Common PC mistakes to avoid! 

I know I already built my computer almost last year at this point, but I always watch these videos regardless because I'm super paranoid that I messed something up

After building my first PC this past summer, the best advise I have for beginners is to TAKE YOUR TIME. I know it's exciting to see all your parts sprawled out on the table, and you can't wait to play those AAA titles at Ultra settings. However, going slow and doing it right the first time will save a lot of headaches down the road if you need to troubleshoot. If you get stuck, watch youtube vids, read the manuals, ask a friend that's built a PC before, and if you're still frustrated, take a break and come back. My first build took me 8 hours. Nothing worse than rushing through the build and potentially messing up components and ruining your day. The build is the fun part, enjoy it!

Top 1 tip: don't let the damn M.2 screw out of your sight

First step. Visual inspection before you even start the build. This allows you to spot any glaring defects and or damage from shipping before you even start building. Also to reiterate the importance of the brass standoffs. Don't just use the ones on the corners. Boards will flex if there's not enough support. Components (ie heavy GPU card) can cause the board to flex and possibly short out on the case. If there's a hole in the motherboard, and corresponding spot on the backplate in the case, use it!!

One beginner mistake I've seen made at times is that sometimes people will assume if a power supply is modular that they can simply mix and match cables from any PSU, and this can easily lead to fried components and a really really bad day. Always *ensure* that the cables you're using are for 100% sure compatible with your specific PSU (not even just the manufacturer, I mean the specific model).

A friend of mine asked me to look at his PC as he was getting idle temps of around 60c which even for a Ryzen 9 5950x is hot. I took the CPU cooler off and he'd forgotten to take the plastic cover off the cooler. I laughed, called him a noob in my head, cleaned the thermal paste, put the cooler back on and booted up the system. 62c idle... wtf... Done the same again to see what the problem was. I'd forgotten to take the plastic cover off the cooler. I never told him but it happens to the best of us

don't forget to cover the importance of stand-outs. Very first build i ever did, years ago onw. I had no idea what those little brass posty things were for, and nothing explained them to me, so... I left them off, which meant that as soon as I powered up, I shorted out the ENTIRE motherboard (much blue smoke) in one easy lesson. DEM LITTLE BRASS THINGIES ARE IMPORTANT!!!

SSDs and HDDs both have their place. HDDs for the storage size - so long as they're internal and they're powered up occasionally to avoid bit rot, old style HDDs are great. NOT good for a windows drive - anyone using an HDD for windows at this point NEEDS to try it on even a standard SS, because they don't know what they's missing.

Hot tip: If you are using an air cooler, in most cases it is better to fully assemble the mainboard with the cooler outside of the case. This is especially important with double tower coolers, where you put a fan in the middle and have those stupid wires to mound the fan to the finstack. Bonus: If you have a modular power supply, also connect the CPU power cable(s) before finally putting the board in. Thank me later.

Honorable mention is make sure your case has room to work in if you're a beginner. Not having some cable slots in certain spots or the inner area being too cramped can be a bastard to deal with. Also wire up your fans LAST. Fans should almost always be the last thing you put into your computer so that you can easily access the EPS cable port on the motherboard for your CPU as well as managing the unholy amount of cables you have with fans, especially if they're the non-direct daisy chain RGB fans.

One major building mistake to make is ram clearance with a cpu cooler. I recently built a computer for a coworker and the radiator barely allows the clearance for the memory modules. We got lucky that things could be built easy enough but there were only a couple millimeters of clearance after everything was installed. Make sure to check the heights of ram clearance when you're looking for a cpu cooler, especially for air coolers and top mounted radiators.

-- TIP: ALWAYS CHECK THE LOCATION/COUNT OF YOUR MOTHERBOARD RISERS. Make sure those risers (for the screws that mount your motherboard to the case) are in the CORRECT position, and they're the correct number of them. You risk grounding your motherboard if just one is out of place, or you have, example: a board that needs 9 risers, but there's 10 installed on the case. That 10th one doesn't belong, and could ground the board. Do a test install of the board only, don't hook anything up. Make sure you have all and only the risers lining up with the mobo holes perfectly. This happened to me with an old PIII rig decades ago. Ended up shipping the mobo back to Thompsons Computer Warehouse in FLA twice before I realized it the mobo tray had one extra riser installed.

