# Thinking about building my own gaming computer. So many questions **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [January 20, 2021, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952 "2021-01-20T10:15:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/41 "2021-01-20T22:50:50Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > …That’s the trick to a gaming PC. Spending as much as you possibly can on a GPU, then CPU while keeping the rest good enough so it still functions. Completely agree about the GPU. I’m not enough of an AMD GPU guy to know those were out of date. I’d put the motherboard as 2nd in importance and CPU 3rd. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/42 "2021-01-21T04:08:48Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > I don’t like the @Saint_Cad build much. The components are all good, but I think the balance is bad. A $2,000 gaming PC with an old mid-tier AMD card is disappointing. Start with a 3080 and i5-10600k and fit the rest around that. My choice is based on the price of video cards now. I will buy a top-tier GPU when the prices come down and when they are not sold out. The GPUs I listed are just to get me by for a few months. Sure I’d get the Nvidia 3070 in a heartbeat but on Newegg _every Nvidia 30 series video card is out of stock_. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/43 "2021-01-21T05:47:50Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > Yes, if you use a non-stock cooler you will need to purchase thermal paste. Buy a small amount of arctic silver and put a single pea-sized dot in the middle of the CPU before mounting. It doesn’t need to cover the entire CPU; if in doubt less paste is better. Be absolutely sure the paste doesn’t overflow on to the board. > > It’s very unlikely you’ll see a noticeable difference between using a SATA SSD and a PCIe SSD. Both are extremely fast. Personally I’d go with the cheaper option. Regarding the paste, go with a high-rated type that is inexpensive. Most high-rated ones perform similarly. Arctic Silver is fine these days, but tends to be pricier because it includes elemental silver, which in theory was supposed to conduct heat better. However, older formulations had the problem that it also conducted electricity better. Which was not a good thing if you were a little messy with the paste. These days, Arctic Silver formula 5 is pretty safe. It’s not conductive of electricity, however, it’s still capacitive, so you’ll certainly want to clean up any that gets outside of the processor/heat sink area just to be safe. But thermal paste is inexpensive and you’ll get more than you’ll ever need in a single tube of the stuff. And I agree with the people saying to not bother with PCI Express for your SSD. It is faster, but the speed increase doesn’t generally justify the price increase. SSDs are already much faster than HDDs. Once you’ve got an SSD, take the money you save by buying SATA over PCIe and spend it on a better GPU or something else that will actually give you a better performance bump comparatively, especially if you have a budget. And stick with the standard SATA 2.5/3.5 form factors for a desktop. M.2 was designed to save space in laptops so they could make them thinner and lighter. Unless there’s some deal that makes the M.2 cheaper, there’s no reason to get it for a desktop. Miniaturization typically costs more, and you’re not really getting anything for it. You’ll have plenty of room o fit your 2.5/3.5 SSD. (Also, if you do go M.2, make sure your motherboard has an M.2 slot–most do these days.) ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/44 "2021-01-21T10:31:13Z")
> [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > And stick with the standard SATA 2.5/3.5 form factors for a desktop. M.2 was designed to save space in laptops so they could make them thinner and lighter. Unless there’s some deal that makes the M.2 cheaper, there’s no reason to get it for a desktop. Miniaturization typically costs more, and you’re not really getting anything for it. You’ll have plenty of room o fit your 2.5/3.5 SSD. (Also, if you do go M.2, make sure your motherboard has an M.2 slot–most do these days.) This is sound advice. I’ll try to follow it, but I really, really hate sata cables and the thought of not having to connect _any_ is really appealing. It sounds to me like NVMe is significantly faster based on what I’m reading. The specs put the ceiling for nvme at something like 10 times faster reading and 5-7 times faster writing compared to a sata SSD. Of course that’s _potential_, and a WD Blue isn’t the drive you pick to push your potential. Here’s an article I found interesting: > **[Is now the right time to get an NVMe M.2 drive? We test NVMe vs SSD](https://techreport.com/blog/nvme-vs-ssd-test/)** > > SSD prices are on the climb, so we picked up an NVMe SSD while the picking was good. Was it worth it? Here are the results of our tests: NVMe vs SSD. The author says no, basically because we don’t normally do hard-drive intensive tasks so we won’t normally notice the improvements. Sure, your game might load faster but most of your game time is playing games, not loading them, so who cares if it loads a little faster. He then goes on to say that opening a large media file took 11 seconds on NVMe compared to 18 seconds using sata, which he seemed to largely dismiss but I found to be pretty compelling evidence of the speed of NVMe. I’ll have to do some real thinking about this. If I go conventional 2.5" sata ssd for C: and giant mechanical drive for D:, I get way more bang for my buck. Cabling them sucks and I’d love to avoid it altogether (I really hate sata cables) but then again, that’s kind of the point of spending extra money on a nicer case, to ease the pain of cabling. I’ll look into my options. EDIT: At this point I think that a sata M.2 is exactly the same speed as a standard 2.5" ssd drive, and only the NVMe M.2 is faster, but I’m unclear on this. