Transcript for:
PC Building Guide

Hello and welcome. If you're planning on building your very first PC then you click on the right video. This is a full, in-depth, step by step build guide on not only building the PC, but also setting it up as well. Because building a PC is only the first half, you still have to set it up. We need to download and install the 'Windows operating system', download and install the drivers, setup XMP profile in the bios along with other windows settings to make sure your PC is running at its full potential. We are gonna be doing all of that in this video. If this is your first time building a PC and you don't quite have the confidence for it, because maybe you're afraid of damaging something in the process or maybe you're afraid of your PC not booting up for the first time. I'm here to tell you that it's gonna be ok. All right. I get it, you guys. This can be very intimidating for beginners. I've been there. I know what it feels like. That's why, I'm gonna take my time in this video and guide you guys step by step from the very beginning, all the way to the end. And I'm gonna make sure you do everything correctly. So these are all the parts that i'll be using for this build guide, but don't freak out if your parts are completely different because building a PC is very similar. It doesn't matter if you're going intel, AMD or Nvidia. Ok, you can follow along on this build guide for whatever PC your building yourself. But just in case, if you guys like this PC and you want to build this exact same one then i'll drop a link to all the parts down below. Alright so before we begin the build guide. I think it's really important for you guys to understand 'what goes inside a PC ?' and 'what each of these components do ?'. Even if you've built a PC before, i'm pretty confident, you might learn something new. So all PCs have '7' main components and we're going to start off with the CPU, also known as the 'Central Processing Unit'. It is kind of like the brain of the PC, it is the core component. It is responsible for processing and executing instructions to the rest of the components in the build. The CPU sits on the motherboard socket, a another component needed for a functional PC. The motherboard is the backbone that ties the computer's components together at one spot. And allows them to talk to each other, think of the motherboard as the body. These come in various different sizes ranging from tiny 'Mini ITX Form Factor', all the way to 'Extended ATX'. They also come in different socket types and chipset. Next up is 'memory'. Every PC need at least one stick of RAM to function. 'Random Access Memory' or 'RAM' is one of the most important components in determining your system's Performance. RAM gives applications, a place to store and access data on a short term basis. It stores the information your computer is actively using, so that it can be accessed quickly. The 'frequency' of the memory is just as important as the 'CL timing'. Depending on your budget, you always want to go for the 'highest frequency possible' with the 'lowest CL timing' on memory, especially, if you're building an AMD PC. That's because, 'Ryzen systems' run better on faster memory. The sweet spot, you always want to aim for is at least '3200 Mhz' with a 'CL-16 timing' with '16 GB' capacity. If your budget allows for faster RAM, try and get '3600 Mhz' 'CL-16' memory. '16 GB' is plenty for gaming, in 2021. However, if you plan on using the PC as the workstation. For example; lot of multitasking and heavy application use like 'editing videos', '3D modeling' or 'any demanding program' then it would be a great idea to invest in more memory. Also, it's really good to keep in mind if you decide to upgrade your memory later down the line, make sure you're buying the same exact memory, that your current system has. Same capacity, same frequency, and the same 'CL timing' to avoid performance issues. One of the most common mistakes i see in PC building all the time is that people don't enable XMP in the bios to take advantage of the memory's full speed. Your memory by default is running at half the frequency. In order to take advantage of the performance, you have to go into the bios and manually turn it on. If you want to check and see yourself, if your memory is running at its full speed then go into your task manager, go into performance, click the memory and check the speed of memory. If you've always wondered 'why your PC is underperforming ?' or 'running a lot slower than other PCs with similar specs ?' then 99% of the time it means, that your XMP is not enabled in the bios. But don't worry, i'm going to show you guys 'how to do it correctly ?' At the end of the video. It's kinda like buying a 'high refresh rate monitor' and not going into the settings and changing it. Because by default most monitors come out of the box with a '60Hz' refresh rate. You have to actually go into the display settings and change the refresh rate yourself. Pretty much the same concept here. All right, moving on to the 'CPU cooler'. A 'CPU cooler' is optional in most cases. A lot of AMD CPUs come with a cooler, already included. However if your CPU does not, it is required to go with a capable cooler. That will not only keep your CPU nice and cool, but also something that's quiet. If you're on a budget, i can leave a link to a few coolers that I recommend picking up. Alternatively, if your CPU does come with the cooler but you want to get something nicer. Maybe something with RGB lighting then i'll drop some links to those coolers as well. For this video, i'll be going with the 'Corsair H150i Elite Capellix' which is an 'all-in-one liquid cooler'. That's going to look amazing in this build. Moving on to the most popular component in any PC, the 'GPU'. To keep it simple and straightforward, the 'graphics card' is what provides the graphics to your PC. The graphics card also determines 'how well your games run on your PC ?' and how fast it renders our projects using 'GPU Acceleration'. The better the 'graphics card', the higher the 'frames per second' in game and faster render times. The higher the FPS in game, the smoother your games will look and feel bringing lots of joy and happiness. The graphics card that i'm using for this build is a custom modded 'AMD RX6800'. This card is an ideal upgrade for gamers looking to play comfortably in '1440p' or entry level '4K' gaming. And as you guys can see, i painted my in white to stay consistent with the color scheme of a build. The 'power supply unit' is the thing that provides power to all of the components. Using an insufficient power supply will cause many issues for your PC. Like 'system instability' and major crashes, not to mention 'no room for expandability' or 'overclocking'. It's always recommended to buy at least '100' watts more than what you need, to cover future upgrades to your system. If you want to know 'how much power your PC needs ?' then use the 'power supply calculator' from outer vision. I'll drop a link to it, down below. You also want to avoid buying 'cheap power supplies'. You don't want to put a potato in your PC and have it potentially damage the rest of your components, stick to 'well known brands' while going with a high efficiency rating as long as your budget allows it. There are also '3' types of power supplies. Non-modular, Semi-modular, and Fully-modular. 'Fully-modular power supplies' are more on the pricier side. Since all the cables are fully detachable, allowing you to plug in just the cables you need for the build. 'Semi-modular power supplies' on the other hand only have a few detachable cables. Storage, your PC definitely needs at least one source of storage that holds your 'operating system' on. There are also different types of storage. 'M.2 SSDs' are the smallest and usually the fastest drives out there, but also cost the most. Then we got traditional '2.5 inch SSDs' and then 'hard drives' the slowest, but cheapest options out there. I always recommend going with at least one 'M.2' or 'Traditional SSD' as your main drive, because not only will your PC boot faster to the desktop, but also any application or game you put on there will load up faster as well. Hard drives are really great for 'secondary' or 'mass storage'. The 'Case' is pretty self explanatory. It holds all the parts together in a very stylish way. I'll be using the 'Corsair 5000 SRGB Full ATX Tower' to build this PC in, because it looks amazing, offers great 'airflow' and has tons of support for fan and 'radiator configurations'. So yeah, these are all the parts, i'll be using for the build guide. Aside from these, this is also what you'll need to build the PC. A 'phillips head screwdriver'. I like to use an electric one for convenience. Plus, it comes with a 'magnetic work mat' which helps me keep all the loose screws, all in one place. An empty 'USB drive' with at least '8 GB' of space is needed so that we can download and install the 'Windows operating system' for the PC. And speaking of the operating system, you will need to purchase a 'Windows key' to activate your OS. It doesn't matter where you buy it from as long as you buy the correct version of the OS that matches the version, we are going to download on the USB drive. There is a super cheap option on 