New
#11
Building your own computer
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New #12
With respect to the anti-static wrist band, as a computer builder and assembler for over 20 years, a professionally employed systems admin for over 15 years, I have NEVER, and I repeat NEVER used an anti-static wrist strap. I've never seen a fellow admin use one. And I've never once seen a vendor who came onsite to install, repair or configure any of our enterprise equipment use one.
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New #15
I've built a few in my living room with a bath towel laid over my coffee table. If I had scratched the wood, my wife would have killed me. I've built over 100 in my lifetime, and haven't ever used one. Some major PC mag recently did an article about how components are not built as fragile and intolerant to static as they used to be.
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New #16
Sorry, I'm with James on this one. Far too many people end up in the Crashes and Debugging forums with a botched RAM set that in most cases was likely due to ESD damage. After working with NASA for a summer and seeing the painstaking work they do with electronics and the precautions they take to prevent such damage, I always recommend ESD safety first. I will admit that the NASA components are more prone to damage of this type, but I learned that the same precautions also apply to RAM, CPUs, graphics cards, and computer components in general. Further reading: Avoid Static Damage to Your PC | PCWorld
Just because you have not had issues with your systems not following ESD safety does not mean that it is good advice to tell others the same. Plus, I am willing to bet that you did do other steps to make sure ESD was not an issue such as holding onto a metal portion of your computer tower case, etc. If you did not do that, then maybe you are among the lucky who did not fry something upon build...
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New #17
Every played with Lego or a Mechano set? Pretty much the same thing.
More like it was probably bad right out of the package.Far too many people end up in the Crashes and Debugging forums with a botched RAM set that in most cases was likely due to ESD damage.
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New #18
In addition to Mike's reference, here's one I read some time back that might shed more light. http://www.aecouncil.com/Papers/aec1.pdf
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New #19
Must be a lot of bad RAM out of the package then.
You will note that I said "most cases" rather than all cases, so I am aware of bad RAM coming in packages. I personally find it unlikely that the RAM is shipped bad as often as it is found to be bad on these forums through our debugging. I imagine it does happen enough that companies provide the lifetime warranties, but I do not think it happens as often as it would seem based on the RAM replacements fixing issues in these forums.
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New #20
Chips as others have stated do lots of research for each part considered by locating installation/user manuals and also user reviews of the parts quality before purchasing or attempting installation.
One of the first things when choosing to build your own system is determining whether you wish to have an AMD or Intel based system then choosing a CPU (processor) that matches the socket type of the motherboard as there are many different socket types and CPU's to choose from. Thermal paste MUST be applied between the CPU and CPU cooler or the CPU will overheat.
Higher end Video cards and added hard drives etc. will require a larger power supply than what usually comes installed with OEM systems.
As others have said this is a great forum for helping others on a new/first time build. A successful technique others have used is to start a thread posting a list of preliminary chosen parts and spending limit then others with build experience can respond to the post ensuring the parts chosen are all compatible and of good quality.
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