Alvis

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,313
A) Finding the faulty component can be tricky. Especially if you don't have spare components you can test with.
B) RMA:ing means you cannot continue with the build till you get a replacement. Sure, you can return the component back to the store, but you still need to return to the store. If a computer store builds it for you, they will at least test that it will post. Also most likely they will update the bios, which can be required to be able to use newer processors with older motherboards.
A) I...guess? I've never had problems identifying a faulty component.
B) Doesn't bother me. About the BIOS update thing, sure, but if you're purchasing a new CPU and a new mobo together, I don't see why you would get an older mobo that isn't compatible with your CPU with the built in BIOS.
 
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Thewonandonly

Thewonandonly

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
4,325
Utah
Question? How important are case fans if my case allready has one? I'm also getting a Corsair hydro H150i pro for the CPU so that should be good for everything right?
 

Deleted member 11479

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,053
Really easy these days. Pretty much everything works out of the box, no need to worry about BIOS settings or jumper positions or anything like that.
 
Oct 29, 2017
13,768
Question? How important are case fans if my case allready has one? I'm also getting a Corsair hydro H150i pro for the CPU so that should be good for everything right?
Depends on where you put that radiator. If you have the both the corsair cooler on top and the single case fan as exhaust, then an intake fan in front would be recommended so the GPU gets airflow (with an AIO you are likely not having to worry about CPU temps, but lack of airflow is still going to affect your GPU).

If you only have room in front of your case for the corsair cooler, then you could have the fans contribute to the intake, but it would be warm air that went thru the radiator getting to your GPU, it would be better than nothing, but not as good as having a unobstructed front fan, or a fan on the bottom on the case, depending on what your's allow. .
 

Shroki

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,918
Building a PC is intuitive, even as a relative noob.

My only gripe are those stupid, tiny-ass LED wires from the case.
 

Rizific

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,991
Easy peezy.

Front panel connectors are a thunder bastard though.
i cant even fathom how anyone could possibly find front panel connectors an issue when its quite literally spelled out for you. connectors are labeled and with picture illustrations. like what?
T0tQD7G.jpg
 

softtack

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,650
i cant even fathom how anyone could possibly find front panel connectors an issue when its quite literally spelled out for you. connectors are labeled and with picture illustrations. like what?
No shit sherlock. That's not the issue. The issue is aligning the connectors and pressing them down on the pins using nothing but the force of your thumb.
 
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Siresly

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,704
^^You'd think they would've standardized that by now into just a big plug.
-----

It's generally like putting together anything else, except you're working with electronics and so should ground yourself before you start touching components, and double check that the motherboard standoffs in the case are the correct amount and in the correct positions for your motherboard before you start screwing it down.

But you follow the instructions of whatever videos or articles you're using as a guide, consult your manuals when necessary, put screws into holes, components into slots, cables and wires where they belong. There are a bunch of variables that can make things easier or harder, but it's generally not difficult, it's just one tends to fret about things when you're not entirely confident in your own ability, knowledge or experience, especially when you're dealing with expensive things like PC components. So it can be time consuming. People who basically build computers for a living can do it in 20 minutes, for us it can take hours as we rewatch a section of a tutorial for the fifth time just to make sure we've got it right.

The main thing that's a bit more complicated or delicate, is basically everything to do with the CPU.
It's easy to not touch the top or bottom (especially don't touch the bottom) of it and align and drop it into the socket, but care needs to be taken, and it tends to feel uncomfortable when you fasten it down with the lever. I believe it is quite uncommon, but you can end up bending a pin or more, so I tend to find that part a bit disconcerting.

And assuming it's not pre-applied on your CPU cooler, applying thermal paste to the CPU heat spreader is a haphazard procedure. It's not necessarily difficult, but it feels messy and uncertain. There's no precise measurement or application of it and you just wing it trying to mimic what the pros say you should do and hope you've done it correctly. The goal is to have the pressure of the mounted cooler spread out the paste across as much of the heat spreader as possible without it spilling over. Unlike most other aspects of building a computer, which are quite binary, you'll never know if you did it perfectly. But it seems you only need to do it decently, and it's difficult to actually fail at applying thermal paste.
 
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Oct 27, 2017
2,491
It's pretty fun, and it's super easy. Have built a bunch for family members, but have recently been toying around with building something for me on the cheap. Just need to start researching parts and sales on all that, which is honestly the most time-consuming aspect.
 

justiceiro

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
6,664
Not as easy as some people say it is, but doable.

It's a long process, my recent build didn't even included a dedicated gpu, and still took 6 hours to complete.

You kinda have to be strong too, because some cables are just short, so you have to sustain some parts using hands before placing everything.

