Your First Pc Problems

[JvTran]

hey guys
so i'm working on my senior thesis, and its going to be about pc building, so i need a quick survey or answer to this question

What was the most difficult part on building your first computer, was it research, finding parts, or what things did, or something else?

[iRileyx]

When i was installing my H55 (first cooler i'd installed myself) it has a ring kinda thing that goes over the pump/block which you then put the screws through to attach it to the motherboard, its meant to simply clip onto the block, it took me about 10-15 minutes to get it to "clip on" like it should, really tested my patience and I nearly gave up on even installing it.

Then another 5 minutes trying to get the radiator and fan screw holes to line up. It wasn't a pleasant first time.

[The Sloth]

hardest part for me was finding part, researching old hardware if tey would work and power supply i was so afraid i would die if i hooked up the wrong thing. when i was building my first pc, i was 11 year old. 

[Wolther]

Mainly software. Getting games to work sometimes is very difficult or figuring out which driver version works best with the specific task you want to do. 

 

If you just meant just building then I guess originally it was researching for part. I hadn't known anything about pcs before and learning about every little thing about each and every component was both pretty difficult but it was also really fun. Built my first pc at 14 

[Froody129]

I started with basically no knowledge of PC parts and spent about a month and a half forcing everything on the internet about PC's into my brain (now people come to me as the final word on parts XD). 

 

So yeah, researching what parts do what, FPS benches, putting together a compatible build with semi decent parts.

 

Was great fun though and I learnt a lot

[Froody129]

5 minutes ago, Wolther said:

Mainly software. Getting games to work sometimes is very difficult or figuring out which driver version works best with the specific task you want to do. 

 

If you just meant just building then I guess originally it was researching for part. I hadn't known anything about pcs before and learning about every little thing about each and every component was both pretty difficult but it was also really fun. Built my first pc at 14 

Wolthers bottom paragraph basically describes me

[Windows7ge]

I can't really recall the biggest difficulty I had when I began but I can share my biggest oldest scare that I still remember. Back when the FX-8150 was brand new on the market I bought it thinking I was going to put it in my ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3.0 motherboard. I didn't know the difference between the sockets AM3 & AM3+. Even though the CPU physically fit inside the socket the system did nothing. I thought the chip was DOA so I got it replaced. Put the new chip in, still nothing. Power button did nothing. I freaked put my old chip back in (AMD Phenom II B55) system booted fine. I realized the CPU wasn't compatible and I stared at it for MONTHS in my bedroom on my desk until I finally purchased a board that I knew was AM3+ compatible (ASRock 990FX Extreme4). I suppose this falls under the category of Compatibility when it comes to Difficulty.

 

[straight_stewie]

37 minutes ago, JvTran said:

What was the most difficult part on building your first computer, was it research, finding parts, or what things did, or something else?

I found the act of researching compatible parts that make a good build, and then initially assembling them to be quite enjoyable. The main problem that I had was that after I assembled the build in the case, one of the front panel wires had shorted with the case. Luckily, my power supply had a circuit breaker which, with a loud POP!, flipped when I turned the computer on. The difficulty in finding the issue was exacerbated by the fact that I dropped a screw onto the motherboard while assembling the machine in the case. I ended up having to take the build to a PC repair company. It is always tough to do such things, but I actually ended up getting a job out of it.

[MedievalMatt]

38 minutes ago, JvTran said:

hey guys
so i'm working on my senior thesis, and its going to be about pc building, so i need a quick survey or answer to this question

What was the most difficult part on building your first computer, was it research, finding parts, or what things did, or something else?

For me.  Cable management.  I had no idea that the cutout in the motherboard tray top-left was for the EPS power to the CPU.  Likewise the holes on the right for the 24-pin cable.  Nevermind that the order you put cables in matters a lot to the final product.  7 builds later, I'm a friggin expert.

 

Also, my first build was AM3+ with a AIO liquid cooler.  and my motherboard tray CPU cutout cut off the bottom half of the mounting holes for AM3+ sockets, so I had to take the motherboard out to mount the cooler and then put it back.  Now, i put the cooler on, THEN, mount the motherboard in the case lol

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

I broke the fan clips on my A50 CPU cooler because I mounted it on the wrong side. It's now held on the heatsink with cable ties.

[aithos]

1 hour ago, JvTran said:

hey guys
so i'm working on my senior thesis, and its going to be about pc building, so i need a quick survey or answer to this question

What was the most difficult part on building your first computer, was it research, finding parts, or what things did, or something else?

Two things:

 

1) Getting enough money to be able to afford parts.  I started building PCs in the early 2000s when parts were less readily available and *much* more expensive, so on top of bills and loans it was difficult to fund a complete gaming build.  In fact, my first build never got finished because I got either a MB or CPU that was DoA and the company wouldn't replace it because I couldn't afford all the parts at one time and didn't find out until a couple months later when I had the capability to test it.

