How Much Does It Cost To Build A PC: Gaming & Budget

With so many new advancements in technology, a lot more powerful and sturdier equipment is available to buy, perfect for anyone, including you, to build your personal computer tailor-made to your liking and budget. The latest trend on the block is to purchase all the components and parts that go into the computer and attach them to create a perfectly tailored and unique PC. If you’re here for a direct answer to How Much Does It Cost to Build A PC, trust us! It isn’t that simple and easy! Let’s dive into further details to simplify your decision by expanding the complexities and easing them up for you.

Make Sure To Read: How Long Does It Take To Build A PC

Whether you are looking to take advantage of customizing the build of your PC with the desired specs or are a newbie getting into computers, building a PC requires a lot of work, dedication, and research. This research is crucial and must be carried out by the enthusiast, considering the swarm of different components available at different prices.

The challenges of building a PC also need to be considered but don’t be afraid as we will help you through the most crucial question when it comes to building a PC.

This article will tackle the biggest question PC builders and buyers face when getting into PC building: How Much Does It Cost to Build A PC. The answer to this question is a varied one depending entirely on the specifications of your components, implying that there is no definitive answer to How Much Is It To Build A PC. However, you should be able to figure out a good price range if you know which components you want to purchase.

Components Needed To Build a PC

If you have been searching the internet aimlessly and want to know exactly how much your PC Build costs, you should first assess which components will be packing your rig. This assessment will give you an idea of how powerful and fast the PC will be and how much the overall build will cost. If you’re unaware of the main components required for PC building, worry not, as we will be going with the flow over the major components, how much they cost and what utility they provide to your PC, helping you form an idea of How Much Does It Cost to Build A PC.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

While it is not the most important component on this list, it may have come to your mind first! The Central Processing Unit (CPU), known under various names, is responsible for performing all the basic operations involved in the PC. It won’t be unjust to call it the ‘brain’ of your computer. These basic operations include tasks like controlling, arithmetic, and I/O operations alongside providing the main processing power and giving instructions to other parts of the computer, regulating all the work the PC components need to work.

You’re probably already aware of many CPU brands. The first company that probably comes to mind is Intel which has a plethora of CPUs that it markets under series like the ‘Core i’ or ‘Core X  Series’, among many others. However, Intel has recently dropped their latest processor lineup under the code name ‘Alder Lake’ CPUs for their 12th generation processors, creating record-breaking benchmarks in the CPU community.

Check out the comparison of Intel’s latest Alder Lake entries, i5-12600k vs i9-9900k, with Gaming and Productivity under consideration.

Another big company that you may be familiar with is AMD which has also made a resurgence in popularity with the release of their Ryzen Series, giving Intel a run for their money, with the AMD Ryzen 9 5000 Series leading the charge. Both of these companies are the most popular for CPUs, and knowing the cost of a good and powerful CPU will be integral in figuring out How Much Does It Cost to Build A High-End Gaming PC.

When browsing the list of potential CPUs for your build, you may have heard the term cores. Talking about CPU cores, the number of cores doesn’t mean a lot for general use and gaming. The main things that matters are the CPU Architecture and the Clock Speeds for individual cores if they could make significant progress. Having more cores is better, but a six-core CPU can lose to a dual-core CPU simply because of better architecture. There is not much difference for gaming, so a six-core will only be slightly better. The same is the case for eight-core CPUs.

As much as the number of cores matters, many other factors too will dictate which core is better for your build. Along with cores, you may have also heard about threads. Where cores are for the actual hardware, threads are the virtual components that manage the tasks.

If you have multiple cores, you can use them for operating numerous processes. Having more threads is beneficial as it allows you to run multiple threads/processes simultaneously, called Multi-threading, and can save you a lot of time processing data. Cores and Threads go hand in hand, and the more cores you have, the better threading you will get. 

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

The GPU is probably the most integral part of the build. Like the Central Processing Unit, the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is responsible for managing and manipulating its own set of data which usually comes in the form of memory used to create images displayed on your screen.

Building a casual PC, you can mostly get away with a less powerful GPU. However, if you are into hardcore gaming, use graphic-intensive applications, or want to create a rendering PC, investing in a GPU will be paramount. Low-cost PC builds will typically have less powerful GPUs.

