How I Built My Gaming Rig (Step by Step)

A complete step-by-step guide to how I built my gaming rig.
BUY GAMES legally and securely ► bit.ly/2e24Viw
Second Channel ► / squirrelplus
Squirrel Branded PCs! ► pc.squirrel.tv
My Gaming Equipment ► specs.squirrel.tv
ASUS peripherals at Amazon ► amzn.to/2d3IZpn
► Subscribe: bit.ly/1rCDHB0
► Official Website: squirrel.tv
► Mailbox: [e-mail]
► Twitch Livestreams: / squirrel
► Facebook Page: / sqrltv
► Twitter: / sqrltv

[@juansdf1]

I only clicked on this video to see how the hell Squirrell looks like LOL

[@DoselH]

me too

[@ramairluvr]

+Juan Sánchez Same here

[@hzli5049]

same here lol

[@artyboy1966]

me too lol

[@noahreeves05]

Juan Sánchez me too lol

[@macaumetal]

THIS video made me build my very first PC four years ago!. I tried to mimic your rig but in Argentina, some of the components were extremely expensive. Finally I got a 4790k, an Asus Strix GTX970, ROG Maximus Hero VII, the Corsair H80i, a Bitfenix Shinobi, 16GB of Gskill Ram and a 1TB HDD, a Coprsair K70 and a Steelseries Sensei Wireless mouse. Since then I've upgraded the memory (32GB) the case (NZXT H500), the graphics card (RTX 2060) got a 250GB, 1 500GB and 1TB SSDs, and the mouse (G900) aaand yesterday I got my Strix XG27V monitor. Sorry for the rant, but KZbin brought this video to me TODAY and it all just came to me. I don't know if you'll read this, but thanks Squirrel for this video, it was really a useful, well explained step by step to help me achieve something I never knew I could do!

[@The_Flannell]

Un-plug the molex cable from the graphics card, its for a memory defroster for when you use liquid nitrogen cooling, all it does is make the gpu memory run hotter.

[@squirrel]

TacticalWeetabix I'm going to ask my ASUS tech guy about that. I think it's probably an un-necessary connection but I'll see what he recommends.

[@The_Flannell]

Squirrel rog.asus.com/393712014/gaming-graphics-cards-2/overview-unboxing-rog-matrix-platinum-gtx-980/ "For those using liquid nitrogen, solder in the VGA Hotwire wires and short the available points to unlock LN2 mode, then plug in a 4-pin molex power cable to use the memory defroster. This keeps the memory from freezing up"

[@bigglessy]

TacticalWeetabix Wait, people REALLY use Liquid Nitrogen to cool their computers? 0_o

[@bigglessy]

TacticalWeetabix Is that a technical exercise or do people plug liquid nitrogen tanks into their computers when they browse facebook?

[@kingnfs1]

bigglessy LN2 for overclocking competition. Its not for average joe.

[@toujourspret2386]

Building a rig for my wife in the near future. This will be my first build with all new parts. This video was great. It's nice to see a step by step from un-boxing the hardware to tweaking the software. Thank you.

[@lufferov]

I hate to burst your bubble, but the 120mm radiator and fan combo is less efficient at cooling a CPU than a good heatsink and fan. It's also not as quiet as you might think either as you still have two fans to cool the radiator. Whereas a large fan on a good heatsink will rotate slower and move more air, something like the Noctua fans are almost silent. Water cooling only really comes into its own when you are using a larger radiator (280mm) and overclocking the CPU.

[@TheSunkenSwede]

Paul, you get 2 fans for the radiator so you can make a pull/push function. 1 fan on each side blowing in the same direction, so the airflow will be better when going through the radiator

[@jonoclark4909]

The video has been out 10 minutes and I've already seen a comment saying "Great video Paul". How would you know? The video is over an hour long ! Lol! I'll watch the video now.

[@nossta5242]

They already know the video is going to be good. He makes the best videos

[@azimuth2003]

Thank you Paul for solving a problem I had with my rig (same as yours and built back in June 2014) fans running correctly and efficiently. that little tip about running cables in a more direct route (no splitter cable) and letting Bios/AI suite 3 handle things solved all my issues with noisy fans, and my system runs turbo now flawlessly. again thank you.

