First build horrors

Personal PC.

>Adding extra Rx 580 in my rig
>gonna game on 1 Rx 580 and mine on the other.
> 620 W PSU
>Running 2gpus with combine draw of 400W - 440W on my 5 year 620W.
>Fucking Asus Strix RX 580 melts the power connector of my PSU
>Realise that I am retarded and PSU is barelly being alive.
>Retire PSU. BEST PSU tolerating my shit for 5 years.

Old PSU still works despite the melted connector.

>Build PC
>Only one ramstick because I blew my budget on my 3570k and decent mobo
>bought more ram and dedicated GPU later
>Won't turn on
>Panic
>Fiddle with ram
>Stick wasn't fully inserted
>Worked fine
Was fun.

This

/thread

>first build
>all cpu parts arrive
>assemble them correctly and it works
>3 days later gpu arrives
>install gpu turn on and blank screen
>shittingpants.mkv
>take out gpu and everything works
>maybefaultygpu.mov
>google before returning
>tomshardware has multiple threads
>i had to plug hdmi cable in gpu port
>everything works
God bless tomshardware, they have helped so many times.

>be me, in high school, looking to do first build
>am poorfag in third world country
>decide to save up and buy components piece by piece
>takes me 5 months to do so
>the day comes, finally got the gpu
>takes me 3 hours to read the manuals and build it
>works fine, powers on
>realize I forgot to buy a monitor
>my shiny new build just sits in the room for a month until i save up for a monitor
I was pretty retarded then.

Because people usually fuck up when buying the stuff in the first place, that's the critical step.

My first build 2005~
>Used compatibility checker online?
>Carefully read manual
>Compare what goes where with my previous prebuild I got in elementary school
>Worked fine?
It even had led fans because that's what "overclockers" had at the time.

first pc build:
>scared as fuck that I'll static shock parts or short it out on first startup
>watched a few vids of pcbuilding, looks like lego but fewer ways to fuck it up
>everything thing went together with no issues
>even those teeny tiny led headers where the text on the plug doesn't exactly match the text on the pin, it all just werks

in hindsight I now know that it would have been way smarter for me to have checked the compatibility of my case size to motherboard size, and cooler dimensions as well ram clearances.

I got fucking super lucky in that it all fit because I thought it was just cpu socket type and psu wattage that you had to consider.

Did it yesterday. Grinded 5 months to build a homeserver with a shitty hardware because I'm poor as fuck.

>second-hand build come over
>apply new thermal paste
>test it
>it's running
>going to mount on the new case
>It fell of my hand and crash on the floor
>now it doesn't turn on

I even went a step above the cut and did an led strip case light mod.
basically just re purposed a spare 12 volt cable from the psu and wired it directly to a 12 volt plug for an led controller and light strip. cut off a sata plug and used the yellow and black wires iirc. sweet pc mod because it turns on and off with pc. i've got the strip glued to the inside of the lid that has the window, so you can't see any of the led's directly.

>bend CPU pins while installing
And that's when I knew I was too dumb to build a PC.

This, and I did it at age 16 in the late 90s so their wasn't as much info out there either. Kids have no fucking excuses today with the amount of video guides available
Again, with there being so many fucking guides out there its almost impossible to fuck up. There is only 1 kind of consumer PSU anymore (ATX 2.0+), everything but video is intagrated, purchase a mobo that matches the CPU socket you got, buy DDR4 RAM, Buy a harddrive.
There is almost no room to even make an error anymore, the only thing that you really can fuck up on is mismatching the CPU and motherboard.

Here goes

>first personal pc computer build
>17yo, had stupid money, 2000ad
>brought athlon 64 from high street
>other parts ordered from overclockersdotcom
>dodgy as fuck xp copy
>actually_worked.png
>2 months later, BANG
>Shes dead jim
>took it into repair shop coz stupid money
>didnt know you had to use stand-offs
I still dont know how it lasted 2 fucking months with mobo clamped directly to the case.

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Fuck I'm 1 year in without standoffs.
Too lazy to fix

Just checked and it must have been later, a64 came out in 03. Still a true story though.

>too lazy to install 4-6 screws

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They were talking about first build though, so unless you're some kid your first build was probably quite a while ago.

