Design Your Dream PC

Building your own PC is easier than you think, cheaper than buying a pre-built system, and lets you tailor every component to your needs. Get started with this guide to the best parts to choose from, and how to put it all together for a machine to match your specific needs

While there are many great desktop PCs you can buy outright,there is an alternative to buying pre-made: one that’s lessexpensive, more suitable for customising and ultimatelymore satisfying. It’s choosing the individual parts, orderingthem separately, and building the whole system yourself. That might sound like a lot of work, involving some pretty valuable computer parts that could be intimidating to the unfamiliar, but building a PC is actually quite straightforward. Even a novice builder can put complete their first PC in an afternoon, and they’ll have done so with components that reflect their specific personal needs and preferences. The cost savings aren’t just pennies, either – a home-built PC can work out to be hundreds of pounds cheaper than if you bought an equivalently specced system from a large manufacturer or PC builder.

The most important thing is making sure you choose the right parts in the first place. To that end, we’ve prepared this guide: it will take you through the best available products in every component category, covering a range of price points. Simply pick out the ones that best suit you, and you’ll have everything you need to build your perfect, custom-specced PC.

CORE BLIMEY CPUs

At the heart of every PC is the central processing unit: the CPU. This little chip affects practically every area of performance, so picking one with enough power for your needs is essential