There is a huge range of attractive hardware on the market. Using our tips, you will find the right components for your self-made PC.

The optimal PC: Hardware purchase advice for processors, SSDs, RAM & Co. Processor: More cores, more performance Processors in performance comparison The matching mainboard SSD storage Construction proposals in the overview Comparison table construction proposals Article in c’t 24 / 2020 read When the days get shorter, there is more time to do handicrafts. However, if you want to assemble and build a desktop PC yourself, you first have to fight your way through the huge range of hardware components. In this guide we give tips for the selection of the most important components such as processor, mainboard, SSD and memory. The separate graphics card purchase advice explains which graphics card is best for your purposes. Of course, the recommendations and tips also apply when purchasing a complete system or for upgrading an existing desktop PC.

Before selecting the hardware, you should carefully consider which tasks the computer should perform. An underpowered machine, which later has to be upgraded for a lot of money, can be avoided, as can an oversized bolide, in which the dearly paid hardware ages unused and drives the electricity bill up.

Buying a complete computer and converting it right away is usually not a good idea. Because you combine the disadvantages of both concepts: On the one hand, you lose the manufacturer’s guarantee on a functioning overall system including the operating system and drivers. On top of that, you have to live with restrictions because, for example, the mainboard is only equipped with two DIMM slots or the power supply does not have enough connections for powerful graphics cards.

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