'Yourcdkey.com' where you can pick one up for less than '20' bucks. Just make sure to use the code 'TS20' to get that extra discount. I've been using these guys for years on all of my PC builds on the channel. They are 'reliable' and 'trustworthy'. Also, make sure you guys are building on an even flat surface preferably a 'wooden table top' If you have one, you don't have to worry about buying an 'anti-static wrist rest'. I've built over a '100' functioning PCs without one. So don't worry about that. It takes a lot of static to damage a PC component. So you guys are fine. But if you're building on your mother's dining table, I would recommend picking up a 'work-mat' that way you don't damage the table. The last thing I want is for you guys to get the bell from your dad. It's better to be safe than sorry. But yeah, with all that covered. We are now ready to build the PC. All right, so let's start off taking the motherboard and the rest of the accessories out of its box. Start off taking the motherboard with the plastic bag out of the box and placing it on the side. Underneath that there will be a bunch of extra things that you will need. If your motherboard comes with a 'front panel connector extension', take that out as well. We're also gonna take out the SATA cables. You will need 'one' SATA cable for each storage device that you are installing. In my case, I'm installing an SSD so i'll need a cable for that and i'll need a second cable for the hard drive. If you're not installing an SSD or hard drive then you don't need any of these cables. If your motherboard has a built in Wifi then you will need to take out the 'wifi extender' as well. We will need this to connect to the Internet after the PC is built. If your motherboard comes with an 'M.2' installation screw then take that out as well. You will need this to install your 'M.2 SSD'. Now if it doesn't come with one then it means your motherboard already has this installed. So don't worry about it. You're also going to need the 'I-O shield', if your motherboard comes with one. Otherwise its probably attached to your motherboard like it is in mine. And finally, we're gonna take out the manual as it can come in handy at times. Carefully remove the motherboard from its anti static bag and be careful not touch the components on the top and back. Make sure to grab the board from its sides, afterwards gently place it on top of the motherboard box. This will protect the board from getting damaged as we install the CPU, memory, and storage. We are now ready to install the CPU. Carefully open the CPU box and pull out the CPU from the protective case by holding it from its sides. Make sure not to touch the top surface of the CPU or the bottom. Especially, if you're using an 'AMD CPU', because the pins underneath a CPU can easily get bent damaging the CPU in the process. Most CPUs have a triangle located on the corner. This indicates the direction, you have to install a CPU on to the motherboard socket. I'm gonna show you the process of installing '3' different CPUs. We have AMD, Intel and AMD's 'threadripper CPU' as well. So identify the CPU you are installing and skip ahead to that part of the video using the timestamps listed on screen. Okay, so we're installing an 'AMD-AM4 CPU' so grab the CPU by its sides and locate the 'golden triangle'. Usually, if you're looking directly at the CPU, it's on the bottom left. We're going to match that triangle to the triangle located on the motherboard socket. If you look closely on your AMD motherboard. You can see a triangle cut-out on the top left corner of the socket, it's very small, but it is there. In my case, it's pointing to the top left corner, so i'm going to position the CPU so that the golden triangle from the CPU is also positioned in the top left corner. I'm basically matching the triangles together from the socket and the CPU. Afterwards, we're gonna have to lift the lever to the top. Do not force the lever as it can break easily. While grabbing the CPU from its sides. We're gonna lower down very gently onto the socket and let it fall in place. Do not touch the surface of the CPU and do not apply any force. Gravity should do the job and the CPU will naturally fall in place. Before moving on check all '4' sides of the CPU and make sure it is fully seated on the socket. If everything looks good, gently lower the level down locking the CPU in place. Congratulations, you just installed your CPU. Pretty easy so far, right? Okay, so we're installing an 'Intel CPU'. So grab the CPU from its sides and locate the 'golden triangle'. Usually, if you're looking directly at the CPU, its on the bottom left. But this can vary depending on the socket type. Fun fact, the triangle is actually more larger on 'intel CPUs' compared to 'AMDs'. If you look closely on your intel motherboard, you can see a small triangle cut-out on the socket cover. In my case, it's located on the bottom left. We're going to position the CPU so that the 'golden triangle' from the CPU is also positioned in the bottom left corner. We're basically matching the triangles together, from the socket and the CPU. Afterwards, we're going to slide the lever to the right and up to open the socket while grabbing the CPU from the sides. We're gonna gently lower it down on to the socket and let it fall in place. Do not touch the surface of the CPU and do not apply any force. Gravity should do the job and the CPU will naturally fall in place. If everything looks good, gently lower the cover down first so that the flap sits underneath the torque screw. Afterwards, you can proceed to lower down the lever locking the CPU in place. The black cover will pop-off afterwards, but if it doesn't just pull it off your CPU. Congratulations. You just installed your CPU. Pretty easy so far, right ? Okay, so you are one of the very few elite out there to buy a 'threadripper CPU'. Let's get this baby installed. Obviously you will need the CPU itself, but you'll also need the install tool that it comes with. It has an orange handle so you can't miss it. Take your time to gently open the thread-ripper box and slide out the CPU. I want you to enjoy this process, because it is a very joyous occasion. Make sure not to touch the surface of the CPU or the bottom. Always grab the CPU from the sides. Notice, there are 'numbers' on the socket. It indicates the order of opening and closing the socket. So to open a socket, we will have to loosen the screws in this exact order. Three, two, and one. Okay, we are now ready to install the CPU. Grab the torque driver and start loosening up the socket in the order indicated. We're gonna start from 'three' then move over to 'two' and finally, socket number 'one'. The socket will spring open so don't freak out. Go ahead and grab both of the blue tabs on the top and pull them up. We're also going to remove the gray protective piece that's on the socket. Now this part is a little tricky. You have to gently slide the CPU against the rails, but make sure to do it slowly so that it doesn't derail and pop off the bracket. Here's another angle of the installation. We are starting from the top and slowly sliding the CPU down against the rail. Once the CPU is safely on the bottom. We are ready to lower the CPU down on to the socket while you're holding down on the blue tabs, lower the entire CPU down until you hear it 'click'. Then we can lower the top bracket and as you're holding it down, we can tighten the bracket in place by going backwards. Remember, we did 'three,two,one' to open it. Now we're doing 'one,two,three' to lock it. Make sure to tighten each screw all the way, untill you hear the tool 'click'. Don't be afraid to use some force, untill you hear the 'click'. That's it. You officially installed a 'threadrpper CPU'. Congrats! Pretty easy so far, right? Okay, we are now ready to move on to the 'memory installation'. Most mainstream motherboards have '4' dimm slots. One for each memory stick, you are installing. If you're installing '4' memory sticks then you can just fill up all the slots. But, if you're installing '2' then you will need to install them in the correct slots to take advantage of dual channel. Most boards will have a diagram labeled, right on the motherboard next to the dim slots. This will tell you 'what slots you need to occupy first ?' If its not labeled on your motherboard, you can find it in your manual. So, if you're installing 'two' memory sticks, you need to install the first stick in slot 'A2' and the second stick into slot 'B2'. First thing we need to do is remove the tabs on the slot that you are going to install the memory in. So, for installing 'two' memory sticks for example, we are going to open up the tabs from 'slot no.2' and 'slot no.4'. Every memory stick has a gap in the middle as you can see here, we are going to align the gap on the memory to the notch on that 'dimm slot'. Once we have the correct orientation of the RAM, lower the memory stick down and apply firm pressure to snap it in place. If you successfully installed the RAM stick then the tabs on the sides will be closed, so double check-in memory and make sure all the sticks are properly seated. If your motherboard has '8' dimm slots then just follow the same process for each one. All right, we can take this time to install our 