What Advise Would You Give to A First Time Builder

[plasticplanet]

What to prepare, do I need thermal paste?

[SeanAngelo]

5 minutes ago, plasticplanet said:

What to prepare, do I need thermal paste?

some coolers already have thermal paste on them, but its good to have some spare.

 

make sure to fit the cpu cooler on before you put it in the case.

make sure to put the IO plate or else you gotta unscrew the mobo screws all over again

cable management

[GeorgeKellow]

Don't overtighten ANYTHING. Thumb tight is good enough (Unless asked otherwise by your Manuel) 

[EminentSun]

Put your cpu/cooler/ram onto the motherboard outside the case and then install the assembly as one.

[minibois]

Follow some tutorials, make sure you give yourself enough time, have another PC turned on so you can easily Google some stuff or even ask a forum for help, make sure you have a camera (or phone) handy so you can take a picture of what is wrong, but most of all just take it easy. If you're prepared well, or even make a small 'checklist' for yourself you'll be fine.

 

Also, read the manual if you have any questions. Oh and don't forget the thermal paste if your cooler doesn't have any pre applied and don't forget to plug in everything you need to plug in. Again, a checklist might be helpful.

[plasticplanet]

2 minutes ago, Minibois said:

Follow some tutorials, make sure you give yourself enough time, have another PC turned on so you can easily Google some stuff or even ask a forum for help, make sure you have a camera (or phone) handy so you can take a picture of what is wrong, but most of all just take it easy. If you're prepared well, or even make a small 'checklist' for yourself you'll be fine.

 

Also, read the manual if you have any questions. Oh and don't forget the thermal paste if your cooler doesn't have any pre applied and don't forget to plug in everything you need to plug in. Again, a checklist might be helpful.

Can you explain "thermal paste pre applied on cooler", isn't it supposed to be applied on the CPU?

[JSD10]

1 minute ago, plasticplanet said:

Can you explain "thermal paste pre applied on cooler", isn't it supposed to be applied on the CPU?

Some coolers come with thermal pate applied on  them and others come with a tube of paste in the box

[minibois]

4 minutes ago, plasticplanet said:

Can you explain "thermal paste pre applied on cooler", isn't it supposed to be applied on the CPU?

When you apply thermal paste yourself, it is recommended to do it on the CPU because that is easier. However, some coolers (for example the Intel Stock cooler) have a some thermal paste on the bottom already, so the user doesn't have to put it on themselves. Most aftermarket coolers don't have this though.

You can see it has some thermal paste on it:

It's the grey stuff on the copper slug.

[tlink]

make sure your case has dust filters. its a pain to clean without those.

[plasticplanet]

2 hours ago, SeanAngelo said:

some coolers already have thermal paste on them, but its good to have some spare.

 

make sure to fit the cpu cooler on before you put it in the case.

make sure to put the IO plate or else you gotta unscrew the mobo screws all over again

cable management

In Newegg there is motherboard form factor option for power supply, I am buying a Micro ATX motherboard, do I need to specify this for power supply?

[SeanAngelo]

6 minutes ago, plasticplanet said:

In Newegg there is motherboard form factor option for power supply, I am buying a Micro ATX motherboard, do I need to specify this for power supply?

no, most power supplies work with modern motherboards and have the right connectors

[Soundsystem90]

Don't buy anything intel, AMD dominate the market.