Build Advice Things they should tell noobs (i.e. me)

Hello chaps,

So I've done it, finally built my first ever rig, see signature below. The build went pretty smoothly but was still pretty nerve wracking handling all of those expensive parts even with Scansure insurance. Im all up and running now and everything seems tickety boo although I've not overclocked or anything yet, bye the bye I thought I would start a post which details the things I wish I had known about before I started the build component by component, stuff which seems to get forgotten about but is important to noob builders like me. Oh and feel free to comment on what Im doing, any constructive criticism is always welcome.

First and foremost I found the Newegg series of PC building vids a good primer so I started there: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw

Ok, now to the bits and bobs:

Case:

There should be some indication of how much of a yank you need to give panels before they remove themselves, yanking on a metal box youve just spent £70 on is worrisome if youre not 100% sure if you should be yanking on it.

CPU:

I can obviously only talk about the 15 2500k here but why oh why doesnt anyone ever mention that when youre pushing the lever down to secure the chip it sounds horrendously like youre snapping every little pin in the motherboard?!?! Even though its all normal. A little forewarning would have avoided that twitchy bum moment.

PSU:

No real problems here other than working out exactly what the hell plugs into what, a picture guide to connectors would have been handy rather than my extravagant shape sorting puzzle approach.

Motherboard:

You need tiny hands or a long screwdriver for that top left screw, oh, and everything only goes in one way.

Fans:

3 pin fans = no software/MB speed control
4 pin fans = software/MB speed control

All of mine are 3 pin so took me a while to work out why my MB software wasnt recognising my case fans. Ended up using the supplied little fan controller that came with the case, works smashing now.

RAM:

Requires a bit more of a push than you'd like to get them seated, dont worry, youll not break anything.

Heatsink:

Thermal paste application is scary as its squidgy, people tell you that if you get it wrong then your house will explode in a ball of fire and there is no general consensus as to how to do it properly, my advice is pick a method and just do it - http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

SSD:

Setting these up is confusing IF you read all the advice out there, I followed this which seems to be well referenced across various forums http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-2/. Basically put Windows and anything you want to load fast on the SSD, then pictures, video, music or other programs which arent required to be so speedy on an HDD.

GPU:

This was probably the easiest thing to do, just plug in, work out which power connectors to use which were well labelled and voila!


These were the main sticking points for me that I took away from the build, have you guys got any advice you wish you had known about before doing your builds?

Chris

 

Buy CPC mag issue XXX (the one with the build guide)

 

I'm pretty sure somethings go in more than one way/hole lol

My 3 pin fans do respond to software control. I can only set them to one speed in BIOS, but in Windows I use speedfan to speed them up or down according to how hot my GPU/CPU is getting automatically.

Other than that, good post Power connectors (8 pin ones like PCI-E and motherboard) are sometimes tricky. And I still get the twitchy bum moment when installing the CPU

 

Did you read this?

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=183202

most info is there.

 

Yup, that CPU install was by far the biggest twitchy bum moment! I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the noise and did some frantic googling till I found a post on some forum somewhere saying they had the same twitchy bum moment issue

 

Yeah I did but its the nitty gritty moments that no one tells you about that I'm interested in, see the twitchy bum moment above.

 

Cheers for this, should help me out when I make my first build Especially the CPU mounting, was it really that bad? :/

 

I felt like the bracket was going to crush my poor little CPU even though I knew it wouldn't lol There's a surprising amount of pressure between components on a motherboard.

 

For me putting the CPU in was nerve wracking on the Q6600. I don't recall my I5 SB being quite so loud but I know what you mean.

Personally I find the first pressing of the power button after everything has been plugged in the worst bit. I stand there praying to see stuff on screen and hear good beeps:

presses button / pray.. please o please o please..... YAY!

 

I remember those moments well, when I Built my first PC. OMG it was over ten years ago....

 

Oh man so many things on that list, the CPU arm got me too, took me 10 minutes to build up the courage to use more pressure. Had to get my brother to do the 24pin MB PSU connector as that took loads of force.

The quoted bit above though, I couldn't see the PCI-e power connectors on my GPU (they face the HDD bays) so I ended up ringing my boyfriend and he was on google and suddenly I just turned my head and massively facepalmed.

One thing that I should have looked online for help on was the faceplate connection, obviously I had my motherboard handbook but it still confused the hell out of my (and still does really) and something obvious like "You will need an adapter for the USB3 ports"

Also I got over excited and forgot to install the motherboard software for a good week so couldn't actually use my USB3 ports on the back of my machine

I'm still getting there

 

Another tip for the noobs: If there's a component that could go in one of many places (PCI cards, sometimes RAM, graphics card, and especially hard drives), think about what you'd do if you wanted to put another one in. Sometimes it's a better idea to put something in a less accessible place so you don't need to to take everything apart for an upgrade.

 

Not really really bad but certainly made me a bit nervous. I would definitley recommend taking out something like Scansure insurance to ease the burden.

Dont worry too much about it though, I am a total noob and built my PC in about 5 hours total, taking it very gingerly, and it all just worked when I hit the power button for the first time.

Like I said the most nerve wracking bits involve the things which arent plugs and sockets, like the CPU thermal paste etc

Make sure you enjoy it though, I really enjoyed the process and now feel rather proud of myself

 

Haha I agree with all of the above, this current build (in sig) was my first in quite a while and I would encourage anyone doing their first build to grab something like scansure purely because for the sakes of a tenner having the piece of mind that if you do balls up on your first attempt it is covered!

 

That feeling never goes away no matter how many you do!

I remember that feeling attaching coolers to Athlon XP's

 

RAM and CPU install guide should be in motherboard manual. motherboard and PSU install guide should be in the case manual.

the 3 pin fans used to be control-able. it's a real shame to see motherboard manufacturers rely purely on the 4th PWM pin and ditched all other methods.


another thing:
Double sided sticker tapes for SSD placement if your case doesn't have a 2.5" bay. no need to spend £5 on a 2.5" to 3.5" adaptor.

 

It beggars belief that no one seems to mention it, like ever?!

 

One thing that I learned from my first build is to always check which screws are for the motherboard. I was originally using slightly too small screws and getting slightly frustrated when they wouldn't stay in. There are so many different screws in the motherboard screw pack, so just make sure you know which screws are for what, before you start to use them.

 

I'm a seasoned system builder now, but putting in the 2500k made me cringe and sweat. What a horrible noise.

 

Building computers wouldn't be such a fun hobby if it didn't have a few moments of sheer terror to shake things up!

Just over the weekend I installed an 8800GT in my system for an extra video output. Very routine process, just had to plop it in and attach the 6-pin power cable. Until a thumbscrew magically fell out of my hands. Looked around and couldn't see it, moved the case around and only heard the slightest rattle. Realized it fell into my 5870's cooler!