NZXT PODCAST - #147 - PC Building Tips

Episode Date: February 25, 2023

On this week's NZXT Podcast, we go over some PC tips and knowledge that YOU gave US! Even for long-time builders like us, we learned a few things! Like different colored zip ties for different cables? GENIUS! Tune in live every Friday at 10AM PT on twitch.tv/NZXT and send your questions to: [e-mail]

Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 147 at the NZXT podcast, the official podcast at the NXC community. This podcast is recorded live every Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on the official NCC Twitch is available to stream on demand on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud. My name is Mike. It was me, as always, is Ivan. Ivan, how are you doing? I'm doing good. I'm enjoying the view of your desktop right now for some reason. Yeah, I'm, because I wanted to show.

what we're going to be doing today, which is... Bam. Today we're going to be going over some PC tips in this little thread here so that we can actually learn something. And I probably will learn something as well. Actually, let me raise up our cameras. If anyone has any PC tips for how to get Mike's camera to start working, now's the time to reply to that thread.

But yeah, so the other day, a little backstory here, a little behind the scenes of the NGXT social media magic is Mike and I we have this Slack channel where we just drop ideas. And then the other day, Mike had a brilliant idea of this tweet where we wrote, if everyone drops one thing they learned when building a computer, we can all gain insight from this thread. And it was cool. I thought it was a really good idea because, you know, we get a lot of questions on social. media about building not just from first-time builders, but from people who have plenty of years experience building computers and

all of a sudden they encounter something they've never seen before and they have a question. So we got some questions, or not questions, but we got some tips from a lot of people who have built computers. So what we're going to do is we're just going

to scroll through this thread and one by one we're going to read off the tips and if they're good tips we'll let you know if they're bad tips we'll let you know if we think of other tips we'll let you know and if you're tuned in live right now on twitch.tv slash nzxte as always we do have giveaways during the podcast and if you stick around to the very end you will get a secret word that will give you a bunch of bonus entries so if you're tuned in live stick around and uh let's get to it mike let's start with the first the first tip All right, first I'm going to go through the quote retweets first just to get over some of those real quick.

This one right here, I thought it was a really good tip. If it's your first build or even your 100th, get a motherboard with bioslights, if it costs a little more. It'll save you so much stress and troubleshooting than that you would have to go through otherwise. I learned that hard way. A hundred percent, yes, because some other boards don't have like the VGA lights or, you know, some sort of, you know, whenever you have an issue with either the graphics card a memory something like that some motherboards actually give you the ability to tell you like what's exactly wrong and these type of motherboards will do it yeah i that's a really good tip i'll show you guys my motherboard it has um

like these codes on it at the very bottom there so right now it says 40 i have no idea what that code means but if i if i wanted to i can look at the motherboard manual either online or if I saved it, which, you know, you probably should save your motherboard manual, and look up that code, and it'll tell me like 40 means, you know, maybe, you know, a RAM slot isn't working or something, you know, whatever it is. So, yeah, that's actually a really good tip. Invest in the motherboard that tells you what's going on. Go ahead.

Let's check some. From OperaGX. I've dropped many computers, yes. Linus is the Upper GX social media manager confirmed. Yeah, well, the reason I wrote that is because we wrote, in the tweet, the way we worded the treat, we wrote, if everyone drops one thing they learn we're building a computer and like a dozen people commented, what do you mean dropped? Do you mean Linus? Like Linus drops things? So I just, I guess Linus drops a lot of things when they build. So I thought that was just one. Yeah, there's the new, I remember he dropped like the new like 3080 or something like that when it first launch and he literally physically dropped it and everyone's heart just shattered. Don't use beads as liquid for the cooler system. Yeah.

I don't remember where exactly I got this picture from. I've had this picture saved on my PC for like five years now. Someone actually put beans in a water-cooled build. So when VoiceMod gave that as a tip, I had the ammo lined up ready to go. How many games do you have on? your, uh, many memes you have on a meme folder.