The biggest companies found when searching for a GPU are NVIDIA and AMD, both of which are known for their high-end graphics cards capable of providing Ray Tracing and real-time lighting, which is a must-have for gamers. Currently, the latest and the best GPUs in the market are by NVIDIA, with RTX 30 Series in with a boom while AMD promotes its Radeon and RX 6000 series of GPUs.

You have probably heard about these GPUs and the amazing things they can do. Knowing how much to spend on these will give you an idea of How Much Does It Cost to Build A PC. Here is a typical RTX 30 Series Graphic Card – RTX 3070.

If you’re interested in getting an NVIDIA’s 30 Series GPU, check out our in-depth RTX 3070 Review.

A common mistake you should avoid is going for the best GPU straightly without carefully observing your other PC specs.  There is no sense in having a GPU capable of rendering a game at 4K if your monitor screen can only facilitate 1080p at best. The best budget options for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K screens include the Gigabyte Radeon RX 580, AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, and MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Super, all of which will work great in providing a quality gaming experience. Despite being a budget option, you will have to invest more into the GPU, depending on the screen output.

Motherboard

Getting into the nitty-gritty of PC building, we have the motherboard, the main printed circuit board that allows the PC components to communicate together. A good motherboard will be integral for the rest of the PC components to work together fluidly and smoothly. It must also be capable of expanding the current system of the user such that if there is any need for an upgrade or if the user decides to add more components to the PC, then the motherboard must have the aptitude to allow such decisions. Goliaths in the motherboard industry, including ASUS and GIGABYTE, produce many capable motherboards presenting the user with the exact functionality they seek.

Want to check out motherboards for AMD’s latest CPU addition to the lot, glance at the Best Motherboards for Ryzen 7 5800X3D.

As storage devices are a basic necessity, you will be attaching them to the motherboard via the connectors supporting components like HDDs and SSDs. If you own a Non-NVMe SSD or just plain old HDDs, you will want to have a few SATA Ports available. Each motherboard has up to 2 SATA ports available for HDD and non-NVME SSD connections. However, more costly PC motherboards can bump this up to 4 and 8, depending on the price.

For NVMe SSDs, you will want to have M2 ports or PCIe slots (“Peripheral Component Interconnect Express”). These SSDs helped reduce bottlenecks and improve performance which they can only do with the M2 ports. These M.2 ports can also connect various components to the PC. PCIe slots allow connections with other integral parts of the PC, such as the GPUs. You can also connect various cards ranging from Network Cards like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, Sound Cards, Tuner Cards, and even Video Capture Cards. You can have up to 2 PCIe slots which allow for much more customizability at an added price.

Here is how a typical motherboard looks like. The one below is a GIGABYTE X570, captured in our review.

The motherboard is also responsible for housing the CPU chip. We have extensively explained the CPU’s importance in a PC, so having a motherboard with a CPU slot is integral. Some motherboards may have integrated CPU chips, while others will only have slots. Some Dual CPU motherboards, like the old Threadripper ones, also exist, allowing you to combine the power of two CPU chips, easily doubling your cost with an edge of high-end performance. 

Additionally, you can have multiple USB ports present in the motherboard, helping you connect various peripherals and devices to the PC. The more USB ports you have, the more devices you can connect to your PC, but the more the motherboard will cost. The CPU and Chipset manufacturers mostly decide the number of USB ports as they come with compatibility.

If you want to make sure your CPUs are cooled enough and do not overheat, you can get a heat sink that attaches to the chipset and can be attached to certain boards. To prevent sensitive chips from overheating, heatsinks are installed on the top of the chips, like NVMe SSDs, VRM (Voltage Regulator Module), and others. Heatsinks help air passthrough through those components helping in lowering their temps and increasing the system performance substantially.

The motherboard also contains RAM slots for plugging in RAM modules. More RAM slots let you have more RAM inside your PC. You can get up to four RAM slots in your motherboards, undoubtedly affecting the cost, allowing you a better-performing system.

Life is boring without the Internet. Everyone wants to be connected to it while using their PC, which is why your motherboard, in most cases, comes equipped with a Wi-Fi Adapter or an Ethernet port. These will allow you to easily connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi or a LAN cable. If you opt for a Wi-Fi adapter, you will also have Bluetooth capabilities, which many people think is essential. These adapters should not cost you that much and are needed if you want to use your PC efficiently.

