The PC hardware industry is its own little art form. New models appear constantly, prices change, availabilities change, manufacturers change their product lines, and something that was an excellent choice six months ago can suddenly be a terrible deal.
Writing a genuinely useful “best PC components” guide would mean 5-6 different use cases and updating them practically every week. So I’m not even going to try.
Instead, here are some general guidelines that should help you make sensible choices. The most important thing to understand is that there is no single “correct” PC build. Components should always be selected based on what you actually need the computer to do, your budget, and the prices available at the time. Don’t start with a list of brands and then try to build a PC around them. Start with the requirements.
Motherboard
The motherboard is one of the components where you don’t need to spend a fortune. For a really high-end workstation where reliability, connectivity and professional features are important, ASUS ProArt is an excellent option. It is also very expensive.
For a more sensible gaming, content creation or general-purpose PC, ASRock has several very good motherboards and is a brand I have no problem recommending. MSI and Gigabyte also make plenty of good motherboards, but they are simply not my first choice.
The important thing is not the logo printed on the heatsink. Look at the specific motherboard model, it’s features and prices.
Things worth checking include:
* CPU compatibility
* BIOS support
* VRM quality
* Number and type of M.2 slots
* PCIe slots
* USB connectivity
* Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, if required
* Networking
* Fan headers
* Memory compatibility
* Physical layout
Don’t buy an expensive motherboard simply because it says “GAMING” on it. A 400€ motherboard does not magically make a €250 CPU faster.
CPU
For PC’s, I’m currently very comfortable recommending AMD. It was all about Intel like 10 years ago.The exact CPU depends entirely on what you’re doing. For a reasonably priced gaming PC, you don’t necessarily need an expensive high-end CPU. If the primary purpose is gaming, the GPU is usually the component where you want to put the largest part of the budget.
For gaming, AMD’s X3D processors are particularly interesting when the budget allows it.
For video editing, 3D rendering, software development, simulation or other heavily multithreaded workloads, the calculation changes. In those cases, additional CPU cores can be much more valuable.
Don’t buy a 16-core CPU just because 16 sounds better than 8. Buy the CPU that matches the workload.
And remember that CPUs are usually much easier to upgrade later than some people think. You don’t need to buy the fastest possible CPU today just because you might need it five years from now.
RAM
This is one area where I strongly recommend buying a matched memory kit rather than assembling one yourself from random modules. For an AMD AM5 system, look for DDR5 memory with an AMD EXPO profile and check that the exact kit is compatible with your motherboard. G.Skill is one of my favourite brands and has a very good selection of AMD-oriented memory kits.
But: You don’t have to buy G.Skill. Kingston, Corsair, Crucial, TeamGroup and several others make perfectly good memory.
What matters more is:
* Capacity
* Speed
* Latency
* EXPO/XMP support
* Compatibility with the motherboard (you can check the QVL list)
* Price
For a modern gaming PC, I’d generally rather have a sensible 32 GB or 48 GB kit with good timings than an absurdly fast kit that costs twice as much.
Also, don’t mix random memory kits. If you need 64 GB, buy a proper 64 GB kit rather than buying another identical-looking 32 GB kit six months later and hoping they’ll play nicely together. Even memory kits with the same advertised specifications are not necessarily guaranteed to work together at their rated settings. G.Skill itself specifically recommends not mixing kits. For AM5, DDR5-6000 is still a very sensible target, but don’t obsess over the number. Compatibility and stability matter more than winning a benchmark by 0.7%.
SSD
There are plenty of good SSD manufacturers. Samsung has traditionally been an excellent choice, although it is often more expensive than necessary. Crucial can offer good value, and WD’s Black series has many good drives as well.
But again, don’t buy a particular SSD just because it says Samsung, Crucial or Western Digital on it. Look at the specific model and your requirements. There are good and mediocre products from virtually every manufacturer. Also, remember that anything above like 3-5GB/s speeds is super-fast already.
For a normal gaming PC, a good PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD is already extremely fast. You usually don’t need to spend a fortune on the absolute fastest PCIe 5.0 drive. In games, the difference between a good PCIe 4.0 SSD and a much more expensive PCIe 5.0 SSD in actual use is often nowhere near as dramatic as the specifications on the box would suggest.
