What? A Magnetic screwdriver? I stopped reading at that point because I don't want tech advice from anyone who recommends using a magnet, regardless of strength, around sensitive electronic components.

Yes I realize this is a hell of a gravedig, but such errant advice warranted me even making an account I will likely never use again just to post this.

Good guide except that it wasn't in depth enough in the area of actually installing the motherboard. I tried using this guide for help with building my PC and the one thing that I really needed help and pictures on, was the one thing lacking in this guide.

personally I think the most daunting thing about building a PC is the motherboard so I was a little surprised that you didn't spend a lot of time explaining that.

I can't say that I agree with the Q-Tip/rubbing alcohol.
Rubbing alcohol can have impurities and the Q-Tip can leave fibers.
I use 91% isopropyl alcohol and a coffee filter.
Other wise good job.
Who does your nails?
Those aren't Lee Press On Nails are they?

I still think there's some money to be made by making a generic pin block for the front panel/power connectors - sell variants from 5x2 to 8x2 that have pins on one side to hook the cables to, and slots on the other so you can then plug that block into the motherboard. That way you only have to struggle with getting the pin configuration right once (in case you have to do some sort of teardown for troubleshooting in the future), and it can help keep the cables far better organized. I know I'd be willing to spend an extra $5-10 for that kind of convenience.

Of course, ASUS may have decided to be a bunch of dicks and patent the entire concept. :P

is there a printer friendly version of this? i want to print it out for a friend's kid to reference.

Now tell me how to origami PATA cables in a PC with two add-in IDE cards & 6 IDE cables.

Put correct stand-offs in case and io shield, and practice placing the motherboard into position before the heavy cpu and heatsink is in place. Dont scrub the bottom of the motherboard on top of stand-offs when mispositioned. It will be more difficult to to this when heavy. -- also you need for find a good grips while lowering inside the limited space of the case.

CPU cooling is critical...The QTips could leave a fiber on the CPU or the heatsink and maybe some glue residue -- lint-less cloth would be safer.
You should stress that the surfaces should be as clean as possible with no fibers, grit, or dust.

Use 99% alcohol.

Dont touch the socket contacts or the cpu contacts.

Nice article... To be honest I only skimmed. A section on burn-in/stability testing would be a good idea for new system builders.

I just realized how late this post is.... Oh well been in FL on "Island Time"... That's my excuse.

Good article. From my perspective, it's only missing one thing: a visual summary of the components that will be used during the assembly, and in particular, close-up shots of screw and connector arcania in one convenient place. Sure, this eventually gets covered either in this article or the system guides, but IMO if this article is really targeted at a first-time builder, it needs to have that right there on the first page. A written description of, e.g., screws with fine threads and large heads will confuse the dickens out of many first-time builders. Personally, I would divide those up by their logical location in the assembly process:

1. Case (including a shot of the various blanking panels for drives and exapansion bays), PSU (including close-up shots of the various connector types)

2. Motherboard and interconnected components (CPU, RAM, heatsink, heatsink compound, video card)

3. Storage peripherals (HDD, opitcal, floppy, plus close-ups of the common data cable types for each)

4. Hardware and accessories, some of which will be used, and some of which show up in a typical case hardware set even if they are not used here (case screw, HDD screw, FDD/optical screw, plastic-tapping fan screw, board standoff, spare pin jumper, zip-tie...with a 1337 Canadian penny thrown in for visual reference)

Just a thought. The information in the article is excellent, but it comes across to me as yet another excellent resource that overshoots the target audience by a mere hairs' breadth, because the writer had long since forgotten how confusing it can be to stare at all that junk for the first time.

Who's the owner of the hands?...better not be geoff...

That's a little different than my build process. Somewhere inbetween the part after seating the processor but before turning it on I have to offer a virgin sacrifice to the volcano gods or it won't post.

Finally I don't have to dig up other links from the intarweb when people ask this question in the forum! Thanks very much.

Question: the instruction of spreading the thermal goop somewhat contradicts what the instructions on AS5, in which they don't recommend spreading all of the stuff across the IHS? So which is which?

How long did that take to get your lady friend to do all those pictures? ;)

women building pc's, hot.

In the section where you install the Intel heat sink cooler, you should mention that the Intel push pin mechanism should be pushed down until you hear the second click on each pin.