[@JayTheGam3r]

Hey Squirrel if this isnt too much of a big request would you mind emailing me a parts list of what you bought here? Thanks!

[@sicher5852]

Really? I mean really? U think he would got time for it? Even if you'r lucky that he sees this he's not gonna bother.

[@sicher5852]

BTW, there is a link to list wich he told about in the very begin...

[@Linkman247]

Never built my own PC. I know enough to be able to add Ram, upgrade a video card, etc. So I learned quite a bit and will refer to your video in the future if I ever decide to build my own from scratch. Great video; very informative. Thanks!

[@bigglessy]

Way more impressive than my PC build :(

[@skymutt964]

Don't worry, your not alone. Even I have an above average gaming computer, yet I'm still jealous :)

[@mackan98502]

Skybluex i'm impressed with my setup it can take NFS most wanted (2005) on full settings with 22 FPS. and BFP4F on lowest setttings at 7 FPS.

[@skymutt964]

But will it run OMSI 2? XD

[@TheVieneses]

bigglessy But less impressive than mine... ...I have an (oven) Pentium 4 @ 3Ghz with Hyper-threading on single core, only supports 32 bits, A Gigabyte GA-8I865GME-775-RH Rev. 1.1, it does not support an external graphics card and it's only DDR with two sockets, so 2 gigs DDR, a 500 watts PSU, a CD reader, it can't write nothing, a Seagate Barracuda of 80 gigs @7200 RPM and it's slow as hell, All this ultra generation system runs XP, and it can run NFSU2 at 12 FPS in windowed 800x600 at minimum, it can't run Crysis, or even OMSI, not even 8bit games.

[@Littlemanyolo]

TheVieneses just when I thought my computer was slow

[@las347]

Hey Paul I wanted to tell you I admire your courage to change your life and follow your dream. How many people born, live and die doing the same thing in their entire life because they never had the balls to change. You are a great inspiration! Really happy for you and looking forward seeing your videos! Cheers!

[@davidbosilj]

builds ultimate gaming PC, plays euro truck simulator.

[@myflightchannel3980]

so what?

[@007arianagrande9]

ETS 2 is a fun game!!

[@markhenley3097]

You realise Euro Truck Simulator on utra is a whole lot more graphic intensive than GTA V? At 1440p on my GTX 1080, I get 110 FPS on GTA V, and around 90 FPS while playing Euro Truck Simulator 2, both games on ultra.

[@davidbosilj]

Prins van Oranje My dad plays it on ultra on his crappy cheap pc and gets around 40 - 50 fps.

[@markhenley3097]

ciko 2283 Then your definition of 'crappy' is what most would consider a decent PC, or maybe or Dad just has a 10 pixel monitor.

[@JohnShewbrook]

This was far more detailed and comprehensive than i was expecting. I found the overclocking info really helpful. Thanks for taking the time and effort to produce it. Ignore the haters, sadly, success often brings out the worst in some people.

[@LeadsTheFallen]

ASUS gave him most of the stuff

[@squirrel]

Robert Simpson Nope. They didn't.

[@LeadsTheFallen]

Squirrel Your video says partnered with ASUS

[@squirrel]

Robert Simpson It does. So? Doesn't mean they gave me most of the stuff.

[@LeadsTheFallen]

Squirrel What do you get from partnering with them then?

[@squirrel]

Robert Simpson Hugs

[@medovplace2234]

You are taking it very profesional. The anti static wrist band. So cool.

[@mcartus]

the cringe always install cpu before you install the motherboard in the case

[@mrprotectron9368]

may i ask why?

[@mcartus]

Mustache Power it is a basic rule in the school i went to you learn it there and now when i see someone puting the motherboard in the case first then cpu it irritates me alot there are other thing we learned like install everything first out of case and test it then put it in the case

[@WAncouvOR]

+mcartus do you mean you learned from Linus tech tips? PS you could install an aio that way. but air coolers should be outside...

[@mcartus]

Bruhack Omga nope learned it in school

[@WAncouvOR]

mcartus and I learned what you learned for free.

[@MrDrumMaster13]

Thanks for posting this Squirrel. Im just getting ready to build a PC my self and I was looking for a tutorial video on how to build one. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

[@zacharyantle7940]

You look a loy older then what I imagined XD

[@Croaker369]

That was probably the best full overview of a build I've seen - very informative. Keep up the great work!

