How do I make a decent gaming PC?

But what makes a gaming PC "good?"
  1. A good gaming PC has to deliver on performance. Period, full stop, if it doesn't deliver on performance, it's not a good gaming PC. That being said, there are multiple performance targets to hit. The average gamer is only driving a single monitor at 1080p, so "good" for them requires less than "good" for a gamer driving 3x 1440p or 4K. Whatever the performance target is, the PC has to hit it in order to be "good."
  2. A good gaming PC doesn't throttle. Throttling occurs when the performance components produce more heat than the system can handle. GPUs and CPUs will slow themselves down to prevent damage and that results in lag, stuttering game play, and lots of other un-fun problems. Good gaming PCs don't throttle.
  3. A good gaming PC delivers a good experience. That doesn't just mean that it belts out lots of FPS, it means that the audio is good, the system itself isn't so loud that you don't want to sit by it, and a bunch of other little details that go into the experience you have when you sit down to game.
  4. A good gaming PC will last. I've seen lots of garbage gaming PCs over the years with cheap power supplies, bargain basement system boards and all manner of cut corners that result in a system lasting 1-2 years before suffering a failure. A good gaming PC will stay relevant in AAA titles for 3-5 years (I generally set expectations at 4 years, but getting 5 isn't uncommon for some performance targets) without suffering a failure.* Gaming PCs are expensive and to be worth while, they need to last for a while.
*Note, failures happen even to the best of systems at a relatively low rate. There is, however, a significant difference in failure rate between "good" gaming PCs and cheap ones.
Quality and attention to detail are the things that separate a generic gaming PC from a good gaming PC. Quality costs, but over the life of the system, there's just no substitute for doing it right from the very beginning. 

Cheers and happy building!

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