Two years ago it was videos like this that allowed me to build my first system. I honest to god went from not even knowing what the current parts were called to having two full builds under my belt. I'm grateful for Jay and a few other tech-tubers for being so good at putting together videos like this that teach so well.

For the beginner builders out there make sure you put your IO shield in before the motherboard. It's not so much of a problem nowadays since some motherboards have it preinstalled but the budget motherboards won't and there's nothing worse than finishing your build to realise you've forgotten the IO shield. Also check your case measurements with your component measurements so you don't run into an AIO radiator not fitting or GPU not fitting because the case doesn't support certain clearances and then having to delay your build waiting for different components or case.

I used to watch your videos around 2015 when I was building my first gaming computer, before I went to study at university, when the debate was around the GTX 970 vs R9 390. That computer lasted me 7 years until a month ago. I have long since graduated/started working now, and I don't play games any more, but I still come back and watch your videos just because your content is great to keep up to date with the latest in tech hardware. Thanks for your content!

Hands down most humiliating mistake I've made is springing for ram without double checking the QVL. I had to down clock and boot train until I could afford the time and money to fix it. Always check if your parts will match, especially if you are on a budget!

I have done 3 builds since august, one for my father in law, one for my 16 year old, and one for me. I still watch Jay’s videos because I love his content.

My top tip is don't use zip ties. Instead use Hook and Loop strips (aka, Velcro). They can be a lot easier to remove if needed. You can't go "too tight", which can damage cables. Plus they are a lot easier to remove rather than having to cut them out, which has the risk of accidentally cutting the cable within. I've seen more cases now have cable management channels with slots intended for Velcro strips rather than zip ties. The case I have even came with some Velcro strips pre-installed.

Like you I've been repairing and building computers for around 35 years. I've come to the conclusion that every time I think I know what I'm doing everything gets changed. It does keep my mind going.

Use all the bread ties that came with your hardware to cable manage inside the case. It's super easy to anchor the ties to different areas, and it gives you a great quick release cable tie while reusing what would have ended up in a landfill.

Always keep your motherboard manual handy. It will be a life line your first few times building.

I love these videos... I've been building my own pcs for 30+ years and I still feel it's good practice to make sure you crossed all your X-es and dotted all your i's

I started building PC's in the mid 80's after buying an IBM PC (now what do we do? I don't know, it's a DOS environment!) and another no name system at a computer show. I don't miss the guesswork of having to set DIP switches to get it to run at all. I made the mistake of not researching compatibility issues once in all the years since starting to build them. I've either been lucky or I've got a talent for building them. PC Part Picker is my friend now.

My tip: Make sure your RAM is seated all the way in. The thing that surprised me most on my first build was the HUGE difference in seating RAM versus seating a CPU. Feather touch with a CPU, while with RAM you're afraid you're going to break something and it's not even in. This goes along with "line it up right" since even if lined up correctly you still have to be pretty firm. Also thanks, Jay, for the AM5 backplate reminder, that one is REAL easy to forget. I still have an AM4 system and need to remember that if/when I upgrade, I can't trust AMD's word that AM4 coolers are compatible. One more thing: To go along with the 4 RAM slot compatibility thing, if you're doing your first RAM upgrade, not your first build (meaning you have 2 occupied slots and 2 open slots, so you go out to buy 2 more sticks), I seriously recommend getting a higher capacity than your original kit. That way, if they don't play nice together, you can replace the old kit and it's still an upgrade, just not as big of one.

I've built my own computers for about 20 years, but I still love watching these videos from Jay

Just finished my second PC build. Went with a Z790, 4080 and 13900k. Wouldn't have ever built a computer if I hadn't found your channel all those years ago. Thanks for giving us the confidence to do it ourselves. :) I dropped my screw driver on my motherboard and bent the pins first time around lmao

I been building pcs since 1997 and I will say never get to cocky I watch videos like this to this day to keep my brain sharp. You always have more to learn.

I remember when I was building my first PC, it took me about two hours to figure out where everything was supposed to go. Then it didn't run and I spent a whole night figuring out what was wrong with it. Furious, tilted, almost ready to ship it to some professional builder. Started at around 2PM, PC started working at 6AM. That was 13 years ago and it is still one of the best memories I have. To anyone on the fence about whether or not to build your PC by yourself or not. Yes, do it. You might feel lost and on the verge of madness at some point, but you will look back at those memories with fondness.

