HOW DO I BUILD MY PC NOW IVE BOUGHT ALL THE BITS?

Ucof · 24 Apr 2009 at 08:53

It'll be fine.
Worry not, young padawan.

El_Watcher · 24 Apr 2009 at 08:55

benenhausen said:
one of those videos says dont touch your cpu chip without grounding yourself.

when i bought the cpu i took it out of the box to see it and probably handled it at some point - please dont tell me ive screwed it???

Highly unlikely, unless you were standing on carpet in nylon socks at the time. :eek:

It is a good idea to use anti static wrist straps when you start the build though.

AntroX · 24 Apr 2009 at 08:57

hahaha there should have been a little paper in there that says "DO NOT TOUCH CHIP WITHOUT GROUNDING URSELF" .

mh u might be fine. i know a guy whos chip worked just fine after he touched it without grounding. it really depends if u have some carpet or some hoodie that will induce a charge. dont do it again though

it can really damage the chip

Nick1881 · 24 Apr 2009 at 08:58

Just touch your case while holding any parts that are static sensitive, no need to get a wrist strap.

khrall · 24 Apr 2009 at 08:59

PLEASE REMEMBER TO USE THE SPACERS!

(Sorry, just needed to make sure it wasn't missed.)

Admiral Huddy · 24 Apr 2009 at 09:01

^^^ the best single piece of advice.

I've had many borked motherboards that have come in to the workshop where people haven't used the risers. If you forget anything else, like forgetting to fit the CPU fan, memory etc.. chances are it just won't boot and you get an alarm. However, bolting the mobo directly on to the case gives you no chance.

benenhausen · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:18

ok - having checked over all the advice im now looking for items to help me build my pc.

this is what i was looking at - anyone know of any good ones theyve used recently?:

a pc tool kit
antistatic wristband
anti static workmat

i have thermal paste as it comes with the cooler and i WILL use the spacers!!!!!

matthewhotdude · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:23

You need none of that just a normal phillips screwdriver...I have never ever worn a antistatic wristband and have never had problems

reflux · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:24

Yeah, just get a standard toolkit with a few small phillips heads. No need for that anti-static malarky, just ground yourself on a radiator or something beforehand.

benenhausen · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:30

ive seen some basic toolkits that seem to have all the necessary bits for the job and some have an anti static wristband thrown in which i can use if i get scared!!!!!

but the general concensus seems to be that im going overboard with the antistatic thing so ill drop the workmat idea and get myself off to ****** for the toolkit - job done...NOT!

Admiral Huddy · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:32

matthewhotdude said:
You need none of that just a normal phillips screwdriver...I have never ever worn a antistatic wristband and have never had problems

One thing to bear in mind is that if a device receives an ESD charge, it might not fail immediately. The effects of ESD are not felt right away but over time get worse. This is known as hidden ESD.

neil_g · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:33

matthewhotdude said:
You need none of that just a normal phillips screwdriver...I have never ever worn a antistatic wristband and have never had problems

agreed. ive been doing this for 15 years now and ive NEVER fried anything through static. just dont go skidding around on the carpet in your finest nylons before starting.

matthewhotdude · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:39

Admiral Huddy said:
One thing to bear in mind is that if a device receives an ESD charge, it might not fail immediately. The effects of ESD are not felt right away but over time get worse. This is known as hidden ESD.

Over cautious, over paranoid

benenhausen · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:44

Also, i bought an OEM hard drive - it doesnt come with any cables - i notice on the videos above that a hard drive has a cable that looks like a long flat bit of plastic about 2 inches wide - where will i get this from????

matthewhotdude · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:47

Did you get a sata or Ide Hard drive? Actually what are your specs?

PaulyD · 24 Apr 2009 at 10:54

the hdd in the video would have been an IDE drive if the cable was that big, you would have got one included with your motherboard.

However if you bought new you will have the newer sata connection for the drive (much faster) again, a few of these will be included with the motherboard

benenhausen · 24 Apr 2009 at 11:07

super informative and quick responses - really appreciated

i have a 500gb seagate barracuda 32mb cache 8ms access time SATA2 3gb/s ST3500320AS hard drive.

my MOBO - ASUS P5Q-E and RAM - 4GB CORSAIR TWINX DDR2 XMS2 PC28500 1066 is coming today - just waiting for van to arrive

EffBee · 24 Apr 2009 at 11:20

Don't pay attention to all the macho men saying you don't need wriststraps and antistatic. It's good practice, might prevent a disaster and apart from bragging rights there is no point not doing it.

Remember that these components have built in redundancy to cope with partial failures. If you accidentally use up some of this redundancy due to sloppy building practice then you are reducing the long term life and stability of your components.

Static does damage components and I have seen the photomicrographs to prove it.

Luckily in our damp miserable english climate static isn't such a big issue, unless it's very cold and dry or very hot and dry, and you are not running around on nylon carpets with nylon socks on.

So you will "get away" with not using sensible static precautions as people have said.

Incidentally the trick is to have your electrical components at the same potential as yourself when working on them - this is not the same as earthing yourself then picking up the components. Do a bit of googling on this if interested. That is why it is best to have a wrist strap attached to a static mat and put all your components on the mat. This would put you and your components at a floating potential (SAME!). Alternatively you can earth the mat which puts you and the mat and components at earth potential but this is not necesary.

matthewhotdude · 24 Apr 2009 at 11:27

EffBee said:
Don't pay attention to all the macho men saying you don't need wriststraps and antistatic. It's good practice, might prevent a disaster and apart from bragging rights there is no point not doing it.

Remember that these components have built in redundancy to cope with partial failures. If you accidentally use up some of this redundancy due to sloppy building practice then you are reducing the long term life and stability of your components.

Static does damage components and I have seen the photomicrographs to prove it.

Luckily in our damp miserable english climate static isn't such a big issue, unless it's very cold and dry or very hot and dry, and you are not running around on nylon carpets with nylon socks on.

So you will "get away" with not using sensible static precautions as people have said.

Incidentally the trick is to have your electrical components at the same potential as yourself when working on them - this is not the same as earthing yourself then picking up the components. Do a bit of googling on this if interested. That is why it is best to have a wrist strap attached to a static mat and put all your components on the mat. This would put you and your components at a floating potential (SAME!). Alternatively you can earth the mat which puts you and the mat and components at earth potential but this is not necesary.

And while your at it grap one of these http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...e_clothing_infections_contagious_diseases.jpg

:rolleyes:

neil_g · 24 Apr 2009 at 11:37

EffBee said:
Don't pay attention to all the macho men saying you don't need wriststraps and antistatic. It's good practice, might prevent a disaster and apart from bragging rights there is no point not doing it.

lol

Remember that these components have built in redundancy to cope with partial failures. If you accidentally use up some of this redundancy due to sloppy building practice then you are reducing the long term life and stability of your components.

ive got a 10 year old rock solid stable win2000 dell laptop sat next to me that ive had to bits many many times without a strap on (sorry couldnt resist) and it still works fine.

Static does damage components and I have seen the photomicrographs to prove it.

oh well that settles it then..