A month or so ago, I talked you through the various components need to build your own PC (link here) but we never actually got around to discussing the actual mechanics of putting the parts together.

Some of you provided some very helpful online tutorials and guides in the comments, which I encourage you to check out, but today we are going to delve into how to construct the most expensive LEGO kit you will ever own. I am only being slightly flippant when I use that metaphor; modern PC building is very modular, the components are largely standardised and once you know what part goes where, it’s a fairly simple task.

For the purposes of this guide, I shall be using screenshots from a game called PC Building Simulator, which has a fairly self-explanatory title. If you want to build a PC but are unsure how to do so, I highly recommend you check it out, as it’s a great way to practice before building the real deal. You could even build your virtual PC and then order those actual parts, as most of the components in-game are very real (apart from a few generic placeholders).

So let’s get to it.

The Layout

Here is a photo of the inside of my PC, with the various components highlighted:

Apologies for the cable management but I tried my best! As you can see, I have a M-ATX board and a mini graphics card inside a regular-sized case. There’s a reason for this but it’s not particularly interesting, so I won’t go into it here. However, this photo serves as a fair example of what the layout of a PC looks like before we go ahead into specifics. I have tried to pick a fairly similar case in PC Building Simulator to make things easier for any of you following along.

Starting Out

So here is our case. I have taken both the side panels off and the case comes with two case fans already installed. Now, the order I build this PC in is not carved in stone, other people may prefer to do it another way. The main rules, though, are that you should try and ground yourself to earth if possible (at a pinch, you can touch the copper piping on your heating to do this) to avoid building up an electrostatic charge. This can damage components and you don’t want that at all. Also, have the necessary components and tools nearby, ready to access.

I start with the motherboard (mobo) first. The case will come with raised mounting screws that you want to line up with the holes on your motherboard. The case may come with the header screws already inside (in which case you may need to move them) or in a separate container. Either way, make sure that if there’s a hole in the motherboard, it has a mounting screw underneath.

Be sure to use the correct screws to fix the motherboard into place. They tend to be quite shallow with a broad head, that holds the motherboard securely. When you are happy, we can move onto the motherboard components next.

Attaching the mobo components

I personally start with the CPU. How it mounts differs between AMD and Intel but the basic rules are:

• The CPU will only go in one way. If you try and force it, you will damage it. Normally it has an indicator on the chip (such as an arrow) that matches a marking on the socket.
• Open the clamp arm first, orientate the chip as appropriate and put it in the socket. It should plop in easily, there should be no need to force it.
• When you are happy, close the clamp arm to retain the chip in place.

Now here is where personal preference comes in; I am going to install the RAM next, before the CPU cooler. The reason for this is that some CPU coolers are very large indeed and if you install them first, you may not be able to physically install the memory modules. In the case of my own PC, this is not an issue, but we shall assume this is the case here.

RAM installation is arguably the easiest thing you can do to a PC. All that is required is you have the appropriate RAM, you open the two (or sometimes just one) retaining clips and fit the RAM in. RAM can only be oriented one way but it does require a bit of force to fit into the socket, so make sure to double-check it is lined up correctly first. If you look on the bottom of the RAM stick, it will have a notch that is somewhat off-centre. Physically line this up with the RAM socket to make sure you have it aligned the correct way.

When you are happy, push the stick in until the retaining clips pop into place.

Some motherboards will have different coloured RAM slots. This is for dual-channel slots. The rule of thumb here is that want to pair RAM sticks in the same coloured slots; if you have red-black-red-black and two sticks of RAM, put the sticks in the red slots, for example. Please consult your motherboard’s manual (or the manufacturer’s website) for further information.

Now I’m going to attach the CPU cooler. Again, how these mount vary but mine has a backplate that goes behind the motherboard (which necessitates removing the other side panel) and you line up the screws with this backplate. Some have a simpler spring catch mechanism. Either way, ensure that you have applied thermal paste to the top of the CPU before attaching the cooler. This ensures an efficient transfer of heat to the cooler. Some coolers come with the paste already applied but most do not. I apply a blob about the size of a pea to the centre. Avoid using too much; you don’t want it leaking over the edge and on to other components.

Finally, we are going to add the graphics card. As these come in all shapes and sizes, make sure you line up the card with a free PCI-E slot first to ensure you are comfortable with how the card attaches to the case. You will need to remove some case covers as well. Similar to the RAM, the card will pop in with a bit of force. There may also be a small retaining clip on the socket that you have to push into place after the card is installed.

Now is a good time to take note of the power connector for your graphics card too. These vary on the size of the card, the amount of fans it has and how powerful it is. It could be four pins, six pins, two four pin connectors or one eight pin. The card normally comes with the appropriate lead to attach to your PSU, but double check now in case you need to order another part.

