The Race to Build a PC in Record Time
How quickly can you build a PC from scratch? While many enthusiasts take their time to ensure a perfect setup, some builders have honed their skills to an extreme degree. At MegaCon Orlando, Newegg hosted a competitive PC building challenge, where participants raced to assemble a working system as fast as possible. The results? Stunningly fast. The winning time, as shared by Newegg’s social media, was just 4 minutes and 10 seconds—an achievement that seems almost unreal to anyone who’s spent hours carefully assembling a build.
The champion of the event, identified as “Alan H,” walked away with a well-earned $1,000 Newegg gift card, an Intel Core 7 Ultra processor, and a new B580 graphics card. The competition was tight, with other contenders finishing in similarly impressive times of 4 minutes 18 seconds, 5 minutes 20 seconds, and 6 minutes 7 seconds. However, it’s important to note that this wasn’t a full-fledged PC build in the traditional sense. The contest focused on assembling the motherboard, processor, RAM, and power supply inside a case and getting the system to reach a pre-OS boot. Advanced steps like detailed cable management, setting up an extensive cooling system, or even securing the graphics card beyond a quick installation weren’t part of the challenge.
Newegg shared a time-lapse video of two pro builders demonstrating the process, and from the footage, it looks like at least some components were pre-installed to speed things up. For instance, the CPU and cooler were already mounted on the motherboard in some cases, potentially shaving off valuable seconds. If you’re thinking about attempting to break the record yourself, you might need to study Alan H’s technique—or track him down and ask for tips.
For most builders, putting together a PC is an experience to be enjoyed rather than rushed, but competitive building could be a new frontier for hardware enthusiasts. Assembling a rig in front of a crowd under time pressure is no easy feat, and for many, the idea of doing so without making mistakes—or dropping a screw into the depths of the case—seems nerve-wracking. But as the MegaCon event showed, there are those who can rise to the challenge and make PC building look like a high-speed sport.