When it goes right, building a PC can be a very satisfying experience. However, when it goes wrong there's a mix of anger and realization that, yes, you may have just fried that $300 Core i7 processor everyone suggested you buy. If such mistakes worry you enough to never attempt building a PC, fear not, there's now a way of simulating it instead.
As Blue's News reports, last year developer Claudiu Kiss launched a demo for PC Building Simulator through itch.io and it quickly became one of the most downloaded free games on the platform. Because of that, development continued and an Early Access version of the full game just appeared on Steam.
The game allows you to build a computer repair enterprise, repairing common problems in existing PCs as well as creating your very own from scratch. Unlike the real-world though, the cost of the build is only $19.99, which is the price of the game. However, during Early Access there's a 10 percent discount making the game only $17.99 until April 3.
Developer The Irregular Corporation has partnered up with most of the major PC component brands, including AMD, Arctic, CoolerMaster, Corsair, Cryorig, EVGA, Futuremark, Gigabyte, In Win, NZXT, MSI, SilverStone, Raijintek, and Teamgroup to offer parts that match their real-world equivalents. So you should be able to build your perfect virtual PC then go out and buy the parts to really make it if you so wish.
While the thought of running your own PC business will attract some players, it's the ability to build your own dream PC and learn from your mistakes that's the real draw. If you screw up, it doesn't matter and nothing expensive gets broken, but you'll learn what you did wrong and hopefully build up the courage to build you own PC. You can even experiment with overclocking and watercooling, as well as benchmark the system created.