6 things I do to my PC now that I used to think were only for broke college kids

Credit: Monica J. White / How-To Geek Published Aug 27, 2026, 8:15 AM EDT Monica J. White is a journalist with over a decade of experience in covering technology. She built her first PC nearly 20 years ago, and she has since built and tested dozens of PCs. PC hardware is her main beat, and graphics cards and the GPU market at large are her main area of interest, but she has written thousands of articles covering everything related to PCs, laptops, handhelds, and peripherals. From GPUs and CPUs to headsets and software, Monica's always willing to geek out over all things related to computing. Outside of her work with How-To Geek, Monica contributes to TechRadar, PC Gamer, Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, SlashGear, Whop, and Digital Trends, among others. Her ultimate goal is to make PC gaming and computing approachable and fun to any audience. Monica spends a lot of time elbow-deep in her PC case, as she's always making upgrades, testing something, or plotting out her next build. She's the go-to tech support person in her immediate circle, so she's never out of things to do. Whenever she has spare time, you'll find her gaming until the early hours and hanging out with her dog. Sign in to your How-To Geek account I've been building PCs since I was in my early teens. Obviously, I had very limited funds, so I had to learn how to make the most of every dollar. As an adult, having an expendable income and overwhelming FOMO have pushed me toward more high-end builds, leaving the penny-pinching to broke college kids. But now, with the PC market at its worst in years, I'm having to go back to those days of being thrifty once more. I've stopped buying new components My shopping habits have been put on hold There's no beating around the bush. In the past year, the PC market has officially crashed. It's not the first crash in the last decade, but it caught many by surprise, and it's nowhere near being over. Meanwhile, I had big plans for this year (well, prior to when prices started going up in flames). My PC isn't old or bad by any stretch, but I wanted to buy some upgrades, including more RAM, an extra SSD, and perhaps even a new CPU or GPU. Did I need any of them? Debatable, but when you work with PC hardware day in, day out, it's easy to give in to temptation and upgrade your rig much more than you need to. Needless to say, all of those plans have been put on hold. With the RTX 5090 selling for upwards of $4,000 and SSDs and RAM being priced at 300% more than last year, it's not the right time to shop for any PC parts. If I do shop, it's probably used I was wary at first, but not anymore Credit: Justin Duino / How-To Geek Depending on where you shop and what you're buying, you might be able to get a better deal by buying used components right now. Well, scratch that—it will be a better deal, obviously, as retailers have hiked up their prices a whole lot, but shopping for used PC parts can be quite risky, so you'll be saving money while taking on that risk. I'll admit that while I have sold components in the past, and also re-used my own, I never really used to buy them used until recently. I picked up a used GPU (RTX 4070 Ti) for a friend's build recently, though, and found it a good deal all around. Much cheaper than buying a new graphics card, perfectly adequate for my friend's needs, and relatively safe, as I bought it directly from a retailer and got a 30-day warranty on it. I adjust my expectations Do I need to play at 240Hz in 4K? Credit: Nick Lewis / How-To Geek This kind of ties in with the two previous points, but the point I'm making echoes through this article: 2026 is not the time to buy stuff. It's the time to adjust your expectations. That's what I'm doing, and telling my friends to do, too. This isn't new for me, as I've spent years trying to convince people they don't need all the upgrades that might seem worth it, because ultimately, the difference between playing on High settings vs. Ultra isn't as big as many people make it out to be. Ask yourself whether your games really do look that much worse with lower settings. You might be able to skip upgrading by leaning into DLSS, FSR, or Lossless Scaling, as well as simply cutting back on some resource-heavy settings, like ray tracing, shadows, and clutter. I optimize the heck out of my PC It's easy to get lazy when upgrades are abundant Credit: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek In the spirit of making do with what I already own, I went all-in on PC optimization tricks. I can't say my PC's been particularly slow as it's still fairly new-ish at two years old, but older desktops can massively benefit from 20 minutes of digging through the settings. Some of the things you should definitely check include verifying whether you're using the right XMP/EXPO profile for your