System Manual, “GPUs are available again”

It’s been quite a while since we last put together a desktop build guide, in part because trying to cut through the bots and scalpers to pay double the retail price for a graphics card was a miserable experience that we wouldn’t want to inflict.. on anyone.

But even though 2022 has made most things more expensive, PC builders are in luck. CPUs and motherboards are available and easy to buy, DDR4 memory is actually cheap, and you can go online at Amazon, Best Buy or Newegg and find virtual shelves filled with GPUs at prices that, although somewhat overpriced, would seem like a miracle. six months ago.

Overall PC demand is expected to drop slightly in the coming months, but if you’ve been patiently waiting to build your first desktop or replace an existing build, this might be the best time to build a PC since mid-2020.

To help anyone looking for advice on system builds, we’ve put together four sample builds focused on getting the most performance for your money. These will not be luxury high-end setups and should be considered as a starting point. While we explain why we chose the components we made, you can decide for yourself if you need to make changes to suit your requirements. Later, we may make separate guides for tiny mini-ITX builds and more expensive PCs.

Note on component selection

Part of the fun of building a PC is making sure it looks the way you want it to. We’ve chosen cases that physically fit the motherboards and other components we recommend that we think will work well in style with each system. But there are many cases, and our picks won’t be the only options available.

The same goes for power supplies. We mainly recommend EVGA models with 80 Plus Gold efficiency certification or higher because we have good experience using them in our builds and those we have put together for friends or acquaintances. But if you know enough to have a preferred brand, by all means, choose what suits you. The same goes for RAM – we’ll recommend specific amounts and speeds and use brands that have done well in the past, but that doesn’t mean they’re better than many other RAM kits with similar specs.

Finally, we will not include the cost of a Windows license in our cost estimate. You can pay many different prices for Windows – $139 for an official retail license from Microsoft, $120 for an “OEM”license for system builders, or $15 to $40 for a product key on gray product key resale sites. If you have a product key for Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7, you can also install and activate Windows 11 at no additional charge, since Microsoft has never banned this option after the Windows 10 free upgrade period. We’ll leave that decision up to you.

We also didn’t list prices for most peripherals such as webcams, monitors, keyboards, or mice because we assume most people will reuse what they already have or buy those components separately.