In this guide, suitable both for beginners who have not assembled a PC in their life and for users who are already experienced in the matter, we will tell you everything you need to know to assemble your own PC in an orderly fashion in order to avoid any possible problem that may arise. emerge and that, when finished, the team begins the first time and without complications.
How to assemble a PC by parts yourself
As tools you will need at least one Phillips “star” screwdriverIt is also advisable to have cable ties to organize the cables and wire cutters to cut the excess of them. You won’t really need anything else unless some of the components you’ve chosen for your new PC have a special mounting system, in which case it’s customary to include the necessary tool for this.
First steps: prepare all the components
The first thing that we recommend that you do is to remove all the material from its packaging, in order to have it prepared in advance and thus avoid having to stop to remove a component from its box before packing it. install. This way you will spend around 10 minutes getting everything ready but then you will avoid having to stop when you are already working on the assembly.
The first component you should start working with is the pc case:
- Remove the two side covers.
- Locate the hardware (it usually ships in a cardboard box inserted into the hard drive rack).
- Prepare the brass screws in which the motherboard will be installed with its specific format, because not all boxes have them installed by default and a mATX card does not use the same as an ATX, for example.
- Install any additional fans first if you have them.
- Prepare the front wiring of the box and pass it through the corresponding holes.
You can also do one last thing in advance: install the motherboard I / O shield. This is included among the accessories of the motherboard and you must install it from inside the box, under pressure (it’s very simple, do not go too far, put one side then the other and that will fit easily). The hole in the box to install it is rectangular (shaped like a shield) and is usually located under the rear fan.
Start by working with the motherboard before mounting it
When preparing to put a PC together in pieces, it is essential to do it in a precise order, because if, for example, you installed the graphics card before the processor heatsink, it would hamper its anchoring. So, after having prepared the box, the ideal is to start working with the motherboard, because there are certain things that you can do on it before mounting it which will then facilitate the subsequent work.
Take it out of its box and its antistatic plastic; You can lay it on its own, plastic box without a problem, but be careful not to bump it or put too much pressure on it. The first thing to do is install processor in advance; If you are using an Intel socket, lift the socket cover and remove the protective plastic, then see which corner of the processor is a mark and matches that of the socket. Gently place the processor on top of the socket and close the cover. For AMD processors, lift the rod, put the processor back in place making sure that all the pins fit easily, then close the rod.
Before installing the motherboard in the box, there are a few more things you can do, for example if you have a SSD in M.2 format, it is advisable to install it now because it will be more comfortable for you. The same thing happens if you have a air radiator, the ideal is to install it before mounting the motherboard because it will be much more comfortable, as well as the memoria ram which simply “stings” each module in its socket.
Obviously, all this can be done with the motherboard already installed in the box, but doing it with the motherboard outside is much more comfortable and practical to save you time, because if the motherboard is mounted in the box box, it will cost you more to do all of that. It is not that this is a problem, but this way you save time and reduce the difficulty, and with it the possibility of making mistakes.
Assemble all the parts of the PC
At this point, you can start putting all the hardware together, and the motherboard is best to start. It is important that the I / O shield is already installed and that you have previously prepared the brass brackets to anchor the plate. Once this is done, take the card from the right side (opposite the ports) and insert it carefully diagonally, matching these ports with the I / O shield. Lay it down carefully and the holes of the plate must match the brass brackets; If all goes as it should, screw the motherboard into place.
Now, before you continue to install other hardware components, it’s time to do most of the Connections, and this is the best time because you won’t have any other components in the way and it will be easier for you to channel and secure the cables. Start by channeling the front case ports (USB ports, front panel connections (power, status lights, and reset), and HD audio) out of the hole closest to their connection port, then plug them in.
For all connections we have a full tutorial that will show you where all the motherboard cables go which we recommend you check out if you have any questions.
With everything connected, if you haven’t done so before or if your radiator is liquid cooled Now is the time to assemble it, as these are quite large components and it is best to do this when there is not too much work yet.
The next step is to assemble the Power source; If it is not modular, the ideal is to first assemble the source itself and then connect and channel each cable separately, but if it is modular, we recommend that you do so in the other way: first connect the cables to the motherboard and leave the other components ready if necessary, then mount the power supply. We recommend this because often times when you are going to put a PC together in pieces, you don’t know how many power cables you will need.
We recommend that the first cable you connect is the ATX 20 + 4 pin because it is the most voluminous and the most complicated to channel, and in fact we recommend that you connect the end of the motherboard and the channel and fix the cable with cable ties to the box individually, otherwise and above all if your box does not have a lot of space behind it, it might make it difficult to close the side cover due to its thickness. After that, the ideal is to connect the 4 + 4 pin EPS, and we recommend that you channel it completely behind the motherboard, vertically, because the motherboard connector is usually in the upper left corner, almost next to the I / O shield.
If you have storage devices that are not M.2 (since they go straight to the board and don’t need cabling), leave the power cables and SATA cables ready, connecting them to the source and motherboard respectively and channeling them to reach the mounting point of the device. Once finished, you can mount the hard drives you will be using.
At this point, you’re pretty much done, as all that’s left is to install the graphics card. Remove the bezels from the case that correspond to the PCI-Express socket you are going to use and simply “poke” it into the socket, then screw it onto the case. Once that’s done, all you need to do is connect the PCIe power cables you need and you’re done.
Once this is done, you can close the side covers of the equipment, connect it and it will be ready to go.
If you have followed this guide without having any experience, you have found that actually putting a PC together in pieces is not overly complicated as long as you are methodical, and that it does not take too long (it almost takes more than time to design and route cables than in everything else). For an inexperienced user, assembling a PC can easily take a few hours, but when you have some experience you will find that in just 30 minutes you will have it ready.
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