Just thought I'd share a very close call I had this morning with a new build..
I'm an experienced systems builder; I've put scores of PCs together over the years without a blip, but one silly mistake this morning could have cost me a £500 system, a good psu and possibly even an injury
I was upgrading my cpu and motherboard late last night, just a straight motherboard swap in a Corsair case, so all of my cabling was already in place. What I didn't realize is that the 8pin CPU power connector on the new motherboard was placed by the manufacturer in the opposite direction to the connector on the old motherboard. Without paying attention, I managed to connect the cpu power cable the wrong way round. Despite the fact that the pins are keyed, the cable did go in without any unusual force
I only realized my mistake when the system system refused to boot and I went back to re seat everything. Tbh, I'm amazed something didn't go bang, but fortunately nothing is damaged, and the system is purring away sweetly now 
My PSU is a Corsair AX860, and the motherboard is an Asus Maximus Ranger VIII, both good quality components. I don't know much about power delivery, but I suspect there must have been some protection built in somewhere to save me from my stupidity. A quick google search shows that others who have made the same mistake weren't as lucky. So an easy lesson learned for me, thankfully
Don't be a fool like me, pay attention when you're connecting up your psu, even if you think you know your stuff.
I'm an experienced systems builder; I've put scores of PCs together over the years without a blip, but one silly mistake this morning could have cost me a £500 system, a good psu and possibly even an injury
I was upgrading my cpu and motherboard late last night, just a straight motherboard swap in a Corsair case, so all of my cabling was already in place. What I didn't realize is that the 8pin CPU power connector on the new motherboard was placed by the manufacturer in the opposite direction to the connector on the old motherboard. Without paying attention, I managed to connect the cpu power cable the wrong way round. Despite the fact that the pins are keyed, the cable did go in without any unusual force
I only realized my mistake when the system system refused to boot and I went back to re seat everything. Tbh, I'm amazed something didn't go bang, but fortunately nothing is damaged, and the system is purring away sweetly now My PSU is a Corsair AX860, and the motherboard is an Asus Maximus Ranger VIII, both good quality components. I don't know much about power delivery, but I suspect there must have been some protection built in somewhere to save me from my stupidity. A quick google search shows that others who have made the same mistake weren't as lucky. So an easy lesson learned for me, thankfully
Don't be a fool like me, pay attention when you're connecting up your psu, even if you think you know your stuff.