Yeah. I have a lot, man. Even like today when you told me your camera wasn't working, I said, I have the perfect picture for you. That is true. A Pikachu with drool coming out of his,

out of his mouth. Yeah. I have a lot of memes, man. Every once in a while, my phone will give me a notification telling me that I'm right now out of space and I should delete my meme folder.

And I always say, never, I never can delete my phone. You used to correct amount of thorough paste. So what, okay, I actually have a controversial opinion. What is the amount, correct amount of thermal paste? So the Gichi goddess, thank you for this tip. The correct amount of thermal paste, you know, it's, people are going to tell you a bunch of different things, but it's literally a P-size amount, like the size of your pinky nail, right?

If you just drop that amount in the middle of your CPU and apply the cooler, it's that little P-size amount, the size of your pinky nail, is going to spread and disperse across the entire CPU. There's different ways to do the thermal paste application. Some people like to do like an X. Some do a cross. Some do a straight line, either up and down or left and right. some thermal paste

some thermal thermal paste tubes come with like a little applicator that you can just spread actually I want to give a quick shout out to Mr. Yeaster who if you guys don't know who Mr. Yeester is looking up on social really really funny videos

about computers they have their own they just came out with their own thermal paste late last year and they have a little applicator tool But it also comes with a practice kit so you can practice your application before you put it on. But literally all you need is a piece size amount. I know we joke a lot on social media of like, you know, eating thermal paste and, you know, putting like a gallon of it on your CPU.

Please don't do that. You know, it's just a joke. Yeah, piece of the amount. Let's see, hon. What the... Uh, uh, I don't, I don't think does it right. Oh, I see. So it's this little thing right here.

Oh, okay. I see it. I'm just a little bit more than this. I love Mr. Easter. That's like one of my favorite social media accounts. It's hilarious. Keep up the good work, Mr. Easter. I like it.

I like it. You super glue. Let's see. Unless knows how to drop things. Yep, there it is another one. Let's see. Andy Lab, only consistently white motherboard is offered by NZXC. I also can't get a sponsor for NC.

A, Andy, the Lab. Oh, yeah, I've seen your account before. You know, contact marketing at NXC.com if you're interesting. Andy, Andy, the Lab is, that's Ropeetech's buddy there. Let's see. Are you to read it or want me to read it? Go for it. Let's see.

The real season X says if you're putting thermal paste on the for the first time and it comes with the spread stick, use the stick. It personally made me feel a lot more comfortable than not only would I get the whole CPU covered, but that it wouldn't spill over either. And so far, working great. Yeah, I mean, like I said, about that other tip is if it comes with an appetator, use it. That's what it's there for. Also, you know, sometimes you don't even need to apply thermal paste. That's actually another tip I want to give. because if you get a NOLAN one water cooler from us, for example, or crack-in, that comes with pre-applied thermal paste already, where you don't need to apply it on the CPU. It's already evenly dispersed on the backplate of the pump.

So all you got to do is just apply it and it'll spread. There's also air coolers and other AIOs that do similar things. So you may or may not have to apply thermal paste. Some people like to take off that thermal paste that's already pre-applied and get their own. You know, maybe they have a preference. There's a lot of different thermal paste out there, a lot of good ones. So people, some people just like, you know, using Grizzly or Noctua. There's just a bunch of different thermal paste, but you may not have to apply it yourself.

All right, what's the next tip? This one from Asked underscore Twitch. This one, I think right here. people underestimate the the importance of a good power supply It says all power supply cables Are not the same between brands and models Which is a thousand percent true

We I've seen so many Reddit threads and broken PCs Because what happens is they use You know another cable that's meant for you know Let's say a gigabyte versus an NXT one And they use that instead and it ends up frying it. Yeah. Please make sure to use the specific cables for each one.

It is not interchangeable. Not only is that a good tip. It's also something that can potentially save your life, believe it or not. It is very dangerous to mix cable with power supplies. You know, that's how things catch on fire. Like if you, let's say you're building a new PC and for whatever reason, you know, you're just, you're mixing cable. It could potentially ignite, cause a spark, and, you know, have your computer's on the floor, make your carpet catch on fire. Next to you know, it's on the walls.

