-------------

REMINDER: this thread is not to ask questions about your PC. Please create a NEW thread if you still have issues after going through this thread.
 
So, you've put together your brand new, shining rig. You plug in the power cord and push the button. Nothing happens. What now? The answer depends on what is happening:
 
 
The machine doesn't do anything. No beeps, LEDs or spinning fans.
Check if your power cable is firmly plugged in on both ends (you would be surprised how many issues this resolves) Check if the power supply (PSU) has a button to cut the power to the machine. Check if this button is in the position denoted with ON or I Check if EVERY power cable is plugged in securely, reseat if necessary. Check if the power button is installed correctly (consult your motherboard manual) Try shorting out the pins you connect the power button to manually. If this powers on your system, you have a faulty power button. Check with a device of which you know that it works if the power outlet you're using is actually providing power. If this hasn't solved the problem, check if your PSU isn't dead. To do this, you can follow these steps:
Unplug your power cord and/or flip the switch on the back of the PSU in the position denoted with OFF or 0 Unplug every connector coming from your PSU (this is very important) Using a bent paperclip, short out the green wire on the 24 pin header with any of the black wires, like so. If you have a PSU that shuts down its fan under low load, or a PSU that is fanless, connect something small like a hard drive to it. Plug in your power cord and/or flip the switch on the back of the PSU in the position denoted with ON or I If the PSU does NOT power on (the fan/hard drive you connected should start spinning) after following these steps, your PSU is in all likelyhood defective. Request an RMA.
If the PSU DOES power on, then the problem is most likely your motherboard.
 
 
The machine does power up, but my screen remains black (no POST).
Make sure your BIOS version is compatible with the CPU generation you're trying to run in your motherboard, you can consult the manual or the manufacturer's website about this. Check if EVERY power cable is connected. Auxiliary power connectors included. Make sure the cable coming from your monitor is attached securely to the graphics card. Also make sure it is securely attached to the monitor itself. Make sure your PSU is powerful enough to power your complete system. Try booting the system with only a monitor but no other peripherals connected. (Thanks @Steven Schaefer) Make sure your monitor works by testing it on a different computer. If you have both a dedicated GPU and an iGPU, try your monitor on both the outputs on the graphics cards as well as on the motherboard. When trying the iGPU, if the board has VGA out, try that too instead of just digital out. (Discovered by @evening) Make sure all connectors and cables are plugged in securely, reseat if necessary. Make sure your RAM, CPU and GPU are plugged in securely, reseat if necessary. Remove riser cables between GPU and motherboard. If this solves the issue, try lowering your PCIe version/speed in the bios to PCIe 3 or lower (Thanks @problemsolver) If the motherboard you're using has debug LEDs, check the error code and consult the motherboard manual to see what it means. If you have a debug speaker connected to the motherboard, note the beep sequence and consult the motherboard manual or this thread to see what it means. Try clearing your CMOS. Try booting your computer with only a motherboard, CPU and one stick of RAM attached (if you don't have an iGPU, plug in your GPU as well 😉 ). Make sure your GPU works (if you have a dedicated one), try it in another computer. Make sure your RAM works, try it another computer. Make sure the RAM is compatible with your CPU and your motherboard.  
If the PC still doesn't POST after this, create a new thread and, as explained here, post IN FULL DETAIL about your problem. Make sure you include the following:
System configuration Troubleshooting steps you already did Any additional information that may be relevant.  
Lastly, if you find any mistakes/grammatical errors, inaccuracies or missing steps in this post, please do post them in a comment so I can fix it.
 
 
PS: @TheXDS has posted how you can do some more in depth checking of the internal circuitry of you PSU. The only thing you need is a multimeter or potentiometer (if you're oldschool :D). You can find his post at http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/42440-readme-how-to-respond-to-a-no-post-or-no-power-up-situation/?p=4561958

Riley came up with lists of parts, then asked for advice on the forums. Keep in mind this was about 6 weeks ago when ryzen, Navi, and Super weren't released.
 
