DIY Computer Assembly: Step-by-Step to Crafting Your Personal Computer

KaranMoumilife
23 Min Read

Building a Personal computer is not easy for the person doing it for the first time. This process is time-consuming and tedious work. In this digital era of technology and powerful gadgets, every gamer is mainly passionate about building a PC from itself.

The Main aspect of all the PC assemblers is how long it takes to build a Personal Computer. This question mainly arises from the people who are assembling a personal computer for the first time. Factors affecting the build of the PC are the research of the Parts, Organizing the parts of the PC, and assembling the parts.

Knowing that you are building a PC you need to know about all the factors that are necessary to build will be discussed below not only this we will discuss how to build a PC in this article and how can make our PC building Budget-friendly for our readers so let’s begin the tedious process of PC Building.

How long does it take to build a pc
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1. How Long Does It Take to Build a PC?

For beginners, it may take 4-8 hours if all the parts of the PC are kept in an organized manner, and there is only work to build the PC. If you experience any problems, then you may take a longer time to build the PC.

Professionals can take between 2 to 4 hours or more to assemble a PC, depending on the complexity of the build and the experience of the builder.. If a professional encounters the problem, then it may take less time because they are familiar with the body parts of a PC.

Assembling a PC is not as hard as most people think. But it requires a lot of planning. Now component manufacturers have made PC building very streamlined and easy to build. Parts like the motherboard, cases, memory, and power supplies all have standardized dimensions which makes our work easy in building a PC.

Now choosing the PC parts has become harder because large variety of component manufacturers which makes it hard to choose what is good and what is bad for your requirements. 

1.1. Can a Beginner prefer a Prebuilt PC?

Buying a Prebuilt PC may be a great way for the beginner, but the prebuilt PC cannot provide you with all the functionality or it may be too expensive to buy a prebuilt PC.

Prebuilt PCs are typically ready to use and do not offer the same level of customization as building a PC from scratch. Custom PCs allow users to choose and assemble components according to their needs and preferences, providing full control and flexibility over the specifications and features of the PC. This path is suitable for people who don’t know anything about the PC building.

How long does it take to build a pc
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2. What to Do Before Building a PC?

This is one of the most exciting processes through which every PC assembler should go before organizing the Body parts of the Personal Computer. The things to do before building a Personal Computer are:

2.1. Requirements

Everyone who wants to build a Personal Computer should Know their requirements properly for what they want to build a PC. What is the specific work for which you are building your personal computer, and what is the budget for having it? These are all requirements you should keep in mind.

2.2. Research

Research of our needs provides a clear thought for your requirements. Research for device buying may introduce you to new technology.  What parts of the PC are best for your requirements?

In this, you need to analyze all the parts of the PC that are important to your requirements. For example, a Gamer should focus on the Graphics Processing Unit, CPU cooler, and motherboard of the CPU.

2.3. Comparison

In this, we need to compare all the company that provides the body part of the PC that is best for the requirements. First of all, create a list of all the components that are required for your Personal Computer. Then compare all the providers that are providing body parts for PCs. And go for the best deal according to your research.

How long does it take to build a pc
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3. What Factors Can Influence the Custom-Built Computer?

The Key Factors that are going to impact the building time and planning of your Personal Computer. These issues may not seem to be big factors, but they may lead to time consumption of the PC build. Good planning with these factors may ease your path toward PC builds, so let’s look at them.

3.1. Planning

This is one of the greatest factors that may influence your time consumption in any work if you have planned the work in a proper manner that reduces your efforts and time towards the work. proper planning for building a PC can make it afford less.

3.2. Research

This is one of the most obvious keys to building a PC. Research regarding your PC requirements can make your component requirements easy. In this, we compare our needs from different component manufacturers because this will lead you to the best component according to your need and build quality.

Research leads you to know more about the parts of a PC, which will make you more knowledgeable about the PC build. Proper research also leads you in a swift manner to build a PC that can be used as a step-by-step Guide for the whole building process. This process will also affect your budget, requirements for your PC, and performance outcomes of our PC.

3.3. Experience

Another factor that directly affects the time consumption of PC building is the personal subject. If you are a beginner in PC Building then it may take time because you are not familiar with the issues that may cause problems for you while building the PC but for an experienced person, this problem encounter may not cause an issue because they are familiar with those issues.

3.4. Delivery Time

This can be one of the most dependent factors for the PC build because if PC components are not available at our place, then it can take a longer time to build a PC. Indented requirements may also be one factor in delivery time consumption in PC buildings.