Recently built my first pc. This channel was a huge help in figuring out what I was doing. There are certainly things I wish I'd done (and bought) differently, but it's running great and building was a ton of fun.

disconnecting all drives before you install windows is actually a really good advice because even if you know which drive is which and you install windows onto your fastest nvme or whatever, the BOOTLOADER could still be installed on a DIFFERENT drive REGARDLESS of what you picked in the installer.

Make sure your case is sizable. The case that I bought for my PC fits everything, but the motherboard was a pain in the ass to get in, and I nearly dropped it because there was no room for my fingers to hold it. I'm planning on oversizing the case next time

There was a great article years ago from PC Power and Cooling about modular power-supplies. It referenced what happens when people constantly plug and unplug those connectors with regard to high resistance and current draw. I've owned the same 750 Crossfire PS since 2011 as a result. It has now gone through no less than five builds, each flawlessly.

I'm about 20 years into my pc building journey and still learn new things with every build. One of the reasons I still love this hobby and also why I still watch basic build guides even though I have years of experience and like 25 builds done

Watching you and Paul and Kyle gave me the confidence to build my first computer in 2017 and now I’ve built 5 systems.

You have helped me so much in the last year. Between you Linus and Greg salazar I have went from a person who always thought building a PC was something that was just out of the realm of possibility for me to someone that fixes other ppls PCs weekly. I love having the knowledge and ability to help others. I live in a rural area of ky and it's not easy or cheap for PC repair around here. Your channel has not only helped me but a lot of hard working ppl around me that simply couldn't afford to have something repaired by a professional. So thank you for your knowledge

Jay does not need a proper outro, because he knows he is one of the best sources on RU-vid and nobody is going to be leaving him! xD

I just built my 4th machine in roughly the past 6 months. My buddy wanted a full AM5 build (7900x, 670e Taichi, Fury Beast 5600 RAM, etc). It runs like a dream and I couldn't have done this without you and Christopher Flannigan. Keep up the excellent work. You are helping us noobies crawl kicking and screaming into the computer building world (with a minimum of mistakes).

I think it would be helpful to remind again on the potentially lengthy initial boot time for a new AMD build. I ran into this for the first time a couple years ago, ended up doing an RMA on the motherboard, which was tested and returned, and at no point in the process did they (Asus, I believe) mention how long the initial boot might take, even though I explained the reason for the RMA. It was almost by luck that after getting it back and trying again, exasperated I just let it sit, and eventually it proceeded to boot, to my surprise. I never understood why until a couple years later I heard Jay mention it... mind blown. Yeah, good stuff. Always something new to learn.

Gearing up to start buying parts and building my first pc! I thank you for all your solid advice and info. Its been a huge motivator and I know it will help me going into my build.

This is the kind of video we should all see randomly at least once every few years. Great content, you just showed me a few things easy to forget for my next build

Back to the basics. I dig it. With everyone working at home and the new interest in PC's it's good to see someone going back to the basic building tips. I spend hours a day helping others with their first PC. This may not be the video for everyone, but it's the video everyone needs

When jay posts, it makes everyone's day better

Love these videos, built my first system last year. Luckily I did a lot of research first and only mistake i made was putting the RAM beside each other which obviously was easy to fix. It's an MSI, Corsair, WD build and it booted up first try so I'm proud of myself but STILL, I do enjoy watching these to learn anything I could have possibly missed.

I just did my first build and found twist ties to be super useful. I tend to hoard heavier duty twist ties from product packaging and used those for my cable management. That was nice because I slowly replaced the factory case fans and could easily change how I was routing cables.

16:49 If you're upgrading from one drive to another, pull the old drive out when installing windows, yes the old drive is going to be extremely easy to see because it has partitions, but the windows installer also sees those partitions, and one of those partitions is the UEFI bootloader, the windows installer is going to see that bootloader and add the entry to the new install to that bootloader on the old drive, so if you format or remove that drive in the future neither drive will be bootable. Edit, this may make bitlocker on your old drive require the use of a recovery key if for some reason your BIOS clears the old key.

Always check your clearance, especially if you're planning on an SFF build. 1mm can be the factor for not being able to install your cooler/GPUs inside your case.