>They were talking about first build though
I was, and it was quite a while ago. What I'm saying is it was somewhat easy then, and it is super fucking easy today, so much so I have a hard time understanding how people can fuck it up...... except for the stand offs since some cases require them but some don't and that's often not documented in anything that comes with the case even to this day. That I can understand some confusion with.

You're selling it too short, thats a rebuild.

>go to Best Buy
>see cool prebuilt desktop computer
>only $400
>buy it
>go home
>turn it on
>OS already loaded, no fucking with the BIOS, everything just werks
>go to PCPartPicker to see how much it would cost to build it myself
>$950
>PC gaymers/cryptocucks will defend this

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Pretty much my dude. Watching a couple youtube videos and having the motherboard booklet on hand and you're good to go.

The hardest part of building a pc is just putting the on/off switch, led power, HDD led cables in the right place.

After that you're good to go. Super simple stuff.

>>be me in 2011
>>build my first pc
Ree underage

Sometimes you can find clearanced/on sale prebuild PCs, buy them then slap in a new PSU and videocard and you've got a decent gaming PC that is still cheaper then building yourself.
Its always worth shopping around for prebuilt PCs

If he was 14 in 2011 he would be 21 now.

Not my first but:
Dual Opterons 4200 series server.
32GB RAM.
Bought processors on eBay
Bought low-profile heatsinks
9000RPM
System is literally vacume cleaner. Not exaduating.
Only 24GB of RAM working.
Swap around stuff.
Memory controller on one CPU borked
Eh
Eventually replace heatsink
Forget to remove plastic cover from one heatsink
Server thermal shutdown when under load
Finally recheck heatsinks
welp.tiff

>realize I forgot to buy a monitor

how old were you

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>first build
>spend like 2 hours building and reading
>sweating because of the pressure
>finally the moment to power up comes
>press button
>nothing happens
>die a little inside
>check all cables and shit
>PSU switch was off

I think every single one of us has done that.

It's honestly like a right of passage in my mind.

Also I think I fucked up standoffs for the EATX board first time through, which might account for the controller issues.

And now that I'm thinking back on it, I built that server before my desktop, so it was the first build.

Basically any time I do "one quick thing" inside any computer I'm working with.

That's not a build you moron, you literally only swapped GPUs and CPUs you colossal faggot

the only issue I had when I first build my first pc was attempting to stuff all the cables in the side panel and trying to get some screw on dust filters to fit properly. That was probably the most stressful part of that build to be honest.

my second build went much better

I think I rested my mobo on some of the standoffs without the screws as well, can't remember why but I must have forgot to put some of them on. I do worry about scratching the back of the mobo every time I install one though, shit's spooky.

Probably 2000 or so. Put heatsink on Athlon and hear a crunch. Smashed the corner of the die (this was before they had a hear spreader). Ended up still working fine. Heatsink was shit though and machine kept overheating until I got a new one.

on my first build, i tightened cpu cooler too much and motherboard was bent as hell. when i turned pc on, there were graphical artifacts everywhere and didnt recognize hdd. had to loosen up scres on cooler and it worked fine

>be me 14yo
>been computer nut since baby (got a C64 for third birthday)
>the year is 1994 - WANNA BUILD PC
>stump up a year of pocket money plus big contributions from parents
>got a pretty good machine for the time:
>486DX-40, 4MB RAM, Cirrus Logic VLB graphics, 250MB Fujitsu HDD, SB Pro
>(really wanted 8MB RAM, but that would have been another $250)
>have parts all over floor
>kidatchristmas.avi
>snap everything together, really easy even back then (cool mobo with ZIF socket)
>hit switch, DOS install disk already in floppy drive
>house lights go out
>wtf.jpg
>go to switchbox, main breaker thrown
>flick back on, let go, breaker throws again
>seriously_wtf.jpg
>go back to scene of build
>SMOKE RISING FROM CASE
>omg_wtf_bbq.jpg
>(for the young'uns - the power switch on AT PSUs weren't momentary switches - they were on or off, like a light switch)
>realise forcing breaker back on had had repowered computer
>in the aftermath, find I'd plugged power switch in SIDEWAYS, made it short-circuit
>fried motherboard and RAM
>thankfully everything else (even CPU and PSU) is ok
>another six months of saving, got new motherboard and 8MB of RAM I really wanted
>machine was low-range by then, but I was still happy with it
>replaced DX-40 with 5x86-133 and 250MB HDD with 1GB in '97 - only upgrades it ever received
>served me well until 1999 when I got a K6-2

>Bought a low end APU

That is all.

