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I built my first custom PC during the recent Amazon Prime sale.
Since I had some trouble beforehand and also noticed some mistakes after assembling it, I’m writing this article as a memo for myself.
Table of Contents
Use cases and planned build
First, I expected this PC to be used for the following purposes.
What I planned to do
- Internet browsing using multiple browsers and multiple tabs (around 10 to 20)
- Writing documents with a text editor
- Application development using a text editor or IDE
- Using WSL2
- Running multiple virtual machines at the same time with Hyper-V
- 3D modeling with Blender, Unity, and similar tools
- Streaming with a 3D avatar
- Output to three or more displays
- Wired network connection and wired keyboard connection
- Keeping tools like Kindle, Spotify, and Discord open all the time
What I didn’t plan to do
- Graphics-heavy games
- Advanced video editing
- Storing very large numbers of files such as photos
- Installing Linux directly on the PC (I’ll use virtual machines)
- Enabling OC (overclocking)
The build I had in mind to satisfy those requirements
| Component | Desired spec |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | - Must support 10th-generation Intel CPUs and have enough expansion ports |
| CPU | - High performance, built-in iGPU, and output for three or more displays |
| RAM | - At least 32GB |
| Storage | - M.2 PCIe with at least 500GB |
| Expansion | - Thunderbolt3 and Bluetooth available |
| Network | - Wired LAN available |
| Other | - As little lighting as possible |
Parts I bought and their prices
These are the parts I bought at first for this purpose.
I was able to assemble the PC with this configuration, install the OS, and confirm that it worked.
| Parts bought for the initial build | Price at purchase | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ASUS TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS【 ATX 】 | 18,162円 | Model without a LAN card. |
| インテル CPU i7-10700 | 34,000円 | Affordable and lower-power version. Has an iGPU. |
| Patriot Memory Viper Elite II DDR4 3600MHz 32GB (32GB x 1枚) | 23,990円 | No lighting. |
| 日本サムスン 980 1TB PCIe Gen 3.0 ×4 NVMe M.2 内蔵 SSD MZ-V8V1T0B/EC | 15,990円 | Read 3,500MB/s, write 3,000MB/s. |
| Corsair RM750-2019- 750W PC電源ユニット | 12,100円 | |
| Noctua NH-D15S | 10,999円 | Single-fan model. |
| Cooler Master MasterBox Q500L | 6,405円 | Supports ATX. Smoked panel. |
These are the parts I bought later as additions.
| Additional parts bought later | Price at purchase | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ZOTAC GeForce GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 グラフィックスボード | 13,298円 | The GDDR5 version. |
This is the total price after subtracting the discount amount and point rebate from the total purchase price. Parts were all purchased on Amazon, and I have an Amazon Mastercard. (Not Gold.)
Because I bought all of the parts except the GPU during Amazon Prime Day, I received 9.5% in points back.
| Summary | Price |
|---|---|
| Total purchase price | 134,936円 |
| Prime Day discount | -5,210円 |
| Amazon point rebate | -9,236円 |
| Total | 120,490円 |
- Later, I bought another matching memory module for 18,682 yen and increased the installed RAM to 64GB.
Things I agonized over when deciding the build
Motherboard form factor
The first thing I agonized over was the motherboard form factor.
I had almost decided to go with ATX, but because I wanted to place the PC on my desk, the size of the case became the main issue.
Reference: Micro-ATX vs Mini-ITX vs ATX: Which Form-Factor is Right for You?
Honestly, typical ATX-compatible cases feel incredibly imposing…
After looking for an ATX-compatible case that was as small as possible, I happened to find a video about the Cooler Master MasterBox Q500L, so I decided to use it.
I copied quite a lot of the build from this video too.
CPU
The next thing I agonized over was the CPU. I ended up buying the インテル CPU i7-10700 , but the CPU I had been considering in the initial plan was the AMD Ryzen 5 3600.
In the end, because decent graphics cards were in short supply and expensive across the board, I decided on the インテル CPU i7-10700 so I could get by for a while with the integrated GPU.
Most of my use cases do not require much graphics performance anyway—I had been fine with the integrated GPU on a laptop until now—so I went with the インテル CPU i7-10700 .
I bought the Z490 chipset to match it.
I also bought the non-K CPU instead of a K model because I only needed enough performance and wanted to prioritize lower power consumption.
Memory
I hesitated a little because the インテル CPU i7-10700 ’s memory type is DDR4-2933, but in the end I bought Patriot Memory Viper Elite II DDR4 3600MHz 32GB (32GB x 1枚).
I could not use the memory’s full spec, but there were not many 32GB single-stick options that seemed just right, and the price difference was not that large, so I chose it.
Things that were difficult during assembly
The motherboard wouldn’t fit
The motherboard absolutely would not go into the case, and it was extremely difficult.
When I dropped it a few times while trying to force it in, I was prepared to buy another one, but somehow it ended up working fine. Motherboards are sturdier than I expected.
Also, after I had finished assembling everything, I realized that the cover around the ports was misaligned, and taking everything apart and rebuilding it was seriously painful.
Once you mount the motherboard, make sure to check that the holes for every port are actually lined up.
Blood
Part of it is simply that I’m bad at fine, delicate work, but there were more sharp parts than I expected, and I cut my fingers in about three places and bled quite a bit.
I think it might be worth having protective gloves.
Power pins
I had no idea there would be so many different holes just to connect the power supply and motherboard()!! First of all, the manual didn’t even say which pins to use, so I panicked.
I basically kept watching this video by Serori while reading the motherboard manual, and somehow managed to get it working.
Seating the memory
After finishing the assembly, I thought it was finally time to boot it up, but when I turned on the power, even the BIOS would not start.
I panicked and thought I had broken the motherboard after all, but once I calmed down and looked into it, the cause was that the memory was not fully inserted.
Mistakes I made when building my own PC
My initial plan was wrong
Before buying anything, I kept looking at this official site when checking the motherboard specs and ports.
Official site: TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS
I misunderstood it as if it were saying, “It supports Thunderbolt3! It can use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth! Awesome!”, but in reality I could not use either.
Thunderbolt3 could not be used from the included USB-C port, and I needed to install a separate Thunderbolt3 card. As for Bluetooth, I also needed to install a separate LAN card.
First of all, it seems that this official site was based on the Wi-Fi-enabled model of the TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS, which cost about 15,000 yen more than the one I bought, so my model did not come with a LAN card.
And as for Thunderbolt3, it seems it was not included as standard either—rather, it just had an expansion connector for it. Too bad.
I ended up buying a GPU almost immediately
About a week after assembling it, I added a low-end GeForce GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 graphics card.
The reason was that, as mentioned above, Thunderbolt3 was not available by default, so I could not use USB-C as a display output, which meant I did not have enough ports for a three-monitor setup.
At first, I also considered buying the GIGABYTE GC-TITAN RIDGE 2.0 Thunderbolt3 拡張カード to add Thunderbolt3 support, but it was fairly expensive, so I thought I’d probably be happier plugging in a low-end GPU that cost about the same.
Honestly, if I was going to buy a GPU this soon anyway, I do have a slight regret that I might have been better off going with Ryzen from the start and saving a bit more on the chipset as well.
Summary
That was my record of building my own PC this time, including the planned configuration and the mistakes I made.
There were a few things I got wrong, but the PC is extremely comfortable to use, and the total cost came in far below my 210,000-yen budget, so I’m very satisfied.