Also avoid buying an SSD based purely on its advertised sequential read speed. Random performance, controller, NAND type, endurance, thermals and sustained performance matter too.
Thermal paste
This is where things start getting slightly audiophile-ish. There are excellent thermal pastes from companies such as Thermal Grizzly and Arctic. Don’t spend hours worrying about thermal paste.
The difference between a decent modern thermal paste and an expensive enthusiast paste is generally much smaller than the difference between a correctly installed cooler and a badly installed one. If your cooler comes with good thermal paste, just use it. You don’t need “the world’s best thermal paste” to run a gaming PC.
CPU cooler
There are plenty of good CPU coolers. For most gaming PCs, I prefer air cooling. It’s simple, reliable, quiet and doesn’t contain a pump that can (and will) eventually fail.
Good manufacturers include:
* Noctua
* Arctic
* be quiet!
* Scythe
Don’t automatically buy an AIO liquid cooler because it looks more impressive. A good air cooler can be extremely capable. Liquid cooling makes sense in some high-end builds, overclocking, or particularly when you need the cooling capacity or want a particular aesthetic, but it isn’t automatically better.
Check:
* CPU compatibility
* Cooling performance
* Case clearance
* RAM clearance
* Noise
* Price
* Reviews / real-world tests
Power supply
This is one component where you don’t cheap out. The PSU is not the place to save €30. I personally like Seasonic, and be quiet! also makes many good power supplies. But there are excellent PSUs from other manufacturers as well. Personally, I would avoid Corsair. Some of their PSUs simply can’t handle the huge power transients (power spikes) that some modern GPUs can produce.
When buying a PSU, look at:
* The exact model
* Independent reviews
* ATX version
* Efficiency
* Warranty
* Appropriate wattage
* GPU power connectors
For a modern gaming PC, I’d strongly prefer a current ATX 3.x PSU with the appropriate native GPU power connector rather than relying on a collection of adapters. I recommend semi-modular or fully modular. It makes the build much easier & faster.
And don’t buy a 1500W PSU for a system that consumes 500 W just because “more is better”. You want enough capacity with sensible headroom, not a nuclear reactor.
Graphics card
This is usually the most important component in a gaming PC. If gaming performance is the priority, put a significant portion of the budget into the GPU. AMD Radeon cards can offer excellent performance for the money, particularly in the mid-range. Sapphire is one of my favourite Radeon board partners. But again, don’t turn this into a religion.
NVIDIA can make more sense if you specifically want features such as:
* Better ray-tracing performance
* DLSS
* CUDA
* Certain AI workloads
* Specific professional applications like video editing
* Particular streaming or encoding features
AMD can be a particularly attractive choice when you’re primarily interested in traditional rasterized gaming performance and getting as much GPU performance as possible for your money. And prices change constantly. For example, current GPU pricing in 2026 has been moving around enough that a card that was an obvious recommendation previously may no longer be the best deal today.
So don’t decide: “AMD good, NVIDIA bad.”
Instead ask:
“What gives me the best performance and features for my money today?”
That’s the right question.
Case
The case is partly a matter of taste, but airflow should come before RGB. My first choice is generally a case with a mesh front panel and good airflow. Fractal Design makes excellent cases. The Torrent is a particularly strong airflow-oriented design, while the Pop Air is a good example of a more affordable, sensible and smaller case.
Other manufacturers worth looking at include:
* Montech
* Lian Li
* Jonsbo
* be quiet!
* Corsair
* NZXT
Again, look at the specific model. A famous manufacturer can make an excellent case and a terrible case.
The most important things I’d look for are:
* Good airflow
* Mesh intake
* Enough room for the GPU
* CPU cooler clearance
* Sensible cable management
* Dust filters
* Reasonable fan support
* Easy access to components
* No completely ridiculous proprietary nonsense
And before buying, check the physical dimensions of your components. A graphics card can be technically compatible with a case and still make installation an absolute nightmare. Gamers Nexus is an excellent source for detailed case reviews and airflow testing.
