Building My First Custom PC

Then I moved on to building my first custom PC—something I’d always wanted to do. I figured that building it myself would be cheaper and definitely more customizable. For example, I wanted a lot of RAM, but not much storage. In prebuilt PCs, 32GB of RAM is often seen as "professional-tier" and bundled with large SSDs I didn’t need.

My first step was compatibility research. I read about CPU sockets (AM4, AM5, LGA), RAM and SSD types, and made sure everything would work together. I already had a 600W PSU and an old GPU, so I only bought a motherboard, a single RAM stick, and an SSD to start.

I chose a Ryzen 5 3600 processor—commonly recommended as a good value. The motherboard was one of the cheapest compatible options, which I later regretted due to missing features like native USB-C support.

I assembled the parts, installed an OS, and it worked. Later, I bought a case to house some HDDs I added. The biggest steps were done. I also added small upgrades over time—a second RAM stick, a Bluetooth adapter, and even a DVD drive.

One of the most fulfilling parts was converting old VHS tapes to MP4 using a video capture card and a VHS player. My family was happy to see forgotten memories come to life again. It reminded me how even basic computer skills can make someone’s day better.

Eventually, I wanted to use the PC for more than just web browsing and old games. I read about local AI models and 3D modeling software like Blender—both GPU-intensive. My 20-year-old GPU wasn’t going to cut it.

After some research, I bought an ASUS ProArt RTX 4060 with 8GB of VRAM. It was slightly overpriced compared to the cheapest version (about 10–20% more) due to better cooling, which I later realized wasn’t necessary as the card didn’t even come close to thermal throttling.

I installed the card, downloaded tools and models, and started playing with them. It was fun but also overwhelming. I didn’t fully understand how the models worked just from running them. Then I switched to experimenting with 3D software, mainly thinking about 3D printing.

When I was younger, I dreamed of playing modern games but couldn’t afford the hardware. I remembered seeing Cyberpunk 2077 and loving its style. Overclocking became my benchmark challenge. I tried pushing my GPU and RAM—though I didn’t win the “silicon lottery” and could only overclock a little.

Even so, I managed to run Cyberpunk at max settings, 1080p, 60 FPS. That was more than enough to make the whole journey feel worth it.