Anyone else here ever built a pc?

[Everlong]

I made the move. Ordered all my parts last week, most of them have arrived, just waiting on the motherboard, RAM and graphics card now and then I'll be all set. But I'm nervous about the actual build. I've watched a bunch of videos on YouTube and it doesn't seem to bad, but I'm just worried I'll mess something up.

Anyone else built a PC? How difficult was it?

[Kein]

Very easy. It's all plug and play style. The only thing that gets me a little confused for a moment is plugging in cables for your external case lights, to the motherboard.

Not too much thermal paste, a little bit goes a long way.

Have fun routing your wires, take your time and make it tidy. That makes a huge difference on the ventilation your system gets.

Doesn't hurt to get more fans if your case allows it.

[Everlong]

I think my thingy is already pre-covered with thermal paste because I'm using the stock parts, so I don't have to worry about that too much.

Yeah, it's the wiring I'm most worried about. Seems kind of complicated. I just need to keep watching the videos to be sure I get it all down.

[Westcoastvibes]

I'm mostly worried because yyour using phrases like thingy and your basing your knowledge off of YouTube

[Everlong]

I'm mostly worried because yyour using phrases like thingy and your basing your knowledge off of YouTube

I have a decent base of knowledge about all the parts and the build, I'm just nervous about the actual process because it's my first time. Don't worry



That's the vid I'm using.

[Str8Shooter]

Why wouldn't you just get someone who knows what they're doing to build it? Or help you at least?

[Everlong]

Why wouldn't you just get someone who knows what they're doing to build it? Or help you at least?

My brother does this kind of stuff for a living but lives a few hours away. He's helped me learn a lot about most of the stuff and says that I shouldn't really need help if I can follow the instructions. I may see if anyone else I know has experience doing this though so that they can supervise.

[SortaCreative]

I built one yesterday

Take your time. Make sure each connection is correct and in properly.

The CUP seat and Heat sink are really the only difficult part. It should be prepasted and I doubt you're overclocking so you won't need more. The CPU will only really go in properly one way. Should be like a triangle indicator. The Heatsink sits on top (the fan) and it needs to be pushed down with some pressure. But not too much.

When you screw the motherboard in be careful you don't over screw and crack parts of it. Make sure it's firm but don't try and make sure no one can ever undo the screw. Depending on the type of motherboard and case they'll be 4 or 6 areas to screw, make sure it's sitting nicely on all slots.

Otherwise most things just slide into place. What kind of case do you have? Link it me.

As Kein said take some time to wire your wires out of the way, you can do this after you've made sure it all works cos, ideally you wanna make sure everything turns on and it boots up okay before you start going mental with cable ties.

Is your PSU modular or semi?

Otherwise, yeah, just take your time, everything is indicated on the motherboard, generally the rules you need to remember is, everything (but ram) needs atleast power and a connection to the motherboard. Otherwise, there's really only one type of plug that goes into each hole.

What you really need to worry about if troubleshooting an issue if it's not perfect first time

[Everlong]

@SortaCreative and @Kein, for your reference I'll post the parts here.

Power Supply: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RJ ... ;amp;psc=1

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... p;amp;SID=

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... derboard=1

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... p;amp;SID=

Graphics card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150705

CPU: http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-4150-Pro ... s=intel+i3

HDD: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda ... hard+drive

Also have a cd drive/keyboard/monitor that I ordered.

[Kein]

Not bad parts at all. Corsair is a very good power supply manufacturer.

I personally would go with a full tower, they are indeed larger, but full towers have more space, which afford more ventilation, and more add-ons. I also like to splurge on a good case, because even though you may go through plenty of boards, the case will hold strong and true through many many upgrades. Just my 2 cents.

No comment on the RAM, I've heard good things about the ripjaws. 4gb is pretty good, pretty cheap, and if you need more your motherboard can use 2 more (I would kinda throw 2 more in for the hell of it, you are a gamer right?)

Motherboard... I don't know much about that manufacturer. I am kind of impressed it has a PS2 port for mouse and keyboard, last I remember they only had one for keyboards lately. It's pretty minimal but it covers all the grounds so it should be fine.

No comment on the graphics card, I use a Radeon and they do fine. Graphics cards are so strong these days, and they throw out new versions all the time, I am glad you aren't going ridiculously high priced on this piece.