 
Re: your suggestions about which parts should have been chosen instead... That's not really the point of the video. It's not a build guide or suggestion as to what exact parts to buy. It's for an exhibition at LTX where attendees can try out PC gaming across various price levels to see how the experience changes. Whether you can save $4 by buying a different case in the budget build is irrelevant.
 
From @RILEYISMYNAME in the original thread:
 
I guess there's two reasons for that. 
1. The part was good enough for multiple categories and to upgrade to something that would give a noticeable improvement would require significantly more of the budget.
2. LTT didn't buy all the parts themselves. Some parts were supplied by the manufacturers. I believe Asus were already on board for the motherboards from the get go, and it looks like possibly also provided the monitors as well. Looking at the final lists I would also guess that Corsair provided the PSUs and water coolers, and team force the memory. Maybe Logitech for peripherals. Again, this isn't meant to be a recommendation of "go out and buy this exact memory kit" but rather a general idea of what sort of gaming system you will get for around that price point.

Now for a plot twist - add up the cost of ALL SIX of those builds and see what can be done. Do you think that it can even be possible to spend $13K on a single system?
 
The short answer is yes because I've probably spent near that much already:
 
Mobo: $500
CPU: $1000
Custom powder coated case: $1000
Four graphics cards with full cover blocks: $3200 (this is 2015 money)
PSU: $400
Monitor: $1000
 
Dust filters, sound deadening foam, RAM, fans, five massive rads, tubing, fittings, pump/res combo, coolant, cable management, RGB, two case LCD's, a dozen various drives, etc... and the time spent on mods and customization. Add stuff like the keyboard, speakers, DAC, trackball, gaming peripherals, new printer... It's the other 5 grand or so.
 
The big take away is that at that price point it becomes more than just a gaming machine. It becomes a workstation, an editing rig, a media server, a folding farm... whatever it is you want to do with your system OUTSIDE of gaming.
 
I was held back for over a decade using laptop after laptop. Yes they were great for portability and doing the web and casual gaming etc..., but they never really gave me the freedom to do what COULD be done with a PC. Now that I am back to using a real desktop as my main system I can do stuff that I just wasn't able to do before. Even now, close to 5 years after I first began putting it together it still doesn't feel slow, it still games well and it's a monster to see running at full blast.
 
Sure I spent a lot, but I get to hang on to it a lot longer as well since I went for the high end which still feels fast years later. Had I spent $300-$600 I'd either be throwing it away after three years or upgrading everything on it for a second time now.

StarCraft and Dawn of War are two different genres of RTS, to nitpick
 
If you want something more like StarCraft:
Age of Empires The Command & Conquer series Homeworld Rise of Nations Star Wars: Empire at War If you want something that's more like Dawn of War
Ashes of the Singularity Company of Heroes (1 or 2), also made by the same company that did Dawn of War Ground Control (1 or 2) Supreme Commander Wargame: European Escalation World in Conflict If you want something that's more encompassing:
Sins of a Solar Empire (Real-time 4X) The Total War series (battles are real time, but the other aspects are turn based)

You have a very valid point, building a pc yourself is quite the experience and i wanna experience it fully. Also heard that booting a PC for the first time gives you the ultimate anxiety but when you see it post, it gives you the ultimate orgasm. Can't wait for that.

Either of those builds will last you for 5+ years, providing you take care of the system.  The only upgrade I'd suggest is, to opt for a platinum rated power supply (and maybe increase the W to 700+, because you can).
 
Then, take care of your system:
- Monitor and sustain decent thermal performance, which is especially important if you overclock your CPU
- Re-apply thermal paste on a reoccurring basis
- Clean the case of dust and grime
- Remind yourself of how fortunate you are
 

Build it yourself. I can guide you through it. It's very simple. Each part will have it's own warranty anyway so you're covered.

RAYTHEON
"A Celtic ray of sunlight"
 
Hey folks, I'm Ray. Welcome to a 20 minute read about me nerding out over building my first dream PC. Bit about me first, I grew up in the countryside as a kid and got my first Amstrad computer when I was 14. Played and modded the original Operation Flashpoint (2002) from demo to death then headed out into the big wide world of work. Trained for and ran my own graphics business which accidentally became successful which moved to London. With the big 3-0 rocking up I decided to pack it all in and go to University to chase my dreams of becoming an Architect, 5 years later here I am!
 