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/45 "2021-01-21T12:35:34Z")
I’ll admit that I’m a little unclear about the hatred for SATA devices. Out of all the cables you fiddle with, I probably find them the least objectionable. No pins to worry about bending like the fan or audio headers, no obnoxious layout like the case jumpers, easier to route than GPU power cables, etc. Obviously you can dislike whatever you want but I’m not sure where it’s coming from. Even at its worst though, you’re talking fifteen or twenty seconds of installing a SATA device to use it for years. Anyway, the traditional route is a single fast NVMe m.2 stick for Windows install since you’ll be using Windows processes constantly and maybe some select games/utilities on there that you use regularly. Then you get 2.5" SSD storage for any other games/utilities and, if you need a place for your bajillion mp3s or jpgs you maybe get a traditional HDD. These days it’s not even exciting to find 1TB SSDs for around $85 so my current system is down to a single 2TB HDD and the other 3TB are a 500GB NVMe and 2.5TB SSD. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/46 "2021-01-21T13:42:28Z")
Yep, I was about to post a hugely longer post that eventually meandered to that same conclusion. Reading a bunch of reviews on amazon and newegg and also googling a bunch of articles, it’s looking to me like the “name” that’s known for ssd drives is Samsung. Anyone have experience with samsung m.2 or ssd drives? Currently penciling into my build: 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe M.2 ($180) 2TB Samsung 860 Evo 2.5" SSD ($210) That’s a little pricier than I was hoping for, but would double the size of both my current drives, which are 500GB and 1TB. I may end up having to cut one of them in half to save $100 but hopefully not. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/47 "2021-01-21T13:48:29Z")
Before going that route, I strongly recommend that you visit “Digital Storm” and check out the custom design format they have. You can order exactly what you want, component by component. I just bought mine as my Christmas present to myself, and it totally rocks. Yes, you might save a couple of hundred dollars if you really work at shopping and building but, for me, the difference in money isn’t worth the time and effort. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/48 "2021-01-21T13:48:57Z")
I’ll check them out immediately, thanks much! * * * EDIT: I really like the idea of a 2.5" SSD for D: as opposed to a mechanical HDD for three reasons: 5x faster, it’s silent, and no defragging. It’s effectively twice as expensive, but those three perqs are worth the premium for me. I’d rather go smaller than mechanical. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/49 "2021-01-21T16:43:39Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Yep, I was about to post a hugely longer post that eventually meandered to that same conclusion. > > Reading a bunch of reviews on amazon and newegg and also googling a bunch of articles, it’s looking to me like the “name” that’s known for ssd drives is Samsung. Anyone have experience with samsung m.2 or ssd drives?.. Yes, Samsung SSD drives are solid and have a very good reputation. There’s not a huge difference between SSD manufacturers at this point. Some are slightly faster but not enough for it to be noticeable to the average person. At my work we deploy Crucial’s MX500 line because it’s cheaper than the equivalent Samsung and we’ve had good luck with them in the past. I think we’ve only had one failure out of 100+ in the last few years. When you see SSD model which is much cheaper than the others it’s usually because it is using Triple-Layer cells (TLC) vs MLC (2 layers) or SLC (single layer, most reliable). In theory, TLC drives will wear out sooner than the others but this isn’t a major concern for the average person. They are still very reliable and will last for years with no issue. SLC drives are geared more toward servers and enterprise use; they cost much more but and provide little benefit to the average person. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/50 "2021-01-21T17:40:54Z")
Does anyone know if the heavy tariff on computer components manufactured in China took (or will take) effect? It was waived for the last year but the prior administration didn’t renew the waiver (AFAIK) so without quick intervention from the new administration, you would expect a 20 or 25 percent markup in stuff like GPU cards and motherboards. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/51 "2021-01-21T17:42:10Z")