 

2) Other than installing thermal compound for an aftermarket cooler the physical build wasn't too rough, but configuring everything (bios, memory, overclock, etc) was pretty brutal.  There weren't large/popular forums or guides and Youtube tutorials didn't exist so you were pretty much on your own.  Not to mention most people were still buying Dells and pre-built machines so the number of people in the community itself was a fraction of what it is today.

 

Bonus: dip switches and jumper settings on motherboards and drives was annoying.  My first pre-built computer wouldn't post out of the box because of that, took a several hour phone call to tech support to figure out it was the stupid jumpers being on the wrong pins...

[LogicalDrm]

Too small (physically) ATX board. With larger hands it was really annoying to build or change anything. Also I learned not to get case with plastic PCI locks. The mobo ended having other issues like really buggy BIOS and very weak OC capability.

[spellmanuk]

going all granddad on you here my first PC I had to use a parts catalog to find them that was hell. also back then pics didn't go together nearly as nice as they do now im one of those people that really appreciates things like captive thumb screws and tool-less HDD caddies that you get in most cases these days 

[You_are_a_cunt]

To this day I still haven't cable managed my PC to the point where it doesn't take 3 people to close the side panel.

[Natsoup]

I had a faulty GPU and I had to learn to troubleshoot a PC. Overall a great lerning experience.

[Lurick]

Building the PC myself without help. I got everything in and ready to go but it wouldn't power up. Turns out I missed a power connection.

[Shog]

I loved doing research and buying parts. My issue is I'm too flip floppy about getting a graphics card and still haven't gotten one. Also it was a pain in the ass to wire my Corsair rm750i in the case I bought. The wires had to be attached in a really specific way for the cabling to be effective. I still ended up just pushing all the wires in and quickly shutting the back, can't really tell from the side window though


I did mess up one thing. I didn't read the instructions on my wifi/bluetooth card and it actually needed to be plugged into a usb spot for the bluetooth feature to work, I had to reopen my case and plug that in, now I have 2 unusable usb 2.0 ports on my computer because I ran out of usb headers on the mobo. 

[Robokim]

Hello Guys.. I believe im in the right place.

I have a certain PC Not the Most Glorious,

HP 280 G2 MT 

Specs: i7-6700, 8gb-ddr4 RAM,  (Good enough for me)

Now.. I need a GTX 1080... I need advise on which 1080 will

1. Fit

2. Work

3. Work and Fit.

 

Please be very, very, very, very, very, SURE. 

Lives at stake..

 

if you can provide evidence. that would even be better

[Mira Yurizaki]

Troubleshooting when something goes wrong. My first PC came with a dud power supply that was to replace the one that came in the case, but I didn't bother RMA it because I found out if I used the one that came with the case and plugged in other power supply in another connector on the motherboard, it magically worked.

 

The only thing that really scares me these days when building is installing the CPU. It's trivial to screw up and mangle a pin, ruining either your motherboard or processor, or both.

[XenosTech]

Trying to get my old agp nvida card to work back in the day.... god that was a head ache

[AngryFishLady]

Plugging the CPU in. When you have to push hard against the motherboard for the pins to click but are scared to break anything... fun times.

[PCn00b3000]

(I hope this thread is still relevant with your survey)

 

Cable management, and configuring RAM frequencies.. Apparently, that's important to do *Facepalm to my younger self*. Got flashed with the Windows "MEMORY MANAGEMENT" error, usually stemming from unstable sticks or pairs with differing clock speeds. After fixing this, I haven't had Windows crash on me ever again...... With the same error

[Coldfuson]

23 hours ago, JvTran said:

hey guys
so i'm working on my senior thesis, and its going to be about pc building, so i need a quick survey or answer to this question

What was the most difficult part on building your first computer, was it research, finding parts, or what things did, or something else?

Your average PC build guide doesn't always mention stand offs. I never heard of using them before, and I tossed them in the extra hardware pile. It took me two days to figure out why the computer ran just fine on top of the motherboard box, but wouldn't post while i had it in the case. Man I am glad I didn't toast my board. 

[Coldfuson]

2 hours ago, Robokim said:

Hello Guys.. I believe im in the right place.

 

You're not in the right place, sorry m8. 

go here -> https://linustechtips.com/main/forum/6-general-discussion/ and hit start a new thread. 
though fitting any 1080 may be an issue. Zotac just announced the smallest available on the market, taking up 2 slots and measuring something just under 8.5 inches long. I would take a measuring tape from the back of the case and see if that one will fit. If it doesn't you'll need to look into a different card for sure. The other thing is, I'm not certain that the PSU in that build will be able to power a  1080 so keep that in mind. Not sure what it shipped with, and not sure about it delivering the rated power. 

-Cold

[ZimFreak]

Probably plugging in all the little wires for case power + restart buttons, lights etc. They're not labeled very clearly, and you always have to consult the mobo manual as well as the case manual to figure it out. It's usually the only step in the whole process that I need the manual for.