Discussion on:

10 things you should do when building a new PC

Although I have built a lot of computers. It was nice to see a plane, nice and clear posting on the subject. The thing I like the most was no advertizing. This is what I used to come to cnet and zdnet for not all the fights and branding that is seen in most posts. thank again for a clean post

I also have a large case with 8 fans, they move a lot of air and so too, dust. I have a reminder in my calendar to clean the filters periodically. A piece of a nylon stocking over the front of the fans openings gives me a visual indicator as to whether or not they need earlier cleaning.
My case has 4 forward-facing removable 3-bay 5.25x5.25 slide-outs, each could hold a trio of 3.5" drives or 5.25 devices-- Even though I only have 3 hard drives and an optical installed, that's okay-- I like to spread them out (one in each bay) to reduce the concentration of heat.
Buy as much power supply and memory as you can afford. Re-running the power cables after a replacement is a huge hassle if you build for neatness (optimizing airflow). Get a PS with modular cables and use only those you need. Buy a quality energy-efficient model with a good fan(s) and keep it clear of dust. Plan for expansion and get more power than you need.
Buy memory in large modules, again planning for additions-- that way you don't have to replace smaller modules when upgrading, just add in larger ones.
Re-use old components like opticals if you can to save dollars. New modular water-cooling CPU units with rear-mounted fans provide better cooling than stock (careful of over-clocking) and the fan/radiator is easier to clean than a CPU-mounted cooler (mount outside the case).

The hardware seller I go to will hot test the motherboard with the cpu and memory installed right there before you leave. That guarantees the state of the hardware before you leave so there is no argument about it if something turns up bad later and it saves you a round trip to replace an item. The young guys that work there are highly knowledgeable and will suggest variations for you if asked and will warn you if some of your choices have negative side effects with your package.

Whatever you choose, have a Google for problems with them first. You may not change your mind, but you'll be one step ahead if yours falls over the same way others have.

I find that often (always?) fans mounted on the chassie expels air. That results in air being sucked into the chassie in many (bad) places. I always change that so the chassie fans pumps air into the chassie instead. Then it becomes much easier to filter the air that goes to the inside of the computer and usb-connectors and other "leaks" keeps clean

First tip: make sure that processor, mother board, power supply memory enclosure and extension bus are really what you think you order (same family footprint speed etc).
(I bought some incompatible technology many times).
Second tip: make sure the cooling fan is physically fitting on your mother board AND in the enclosure.
Third tip: make sure you buy a cooler with sufficient capacity for your processor.
Fourth tip: Make sure the graphics card can actually be installed on the mother board i have seen north- southbridge heatsinks and capacitors too high to install a large graphics board. Make sure it fits in the enclosure too.
Fifth tip: make a spreadsheet with all the requirements you need (esp motherboard) and enter all alternatives to it: before you know it, you have ordered a motherboard missing exactly the feature you intended in the first place. There are just too many features to keep track.
Sixt tip: Buy large slow turning fans. They make less noise and live longer.
Seventh tip: If gaming is not your first priority, buy a passive cooled graphics card (without fan). it wont fail after a year or so. Try to evite any fan on PCB, be it graphics or motherboard, when they fail (and they do) it's disaster time.
Eighth tip: Invest in a silent enclosure. Once you've installed 8 fans you'll remember why.
Ninth tip: Never buy by mail order, unless you know what you order, and are ready for returns (see tips above).
tenth tip: Ask around, call the shop, read the internet about DIY (Tom's hardware, tweakers.net for the Dutch)
http://tweakers.net/reviews/2719/tweakers-punt-net-best-buy-guide-editie-september-2012.html

I personally prefer to keep computers off of the floor--specifically 6 inches or more. After all, I did buy a computer not a vacuum cleaner.

It is a good idea to buy the motherboard, processor , and memory from one source. If there is a faulty component; it would be easier to complain to one source.

Memory prices are one thing but compatibilty can be a problem also, so go to the manufactures websites and verify the memory you are buying is going to work with your motherboard. As for dust I too keep my desktops off the floor and since most of the cases out there now come with thumb screws I regularly open mind and blow out the dust it only takes a minute and no tools are needed.

