Alright you oafs. List some of the dumbest mistakes you've made while building a PC

Alright you oafs. List some of the dumbest mistakes you've made while building a PC.

I'll start:
>first RAM upgrade, put the fastest RAM in the first 2 slots, cooked the slower RAM.
>first full build, left screws under the motherboard, worked for a minute then short circuited
>2nd full build, cheaped out on the mobo and it required a BIOS flash to be compatible with my CPU, needless to say I didn't have a compatible CPU spare to perform the flash
>Latest build, case was too small for my graphics card, used a pair of tin snips and hacked it to pieces, still going strong.

Pls no bully. To make it worse, I couldn't figure out what I did wrong at the time, so I just built a whole new PC each time.

OP you dumb.

>tin snips

gj snippos

I've literally only build 2 PCs from scratch in my life. Never made any real mistakes.
Only bended a few pins on a PC when I wanted to change the CPU from my very first pre-build PC

> Building PC without GPU for headless server
> No integrated graphics in the CPU
> Rage because can't get to BIOS
Only facepalmed on the following day

>a PC
a CPU****
..obviously.

>pc not starting up
>debugging for 10 minutes
>almost killing myself under the pressure

Forgot to plug in CPU power...

At least you remembered to plug your PC into the wall.

>dropping ram
>screw under mobo
>forgot to screw in GPU to case
>bad cable management leads to fraying

>PC wouldn't switch on, turns out I was pressing the reset button, not the very large, unconventionally located power button

why i oaf

bcuz ur a big dumdum

dam

exactly

op have you ever considered that PC building might not be your thing?

>bended

This board is for those of age 18 or older please discontinue use until then, thank you.

Nah, I'm pretty good at it now, I made most of those mistakes many years ago. It's pretty straightforward, I just didn't do my research.

I fried a GPU by not checking that the 6 pin was properly seated.

It wasn't.

RAM syncs to slowest speed not fastest. You ran too much voltage like a dumbass.

In the past, you had to put the slowest clocked RAM in slots 1 and 3.

>ever overclocking anything
enjoy your kentecky fried CPU unit

Wtf you going on about. That is how it always has been. This is not something new but something old.

I've never actually overclocked a CPU. Too much risk for too little gain.

correct
Newer motherboards can have separate speeds in separate channels.

>This board is for those of age 18 or older please discontinue use until then, thank you.
i am 25, honey.

Then how do you not know the word "bent"?

>my intake fan was backwards
>buying a non modular power supply

For some. English is not their first language. Sounds scary I know. There are people on this planet different than you.

>implying the autist doesn't just continue thinking everyone is exactly like him when you call him out on his autism

This is not an excuse faggot. There is no good reason not to know simple words like bent or know simple rules like the proper use of "a" and "an".

because hitler :(
I am sorry. Sometimes my brain ist just fucked.

How many languages do you know faggot?

That's right, shut the fuck up.

t. not the user you're replying to

It
Doesn't
Matter
If he is going to claim to know a language he had better be near perfect at it first.

If I can understand what he's saying, he speaks it well enough. He's not writing a legal document, he's talking about technology on the internet.

...

My autism doesn't allow me to just stop when somebody is wrong. :(

I am not wrong though. what is wrong with correcting some idiots error?

That "idiot" speaks english as a second language, and you falsely assumed that he's underage, then demanded that he speak it perfectly despite beimg understood quite clearly.

That idiot fucking should I dont care if it's his "second language" thats not an excuse. If you you can't speak english stay off of english websites you have no right to be here you ignorant jackass.

It wasn't an excuse, it was an explanation.

>ignorant jackass
Oh, the ironing.

...

This is the most common mistake people make when building a computer

What about forgetting to switch on the PSU?

>seated the ddr4 ram in backwards
>panicked because everything lit up and fans started spinning but no boot
I realised it about 2 minutes later. That was literally the only small mistake I've ever made but I still keep on making it. I always double-check the RAM before closing the case now and I find it seated in properly or backwards 9/10 times. Kill me.

>be 15 at the time, into gayms and massively autistic
>Buy SNIPER case from Cooler Master
>The entire front panel is non-functional straight from factory
>The replacement consistently disconnects USB and fails to connect on startup until you plug out / in
>Plugging in a flash drive causes a stop error
>The power button can be "pushed" by a small spark near it

no one loves you

>his RAM / RAM slots are not keyed
where is your hardware manufactured? Somalia?

Sounds like something that could be fixed maybe.

Nice quality control tho.

>CPU fan is making lots of noise
>guy at computer shop mentioned I could just stop it with my finger
>too scared to stick my finger in
>put a highlighter into fan blade
>*SNAP* *WHRRRRRRRRRRR*
>Oh fuck
>CPU fan is now half broken and extremely loud
>want to play WoW but dont want to listen yo whirrrrring sound
>download speedfan
>set cpu fan to 20%
>"perfect"
>40 minutes later smell electrical smoke and burning
>smoke billowing out of PC
>FUCK SHIT FUCK
>UNPLUG EVERYTHING
>OPEN WINDOW AND SHOVE PC IN IT
>sit there staring at it til it cools down

In the end I had to replace my cpu fan, but the cpu itself was fine.

