Resources for learning PC building?

[CrysisLegend]

I've watched probably 50+ PC builds online, mostly from LTT. My problem is I still don't confidently know cable management/knowledge. I want to learn what all the cables names/terms are, what they do, and how they relate to the system. 

 

All the build videos online just show installing components, they might BRIEFLY mention the name of a cable and show where it goes very quickly. Is there anywhere I can actually educate myself on this?

Where can I learn? Thank you.

[XTankSlayerX]

Im 99% sure Linus has covered cable names in his PSU reviews

[NoctHorn]

It's not too complicated to be honest.  I suggest NeweggTV's build guide.  CareyHolzman is also another good resource.

 

 

I would say start with this and watch the entire 3 part series.  Skip to part 2 if you just want to watch the build.

 

If you want me to list out the cables that need managing:

 

From the power supply:

-24 Pin connector (Right-hand edge of mobo)

-8 Pin CPU connector (Near the CPU usually somewhere above it)

-SATA Power cables to HDD's, SSD's & Disc Drives

-PCI-E cable plugs into the video card.

 

SATA Data cables plug in from the motherboard to thr HDD's, SSD's and Disc drives

In addition, plug the cooling fans into the motherboard, and plug the front end umbilicals into the motherboard(see your mobo's manual for this.)

[Semper]

I've watched probably 50+ PC builds online, mostly from LTT. My problem is I still don't confidently know cable management/knowledge. I want to learn what all the cables names/terms are, what they do, and how they relate to the system. 

 

All the build videos online just show installing components, they might BRIEFLY mention the name of a cable and show where it goes very quickly. Is there anywhere I can actually educate myself on this?

Where can I learn? Thank you.

once you get down to it, it's pretty simple. It's either going to fit, or it's not. The only section this doesn't apply to would be the front headers, but they should be labeled and your board and/or manual should state what goes where.

[CrysisLegend]

Im 99% sure Linus has covered cable names in his PSU reviews

Well to be fair I haven't watched many of his PSU reviews. I mostly watch his GPU, CPU, MOBO, and PC build guides. I'll watch some of his PSU builds now, I just figured the build guides were the best place on his channel to learn stuff about building PCs.

[Arphenyte]

I think you should just experience it. Also if you want to know the name of the cables, and what not. I believe the manual comes with the list of components so you can get them from there.

[mr.skyrim_pc]

Carey Holman has by far the best build guides! Sorry Linus...

[Oshino Shinobu]

To be honest, there's only so much you can learn through watching videos and reading stuff. I find that it's easiest to learn where things go from experience of taking the PC apart and putting it back together. Even just taking off the side panel and having a look around can help a fair bit. 

 

Some cables look very similar, and some have different names for the same thing (Things like CPU power cables may be called EPS on certain PSUs, but not on others.) 

 

EDIT:

This may help some with the names of cables:

 

Molex

 

SATA Power

 

SATA Data (Often uses a right angle connector too)

 

CPU Power/EPS

 

PCI / PCIE Power (may be in 6pin, 8pin or 6+2pin - like this one -) The 8pin ones can pretty easily be mistaken for EPS for beginners.

 

3 pin fan cable (Also come in 4 pin. The 4th pin is used for PWM fans)

 

 

 

24 pin atx power

 

 

Those are pretty much the main cables on modern PSUs. I've probably missed something knowing me. 

 

EDIT2:

 

USB internal header cables

 

Front panel or I/O cables. They can change for different cases.

 

HD audio cable (for front I/O) Looks similar to internal USB, but has a different blank pin.

 

Hope this helped in some way. 

[CrysisLegend]

Thanks guys, I'm going to research some of these leads you've given me today. I'm not going to be buying cheap PC parts, so I want to make sure I'm going to be doing it right when I'm spending a lot of money. 

[Speedyv]

I learned by taking apart an ancient computer that my family had lying around (it had like an Athlon 64 and ide..)  If you have a broken computer or something take it apart. It's not gonna be exactly the same but it's the same basis. Follow cables around see where they go, and put it back together. 

 

When you run into problems, then go watch videos or ask questions on forums.

[-ism]

Go to goodwill and buy a 20$ PC and take it apart and put it together. Maybe even buy the worlds most garbage case and try and transplant it into the new case. Just make sure not to get a PC that is too old, if it has IDE cables and AGP gpus then you wont be learning anything as those technologies are irrelevant. 

 

In 8th grade I just watched loads of how to build a PC videos and that's how I learned.

Good luck.

[CrysisLegend]

Can I use SSDs for all storage? They seem faster and more efficient than mechanical HDs. I know usually people use them only for boot up and stuff. Is this because they are more expensive and people don't want to use them for both? Or can you use SSDs for all storage in your PC?

[Oshino Shinobu]

Can I use SSDs for all storage? They seem faster and more efficient than mechanical HDs. I know usually people use them only for boot up and stuff. Is this because they are more expensive and people don't want to use them for both? Or can you use SSDs for all storage in your PC?

You can, but they're often too expensive to really be used for bulk storage. I've got over 2TB of data on my HDD, having enough space would cost over $1000 for SSDs, but not much over $130 for HDDs. 

[Mistersprinkles]

Can I use SSDs for all storage? They seem faster and more efficient than mechanical HDs. I know usually people use them only for boot up and stuff. Is this because they are more expensive and people don't want to use them for both? Or can you use SSDs for all storage in your PC?

