gaming rig then I'd almost suggest just buying a prebuilt that's on sale at Best Buy or Amazon. You'll probably come out cheaper and it's less work. I'm not even sure if you should bother with 16gb of RAM. There's still people here running actual gaming rigs with only 8.

This

You can get a pre built machine with expandable memory.

Oh yeah? So I could just buy one, get the memory I want, and just slap it in there before I even turn it on?

How do I know if it's expandable? Will it just say on the specifications of product pages?

It'll probably be buried in the product documentation, things like number of RAM slots aren't usually listed, and sometimes you can get different combinations of RAM depending on when and where it was produced. Worst case you can just swap out the RAM it comes with for 2 8gb sticks since every motherboard will have at least two slots guaranteed unless it's some kind of specialty niche machine

Use youtube videos to help putting it together. Thats how I built my first PC and it was really simple.

I also recommend against Newegg whenever possible because personally I have been about 50/50 with items arriving broke from them. That is an insane number. And when you get a broken tower from them with a 2-3 week turnaround you cant even make sure all your other parts are good.

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how much money are you willing to spend? i guess not that much since you linked a sub 400 PC
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You can always look at YouTube videos featuring the same case you're using. It's what I did, it's actually pretty simple tbh

Also unless I'm dumb, don't you need a much better cpu to run those kind of programs?

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Ballinari posted...

how much money are you willing to spend? i guess not that much since you linked a sub 400 PC

Nah not much since my last desktop was just a generic ass Gateway I bought on Amazon in 2013 for like $300. It served me well for the past six years, but it's starting to show its age.

I'm not a gearhead, and like I said I don't play games, I just need it for work.
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inTaCtfuL posted...

You can always look at YouTube videos featuring the same case you're using. It's what I did, it's actually pretty simple tbh

Also unless I'm dumb, don't you need a much better cpu to run those kind of programs?

I read that 2ghz is the minimum and Adobe recommends 3ghz for stability. The one I have listed there is 3.5, so I figured that was a safe bet.
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