RAM, updating the BIOS and the drivers, and checking whether Resizable BAR is on. I also like to undervolt the GPU so it doesn't throttle itself into a lower clock speed. Lastly, make sure your SSD is sitting at a nice, cushy 80% capacity at most. A full SSD always underperforms. I close browser tabs and get rid of useless apps Buy a new SSD and RAM? In this economy? Credit: Justin Duino / How-To Geek I'm a notorious tab hoarder, but having a million tabs open at once will eat your RAM like it's candy. It's especially taxing when you're also running other software at the same time. So, instead of buying more RAM, which is obviously a terrible idea right now, I turned on Memory Saver in Chrome and have been better at closing irrelevant tabs. Getting rid of useless apps, namely the ones that start on boot, is another thing. You'll find a lot of useless junk if you go through your Task Manager and do some googling. Don't uninstall things you're not sure about, but go over the resource hogs, see what they do, and uninstall them if possible. At minimum, prevent them from launching on startup. Quiz 8 Questions · Test Your KnowledgeDIY PC buildingTrivia ChallengeFrom socket types to cable chaos — test your knowledge of building computers from scratch.HistoryHardwareTroubleshootingQuirksTipsBegin What year did Intel release the first consumer processor that popularized the DIY desktop PC market — the Intel 8086?A1972B1975C1978D1981Correct! The Intel 8086 launched in 1978 and gave birth to the x86 architecture still used in PCs today. It was a 16-bit processor running at 5–10 MHz — a far cry from today's multi-GHz giants. This chip laid the foundation for decades of DIY computing.Not quite — the Intel 8086 debuted in 1978. It introduced the x86 instruction set that still underpins virtually every desktop and laptop processor sold today. IBM later used the cheaper 8088 variant for its first PC in 1981, which is sometimes confused as the origin point.Continue When building a PC, what does 'POST' stand for in the context of the boot process?AProcessor Output Self TestBPower-On Self-TestCPrimary Operating System TransferDPower Output Signal ThresholdCorrect! POST stands for Power-On Self-Test, a diagnostic routine your motherboard runs every time you boot up. It checks that critical components like RAM, CPU, and GPU are present and functional. If POST fails, you'll often get beep codes or LED indicators to help diagnose the problem.The correct answer is Power-On Self-Test. Every time you press the power button, your motherboard runs POST to verify that essential hardware is connected and working. Failed POST is one of the first hurdles new PC builders encounter, often caused by unseated RAM or a forgotten power connector.Continue Why do experienced PC builders recommend touching a metal part of the case before handling components?ATo warm up your hands for better gripBTo check if the case is properly grounded before installingCTo discharge static electricity from your bodyDTo magnetize your fingers for handling small screwsCorrect! Static electricity built up on your body can silently destroy sensitive PC components in an instant — a phenomenon called electrostatic discharge (ESD). Touching bare metal grounds you and neutralizes that charge before it can zap your CPU or RAM. Anti-static wrist straps work even better for extended build sessions.The answer is to discharge static electricity. Your body can carry thousands of volts of static charge without you feeling a thing, but that invisible zap can permanently damage a CPU or RAM stick. It's one of the oldest and most important safety habits in PC building — cheap insurance for expensive parts.Continue A newly built PC powers on, fans spin, but there's no display output. What is the MOST common first thing to check?AReplace the CPU thermal pasteBEnsure the monitor is plugged into the GPU, not the motherboardCReflash the BIOS using a USB driveDCheck the SATA cables are firmly connectedCorrect! This is arguably the most common rookie mistake in PC building — plugging the monitor into the motherboard's video output when a dedicated GPU is installed. The motherboard's HDMI or DisplayPort is disabled by default when a GPU is present. Always connect your display directly to the graphics card.The most common culprit is having the monitor plugged into the motherboard's video port instead of the dedicated GPU. When a graphics card is installed, most systems disable the motherboard's integrated video outputs automatically. It's such a frequent mistake that it has become a running joke in PC building communities.Continue What is the purpose of thermal paste when installing a CPU cooler?AIt acts as an adhesive to hold the cooler in place permanentlyBIt fills microscopic imperfections between the CPU and cooler to improve heat transferCIt insulates the CPU from electrical interference caused by the coolerDIt lubricates the