Plan your custom PC like a pro

🔧 Your build — where the money goes

💰 Tight budget? What to buy first — and what can wait

• The power supply never gets trimmed. Buy the quality 80+ Gold unit on day one — it protects everything you add later, and a good one outlives two builds.
• Motherboard, CPU, PSU and case first. That’s a machine that boots (on integrated graphics if your CPU has them) and a platform you’ll never have to rip apart.
• The graphics card can come last. GPU prices swing more than any other part — bridge with integrated graphics or a cheap used card, then pounce when the sales hit.
• Storage and memory are the easy laters. Start at 1TB and one 2×8GB kit if you must — both drop in later in minutes. Just always buy RAM as a matched pair, never a single stick “to add to”.
• Case bling and RGB wait at the back of the queue. A £60 mesh case cools as well as a £150 showpiece — looks are the one upgrade with zero performance.
• Under ~£600 all-in? Be honest with yourself: a refurbished business-grade Dell desktop from £545 usually beats a compromised new build (choose a tower model if you want to add a graphics card later).

💡 Golden rules of PC building

• Never cheap out on the power supply. A quality 80+ Gold unit from a reputable brand protects every other part — a bad one can take them with it.
• Balance beats bragging. A monster graphics card with a weak processor (or vice versa) wastes money — that’s exactly what the split above prevents.
• Always two sticks of RAM (dual channel) — 2×16GB beats 1×32GB every time.
• Check the three clearances before ordering: graphics-card length, CPU-cooler height, and radiator space — all listed on the case’s spec page.
• Match the platform: AMD Ryzen (AM5 socket) and Intel Core each need their own motherboard, and both are DDR5 now — the board’s spec page is the truth.
• Buy the storage you’ll actually need. Migrating a full Windows drive later is a faff — 1TB minimum, 2TB if you record or edit.
• Airflow before aesthetics. A mesh-front case with two good fans quietly outperforms a pretty glass box that cooks.
• First build? Take your time. Build on the motherboard box, touch the case metal before handling parts, and follow the manual’s order. It’s Lego with one rule: don’t force anything.

🛠️ Tools (you need less than you think)

• A #2 Phillips screwdriver — magnetic tip ideally. That’s genuinely most of it.
• A USB stick (8GB+) for the Windows installer, made with Microsoft’s free Media Creation Tool.
• Nice to have: a magnetic parts tray, zip ties for cable tidying, and a torch. Thermal paste comes pre-applied on most coolers.

Honest guidance, not gospel: component generations move fast, so we point you at the right class of part for your money and link to live listings rather than quoting prices that would be stale by Friday. Sales (and GPU price swings!) can move the sweet spots.