'M.2 SSD', if you're not installing any in your PC, feel free to skip on to the next section. Most motherboards will have 'one' or more 'M.2' slots mostly located in between the PCI slots of the motherboard. In some cases, the 'M.2' slot can be behind your motherboard as well. This is very common in small form factor motherboards. You always want to install your 'M.2' SSDs on the top slot. Some 'M.2' SSDs come with its very own 'heat sink'. As you can see here, the 'corsair MP600' does have one in fact, but the motherboard has 'M.2' cover already installed. So unfortunately, you can't use both. You have to make a decision and decide what you want to go with. If you want to go with the motherboards cover then simply detach the 'heat sink' from your 'M.2'SSD and proceed with the video. If you want to keep the 'heat sink' on then do nothing and proceed with the video. We're gonna need these tiny screws that came with your motherboard. Go ahead and unscrew the cover of the top 'M.2'SSD slot and put it to the side. If you look closely on the actual 'M.2' slot, you can see a notch very similar to the memory sticks we just installed. We are going to aligned that notch with the gap on your 'M.2' SSD for the correct orientation. Once you identify what the notch is simply insert the 'M.2' SSD into the slot and push down on the other end. So you can finish tightening it using the small screws. If you're using the motherboard cover, make sure to peel off the plastic from the thermal pad before putting it back on top of 'M.2' SSD and then you can tighten it back up. If you have more than one 'M.2' SSD, just follow the same steps for each additional one you're installing. All right, we are now ready to prep the motherboard for the cooler installation. I'm gonna show you, how to install the 'stock AMD cooler' and i'm also gonna show you, how to install an 'all-in-one cooler' also known as an 'A-I-O'. Most coolers have thermal paste already pre applied as you can see here, if your cooler already has some then there is no need to add your own thermal paste. However, if your cooler doesn't have any thermal paste and we're gonna have to add some to the CPU before installing your cooler. Thermal paste is really important to help transfer the heat from the CPU to the cooler. Without it, the CPU will overheat and can potentially get damaged. I'm going to show you '2' different ways of applying thermal paste. First off, locate the thermal paste inside your cooler box and take it out. If for some reason your cooler doesn't have any thermal paste included, you can buy them online for super cheap. I'll leave a link down below, to one that I highly recommend. The 'pee-dot method' is the most simple and common way of applying thermal paste. You squeeze a tiny amount, right in the center of the CPU. And once you install the cooler, it will help spread it across the 'I-H-S'. I recommend this method for beginners. The 'spread method' is personally my favorite method and is the way i apply thermal paste on all of my PC builds. To do this, you will need a 'thermal paste spatula' which is sold separately. After applying a tiny amount of thermal paste in the center of the CPU. I used this 'spatula' to evenly spread the paste across the 'I-H-S' making sure the entire surface is covered. I do this, because I like the peace of mind knowing that the entire surface is covered by thermal paste. If in any case, you messed up the thermal paste application and you need to clean your CPU, make sure you're using '99% isopropyl alcohol' and 'paper towel'. Do not use any tissue or toilet paper' as those will leave fibers behind. Remove the CPU from the motherboard and add a little bit of 'isopropyl' to the tip of your paper towel. You can then use it to wipe off the thermal paste from the surface of your CPU. It's okay, if there is some thermal paste left on the sides of the CPU. It's not a huge deal, but if you want, you can clean the edges as well. You can also use the 'paper towel' and 'isopropyl' to clean the paste off of your cooler, if you need to. Now, that we know how to apply thermal paste and clean the CPU, we are ready to install the cooler. If you're installing an 'A-I-O', skip to the 'A-I-O installation' part of the video. Otherwise, if you're installing the stock cooler on either 'AMD' or 'intel' then listen up, your AMD motherboard will have '2' of these brackets already pre-installed. We're gonna have to remove them in order to install the stock cooler. Use a 'fillips screwdriver' and remove all '4' of the screws, holding a bracket in place. Do not remove the bracket behind the motherboard. We actually need that to install the cooler. We're going to align the '4' screws from the cooler to the '4' holes on the motherboard. This is the same for intel motherboards using the stock cooler by the way. The cooler can only be installed in '2' directions. It doesn't matter which direction you install the cooler as long as there is a clearance. Sometimes, the memory sticks will block the cooler on uncertain motherboards. Unfortunately, that is the case for me. As you can see, the memory stick is a little too close and it's coming in contact with the AMD logo on the cooler. If this happens to you, just flip the direction of the cooler to the other side. Once, the cooler sitting on top of the CPU. We are ready to tighten the screws in the same screwdriver. We are going to tighten the screws in a 'criss-cross pattern'. Make sure, all the screws are fully tightened all the way before moving on. There is a cable that comes out of the cooler. This has to be plugged into the CPU fan header on the motherboard. In most cases, it is located on the top right side of the board and it's labeled 'CPU_fan'. After plugging in the cable, you can take this time to cable manage. I like to tuck the cable underneath the cooler, next to the RAM sticks. That way, it doesn't stick out. All right, if you're installing an 'A-I-O' take the following items out of the box. The 'A-I-O unit' itself and the following bags of accessories. You're gonna have to look for the bags that has your CPU and socket type labeled right on it. It's really easy to figure out which of these you're gonna need. The socket type is located right on your CPU box. For intel CPUs it's usually right on the face of the box, near the bottom. As you can see, mine says 'LGA-1151'. So we're gonna be using the bag that has 'intel-1151' labeled on it. For AMD CPUs it's most likely on the back of the box where the sticker is. If it says 'AM4' then we're gonna use the 'AM4 bag'. And finally for 'threadripper', it's an obvious one. You're gonna need the bag that says 'STR4'. For the sake of the video, we're gonna use the bag that says 'AM4' since i'm using an 'AMD4' CPU. You will need to take out the mounting brackets along with both of the tightening screws. You're also gonna need to take out the other bag that has all of the installation screws. Locate the pump of your 'A-I-O' and take off the protective cover. Whatever you do, just make sure not to touch any of that thermal paste that's already applied on there. If you do, you might have to wipe it off and apply some new thermal paste. If you're using an 'intel CPU' then you can keep the same bracket on, but if you're using a different CPU like 'AMD' or even 'threadripper' then you're gonna have to take that bracket off. Remember the bag you selected earlier with the socket type written on it. Well, you're gonna need to use those brackets with your 'A-I-O'. If you're using a different cooler compared to mine in this video then you might have to attach the brackets to the pump using screws that they provide. But this specific cooler that i'm using in the video doesn't require any screws and i can just slide them on, as you can see. As always, guys, for more information refer to the manual of your 'A-I-O' that you're installing. Alright, once the correct brackets are installed on the pump. We can put the cooler off to the side for now and proceed with the motherboard installation. If your motherboard doesn't have the built in 'I-O shield' then you're gonna have to install this piece in your case before we put the motherboard in. Locate the rectangular cut-out in the back of your case, and install the 'I-O shield' on the inside. While making sure the circle cut-out are near the bottom, apply pressure from the inside on all '4' corners, untill the 'I-O shield' snaps in place. It should sit flush with the case. As you can see here. Remove the back cover of your PC and pull out the box or bag that has all the installation screws and accessories. It's usually located in your hard drive cage. Near the bottom, we're gonna need to take out the motherboard installation screws. They are usually labeled right on the back. But if they aren't, they usually look like this. You will need one screw for every hole in your motherboard. The number of holes depends on the size of your motherboard. As you can see, my motherboard has '9' holes so i will need '9' screws, unless there is a peg standoff in the middle of the case. In that case, you will need one less screw. So before you install the motherboard, we gotta make sure the case has stand-offs. In most cases, the stand-offs are already pre-installed. But if yours doesn't come with any then you have