>cheaping out on the mobo
God I fucking hate people that do this.
>HURRFF DUR MOBO DOENDT GIVE MORW FRAMES SO ONLY SOEND $40 ON IT!!!!!

Won't make the same mistake again. You can have all sorts of issues by doing that. I buy midrange now for a midrange PC, and even then I still feel like I should be stepping up a tier. The mobo is where everything plugs into, and it should be decent to avoid problems. If you OC, don't even think about buying anything but the best IMO.

Hello fellow ASUS motherboard salesmen. Don't forget to buy ROG maximus IX EXTREME for the best gaming experience

Good on you for learning your lesson. I'd say the 2 things that people will be tempted to cheap out on for their pc is the mobo and the psu. However it turns out these are the two most important things for the longevity/stability of any build.

Sarcasm aside, enjoy your overheating south bridge and mysterious crashes.

I don't even own anything ASUS. And fuck buying the most expensive mobo, it's all the same past the mid-highmid range anyway. A board with good components, OCing, m.2, and plenty of ports is all anyone needs.

Used thermal epoxy on my first build (FX-8320) no problems until I tried to reapply thermal paste several years later, needed to get a razor blade wedged between the heatsink and cpu, pushed with all my might, and it eventually came off. Looked fine except on pin was bent. Tried to bend it back into place and in the process bent two more out of place. Eventually managed to get all three more or less straight, cleaned the epoxy off with hydrogen peroxide and elbow grease, applied proper thermal paste, and it plopped right in the slot. Haven't had a problem since, going nice and strong for six months so far.

Took me 2 hours to install the 212 evo on my z170 mobo.

Yeah, 80 plus is necessary. The watts they claim on a generic power supply are just the maximum output and it doesn't mean it can pull those watts consistently. If you're lucky, your budget case PSU won't take your PC out with it when it inevitable shits itself.

I didn't know what motherboard stand-offs were on my first built. Cooked everything instantly.

Flick the 220V switch on my PSU

Put a stick of RAM in backwards, which killed it.

It won't even fit in, how tf did you do it

Hah, funny how I never made that mistake, despite my tendency to flick switches to see what they do. Might be because the red on the switch made me cautious.

Probably depends on the mobo.

It's often hard to tell if the RAM is fully seated

Depends if you want the high-end features I guess. You probably pay a lot of money for not a whole lot more, because they know they can push up the price more at the top end of the market and people will still pay it just to have the best.

...

I didn't turn the power supply on, didn't plug the power supply into the wall, the power socket was turned off, and I didn't plug any of the component power cables into the power supply.
All in one build, and at once. As soon as I realised the wall, I turned it on. Went through the whole chain, and it worked perfectly fine.
It made me feel a tad embarrassed, because I forgot the power almost entirely.

Fist ever build I put front panel connectors on a USB header.
Second time I had a cable interfering with a chassis fan which made a disturbing buzzing sound.
Never caused any damage to a system through pure stupidity.

>working on changing parts on my pc
>hear everyone talk about static electricity
>bunchofbullshit.jpg
>small static discharge while I'm working
>after i'm done turn the pc on
>everythings working fine
>wait a tick
>no internet
>check settings
>no network card detected
And that's how I learned static electricity isn't a meme cause I had to buy a new network card after frying mine with a small static shock

>CPU water block leaked on 8800gtx
>burned 3 out 4 ddr2 sticks in a few month with excessive voltage
>burned 4670k with 1.4v. It was fine for a year but now it is stable only at 4.2 instead of 4.5
>bricked mobo with ozmosis bios

>unknowingly ran 1.4875v on my i3 3220 for potentially up to 4 months

Water cooling is such a meme.

Great way to waste your money and endanger your expensive computer parts.

KEK. I know this.

Once I had a friend and I had my PC opened like a badass and we touched the CPU fan while running because lel but then he touched too hard and half of the rotors broke. PC was loud as hell and vibrated much then. Used it like half a year this way until I bought a new CPU fan.
>*WRRRWWWWWWMMMM*

>Bought meme cpu g3258
>Bought aftermarket cooler
>Doesn't overclock for shit.
>Bought full atx board
>Only use one PCIe slot
>Bought case with lots of fan mounts
>Use 8 fans at low speed.

It never occurred to me how much of an idiot I was being when I did all of this. Girlyvoice tech tips gave me a bunch of stupid information.

I always buy full ATX boards. Sometimes I use the extra slots, I always enjoy the extra space.

>screw became hammed in one of the standoffs
>try and unscrew
>nope
>try and use tiny wrench to unscrew from standoff side
>nope
>decide to try cutting the screw in half with hacksaw
>it works
>put motherboard back in
>it doesn't post
>realize I sawed through a couple of the tracks on the mobo

interested bump

yes and no, when I fixed arcade machines we routinely threw in cheap 500w power supplies into computers running games like golden tee because the they usually had a power draw of less than 200 total.

>have IQ of 148
>barely ever did any research about upgrading/building PCs
>upgraded/built several PCs
>never made a single mistake

They are still likely to be built poorly though. And what if the fuse was thrown together macguyver style with some gum and a piece of wire that's almost the right size?

Could someone with an iq of 148 deduce that no one would be impressed?