Glad your CPU has the same socket slot as the board

a Terabyte hard drive is cool, I use one as well that is a seagate, it's been sturdy for me and I have no problems with space and read times. Something you may consider is getting a SSD and installing your operating system on that, and then your programs and games mostly on the terabyte. I got a 128gb kingston SSD about 5 years ago and its running strong and I like the little extra speed it provides.

Like I said though, it's all plug and play. At least your case has good wiring options, get some zip ties or velcro for the wires.

[SortaCreative]

Yeah looks fine.

The case looks similar to the one I have, everything should be pretty easy to sort out. Ram looks good, eventually get 2 more sticks. I use power supply units in the same line, they're great. Really easy to install, the wires are pretty sturdy and you can push, pull, bend and tie them how you want. GPU looks good, i used the same one in my build the other day for my brothers PC. Echoing what Kein said about the CPU socket and the mobo. The mobo looks good. The CPU looks fine too.

With regards to your hard disk, looks good. I'd second that notion of a small SSD for your operating system. I installed one the other day in my brothers PC and the difference it made was mental. I don't have one in mine and it's like day and night. His PC starts up in under 10 seconds (from pushing the button to using a program from the start menu).

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digital- ... ywords=ssd

That's an example of one you could get. They're easy to install too. Sata cable into the motherboard and some power and you're good to go. if you do decide to get this. It doesn't come with a sata cable, you may need 1 extra.

But yeah, otherwise looks good.

[Everlong]

@Kein it's actually 8 GB of ram, it's two 4 GB sticks.

In terms of the SSD, it's definitely something I've considered but considering how much I've already spent I wasn't sure about it. Is it worth the extra 60ish bucks?

[SortaCreative]

@Kein it's actually 8 GB of ram, it's two 4 GB sticks.

In terms of the SSD, it's definitely something I've considered but considering how much I've already spent I wasn't sure about it. Is it worth the extra 60ish bucks?

I would say yes, But also, it is an extra 60 bucks. So... it depends. It's a solid part to have and would recommend it but it's not exactly cheap.

[Everlong]

Well that doesn't really help but yeah. I dunno. How much of a difference does it make in load times? Will I still have fast load times just by installing the OS and stuff on the HDD?

[SortaCreative]

Well that doesn't really help but yeah. I dunno. How much of a difference does it make in load times? Will I still have fast load times just by installing the OS and stuff on the HDD?

Yeah, So the HDD will be fine, load times will be okay. Probably faster than what you have.

But with an SSD it'll be much quicker. So, for example the PC I built the other day (similar specs to yours) loads to desktop (usable desktop where you can run something) in 11 seconds. Where as my PC (no SSD, just a normal HDD build like yours), which is coming up to two years old admittedly, takes around the 30+ seconds.

[Everlong]

Got it. I think I'll probably pass on the SSD for now then... load time really don't bother me all that much, especially if it means saving some money after I've already put a bunch of money into this thing Could see possibly upgrading down the road though.

[Kein]

Man, I would totally go SSD! Hahaha, but that's also because I already have one. It's like going from a square monitor to a widescreen, once you got it you don't want to go back. So I can see why you may pass on it.

I believe SSD's also last longer, since they don't have moving parts. Just keep in mind if your computer starts slowing down, an SSD is a viable option to pull it back up to snuff. Also, just a heads up the SSD is quite a bit smaller than a standard HDD, so if you do get one, make sure your case is equipped to mount it, or you may need to buy some mounting brackets.

Also sorry for the miss on the 8GB of ram, wow that's cheap for 8 haha. It should be enough for everything, but ya more RAM never hurt anyone Another option if your computer seems to get a little bogged down here.

[Everlong]

@Kein assuming I want to move to an SSD down the road, would I be able to move Windows on to it from my HDD? Or would I have to reinstall windows altogether?

[Kein]

It's always best to do a fresh install of windows in my opinion. Doesn't mean you have to uninstall windows from your terabyte drive though (depends how much space you actually use I guess). Technically speaking you could have the windows operating system installed on both harddrives, and boot up from whichever one you feel like

when I install on my SSD though, it is literally like, a 10 minute process. Sometimes I like to fresh install just to be able to work with a clean slate again.

[Everlong]

Cool. I think maybe what I'll do then is hold off on the SSD, maybe ask for it for Christmas so I don't have to pay for it myself