4 Common Newbie Mistakes You Make When Building Your First Computer

What are the common mistakes that beginner PC builders make? Oh, the list can be long, and based on many experiences, we can name at least 20 here alone. For beginners, building a PC is not easy, but it’s not rocket science either; but there are enough components and enough small things that make it easy to overlook a minor, but critical aspect of assembly.

So, here’s hoping that presenting the four most common newbie mistakes when building a first-time PC can help alleviate those mistakes, and that means four less mistakes and 16 more to go. Just kidding.

Mixing up the power cables

Of course you do know how to plug in your cables, but not all plugs are created equal. Take your computer’s internal power supply that has two different kinds of 8-pin power cables: one for the graphics card and the other one for the CPU’s motherboard. So be sure to take a closer look at the pins since they’re shaped differently so you don’t force into where they don’t belong.

Leaving the graphics card hanging out

If the GPU is screwed into the case and plugged into its power, don’t immediately assume that it’s good to go. The graphics card needs to be plugged into a slot on the motherboard. There’s a rubber shield you need to remove to expose the PCI-Express slot, and then the card needs to plug into a matching PCI-Express lane on the board. Make sure of this by pushing the graphics card into the slot until the lock – at the far end of the slot – snaps into place. Then be sure to screw in the card and don’t rely on the motherboard slot to carry all the weight.

Not pushing the power cables all the way in

Many newbies and even experts have fallen into trap of not being able to figure out why the desktop wouldn’t boot. The motherboard seemed to be getting power, the graphics card seemed to be getting power, but the computer just wouldn’t turn on. Take the time to really study because the motherboard power cable could be just a fraction of a millimeter shy of being properly plugged in. It just needed a tiny little push to snap into place. It can look like it was plugged in, but more often it’s not.

Not using anti-static procedures when building a PC

“Grounding” refers to the process of discharging static electricity from the human builder into safe ground that sinks the charge and pulls it away from the user. This prevents electrostatic build-up and discharge into components that will ultimately damage computer hardware, and this damage is not usually immediately visible until the PC is used often. It’s advisable to take some sort of grounding safety precautions such as a simple anti-static wrist strap or a banana plug receptacle that connects to the third prong in a wall outlet.