Yeah, it's definitely, like, not a good idea to mix power supply cables. Even if you're replacing your power supply with the same power supply, and just use the cables that come with the new one. There's no reason to experiment when it comes to cables. Lucian in the chat asks why, though. I'm actually pulling up an article real quick about what is the issue with it. Oh, well, here you go from Gamer's Nexus. If you want to read more into it, there's a whole article from Gamer's right here about mixing module of power supply cables. But basically, from what I know, yeah, here it is, the polarity.

It's a different, it's a different volt values. So, you know, one can give five plus five or one can give this versus something else. and there's a difference in the voltage that you're receiving. So it can either just completely kill your PC where it's not getting enough charge or, which is probably the worst one, is it gets too much charge. And that's what ends up causing, you know, shortages. You'll hear sparks from your PC, you'll have sparks from the power supply. So please, please, please, be careful.

Too much power. And, yeah. All right, Allie Saur says, I find the cables to be the biggest pain. Use colored twist ties to mark them. That's a really good tip. I actually never thought about that. I've always used just regular black zip ties, generic zip ties

when doing the cable management on my PC builds. But now that I see this tip, the next time I build the PC, I'm going to try to get some different colored zip ties and just... That's smart. It's super smart and you just label them so you know exactly, you know, what cable is going to what. And then whenever you have to either upgrade or rebuild or fix something, you know, you don't have to think about which cable it is. You know, like, oh, red means GPU, green means, you know, CPU, whatever it is.

That's a really good tip. That's actually an amazing tip. I didn't even think about that. It's like, oh, my red is my power supply. My blue is my CPU one. That's actually extremely smart. And you can even do stuff for like your cooler and stuff like that. That's actually incredibly smart.

Yeah, I like that too. I love that. See, from Revers. So things are going to disappoint. I didn't see anyone mentioned tweezers. Is that a running joke over now? Secondly, manage cables as you go instead of waiting until the end. This one, I'm actually like a 50-50.

on. Like, I like the idea that, you know, it's, so it's not your way until the end, so there's a whole heap of it. However, I actually kind of like way until the end because, you know, sometimes you'll have an extra cable that you forgot to plug in or, you know, in a certain way, it doesn't fit one way, it goes the other way or fits better the other way. So I actually would rather manage the cables at the end so that everything's in its place and then I can make it all. clean after. There's, I think there's two, there's two schools of thought, in my opinion, when it comes to this, because I think if you, if you're a season builder where you've built the same computer over and over again, like for example, let's say you work at NZXT build and your job is to build

computers and, you know, you're building 20 computers a day in the H5, for example. And you already know how these cables are going to be routed, et cetera, et cetera. Like, it might just be easier, like, to just as you're building to just put in where you know they're going to go. But if it's your first PC build, or maybe, you know, you just don't know much about PC building, even though you built a few computers. Like, you might want to just save it to the end just to make sure that everything is working before you start tying things down. because a lot of times you'll build a PC or not a lot of times but sometimes you'll build a PC and it won't turn on and it might be because there's a cable that's loose or not plugged in correctly

or maybe you plugged it into a different slot or whatever so it's probably a good idea to wait to the end um for most people but like i said i think if you know what you're doing and you're fairly confident you know and you're building like a lot of computers in the day like you might just say you know, Yolo, I know where these cables go. Let me just, let me just tie them now,

deal with them later. Let's see some comments. Let's see. Nothing worse than fully managing your cables than discover your machine doesn't boot. Oh, that one, that one's happened to me before.

I forgot to plug in one of the cables, I think, for the cooler. So it just kept turning off because it just, it wasn't physically cooling. And then we had to go through everything because we decided to,

you know, use all the zip ties and we had to cut all the zip ties to make sure everything's all plugged in. So yeah. I'll bundle the cables together as I go, but I don't zip tie them until. Okay, I like that. You know, if you have the Velcro ones, I like that. Yeah. All right. Next tip here is from NFT Votery. They say double check you are using the correct dim slots.