When it comes to powering the PC and the motherboard itself, Power Supply plugs and CMOS Batteries come in handy. CMOS batteries are now usually built into the motherboard or included in the onboard battery. The power supply plugin lets you easily plug in the power supply to provide the electrical power to make the PC run properly.

Suppose you are a beginner PC user and will love to overclock your motherboard. You should know that not every motherboard can support overclocking, which goes in tandem with the CPUs, which must also be capable of supporting overclocking.

When it comes to high-end motherboards, they usually have better voltage controls, higher performance standards, and better quality, sturdy components, netting you more speed and performance when overclocked.

When selecting motherboards, you have a lot of different sizes to choose from. Motherboards mainly come in 3 different sizes; ATX, Micro ATX, and Mini ITX. Nano and Pico ATX Motherboards also exist but are quite uncommon. ATX is the largest, and Mini ITX is the smallest when ordered according to size. Bigger motherboards will have more SATA Ports and expansion slots, making them better for high-end builds and costlier, while the smaller ones will have less utility and be more suited for budget builds.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

Fully called Random Access Memory, the RAM is the computer’s memory allowing the device to read and write data and typically store the operational data. RAM is one of the most preeminent things about demanding applications like gaming. It allows your computer to quickly retrieve and display information from your HDD/ SDD by taking that information and storing it internally. Think of the RAM as the computer’s short-term memory; it can store the common data needed by the program, allowing it to be accessed much more efficiently and faster than storing and retrieving it from an HDD/ SSD. 

RAM has two defining features; its capacity and its speed. As you can imagine, the more speed the RAM has, the faster it will move data in and out. The more capacity it has, the more information it can conveniently store and use, which is especially intrinsic for gaming as it can increase the system’s overall responsiveness alongside the improvement in frame rates.

Here is how a typical RAM looks like – the one below is a DDR5 RAM taken from our review of XPG Lancer.

There are a lot of different and well-known brands in the market, such as Corsair, G.Skill, and Kingston, which have great reputations when it comes to their RAM modules and is the go-to brands for most people.

The latest Double Data Rate (DDR) Generation is DDR5, and there is confirmation that the DDR6 set of RAM is also being worked on. As mentioned above, the capacity of the RAM is a major factor that can affect the performance of the PC.

In today’s market, RAMs are available in various sizes, with 1 GB RAM being the lowest and highest being the 32 GB RAM considering the common usage. If you are going for a traditional build, do not fret about having a lot of RAM, as you can get away with having 4 GB. However, if you make a high-end build and plan to use demanding software, 16 GB of RAM is the sweet spot. 

If you’re interested in buying the DDR5 RAM, check out Best DDR5 RAM guide with DDR5 RAM ranked according to performance.

Generally, the more RAM you have in the system, the better it will perform. The bigger the memory size of your RAM, the more potential you have for multitasking, as the extra memory space allows you to run more programs on your PC without slowing down the system or crashing it outright. 8 GB RAM is the most common selection and should do the trick for most people. 

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Most, if not all, PCs run on DC voltage but cannot get it from the main power of the house or office and hence, require a power supply that regulates the flow of electricity in the computer and converts the main AC to DC power used by the PC. While it is usually not given as much importance as the other components, the power supply is a critical part of any PC and requires a lot of care; otherwise, the entire system can suffer. Companies like EVGA, Corsair, and Thermaltake produce good quality Power Supply Units which you should check out. They are typically the vendors you should consider for getting a premium power supply that is trustworthy and reliable.

If you were not familiar, this is what a Power Supply looks like. Photo from Our Cooler Master MWE Gold 650 Review.

Your power supply should be efficient, not wasting too much energy by generating heat when idle. You may have noticed that many PSUs have an 80+ certification and a rank in front of them. If you have wondered what this certification means, it typically shows that the PSU can reach 80% efficiency at 20, 50, and 100% loads.

This certification has multiple tiers; Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Titanium. The first tier starts when PSUs display 80% efficiency at 20% load and go up to Titanium, where you get 90% efficiency at 10% load.

HDD/ SSD

When it comes to storing your data, typically, you will gravitate towards a Hard Disk Drive or a Solid State Drive. While both of them have the same function, which is to store the data inside your PC, they function very differently and have many different speeds compared to each other, which is why there is a difference in the PC Build cost.

HDDs work by storing and retrieving data using magnetic storage by utilizing a quick rotating platter combined with a moving actuator that randomly accesses the data. SSDs utilize flash memory which is entirely accessed digitally. The NAND chips store this data which can retain information without a power source.