I don’t think SSD speed really matters until DirectStorage is adopted. Any SSD is wildly faster than a mechanical drive. I’d rather have a 2TB SATA SSD than a 1TB NVMe for the same money, especially since I’m already locked out of DirectStorage due to having PCIe 3.0. If you had a PCIe 4.0 board (Ryzen only right now), then all NVMe might be solid. By the time it matters with DirectStorage though, those NVMe drives will probably cost half what they do now. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/52 "2021-01-21T17:45:57Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Does anyone know if the heavy tariff on computer components manufactured in China took (or will take) effect? It has and people are indeed squawking about GPU and other component prices [going up significantly](https://www.anandtech.com/show/16351/cost-increases-and-tariffs-asus-to-increase-msrp-on-graphics-cards-and-motherboards). I’ve noticed over the last year that PSU prices have spiked and this is supposedly a mixture of higher steel prices and higher freight costs (especially since higher end PSUs are fairly heavy). About the only thing to come down has been RAM and flash storage media, namely SSD pricing. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/53 "2021-01-21T17:52:28Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > That’s the trick to a gaming PC. Spending as much as you possibly can on a GPU, then CPU while keeping the rest good enough so it still functions. As a general rule, that’s a good order, although I think I’d go GPU, motherboard, CPU. Mostly because if you choose your motherboard wisely, you can often upgrade your CPU without serious issue by just buying another one and dropping it in to replace the old one. Same with a GPU, especially if you stay in the same family. However, that’s all qualified by saying that it depends on what you want to do. For what the OP describes, GPU might not be the very most important thing- 1920x1080 isn’t pushing any boundaries, unless we’re talking about 240 hz refresh rates, so it’s possible that a lesser GPU would do the job without any issues. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/54 "2021-01-21T18:03:30Z")
> [@Dark\_Sponge](#): > > Yes, if you use a non-stock cooler you will need to purchase thermal paste. Buy a small amount of arctic silver and put a single pea-sized dot in the middle of the CPU before mounting. Honestly…pea sized is probably too big. Maybe on a Threadripper but that is a different beast. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/55 "2021-01-21T18:13:19Z")
playing around on that digital storm site, it let me pick a 3000 series video card and seemed to indicate I could actually purchase it. Like they have them in stock. ETA: order it as part of a full computer I mean. Not separately. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/56 "2021-01-21T18:16:16Z")
Very possible that they do. Larger system builders have more access to GPUs than us schlubs who have to tailgate at Micro Center on delivery day to have any chance. Of course, there’s also the possibility that your system gets backordered for six weeks while they wait for your card to come in. I’m not familiar enough with Digital Storm to know which direction they’d take. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/57 "2021-01-21T18:19:24Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Honestly…pea sized is probably too big. Concur. On normal “mortal user” CPU installs, “grain of rice” is the guidance I’ve gone by. Followed by a good twisting squish of the cooler if the retention mechanism allows it. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/58 "2021-01-22T02:12:45Z")
PCPartPicker for the win! It noticed and warned me that the h470 motherboard I had chosen doesn’t actually have a USB-C header for the front panel of the case. After poking around, looks like none of them do. So I’m upgrading to a z490, which all seem to have exactly the same amount and kind of connectors as appears on the Fractal Define 7’s front panel. Almost like it was designed that way. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/59 "2021-01-22T02:41:56Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > PCPartPicker for the win! It noticed and warned me that the h470 motherboard I had chosen doesn’t actually have a USB-C header for the front panel of the case. After poking around, looks like none of them do. It’s kind of weird. The USB 3.2v1 header is not the same as the USB 3.2v1 Type-C header. I believe because of the two-way power transfer but I’m not 100% sure. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952/60 "2021-01-22T03:01:33Z")
For me the twist usually just happens when installing but yeah, I give it a little extra twist back and forth a little. The squish is absolutely provided but the mounting mechanism. They all get pressed on with more force than you are comfortable with when installing (force they have calibrated so it is all good…just seems REALLY firm). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-building-my-own-gaming-computer-so-many-questions/930952.md?page=4)