Worst Tech mistake you have ever made?

[CaptainWASD]

Before I got a Zerolemon power bank, I purchased a 10,000 MAH power bank on Ebay that turned out to be a Chinese knock off. It wasn't that expensive, I was just mildly annoyed. I tend to read a ton of reviews and watch many YouTube videos before I buy a product so I haven't had many negative experiences.

[AndyJetty]

I regret buying a couple qi wireless chargers, and a receiver for my phone.  Used them Twice and then never again. Oh well.

[Whorax]

I'm starting to regret my SLI 970 purchase now.

[TacticlTwinkie]

While my EVGA gtx 780 ftw is great, I really wish I had gotten a card with a reference pcb or something with a full cover water block available. I guess I could go the universal block route and use some little vrm heat sinks, but that doesn't look nearly as elegant.

[yiweno]

My friend wanted to build a computer, so I planned and went to buy all the parts with her. I colour coordinated the whole build, but she decided last minute that she would rather save $30ish and not colour coordinate the build even though the case had a window. She regretted this decision about a week after the build was complete.

 

Another friend wanted to do a build, so I planned everything out. He bought an old used Z87 motherboard (at least 2 years old he said) even though I told him that he would need a Haswell refresh because the motherboard is too old to have the refresh. He ignored me. Turns out he actually did need a Haswell refresh and the guy he bought the board from didn't give him any documentation, sata cables, or even the I/O. The guy that sold the board to him only gave him the motherboard.

[zappian]

Getting a 270x over a 280 because i had no money left.

 

I cry evrtime

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Getting a 270x over a 280 because i had no money left.

 

I cry evrtime

 

I missread nvm.

[PumaXCS]

I bought SLI GTX560's and put them on a motherboard that didn't support SLI (AM3), used it for about a year and a half before I really started to know computers, then noticed it. That 560 was a beast though, I ran BF3 on Ultra with no problems so I would have never known the difference. :lol:

[Sors]

The case I bought had a shiny finish on the entire front, it was cover with finger prints like 30 seconds after getting it out of the box.

[SIGSEGV]

Using a slightly bent IO shield instead of leaving it off, now it's putting pressure on my motherboard (I hope it'll bend into shape from the pressure of my motherboard and the heat from my GPU)

[TooManyErrors]

I went overkill on my PSU and got 720w for an i5 3570k and GTX 660SC.

[jaggysnake57]

didnt get a k series chip (i was on a tight budget) but i have more of asn excuse to get an i7 now

[Nexxus]

the only thing I can think of is on my 1st system I had a full sized case and an matx board...simply cause its what I could afford and it made working on it a pain in the ass.

[legend8887]

I cheaped on on my gpu for the sake of a better cpu. I don't particularly regret my decision because I actually needed the i7, and I was on a VERY tight budget, but going back I'd probably have bought the pc with integrated graphics and then bought a gpu later when I had the money for a better one. The gtx 550ti was fine, don't get me wrong, it could have been much worse, but still, I wish I had gone for a 560ti at least.

That's what I'm doing. Got the i7 4790K so I can afford the GTX 980 very soon.

[KWelz]

Used a Maximums VI Formula instead of a VII Formula with my 4790K.  Probably makes 0 difference but there are moments it bugs me.  

[TetraSky]

Initial bought into AMD, never worked properly, bought 2 CPU(both 965 but with a different revision, C2 and C3), tried 2 kit of RAM(G.skill and Patriot), 3 motherboard from 3 different manufacturer (MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte)... was always getting blue screen followed by Hyper Transport sync flood error. (and yes, I did re-format multiple times.)

 

Switched to Intel, bought a single CPU, a single motherboard, re-used the RAM and everything else. Worked from the get go and never got any blue screen since.

 

I will now think twice before going with AMD on the CPU side of things. I tried to give them a chance, I ended up wasting more money than it was worth. There's an obvious QC problem.

[Imakuni]

Only one major mistake, for the only PC I've built: waiting to buy the CPU + mobo, thinking that Intel would release a desktop K Broadwell CPU by feb 2015.

 

Well, I guess it could still still happen within the next few hours.

[Mushious]

Decided to theme my machine after I had already bought all the hardware... *rattles paint cans*

[PaulKolby]

That I didn't sli my 780ti it's so hard to find one now a days ...

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-8#q=nvidia+780+ti&tbm=shop

 

pick one there is many

[Razzaa]

On a past build i chose AMD when i should have spent the extra money and gone with Intel/Nvidia to begin with.

[Sauron]

That's what I'm doing. Got the i7 4790K so I can afford the GTX 980 very soon.

 

Don't buy a 980, save your money it's not even close to being worth the price. Either buy 2 R9 290/(x)s for cheaper which will give you much better performance, or wait for amd's next launch, which promises much better high end performance (the 900 series is underwhelming performancewise considering it still competes with a 3-year old architecture on that front). Buying a 980 now is a mistake imo.

[mapegl]

well my casewas an aerocool "value" case. So crappy. But I picked it myself.

And my psu has ugly cables. But other than that everything is fine with my build I think. Or was. I changed the case ;-)

[shadowblitz3]

I cheaped out on the psu of one of my earlier builds and it didn't last long.

[gollum99]

Buying a passively cooled gpu cuz dad was like - those fans always die.... meh... sold it after 5months and got a fat 7970 with two fans - they still spin

[Birdhunter]

1) Windows XP X64.

2) My first "OC-Build" was a P4 2.4GHz with stock cooler. Yeah, I learned about OC the "hard way"...

3) Put a GTX660ti OC into a Shuttle XPC (had to Mod the case, due to heat-issues).

4) My first PC had a Noname PSU - fried and lost a Harddrive AND the MB with it.

5) Didn't monitor my first Watercooled system: Leaked slowly onto the GPU and fried it.

5.1) That GPU was also running sickingly hot, because I didn't bother to cool the ram & vrms.

6) Bought a big, full metal Thermaltake Armor (v1) Case when I was 16. Had to carry it home (1-Hour walk + a crammed busride). And I'm not really "athletic".