Building My Home PC and Running Linux

Personal hardware project

Building a desktop PC from components, checking its BIOS configuration, and gaining practical experience running Bazzite Linux and investigating hardware and software issues.

Overview

I built my own gaming PC from components, gaining practical experience with the hardware inside a desktop computer. The build gave me a foundation for understanding how components connect and how to check that the system recognises them.

Hardware

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WiFi
Graphics card: AMD Radeon RX 6800, 16GB
Memory: 32GB Corsair DDR4, comprising two 16GB modules

Configuration and checks

My practical work included assembling the system, accessing the BIOS and checking that the processor and memory were detected.

During subsequent BIOS configuration, I checked the memory installation and moved the modules into the motherboard’s DIMMA2 and DIMMB2 slots. I also investigated the memory speed shown in the BIOS and selected an A-XMP profile with a 3200MHz memory setting.

Running Bazzite Linux

Alongside the hardware build, I used Bazzite Linux on the PC for gaming. This gave me practical experience with another operating system and the interaction between hardware, firmware settings and applications.

Boot configuration and troubleshooting

During setup, I worked through UEFI boot configuration and investigated a Secure Boot-related installer error displaying ‘bad shim signature’.

Peripheral and application troubleshooting

I also investigated a DualSense controller connection problem, which I resolved, and a separate Steam connectivity issue where the computer had internet access but Steam was not connecting.

What I learned

The project helped me connect hardware theory with practical experience: identifying components, checking connections and memory placement, navigating BIOS settings and working through configuration issues methodically.

This experience helped me distinguish between problems affecting the whole computer and those affecting an individual application or peripheral. It also developed my familiarity with Linux and firmware settings.

Relevance to IT support

This experience gives me a practical starting point for investigating desktop hardware problems and understanding the information available in the BIOS.