to put them on yourself. This is what the stand-offs look like. And you will need 'one' for every hole on your motherboard, because these stand-offs are what the motherboard get secured onto. Once the standoffs are installed in the correct places, you are ready to put in the motherboard. Make sure to lay your case flat on your desk, grab the motherboard by its sides and gently lower it down on to the case while making sure the 'I-O shield' in the back goes in first. Make sure to align the holes on the motherboard with the stand-offs on the case. You can go ahead and secure the motherboard to the case by using the motherboard screws. All right. So before we continue any further, we have to figure out the fan configuration of your PC. And if you're using an 'A-I-O', we have to figure out the orientation of that as well. Let's start with the fan configuration and to help illustrate this, I'm gonna show you an empty case. So the rule of thumb here is that you always want to have neutral pressure. In your case. This means, the air pressure in the case is equal to the air pressure outside of the case. Usually, this means the same amount of intake and exhaust fans. If that's not possible with your fan configuration then you should at least aim for a positive pressure. This means, more air is being pushed into your case then being pulled out which you don't want is negative pressure, more air being pulled out of the case then being pulled in. In order to set up the perfect fan configuration for your PC, you need to understand how to position the fans. If you look closely, you can see arrows on the side of the fans. The direction, the arrow is pointing determines the direction of the airflow. For example, if the arrows pointing to the top that means the fan is pulling air in from the bottom and out to the top. If the arrow is pointing to the left that means the air is traveling from the right to the left and so on and so forth for all the other directions. A lot of fans out there actually don't have any arrows on the sides. In that case, you have to look at the fan and determine which direction the airflow is. Always remember this term 'faces suck'. The face of the fan is always where the air is getting suck in from, so if the face is on the right side. Then the direction of the airflow is 'right to left'. If the face is on the bottom then the direction of the airflow is 'bottom to top' so on and so forth. Here is what I recommend for your fan configuration using however many fans you have. If you have only 'one' fan, i would place in the front of the case for intake and i would place it somewhere in the middle. That way the air goes through your GPU and escapes from the top. For 'two' fans, it's pretty simple. One for intake and one for exhaust, you can place exhaust on either the top or the rear of your case. The choice is yours. For 'triple' fans. I would place 'two' fans as intake and 'one' for exhaust. Again, either on the top or the rear of your PC. 'Four' fans is also really simple, 'two' in the front for intake and 'two' for exhaust. I would place 'one' on the top and 'one' on the rear for asthetics. If you have '5' fans, i would place '3' as intake in the front and '2' as exhaust. And finally, if you have '6' fans you can place '3' in the front as intake and the rest as exhaust. Now if you have more than 6 fans, just follow the same concept as above to make sure the pressure is balanced in your case. If you have any 'A-I-O' or an 'all-in-one' cooler, the same concept applies. The only difference here is that you would have a radiator in the front or the back of the fans and we will get more into the 'A-I-O' orientation' a little bit. You never want to mount intake on the top, because hot air rises, intake should always be on the bottom of the case or in the front. And in some cases like the 'Lian li', you can even mount it towards the back. Exhaust fan should always be on of the top or the back of your case. The absolute minimum amount of fans i would recommend for your PC is a least '2', if you can get '4' that would be great but the very minimum try and get at least '2' fans in your case 'one' for intake and 'one' for exhaust. All right, now it's time to figure out the orientation of your radiator. There are really '4' ways you can mount your 'A-I-O', '2' positions on the top and '2' positions on the front. Let's start with the top. This is the most common way of installing an 'A-I-O', not only its the most aesthetically pleasing in my opinion, of course, but it's also a great way to prolong the life of your 'A-I-O'. You can have the tubes running down from the right side of the case or the left side. It depends on your preference. However, whatever you do, make sure that the tubes from the pump are facing the right side, if you can. As you can see in this video, i had the tubes running down from the right side and into the right side of the pump in my previous build. I had the tubes running down the left side, but the tubes from the pump are still on the right. If you're installing the radiator in the front of your case then listen up, because there is a wrong way of doing this that can damage the pump and shorten the lifespan of your 'A-I-O'. To start-off, you can position a radiator with the tubes coming out from the bottom. Now this is the safest method in prolonging the life of 'A-I-O', But this is also the ugliest method. If you're building inside a closed side panel case then i would recommend going with this method since you can't really see it on the outside anyways. But if you're building a good looking system, i would avoid this and flip the radiator so that the tubes are coming out from the top. If you're doing it this way, just make sure the pump is below the top of the radiator. If the pump is above the radiator then that means the air will get trapped into the pump, making it difficult to push the liquid through the loop and this can damage and shorten the life of the 'A-I-O'. So to recap, this method is safe as long as the pump is below the top of the radiator. Position 'no.1' is the safest. Position 'no.2' is ok, but not recommended. Position '3' is not recommended, as it can damage the pump and shorten the lifespan of your 'A-I-O'. Now that we figured out the best position of the 'A-I-O', there are different ways you can mount it with the fans. Either the fans in the front or the fans in the back and those will mostly depend on your preference and the case design. You can also do a push and pull configuration with the fans in the front and back. Assuming you do have the extra fans to support this. In this case, the fans in the front are pushing air through the radiator while the fans in the back are pulling them. Hence why it's called a push and pull configuration. Go ahead and select where you want to install your radiator either in the front or the top. If you're just installing fans then skip to the fan portion of the video. All right, so you decided to install the radiator in the front of your case. If you have fans in the front of the case like i do, it makes sense to install the radiator in the back. That way you are not covering the fans in the front. Some cases have a removable bracket like the one I'm using in this video which makes it really easy to install a radiator on. Just find the thumb screws that are holding it in place and remove them that way you can take off the entire bracket, install the 'A-I-O' and then put it back in. But if your case doesn't have a removable bracket then continue on with the video, carefully remove the front panel of your case and the dust filter, if there is one. Run the cables through the case and out the back, you can use these longer screws to hold the fan in place temporarily. Once you have all the fans hooked up on the front, temporarily bring in the radiator from the back slowly while making sure the fans don't move around while you're holding up the radiator with your beefy arms. You have to tighten the screws from the front. This part is really difficult and it's pretty hard to do by yourself. So if you can find someone to hold the radiator for you, as you tighten the screws in the front that would be great. Otherwise just hang in there, once all the fans are hooked up to the radiator, you are ready to move onto the next step, so please skip over to the following timestamp. All right, so you decided to install the radiator on the top of your case, the best fan configuration for this would be exhaust. So the face of the fans are going to be visible from the bottom. We're going to install the fans on the radiator first, so grab your fans and place them flat on the radiator so that the front of the fans are visible. You also want to make sure to position the cables towards the back. That way you can run the cables through the back of the case once installed. Make sure to align the fan holes with the holes on the radiator. You're gonna need '4' of these longer screws with '4' washers for each fan you are installing. So if you're installing '2' fans. You will need '8' of each. If you're installing '3' fans, you will need '12' of each, insert the washer through the long screw and slide it through the fan. Make sure you're not over tightening these. Once all the fans are hooked up to the radiator, we are ready to install