I've watched LTT since the early days back in the house, loved the old car park unboxings and liked to think Luke & Linus taught me how to build a computer - Linus's review of the monster Asus G751 laptop turned into my daily driver at Uni. Now I'm an "adult", I mean now that I can afford this stuff, the laptop is a worn out render rig, I needed a new baby and decided its time to put my money where my mouth is and build my first PC ...
 

 
I'm just a middle aged nerd who's never built a PC before so 'knowing what I was doing' was key before I even started sourcing parts. I watched and re-watched build logs from all over Youtube and developed an idea of how it's done - and not done. PC Parts Picker made me want to cry for my bank account but in Fall 2018, a post here on the LTT forums for advice, both gave me some great help on a starting parts list and confidence I knew what I was talking about. Quickly realising I was about 1000 short in the finance department with Christmas approaching I postponed until 2019. March 19' arrived, the old laptop was close to copping it every time I opened a 3D model, it was time to purchase the replacement.
 
Using PC Parts Picker as a base for sourcing the parts, I made sure to pre-contact sellers I'd never heard of (some small but excellent shops in England), made sure I was buying from the Uk and populated a painfully expensive Amazon list. Moved the finances into place and began buying. This is where I hit my first snag. My bank flagged my account for suddenly spending thousands and blocked my card. Kinda makes sense when you think about it but easy to overlook - tell your bank before you start to avoid a sweaty panic and agonising wait in a phone queue. 
 
I kept track of the purchases, costs and shipping dates for each item. Made sure to check three times a day and know exactly where everything was. When you're playing with this much money you kinda have to. This was snag number two. Someone stole my Corsair 500D RGB case from an Amazon warehouse in Marseille, France. They re-stuck the label to an empty box which was delivered to me late. Enough phone calls later to Amazon and getting far enough up the chain to talk to an American head of service they fully refunded me and I over-nighted a new 500D case from the Uk. Amazon is easy, but cover yourself, theft does happen. With a large stack of boxes and curious house mates wondering when my time machine would be built, it was time to open all the presents! 
 

 
I'm super fortunate to live in a modest Thames side apartment so rearranged the sitting room to build the rig right there with that epic view. Setting out boxes in build order, tool locations, light, laptop for guides, bins and trays I was ready. First job was to strip down the 500D case, take the doors off and remove the Commander & Node Pro. For what ever reason I don't know, Corsair glued and 3M taped both units to the bottom of the case. When your a bit butter fingers being delicate at the start of a build the last thing you want to be doing is wrenching at a core part. After an hours battle with an old soapy credit card both were freed and set aside. From there it was pretty simple. Having a play-list already set up on the laptop of installation guides for each step, videos I'd watched many times over, I found I already knew my way around the hardware. Installed the H150i radiator first to get comfortable in the build and then moved onto the mobo.
 
Something I did find whilst building was after years of watching LTT videos, the hardware in real life is actually a bit smaller than I realised. Weird point but valid. Felt smug using the mobo box as a stand and pushed myself through opening up and installing the i9 in the housing. It'd be too easy to make a 'careful not to drop it' joke but years of watching just that made me take extra care and place a towel around the bench, just in case I was a muppet. The M.2 970 Evo was simple to install, though a bit taxing making sure I didn't drop a screw. The Ram wasn't so simple. I thought it'd be easy to just click in but actually it required more push than I was comfortable with giving. All 4 sticks did eventually give and click into place successfully, man did it look good! Mounting the Motherboard was a pain in the butt! Trying to line up well over a thousand pounds worth of hardware in your hands with metal sticks without scratching up the back was one of the hardest parts of the build. I MacGyvered some thin cable ties to act as guides and after a good hour of careful in and out, managed to seat the board - first try!
 

