Avoiding Common PC Building Traps - Episode 2
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2017-05-06
·
1,120 words · ~5 min read
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so in our last episode of this now two-part series we tackled a handful of
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common problems that new computer builders face and even some things that
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those of you with experience would do well to remember you can check that out
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right there but obviously there was no
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way we were going to be able to cover everything that could go wrong in just
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one five minute video so what are some
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other things that you should be looking out for let's start small and talk about
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those annoying little front panel
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connectors unlike most of the connections inside your PC the front
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panel header isn't keyed in any way so
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it's possible to plug things in in the wrong orientation and considering how
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many pins there are on the header it can be one of the most frustrating parts of
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any build to make this as painless as
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possible look at the diagram on your mother board near the front panel header
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or in your motherboard manual you'll usually see plus and minus signs to
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indicate which way to plug in your leads but sometimes this isn't clearly
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indicated on the leads themselves very frustrating if this is the case the
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colored wire is usually positive and failing that you can look for a little
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tiny embossed Arrow which indicates the
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positive side but you shouldn't worry about it too too much anyway if you plug
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something in backwards and it doesn't work you won't damage anything just turn
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it around and try again and the orientation for the pins for your power
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and reset switches doesn't matter anyway
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since all those do is complete a circuit by shorting the pins when you press the
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button but now let's go from talking about small stuff to something big
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namely that Tower style CPU air cooler
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that's beefier than a porterhouse steak if you're going with one of these pay
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close attention to your case specs a lot
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of people assume that if your CPU socket
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is listed on the box as one that fits the cooler will sit but with how bulky
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some higher end coolers are and the fact that even standard ATX cases aren't a
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uniform width you could end up not being
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able to fit RAM into your slots or your
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side panel on if you aren't careful
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fortunately memory manufacturers list the height of their modules and many
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case manufacturers give a Max cooler clearance spec that takes into account
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the height of the motherboard itself so have a look at that if you don't plan to
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use a water cooler and speaking of huge
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CPU coolers you probably have one because you're trying to overclock your
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processor right and if it's an Intel well you've made sure to buy an unlocked
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K or X Series right you should be ready
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to go not so fast aside from needing an
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unlocked processor your motherboard chipset also needs to support
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overclocking an easy way to make sure it does before you buy is just to look at
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the letter in the chipset name if it contains a zed or an X such as z270 or
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x99 then you're all set to overclock but
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if it's something else like an h b or Q
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you'll probably find that unless your motherboard manufacturer has an
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experimental BIOS available which is quite uncommon you can't change your CPU
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multiplier ouch okay then so you've got the right
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motherboard cooler in case and you're ready to put it all together but wait
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there are two things you really do not want to forget the first is the io
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Shield at the back of the case which I would strongly recommend putting in
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before doing anything else countless Builders even very experienced ones
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have installed all their components without realizing until they were nearly
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done that they forgot the io Shield
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forcing them to take everything out and put it all back in unless they want to
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live with an awkward gaping hole in their case or even worse they might have
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missed one of the little tabs that you have to bend up sometimes ending up with
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it stuck in a port shorting it out and
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killing it the second one not to forget
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is when it is time to install that CPU Cooler don't forget to peel the
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protective film off the bottom of the heat sink since you don't actually look
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at that part of the heat sink the part that actually contacts the CPU very
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often it's easy to mount the cooler without removing this plastic if you do
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that not only will you experience abnormally High CPU temperatures but the
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plastic can melt leaving an ugly mess for you to deal with later as well as
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wasted thermal compound and time
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speaking of avoiding messes what are some of your top tips for preventing
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issues with your shiny new build let us know in the comments and you might see
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your ideas in a future Techquickie episode also let us know if you'd like
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to see more avoiding PC Building traps
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videos just like this one but if you were thinking to yourself gee I just
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that link below thanks for watching guys like or dislike leave a comment if you
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