this in the case. We're gonna need '4' of these smaller screws for each fan that we installed on the radiator. Go ahead and remove the top panel of your case and the dust filter, if you have one. Obviously, your case may vary so just remove whatever part you have to in order to get access to the top mounting bracket of your case. It's a lot easier to run the cables from the fans through the cut-out near the top of your case before bringing in the radiator. Once all the cables are through the case, i like to grab onto them from the opposite side and pull on them as I bring the radiator in. That way none of the cables are stuck inside the case. So while you're holding onto the radiator with your other hand, use your main hand to screw the radiator in place. It's a great idea to tighten 'one' screw on the top left and 'one' screw on the bottom right. That way you at least hold up the radiator while you finish screwing in the rest of the holes. As I mentioned before, we don't need to apply thermal paste since the cooler already has some. But if you need to apply thermal paste, go back and watch this part of the video. All right, we are now ready to finish installing the 'A-I-O', you're gonna need '2' of these thumb screws and '2' of these fisheye screws. Obviously this will vary based on your A-I-O, insert the fisheye screw from the bottom and the thumb screw from the top, but don't fully tighten it just yet, do the same thing for the other side. The fisheye part of the screw is going to lock onto the bracket from the motherboard. Grab the pump with the tubes facing the right side and slowly move it close to the CPU. Start by tilting the pump towards the top first so that the top fisheye hooks onto the top bracket first, and afterwards you can lower the bottom part of the pump and do the same thing for the bottom bracket. Once both brackets are hooked on, you can proceed to tighten them. Just make sure you are tightening them evenly. Depending on what 'A-I-O' you're using, you're gonna have to plug the cables into certain things. If you're not using the same 'A-I-O' as me in the video, please look through your manual and figure out where to plug your cables in. But for the most part, it's very similar if you're using the same 'A-I-O' then follow along the shorter thin cable plugs into the motherboard's pump header, if you have one. Here's a quick diagram to help you figure out where to plug in your cables in the future. Generally, it's a good idea to plug your 'A-I-O' pump into the 'A-I-O' pump header on your motherboard, because that always runs at max speed which is exactly what you want your pump to do. The fans on the other hand, plug into the CPU fan header on the board Instead. The CPU fan header allows you to control the fan speeds through the bios and any compatible software in windows. If your motherboard doesn't have an A-I-O pump header then you could plug in your A-I-O cable into any other fan header instead. But you have to go into bios and change the fan settings to max speed, when you get a chance. The other thicker cable plugs into the 'commander core RGB unit' that the A-I-O comes with, since we have a 'commander core unit' and all Corsair fans. We're gonna take advantage of this and plug in all of our corsair fans in it. Every corsair fan has '2' cables coming out of it, one for RGB and the other for fan speed also known as the '4' pin fan cable. Luckily the commander core can support up to '6' corsair fans. On one side, there are '6' ports for RGB and on the other, we have '6' ports for the '4' pin cable. You don't have to plug them in now since we'll go over that in the cable portion later in this video, but it's something to keep in mind. All right, so now it's time to install your fans in the case. If you are not installing any fans, skip over to the next section of the video. You're going to need '4' of these thicker screws for each fan you're Installing. Make sure you have the correct position of your fans before doing anything remember guys, 'faces suck'. You can always refer back to the fan configuration section of the video, if you need more help. Go and attach the fan to the mounting bracket of your case and screw it in place from the other side. I also decided to add one more exhaust fan in the back of the case, because my OCD won't allow the empty space to exist. So, i'm gonna repeat the same process here. I'm going to run the cables to the case first and then attach the fan on the back. As i'm holding it with my right hand, i'm going to use my left hand to screw the fan in place from the back. You guys are doing great so far, Keep it up. All right, so now we have all the fans installed. We are ready to hook up the power supply. So go ahead and take that out of the box along with the bag of zip ties and screws. We're also going to need to main power cable so you can put this aside for now. And finally, the bag of disconnected cables, unless you're using a non-modular power supply, in which case all the cables already hooked up to your power supply. So we need to figure out what cables you're going to need. So let's go over them real quick. So the first and mandatory cable you're going to need is the '24' pin ATX cable. This provides power to the entire board. It is the biggest cable, so it's also hard to Miss. The next cable you will need is the EPS cable, which sends power to the CPU socket. Every motherboard has at least '8' pin EPS socket that is usually located on the top left. Some boards also have an extra '4' pin, and others might even have an extra '8' pin. You don't need to plug in all the cables. You just need the '8' pin EPS that delivers up to '235' watts of power to the CPU, which is more than enough even for light over clocking. You shouldn't worry about the extra '8' EPS socket, unless you are using a high core count CPU like a '10' core or higher. And if you're planning on doing heavy over clocking, otherwise a single '8' pin is more than enough. Now if you have you the extra EPS cables from your power supply, then it's always best to plug that in regardless. I mean, if you have them anyways might as well use them, you're also gonnna need a PCIe cable. This provides power to graphic card, it's usually labeled 'PCIe' on the connector itself. Your power supply always comes at least one of these PCIe cables. And it's usually split into 'two' 8 pen cables as you can see here. So you should have a total of '16' pins. In order to find out how many you need for your graphic card, you have to locate the PCIe connecter on it and count the number of holes it has. As you can see, my graphics card has '2' eight pin connectors for a total of 16. So one cable is all i need. The rest of the cables are optional. They are not required unless you have devices that need these cables. A 'molex' cable is needed to supply power to certain devices. Now, this could be anything from non RGB fans, to fan hubs or other devices with a '4' pin. If anything has '4' pins that can plug into these, then you're gonna need this cable for your build. This next cable is also optional, but it's actually more commonly used in PCs. This is the 'SATA power' cable, and it also provides power but to 'SATA based devices'. This is commonly used to power A-I-O pumps, fan hubs and storage devices. You're gonna need one SATA connecter for each 'SSD' and 'hard drive' you are putting in your PC. Usually, one cable is enough since it has '3' or '4' SATA plugs on it. If you're not using a fully modular power supply, go ahead and skip over to the next section of the video. Okay, so now we are ready to plug in the cables that we need for the PC. Every power supply cable will have labels right next to the connectors. So that you know where to plug these in. Don't worry about plugging these cables in the wrong way, because all of these plug in only one way. You can't mess this up even if you tried. So let's start off with the easy one. The '24' pin ATX cable. Grab the side that is split into '2' separate connectors. Keep this in mind by the way. If you see the words 'PSU' or 'type' labeled on the side of the connector, that is the side that plugs into the power supply unit. As you can see, my cables have the words 'type' labeled on the side. So I know that these plug into the power supply. Make sure the clip is facing the whole on the power supply before connecting it. Afterwards, just double check the clip and make sure the cable is plugged in all the way. Next we can install the EPS Cables, the side label CPU goes into the motherboard and the other side plugs into the power supply. This cable goes into the socket labeled either CPU, EPS or '4+4'CPU. In some power supplies like mine, the EPS and PCIe cables have the same connection on the power supply side. So it doesn't really matter where you plug these in. Just make sure to count the number of pins and match that with the number of holes in the power supply. And finally, the 'Molex' and 'SATA power' cables all plug into the part labeled 'peripheral' and 'SATA'. All these connections have a '6' pin connector and that's how you're able to tell the difference. So I'm going to quickly swap over some custom cables that i order from 'CableMod', because custom cables do look a lot better than stock cables. So if you're wondering why they look