>be me in early highschool
>got dusty pentium 3 system
>decided to clean it all up
>tried detaching everything
>remove all cables
>removed all boards on cases
>including psu board on its case
>put it all back together
>didnt know thermal paste is a thing
>ran pc for years without it
good thing that it has a 110v all metal fan that sounds like a jet engine to avoid it from cooking itself

>mains fans
Don't see enough of them.

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>one of my first builds
>cpu fan won't screw in
>whatevs, I'll just put the whole case horizontally and gravity will keep it in place
>mfw it worked for years

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>mains fans
funny thing
we got 220v default current on wall when i used this system,
so i cant call it mains fans
we got avr with 110v/220v on it to make it work and avoid surges

>zero cable management looked like spaghetti
Literally who cares except autists in /guts/?

>2010
>unbox all the shit
>plug everything in like legos
>so far so good
>start PC and hear sparks and feel burned smell
>smoke coming out of computer
>somehow plugged the PSU cable in the GPU in upside down
>cable did slide in without any resistance tho

>mid 2013, 14 years old
>the very first step: pop the I/O shield into the case
>literally cut myself on the edge, blood everywhere
>decided to just get my brother's friend to put it all together for me
also the mobo (Asus M5A97 LE 2.0) was a complete and utter piece of garbage, had to fucking overvolt the CPU and memory to get it to POST at stock speeds, and it hard froze on Flash videos and ONLY Flash videos for no goddamn reason, unfortunately they were still quite widespread back then.

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>somehow plugged the PSU cable in the GPU in upside down
whaht?
is it really?

I don't know what you are trying to say.

The fan was 110VAC, yes? Making it a(n American, and other 110VAC territories) mains fan. It it was designed to be powered by mains power, it's mains powered.

Sorry to nitpick user, but as an Ausfag (240VAC), if I import something from the US and need to use my step-down transformer (handy thing to have), it doesn't change that it's a mains-powered device.

I've managed to plug a 12V CPU power cable in the wrong way. It's been years, so don't ask me WHICH wrong way I did it. Good thing I had a mate who looked it over before we powered up.

>first build
>assemble everything like a turboautist, double and triple checking everything
>turn on pc
>no signal
>FUCKFUCKFUCK
>try reseating CPU
>nothing
>try reseating CPU
>nothing
>try reseating RAM
>nothing
>try booting with one ramstick installed
>it works
>plug in other stick of ram
>it works
>no problems since then
welp

>try reseating RAM
>nothing
>try booting with one ramstick installed
>it works
>plug in other stick of ram
>it works
>no problems since then
It's absolutely infuriating when this happens. Make no mistake user, you are NOT alone.

>Zero cable management
>Left case open

Only turbo autists don't do this.

>first non Aldi PC
>all parts arrive
>strip naked for assembly
>everything goes fine
Setting up bios/uefi sucks though, not much experience with that.

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>first non Aldi PC

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> mid 2010
> finally got my hands on discarded Pentium 4 PCs
> out of 3 mobos, one had no GPU or IGP and even mouse slowed the system
> one had only 2 ram slots
> one didn't have the required FSB for the only non-celeron CPU from the pack
> decide to go with the third option, fix FSB and go with the slower speeds for installing ( OC as much as I can later )
> windows xp takes 1 hour to install
> doesn't boot
> wtf.jpg
> I only hope hdd didn't die during install and no software to check it
> ff several hours and a linux live cd later > ubuntu boots just fine, installs just fine
> mfw that build could run modded minecraft and WoW on 1920x1080 with a 7300GT 256mb but not a winxp