[@Jim_JustGaming]

Wish you've included all the components in the description. Heck why am I'm still commenting in a 2015 video?

[@SuperRabbit195]

Heck why am I'm still commenting in a 2015 video?

[@MaUrIcEtAxI]

Quick tips, put the little cable that goes to your motherboard in the top left first (power cable) and then put your motherboard in, build your watercooling outside the case so you have more room.. You had to leave the plastic on the motherboard, put your cpu in close the bracket and the black plastic pops out, and VERY IMPORTANT: Check if anything work before you put everything in your case! So Paul, what if your motherboard came in dead?, or your videocard? Or anything that you put in? You can use the motherboard box as a test bench, these are some little tips helping everybody here working on their pc!

[@matthewfard2196]

Hopefully i'll know what a few of these things actually mean when I do computer science for GCSE next year...lol

[@AndrewsalTk]

I do computer science (GCSE) we only spent 1 lesson on hardware, identify the parts and write a basic description on them. The whole two years of computer science other than that 1 lesson has been python and LMC programming for me. Had I known that I wouldn't have took it, I was told it was a 50% Programming Course and a 50% Hardware Course. Double check everything and if you can ask a second teacher that teaches the subject about what is involved.. That's my advice bud! BTW building a rig is pretty easy, I have a I5 4670, GTX 760 Build and I'm proud!!

[@kammak743]

Matthew Fard I was always told it was mostly programming with very little hardware. I only had 1 lesson on hardware so I ended up spending a while teaching the rest of the class myself about it.

[@siddkumar8032]

kammak743 at least none of you took ICT

[@Airtrooper719]

Matthew Fard "Computer Science"....when I was in school (only 9 years ago) it was called "IT" and that was it, learn to use MS word, basic java, jobs a good un.

[@kammak743]

Airtrooper719 XBL You can still get IT but it is more what you have described. Mainly a lot of MS office though

[@m0j0NL]

The two fans for your watercooling are for a push-pull setup. I`m using a Noctua aircooler with 2x 140mm pushpull.

[@gro_skunk]

time to upgrade to a 1080 or a Titan XP

[@hexidimentional]

i would have cleaned whatever corsair put on the water block and used the arctic myself, i recently changed a 775 core 2 duo to a core2quad and the arctic was still good as new despite running for 5 years basically always on load, amazing stuff

[@kidwithacamera3865]

The anti-static wristband is black

[@MrRafting]

+KidWithACamera it's actually red/green-ish as you can see at 26:00

[@DummaDumGaming]

+MrRafting I said red :)

[@kidwithacamera3865]

+ArtificialRaptor but the answer to the question for the giveaway is black. I answered black and it was correct!

[@DummaDumGaming]

KidWithACamera I answered red and i got it right?!? maybe all the answers are correct

[@trainfansgamingchannel2778]

+ArtificialRaptor its red... he's just trolling to get people to pick the wrong answer... thanks for saying its red and good luck

[@WickedMuis]

I know how to build a PC, I've been building my own since 1999, but I still found it interesting to watch you build yours and give commentary about it :D And of course quite a bit jelly about your build!

[@nggconpany]

It's red, in case you are in a hurry

[@7serg]

lmao thanks

[@MzCheezman]

Hey, just a suggestion is that you put the rad on top as intake with a filter then use a stock case fan on the back as exaust

[@sebianoti]

That's an ugly ass case, H440 in red for NZXT would suit the red theme way more

[@capman911]

Where the fan connector plugs into the cpu pump the other slot is for another fan plug just like the one you plugged in so you can run four fans from the pump. It's pretty much the same pump you would use on a bigger radiator that uses four fans.

[@MelBrooksKA]

Don't you call that CPU cooler that comes with the 4790K Okay, that thing is not even capable of handling the heat that the CPU generates XD

[@MelBrooksKA]

No, that thing needs to feel bad about what it does

[@Dextar300]

MelBrooksKA My system runs on a i7 4771 which is basically the same as the 4790(K) series but isn't unlocked for more overclocking options and on base clock speed my system hasn't been over 75-ish °C on 100% load

[@davidhilton1066]

43:45 This is why you buy full tower cases for gaming rigs. Room for graphics cards and air flow.