different than the cables we just plugged in. That's why. All right, now it's time to install the power supply In the case. Most power supplies are located on the rear back side of the case. You will need to remove the rear side panel to gain access. If you're using a case that allows you to remove the power supply bracket on the back, then go ahead and take it out and install it on the back of your power supply. If it doesn't, then we're gonna have to put in the power supply from the side. You always want the position the fan of the power supply so it's facing the ventilation of the case. As you can see here, the vents are on the bottom. So I'm going to position the power supply with the fan facing down. That way you can pull in fresh cold air from the bottom, but we do have a slight issue here. As you can see, the hard drive cage is a little too close to the power supply and there isn't enough room for the cables. You might run into the same exact problem. So what we're going to do here is, we're going to move the hard drive cage over to the left, in most cases you are able to 'remove' or 'reposition' the hard drive cage. There are usually a few thumb screws holding it down. You just have to loosen those. And then you can move the hard drive cage over 'or' completely remove it, if you're not installing any hard drives. As you can see, now we have extra space for the cables. In the bag we pulled out earlier from the power supply box, you will find '4' of the screws. These are needed to secure the power supply to the case from the back. Now before we get into the fun stuff, which is plugging in all the cables, we should take this time to plug in our storage devices. Go ahead and select what storage device you are installing in your PC. If you're not installing anything, skip over to the following section of the video. Before we install the hard drive, it's important to understand what cables are needed and how to plug them in. So the connections on the hard drive are located in the back, the smaller SATA cable plugs into the smaller port. The larger SATA power cable plugs into the larger port in the back, very simple. The other end of the 'black SATA cable' plugs into the 'SATA port' on your motherboard, often located on the right edge of the board, usually underneath the larger '24' pin. I'll talk more about this later in the video. Alright. So now that we know how to plug in a hard drive, we are ready to install that inside the case. Locate your hard drive cage, which is usually on the bottom, underneath the power supply cover. Go ahead and pull out one of the hard drive trays from the back. There are '2' ways you can hook up your hard drive to the tray. The first method is by using the '4' holes on the tray. You would just need to align these with the '4' holes on the back of the hard drive and screw them in place using these tiny screws. The second method is the one I prefer, since it is the easiest and it doesn't require any tools. So there are '4' pegs attached on the inside of the tray. As you can see here, you just have to insert these pegs into the holes located on the side of the hard drive. Just insert one side of the hard drive in first and then the other. Make sure to connecter of the hard drive is facing towards the back by the way, so that you can plug in the cables easily. Once you install this back inside the hard drive cage afterwards, you can slide the hard drive tray back into the drive cage and plug in the cables. Installing the SSD is pretty much the same as the hard drive. You can also installed the SSD in any hard drive tray. If you don't have any additional SSD trays, you just align the holes from the tray, with the back of the SSD and you screw it in place. If you don't want to install it in a hard drive tray, you can install it in an SSD tray Instead. These are smaller trays, specifically designed for SSDs. Most cases do come in at least one SSD tray and others come with multiple. It's also very easy to spot. In most cases, they are attached on the back of the case. And in some other cases, you can find them on the top of the power supply shroud instead. Make sure the connectors are facing the back of the tray and align the SSD so that the screw holes are visible from the opposite side. You're going to need the smallest screws to secure the SSD to your tray. The smaller SATA cable plug into the smaller connection port in the back of the SSD, the larger SATA power cable plugs into the larger connection in the back. Very simple at this time, you can install the tray back into your case before we finish our plugging the cables. The other end of the black SATA cable plugs into the SATA port on your motherboard. Before we install the graphics card, we should take this time to plug in the rest of the cables. Let's go and start-off with the cables from the case. These cables are often grouped up together in the back of your PC. So go ahead and locate them and separate the cables. We're going to start-off with the easy ones. Grab the cable that looks like this. In most cases, usually has a blue tip, Instead. this cable is for the USB-3 ports in front of your case, the case doesn't have any USB-3 ports, then you won't have this cable. The USB-3 cable plugs into the USB-3 header on your motherboard. This can be in '2' locations either on the side of the motherboard, right underneath a '24' pin or near the bottom. It is labeled 'JUSB-3'. We're going to make sure to notch on the connector aligns with the gap from the port. Be very careful plugging this in, as you can easily bend and damage the pins, also make sure that the cable is all the way in. If you have any additional USB ports on your case, then you'll also have this cable. It will have the words USB written right on the tip. This cable plugs into the USB header on your board, which is usually on the bottom. You can spot which header it is by the 'JUSB' header. In most cases, if your board has multiple headers, then there will be a number next to it, like JUSB-1 and jUSB-2. It doesn't matter which one you plug it in, just make sure the pins match with the holes on the cable. You can also just have the words USB facing the top before you plug it in. If for any reason you don't have enough USB headers on your motherboard, you are gonna need to buy an extension up. This is very common on a lot of boards. Where they only provide you with one USB header. So if you have devices that require '2' or more than you have to buy an adapter, if you just need one extra USB hub. I would buy this one, it cost only '8' USD And it will give you an extra usb hub. You would just have to plug this into your only USB header on your motherboard. Now if you need up to '3' more than I recommend going with this one Instead, it also plugs into USB header, but it will give you an extra '3' ports. Personally, I would recommend buying this regardless because if you decide to upgrade your PC later down the line, you will have the extra ports there just in case you need to use them. I'll be leaving a link to both of these down below. The next cable we are plugging in is labeled 'audio'. This is to connect the front audio and mike jack connecters from your case to your motherboard, so that they can be used. This cable plugs into the audio header on your motherboard, usually on the bottom left corner. It is labeled 'JAUD-1'. Make sure the pins match with the connector before inserting it in. Another way to remember this is by having the words from the cable face the top and make sure cable is all the way in. If you have any USB-C port on the front panel of your case, then you will have a USB-C cable as well, which looks like this. The cable plugs into the USB-C header on your motherboard. This can either be right underneath the '24' pin, or somewhere near the bottom of your motherboard. The port looks like this, and it's usually labeled 'USB 3.1' or 'U31'. There is no wrong way of connecting this cable as it goes in both ways, just like my friend harry. Before we move on to the power supply cables. Let's take this time to plug in all of your fans and the fan hubs. If you have any, if you're using the same A-I-O cooler as i am than follow along, otherwise you can skip over to the next portion of the video. The 'corsair caplex cooler' comes with its very own commander core which allows you to plug up to '6' corsair RGB fans into it. We're going to plug in all '3' of the intake fans and '3' of the exhaust fans into the commander core. The '4' pin fan cable plugs into the fans side of, the RGB cable plugs into the other side. The thin cable from the pump plugs into the pump header of your motherboard. But if your board doesn't have any pump headers, you can plug this into any fan header. The thicker cable plugs into the commander core unit. Now let's move on to the commander core. The unit has '2' cables attached to it. The one that's labeled USB plugs into the USB header on your motherboard. Remember where it was, it's located on the bottom of your board. You really labeled 'JUSB-1', 'JUSB-2' and so on, depending on how many you have. The other cable is a SATA power cable this plugs into the female SATA power cable from the power supply. If you're not using the same cooler but you still have '6' fans to connect, then you can use the integrated