Here at The Tech Buyer’s Guru, we got our start in the DIY PC building community back in 2013, and while we’ve expanded our coverage into other markets since then, we still have a special place in our heart for the joy that comes with putting together your own PC, pressing the power button for the first time, and…. getting nothing! Yes, indeed, building PCs can be a daunting challenge, and that’s why, after many years of reader requests, we’ve finally decided to move beyond our text-and-photo based assembly guides and move into a full-length video tutorial. It required a huge investment in audio-video gear, a whole lot of money spent on components, and even after that a lot of help from five fantastic manufacturers: Thermaltake, Corsair, Samsung, SilverStone, and Noctua, each of which agreed to help sponsor the guide by contributing brand-new high-end products to be included in the video.

Here’s a full list of all the components showcased in this video series:

1. CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K
2. Motherboard: Asus ROG Z390 Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi)
3. Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB Black
4. RAM: Corsair 4x8GB Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4-3600 (thank you to Corsair for providing this review sample)
5. SSD #1: Samsung 970 Pro 1TB M.2 (thank you to Samsung for providing this review sample)
6. SSD #2: Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5″
7. Case: Thermaltake A500 Aluminum (thank you to Thermaltake for providing this review sample)
8. CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 3.0 360 ARGB Sync (thank you to Thermaltake for providing this review sample)
9. RGB Case Fans: Thermaltake 120mm ARGB Sync 3-Pack (thank you to Thermaltake for providing this review sample)
10. Case Fan: Noctua NH-A12x25 (thank you to Noctua for providing this review sample)
11. Thermal Paste: Noctua NT-H2 (thank you to Noctua for providing this review sample)
12. Power Supply: SilverStone Strider ST1000-PTS 1000W Platinum (thank you to SilverStone for providing this review sample)
13. Operating System: Windows 10 Flash Drive

Because this is a real-time build video, which means it spans several hours, we decided to break it into five episodes.

In our preview video, we discuss the origins of this video series, and the tremendous help we received from various sponsors:

In Episode 1, we dive right into the process of prepping your case for assembly, removing and installing fans, mounting the power supply, and routing all required cables:

In Episode 2, we install the CPU, SSDs, RAM, and motherboard:

In Episode 3, we get into the hardest step: installing the 360mm liquid cooler, followed by the relatively simple installation of the RTX 2080 Ti video card, and concluding with a tutorial on how to apply Noctua thermal paste:

Finally, in Episode 4, we have our software setup video, in which we go through the process of installing Windows 10 on our new PC, and then set up the RGB software that allows for our addressable RGB lighting system to show its stuff!

By the way, if you’re building an AMD Ryzen-based system, we have a video demonstrating how to use the AM4 socket, which is the only major difference between building and Intel and an AMD PC. You can see the video right here:

As always, feel free to check out our Do-It-Yourself Buyer’s Guides, updated on a monthly basis to keep you up to speed on all the latest developments in the PC industry!