Components and things I would avoid
This is probably the more useful question. Rather than giving you a blacklist of manufacturers, I’d avoid certain types of products.
Avoid cheap PSUs
This is the big one. Don’t buy a €35 no-name 750 W power supply because the box says “750 W Gaming Power Supply”. The wattage printed on the side is not enough information to determine whether a PSU is good. A bad PSU can cause instability, crashes and hardware damage, and even when it doesn’t, you don’t want the most important electrical component in the entire computer to be the one where you saved €40. Buy a reputable, independently reviewed model with a good warranty.
Avoid extremely cheap SSDs
Don’t buy an SSD purely because it has a huge advertised sequential read number and is €20 cheaper than everything else. Some budget SSDs make significant compromises in NAND, controllers, sustained performance or thermal behavior. For a PC you’re planning to keep for years, spending a little more on a well-reviewed SSD is usually money well spent.
Avoid buying RAM based on brand alone
This also means: Don’t avoid Kingston just because someone on the Internet told you Kingston RAM is bad. Kingston makes plenty of perfectly good memory. The same goes for Corsair, Crucial, G.Skill, TeamGroup and others. Look at the actual kit and its specifications. For an AMD AM5 gaming PC, I’d specifically look for a sensible DDR5 kit with an EXPO profile and verify it against the motherboard’s compatibility information.
Avoid single-stick RAM in a normal desktop gaming PC. If you want 32 GB, buy 2 × 16 GB rather than 1 × 32 GB, unless there is a specific reason to do otherwise. Two sticks allow the system to use dual-channel memory operation. Likewise, don’t automatically assume that filling all four memory slots is better. On modern DDR5 platforms, two DIMMs are generally easier to run at high speeds than four. In addition, the memory you add, the more time it usually takes to POST. If you need 64 GB, a matched 2 × 32 GB kit is often preferable to 4 × 16 GB.
Avoid 8 GB GPUs for a new gaming PC if the price isn’t compelling
This is becoming increasingly important. Modern games can consume a lot of VRAM, particularly at higher resolutions and with high-quality textures. An 8 GB card isn’t automatically useless, but I would be very cautious about spending serious money on one for a new gaming PC. If two otherwise similar cards cost about the same and one has substantially more VRAM, the larger-memory model is often the more sensible long-term choice.
Avoid paying extra for RGB instead of performance
RGB is not a performance feature. It doesn’t make the CPU faster. It doesn’t increase FPS. It doesn’t improve airflow.
It does, however, make the PC glow. Which is perfectly fine if that’s what you want. đ Just don’t spend €100 extra on RGB fans while downgrading the graphics card to afford them.
Avoid proprietary ecosystems unless you actually want them
Some manufacturers want you to install one application for RGB, another for fans, another for monitoring, another for the motherboard and another for the keyboard. Before you know it, your PC has 17 background processes controlling the color of a fan. You don’t need that.
Prefer standard components and software where possible.
Avoid “gaming” versions of everything
Gaming motherboard.
Gaming RAM.
Gaming SSD.
Gaming network card.
Gaming mousepad.
Gaming thermal paste.
Gaming USB cable.
Gaming speakers.
Gaming chair.
Gaming browser.
Don’t fall for it. Some products genuinely have gaming-oriented features. Most of the time, however, “gaming” is simply a marketing label. Look at what the product actually does.
As a final bonus, I can give you some parts lists I’ve used for building different types of computers. Note that some of these are already quite outdated, some components are no longer available, and some of the prices are now simply ridiculous. Still, they should give you a general overview of the components I personally recommend.
Reasonably priced gaming PC 1 (for a younger person, maybe a girl): https://fi.pcpartpicker.com/list/76NG9c
Reasonably priced gaming PC 2: https://fi.pcpartpicker.com/list/h2G9Dj
Low budget general Purpose PC: https://fi.pcpartpicker.com/list/qcWG4p
Mid-range Video editing PC: https://fi.pcpartpicker.com/list/MzNZcx
High-End PC for extremely demanding gaming: https://fi.pcpartpicker.com/list/Fj964g
Ei kommentteja:
LÀhetÀ kommentti