fan hub behind the case, it's pretty much another commander core unit built in the concept is the same. You plug in all of your '4' pin fan cables on the fan hub located on the left, and the RGB cables on the RGB hub on the right. Any additional fans you have in your case, need to be plugged into the fan headers of your motherboard. Any of these headers will work for your case fans. However, if your motherboard doesn't have enough headers for all of your fans, you will need to buy a fan hub. I'll drop a link below to a few I personally recommend. This will give you more fan headers to plug in all of your fans in the case. If you need up to '5' extra headers, i recommend picking this one up. It costs only '8' USD, and it will give you the option of plugging in up to '5' fans. You just needs to plug in the other end to any of the fan headers on your motherboard. If you need more than 5 extra fat headers then I would recommend going with this option instead. However, keep in mind that in addition to plugging the other end the to a fan header on your motherboard, you would need to supply power to it using one of your 'molex cables'. The last of the cables we're plugging in from the case are these tiny pins, you will either have all of these or only some of them, these cables plug in the 'JFP-1' header on the bottom of your motherboard. If you look closely, this header has a total of '9' pins. There are '4' on the top, and '5' on the bottom. Remember that, and look at this diagram for additional help. We can start with the power 'LED+' and the 'LED-' cables. The power LED+ plugs into the very first pin on the top row, the power 'LED-' plugs into the second pin from the top row right next to the LED+. Next, grab the power SW cable this connects the power switch from your case to the motherboard so that you can use it. This one plugs in right next to the previous cable in pins number '3' and '4', but make sure the words are facing down. Here's what the top row should look like from the bottom. As you can see, we have the power LED+ and the LED- followed by the power switch with the words facing down. Now we're going to move down to the second row of pins. Let's start off with the 'HDD-LED' like the previous cable. We are going to flip this upside down so that the text is facing down. And we're going to plug this into pins number '1', and number '2' from the bottom row. The last and final cable, we are plugging in is the 'Reset SW'. This connects the reset switch from your case to the motherboard. If your case doesn't have a reset switch, then obviously you won't have this cable. So this cable plugs in directly next to the 'HDD-LED' in pins number '3', and number '4' in the same direction. Make sure the words are facing down. Here are what your cables should look like from the bottom. As you can see, we have the 'HDD-LED' in the first, followed by the reset SW. Pretty simple, right? Now we are ready to plug in the rest of the cables from the power supply. Let's go ahead and start-off with the big boy cable, the '24' pin. It's pretty obvious Where this plugs in. It's the only big socket on the motherboard, often located on the right side. Make sure the clip side of the cable is facing towards the right. That way it can lock in. It's really important that you guys make sure the cable is fully seated. This means the clip has to go over the lip. Next we are ready to connect the EPS cables. So grab the cable that is labeled CPU and plug this into the '8' pin socket on the top left of your board. Again, make sure to clip sits over to lip to avoid any issues which your system, on some other boards, the '8' pin EPS socket is located on the right side, but it's always near the top of the motherboard. If your motherboard has an extra '4' pin connector, you can plug that cable in as well if you want. It's not required, but if you have the extra cable for it might as well. You should be able to split one of your EPS cables in half, converting it into dual '4' pin cables. If your power-supply doesn't have the extra '8' pin cable, then don't worry about it. Your PC will still function normally without the extra cable. If your motherboard has dual '8' pin EPS Connectors and you do have an extra 8 pin EPS cable, then go ahead and plug that in. But once again, if you don't have the extra '8' pin EPS cable, that's fine. You PC will still function Normally. You just won't be able to do any heavy over-clocking. Take this time to plug in any of your storage devices that you might have missed. Remember, the SATA power cable plugs into the larger port behind SSD or hard drive. And the smaller black SATA cable plugs into the smaller port. The other end of the SATA cable plugs into the SATA port of your motherboard, usually located on the bottom right. Also if you have any devices that require a 'molex' cable, plug those in right now as well. We don't have any for this specific build so i'm going to skip this portion. If you have any RGB devices, you will need to plug these into the '3' pin or '4' pin RGB headers on your motherboard. Make sure to count number of holes from your cable before plugging anything in. The number of holes must match the number of pins on your motherboard. And finally, we are ready to install the graphics card. Make sure you are installing the GPU, on the highest PCIe slot on your motherboard for the best performance. We're going to remove the piece a bracket from the back of the case that corresponds with the top PCIe slot. Depending on how thick your card is, you might have to remove additional PCIe brackets. For most mainstream GPUs you would just need to remove only '2' PCIe brackets. Once the PCIe brackets are removed, we are now ready to plug in the graphics card. Remove any protective cover your GPU might have, from the side and from the back where the ports are located. Grab the graphics card from the bottom and gently bring it close to the top PCIe slot, and slide it in until you hear a click, or until the clip locks in place. Please note. If you want to remove your graphics card, you have to use a sharp object, preferably a flat head and push the tab open so that it releases your graphics card. If you don't do this and you pull out your card, you will damage and break off the locking tab. If your GPU is sagging a little bit, you can use your other hand to lift the GPU up while you tighten the thumb screws in the back. If you have any PCIe based devices like a 'sound card', 'capture card' or an 'SSD', you can use the same process and install this as well. Remove the PCIe bracket from the back and insert your PCIe device into any available PCIe slot on your motherboard. Last but not least, we are ready to plug in your graphics card cables. Grab the cables, labeled PCIe, and plug them into the graphics card. However many pins your GPU has needs to match the PCIe cables you're plugging in. As you can see, my graphics card has 'two' 8 pin connectors, so i'll be plugging in 'two' 8 pin PCIe cables. Make sure to position the clip towards the lip before connecting them. And once again, make sure they are fully inserted. All right, so this is what your PC should look like. All the components are connected and ready to go. Honestly, you guys deserve a pat on the back because this was a lot of work. I'm proud of you, but we're not done yet. We still need to install windows, download the drivers, and the most important thing you can do for your PC 'enabling XMP profile', which I'll go over later in this video. Before we work on cable management, we need to make sure that our PC boots. So go ahead and plug in the big power cable that came with the power supply in the back. And switch the power supply to on, the switch indicator should be on the straight line. Go ahead and plug in the monitor to the 'HDMI' port in the back of your graphics card, along with a keyboard and mouse. Whatever you guys do, do not use a display port cable until you install the drivers. Hit the power button and stand by, if your monitor turns on and display something. That means your PC is working, nicely done. You can move on to the next step. But before that, go ahead and turn the PC off by pressing the power button. If for some reason you monitor doesn't show anything then it most likely means, you forgot to plug something in. I would go back to these parts of the video, one by one and watch it again. And if all else fails, we need to troubleshoot the PC. I have a great video on this which i'll link down below. So now that we know where all the cables plug in, we can work on the cable management. Feel free to disconnect the cables and route them in any way you like. So that the cable management looks nice. I recommend using lots of 'zip ties' or 'velcro straps' to group the cables together. And if your case has a raceway built in, take advantage of that and route the cables through that. Once you are satisfied with the cable management, you can close off the back with a side panel. If you have a clear side panel, make sure to peel off the plastic beforehand. If your motherboard has built in wi-fi, you can plug in the 'wi-fi extender' from the back. Now before we turn the PC on, we need to load the operating system on a 'flash drive'. So go ahead and find a 'laptop' or another 'PC' that has access to internet, and