Biggest mistakes when building a PC

ExRayTed · 9 Apr 2014 at 21:50

Mistake No. 231 - Believing the great 'Magnet Myth'

The 'No MagnetssszZZZzzz!!!OMGGG!!111' always makes me laugh. Mechanical hard drives contain a Neodymium magnet right next to the platters. And flash memory will not suffer any ill effects from having a magnet passed over them.

I have a magnetic extending pick-up tool for the inevitable dropped screw

Josh · 9 Apr 2014 at 21:54

Frying my SSD and HDD by being too lazy to change the Power Cables when I got a new PSU.

Whoops

momentimori · 9 Apr 2014 at 21:56

Ensure you plug the power cables into your graphics card.

Ethermaster · 9 Apr 2014 at 22:13

When you power on the build for the first time it is mandatory that you shout "POOOOOOWER" in a Jeremy Clarkson voice

Admetos · 10 Apr 2014 at 01:12

As no one has mentioned fire.

Built a Pentium 2 back in 1997. Two motherboard pins had been crushed together in packaging without myself knowing.

Turned on the first time black smoke from PSU and a motherboard track burnt out. I bridged the track with a wire, 17 years on still have that working motherboard.

maddness · 10 Apr 2014 at 08:51

1 rule - use common sense! :eek:

dreigns · 10 Apr 2014 at 09:57

U know I never have grounded my self / or use anti static stuff ever in 15 years of pc building from my intel p2 133 which I still have and works and up and touch wood never had a thing go wrong ever

mad_weegie · 10 Apr 2014 at 10:07

You dont want to get struck by lightning , you could end up in the old wild west! just ask the doc.

biuro74 · 10 Apr 2014 at 18:32

* antistatic wrist strap always worn
* no antistatic bag under motherboard during powered checkout

no more clues. PC builds were, are and probably will be time-hungry. No tips for personal character (sloppy builder will never switch into cautious person, for example) anyway

Ripshod · 10 Apr 2014 at 19:13

Manuals/instructions.

These should be the first things gathered from the boxes. Sit down with a cup of tea and study them, twice, making notes for yourself.

Don't go straight to the goodies like I've done several times. Being prepared for those uh-oh!! moments saves a hell of a lot of time, and components.

Juggern · 10 Apr 2014 at 20:00

Main mistake that comes to my mind:

Changing a faulty motherboard out in work with the old push clip heatsinks that required stupid pressure from a screw driver, slipped and gashed the motherboard breaking it... when putting it back together.

Two faulty motherboards that day.

altrewin · 10 Apr 2014 at 20:52

Suprised I haven't seen this thread yet. Biggest mistake is probably either losing a screw behind the motherboard and having to remove everything to get it out again or breaking the release clip on my PCI-E slot when removing my 6850 (I think the clip is still usable but it'll be a bit of a pain to get out, the clip was already stubborn enough, it's a Gen1 style clip).