Building your own computer

Chips,
Take it nice and slow. Take pictures at all the various stages and close ups of the processor and other items. You will have fun and when you're done it will only be the beginning of you getting back inside the case to tidy things up. If you can go slow and route the wires in several different ways then settle on the one that is the cleanest then use that one. Routing wires behind the mobo and even some of the thin ones under the mobo. I envy you as there really is no more pure fun then the first build and getting to the point were you power it up for the first time and you question all your connections......it's the best and were here for you all the way through this process.

Sorry for the OT, just getting a quick reply in.

DeaconFrost said:

I'd love to live where you do, because in the rest of the world, buying online is FAR cheaper. The stores have much more overhead and don't buy in volume that someone like Newegg does.

Yeah, I understand you guys in the west pay a lot for labour. Here labour is a pittance - heck, bring a friend to buy another computer at the same time and you can bargain to get them both assembled at no charge instead of accepting the free gift (usually some crap usb toy). The pimply-faced college kid temp will assemble the thing far more deftly than I can, while I sit there watching and asking questions.

Admittedly, they pay an arm and a leg for software over here - which explains the piracy rate (although it's getting better, stores are mostly legit now compared to a decade ago).

James7679 said:

pparks1 said:

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.

Yes, and as a computer builder, I'm sure you were working in a controlled environment. Not walking around barefoot on carpet....

I build all of my systems while sitting on the carpet in my room. Probably built 100 machines in the past 16 years. Never used a strap or anything.

Here I am testing a pair of 36gb seagate cheetahs 10,000rpm scsi drives, which get hot enough to cook on.
Almost burnt my hand when I touched one.

All I am saying is that i don't think you need to be paranoid about using the wrist strap or refraining from touching something until your wrist strap comes in. Many of us, have built successfully and support computers without using them. I make it a habit when walking at work to touch the case, touch a door frame or anything else before I dive into the case and start yanking out parts. And I've worked in quite a number of data centers over the years and have never seen any tech/vendor using one of these straps.