 
Knowing how much thermal paste to apply was a thoughtful moment. I'd decided to be brave and apply Kryonaut over Corsairs packaged circle. In the end I went with a video from Der8auer who spread it evenly as to maximise the full contact potential of the surface. The PSU went in easily as did the SSD, can't really mess that up, the fans went in properly facing the right way and I ran all the wires loosely to where I wanted them to sit. A BIG issue I discovered was my knowledge shortfall on what wire went where and did what. The AX860i PSU came with a bag of wires and a guide which didn't help at all. Genuinely thought it was going to beat me and I spent a good 12 hours out researching and learning, going back through build guides to figure it all out. Know how to power your rig properly, trying to learn it on the fly is hard! The main mobo connector would not fit in the motherboard, turned out the ax860i is 24 pin "only" meaning it was a 20+4 something, I wasn't too confident here but with a bit of tinkering it seated and ultimately worked so fixed it. 
 
A dumb snag I hit whilst cable managing at 2am, I went to trim a cable tie and cut the head off a fan wire. Much cursing and another 30 quid later (Amazon redeeming itself with same day delivery) I was back on track, after a decent sleep. Top tip - go to bed ... or don't drink and tie! The 500D case has a tight cable management system at the back but for my first time I was quite proud how it came out. The graphics card was an absolute beast, much heavier and slightly panic inducing in length until I measured it. Probably should have checked that at the start, you noob. With the all important RGB light strips in place and the doors re-hung I carried my new baby into its final resting place in the studio. After an Oscar worthy performance removing the protective glass plastic, the wires were plugged in and it was moment of truth time. I wish I'd read the part in the PSU manual where it says it tests the connection before it starts fully ... As a grown man I might have screamed a little when it cut out briefly before powering up. I let myself have that one ...
 
Scroll forward 4 months to today. This machine is OP. Drone Lidar footage used to generate 3D rendered models used to take 30 hours to process, this monster does it in 15 minutes! Ai overclocked at 5.1ghz its a silent whisper even at full chat, if I manage to get it there. Vive VR daily doesn't touch it and I've yet to really stretch its legs despite throwing bonkers architectural renders at it which would have straight up broken previous machines or anything in the main studio. Hiccups have happened. Updating the Bios required me to use the manual Bios / USB update in the rear of the board and it does like to BSOD if you don't keep on top of windows updates. I recently installed a V1 Tech backplate and GPU bracket as the card had a notable 1 degree of droop on the far end, fair seeing as it weighs more than a London Bus! Looking to the future I'm thinking Corsair Hydro X or EKWB, second 2080 when they drop in price (lol Super Cards) and I'm laser cutting a few custom parts for fan covers and the front filter. The rig is about to feature in an Architectural event showcasing VR technology and beyond that it'll be upgraded to keep it at the sharp end of fun.
 
Thanks for inspiring, teaching and supporting this build LTT. Thanks to you a total novice nerd built his dream PC, that's a pretty decent victory.
Cheers, Ray 
 

Raytheon Glory Video 1.mp4

JULY 2019 update:
I've learned a good lesson this week - Small drives are small. When you're filling up a parts list with your rapidly depleting savings, 256gb is a lot softer on the wallet than 1tb, especially when the box is already full of £1000 shiny things. In a giant surprise to literately nobody, it's taken Windows Update ... and Adobe Creative Cloud, Autocad Suite, my entire picture library and not at all DCS World 4 months to max out the diddy 256gb M.2 970 Evo. Opps. 

Prime Day to the rescue with a 60% off 1tb 860 Evo in the back along side the 500gb 860 from build. Cheaping out on the storage was one of the few corners I cut and It's unsurprisingly come back to bite. That financial balancing act is hard but a small drive will write off a future afternoon enjoying a tare down, a reminder of the mess you made of cable management and a fresh windows boot. 2tb 970 on the Christmas list and maybe a Hydro X loop.
Cheers, Ray  

Here's my tip:
 
Create a list of items beforehand you're interested in buying. Of these items, consider an alternative or two. Add those, and roughly group them by reordering the list. For example, I have the Nano 202 Mini-ITX case at the top of my list. Below I've added a Silverstone slim Mini-ITX case and a more expensive Corsair variant.
 