In addition to the factors mentioned, it's important to buy a good quality power supply. Since the power supply affects every other part of the PC, a poor quality one can invite the premature failure of other components.

I recently bought a cool case for my new pc build. The wow factor on this case was the number, type and style of drives it could support (4 open bays, 4 SSD slots, 2 SATA slots, and 2 hot swappable SATA slots). Unfortunately, once it was all delivered, I found that the number of SATA3 ports on my motherboard was less than the number I needed. Now I have to purchase another pci card just to be able to connect all of the hard drives, SSDs, DVD drive, etc. I'm new to building PCs from the ground up, so while I thought I'd crossed all my t's and dotted all the i's, I still missed this rather obvious caution.

This should be on top of the list, even if you know what you are doing.

What is important is that the fans are of a high quality and that the both bring in and exhaust air at the same rate so you don't end up with negative, or positive pressure that actually impedes air flow. You don't need 8 or 10 case fans, virtually any case can do quite well with no more than 6 total fans. Power Supply Fan, CPU Fan, GPU Fan, HD Cooling fan, Air Intake, and Exhaust. More fans does not mean better cooling it means more mixed air and a louder machine.

I have seen cases set up with all fans exhausting which results in poor air flow especially across the CPU and graphics cards. You need air flow, generally front to back (CPUs and graphics cards generally create the most heat) and bottom to top (Hot air rises after all).

If you have your intake at the top and try to exhaust from the bottom front of the case it will not work well at all. I have been building high end gaming and video editing computers for 20+ years I have NEVER had a CPU fail due to heat (except if the CPU fan fails AND the Heatsink is either not properly sized or clogged with dust / dirt.

I've seen most mid range and high end require a 550, not a 850 Watt. Eventhough an 850 Watt with a high end card is about what you need if running a gaming PC. Maybe this should be restated better.

Specialized CUDA hardware simulation boxes will load as many Nvidia cards as possible. An upscale gaming system using Crossfire or SLI + PhysX could have a minimum of two maximum of four cards @ 300W per card... TDP implies very good air or liquid cooling in those types of situations!

We have gotten to the point that even a current generation mid range card is enough to run modern games at max levels and still get 40-60fps.

Sounds like an article thrown together and when 10 paragraphs could be fashioned, hit Send.

For example, here is what can be readily provided on just one of the topics mentioned to make it much more useful:

The importance of airflow as opposed to "quantity of fans" is not even mentioned. Airflow should be _designed_, and implemented, to keep all components well within their comfort range, and with only the quietest fans that achieve that primary goal. Air should be drawn in (_perhaps_ helped by an "intake" fan) near components like CPUs, hard drives and video cards, and exhausted near the top of the case (assuming a "tower" style of case) through the power supply and perhaps through another fan mounted against the power supply exhaust port to help the fans inside the power supply. (Who thought it was a good idea to make cases that mount the power supply in the bottom?) The power supply should be high-efficiency and rated for enough output for the intended system and reasonable potential expansions, and not a whole lot more. Explain why, and relate it to lifecycle cost, considering electricity usage. Vents that would admit air that would not follow a useful path (for example, into the case through unused fan-installation locations, and right back out through the fan in the next location) should actually be blocked. In addition, care needs to be taken to prevent having so many fans trying to exhaust warm air that the fan(s) in and for the power supply are inadequate to pull the desired amount of air through it and out of the case, because all those other fans are trying to suck air in through any available opening, including backwards through the power supply, thus impeding its fan(s). Hard disk drives (HDDs, including solid-state drives) should not be mounted in adjacent HDD slots, so good airflow goes through the spaces between them.

Finally, as in any other "development" activity, measuring the results of actions taken is an essential step to be repeated after each change: Add a fan and measure the airflow. Repeat _only_ until desired airflow (and, hopefully, component temperatures based on actual device internal temperature reports under various test conditions) is achieved. Temperature data is readily available from modern components and displayable with several free utilities. Especially for high-end systems, which are valuable and produce more heat, additional temperature-monitoring stuff, possibly with alarms and shutdown capabilities, can be implemented. Show us how to do all of these steps.