Love your videos! They have all helped me be way less intimidated on building my first PC! I believe I’m heading the correct way. Appreciate your channel!

always check the list of compatible processors with your motherboard, it goes way further than just matching the socket, i was lucky enough to buy both parts in an amazing store, they called me to tell me both parts were incompatible so i could change one of them, that's how i learned, luckily, not the hard way

My biggest tip is to install RAM before installing the CPU cooler. Trying to do it the other way around is usually possible but you'll end up working in a tighter space to try to seat at least one of the sticks. It requires a little muscle to seat RAM properly because tolerances for RAM slots are tight so that the electrical connection is solid. It's easy to not fully seat RAM and the computer won't POST when that happens. Installing the CPU cooler before the RAM just makes it more likely that the RAM stick closest to the CPU won't be fully seated.

Jay, great video sir. I also have been assembling for close to 30 years now. One process that took a long time to get right, is affixing a AiO water cooler for the cpu "Flush". The mechanic process of cross-tightening does not really hit the mark I have found. If you have time for a future video showing mounting processes and verification. I have found pressing down with 1 hand gently and tightening with one hand while keeping contact with the other. Any occasion where I tightened down in a cross pattern you just do not keep torque even. You hit the nail with your ram section, you can get the best Strix board, and 4 sticks of name brand top of the line, and the CPU will boot loop a few times, disable XMP for you and leave you clutching the edge of the desk every time you turn the thing on LoL.

I've only been building computers for 16 years, I have not had a system fail on me yet however, I still watch videos like these because you learn something new every time

Getting ready to put together my first build. Just need a few more parts. This video was huge for me. Thank you.

More tips - 1. Apply right amount of (and good quality) thermal paste - too little and too much are bad. 2. If using an AIO cooler make sure there is enough space for the radiator and that the cooler head is compatible with the socket AM4/5/LGA intel. (I made this mistake went out and bought an AIO cooler and then realized the radiator was too big and butt up against the motherboard VRM heatsinks which are honking these days.) 3. If using a modular PSU make sure to use only the cables that came with the PSU so you don't fry your motherboard. When installing an LGA type processor be careful not to drop anything or the processor onto the socket. When installing the processor hold it carefully close to the motherboard and off to the side.

One mistake that I've been making recently are with SATA cables. Be careful with SATA cables. They're more fragile than you think. I've broken 3 SATA cable connectors within the past year. They are at least pretty cheap and motherboards come with quite a few of them (some SSDs too). If you're wondering how I managed to break 3 of them within a year, it was from unplugging them in tight spaces, putting pressure on one side. Also be careful with the USB 3.0 header. The cable is often pretty thick, making a pain to plug in on some motherboards. Super easy to bend the pins if the connector is not aligned.

Would love to see a series for all the components and what you should watch out for. Basically this video split into multiple ones and getting into more details

4 of my favorite tips: Always install your i/o backplate for the motherboard first and confirm its on the correct way, this is not as much of an issue with higher end boards since they usually come with the i/o backplate as part of the motherboard. Install your power supply before your motherboard or sata devices, see where your motherboard power connectors are and know what cables will need to route before installing the motherboard. Always assemble as much of your motherboard with all components before you install it in your case, its so much easier to have your cpu/cooler ram and m.2 socket parts installed outside of the case. If you go for an all in one (AIO) cooler, make sure you don't have your pump as the high point of the loop, think of where air will collect: if it's where the pump is you are going to have a problem. Water pumps only pump water, they will be unable to move the liquid around if theres air in the pump.

The most painful experience for me was the fact that, for XMP profile to work and in case you are using double RAM sticks, you have to put your 2 RAM modules in the 2nd of each slots from left to right. In my imagination it was logical to put them in A1 and B1 and I spent hours of trial and error to find out that it must be A2 and B2. Painful learning but it even says so in the motherboard manual but that’s what you get for not reading :D

Here's one for you: If you've been taken by the SFF bug, do your best to add even just one small/thin case fan in the event you go for liquid cooling on your CPU. There are passively cooled components (RAM, M.2 covers...) that may not get nearly enough airflow otherwise. I'm having to replace my boot drive (as it became my only drive and became overworked for the cooling I had available), and now I'm without a PC for a week waiting on the parts to come in. Don't neglect your passively cooled components / don't expect your radiator fans to draw in enough from the side panels, etc to help with the passively cooled things.