My main trouble was the case. While not particularly cheap, it had some problems that really risked the main parts. First, there was no bay for a ssd, so I had to screw the thing on the fans holes, what is kinda bending the cables a little. Second, putting the motherboard didn't fit smoothly, so I had to manuever it in various ways to actually get it to the screw holes. Also, some screw holes where missing, and the only way to putting those was forcing with a drill or something, so I let the way it was.

Another pain was the io shield. Are those things supposed to go in or out?

Anyway, I highly recommend you get a great toolbox for a start, some thermal paste, and wacth this series of videos before even buying anything.
 

Plum

Member
May 31, 2018
17,410
From my experience:

It's easy to build a PC. But anyone who manages to run a PC for 6 months without something going wrong is a literal god.

These things have never worked well for me no matter what I do, buy, or 'fix.' PC building is a horrible fucking thing.
 

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
57,718
It's a poor analogy bc the scenario you quoted above me? Do you think a material amount of people destroy $2K worth of PC gear improperly spreading thermal paste building their first PC?

I'm unclear on what you mean
I am right. If anything goes wrong with LEGO you just dismantle and rebuild. It's pretty much stress-free, even for someone who has never used LEGO before. It's a toy to be played with; you can forgo that instruction manual and build whatever you want, carefree. The same can't be said for building a PC, which needs more planning and the handling of delicate and expensive components when in the process of building the thing and because of those factors, might be very stressful for someone who has never built one before.

I know people like to emphasise that anyone can do it, which they can, but you could do it in a less misleading fashion I think!
This, and other posts earlier in the thread where we discussed it.
 

RedlineRonin

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,620
Minneapolis
This, and other posts earlier in the thread where we discussed it.
Got it, that makes more sense.

I guess I just fundamentally disagree in terms of risk. Agree that maybe LEGO is maybe not the optimal analogy; idk Kinetics or....? I'm not sure because it's been awhile, but the point is that stuff plugs in generally in one or a select few spots. It's difficult to plug stuff in incorrectly. All this "destroy $2K worth of gear" and " the delicate and expensive components" takes I just don't feel like are the common outcomes. Do both of those happen? Oh I'm sure. Is that the result a material amount of the time? Unlikely, from what I've seen, but I'm more than happy to be proven wrong if someone has a different take.

The "it's not legos" point is valid; it's a bit more nuanced than that. The "you could break thousands of dollars of stuff" feels like a handful of scenarios and feels disingenuous.
 

Chopchop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,171
Question? How important are case fans if my case allready has one? I'm also getting a Corsair hydro H150i pro for the CPU so that should be good for everything right?
If you're not overclocking or using your computer in a particularly hot area, the case fans that you get + the cpu cooler is probably fine for normal use. More fans will still help manage the airflow and temperature in your computer, which leads to lower internal temperatures (probably better for the working life of your pc, but not much of an issue for most people) and lower fan speeds (means less noise, which is important to some people), but for the most part you're probably fine with what you've got.

You can always go with what you have right now, and then add fans later if you find that your computer is running too hot or loud to your tastes.
 

Nzyme32

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,323
i cant even fathom how anyone could possibly find front panel connectors an issue when its quite literally spelled out for you. connectors are labeled and with picture illustrations. like what?

The one thing I recall, nearly every time I do a build, is that the + and - connections are not obviously marked on the cable connector itself. In my second build, I think I got the HDD the wrong way round so it would be lit when idle and turn off when loading, but that is as far as problems I have had - and the fiddly nature if you connect Front Panel and the mobo is in the case, and you don't get one of those smart little adaptor that makes it easier to do.

And yes, it is trivial to just look up on the internet to be sure which wire denotes + and -
Though typically I'm able to guess it right and test the system posts before closing up. So yes, it really isn't a problem, but + and - isn't always documented as well as in your image, and folks can be lazy enough not to do a 10sec check to confirm online
 

Tenck

Member
Oct 27, 2017
618
Started building mine yesterday. All that's left is the power supply and for me to connect everything to it and I should be good. Took about 40 minutes. Five of those was looking for my screwdrivers.
 

Timu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,006
From my experience:

It's easy to build a PC. But anyone who manages to run a PC for 6 months without something going wrong is a literal god.

These things have never worked well for me no matter what I do, buy, or 'fix.' PC building is a horrible fucking thing.
I must be a god then.=p
 

Dance Inferno

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,108
I don't agree that it's easy. Like, it's not as easy as building a Lego set. There are certainly some tricky parts, such as applying thermal paste, installing a CPU fan, figuring out what gets plugged in where on the motherboard.

That being said, I built my PC as a total noob and used a YT video to guide me, and I had it built a few hours later. It's definitely doable even without any prior knowledge, so I wouldn't let the building part scare you away.
 

DaleCooper

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,864
Many years ago a friend and I were building our own PCs concurrently. We were probably 15 or so. My friend attached his motherboard directly to the cabinet. The mobo short circuited the instant we booted it. I've only built one PC since then, but this lesson always stuck to me as the most important part about building your own rig. Would also say that the prominence of Google makes it insanely easy to find the information you need.
 

