Building a PC takes almost half of a Sunday afternoon, and it's easy and fun.

If you don't believe it's easy, watch this 5 year old build one and then tell me you'll have trouble. Now that you've told me, have this guide that you can watch while you're building to make sure you're doing it right.

Cool, there's the how. Now for the what. Below is a Fantastic build that will not cost you anywhere near $1800 but will wreck the performance of any laptop in that price range. Justification for the parts is immediately below.

It includes a copy of windows from /r/microsoftsoftwareswap, and you'll have plenty of $$ leftover for keyboard/mouse/headphones (have a guide to gaming audio)/MONITORS! And maybe a TV.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

• CPU and cooler: The FX-8320 performs comparably to the often-recommended 4690K but costs $60-100 less, making it a better value choice, especially since games are going to be mostly GPU-bound. The CPU cooler, the Hyper 212 Evo, is one of the best, and best value, cooling solutions for your CPU.
• Motherboard: The Gigabyte 970A UD3P is a great full-featured ATX form factor board with plenty of built in power and cooling for overclocking and getting the most from your CPU
  
• GPU: The R9 290 has about the same performance as the GTX970 but is priced $70-$100 less. I'd like to note that the Anandtech benchmarks were performed with the R9 290's stock cooler, which was Terrible for cooling and noise. Any of the aftermarket coolers (such as the XFX unit in the above build) will get better performance and cooling while running quieter than the original benchmarks. This build includes two R9 290’s in Crossfire, since it will fit comfortably in your budget and will nearly double gaming performance.
• Case: The Corsair Graphite 230T looks good, has modular HDD bays, great airflow, easy cable management, and comes with 3 fans from factory. If you don't like red fans (or even fans that light up), the BitFenix Spectre Pro (newegg link for pictures - buy from here, just search the model #) is probably the best looking static-pressure-optimized fan that comes in PWM/non-PWM/LED/non-LED models in sizes from 120mm to 230mm. The 230T comes with great fans, but if you need to replace them, those fans will be the best bang for your buck.
  
• HDD/SSD: The hard drive has plenty of space for the price, and the SSD will provide for Windows and your most commonly used programs to load faster. Woo!
  
• OS: DO NOT buy Windows7/8/8.1 retail. Get it for $10-$25 from /r/microsoftsoftwareswap from a legit/verified seller. It will be a legit key that comes with your free Windows10 upgrade.
  
• RAM: For most major brands, all RAM is basically created equal. G.Skill is extremely reliable as a brand, and they don't charge an arm and a leg. I chose the single 8GB stick to give you maximum upgrade room and because games don't benefit from dual channel RAM to speak of. If you prefer 2x4GB or want to go with 16GB there's definitely room in the budget.
  
• PSU: EVGA makes great power supplies, and 1000W easily powers this build with plenty of headroom to keep the build efficient, cool, and quiet. It is 80+ Gold certified so you know it will be efficient and not start a fire in your house. <3