Common PC Building Mistakes that Beginners Make!

Build Tip: Lay your case on its side when assembling. Stop trying to fight gravity. Don't be Linus.

IF YOU LOSE A SCREW OR OTHER SMALL METAL OBJECT, DO NOT TURN ON YOU COMPUTER UNTIL YOU FIND IT. I cannot tell how easy it is to fry a board that way.

Number one tip that I learned is to watch a ton of videos before even buying a single piece of hardware, that way we don't have to send it back and wait even longer for the right parts.

HVAC engineer here with 15 years experience in the aerospace industry. All ventilation tips here are very accurate! Well done!

Exceeding the budget is my most common mistake

pro tip: don’t forget to plug in the cable for the power button edit: yes, i made this mistake & spent 6 hours trying to diagnose something that wasn’t broken until i actually read the manual and realized what was missing.

Great video, I've made a few milestones because I had to watch more than once 1:00 motherboard assembling suggestions (processor, m2 ssd) 3:56 dram installation (best usage of channels) 6:20 cpu cooler 9:14 air flow, fans 12:20 water cooler radiators air flow 14:29 graphics card, sizes, dimensions 17:18 power cables

Pro Tip: If upgrading your PSU do not be lazy and reuse your old wires. You will fry your motherboard and/or hard drives. Take the old power cords out and put in the new ones that came with your new PSU. Each PSU manufacturer and even models are wired differently on the PSU side.

Forgetting to turn on the PSU when you're done

My Tip: You don't have to build your whole PC in one go! Don't keep building if you're getting really tired or you will have less fun and be more prone to mistakes and frustration.

Pro Tip: Make sure you purchase a power supply that can supply enough power to your build. Purchasing a properly rated power supply is critical to a properly functioning and safe build. As mentioned in the video, power is drawn, not supplied. So, if your system, including MB, Processor, video card, and hdd/sdd needs a certain amount of power, an under rated PS isn't going to last. You will burn it up. If your Video card need 300 W, your MB and chipset needs another 200 W, you will want somewhere in the neighborhood of a 700 W PS minimum. This insures that you have enough rated power to also handle all those peripherals, like powered USB devices, your case fans, liquid cooling pumps, SSD/HDD, etc... It is Okay to get one a lot larger than what you actually need, A 1200W PS does not use 1200W, it just means that it can handle a 1200W draw from the devices in your build. If your system is using 550W of power and you are putting in a 300W PS, you are pulling 150 W more than the PS can handle. This creates a lot of excess heat, components burn up and you will eventually let the magic smoke out of your PS. The mathematical formula for Power (watts) is Voltage (V) x Current/Amps (I) = Watts (P). In the US power runs at 110-120 Volts. That 300W PS can only handle 2.5-2.72 Amps of current. Your system needs 4.5-5 Amps of current, so you are forcing an additional ~2.5 amps through a power supply that is not designed to handle it. I will work for a while, but eventually the PS will die, and sometimes spectacularly, and when it does go, you risk losing your whole computer system to current spikes. TLDR: DON'T USE A PS THAT IS RATED LOWER THAN YOUR COMPUTERS POWER NEEDS, OR YOU WILL BREAK YOUR COMPUTER.

I managed to avoid all the common issues in my first build because I read all the manuals first, but I will say that the issue I DID have was caused by following the instructions TOO closely. My motherboard had two places to plug in the PSU. The manual stated that the second slot was only needed if you overclocked. We’ll I didn’t plan on overclocking, so I only plugged I. The first set of PSU cables, trying to have as few cables as possible. Once O turned it on… nothing. No post, no beeps, no fans. All I got was a debug led that said CPU. I thought for sure it was a bad CPU, so I returned the chip and bought another one. Still didn’t fox it. It took my brother telling me that sometimes you need that overclock power, even if you aren’t overclocking. I plugged in those cables, and BOOM, it’s worked perfectly ever since.

IO SHEILDS: not all motherboards come with them built-in! Install this into the case first! In the correct orientation!

Tip for new builders: "First you're gonna need a table" -Stefan Etienne

It would be helpful to have a short video of what to expect after you finish the physical build. For example installing the new OS, downloading new drivers, and common errors that arise (setting motherboard to Windows 11 settings, etc).

Tip: don't go crazy tightening the screws on the first pass, i.e., before you realize where everything needs to go, and in what order. You can always come back to them later.

Tip: Just do it. Don't be scared. There are plenty of resources online if you get stuck or something isn't working. After you complete your first build, you'll never want to go back to store bought.

Hang onto the spare parts. They might not be spares after all.

TIP: pay attention to where the notch is when installing memory modules. Make sure the notch aligns with the slots on the MB. If they don’t align pushing them in will damage the memory slots or modules themselves.

Bend radius: don't stress cables just to be sure you can hide them. Also be sure you don't have loose wiring passing in front of the fan. Especially on top of horizontal fans.