MrH

Banned
Nov 3, 2017
3,995
It's extremely easy, if you can read you can build a PC, it's basically Lego. Nothing will fit if it isn't meant to sit.
 

the_wart

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,287
If all your parts work, easy. If they don't, incredibly hard, because you have to figure out what's not working or just return everything. I've never had an issue with parts not working but I don't have a good sense of the underlying probabilities.
 

M.J.

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,059
It only is hard if one of your pieces is DoA and you spend time trying to figure out what it is. Order a too small case for a too big motherboard or GPU. Not having a strong enough power supply. Stuff like that.

Following tutorials it's as easy as plug-and-play.

Troubleshooting something that doesn't work? Depends on your patience, but nothing about the whole process is very advanced. Like Krejlooc said it's more like Ikea furniture.
 

Sanguine

Member
Jun 10, 2018
1,276
I built my previous PC maybe 8ish years ago and it was a lot harder than I was led to believe (I'm not a building/hands on type of person, but everyone kept saying how easy it was so I tried it). The biggest issue is that the manuals/youtube fucking sucked. The manuals I had were like Egyptian Heiroglyphics where it was just images of the parts with arrows pointing in... directions. I had a very hard time telling which side of the part was up and which way had to face me or face away. Any time I wanted to see on youtube how something was supposed to look, I would watch a video until they get to the part I needed help on... only for them to skip over it and tell me to look at the shitty manual that was the entire reason I even looked up their fucking video in the first place.

I did manage to put things together without issues, but it was so annoying that I probably only worked on it for like 30 minutes a day until it was complete and when it was done, decided it wasn't worth it. For my current PC, I just used a template from the "i need a pc" (back when it was on GAF) and ordered the parts from a website where they custom built the PC (it was NXCUS or something like that - they went under like two years ago). It did cost more than if I would have just used PCPartPicker to get the same parts from the cheapest place, but it was worth it not to deal with the frustrations I felt when building my PC. When it comes time to get my next PC, I will probably do the same thing: get a template from the "i need a new PC thread" here and find a site that has the parts and will custom build the pc for me (if I can find one otherwise I might have to deal with building it myself again...).
 

Yogi

Banned
Nov 10, 2019
1,806
If you're not water cooling with custom loops, it's pretty damn simple but there are a few mistakes you could potentially make, like with dropping screws and not finding them and then blowing out the PSU...which may or may not have happened to me. Tip: buy from amazon.

Just plan it well, make sure the parts are compatible. Should be a few hours at most for a first timer. Probably 2 hours if you want it nice and tidy.

Look at the arrow in the corner of the CPU for orienting it so you don't have to get out a blade and reallign the bent pins.

Read the relevant section in motherboard manual for certain parts if you need to. Like which RAM or sata slots are fastest etc.

Make sure you plug the display cable into your graphics card and not the on-board video card like someone did on christmas and made a thread about. He hadn't taken the plastic plugs out of the back of the GPU and was telling us there is no other port and his kid is sitting there dissappointed! (It was a pre-built setup too).

Use an X shape for the thermal compound on the CPU. I watched a video where someone placed a clear acrylic square instead of the heatsink on the cpu and tested different shapes. It wasn't this one but I can't seem to find the actual one:

www.youtube.com

How To Apply Thermal Paste

Store: http://epicpants.com, Music: http://bit.ly/Trk2ikGame Deals: https://crit.tv/gamedealsPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/CritTVWebsite: https://crit.tv/...

The original X I saw was cleaner and a bit longer than how this dude did it and it came out perfect.

Also there's this https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Thermal-Paste-Application-Techniques-170/ which has the same finding - the X is slightly better. Their X wasn't that clean either. Just do a clean X, with longer lines than you might think, but not too thick and you should be good. It's simple enough to remove it with isopropyl alcohol if it gets everywhere.

Make sure the case you buy will fit the components you want to put in (with a heatsink/fan, gpu), and potentially add in the future - like more hard drives. The Noctua ND-15 is a fantastic air cooler (mines been running since 2014 and I plan to keep it going for another 10 or 30 years!) but it's huge and might not fit if you got a smaller case - though I think there is a smaller factor version available. Some GPUS are really long too.

It is easy but there are potential mistakes, just needs a bit of planning. Once you have the parts, just take your time, it's absolutely do-able.

And if your case doesn't have the risers for the motherboard already attached, make sure you don't attach the motherboard directly to the case, but to the risers.

Think about the direction of the airflow and that's pretty much it. Watch a video or two on youtube before you do it and have at it.

Might be worth building it all on some cardboard before putting it all together in the case to make sure it works and you know where things should go.

Touch the ground every now and then to make sure you don't build up static by rubbing yourself on carpet.
 
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