THE PC BUILDER'S BIBLE

WE'VE MADE BUILDING YOUR OWN PC EASY! DODGE COMMON PITFALLS, FIX TROUBLESOME BOOT CONUNDRUMS & ENJOY EVERY MINUTE!

System building is one of the central tenets of the PC enthusiast community. It’s something we should all aspire to. Here at APC, we’ve built rigs and taught others how to craft their own, both in person and across these pages, countless times. And with one very good reason: You get a real sense of pride from constructing your own machine, and an even greater one from teaching others how to do it. And with the added benefits of knowing every part that goes into your build, saving some cash, and understanding how to troubleshoot your system if it goes wrong, it’s hard to ignore the advantages that system building brings.

A lot revolves around system building across the industry. From hardware development, to the custom modding scene, to the liquid-cooling community, the gamers, the video editors, overclockers, Linux users, web developers, you name it — all of them are based around that one basic principle. And for many, it’s what brought them to this community to begin with.

Yet, in today’s age of easy-to-construct behemoths, is there really that much hidden knowledge to be discovered when it comes to these builds? Well, from the budding builder to the artisan crafter, a little knowledge can go a long way, and even today, some of us beaten-up techies here at APC still learn a thing or two whenever we step foot into each issue’s PC Builder Masterclass. So let us impart our knowledge to you. We’ve broken more cases, sheared off more flesh, and destroyed more hardware than you can possibly imagine. Allow us to divulge those secrets and give you our very best tips and tricks for building your own slice of dream-machine pie.