One of the main things you need to consider at the start of your custom PC build journey is budget, and what that budget will get you. A lot of people come to us expecting to splash $300 on a custom build that can smash 4k games at 100fps. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Our $300 build has been custom designed to play less intensive esports games such as CS: GO, DOTA 2, and LoL. Understanding the limitations of your budget at the start will save you a bunch of time in the long run.

It’s worth mentioning that Amazon prices do fluctuate regularly. So, this means the builds might not always be under the intended target. Don’t worry, though; we check the builds daily to make sure the most up-to-date and best value products are being selected.

Another area to consider when building your own PC is future upgrades. Let’s be honest; a PC won’t last you forever. At some stage, you will need to upgrade its components. Making sure you limit the number of products that need updating when that day comes is a major part of the hardware selection process.

Luckily, we’ve already done that for you. This build comes with an up-to-date motherboard, which is perfect for future upgrades. The case is also a solid option that will allow for GPU and additional storage capacity upgrades, as well.

Overclocking has become increasingly more achievable in the last ten years, mainly thanks to the quality of the hardware becoming much more overclocking friendly. It’s a great way of extracting additional performance at no extra cost. But be careful, just a couple of weeks ago, one of our product testers fried a motherboard by pushing it too far.

This build is set up for light overclocking and will respond if you choose to do so. However, it must be noted that Ryzen chips are extremely well-optimized out-of-the-box. Gaining significant performance increases is probably a thing of the past, for now.

As a first-time builder, it’s always a bit daunting having to physically build your rig, especially if the case isn’t builder friendly. Always do your research on the case, making sure it’s the right size for your components. We found the Thermaltake  Versa H22 very forgiving and an excellent choice for someone new to the building game.

We used a PC building toolkit during this build and recommend you do the same to help make the entire process go that bit smoother. Also worthy of consideration is an anti-static wristband that can be purchased for next to no additional cost.

Another key area to consider is the non-gaming side of a PC build. A large number of gaming enthusiasts will design a build around both gaming and work station tasks. You’ll be glad to hear that we’ve done the same.

This build can handle small workload tasks thanks to its impressive multi-core performance. Simple video editing and photo editing should be more than achievable. If you’re looking to stream, then you’d be better served with one of our premium builds instead.

Aesthetics are always important in a custom build because, ultimately, you want your build to look the best it can. However, just like the performance, aesthetics usually have a direct impact on the cost of the build.

Unfortunately, the Versa H22 leaves quite a bit to be desired when it comes to aesthetics. There are a bunch of stylish cases out there; you just need to increase your budget to accommodate for one.