[@davidhilton1066]

Illuminate Annuit Coeptis Yep. Check your email.

[@ΑΡΗΣΚΟΡΝΑΡΑΚΗΣ]

but they will stick any cheap shit...

[@scar9]

"So I got a 500GB Drive just to install my OS on..."

[@chrisgreenwood4728]

Lol

[@johnno1132]

After seeing this I'm glad I went with the air 540 case, got pretty much the same build 'cept 970 instead of 980. So much more room in the air 540 with it being a square type case. Nice vid, looking forward to seeing more uploads now :)

[@Lucasbanting1]

rad fans on backwards?

[@Lucasbanting1]

You should exhaust from the top back

[@squirrel]

Lucas Banting Not according to the Corsair manual

[@The_Flannell]

Andy26473 pulling in air through the un-filtered intake at the rear means more dust will be pulled in to the case

[@squirrel]

Andy26473 Why would you push warm air from inside the case through the radiator rather than cooler air from the outside?

[@squirrel]

Andy26473 Here is a link to the manual - bit.ly/1H8PcWB - page 3 "For the best cooling performance, we recommend mounting the fans as an air intake to your PC case".

[@DrLobster]

Just a note (if not already stated), never install drivers from the CD, always try to find updated drivers from the manufactures website. At minimum you can get LAN drivers using your phone.

[@JakubW]

Not a big fan of the build: the case cables aren't black which sucks with not too much cooling options, Corsais RM series are quite bad, Motherboard is ok but overpriced, GPU and CPU are great though. Still gave it a like becouse Squirrel

[@Swtere]

Don't think he's going for the absolute best build possible, just what he wants to do. But yeah gotta agree personally not a fan of coloured cables in builds

[@JakubW]

Swtere I think you should always go for the best possible build you have money for. But yeah since he is a partner with Asus maybe he got some of the stuff for free and that would make sense.

[@Swtere]

LONE_WOLF I don't think Asus sent him anything, if they had he would have said. Could be wrong but Paul seems to be a pretty transparent guy

[@JakubW]

Swtere Maybe not for free but with a discount? Anyways not something I wouldn't personally build but It's his choise and money not going to tell him how he should spend them 

[@Swtere]

LONE_WOLF I think he told all the terms of his partnership in a livestream ages ago. And yup it's his choice

[@alexrobbo4608]

Great video Paul nice to see something different every now and then

[@skymutt964]

Well, this computer turned my floppy disc into a hard drive ;)

[@Darthnightt]

4: I noticed when you were installing the fans on your rad you hadn't run your 8-pin cable from ur psu to the top of your case where there is a little space but you covered it with the fans and rad

[@Tuomionturri]

does it run minecraft??

[@BritishGamingNWNathan]

Nah, that definitely wouldn't run minecraft

[@Tuomionturri]

:(

[@jonathanvan2194]

A toaster can run minecraft...

[@BritishGamingNWNathan]

i was being sarcastic...

[@pingusbror]

Tuomionturri A potato could run Minecraft, you might have to overclock it by putting it in the microwave for a few seconds though...

[@timothy.p6128]

i know its called an antistatic wrist strap but if you put it around your ankle it lets your hands move more freely which helps when you building a computer

[@ProbablyAGamer]

Just want to state that the power supply doesn't have to go fan side down, but it's mostly best to. But for example if you don't have a dust filter under the power supply it might be a good idea to put it fan side up, unless it would interfere with your airflow plans or the temperature would be too high. Still very nice build!

[@xxxxjet1982xxxx]

Thankyou for the video you gave me more of an idea about what's involved inside the case of my PC. Cheers.

[@GoNinty]

i built my pc a few months ago but i still love watching these videos for some reason. lovely build, asus and corsair master race :D

[@T-Cup314]

Your video has gave me the confidence to build a new system . Great tutorial thanks Squirrel

[@PcGameGold]

That seemed easier than it looked Squirrel!, I put in a new 8coreAMD and it was a pig to get it cabled up with my aging eyesight lol, It kept overheating and they sent me a free pico cooler that works a treat, It doubled my fps on the same card!

