A couple tips after building my first PC

[htoby]

I built my first PC yesterday. It was my friends build and he asked me to help him build it as I have more experience with this type of thing. Took a couple hours as we were being cautious and generally taking out time. 

 

1. Get a modular power supply.

It was a pain in the ass trying to screw around with a huge bundle of cable that wouldn't bend in the way we wanted them to. It also looked like shit after building with a big clump of cables sitting in the HDD cages. 

 

2. Get a case with cable grommets.

It looked nasty seeing these cut outs when we were finished especially when combined with the non modular PSU. 

 

3. Download windows ASAP. 

We ended up waiting 30 minutes waiting for windows to download. Mind you this was on a slow connection. 

 

4. Don't buy your components from lots of different stores.

Make sure you only go to one or two stores so that you will get everything at once rather than getting bits and pieces over a couple of weeks.

 

5. Read the manuals. 

Especially if you are a first time builder. And take your time with the CPU cooler. Took us a while to figure it out. 

 

6. Don't spend too much money.

Make sure you know what you are aiming for before you start planning and always overestimate the end cost. 

 

7. Save some money for games. 

You build your pc and you have no decent games to play around with making it not worth building in the first place. (Please don't resort to G2A though. Try the Humble Bundle instead). 

 

8. Take your time.

The last thing you want is to put you cpu cooler on wrong and realize you have to rebuild, or worse, you kill a component. 

 

If you have had any other experiences I am more than happy to hear about them as I'm still learning. If you have any questions, I'm also happy to answer them as best I can. 

[Brooksie359]

19 minutes ago, htoby said:

I built my first PC yesterday. It was my friends build and he asked me to help him build it as I have more experience with this type of thing. Took a couple hours as we were being cautious and generally taking out time. 

 

1. Get a modular power supply.

It was a pain in the ass trying to screw around with a huge bundle of cable that wouldn't bend in the way we wanted them to. It also looked like shit after building with a big clump of cables sitting in the HDD cages. 

 

2. Get a case with cable grommets.

It looked nasty seeing these cut outs when we were finished especially when combined with the non modular PSU. 

 

3. Download windows ASAP. 

We ended up waiting 30 minutes waiting for windows to download. Mind you this was on a slow connection. 

 

4. Don't buy your components from lots of different stores.

Make sure you only go to one or two stores so that you will get everything at once rather than getting bits and pieces over a couple of weeks.

 

5. Read the manuals. 

Especially if you are a first time builder. And take your time with the CPU cooler. Took us a while to figure it out. 

 

6. Don't spend too much money.

Make sure you know what you are aiming for before you start planning and always overestimate the end cost. 

 

7. Save some money for games. 

You build your pc and you have no decent games to play around with making it not worth building in the first place. (Please don't resort to G2A though. Try the Humble Bundle instead). 

 

8. Take your time.

The last thing you want is to put you cpu cooler on wrong and realize you have to rebuild, or worse, you kill a component. 

 

If you have had any other experiences I am more than happy to hear about them as I'm still learning. If you have any questions, I'm also happy to answer them as best I can. 

my biggest mistake when i built my first computer was building it on the dead am3 chipset making it impossible for me to upgrade my cpu without a new motherboard and ram to go with it.

[DacusRLS]

Quote

my biggest mistake when i built my first computer was building it on the dead am3 chipset making it impossible for me to upgrade my cpu without a new motherboard and ram to go with it.

I started with 2011-3 and DDR4 as i built my own first Pc so i think i got lucky with that DDR4 coming to mainstream and 2011-3 being supported

[Tobonator]

10 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

my biggest mistake when i built my first computer was building it on the dead am3 chipset making it impossible for me to upgrade my cpu without a new motherboard and ram to go with it.

I feel you man. Did the same with my last pc.

[SUPER_MOOSE93]

the biggest challenge for me was building in such a small case. i got a phenom M and due to the location of the PSU i had trouble getting the cables i needed plugged in. bitfenix thought it was a good idea to leave in a metal cage for a CD drive even though the front of the case doesnt allow for one.