Once Prime Day starts, monitor your list for the flash deals. Occasionally click to a product page to see similar products and whether they're on sale. If you're open to buying products outside of your list, after you've checked your core items filter by category on the 'Deals' tab. There you'll see a range of products - most low-quality - but all on-sale relevant to your shopping interests.
 
Following that, and before you make a purchase, check other websites for competing discounts. Only make a purchase once you've vetted the price at every major retailer (and perhaps using the camelcamelcamel extension to glean it's price history). I suggest checking the large websites such as Ebay and Newegg, etc.
 
These steps are interchangeable of course. I tend to perform them in sets every few hours to keep myself disciplined. By organising a list beforehand, and separating the catch all category searches into a separate process, you keep your wallet safe from impulse purchases. You also remain cognizant of the best deal per product, given you have a routine "check before you buy" mentality.

Here's my tip:
 
Create a list of items beforehand you're interested in buying. Of these items, consider an alternative or two. Add those, and roughly group them by reordering the list. For example, I have the Nano 202 Mini-ITX case at the top of my list. Below I've added a Silverstone slim Mini-ITX case and a more expensive Corsair variant.
 
Once Prime Day starts, monitor your list for the flash deals. Occasionally click to a product page to see similar products and whether they're on sale. If you're open to buying products outside of your list, after you've checked your core items filter by category on the 'Deals' tab. There you'll see a range of products - most low-quality - but all on-sale relevant to your shopping interests.
 
Following that, and before you make a purchase, check other websites for competing discounts. Only make a purchase once you've vetted the price at every major retailer (and perhaps using the camelcamelcamel extension to glean it's price history). I suggest checking the large websites such as Ebay and Newegg, etc.
 
These steps are interchangeable of course. I tend to perform them in sets every few hours to keep myself disciplined. By organising a list beforehand, and separating the catch all category searches into a separate process, you keep your wallet safe from impulse purchases. You also remain cognizant of the best deal per product, given you have a routine "check before you buy" mentality.

In essence, building a PC is fairly simple. If you need to force a connection, its not the right connector. Aside of this its simply matching the connections and connecting them. So do not be afraid, just do and use common sence.
 
When it comes to building a PC, Linus has made a few video's
 
 
When it comes to upgradeability for storage, there really isn't much wrong you can do.
M.2 slots will be limited. Even though the prices are slightly higher than regular SSD's (NVME is a little higher than the SSD versions) it still doens't seem to be much of a mainstream product. When picking a mainboard, check the amount of Sata connections. This will tell you roughly how many drives you can connect and upgrade too.
 
What parts would work completely depends on your budget.
General rules: AMD CPU's require a motherboard with a socket that starts with AM (2, 3, 4)
Intel CPU's require a socket that generaly only contains numbers. (478, 1150, 1151)
 
Minimum requirements to be able to power on a pc are:
Mainboard
CPU (processor)
Memory (RAM)
Hard drive
Power supply
(although not required a case to hold it all isn't a luxury)
Depending on the chosen processor, a VGA (graphics) card can be required.
 

i think this is a topic worth talking about, because while a lot of the online tech community has sound recommendations for desktop builds, the laptop recommendations are kind of questionable. 
 
There are a lot of factors which have nothing to do with the quality of the laptop itself. 
 First, the marketing: whichever company sends its products to a higher quantity of famous Youtubers is going to get more press and sales.    Second, laptops put a big emphasis on aesthetics.  They often want to look like Macbooks, RGB lighting, edgy gamer battlestation chassis.  Often absent, in many articles and Youtube videos which recommend laptops are the less glamorous but still great quality laptops (such as the ones designed for business).  Third, many of the heavily marketed laptops have barely any ventilation, which results in high temps and throttling; a reduction in performance.  While an aluminum chassis can act as some sort of heatsink, it's often not enough to forgo vents entirely.  Some of the laptops may not be able to fully attain what one would expect them to.  This also risks long-term functionality.  Fourth, there are quality control issues, especially in the low to mid range laptops.  Even though, on paper, the better specs for the price is a big factor, failure rate also comes into question.    
 

