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If you know little about hardware, I would not recommend self-assembly of a computer. You are too likely to burn out components by improper handling.
If no pre-assembled computer matches your price/performance constraints, I would recommend finding a local technician of good reputation. Have him/her order the parts for you, assemble the computer, and provide a warranty for the assembly. While this will cost you a bit more than self-assembly, you are more likely to end up with a reliable computer.
EDIT: typos
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
modified 28-Apr-22 9:53am.
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Daniel Pfeffer wrote: If you know little about hardware, I would not recommend self-assembly of a computer. You are too likely to burn out components by improper handling.
Many years ago, I might have agreed with you, but components these days are so darned easy. I replaced the MOBO, CPU, and RAM in my PC in January -- putting it together was simple. Yeah, I've been doing this for 25 years, but OTOH, I build a PC every 3 to 5 years, so it's far from a daily or even monthly task. For those who have not done it, there's a plethora of YouTube videos.
Deciding what to purchase????
THAT was not simple. I spent months doing research, figuring out what were my best choices, what I was willing to pay, and what was currently available (parts shortages hurt). 20+ years ago, ya picked Intel or AMD, then chose the clock speed. There were 3 to 5 compatible MOBO, which specified RAM type.
Today? There are literally dozens of choices in just CPU alone. Reading reviews is a requirement, and there's a lot of them, which may contradict each other. The choices are to read lots of reviews or throw darts at a board.
I agree -- it's far easier to go to your favorite vendor's site and select a model.
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If you insist on building your own rig: Try to get a mainboard with a PCIe connector for M.2 NVMe SSD. NVMe SSDs are much faster than the traditional SATA SSDs.
By the way: I am fully capable of assembling desktops, but I never do that. Too many things can go wrong as far as I am concerned. I go to the Dell website and configure my desired setup and let Dell build it for me. 
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Cp-Coder wrote: By the way: I am fully capable of assembling desktops, but I never do that. Too many things can go wrong as far as I am concerned. I go to the Dell website and configure my desired setup and let Dell build it for me.
Hear! Hear!
Mircea
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And I have paid for that and dealt with the Dell specials. Other comments follow.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I have built dozens of machines over the years, only because Dell, etc cut corners and at bloat ware. Not a single time has it ever bit me. Crap, my daughter is running a machine I built 8 years ago - it still runs.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I would suggest that you do get a graphics card - partly because they come with their own graphics memory on board instead of using motherboard memory, but mostly because they tend to come with multiple monitor support, and that's well and truly worth the price of admission!
Having two monitors is a godsend for devs: you can have your code open in VS, your app on screen at the same time, and a browser explaining how to use something as well.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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And another thing ... budget for the OS (and Office if you use it) as well: if you change the motherboard the licence is probably no longer valid.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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If you call Microsoft and tell them that you are just replacing parts they will (or at least have in the past) allow it to activate.
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Depends who you get. Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't. I've had both.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Maybe, but one-out-of-one so far and my kid needs to replace his SSD again.
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SSD you'll get away with - you probably won't have to re-licence at all if you clone the drive onto a new one.
But the motherboard is a bit more "new computer". I changed to an i5 and they sorted it out. I later changed to an i7 and they wouldn't, so I ended up having to buy Win 10 and Office. Again.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I have replaced drives dozens of times on many machines, and it never affected the activation of the machine, but changing the main board is an entirely different matter. I believe there is a serial number (or other form of id) embedded in the main board or main chip. The moment Microsoft sees a new main board: Bang! goes the activation for that machine.
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Yes, unsure about about the current plan, but, yes, I _expect_ it will result in the new drive taking the place of the existing drive, re-installing Win 10, and having the old drive in the system to copy the license and any data he needs. Should be easy.
But he _did_ replace a motherboard (and I think the SSD) some time back and we had support re-activate the license. I do know that I have an old SSD of his and the old motherboard getting dusty on a bookshelf.
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If it's just the SSD, then the simplest solution is to clone the drive - with my first SSD I uses AOMEI Backupper option to "upgrade to SSD" and it did all the work very quickly and successfully. No need to reinstall Windows or and games / software unless your current installation is getting a bit flaky, and it's a load quicker than reinstalling everything and then getting it set up the way you like it again. Just getting a new VS install set up right takes me the best part of a day! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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But the issue is that the system isn't booting, he gets a blue screen of "huh?"
It offers to restore to a save point then says it can't.
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this is exactly why I run linux with VM's for Winders OS. Just copy the virtual hard drive somewhere else and keep going.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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what you have as specs I would consider to be the bare minimum anymore. Just for me anyway.
I like the previous posters idea of going local and having them set it up. This is a case of you get what you pay for.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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If you're talking about picking the parts to build a PC try Custom PC Builder | Newegg[^] . I've dealt with NewEgg for many years and can testify their service.
The less you need, the more you have.
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut...occasionally.
JaxCoder.com
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If you have no specific requirements (gaming, mining, live streaming or video rendering...), get a dell machine with proper insurances.
Get one with a nvme drive and at least 32gb of ram and whatever graphic card they have for your budget.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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ewwww
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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pcparkpicker is a fun tool to pick parts and is more useful for an enthusiast hobbyist.
(speaking of which I have an urge to spend money now)
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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PaltryProgrammer wrote: no graphics card as I do not game only read/post here and edit under Visual Studio and stream TV shows
If you stream TV shows, keep in mind that some codecs (I'm thinking specifically of HEVC/H.265) will benefit from a decent graphics card - don't assume the onboard video will be sufficient.
And don't assume this codec is only used to encode 4K videos. I've seen 720p videos encoded with it, and some systems simply cannot deal with it.
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PaltryProgrammer wrote: 1TB SSD screaming fast
SSD's are no longer screaming fast. The fast thing now is NVMe. These devices use the PCI bus for interface with the hard drive.
If you get the right motherboard, they even let you set up a striped RAID with 2 NVMe devices. Now that's screaming fast.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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