I very recently built a pc for my fiance that used a couple spare parts from her old build (mainly just the psu, hard drive, and gpu) your channel helped me a ton in making the process go without any hiccups. Just had to recently rebuild my pc due to a faulty motherboard, i neglected to plan for the fact my pc was a prebuilt from HP so I'll throw some tips in to save anyone the sheer headache I had with my personal build a few weeks ago. Couple tips to add: 1. If your salvaging from a prebuilt don't be suprised when half the crap in it is proprietary 2. Said prebuilt may have a psu that is only usable with their motherboard, any attempts to use it with any motherboard that isint that specific board may result in the new board being totalled (in my unfortunate experience it locked the new board into an infinite loop of trying to start up the bios) 3. Even the ram may be compromised in said prebuilt 4. Fuck HP Omen Summary: motherboard went bad on a HP Omen 40L, i decided to just replace the board with my new knowledge of pc building. Ended up getting severely screwed because "proprietary". On the bright side ended up with basically a new PC for around $400(could only use the gpu and cpu from the omen). Loving the lian li lancool mesh 2 i got on sale from microcenter.

Always a good idea to review the basics. Just today, I was installing my new AIO cooler for my CPU, and I forgot to take the plastic film off of the cold plate.

My tip: if your memory resembles fishnet stocking as mine does, just do a step-by-step checklist before starting the actual building or fixing. Using five to thirty minutes to ’plan the attack’ will save you at least the time you put in the planning and more often save you a lot of time since redoing stuff drops to a minimum.

Great content Jay! Love you and your teams work 💚

Good bit about cable management. In non-computer, traditional electronics, leaving a little bit of slack is sometimes known as a "Service Loop". I got this mostly from wiring up rack systems for Audio, Video & of course Networking. An aside (probably wouldn't relate to your watchers), in an outdoor installation, exposed wires should be installed with a "Drip Loop" which gives water a path other than your installed gear. Look up at power poles and youwill see :). Great video. Cheers

Whew im free from these mistakes from your prior videos. I appreciate it my build is running well thanks to your vids and helping me really look into things.

I learned the hard way that putting a standoff in the wrong position can cause electrical mayhem. Honestly, why did they ever even have standoffs that you must install yourself. The patter doesn't change. You can use all the different formats. Maybe server boards are odd, but consumer boards are basically the same mounting pattern. I had one case with removable motherboard tray. It was awesome.

This video just saved me from 2 major mistakes I would have made on my first PC that I'm in the process of building! Thank you for all of your insanely valuable videos!!

Refreshing the basics is always important. Preciate you

The best advice I have is if a component is not working try reseating it, unplug it and plug it back in. This is a lot more helpful on older things that might have a bit of corrosion on it. Also making sure things are fully seated. Don't go smashing it but make sure it is firm. The next bit of advice, troubleshoot one thing at a time. it will help you in the long run to narrow things down after you have fixed them.

If a connector does not go in on the first try, or you feel like it's going in sideways and going to break, STOP and take a look at the connector. Most likely you are improperly lining them up. I bent the USB 3 connector on my board when upgrading my system. Thankfully after waking away and sleeping on it I was able to fix the pins and carry on. Take your time and think about what should be connected first to make your life easier in a smaller case.

I just found your channel after starting the R&D of my latest build. Things have changed a bit since 2010. Lol...Thanks for keeping up to date and explaining things so well. You make it easy for anyone to avoid the big box store PC's. The biggest mistake I made in my build from 2010 was not knowing that thermal paste needs to be reapplied at times depending on how many times you have to remove the cooler for cleaning. This last round of cleaning I must have failed to get the cooler pins locked in as the CPU temperature started peaking at 105°C and throttling back. I ordered some new TP and a new cooler but I'm not sure if this build is worth salvaging at this point. I certainly can't complain. Getting almost 15 years out of a sub $1k investment is stupid cheap. I'll still be able to salvage the case, the GPU, and the PSU. So all I really need this time is a new MB, CPU, and RAM. Later on I can upgrade the GPU and the PSU as needed.

My biggest mistake was not finding this channel years ago and subscribing, but at least that's a mistake I have now rectified! Love the content and the way you produce, thank you.

