Building a PC? Here's how to balance performance, looks, and budget

When you're in the research and planning stage of a new PC build, your primary focus is on finalizing the configuration. Picking the best-looking components depending on your esthetic preferences usually comes second. And the overall budget restrictions hang like a sword over the entire exercise. Many PC builders end up going too much in one direction — sacrificing looks by picking the most powerful components or messing up the configuration by prioritizing esthetics.