Advice for a First Time Builder?

[Mr Evasive]

Hello everyone. I have somewhat of a dilemma on my hands and I would really appreciate some guidance on how to go about it. I’m contemplating whether or not I should build my own PC or just have someone who is more experienced do it for me. I’ve been watching some videos and it doesn’t look too difficult but I’m terrified of thermal paste, connecting so many different cables, and the management of said cables. What should I do?

 

[Scottray]

Find someone in your area that has experience building PCs and do the building together. Maybe there's a computer club you can contact and find some help. Building a PC is a great skill to learn. You just need a little help getting thru your first build.

 

[SirSub42]

Call your local library, the ones around my house have various times throughout the month they offer free computer repair. I am sure whoever runs those would be glad to answer any questions you have.

But in actuality, building a computer from scratch is easier than changing the oil on my 96 ranger. Unless of course you want to get heavily into modifications (fan controllers, water cooling etc).

Next to paying for the pieces, picking them out is the most painful process. To start out, you will want to work out a budget and decide what you plan on using the computer for, (gaming, work, email etc). Once you have that, we can start mapping out our pieces.

You will need a safe place that you can put this together as well. No carpeting, a flat service with plenty of work space and an ESD-wrist band.

 

[FD2Raptor]

Hello everyone. I have somewhat of a dilemma on my hands and I would really appreciate some guidance on how to go about it. I’m contemplating whether or not I should build my own PC or just have someone who is more experienced do it for me. I’ve been watching some videos and it doesn’t look too difficult but I’m terrified of thermal paste, connecting so many different cables, and the management of said cables. What should I do?

Building your PC is rather simple task so long that you have the tools necessary and some knowledge in how/which parts are/should be compatible with each other (pins, BIOS support and/or size clearance).

Thermal paste is mostly a non-issue, especially given the fact that I doubt that you will be dabbling into overclocking. In most case, the thermal paste is already pre-applied on the stock cooler (if one is included) or a <$20 budget cooler.

Most cables tends to have notch or latches that will only go in one way so the chance of plugging anything in reversed is low (just make sure that they're in all the way). Cable management is as much as you'd want to put the effort in. If you don't want/able to, you can certainly leave them hanging around inside the case, just make sure that none are going to be in the way of a spinning fan and it will work.