Jay, first off, thank you for all the advice. I've only built 3 PCs over the years and sat on each of them for 6-9 years, so its kind of like coming at it again for the fist time each time. Last July I decided to start getting back into it and came across yours and Steve's channels which I have been watching ever since. Really helpful and entertaining. My one piece of advice for those new to building a PC (or more like a re-emphasis of what was stated within the video) is to over-index on your PSU wattage and rating for a few additional reasons: a - Transient power spikes are a real thing. It truly sucks when your PC shuts down as things get exciting during a game... but only as an infrequent and unexpected surprise. b - From what I've read, and think I understand (we'll see if anyone comes at me from the top rope :^), PSUs generally run more efficiently when they are drawing around half of their max wattage. Higher efficiency equals less heat, which equals less noise. - FYI, I finally hit the button on all the parts. Looking forward to next weekend's entertainment. :^) - Thanks again.

It would be interesting to hear about the common mistakes users do AFTER building their first PC. For example, I've plugged my intake fans in Pump slot of the motherboard because it was labled "pump/fan 1" and sat there wondering why they have started spinning on maximum speed the moment I've turned my system on. Got it figured in a couple of hours, but still. Also I'm still looking into the whole "fan curve" thing and didn't find any definitive answers how the fans should be properly configured to not put unnesessary strain on them and not to de-sync cpu, gpu and case fans creating all kinds of air turbulence inside the case. Pretty sure almost every first time builder has some stories like that one.

GOOD STUFF! Thanks. Working on a first build in many years. 😀

Ty, I placed the ram sticks next to each other. Going to fix that today. I learned something new from this video.

The biggest and most annoying thing I did as I was building my first gaming pc was not making absolute sure my motherboard was compatible with my CPU cooler. I've seen many builds using the ASUS ROG Strix z690-e motherboard paired with a Noctua NH-D15 cooler. So I thought I was okay getting it. Apparently, as I was installing it, I noticed the cooler wasn't sitting evenly on the CPU and was extremely difficult to screw in. I looked it up later specifically looking up issues in terms of the VRM heatsink size. To my surprise, I found out ASUS made all the z690 and z790 motherboards to have this issue and therefore incompatible with most air coolers. I guess to have more people buy AIO water coolers? The cooler can't rest evenly on the CPU with the VRM heatsink in the way. The only way those builds I saw prior to my purchase could possibly make it work was if they modified the VRM plastic cover or orientated the cooler sideways for bottom/top airflow instead of the more typical front to back orientation. That wasn't ideal for me nor did I want to risk voiding warranty by cutting the plastic cover off so I ended up swapping motherboards for MSI. Its been a nightmare trying to build my first PC. I really wish it was more clear that some motherboards just aren't compatible with certain coolers. Noctua's website has a chart for compatibility but because I saw many other builds on PCPartPicker have this pair I thought it was going to be okay. I noticed other CPU cooler companies don't always have a compatibility chart and if they do, its not very easily found on their site. I've ended up returning and swapping about half my original build idea. Because I thought it was just the cooler's fault, I swapped that first. Then realized it was the motherboard itself so I swapped motherboards. I kept the second cooler since its on par with the noctua one for a better price and had enough returns to worry about. I swapped for faster Ram for only $15 more than what I originally paid for because it was on sale. And then I swapped GPU. I got the ASUS ROG Strix OC 3070 ti but then saw for just $50 more I could get the MSI Ventus 3x OC 4070ti. I'll finally get to put it all together this weekend so wish me luck. I hope I wont come across any more issues or return anything else.

My biggest tip would be plug in the EPS (CPU power 4+4) plugs before putting your motherboard in the case if it has rear cable management.

Greetings from So Cal. Excellent video for the unsure in your audience. I built / modified my first computer (IBM XT) in the mid 80's and built one every few years until the 2000's. I have gone the lazy route of just ordering something stock ever since then, but feel like getting back into doing it myself again. (I'm really old, btw). With so many changes and new features in today's computers, it is quite intimidating for a new / returning computer builder. Even the number of cables that connect to the motherboard and components scares me. Thank you for any and all basic videos.

Thanks for all this info!!! I'll prob build my pc soon, it's gonna be kind of high end so I'm a bit scared of mistakes but this helps a lot!!! 😁

Interesting what you said about ram speeds. I turned into a first time builder a few months ago and paired 7700x with corsair vengeance 5600 38cl sticks, asus tuf b650 board, and I could not get windows to finish installing without really random crashing. I had the feeling it was memory related, enabled expo thinking maybe it'll like those timings better and it's worked flawlessly since. Just left feeling a bit uneasy about not understanding why the default timings had it vomiting.