 

SSD is many times faster than HDD but its also many times more expensive. For $100 you can buy a 2TB HDD or a 256GB SSD. Big difference. Yes you can use any drive for anything you want. If you want 2 1TB SSDs to store everything on including the OS  you can do that. Or you can go "budget" and get a small SSD and a big HDD. Up to you. Any SATA drive will work from the get-go with no need for drivers. Don't forget to set your SATA ports to AHCI when you first get your computer if you are using an SSD.

[Swndlr]

www.youtube.com/user/linustechtips

[Arphenyte]

To be honest, there's only so much you can learn through watching videos and reading stuff. I find that it's easiest to learn where things go from experience of taking the PC apart and putting it back together. Even just taking off the side panel and having a look around can help a fair bit. 

 

Some cables look very similar, and some have different names for the same thing (Things like CPU power cables may be called EPS on certain PSUs, but not on others.) 

 

EDIT:

This may help some with the names of cables:

 

Molex

 

SATA Power

 

SATA Data (Often uses a right angle connector too)

 

CPU Power/EPS

 

PCI / PCIE Power (may be in 6pin, 8pin or 6+2pin - like this one -) The 8pin ones can pretty easily be mistaken for EPS for beginners.

 

3 pin fan cable (Also come in 4 pin. The 4th pin is used for PWM fans)

 

 

 

24 pin atx power

 

 

Those are pretty much the main cables on modern PSUs. I've probably missed something knowing me. 

 

EDIT2:

 

USB internal header cables

 

Front panel or I/O cables. They can change for different cases.

 

HD audio cable (for front I/O) Looks similar to internal USB, but has a different blank pin.

 

Hope this helped in some way. 

Give this guy a medal pls

[CrysisLegend]

To be honest, there's only so much you can learn through watching videos and reading stuff. I find that it's easiest to learn where things go from experience of taking the PC apart and putting it back together. Even just taking off the side panel and having a look around can help a fair bit. 

 

Some cables look very similar, and some have different names for the same thing (Things like CPU power cables may be called EPS on certain PSUs, but not on others.) 

 

EDIT:

This may help some with the names of cables:

 

Molex

 

SATA Power

 

SATA Data (Often uses a right angle connector too)

 

CPU Power/EPS

 

PCI / PCIE Power (may be in 6pin, 8pin or 6+2pin - like this one -) The 8pin ones can pretty easily be mistaken for EPS for beginners.

 

3 pin fan cable (Also come in 4 pin. The 4th pin is used for PWM fans)

 

 

 

24 pin atx power

 

 

Those are pretty much the main cables on modern PSUs. I've probably missed something knowing me. 

 

EDIT2:

 

USB internal header cables

 

Front panel or I/O cables. They can change for different cases.

 

HD audio cable (for front I/O) Looks similar to internal USB, but has a different blank pin.

 

Hope this helped in some way. 

Thanks for your help! I can see you put some effort into that. Through your advice and the others on the forum I was able to customize my PC a bit today. I replaced 2 stock case fans with some Enermax fans I had laying around, they are like brand new but from like 2011. My only complaint is that they are kinda loud, but they look cool with the LED and probably are better than my stock case fans.

 

I also did some cable management and made room for my new GTX970 coming in the mail this week. I studied the back panel and noticed that part of the reason I was so confused and didn't understand my PC is because the person who built it did a really nice job. Through some molex adapter cables (I guess they are), they were definitely molex cables but there were a stack of about 5 of them on top of eachother. On each of them there was like a converter that on one molex plug would a couple wires would go off to make a PCfan plug. So most of the wiring was done in the back through these adapters to make it look nice. I also learned that the reason my USB ports on the front of my PC never worked was because they weren't plugged in (LOL). I think the reason the person who build my PC did this was because there is only 1 USB connector on my MOBO, and I have a like 16 in 1 memory card reader in one of my drive bays and that was attached to it. I never used that anyway so I completely removed it and plugged my USB cables into the MOBO. So now I have USB on the front of my PC.

 

Here is a picture of my PC currently from the main side panel while running:

 

 

Not too much has changed, but the exhaust fan in the back is now an LED Enermax fan just like the 2 on my radiator. My intake one is now LED Enermax too. Like I said I'm going to look into maybe some Noctua ones to replace everything because they are a bit loud.

 

I'm also kinda worried about my liquid cooling system. I'm going to replace it asap. Still deciding on a CPU fan or a AIO liquid cooling kit from corsair. My tubing is so gunked up I can't even see through to tell if the water is flowing. Either my pump is broken or so quiet I can't even hear it, I honestly can't tell. I put my ear right up next to hear and couldn't really hear anything. -_-But my CPU temps stay low when I monitor them in the BIOS. I would think that if the pump wasn't working they would get really high or something. It needs to be replaced so I'm gonna order something tonight so it will arrive Monday or Tuesday.

 

I feel like I have a bit of a better understanding of my PC wiring and how things are working after today. I spent most of today tinkering in my PC and even went to radio shack previously to purchase an anti-static wrist strap and some zip ties. I can just attach the end of the wrist strap to my PC metal case right? Well that's what I was doing hopefully that's right lol. Thanks for your help today everyone I have learned a lot. I just need to replace my CPU cooler and figure out what kind of power cable I need for my GTX970 coming. 

 

Thanks for the help everyone.