Hello,

I recently picked up a bundle containing games I shall foreseeably never play. Instead of hoarding them, I offer them here. I imagine collectors may be interested, or those with young children (since many of these games are in the vain of circa 2000 flash games). Yes, I claimed the best ones. That bundle can be found here: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/recoil-bundle

Xenoraid: The First Space War - DFI78-R8BMQ-I2QTY
Tennis in the Face - B6LT6-CIQ56-CXI52
Azkend 2: The World Beneath - EZQ6T-TR3JK-ER436
Baseball Riot - QL9H3-C28T8-5ZA4L
Spellspire - BV2A8-M57YL-AEBWT
Sparkle Unleashed - KFW77-6RYV6-R2A37
Sparkle 2 - IG83L-05VYX-GG3NF
King Oddball - QCVY3-H2MEC-3MKNG

Hello,

I recently picked up a bundle containing games I shall foreseeably never play. Instead of hoarding them, I offer them here. I imagine collectors may be interested, or those with young children (since many of these games are in the vain of circa 2000 flash games). Yes, I claimed the best ones. That bundle can be found here: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/recoil-bundle

Xenoraid: The First Space War - DFI78-R8BMQ-I2QTY
Tennis in the Face - B6LT6-CIQ56-CXI52
Azkend 2: The World Beneath - EZQ6T-TR3JK-ER436
Baseball Riot - QL9H3-C28T8-5ZA4L
Spellspire - BV2A8-M57YL-AEBWT
Sparkle Unleashed - KFW77-6RYV6-R2A37
Sparkle 2 - IG83L-05VYX-GG3NF
King Oddball - QCVY3-H2MEC-3MKNG

1) Watch a full length step by step build guide
A 20-25 minute Youtube video.  Watch it all at once.  The 5-10 min videos often skip steps.
The in-depth videos save time because if you miss a step you're unaware of it, it costs a lot of time.
 
2) Build in an intuitive order
RAM can go in the motherboard before its attached to the case.  Possibly, the CPU cooler as well.
However, the video card is best saved for later on so it doesn't take up hand room.
 
3) Do a test build on the table before building inside of the case
A beginner learning how to build and do cable management at the same time can be overwhelming.
If a mistake is made, it's easier to correct it on a table than have to go inside a case full of parts.
Also, it's easier to manage cables once you know where everything is supposed to go.
 
4) Have a good work environment
A big flat surface with enough free space (like a clear desk or a dining room table).
Have a way to sort different screws, whether it's little dishes/containers or baggies.  You don't want to get any screws lost or mixed up.
 
5) Know where the parts and connectors on the motherboards go
It may vary, but I've generally noticed:
* 8-pin connector is top left
* 24-pin connector is right
* RAM is top right next to the CPU slot
* Front panel connectors and SATA ports are bottom right
Establishing all this first will make cable management easier because you'll know which sides to put the cables on.
 
6) insert the 24-pin connector correctly
* Connect the 20pin +4 pin together before inseting
* Apply enough pressure for it to go in all the way.  If it's not in all the way, it might result in your video card not powering on.
 
7) Know the ordering front panel connectors go in advance
The little tiny wires. i.e. The power/reset/LED +/- pins. This is one of the most difficult parts for many beginners. 
It should say on the motherboard or on the manual booklet where they go.  Figure it out before you build to save trouble.
 
8 ) Fully open the case , removing all the detachable panels, before working on it
Also, make sure your OS boots properly and everything's fine before closing, so you don't have to re-open your case.
 
9) installing the cooler correctly
* Firstly, the little metal fan clips attach to the sides - not vertically - (they should look like ears).
* Many coolers require bolts in the back of the motherboard to hold into place
* Assuming the airflow is from the front to the back of the case, the fan on the cooler should face the same way as the fans on the case.
 
10) Make sure the fans are in the right direction
Use a sheet of paper to test which way the air is flowing, because it may be deceiving by just feeling it with hands.
Typically, the face (the more aesthetically pleasing part of the fan) faces the front and sucks the air and the backside (with the wires/labels/etc. blows it out)