cooler's fan bearings for quieter operationCorrect! Even finely machined metal surfaces have tiny imperfections and air gaps at the microscopic level. Thermal paste — also called thermal interface material (TIM) — fills those gaps to ensure maximum heat conduction from the CPU to the cooler. Without it, air pockets act as insulation and temperatures can skyrocket dangerously.Thermal paste fills microscopic gaps between the CPU lid and the cooler's base plate. Metal surfaces may look flat and smooth, but at a microscopic scale they're riddled with tiny ridges and valleys that trap air — and air is a terrible heat conductor. A thin, even layer of thermal paste eliminates those gaps and keeps temperatures in check.Continue The ATX motherboard form factor, which became the standard for DIY desktop PCs, was introduced by which company and in what year?AAMD in 1990BASUS in 1993CIntel in 1995DIBM in 1988Correct! Intel introduced the ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) standard in 1995, replacing the older AT form factor. ATX standardized component placement, power supply connectors, and airflow direction — making DIY builds far more practical and interchangeable. Nearly 30 years later, ATX and its derivatives like Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX still dominate the market.ATX was introduced by Intel in 1995. It was a major leap forward from the previous AT standard, defining a common layout for motherboards, cases, and power supplies that made mixing and matching components from different vendors straightforward. That standardization is a huge reason DIY PC building became so accessible.Continue When installing RAM into a motherboard with four slots, where should you install two sticks to enable dual-channel mode on most boards?ASlots 1 and 2 (the first two slots nearest the CPU)BSlots 1 and 3, or slots 2 and 4 (alternating slots)CSlots 3 and 4 (the two slots farthest from the CPU)DAny two adjacent slots work equally wellCorrect! Dual-channel mode requires RAM to be installed in matched pairs on alternating slots — typically A2 and B2, or slots 2 and 4. This allows the memory controller to access both sticks simultaneously, effectively doubling memory bandwidth. Your motherboard manual will show the exact recommended slots, usually color-coded for convenience.To enable dual-channel mode, RAM should go in alternating slots — such as slots 2 and 4, often color-coded on the motherboard. Placing both sticks in adjacent slots (like 1 and 2) forces single-channel operation, which can noticeably reduce performance in memory-intensive tasks. Always check your motherboard manual for the exact recommended configuration.Continue What is 'coil whine' in the context of a newly built gaming PC?AA rattling sound from an improperly secured case fanBA high-pitched noise produced by electromagnetic vibration in inductors under high electrical loadCThe sound of a CPU cooler fan spinning at maximum speed during stress testsDNoise caused by the hard drive's read/write head seeking data rapidlyCorrect! Coil whine is a high-pitched, sometimes whirring or buzzing noise caused by tiny electromagnetic coils (inductors) on a GPU or PSU vibrating at audible frequencies under heavy electrical load. It's technically a defect in manufacturing tolerances but is extremely common and not usually harmful to the component. Ironically, it's often loudest in high-end GPUs under uncapped framerates.Coil whine is that annoying high-pitched squeal coming from inductors on your GPU or power supply vibrating under electrical load. It tends to be loudest when framerates are uncapped or during heavy computational tasks. While alarming to new builders, it's usually harmless — though some manufacturers will replace components with severe coil whine under warranty.See My Score Challenge CompleteYour Score/ 8Thanks for playing!Try Again I actually bought a prebuilt Not for me, but it still felt bad A portable SSD atop a desktop PC.Credit: Monica J. White / How-To Geek I'm one of the most anti-prebuilt people you'll ever meet in this space, and this is because I've seen my fair share of instances where buying the wrong prebuilt went, well, very wrong. But this year, I actually bought a prebuilt for my mom instead of building her a PC from scratch. Money was the reason, of course. Adding up the cost of individual components revealed that I'd actually be better off buying this ready-made Lenovo PC for her instead of putting it all together. Prebuilt manufacturers haven't all raised their prices yet, so I was able to get a good deal on a good enough PC. It's a good time to be resourceful If you have all the money in the world, by all means, build a PC with an RTX 5090 and 128GB of DDR5 RAM. But if you want to make meaningful purchases where the cost and performance all add up, now's not the time. Sit tight and wait for price drops, which may not be for a long time.