I can't count the number of people I've seen with systems that overheat at load because the heat sink is not on properly and not making firm contact with the CPU.

Great article! Definitely deserves a permanent link from the home page.

As mentioned at the end of the article, OS, driver, and application installation is beyond the scope, but wouldn't an article covering those aspects be a GREAT follow up?

I know TR covers mainly hardware, but we all know hardware is just the beginning...

You know, it's like everyone's against me for the irony of it all. Last week, my partner and I assembled a machine -- it was my first actual from-scratch machine (and I do really mean from scratch, even fashioned the case metal and cut the mb plat ourselves). Nothing beyond my skills, having seen the inside of a computer many many times. Came time to turn it on, and I learned something new.

You need a power button.

Oh we laughed and laughed, and ripped apart a cheap case to get one. I still want to cut off the button and have to hot-wire my computer to turn it on.

And now, just for irony, here's the how-to article, about 72 hours later. Real funny.

I think you missed the all important offering of blood that is surely a part of the build. You need to cut your hands on the razor sharp inside of your case, I'm a fan of the solder joints on the back of peripherals, preferably right up the cuticle.

omg i love this site man these comments are funny

I'm quite sure those aren't quite the average techie's hands =P.

As for the thermal compound I actually used the recommendation from AS page: Just a single line that is over the location of core (vertical if its a single die, horizontal if its a dual die like the kentfields). The pressure from installing the heatsink (and a little wiggling after its properly mounted) should spread it over the actual location of the core.

Nice guide overall... although I think there's a key precaution missing: Make sure that the PSU is set at the correct voltage, missing that 120-240 switch can make things a little trickier =P.

Yes but all of the active PFC PSUs I've seen have been single voltage only.

/edit Supposed to be a reply to #32

Great guide!

I would only add that in some cases, mainly Antec ones, you have to install the PSU before the board, or you're in trouble.

Where is the "apply band-aid" for getting cut on the cheapo case than your buddy wanted to keep while upgrading his/her pc?

Geoff, you didn't chip a nail doing this did you?

I agree about the thermal compound , I just put a dab in the middle and roll with it

and
the nice looking hands comment

Very nice. Most hardware sites take for granted that people who are here know how to build a computer, but there are some people whom need entry level knowledge. This is a very good guide for doing so and I'll point people here who are hesitant about building their own.

You made it simple, picture driven, and it catches on all the main points. One thing that needs more emphasis is assurance. What I've found in the past is that people are extremely afraid of trying new things even if they're easy, they're afraid of messing things up. If you could write the article in a more insuring manner as to denote they wont screw things up if they do them properly it would be even better. Highlight dangers of doing something wrong, what will happen if they do, and highlight how things are done right.

One thing you missed in the article was riser posts on the case. Sometimes they're in the wrong position for the board and a everyday Joe that is following this guide wont notice that, likely powering on the board after everything is assembled resulting in things frying, not working right, or having stability issues. It should be noted that people should look and make sure all the posts line up properly!

Nice nails Geoff, it's amazing that you can assemble that without breaking one. Props to making a point out of it being so easy to build a computer that even people with nails like that could build one (extreme generalization, but mostly works) :P

Oh, BTW. This should be stickied or otherwise put somewhere on the front page as a general knowledge guide. It shouldn't be lost to the depths of the archive. Maybe a "Want to know how to build a computer?" or something else catchy with a little picture. Emphasis should be made on How-to guides especially as they're few and far between, especially this one since it's general knowledge that may attract readers who originally would go OMG this is above my reading level and leave.

This is Excellent, Thanks Geoff.

That wavemaster looks great. Man i miss the coolermaster of old. Beautiful all aluminum cases that were reasonably priced. The only cases in their lineup that even resemble the coolermaster that i knew is the stacker 830 series. Kind of makes me sad.

"If you're running fancy-pants memory modules with ginormous heat spreaders, like those pictured above, you may run into clearance issues with larger aftermarket processor heatsinks. Unless the heatsink's orientation can be changed to provide additional clearance for the DIMM slots, you'll have to settle for lower profile memory modules or a less extravagant CPU cooler."

What about taking a hacksaw to the dominator's cooling sticks?