Show us pictures of cables that block airflow and cause hot spots; explain why; then show pictures of how to avoid that.

This is just one of the ten topics in the original article; each of them should be developed much more in order to be really useful.

I hope this helps.

Jim-MN

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Some case manufacturers have gone a bit overboard with fan openings. It's not necessarily helpful.

A friend recently bought brought his new PC to me so I could install some additional software. The PC was in a mid-tower case with large openings on the top and the side cover. The openings could each accommodate a single 140mm fan or two 120mm fans but there was no way to mount fans without leaving a significant part of the opening unblocked. No fans were equipped in the openings. The front bezel is equipped with a dust filter as is an opening under the power supply. Here are some of the other details:

micro-ATX MB with NVIDIA 7025/630a chipset
2 X 4GB RAM
AMD FX quad-core CPU w/fan
AMD 6670 1GB graphics card w/fan
500GB HDD
Bottom mounted 480W PSU w/80mm fan
120mm rear exhaust fan

The PC's cooling needs are modest but the extra case openings would not direct airflow where it was most needed or prevent dust from entering the case. I ended up covering the top and side openings with textured ABS plastic sheeting cut to fit. The airflow is now front-to-back with the extra openings blocked and there is less dust entering the case.

If possible, set an alarm for over temperature in the CMOS or an auxiliary control/sensor.

I can't believe this has not been mentioned yet. One of the most important rules when building a PC is to consult the motherboard manufacturer's website and look at the QVL. The Qualified Vendor List is a running list of current memory makes and models that have been successfully tested with the motherboard you are planning on buying. Some memory will only work in a single DIMM or double DIMM configuration. If you are planning on filling all 4 DIMM slots to your desktop motherboard, I would STRONGLY suggest reading the QVL on the manufacturer's website BEFORE ordering memory. Not following this guideline could cause you many months of headaches down the road of troubleshooting "flash player crashes" or BSOD's that really have nothing to do with the OS or the software, but came down to the wrong memory for the board. Just because the frequency and latency may match up, does not mean it will work successfully. If you are an expert, perhaps you will be able to tweak DRAM config enough to make it stable. Then again, if you are an expert then you already read the QVL before ordering the memory. DRAM tweaking should only be used to boost performance and should not have to be tweaked just to make the system work correctly.

The case is a very important issue. If you have the room, going a bit oversize can be a very good thing. I have a couple older desktops where it is very hard to get to anything because everything is very squeezed. My Corsair 600T has lots of open space, routes most cables out of site UNDER the mobo, is amazingly easy to work in and stays nice and cool inside. \

A mobo consideration; as soon as you buy one, Intel will likely make it obsolete by coming up with its latest chips in a different form factor. If the CPU you are now buying is from an old line of CPU's, the mobo will quickly become obsolete; though that is even a risk for newer CPU lines.

PSU's are very important - not just the total official power output, but their quality. I have a 'gold' 800 or so, that really puts out its rated output power. But what's really nice is that when the system isn't doing much, it consumes far less power then you might expect (about 100 watts idling with 16gb, 2hd's, an AMD video card, and an I7 CPU). Also, my psu does not have most of the power output cables permanently attached, making the inside of the case far less crowded.

...backups. Or perhaps that's too obvious?

I wouldn't worry about the case size provided it meets requirements (performance and cost).

What Igmo has nine case fans, puts his machine on the floor where all the dust is, doesn't keep it clean and doesn't program the system to shut down when the proc gets too hot? Newbie.