[@morbvsclz]

You should have gone for a complete watercooling circuit. With a pump and buying like 10m of tube, cutting it yourself, making all the connections, replacing all the stock coolers on the graphics cards and replacing them with the (usually) fantastically made full metal heat sinks, putting in all the water etc. It's quite a bit more expensive because of all the extra equipment and takes a lot more time and fiddling about, but it's just so satisfying when you fill it up with water and start it up and everything works and you can see the water flowing through all the tubes... Just looks great. And in terms of cooling and silence it's even better ;-) I think with Asus graphics cards you'd loose the warranty by removing the stock cooler though...

[@PatrickSmith2014]

Paul, What a great system! Love the red/black theme! You've definitely got a great start to the YOTS. Thanks for sharing this. Cheers! ~Ballzotwitch

[@baronburgamot243]

Great video man. Learned a lot. Nice setup too. That GPU is a beast.

[@dennisbijdeweg7818]

I have the same case ^^ I added some extra led-strips because of the cool effect

[@LittleOldDave]

Awesome, enjoyed that very much. Still haven't the confidence to give a go myself yet though.

[@charliecarlyle6741]

I have been looking to build my own pc for a while, I have decided to copy your PC exactly apart from using a different cpu cooler. I have decided to use the Fractal Design Kelvin S36 AIO CPU Cooler because it's more quite and has more controllability. This will be my first build.

[@berheavedtripod8]

Put the Seagate Hard Drives in raid 1, this gives you a great possibility to safe footage on because it considers both drives as one, but if one dies your content isn't lost. the onyl thing you have to do is put in a new hard drive and let it do it's thing and it will be back

[@alexdoestechstuff]

Good choice of case I have the case. Awesome air flow.

[@arumng]

The ideal setup for a content producer like you..... The video is AWESOME!!!!!

[@SpeedsterBD35]

I've learnt quite a lot from that so thanks squirrel for that undefined video

[@puffin4096]

Great video Squirrel, hope to see some more from you soon!

[@billyvlavelle170]

Great video..Given me a little more courage to go ahead and do my own custom build haha.

[@TYEGaming]

anti-static wrist band . good man :) +squirrel

[@remoteviewer8524]

Positive pressure aside, It's surprising to see all that CPU exhaust heat is being blown across the MB into the front of the case where is will be mixed into the case air then used by the GPU and exhausted just below the CPU intake. And then there's PSU dumping heat into the case also. It all looked kind of messy and hot.

[@RandyButterNubs00]

Don't know much about computer building but a very interesting video! Looking foward for more vids!

[@DudokX]

That power source is amazing I have the 650 version, it's reliable and silent. awesome.

[@blairleishman5697]

brilliant video mate gonna build my own in the next 6 month

[@rarejer]

This is very good! I watched the entire video, even if I will never build such a machine. Thank you!

[@BennyBizzle1]

Thanks for the vid squirrel. I'm a complete pc noon and found that fascinating. Really enjoyed it

[@PambiliBula]

I've been looking for a video like this for so long and at last i found it, thanks squirrel for sharing this with us

[@SugarwoIf]

That's the case I went for too, only problem I have with it is the filter on the front is difficult to clean.

[@TomRoberts2017]

you should use the Y spplitter,the fans will be loud on startup but they die down after,and you want to install corsair link and make them extremely silent, i use them in my system

[@dedwards5519]

Excellent video - visuals are very clear and runs at a good pace not the usual boring waits while someone does repetative or obvious stuff. :)

[@stephenfanalexdan8534]

Awesome! I also recently built a new rig and it's chuggin' along quite nicely. Also, congrats on 300k, looking forward to more nutty content :D

[@henrikaleksandernilsen6388]

"Memory defrosting capability" means there's a heater built into the circuit board to prevent ice build up when you're cooling with a little extreme stuff like liquid nitrogen.

[@Sabrinahuskydog]

Squirrel, I hope you read this message. You need to keep your original intel cpu box intact, and keep the original cpu fan, in the box for 3 years for the warranty. Intel requires you to send the matching fan and matching box back if you for some reason have a cpu that dies in a few years. (It happens sometimes). So keep that box and that heatsink.

[@ErikGPL]

I used a fan controller for the H80/HH100i fans. The standard fancontroller isn't that good and causes grinding noises. Your fans are mounted the wrong way, now the blow the hot air from the radiator into the case.