Hard Disk Drives contain many moving parts prone to tear and damage, including breaking, being the reason for their sluggishness in reading and writing data. However, the SSD has all of its data on microchips and has no moving parts that slow it down, making it a much faster and more reliable data source. Seagate, WD, Kingston, and SanDisk are well-known giants producing all manner of HDDs and SSDs. NVME SSDs are the cream of the crop when it comes to SSDs.

NVME Stands for Non-Volatile Memory Express and utilizes low CPU cycles, lower latency, and more command queues to provide a much faster experience that communicates directly with the system CPU.

In the end, you should get an HDD or an SSD, depending on your situation. Are you low on space? Do you require more speed? If you gravitate towards an HDD for raw storage values, on the other hand, SSDs are more viable for faster speeds. 

CPU Cooler

Suppose you are a hardcore gamer or a dedicated worker and find yourself using your computer for long hours. In that case, you may be unintentionally damaging the components of your PC via overheating. As your computer runs for longer periods, the hardware and components, especially the CPU, start to heat up, which will eventually overheat and degrade the health of your PC if not properly ventilated. Where the heatsinks do a good job in preventing this from happening, you can one-up this by getting yourself a CPU cooler.

You should know that there are two different types of CPU coolers; Air and Liquid. Air coolers come in sizes, speeds, and noise levels. They act as a general-purpose solution for most PC builds as their purpose is to push the heat from the CPU and elevate it off the motherboard.

If you want to take this to the next level, liquid cooling systems or AIO (All In One) coolers can be used, which are liquid-based coolers that are much more effective and noise efficient as the liquid absorbs the heat. Popular brands that you may have heard of making these components are Noctua, Cooler Master, and NZXT.

Here is an EK AIO Liquid CPU Cooler.

Tense about buying some Budget CPU Coolers? Don’t Worry! We’ve got this covered. Check out the ultimate guide on Best Budget CPU Coolers In 2022.

If you are going for a high-end PC, then the chances are that you have a lot of high-quality components in the case that you will need to take care of. For this, it is much better to consider liquid cooling as it can efficiently regulate the heat of the PC, much more than air coolers. However, you should know that AIO liquid cooling is much more expensive, making it difficult to consider budget or decent PC setups.

Case

Once you have all of your components ready, it is time to glorify them by putting them together in a stylish new case. The case itself is a chassis that houses all of the aforementioned components and is built from various materials. Most people do not give much thought to the case and would rather have a simple case, while others go for a stylish and flashy case.

Regardless of the case’s aesthetic, choosing it is an important step in building your PC. You will want to get a good-quality case that can house all the components of your PC properly. NZXT, Corsair, MSI, and popular brands create PC cases and are known for their durability and aesthetics and are brands that you should check out.

The first kind of case you will cross paths with will probably be a Mid Tower case. These are short and smaller versions of full tower cases built for smaller motherboards. As a result, they will have fewer expansion slots and cooling fan slots. Mid-tower cases will usually range around 18 inches.

If you didn’t know, here is how a PC Case looks like – the one below is a Xigmatek X7.

If you want to support your large motherboard and plan on getting a lot more disks and generally want more ease when building a PC, then a full tower case is for you. These cases are perfect for people who plan on expanding their build in the future as well. Both of these can easily support ATX and micro ATX motherboards.

If you have an ITX motherboard, you won’t have the support for it, in which case you will need an ITX case. ITX case is a much more smart and compact PC case but has the least amount of expansion slots and space, making it difficult to manage cables and cooling systems; however, it is much easier to transport.

Computer Monitor

Now that you have most of the components, you may be thinking, how am I even going to see the computer in action? For that, you will have to purchase a computer monitor. A Computer Monitor is the display device for your computer, helping you interact with multiple applications and achieve various tasks on your PC.

Multiple screens are available, providing you with high-quality displays of all sizes and materials. The screen’s cost depends on the build quality, size, resolution, and refresh rate. Popular brands of computer monitors include companies like Samsung, Alienware, Acer, and ASUS.

If you are building a PC for rendering purposes, then it is obvious that you should try to get a high-resolution screen that is as big as you like, something that will display colors more accurately and has a good refresh rate. Similarly, if you are a competitive gamer, you will want a screen with a high resolution and decent size to get a competitive advantage.

