As someone who loves to build their own PCs, I know how overwhelming the process can be, especially for first-time builders. You can elect to build a PC for home use for a variety of reasons including typing, a media center PC, or for gaming. Building a PC doesn’t just give you control over the components used, but it also allows for customization and potential upgrades in the future. In this article, I will share some tips and recommendations for building a PC for home use.
In summary, you can build a PC for home use such as browsing, data entry, casual gaming, or content creation by carefully picking specific components for each use case. Your budget and the purpose of the build play the dominant role in this. We will discuss this in detail below.
Purpose, Purpose, Purpose
This is a key consideration before you even begin to shop for components. What’s the major task this PC is going to carry out? There are loads of reasons why you might want to build a PC for home use, but here’s a short list:
- Gaming
- Typing Tasks
- Training PC
- Media Center PC
- Home Office PC
Gaming
This is one of the most popular reasons for building a home PC. You could set up a gaming rig for your kids to blast around with after school hours, or it could be a personal gaming rig. Whatever the case, I’ll offer useful insights on how to go about this.
Typing Tasks
You can plan a PC Build for home use simply for the purpose of typing documents that you might need to be printed out. In addition to building the PC for this purpose, you might consider adding a desktop printer for the actual printing.
You could set up your PC in a central area such as the living room, while you can send documents wirelessly from your tablet or laptop for printing. Most printers available have wireless printing enabled so you wouldn’t worry about running cables throughout your house.
Training PC
This PC could serve the purpose of a training PC for your kids to learn some digital skills such as graphic design, coding, or drawing with a tablet attached to the PC.
Media Center PC
You could set up your home PC with a Plex server to store your digital home entertainment files such as movies and TV Shows. However, even though media center PCs are still popular, they are gradually being replaced by online streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix.
Home Office PC
A home office PC comes in handy if you are actually working from home as a remote worker. This PC should be able to run all your apps easily.
Recommended PC Builds for Home Use
Budget Gaming Home PC Build
- (CPU): AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
- Motherboard: ASUS Prime B450M-A
- Memory (RAM): 16GB DDR4
- Storage: 500GB NVMe drive for the operating system and essential applications, and a 1TB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) for storage
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
- Power Supply Unit (PSU): 500W 80+ Bronze Certified PSU
- Computer Case: Zalman S2 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- Monitor: Sceptre IPS 24” Gaming Monitor 165Hz 144Hz Full HD
- Keyboard and Mouse: Redragon S101 Gaming Keyboard/Mouse
Last update on 2024-09-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Typing/Browsing/Data Entry Home PC Build
- CPU: Intel Pentium Gold G6405
- Motherboard: ASRock H510M LGA 1200
- GPU: Integrated
- Cooler: Bundled with CPU
- Power Supply: Apevia Venus 450W ATX PSU
- RAM: 16GB DDR4
- Storage: Crucial P3 NVMe 500GB
- Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 Micro ATX Mini Tower Case
- Display: 22-inch 1080p Monitor
- Keyboard/Mouse: Amazon Basics keyboard and mouse combo
Last update on 2024-09-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Media Center Home PC Build
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
- Motherboard: MSI ProSeries B450M PRO-VDH Max
- GPU: Integrated
- Cooler: Bundled with CPU
- Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 430W ATX PSU
- RAM: 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 512GB NVMe
- Case: Zalman S4 ATX Mid Tower Gaming PC Case
- Display: 22-inch 1080p Monitor
- Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech MK120 Wired Keyboard and Mouse Combo
Last update on 2024-09-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Budget Considerations
One of the most important aspects to consider when building a PC is budget. While it is tempting to go all out on the latest and greatest components, it may not be necessary for a home PC. It’s important to allocate the budget to where it matters most.
For a budget-friendly build, I recommend starting with a mid-range processor and graphics card and prioritizing more RAM and storage. A solid-state drive (SSD) can make a huge difference in boot and load times, and a hard disk drive (HDD) can provide additional storage space for larger files.
It’s important to keep in mind that a budget build may not have all the bells and whistles of a high-end build, but it can still provide adequate performance for everyday home use.
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Key Components for a Home PC Build
When it comes to selecting components for a home PC build, there are a few key components to consider. These include the processor (CPU), graphics card (GPU), motherboard, RAM, storage options, power supply unit (PSU), and case.
Processor
There are two main brands of CPUs: Intel and AMD. Intel tends to have better single-core performance, while AMD has better multi-core performance. For a gaming home PC build, a mid-range CPU such as the Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 would be sufficient. However, for a Home PC meant for basic tasks such as typing or web browsing, the Pentium Gold CPU is sufficient enough to power the rig. Also, if you intend to build a gaming PC, you should be aware that a reasonable slice of your budget must go to the CPU and the graphics card.
Graphics Card
For gamers, the graphics card, or GPU, is a big deal. It empowers you to play any game on a PC. For a home PC build, a mid-range GPU such as the NVIDIA RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 570 would be sufficient for most everyday tasks. Conversely, if the PC is meant for basic tasks and or limited light gaming activities, you should leverage a CPU with integrated graphics. This should cut it.
If you plan to game heavily, a high-performance GPU such as the RTX 4070, RTX 4080 Ti, or the RX 6800XT comes in useful. With these GPUs, you can play games such as Cyberpunk 2077 with raytracing effects enabled.
Motherboard
Picking a motherboard is a tricky thing, at least, most of the time. It’s important to choose a motherboard that is compatible with the chosen CPU and GPU. It’s also important to consider the number of ports and slots available for future upgrades.
Intel boards are even trickier, with lots of iterations that have specific CPUs they are compatible with. A quick search on Google will provide many online tools that can help you identify CPUs and their respective motherboards.
Random Access Memory
For a home PC build, 8GB to 16GB of RAM should be sufficient for most tasks, though we recommend 16GB. It’s important to choose RAM that is compatible with the chosen motherboard.
For instance, you should match DDR4 RAM to a motherboard that supports DDR4. With the recent release of DDR5, manufacturers are migrating slowly, and most RAM models are still DDR4. However, it won’t be long before DDR5 goes mainstream.
Storage Options
There are two main types of storage options: SSDs/NVMe drives and HDDs. SSDs are faster and more reliable, while HDDs are slower but provide more storage space for the price. For a home PC build, it’s recommended to use a combination of both an SSD or an NVMe drive and an HDD. An NVMe drive can be used as the boot drive for faster load times, while an HDD can be used for larger file storage.
Power Supply Unit
The PSU powers the PC by distributing power to all the components including the motherboard. It’s important to choose a PSU that has enough wattage to power all the components and is of high quality to prevent any damage to the components.
Case
It’s important to choose a case that is compatible with the chosen motherboard and has enough room for all the components. It’s also important to consider factors such as ventilation and cable management.