Poll: How smooth was your first build?

[JonnyStarks]

So I've been perusing these boards for awhile, waiting and gathering advice before I take the plunge and build my machine.
I can't help but notice a good number of topics to the tune of "New computer build - HELP!!" "Noob build problems!!" and the like, and it just got me to thinking: what is the ratio of people who do have a problem vs people who have it go smooth.

This is concerning first time builds, and yes, I know that it is good for you to work out problems on your own and that is the best way to learn, but I'm still curious as to what I should expect when I go it alone as well.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I had no real problems with my first system build. I had minor issues like the the major bitch AMD heatsinks are to put on, the typical power/LED/reset plugs reversed, and having two drives as master on one IDE channel. Other than that it went off without a hitch.

 

[jimmyl930]

I didn't have any major problems with my first build. Setting up all the software took much more time.

 

[MDE]

The first build I did completely by myself went very smoothly except for the reversed LED leads, etc.

 

[Pilsnerpete]

My first pc with NEW parts went pretty bad. Both stickks of ram I got were bad...RMA to manufacturer. I had a stick of known-good Crucial that I popped in to make sure. And later a cheap psu caused me days of emotional distress. Most of the time, you should rip the power supply out if it came with a cheap case. Do yourself a favor and get a good one.

 

[Anonemous]

First build came off without a major hitch. Was a good learning experience. Only problem I got was playing with FSB speeds while ocing. Had to pull off the cmos battery a couple times.

 

[saxophonoia]

I couldn't get my sound to work on my first build but other than that it went fine

 

[Nohr]

I had the floppy cable on wrong I think. It caused the system to not boot for some reason. Took some help to figure that out.

 

[sparkrainfire]

my first computer was an old 486 that we had to take apart, and then put back together for a tech class i had in high school. the main goal of the project wast o get us to label all the cords, learn jumpers, ect. we (we had to work in groups of 2) forgot to set the jumper on the hdd, so it wouldnt boot, it didnt take us long to figure that out..

 

[kyparrish]

i'll be honest...

i didn't use all of the jumpers for my motherboard, so part of the mobo was touching the case, and some how it fried my 1700+ xp

 

[Bleep]

My first build went by without a glitch, I read a lot, and took my time. If you read a lot of the threads you will find really stupid mistakes like standoffs that are in the wrong place, these guys have never thought to line the MB up in the case and mark the holes then count the number of bolts in relation to the number of standoffs, they will put in the raid array, 2 hard drives all their optical drives without any thought as to jumpers, some motherboards come with the bios jumper in the reset position and the builders never even look at the manual for the motherboard. There are those that put the bios jumper in the reset position and then try and boot the machine, this is because they have no patience and dont read the manual.
Just take your time put the basic system together on the kitchen table not in the case and boot it up this can save a lot of grief a little later in the build.
You only have to be just a little smarter than a drunk monkey to plug the computer together.

Bleep

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Except for some sata woes and the fact that I'm retarded the first time I attempt to set the jumpers on hard drives/dvd drives mine went fine... I swear someone changes the picture after my first try...

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Aside from the few mismatched case LEDs and backwards floppy cable, it went fairly well.

The AMD heatsink installation sucked though.

 

[RSanders]

First and only system went pretty good besides putting on the fan/heatsink.. err I was afraid I would break it.

I also almost screwed the mobo onto the case without using the screws to have it lifted up.. Thank god I got someone to help me at local PC store cause I bought case and I told them my mobo wasn't fitting it and stuff.. and it ended up being that I screwed the mobo to the case.. LOL without using the things to keep it up.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

RSanders:

"Standoffs"

Yes, the first time I did a heatsink installation was quite scary.

 

[mitchafi]

I mismatched the power button and the HDD lights and all that jazz. I also broke a pin off one of those on the motherboard. I was sweating bullets putting on the cpu heatsink and had to get someone to help me. And I also dropped my screwdriver on the mobo accidentally luckily the little scratch it made didn't have any effect.

 

[Corporate Thug]

no problem

 

[acebake]

Haha, first build--I was installing the heatsink, and jammed the screwdriver straight into the motherboard, and a nice purple stain (looked like ink had spilled) appeared and began to spread. I was able to return it though....

 

[GTaudiophile]

I helped many friends build their first machine, but the first one I did completely on my own had a DOA retail PIII-866 from newegg (or mwave). Intel replaced it within like 2-3 days and all was good after that. The troubleshooting was of course a biatch.

Edit: Installing the HSF on those older machines was always the heart-stopper. Thank God Intel got smart with the P4 Northwoods. Quite simple to install those.

 

[Hanzou]

No major problems. Had trouble putting on the Aeroflow heatsink but now I can put the heatsink on in seconds. Besides that I think everything worked out well.

 

[crsgardner]

I would recommend for your first build that you stay away from overclocking. It can be hard enough for a newbie to build a machine that doesn't startup when you first plug it in (hell, it can be hard enough sometimes for vets). Adding overclocking to the mix is just asking for trouble.

That said, my first build (an AMD rig in 98) went off without a hitch. Then again, I had been working in hardware for a number of years. The only odd thing I ran across was fitting a heatsink and fan to the CPU itself (damn OEM whiteboxes). Outside of this it went along fan.

 

[us3rnotfound]

I am curious to know about Mechbgon's first build.

 

[GeneralGrievous]

Building it went fine, but I didn't order parts as well as I should have.

1. I was building a gaming comp and ordered a 9600 SE.
2. I got some $10 sound card, not realizing it was actually inferior to the onboard sound.
3. I got some cheap Biostar mobo. Mobo is the one thing you should NOT skimp on. The higher mobos actually save you money in the end, with better overclocking and better onboard sound/lan, have better cooling, and have other perks.
4. I got some $10 heatsink/fan for CPU which is really no better than the stock one I substituted it for.

So in short, I had more problems picking out good equipment. Building it is simple. Everything fits in only 1 place in 1 direction pretty much.

Also, when building it, save everything. I threw away some PCI cover brackets and now I regret it.

 

[blodhi74]

first built was smooth but second for my friend had a bad memory module

 

[amdskip]

First build was a 900mhz thunderbird on the kitchen table, went pretty good.