However, you can prioritize a higher refresh rate over the color range. If you are a single-player enthusiast, you should get a mixture of the 3, moderate refresh rate, color range, and screen resolution. On the other hand, if you want to build a PC for daily tasks or office work, you can work fine with lower refresh rates and screen resolutions.

Other Components

As we have traversed through major components involved in setting up a PC, the Peripherals are all that’s left. While all of the other components were immensely important, so much so that they deserved their section, we decided it was best to get the remaining peripherals under one section.

These peripherals include items like the Mouse, Keyboard, Headset, or set of Speakers you will use to get the proper inputs and outputs from your newly built PC. The buyers should give the peripherals the least amount of priority. You can get them for any remaining money left after purchasing all the major components contributing more to your PC rig. 

Major companies like Razor, Chroma, and HyperX are prominent figurines in the industry that can provide this range of peripherals seething with quality and allow for a lot more utility. As such, their cost will be significantly higher as well. However, the best part about them is that they are not limited to your build like the various components mentioned above. A good mouse and keyboard will be compatible with all manner of computers, regardless of prices and how high end the build end.

Other peripherals you should have are PC casing fans that allow for the entire build’s ventilation. They achieve this by pushing out the warm air inside the PC case and drawing cooler air. If you find your build overheating, this peripheral is just for you.

For Keyboards, the main thing you should look for is how fluid the keys are. Mechanical keyboards are preferred; however, you can just as easily employ a non-mechanical one and save a lot of money. 

Companies like Logitech and Razor have redefined the mouse industry by creating extremely efficient and low latency wireless mice, capable of providing the same feel and functionality as regular wired mice for a bit more cost. The rest of the cost of the mouse will depend on its DPI and the number of buttons it has, with more buttons and DPI, leading to increased costs.

Finally, you have to choose between a headset or speakers. If you’re a gamer, speakers won’t be as much of use compared to headphones as you can’t hear the nitty-gritty details like the footsteps and movement clearly on the speakers. On the other hand, speakers might come in handy if you are a sound engineer or someone who loves to watch movies or listen to music. These components are available with RGB or any sort of lighting to suit the aesthetic of your potential build.

Prioritizing Budget For PC Build

One of the most crucial and impact-making decisions defining your PC is the budget. Firstly, you need to figure out what type of PC you want and what you can achieve considering your budget bracket. This decision is crucial for you as having a set budget will prioritize which components you should invest in more, letting you get the most bang for your buck.

Before talking about costs and builds, you should understand how much you are willing to spend to build your PC and have realistic expectations of its performance and speed. If you do not know what you can expect with the money you have, stick around as we will explain how much you should spend on the components, the type of builds you can make, and the budget required.

Budget Builds

If you are just getting into the world of computers and want one for yourself but aren’t willing to spend a lot of money, your best bet is to build a budget PC. If you are on a tight budget or don’t have enough money to spend, you can get an entry-level build for as low as $400 involving getting lower-end components, so do not expect high performance or speeds. 

A good Budget build will involve a modest CPU which you can get for $100 to $200. You can get one with an integrated GPU or buy one yourself separately, which will cost you $100 to $150. Pair it with a motherboard costing you between $50 to $70, two sticks of DDR4 8 GB Memory which can go up to $60 each and as low as $40, a 240 GB SSD, which you can easily get for $30, and a good quality PSU such as the EVGA 450W, which has bronze tier 80+certification that costs around $50 to $75.

You have a solid selection of components that you can top off with a mid-tower case of your choice that ranges anywhere from $40 to $60.

This PC can reach a consistent 60 FPS at 720p and go as high as 1080p, available in the $400 to $700 range; not too shabby for a budget build.

Mid-Tier Builds

Getting into the good stuff, we have your middle-tier builds that can provide a satisfying amount of power and processing speed, capable of running high-demanding games at a reasonable price.

We can start by getting a 4 GB VRAM GPU which can start around $150 but easily go up to $300 or more. For processing, you can afford to spend the same amount and get a recent gen CPU that can come with 4 cores and 4 threads. Combine that with a compatible motherboard which will cost you anything between $100 and $140, and you have the basis for a great PC.

