The TBG DIY PC Build Guides

By Ari Altman | Published January 31, 2025 | Updated February 8, 2025

Introduction to the TBG PC Build Guides

Welcome to TBG’s DIY PC Build Guides! This is where you’ll find all the best PC builds on the ‘net, from ultra-compact home office PCs to screaming-fast gaming towers. In total, we offer 18 distinct DIY PC Build guides, constantly updated with the latest and greatest components.

The February 2025 Updates

A lot’s been happening in the PC world as of late, but it’s been a little puzzling, to say the least. In late 2024, we saw AMD and Intel launch their biggest new CPU lineups in years, and they had something strangely in common – neither could clearly pull away from their predecessors. Then in January 2025, Nvidia launched its first new lineup of GPUs since 2022, and they advanced the ball just enough to be considered a new generation of products. So what’s an enthusiast to do? Find the best deals available on the best products you can buy right now, which is what you’ll find in our guides! And here’s some inside knowledge that you won’t find elsewhere – with the current GPU shortage, in many cases the best way to score the best gear is with a pre-built PC, because OEMs have been given first dibs on many of the most in-demand GPUs, so we list great pre-built alternatives in many of our DIY guides.

But we know some of you want the details on gear we recommend, so let’s dive in on where the market sits today…

When it comes to CPUs, it’s easy. We’re going all in on AMD, because while its 9000 series didn’t blow away critics, the subsequent launch of the shockingly underwhelming Intel 200 series made AMD look really, really good. Intel’s chips offered performance regressions in gaming, and overall seemed like a stopgap measure until Intel can figure out what its next best thing actually is. And interestingly, this also leaves AMD’s older 7000 series looking very good, along with a handful of Intel’s last-gen CPUs, given the big discounts on them. Overall, it’s a mix of old and new, and at the very top for content creators is the Ryzen 9 9950X, while at the very top for gamers is no doubt the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which is simply in another league versus Intel’s offerings.

On the GPU side, things are even more complicated. To clear the decks for its new releases, Nvidia stopped producing all high-end 4000-series GPUs months ago. But oddly, it did not appear to ramp production up its 5000 series in any meaningful way, perhaps because it’s really more of an AI company now, and using its precious, limited production capacity for AI chips nets it much bigger margins. That’s just reality. So for this month, we’re actually going to be turning mostly to AMD for its remaining stock of RX 7000 series GPUs. AMD has announced that its new 9000 series (notably skipping 8000) will launch in March in the $500 price range and should offer honest value, but nothing to challenge Nvidia at the top (and perhaps won’t even match AMD’s top current-gen chips).

Now, if you want to know what Nvidia has on offer that you can’t buy right now, it’s as follows: the halo RTX 5090 32GB beats the 4090 24GB by about 30%, but for quite a bit more money: $2000 (but honestly, that’s just a “launch” version; most models will go for $2400 and up). Oh how we wish the 4090 were still around at its $1600 MSRP, what a deal it would be! Then we have the RTX 5080 16GB that launched at “$1000”,  but with most models coming in at $1200 and above, we see what Nvidia is doing here. It’s a stealth price increase. With just 10% higher performance than the outgoing 4080 Super at $1000, this is potentially a decrease in performance per dollar, but again, the 4080 Super is as extinct as the 4090 – Nvidia made sure of it. Going on down the line, launching in February (in no doubt very small numbers) is the 5070 Ti 16GB at $750, perhaps matching the original 4080, and the 5070 at $550, offering a slight uplift over the 4070 Super. As we mentioned, AMD also has some new GPUs coming in March (the 9070 and 9070 XT), and they will likely compete with the 5070 and 5070 Ti, respectively, for about $50-$100 less, playing the spoiler in terms of value to Nvidia’s better overall software package. That means they’ll both have a place depending on the budget you’re working with. As soon as these GPUs are actually available to buy for more than a few minutes at a time, we’ll be sure to pick the best models to incorporate into our guides!

Using the TBG PC Build Guides

Whether it’s your first, tenth, or hundredth time building a PC, these guides will set you up with the best components you can buy. To find the right PC for you, feel free to browse all of the options below, or alternatively choose specific criteria from our filter browser below, which will display just the builds that meet your needs. You can then click on the “View Specs” button to see a quick view of prices, parts, and dimensions, or click the “View Guide” button to jump straight to the full Build Guide for that build. Happy hunting, and good luck with whichever build you choose!

Our DIY PC Build Guides are updated monthly, and sometimes daily, to ensure you get the most up-to-date info. If you appreciate the work we do on these, don’t forget to use our Amazon and Newegg links to support continued publication of these guides.

We’d like to express special thanks to SilverStone Technology Co., which sponsors the TBG PC Build Guides. Founded in 2003, SilverStone has made major contributions to PC case design, small form factor PC development, and power supply innovation!

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