Power and Storage

So now all the motherboard components are installed (assuming you aren’t using an M.2 drive), we can install the power supply and any storage.

The PSU tends to live on the bottom of modern PC’s (it used to sit at the top and function as an exhaust fan, but that is very outmoded now) and may even have their own case section, to keep any warm air from entering the case. Make sure that your PC case has sufficient airflow underneath to allow the fan to intake without any obstruction; putting your brand new PC on deep pile carpet or a floor that accumulates a lot of pet hair is not a good idea.

Normally the PSU slots in from inside the PC and is attached via screws on the outside.

Next we will install storage. SSD’s are very slimline and tend to have specific mounting points. As you can see on my PC, all the way back at the top, there are two such slots for SSD’s. In this virtual PC, there are three slim bays on the rear of the case. We’ll pop one SSD in there.

Next up is a HDD, if you have decided to go for cheap but spacious storage. These tend to have a special bay at the front of the case, with special caddy drawers that the drive slots into. Bear in mind that on some cases, you might have to remove this drive caddy before adding an additional case fan, so decide now if that’s something you need to do.

Finally, now is a good time to mention adding more case fans. There are various schools of thought on this but you have to balance things like noise, power (though fans actually use very little wattage) and aesthetics. I am going for a positive pressure method here (more air goes in than is blown out), so I will remove the front panel and install an additional fan. Make sure the fan is blowing the right way! A small arrow on the side of the fan indicates its direction, as well as the direction the fan rotates.

Plugging it all in

OK, so now we have to connect everything. This is probably the most daunting part, but here are a few tips.

• Read your motherboard manual. It will tell you where all the headers/connectors are. Some connections are obvious, like the big 20-pin power one, but there will be things like fan headers (for the case fans),  a separate 4-pin connector for the CPU (sometimes this lives next door to the 20-pin connector) and the rather fiddly front panel connections. Take your time and consult the manual carefully.
• Most pins are “keyed”, which means they can only be inserted a specific way. If a connector is not going in, check that you have positioned it the correct way.

The CPU cooler will have its own fan header, normally marked “CPU fan”. Make sure to connect this.

You will also need to connect the graphics card, any drives and fans to power. Drives and the graphics card will connect directly to the PSU, fans can connect to the motherboard but you may ran out of headers if you have a lot of fans. If a fan runs directly off the power supply, its speed cannot be regulated by the motherboard’s software. This means it will run at full power, rather than speed up or slow down as the internal temperature changes. Some fans come with an external temperature probe for this purpose.

According to PC Building Simulator, some fans can connect to each other, so you can “daisy chain” them to all run at the same speed. I haven’t seen this personally, but the technology is out there. This would make sense if, say, you had three intake fans on the front of your PC; this way, they would all run at the same speed:

Nearly there! The last things to do are to connect the drives (HDD, SSD or optical) to the SATA connectors. The SATA slots all tend to be bunched together and will be numbered. Ideally, you want your main drive on slot 1 (or 0) and have secondary drives in the others. However, this isn’t a dealbreaker, as you can change the load order of your drives in both the system BIOS and Windows (or your OS of choice). For simplicity, though, we will add the SSD as the main drive and the HDD as the secondary.

One last thing; the front panel. The front panel contains the power button and power LED (somewhat important!) as well as things like headphone/mic jacks, perhaps some additional USB ports, etc. This tends to be quite a fiddly little connection with individual pins but the pins are marked and the motherboard manual will tell you what goes where.

NOTE: As you can see here, the graphics card is rather bulky and is making the front panel pins difficult to access. You might want to consider installing these connectors before installing the graphics card.

Cable management

A quick lecture on cable management. There’s not much point in having a shiny new PC if the inside of it looks like a rat’s nest. There are far more detailed guides on this elsewhere but the basic points to remember are:

• A lot of messy cables will hinder airflow inside the case. Poor airflow means higher temperatures, higher temperatures means a PC that is nosier and more likely to fail in extreme instances.
• There are various holes and mounting points for cables in a PC. With me, I tend to hide everything behind the rear panel. As long as nothing is under strain or forced into place, you can hide a multitude of sins back there.
• Consider using braiding, cables ties, custom leads, etc. Keep things neat but without hindering future maintenance. Wrapping everything in electrical tape is probably a bad idea.

Ready for launch!

Once you’re happy everything is where it should be, plug in your basic peripherals such as mouse, keyboard, display, etc. Then attach the power lead, switch your PSU on and power it up!

Finger’s crossed, everything works and the computer should complete POST (Power-On Self Test) and starting loading the operating system. Of course, if you have a completely new PC, there won’t be an operating system! But that will be a lesson for another day.

So, how is our virtual rig?

She lives!

I hope this guide has proved useful and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments. Likewise, any corrections or differing opinions are welcome too.

Have fun with your new toy and please let me know if any of this nonsense has helped you at all.