While the RAM cost and size should stay the same at $40 to $60 per stick for 8 GB DDR4, we can now afford a much bigger SSD which can go up to 1 TB and cost around $80 to $100. You will also need a much higher quality PSU and PC Case, which should cost $60 to $120 each. Add all of this together, and you can get a great mid-tier build that starts shy of $700 and can go up to $1200

This build will provide you with consistent 1080p gaming and high performance, both visually appealing and smooth, making it a good build for casual gamers who want to have a good time.

High-End Builds

Ending it off with the best of the best, if you are extremely enthusiastic about gaming or need a lot of power for your work, you will need a high-end PC that can cost a lot of cash.

Starting with a purchase as costly as an entire budget build, you will need a high-quality CPU; this can cost from $400 up to $450 and includes models such as the AMD 5000 Series Ryzen 9 or some entries from Intel’s Alder Lake CPUs. Continuing with the expensive purchases, you will probably want the best of the best when it comes to GPUs, and there is nothing more popular and powerful than NVIDIA’s RTX 3090, costing you around a whopping $1,500. You will want a capable motherboard to support these two beefy components, so you will need to sink at least $330 and up to $550.

A Liquid cooling system will also serve you well to keep the components safe and sound, costing only $120 to $160. Since you have money to spare, you can afford 32 GB of RAM spread apart into 2 DDR4 RAM sticks of 16 GB each. These can go as low as $100, but premium RAMs will be slightly more expensive, costing as high as $140. Since we would not want any storage issues, we can afford to get two 1 TB SSDs, which will cost $100 each at the minimum and $170 if you want top-of-the-line ones.

By fitting these components in a stylish mid-tower case, which can go as low as $160 and as high as $330, and a gold tier PSU, which starts over $100 and goes up to $180, you will have yourself a beast of a computer.

These components in the cart put the price range at $3,000 at the minimum and $4,000, but you can easily cross this by getting flagship components which will bump up the price to $5,000

With specs like these, you should be easily able to run extremely demanding games and programs with ease. Gaming will never be the same as you will be easily able to achieve 144 FPS at ultra 4K, along with added visuals like ray tracing and real-time shadows.

Cost of Gaming PCs VS Traditional PCs

In today’s modern age of gaming, games are extremely demanding and require a lot of expensive GPUs and processing power to be in a playable state where you can have fun and enjoy them. Since they demand many more resources, the PC itself will require a lot of power to provide the resources necessary to run the games.

Traditional PCs are very simple and not built for modern gaming. Sure, you can play the odd game here and there, but you cannot expect to play high-end games without significant performance issues. If you want a seamless gaming experience, then it’s best if you look forward to building a gaming PC.

Gaming PCs usually have dominant resources and are more expensive than traditional PCs. They include a wide range of powerful and fast-performing components that can run circles around the parts and hardware of traditional PCs, which are limited in their functionality. These two PC types will have very different price ranges, giving a hit to their performance capabilities.

We will talk about this further in the article, but for now, it should be clear to you that Gaming PCs cost much more than traditional PCs but are more powerful as well. Hopefully, you keep that into account the next time you try figuring out How Much Does It Cost to Build A High-End Gaming PC.

If you are low on cash and just want to have a PC for light work, it is best to get a traditional PC. Get ready to start saving if you want to play the latest games, as gaming PCs cost a lot to build.

Building High-End Gaming PC Or Budget PC?

High-end gaming PCs are the best of the best, containing all the latest and greatest products which are premium in their build quality and provide you with a lot of power and performance. On the other hand, Budget PCs are not that powerful and are quite limited in their performance.

They will probably struggle to carry out more demanding tasks and require upgrades. Whether you choose to get a high-end PC or a budget one depends on how much you are willing to spend on the build and your lifestyle.

Suppose you have a passion for gaming or love to carry out extensive graphics projects which require a lot of computing power for rendering. In that case, it is in your best interest to build or buy a high-end gaming PC as this will provide you with the power and performance that you need to carry out your tasks or to game smoothly.

On the other side of the spectrum, you should consider a Budget PC if you are not interested in gaming and just want a computer to watch videos, browse the internet, or do some light office work. Building a Budget PC, in this case, will save you a lot of money in the long run and prevent you from wasting the potential of your PC.

You can easily carry out any task on a high-end PC, but budget computers will struggle with certain programs, which is why you should always know exactly why you want a PC so that you can decide how much you want to spend on a build and get one built that will help you carry out your goals.

Average Cost of Building a PC in 2022

As you should know, there is no set PC Build cost to building a PC as all of the costs will depend on the parts you buy and the quality and power they possess, making it quite difficult to get an exact estimate on How Much Does It Cost To Build A PC In 2022.