I watched countless hours of your content before I ever thought of building my first PC. I have an entire playlist of your build guides and videos like this so I didnt make these mistakes. Luckily I had no hiccups building it lol.

Jay, I want to build a PC, but with all the new hardware I’m not sure with what to go with or if I should wait. I’m not afraid to spend a little money and get a nice looking, mid to high range PC. I trust your advice and hope to see some build videos in various power ranges soon!

You know..I've built 20+ computers by now. Delid'ed 4 generations of CPUs. But I *never* bothered to correlate the fan support/open side and flow direction. When the arrows weren't there, I would just test it and move on. So thanks, you saved me from having to guess! :)

Love your work! Speaking if beginner mistakes. A lot of creators are struggling with the fact that the new 13900k is unstable at 128 gigs of DDR5 ram which high end pro's that work in the film industry need. And they are going out and building these unstable systems for studios = lots of $$$$ wasted. The ProArt Z790-CREATOR WIFI board might solve this issue. Will you please do an in-depth review on the ProArt Z790-CREATOR WIFI board for professionals? Does this board's new ram control tech solve this issue? Can we get stability on 128 gigs of ram if we lower the speed and turn off some of the silly over clock marketing ram features that make 0.0000001% speed difference in real world professional usage? Thank you! YOU SIR, ROCK!

People need to stop telling others to only get a power supply just good enough for their system or else its overkill because graphics cards are becoming more and more power hungry. Otherwise everyone will have to replace their power supply everytime they upgrade graphics cards and it would create more waste.

Good call on the "Always check your components". This is the first step I always take after purchasing a mobo/ CPU. I have found a few motherboards, in the past, that would not initially boot at all, so its always good to check.

Bit late but you actually saved me some money! I WAS going to get rid of my water cooling since my previous mother board is an LGA 1151 and my current upgrade has the new LGA 1700 so I figured the water cooling unit was obsolete. Thanks! You saved me $80 which isn't a lot but it is one less component in saving money on!

Don’t mistake 5v headers with 12v headers for your RGB is something I learned lol

Can't say it enough NEVER skimp on a PSU. This was the first and last mistake I ever made building my very first rig. Went for esthetics over practicality and bought from a lesser known maker to save a buck. First one was bad and wouldn't power on and the second also didn't so I then asked for a full refund and bought a better one for an extra $10.

Might be upgrading my PC soon, so all these videos are a blessing.

I’ve built dozens of computers over the last decade and didn’t learn anything new, but confirmed a lot of things I’d learned/assumed over the years. Good stuff

I just built my 4090 Rig. Biggest thing i think new builders need to know is that you ( or for me ) HAD to update UEFI/BIOS, before it would let me install windows. Also, showing them where to get this bios update/ windows and how to put it onto a USB Drive. I think if you can build the PC just fine and you’re all excited, this can easily be the most frustrating part for most new people after the anxiety of hoping it post. Lol

Thanks for all the awesome advice! Super informative, I am thankful for all you do and I appreciate your content. Easy to follow for a beginner like myself.🤘

Where I have not as of yet. Anyway, made any of these mistakes, thank you for these videos. I am certain that they will help multiple people not completely scragged their systems and or budgets

With your following, and the amount of hobbies your team is doing at HQ. A coulpe of people ive talked to and including myself; would like to see a video on power. Power strips vs power strips w/surge protectors vs UPS. Recently had a spat with my computer and 3d printers. computer was protected by a surge protected power strip. My 3d printer s were just on a standard power strip. Major failure. Once everything was fixed, immediatly ran to MicroCenter and now everything is on UPS

I'm now on my 3rd rebuild and videos like this helps out so much, I'm no pro builder and my system seems sturdy enough 😅

Here's one for you. Check the mbd instructions on jumper settings. I once got a systemboard that shipped with a jumper that had to be moved in order to work. Fortunately, I had skimmed through the manual before assembly and immediately realized that I forgot to move that jumper when my system didn't work.

been watching you're videos for a long time, and after several prebuilt pc, finally decided to build one myself!! so im on a mission watching my way through these :)

Thanks for the qvl bit, gold right there

Built my first PC maybe 2-3 years ago at this point and videos like this are a lifesaver for newbies.