3.5. Issues 

After discussing all the factors like planning, research, experience, and delivery time, we can see that these can be some of the factors affecting a PC build. If all the components are delivered on time, but you find an issue with any PC component while building. Some of the most common issue that arises while building a PC. 

  • RAM and ROM compatibility with CPU.
  • Slot fitting with memory cards.
  • BIOS and CPU incompatibility.
  • Cable shortage for Power supply.
  • Components do not fit in a secure place.
  • The CPU cooler is not working properly.

3.6. Customization

This is a process in which we make our PC look different from our original looks. In this small frame setup, PC building may take a long time because matching your component requirements and the likes of our PC setup may be difficult.

But customization makes our PC more attractive to watch. Many additional add-ons on the system are RGB fans and AIO coolers. The sounds of RGB fans are an enjoyable experience for gamers.

3.7. Cable Management

You may agree that beauty lies in simple things. The cables are the same as those in the building PC. The Proper and clean wiring of the cable in the PC building is satisfactory for the user.

However, for cable management, it would take a long time to build a personal computer. Sometimes this cable management can be done in different manners. This different manner of cable management can have different time consumption.

3.8. Cooling System in CPU 

There are two different types of cooling systems in PC components. they are airflow and liquid cooling. Liquid cooling is one of the most impactful cooling systems that created a customs loop. This technique is done very precisely so it can be impactful in PC building.

How long does it take to build a pc
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3.9. Lighting

In this Process CPU and Cables of the PC are illuminated by the lights which are straightforward processes. Nowadays days most common lightning is RGB lightning which is directly connected to the motherboard with an RGB header.

These all are the factor which has an impact on PC building because all are time-consuming factors with their importance in PC building.

4. The Components Of PC

After discussing the factors affecting the PC building, we need to know what are the main components which are required in the PC building for the User. These components are discussed below, along with their basic character, which is required.

4.1. Case 

This is one of the basic requirements for building a PC because it provides the structure of the PC. These cases are nothing but fancy cases that offer different looks. These cases are built with Plastic or hard fibre. A few cases are glass panels which can be seen across the panels, some cases come with RGB lights which provide a different look to the PC.

How long does it take to build a pc
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4.2. Motherboard

This is the hub component of the PC where all the components are connected directly or indirectly with ports of the motherboard.

This is a printed board with the complete circuit connected in a board. The Motherboards have connectors and ports that are connected to GPU, sockets, CPU, Bios, and Memory. There are a lot of building blocks of transistors, capacitors, jumpers, and registers.

4.3. Processor

Processors are processing units that are also the real brains of computers. These processors are built with an electronic circuit.

These processing units are specified in the market and have a limited presentation of two component manufacturers. This Processing unit controls the whole PC, so they are the most important component in PC building, so wisely choose these processors.

4.4. Memory Card

This is one of the most important components of the PC or computer because it is used to store the data that is stored in the devices. For a powerful PC, we need to have a strong memory capacity. Random Access Memory and Read Only Memory are two types of memory that are usually installed on a PC. 

  • RAM, whose acronym is Random access memory, is used as primary memory, and for a gamer, Strong RAM is required in a PC.
  • ROM, whose acronym is Read Only Memory, is used as secondary memory and used as storage for PC.

4.5. CPU Cooler

While working CPU can eventually get hot and damage themselves. So, CPU cooling is one of the most necessary components of a PC Building. One thing you have to keep in mind while buying a CPU Cooler is that it should be compatible with a CPU Socket. These days liquid coolers are more in trend, and they are more effective in CPU cooling.

4.6. Graphic Card

A Graphic Card OR Video card is an integrated processing unit. Whose acronym is Graphical Processing Unit. this is a special electronic unit designed to accelerate image building and rendering. These graphic cards are used in various applications like Video editing, Image rendering, and Machine learning.

4.5. PSU 

PSU stands for Power Supply Unit. These PSUs should have good quality because they are essential for working on computers. A bad PSU can harm your CPU, Motherboard, Graphic Cards, and Processors. Before buying a PSU, a builder should know the approximate weightage of your CPU, GPU, and other products. 550-watt to 650-watt is one of the best buys for the PC.

4.6. Monitor

These monitors are output devices that are used to display the result of any output. The monitor comes with a variety of resolutions, shapes, and sizes. If gaming is your priority, then you can go for IPS monitors with the FreeSync and GSync technology.

4.7. Operating System

A program that is used to manage the hardware and software of a computer.  An operating system is the most important program of a computer system that gives functionality to a PC. 

4.8. Input Devices

Input Devices are some of the most important components of any Personal computer that are used to give commands to the devices for having output. Mouse and Keyboards are the two main components of input devices.