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>2006
>multi-core consumer systems were still new and almost zero programs took advantage of it
>buy a 3.7 GHz Core Solo for the same price of "le multi core meme" of lesser frequency
>scoff at overclockers complaining on various forums about their 1.4GHz quads performing worse than their old rigs even after unsafely high overclocking
>feeling really proud of myself
>system is outdated in no time as software vendors start utilizing moar coars in the coming years

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I didn't know that you had to use standoffs between the case and motherboard and screwed the motherboard directly onto the case. The graphics card didn't reach over the case edge because of this, I Googled that the metal plate on the card wasn't extending beyond the case edge and found someone who had the same issue made a thread on Tom's Hardware and the retards in the thread told him to bend the metal on the card. I did this and fucked up the card, then when I powered the PC up the motherboard shorted (the metal on the bottom was touching the metal PC case). This was my first ever build and I didn't know better.

Also, on my recent Ryzen build I almost fucked up screwing the cooler onto the motherboard because I didn't ralize that you had to scre each screw in just a little them move onto the next, screwing all four in a little before screwing them all the way (if you don't do this and screw each screw all the way before moving onto the next then the cooler won't be aligned flat on the board, it'll be at a diagonal angle with the side you screwed first downward and the otherside sticking up). I realized the mistake before I fucked up the board or cooler and everything went fine, though.

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You overestimate the average public's intelligence and willingness to learn. There's a guy on reddit who though the stock cooler was the CPU, and threw his i5 in the trash. Then there's the guy on LTT forums who drilled through his 980Ti.
People are incredibly stupid.

>installed new watercooler to replace air cooler on an overclocked FX8350
>didn't reset OC settings prior to install
>cooler didn't kick off immediately since it has to cycle first-run
>FX8350 burns out and kills board
>take it out to "troubleshoot"
>put in Phenom II to see if board is fried
>turns out it is fried
>ends up frying my Phenom II also

nice

>the stock cooler was the CPU, and threw his i5 in the trash
kek, cant find the story if its true

web.archive.org/web/20161205095227/https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/5g977q/halp_i_just_built_a_pc_for_the_first_time_but_it/

He wants to feel included

Depending on how many loose cables you have, it obstructs proper airflow.

Windows XP always took ages to install, even on hardware made for it at the time. It always took me at least 30 minutes. No fucking clue why.

XP installers that had slipstreamed updates took ages. If it got stuck at around "24 minutes remaining" forever, that's why.

>it obstructs proper airflow
Again though, literally who cares. Speaking of first builds, at that time I was still fooled into believing that airflow mattered at all, and had chassis fans and all kind of stuff. With every build since, I've been monitoring my temperatures and realized that none of it makes any noticeable difference at all. I now run completely without chassis fans and haven't even bothered considering airflow, and everything is perfectly fine and has been for many years.

I care... only because of Ivy Bridge Core i7 with a Radeon 290X and multiple hard disks.

But with my weaker boxes, you're right, I don't give a shit.

Not my first build (haven't built a PC) but I wanted to share still

>be 14, freshman in high school
>parents decide to let me get a gaming pc for christmas
>find a prebuilt one that works well for $1,200, decent specs and whatnot
>come christmas day, the thing doesn't work, was likely dropped during shipping
>parents take me to best buy to get a new one
>they find a shitty one that doesn't hold a candle to the other one
>i suggest i build my own pc, they don't want that
>they force me to buy the shitty one, wifi range is fucking terrible plus outdated components
>4 years later, still have same pc
>want to build my own pc but cryptocunts have made graphics cards unaffordable
>fml

>Radeon 290X
Doesn't that card cause enough airflow by itself to keep the whole rest of the system passively cooled?

It is true that I've never cared about being on the cutting edge of hardware. Partly because I don't tend to play the latest and greatest gaymes (they typically don't work in Wine anyway), but also because as a programmer I shouldn't be spoiling myself with good hardware. If anything, I should probably downgrade further.

Maybe in 2011 he was already 30 years old

Fuck no. I swear that fucking thing is a hairdryer, not a fan.

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>as a programmer... downgrade further.
No no no, how are you supposed to write the standard shitty, unoptimised code that needs an overclocked Icelake Core i9 to run, then?

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>Desktop PC
>Wifi
is this actually a thing?