plug in the Flash drive into that. So go ahead and visit the Microsoft website and download the 'Microsoft installation media tool'. After it's downloaded, go ahead and launch the program and follow the on-screen instructions. Make sure to accept the terms and hit next. We're going to select the option that says create installation media and then hit next again. On this page, just make sure the correct language is selected for your country before hitting next again. Over here we're going to select where we want to install the operating system on. So we do have a 'flash-drive' plugged in ' 771 00:57:09,191 --> 00:57:13,391 We're gonna select the Flash drive option, and on the next page, go in and select the Flash drive that's connected to your PC and hit next one more time. Please note that this will erase everything from your flash drive, afterwards just sit back and relax while windows downloads the OS onto your drive. After it's complete, you can pull-out the Flash drive and move on to the next step. Okay, so now we're ready to install the operating system on your new PC. So make sure to plug in the 'USB drive' from the back of your motherboard. Go ahead and hit the power button on your PC to turn in on, the PC will immediately recognize a flash drive and it will take you to the installation page. If you have a CD key, make sure to post it here before moving forward. However, if you don't have one, you can click on the, 'I don't have a product key' but you will have to activate windows sooner or later. Otherwise, you won't be able to use the PC properly, wherever you guys buy your key from. Just make sure you are buying the correct version. Version of your key must match the version of Windows you are installing. For example, on the next page, you have to choose what version of Windows you want to install. This version has to match the version of the key you are purchasing,. I always recommend going with 'Windows 10 pro', but the choice is yours. So go ahead and select the version, you want to install and hit next. Make sure to accept the license terms, and hit next again. Over here, we're going to select the custom option. This next page will show all of the drives you have connected to your PC. If you have '2' storage devices plugged in, you should have '2' options. If you're missing a storage device here, then it means you forgot to plug something in. Refer back to this section of the video to double-check, if you did everything correctly. As I mentioned before, I recommend installing the operating system on your fastest drive. So if you have an 'M.2' or 'SSD', make sure to choose those over your hard drive. You can also format your drives on this page. Select what drive you want to completely erase, and click on format. This will wipe the drive clean, for a fresh start. After you select, which storage device you want to install the operating system on. Click on next and wait for Windows to do its thing. This process can take 'a few minutes' up to '30 minutes', depending on how fast your storage is. The PC will start a few times and eventually bring you to this page, where you have to finish setting up windows. But just go through every page and fill out the necessary information until you get to the desktop screen. Now we need to install the drivers and enable XMP profile, which is the most important thing to ensure you're not losing out on any performance. If your PC doesn't have internet access, then take out the USB drive and go find a PC or laptop that does, because we need to download the drivers onto the USB stick. We're gonna open up a browser and visit your motherboard's website. Just type in the name of your motherboard on the search bar and visit the manufacturer website. Then we're going to visit the support or download section, and we're going to download the following drivers. If they are listed. If they're not listed, that means your motherboard doesn't support it. Now if you're using either an 'AMD CPU' or an 'AMD graphics card'. Then we're gonna download the 'auto detect software' from AMD's page, i'll leave a link to this down below. This will automatically detect what AMD component you have, and it will install the correct and updated driver for your CPU, or your graphics card. If you're using an 'Nvidia' graphics card, you need to download and install 'Geforce Experience'. Once again, i'll drop a link down below. And finally, if you're using an 'intel CPU', you can find the chipset driver in your motherboard support section. Once all the files are downloaded, transfer it to your USB drive and plug it in your new PC that you just built. Open the folder and transfer all the files to your desktop. Do not install the files from USB sometimes it can mess up the files. So some of these are a bit tricky to install, if you're new to all this. Once you open the files, you're going to always look for the file name with the words set up on there. Double click the file and extract, if necessary. And once it's done being extracted, double click on the set-up file again, and follow the instructions. Do this for all the files you have downloaded. You may have to restart your PC a few times during this process, but once all the drivers are installed, we are ready to enable the XMP profile. Enabling this ensures that your memory is running at its advertised speed, in which most cases brings extra performance to your PC, especially if you're on a 'Ryzen' system. So go ahead and restart your PC, and continuously hit the delete key on your keyboard until you get into the bios. We're gonna navigate and find the section in the bios that says either 'tweaker', or 'over-clocking'. You might have to go into 'advanced Mode', it's usually 'F6' or 'F7', but it's always displayed somewhere in your bios. We're gonna look for 'extreme memory profile'. All you have to do is enable it, and set it to 'profile-1'. Some of the boards like 'gigabyte' have the option to optimize XMP. If you board has that option, make sure to enable it. Afterwards, go ahead and hit 'F10' and save the settings. Once you're on the desktop, we're gonna make sure that XMP is enabled. So right click on your taskbar and click on task manager. Over here, go into performance, then memory. Then you should see the speed of your memory. If that matches the speed of the RAM, then you are good to go. This means that your RAM is running at its max speed. If it's showing half the speed or if your PC crashes while enabling XMP, then you have to go back and lower the clock-speed. Go back into your bios and click on the 'system memory multiplier'. I'll recommend lowering the frequency by 200 megahertz. So if you're using '3600 Mhz' memory, i would lower to '3400 Mhz', hit 'F10', and save and check your frequency again. I will do this process until you find a stable XMP setting, but if your PC keeps crashing then it means, the memory isn't on the 'QVL' with your motherboard. In other words, it's not compatible. If that's the case, go back into your bios and just disable 'XMP profile' and hit 'F10' to save, and quit. Now let's configure your 'power plan'. Once we're back on the desktop, click the 'home button' and type in 'power plan'. We're gonna go ahead and click on the 'select a power plan' option. And if you're using a 'Ryzen CPU' click on 'AMD Ryzen high performance'. If you're using an 'Intel CPU', click on 'high performance' instead, unless you have the option of enabling 'ultimate high performance' power plan, do that instead. If you have installed additional storage devices, you need to activate them now. So go in, and click on the Windows start bar and type in partition. We're gonna go in, and select the 'create and format hard-disk' option. You should be able to see all of your storage devices on here. If any device has a black border, it means it's unallocated. In other words, it's not activated for use. We're going to right click on the drive we want to activate, and click on 'new simple volume'. We're going to click on next, and over here we're gonna leave everything on default, and hit next again. You can set a 'drive Letter' over here, if you like. Otherwise we're gonna go hit next again. And over here, you can name your drive if you like. But just make sure to leave everything else on default, before hitting next a final time. After completing these steps, the drive will become active and the 'black bar' will turn into 'blue', meaning it's ready for use. You can do the same thing for any additional drive you have installed. Finally, let's set the 'refresh rate' of your monitor. So go ahead and right click on the desktop, and click on 'display settings'. Scroll down and click on 'advanced display settings'. And over here, select 'display adopter properties', then go into the 'monitor tab'. If your monitor has a higher refresh rate than '60hz', you can change it here. So click on the 'drop down menu' and set it to the 'highest support refresh rate', and click 'OK'. All right, you are officially done building a PC. Congratulations, you guys. I told you it was easy, didn't I ? If you thought this video was helpful, maybe consider dropping like as it did take me full '3 weeks' to complete. But I thank you for watching. Even if you're not building a PC, I appreciate your time. Now get out, and enjoy your new system.