Enjoyed reading your "10 things" article on BYO PC. I've built several and one of the major irritants I've always struggled with is the inherent noisiness of systems with lots of fans. There are actually some really cool (pun intended) things you can do to minimize the number of fans needed so you can keep your noise levels really low (my system is at 40dB - the only fan is for the power supply). Everything else if passively cooled with copper heat pipe and fins and so there is no high-pitched whine or low-level whirring sounds. The only way you know it's running is the soft blue light on the front panel. If you want to take up the challenge of building a silent PC, check out http://www.silentpcreview.com/

Cheers
Robb

'A few months ago, the computers air intake became clogged with dust. This prevented the nine fans from moving enough air, and the computer overheated as a result. My failure to keep the air intake clean resulted in having to purchase a new processor.'

Pretty much every PC out there (and for the last few years) has thermal protection. You will NOT destroy your processor by overheating it, it will simply throttle itself.
How about sticking to the truth, rather than making stuff up to get your points home...

worse than useless through various thermal events. In the case of "throttling" that would be a function of the motherboard chipset supplying clock signals to the processor. Those can be overridden, that's why I don't overclock.

The CPU itself will trip the equivalent of a circuit breaker to the clock input during a thermal event (HALT state), but more often than not you've already done the damage when that event triggers internally.

And by worse than useless I'm talking about transistor failures on the die that don't render the CPU inoperative. Just unreliable...

ADDENDUM: I thought Speedstep was only for mobile products, a majority of desktop processors support them too. Thus you are correct and I am behind wrt modern intel CPU's! A little more research shows you can disable it tho... So it's still very possible to damage your CPU thermally through BIOS settings.

If you are into stability, one somewhat expensive approach is to buy faster than what you need, and then underclock a little bit. It's cooler and quieter.

These are at the top of my list.

With Point 3, in my experience cooling is most important for Hard Drive and Video Card (if you go accelerated), not so much CPU. However, the cooler you keep a modern CPU, the more speed you will get due to the fact the CPU's are built to slow down when overheated. The first Server I built had cooling fans everywhere due to a very hot RAID array it housed. When I left the job, the replacement tech failed to replace one of those fans when it died. Two months later, the Hard Drives started to die. Same with accelerated video cards. These don't last long hot. I5 and I7 CPU's also fail early when run hot due to their on die Video Driver - this is a relatively new consideration.

The case: Go for the biggest you can get away with - once again for cooling. However, if you are on a budget, stick to a smaller, more rigid case rather than a cheap big case with heaps of flex. Better to have a smaller, more rigid case with more fans than a big, poorly built case. I have seen many motherboards fail early due to case flex.

Power: This really is the heart of the computer, try not to skimp here or the computer will be unstable not long after build. If you live in an area with bad power delivery (such as the Gold Coast, Australia), invest in an online UPS that is big enough to cope with the computer and the screen. This will further enhance your stability.

Memory: If stability is a big factor, ALWAYS use ECC memory. Better to have 16Gb of ECC than 32Gb of non ECC if stability is key to your build.

Ensure that all your selected components are compatible. That is especially true with new CPUs. Check mobo specs and see if it supports the CPU you have selected and what BIOS revision is required. It can be difficult to order a specific BIOS revision from most mail order vendors. The mobo manufacturer's QVL is helpful, but it is not all inclusive. Odds are that many other memory modules are compatible but are not listed.

Unless you are building a high end gaming machine, a single 12 cm. rear mounted fan will probably be sufficient. A front mounted intake fan blowing over the hard disks may prolong hard disk life.

Ran my own shop for years. Lost count of how many from scratch customs I've done for myself and customers. I don't just give away valuable information any more but I will say that I don't see key concepts covered here and nothing aproaching what I would consider a complete guide.

Some tips: Dont go for cutting edge components. Stick with proven gear. Been building computers since 1996. Every time I tried the cutting edge, I was the one who wound up doing the bleeding.

If your build doesn't work and you have tried everyting you can think of, you probably have more than one issue causing failure.

Just because a part is brand new, doesn't mean its good.

Don't force any parts together. Some might be a bit tight so its really a judgement call: Sorry but no subsitute for experience.

And a final buzz kill: Just because two components should work together doesn't mean they will. If you don't really know your hardware, be perparied to pay for your education.