Many parents won't let their kids knock holes in the walls to run UTP.

Many prebuilt desktops come with built in WiFi believe it or not. I have switched to powerline since then (best thing ever invented) and it helps to give me the benefits of a wired connection without installing another router.

I always install a Wi-Fi card in my desktops. Intel 7260AC is what I’m recycling between builds now. You never know when you’ll move into a home where you can’t be near the router to hardwire.

That's not even the issue you asshat your CPU draws too, along with your hard drives. That PSU lasted a lot longer than it should've, I could say the same about you, you fucking incompetent moron.

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I broke the SATA plastic clip on my first HDD after that I am extremely careful when handling thin plastic clips.

What the fuck kinda water cooler works like that? The pump and fans are supposed to turn on with the board.

>17 years old, finally saved up a whopping $800 from my garbage part time job
>Go to Microcenter and buy FX-4100 quad core, garbage Asrock 970 board, and Radeon 6670
>Stuff it all inside my HAF 912
>Accidentally put one too many stand offs in and shorted the motherboard
>Return it, claim it was defective out of box, they replace it
>Put everything back together right this time, now PC won't boot and stay on
>start taking everything back apart piece by piece to determine the fault
>One of my 4GB ram modules was actually truly defective
>Bring back the 8GB ram kit, get a replacement
>PC boots now!
>After 20 minutes the signal to the monitor goes out
>Faint smell of burning electronics
>Panic and unplug everything and open the PC
>The Radeon 6670 was defective too. Scorch mark right near the output ports
>Drive back to Microcenter. again. Angry.
>It's only been 3 hours total maybe and the worker who keeps helping me feels bad because he knew it was my first build and sees all the shit I'm going through
>Tells me to just go walk around the store for like 10 minutes, he has to do something before he can get my replacement
>Come back to the BYO section and see him waiting with an EVGA GTX 550Ti 1GB SC edition and 8GB kit of Corsair dominator 1866mhz
>Both had huge yellow clearance stickers on them
>Other than that, they looked brand fucking new. As if someone carefully sliced the packages open, then just closed em up without touching anything else.
>He just smirked a bit, said here's your replacement parts, sorry for the inconvenience
>Go home, everything just works perfectly
>There were like 6 different game vouchers inside the GPU box.

I still remember you Gentoo beard having Microcenter hippy.

Nigga this is r/buildapc tier of dumb.

>save up enough money to repower my oc'd E2140/2gb ram/6850 rig with a new CPU and mobo
>get an i3 3220/8gb/Asus something mobo because poorfag
>get it all home, spend a couple of hours trying to get decent cable management in my shitty case
>turn it on
>powers on for a sec then turns off again
>panic.exe
>try again
>boots properly this time
>get into the BIOS
>shit bricks because never seen UEFI bios before
>notice the ram isn't running at 1600mhz, only 1333
>manually set the speed and reboot
>computer won't boot
>panic.exe
>fuck around for ages trying to get it to turn on
>in my flustered haste I don't pull the bios battery for some reason
>end up sending the mobo back to the shop I bought it from so they can fix it
>realise later I should have just enabled XMP and used that
>because how the fuck is a ram gonna run at 1600 without all the other shit it needs

Damn I was retarded.

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>11yo
>order a bunch of parts from ebay
>wrong ram, ddr2 not ddr3
>exchange ram
>cpu fan doesn't work
>buy a new fan, works
>computer starts but doesnt POST
>figure out the mobo is broken, exchange it
>computer boots propery
>notice my gpu and motherboard both don't have vga ports
>buy an hdmi
>monitor only has vga
>buy a used monitor from ebay, doesnt work
>buy another monitor from ebay, it works
>realize their is no ps/2 ports
>buy a usb mouse and keyboard
A total clusterfuck that taught me to stay away from used parts. I was a retard with purchases, but it is unreal how many things were doa

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I did a similar thing but with a floppy drive.

I was trying to flash an Xbox360 optical drive daughter board and needed to do a cable swap with a sata but the power for my floppy drive was the same one that powered the optical drive. but I needed the floppy drive for the dos boot disk to do the flash.

Ended up killing 2 floppy drives cable swapping with my system on.