If you are looking to build an average PC for the family, it can cost you as little as $300, with most components being cheap to build while slightly beefier components can bump up the cost to $700. The performance will be a bit lacking for this bracket, but for the most part, this should be good for you and the rest of the family. On the contrary, if you are interested in a personal computer that you will use for gaming, the expenditure increases. On the other hand, if you are on a tight budget, a decent gaming PC can range anywhere from $350 to $500, but a good mid-range gaming PC can start at $700 but cross well over $1,200.

If you want the absolute best for gaming, prepare to drop at least $2,000, as this will be the entry price for higher-end PCs, and this is still quite low compared to the builds you can get. Extreme gaming builds can go far above $5,000 and above as well, assuming you are building the best possible PC modern technology can make, but for the most part, you can assume high-end gaming builds to average around $4,000

It all depends on what you want and what budget you have, as you can easily change up the cost by sacrificing your preferred components and getting a slightly less powerful part.

PC Building Mistakes to Avoid

Now that the information about the costs and components which go into building a PC is in your database, here are a few common mistakes newer PC builders tend to make. These inaccuracies can significantly jeopardize the PC’s health and lifespan, so you should take care and make sure none of these issues occur and avoid any bad habits. Make sure you avoid these mistakes to get the most out of your PC.

Improper Power Supply

When building a PC, most users overlook the Power Supply, which is a huge mistake as it can cause excess or much less voltage to get to the other components resulting in them getting damaged. Always make sure that you calculate the total wattage required by your PC and refer to any manuals to see how much voltage the PC requires.

Also, buying PSUs from trusted brands is a must, as saving money at the PSU’s stage can have costly effects. It would be best if you also tried to buy PSUs with an 80+ rating that rank gold, platinum, or titanium, as these will allow for more efficient usage of energy, especially at higher loads.

Improper Installation of Cooling Fans

The job of the cooling fan is to make sure that the components of your PC get proper cooling so that they do not overheat. For this, you have to make sure that all the fans installed are facing the proper direction so that they do not push the hot air back into the PC, causing the temperatures to get high enough to cause damage to the components.

You should properly install the fans to provide maximum airflow to the PC’s case, making sure all the components are given proper air circulation. Secondly, go for a faster RPM for your fans as more speedy fans will exhaust more heat from your casing. AIO Liquid cooling does better than air fans but is hefty on the pocket.

Hasty Building and Handling

While you may be excited to put together the components of your PC, you must make sure not to damage the components in haste. Many components such as the RAM, the SSD, and the GPU are very sensitive, requiring special care. If you try to assemble them quickly, you will bump these components with the case or other components that may be enough to cause damage.

Handling them with gloves can also go a long way as this will prevent any moisture from your hands from getting onto the components, which may result in various issues which will prevent them from functioning properly.

The gloves will also provide you with a tighter grip which will prevent them from falling out of your hands, saving you from getting replacement components which will no doubt PC Build cost you a lot of money.

Issues related to Thermal Paste

Since the PC components will not be in complete contact with each other due to slight imperfections, bits of air can fill in these gaps, building up heat and reducing efficiency. Thermal paste does a good job of plugging up these gaps so that the components can work more efficiently and easily transfer heat.

A lot of mistakes that people make are using too little of it, which can defeat the purpose of using it. On the other hand, some users use too much thermal paste, hindering the heat transfer and leading to thermal throttling.

There should be a proper balance between the two, especially if you want to avoid the extra cost of repairs and replacements.

Summary

Building your PC is extremely rewarding and extremely fun. Going through different vendors, browsing various products and components, and finally getting them together and assembling the PC offers a lot of enjoyment and builds a positive relationship with the newly built PC.

Building a PC will also get you in touch with the prices of all the components in the market and help you figure out How Much Does It Cost to Build A PC if you end up wanting to upgrade the PC or build a better one down the line.

While it may be costly to build a PC right now, it is still a rewarding endeavor that you should try if you are in the market for a new PC.

With so many options to choose from, it depends on you whether you want to build a high-end build, a budget one, or something in between. With the help of this article, it should be easy for you to figure out exactly what build you want and exactly How Much Does It Cost To Build A PC, along with the parts and components which go into it, enabling you to build the PC of your dreams at the cost you want.