4.9. Cables and Connector

The last and one of the main connecting components of all computer devices are cables and connectors. These cables and connectors should be of a standard quality which are the backbone of any running system.

All the components that are discussed above are the main components of a PC building. Show everyone who wants to build a PC they should research and plan about all components they are going buy for a PC Building.

5. Where to Build a PC at Home or Shop?

If you are building the PC at the shop, then it gives a pro that if there is a shortage of any component or there is any issue in any component then it can be resolved quickly at the shop. But there is a con also for building a PC at a shop that is transporting of build PC is difficult.

If you build your PC at home, then there is no transport issue with the Components of your personal computers. But there is an issue if you are not an experienced person to build a PC, and if any issues arise, then it would take a long time to build the PC.

After all, the analyzing research and collecting the component PC you need to build the PC step-by-step In this building we are going to guide you step-by-step for assembling your PC. 

how long does it take to build a pc
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5.1. The Essential Steps for Building a PC

After unboxing the component, you need to give shape to all the component cases as they are guided in their guidebook after setting all the cases you need to mark all component that belongs from where and where that component going to be assembled while building the personal computers. 

After assembling all cases, we need to focus on motherboard assembly because it is one of the most important hubs of the computer, and all the hardware and software are connected to the motherboard directly or indirectly. The process of assembling the motherboard is:

Unpack the Motherboard which is packed with an anti-static bag and foam behind the package. after unpacking the motherboard clean all sockets and ports that are covered in packing. Measure the blanking plate. these blanking plates fit in the ports of the motherboard. These ports only have access to the blanking plate because they are manufactured for the ports.

After removing the blanking plate, you need to remove all the unnecessary bits from the plate you need to twist those bits until they are separated from the plate. Install the blanking plate on the surface of the case. The alignment of the blanking plate must be on the side where you want to align the motherboard. Measure the motherboard where it is going to be fitted in the case of the CPU. 

After screwing the motherboard, you need to identify the ATX connector, which has 24-pin connectors in the motherboard. You need to plug the ATX connector into the ATX pin. After ATX connectors you need to identify the Secondary Power connector. This is a single four-pin connector that is connected to a Power connector pin.

6. The Timeline for Building PC

After assembling the motherboards after that you need to connect the PSU and Processor with the motherboard on their slot and plot which is given on the motherboard.

With all these processes, you assemble your CPU step-by-step using the guidebook. After that, connect the monitor, keyboard, and mouse with CPU ports. With all these processes, you can assemble the PC by yourself.  After knowing all the factor that affects PC building now, we can provide a timeline for those factors:

It takes 10-20 minutes for anyone to unbox all the components and collect all the tools necessary to build the PC. The time consumption setup of the motherboard would take 20 – 40 minutes because it is the work of patience and control. The timeline may vary in the setup because it depends on the builder’s precision.

Placing the Motherboard in the CPU case, the timeline for the setup of the motherboard in the case may last long for 25-60 minutes because we need to screw up all the risers and place the motherboard on the slide. 

Installing of Power supply unit may take 5-20 minutes because we have to fix all connectors and pin the motherboard properly and screw the PSU unit in the CPU case. Preparing the case and testing the system would take 5-10 minutes. If any additional troubleshooting happens, then it would take 30 minutes minimum time, depending upon the trouble that arises in system building.

How long does it take to build a pc
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7. In The End

This article is all about how to build a PC, how long it takes to build a PC, what are the factors affecting PC building, and What components are required in PC building. As we have discussed above that Here the article briefly discusses all the factors affecting, all the components, how to assemble the PC, and what is the timeline for building the PC.

The article discusses all the component and their brief description of usability, how to use them, how to install those components, how they are beneficial for the PC, why they are necessary to install on the PC, and How to handle them during installation. Moreover, not only this, we also discussed the timeline for PC installation. From this, you can plan your time management on day PC building and this can be very helpful for you.

Last Updated on by Arnab

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By Karan
Karan Singh, who has a degree in Bachelor of Computer Application from Patna. He is a Content writer who loves to write about different fields. This versatile field of writing has taught him a vast knowledge of different fields.

Moumita Chakraborty is an avid reader, writer, and editor with immense interest in research, analysis, and fact-checking. As a Library & Information Science student, she has a lot of interest in literature study, reviewing, and editing. She is passionate and keenly observant of details to produce the best possible results.

Education BLIS Specialization in research and analysis Certifications/Qualifications Bachelor in Library & Information Science Bachelor in Bio-sciences Diploma in Information Technology Application