[@chriskuhr3]

i love everything about it man and hell i went to amazon and put all the stuff you got on my wishlist

[@willlongden7426]

Hey squirrel, just wanted to correct you on your RAM comments, you are correct that you used to have to use matched pair, but times have moved on significantly , nowadays unless your doing something very niche almost every combination possible will work together. also the defrost for the matrix is as those cards are designed for LN2 cooling, if your not careful bringing the card back to room temp it will collect condensation and short

[@willlongden7426]

Will Longden also its worth bearing in mind that although all heatsinks come with stock thermal paste, the quality is awful so its always worth scraping it off and replacing it with decent stuff

[@keithhynan393]

Really good informative video personal choice I would have gone for a full tower for room easier to work with but again that is just a personal choice nicely done Squirrel.

[@JeddExedus]

Cheers Paul, I've got some serious rig envy right now 😃

[@cRizy89]

I think you should've mounted the block onto the cpu before you installed the radiator. At this stage the most important part is making sure the block is installed properly, and with the pressure of the water tubes, it's not as easy.

[@jayamnadar1617]

There was a other way to mount the cooling fan to make it look neat, you could have fixed the fan at the top of the rig and kept the two cooling pipe position on upper horizontal side so that it could have come neatly down to the CPU. And due to the position you have mounted the fan one of a cool thing of the motherboard is hiding down you could have saved that. and the usb cable would have not been so messy.

[@JPOW94]

Always uploading and so much effort put into your vids thank you man

[@HeartFire_]

I feel like that case is a bit on the small size for this, it looks so tight. also you should install one or two top fans to vent out the hot air inside the case, it's really annoying me that you don't have a single fan pushing air out of the case :p

[@Darthnightt]

5: when mounting ur psu you can either mount up or down the fan simply sucks air and exhausts it out the back so you can either suck out the hot air with fan up in ur case or draw cold air in and exhaust it out the back with the fan down if you do this you have to be careful In case you have your computer on carpet which can suffocate your psu and kill it quickly so as a rule it's always better to have fan facing up but again it's personal preference

[@boedhaspeaks]

Goddam im soooo jelly! Have fun with the rig!!

[@Darthnightt]

Hey like video just a quick couple of tips on a few things you did wrong. 1: when u install the cpu DONT remove the plastic cover after you pull the retention arm down the plastic will automatically come off. 2: when installing the cpu you made a small mistake but you always look in the corner of the cpu for the golden triangle, you mate that with the golden triangle on the motherboard and it'll fit every time the triangles are there for that reason from factory.

[@Darthnightt]

Just giving some tips so that it might help people.

[@andrewmoore1533]

This is superb. I built computers years ago doesn't look like it's changed much. Fancy building my own now.

[@TheUnseenDragon]

remember to write up what add-on's you use for FSX!

[@Pilotfarmand]

I will recommend that you turn your cpu watercooler fans around, so they push air out of the case. It will increase your performence for overclocking, and your overall cooling. Since you have the big 200mm fans pushing air into the case. :-)

[@MatteeHx]

Very nice videos Squirrel, explained everything in great detail and straight to the point, very well done. Nice cable management by the way.

[@219dale]

Awesome build really like the spec of this system

[@billyjlk]

Congratulations on 300k! I plan on sticking around till you hit 1 million! #yots

[@EbbzLondon]

Nice set up Paul, nice to see someone doing it themselves as well, rather than getting someone to do it for them :) good work old bean...

[@Voxel-Ux]

Very edifying. Thank you for sharing your skill and experience. Definite like!

[@jaydenpetersen4514]

Holy crap yes those pin covers on the pump had me confused for hours

[@ghastous]

Just found this and nice set up m8 you made the same build i made at xmas 2014 just with a different branded GPU and watercooler but all the rest is the same

[@Hedstown]

Nice build can't wait to build my next system I have big plans

[@Astravall]

Cool system Squirrel ... i'm watching for a watercooled R9 390X. So i can reduce noise of my HD7970. The CPU cooler you use seems quite nice so i'm concidering now switching the air cooler out using the same cooler and overclock my stock FX8350 a bit.

[@GrenadierCNikel]

Bloody'eck! This makes me want to buy this kit and make my own rig, only problem is it's very pricey! It's great to see my donations (Roughly £30 so far) going towards something which will contribute to the channel and success for Paul and the community! Keep up the great work!