Build Instructions for Me

[justinj]

Hi,

I am going to build a computer for the first time in several years. Total amateur here - will be my third build. I started looking through guides and reading up to remind myself how to build it. The high level summary is shown below (liberally stolen from several sources - I just want to get it right so I don't screw it up later). Hoping this is about right but let me know if you think otherwise. Trying to have concise and very prescriptive instructions to make it easier for myself. May be a bit of overkill with the antistatic part but I want to be safe.

Am I missing steps with respect to powering up and making sure things work before further component installations? Seems like I remember doing this in steps several years ago to make sure each component was working. Thanks for your help.

1. Work off a wood table, wood floor, wear rubber soled shoes.
2. Have the case and motherboard separately next to each other. Put the mobo on top of the box it came in (or on the wood table) – seems some people think using the antistatic bag it comes with is a BAD idea. Apparently the outside of it is conductive.
3. Screw in the power supply to mount it to the case and make sure the power supply is turned off.
4. Plug in the power supply to the wall outlet to ground it.
5. Put on antistatic wrist band and clip it to a screw on the power supply or hook it to the fan grill of the power supply.
6. Touch the side of the power supply or something non painted metal on the case itself.
7. Begin working outside of the case on the motherboard separate from the case. Avoid touching ICs. Put in memory, cpu, cooler, etc. Only touch the CPU sides. Only a 'pea' sized dab of thermal paste. RAM to match mobo required slots - 1/2, 1/3, 2/4. Place standoffs on corresponding mobo holes.
8. Put the motherboard into the case (do not overtighten), put the primary hard drive in, GPU, and anything else except the secondary hard drive (to avoid confusion with windows install).
9. Hook up all cables.
10. Unplug power supply from wall, plug into a surge protector and turn on surge protector.
10.5 Connect monitor and start computer. Connect mouse, keyboard, speakers.
11. [strike]Flash bios from thumb drive[/strike] BIOS-> keep all defaults usually, and select "XMP" (Intel) for memory. Disable CSM (Compatibility Support Module). Set up secure boot. Need to read up on these.
11.1 Run memtest86 off of flash drive.
12. Install windows from thumb drive. Update it.
12.5 update drivers (especially GPU)
12.6 Download software to test stability (memtest86 with full pass). Test temperatures.
12.7 Flash bios.
12.8 Antivirus. CPU fan profile. Backup software (have Crashplan but it's ending its service so will switch to something like Acronis True Image as suggested.)
13. Install secondary hard drive. Setup windows backup to secondary hard drive.
13.5 Wait two weeks to ensure stability.
14. Download OC software (? will read up on this later cause I forgot exactly how and it's changed).
15. OC.
16. Transfer old files and install other software.

Computer part (thanks, hellfire13):
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($399.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - R1 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($207.65 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($141.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($233.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($116.39 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC Black Edition Video Card ($749.99 @ B&H)
Case: NZXT - Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.89 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Dell - S2417DG 23.8" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor ($406.30 @ Amazon)
I'll have to buy Windows 10 Home as well.

 

[ARICH5]

12.5 install gpu driver from website. how you gonna OC without a display? OC software is last. you wanna test stability with the stock build first.
ya your missing a bunch of steps. you shouldnt even think about overclocking for a week or 2. second harddrive can wait also. get win10 stable first so the second HDD has a "clean" environment to install on the rig.

watch some youtube vids or pick up a MAXIMUM PC magazine.

 

[photonboy]

1) anti-static is fine, but it's actually very difficult to damage anything. Use a strap if you want, but in general if you have the PSU plugged in (even if switched OFF) and touch your hand to the exposed metal on the case you will GROUND yourself

2) I usually do this:
a) PSU to case
b) ground myself to case
c) motherboard on box for now
d) "pea method" for thermal paste (unless using a thermal pad predone), attach cooler
e) system memory etc.
f) BIOS-> keep all defaults usually, and select "XMP" (Intel) for memory
g) run MEMTEST86 to test DDR3/4 memroy www.memtest86.com (run a full pass)

h) fully setup PC now, retest MEMTEST86
i) add HDD, install Windows

*Make sure you have your chosen e-mail + password for your Windows login (i.e. MSN account) to use when installing Windows. (add speakers too because Windows 10 has Cortona audio during install process unless your W10 install media is too old)

j) install video, audio drivers etc
k) antivirus, setup CPU fan profile etc
l) get a BACKUP SOLUTION such as Acronis True Image for automated backups. At the very least use the W7 backup solution that W10 has to make a backup IMAGE to a secondary HDD in case things go wrong and you don't want to reinstall everything.

OTHER:
I'm sure I've missed minor stuff, but usually you can figure things out if and when problems arise. If overclocking the CPU start a new thread but don't do that until the system has been stable at least a week.
-

 

[photonboy]

BIOS flashing can be done any time usually. If you run MEMTEST86 with no errors then you can do the update later if you want.

Do also setup SECURE BOOT in the BIOS prior to installing Windows. The way it's worded in the motherboard manual varies a lot. I would also disable CSM (Compatibility Support Module) unless it turns out you have some legacy hardware that needs that enabled.

 

[USAFRet]

12.1 Install all current OS updates
12.2 AV software
12.3 Hardware drivers

13.1 Wait a week


A bunch more stuff in between 1 and infinity.

 

[USAFRet]

Can we get a list of all the parts you have for this new PC?

 

[ARICH5]

also testing keyboard functionality. mouse acceleration. monitor connections.ie:hdmi.

@OP you sure you know what your doing?

 

[justinj]

@OP you sure you know what your doing?

I was going to go to bed and respond to all these posts tomorrow but when I read this I chuckled and had to come downstairs to reply. No, not exactly. As I said, it's been several years. Not knowing is what makes this fun I think. I have a working laptop to be able to post questions and get help while I'm building it. So hopefully I'll be all right.

For all the posts, thank you guys. Very helpful. I'll re-edit the list and post my build.

 

[ARICH5]

@OP you sure you know what your doing?

Not knowing is what makes this fun I think.

ok so you wanna throw away a couple grand good luck.

 

[justinj]

@OP you sure you know what your doing?

Not knowing is what makes this fun I think.

ok so you wanna throw away a couple grand good luck.

That was harsh. I did it twice before without throwing it all away. Will be building it with my kids too. What's the worst that can happen?

 

[justinj]

Ok, so am I close now?

 

[USAFRet]

Ok, so am I close now?

7. Your CPU cooler almost certainly has thermal paste already applied. No need for new stuff.
11.1 = 12-24 hours, maybe.
12.7. Only if you really, really need it.
14-15. Personally, I would delay that for a loong time.
16. You can't 'transfer' software. You can only reinstall.

 

[justinj]

Ok, so am I close now?

7. Your CPU cooler almost certainly has thermal paste already applied. No need for new stuff.
11.1 = 12-24 hours, maybe.
12.7. Only if you really, really need it.
14-15. Personally, I would delay that for a loong time.
16. You can't 'transfer' software. You can only reinstall.

Thank you. I knew the cooler had thermal paste but didn't realize it was already applied. Would think it would dry up but I'll figure that out when I get it out of the box I guess. I understand your point about OC because I don't think my CPU will bottleneck me but I suspect it's fairly easy to get to 5GHZ eventually.

 

[USAFRet]

5GHz is sort of a holy grail. Some chips can, some cannot no matter what you do.

And to maybe get there is a series of slow steps. A series of small steps.

 

[justinj]

FYI - mostly done at this point. System is complete with just some software and files that need to be added. 9600 something on FutureMark Timespy. Will OC some time later. You guys are always great. Thanks again for all your help.