Large companies like HP, Dell, Sony, you name it, even Apple, build limited varities of each type. My experience suggests that this is probably due to how many iterations of parts that are built that don't live up to specs. They do R&D find what works consistently and order a batch of them or order a batch of them and test them and then build, but plan on a failure rate. Name a part and a brand and I've had to return a dead one to a vendor that just sold it to me.

Bottom line: Building your own gear to get just the results you are looking for is like any other thing worth doing. It takes time, effort and resources to get good at.

Don't force any parts together About 15 years ago was working on a Novell server upgrade and one of our new techs was watching me. I still recall being startled when he made the comment you are awfully gentle with that aren't you? Mind you he used to do hard drive repair for Wang.

If you want to experience several months to a year of BSODs or lockups, buy the latest and greatest. If you want stability, you should buy older boards, because the software has been (ahem) adjusted to avoid the hardware problems. Surprisingly, you can find motherboards a year or more after they've been introduced. Also, things like memory incompatibilities get worked out, or at least they will have a better list of memory that's been tested. The manufacturers will always push the latest, but you can find all kinds of product in the market.

I got this great tool called the Kill-A-Watt wattmeter. It'll tell you how much power the computer is using. It turns out that my Athlon II X4 with 4Gigs and one hard disk uses 130 Watts, so the 400 W power supply was overkill. 250 would have been fine.

For dust, I found that a small wet-dry vac I got from Sears is the best thing ever. It's powerful, and cleaning out the case is easy. To blow the dust out of the CPU's heatsink, I attach the hose to the air outlet, and then blow into the CPU, right through the fan (which will whirr). The dust flies out - so do this outdoors or in the garage. (and unplug the computer, of course)

It's also useful in vacuum mode, to vacuum up the dustballs. Because it's a wet-dry, it's pretty easy to recover small parts that get sucked into it.

The majority of vacuum's will create static which will short your components - EVEN WITH THE PC OFF.

For example, some AMD video cards require a 850 watt (or higher) power supply with two 150 watt eight-pin and two 75 watt six-pin PCI Express power connectors.

Could I see pics and spec of this card that requires 2x8 AND 2x6 power connectors and a minimum 850w power supply? The power hungry 6990 wants 750w minimum and only 2x8 pin connectors.

For someone who has written thousands of articles and written or contributed to dozens of books on a variety of IT subjects one would assume that the information given on an article on Techrepublic is accurate.

once a year, i'll bring out all the hardware and clean all the computers with an airgun connected to a compressor. inside and outside. You be suprised how much dust, and parts from yourself, will be everywhere on the motherboard and near the fans.
I had computers for repair where all the habbits of the owners came together in one computer. dust, smoke, grease etc.

Note that this is an Australian perspective.
For a bog standard mini tower PC putting it together is not much more difficult than buying and assembling Lego.
If you want specialist gaming or "whatevering" PCs then you do need to put a lot of thought into it.
IN OZ the unfortunate thing is that you build for pleasure not profit. You can buy the same core components in a system, pre built, and cheaper, at your local computer faire.
Bummer.
My main point is that most of the above comments are adding too much complexity to a simple problem.
I have been building tower pc's for years. I have knowledge.

Maybe this will show up this time. I am considering building HTPC, but it seems that more reasonable price would be purchase barebones PC, add SSD, RAM, and use current NAS for primary storage. Problem I see is no Tuner/Input to transfer current programs from DVR I am getting rid of (cutting cord)

After considerable research I decided on an Asus X79 motherboard. I needed a fast machine for video editing, but not necessarily blazing fast graphics. I naively assumed that I could just use the integrated graphics on the motherboard. Wrong! The X79 does not have integrated graphics. In retrospect, this makes sense, since the X79 is aimed at the gamer market, and no self respecting gamer would even consider using integrated graphics. Unfortunately, it's not easy to find out what a board does not do, at least not at the vendor's website., After the fact, I did a search which led me to a Tiger Direct page which specifically states that the X79 has no intetgrated graphics Live and learn. I'm now the proud ownner of a mid-level GPU..