Really good tip for those that don't know. The dim slots are where you plug in the RAM on your motherboard. and most people have four dim slots on their motherboard, but there's also, you know, motherboards that have eight dim slots, two dim slots even. And in your motherboard manual, it will tell you, like, if you have one piece of RAM, one sticker RAM, put it in this slot. If you have two sticks of RAM, put them in these slots.

If you have three sticks of RAM, put them in these slots. If you have four sticks around, put them in these slots, et cetera, et cetera. and if you don't do that, it can cause issues where maybe your PC doesn't boot or maybe you're just getting half of the RAM that you paid for. So it's really good tip, really good best practice to check that motherboard manual and see exactly where you're supposed to plug in the RAM. I will say also, like, nine times out of 10, at least in my experience, if you have a motherboard that has four slots, for whatever reason, and you have two sticks of RAM, and the favorite reason, like, the two sticks you should be using

are the number two and number four slot. I don't know why that is. It's just kind of like a thing that most motherboards are built that way for some reason. Even from just a little mimic, let's see, even paired RAMDOT is the same RAM for different package just may not be the same use the pairs that come into package together yes as well as with that make sure that each ram that's in its corrected package you're using that ram so if you're getting

two sticks of you know let's say two sticks of eight gigabytes of ram and you want to get another pair of two sticks of eight gigabytes to make it four by eight make sure the pairs are together so if you have the first the first one you bought that one's going to go in two and four and also if you get a second one, it'll go into one and three. Make sure they are paired together. Good, good tip of that there. Thank you just a little mimmed.

Yes. Yeah, I don't know why it's the one and two, a one, three, and two and four thing, and most of the time you do two and four in the beginning. I don't know the exact mechanics behind it, but I just know that's, that's like the main one. Yeah. Let's see. From cranky old dude,

take your time, plan out every part. are ensured they all work with each other. If you encounter manufacturers defects, do not stress, RMA, and be patient. Remember to stick to a regular maintenance schedule, both physically for the PC and with the software and drivers. Yeah, that's something that I think people don't do. It's not just, like, regularly making sure that your PC's good, you know, like cleaning it out, making sure that everything's in check. But updating your drivers, I don't know why. I guess it's just why it was things that just people forget.

but you guys can do automatic updates and it will update your drivers because if you don't do that you can literally sometimes not even play games like straight up. There's actually like three or four good tips in this comment. So I'm going to go through them real quick.

So the first tip is planning out your build to make sure everything works together. Really good tip. I always recommend people to go to PCParpicker.com and just make sure share every because they have a build tool on that website where you can just plug in everything

and it'll tell you there's any compatibility issues whatsoever so before you purchase you know a $200 aio for your 500 CPU that's going to go on your 400 dollar motherboard for example before you spend a bunch of money double check make sure that it's that it's works working correctly even if you don't spend a lot of money um it's always a good idea to just make sure everything's going to work correctly. The second tip here is if there's something wrong, don't trip, you know, RMA that thing from the manufacturers. That's another really good tip because on social media, we get a lot of, not a lot, but we do get people often, you know, they'll maybe go on our subreddit and they'll say like, hey, I built an EPC and my

crackings not lighting up or I ordered a, you know, a, you know, a, a new vertical GPU mount for my GPU and it doesn't fit, whatever. Like, there's a bunch of different things that happen. And I always just tell people, like, you know, sorry that this is happening, but please get in touch with our customer service team so we can take care of this and fix it for you ASAP. And that goes for every manufacturer, you know, like every PC company has a customer service team and they're there to help.

So if you do have an issue with any part, don't stress. just contact the customer service team and get it taken care of. Obviously, it's not ideal. No one wants to go through that. I personally hate dealing the customer service unless it's my homie, Laurent, who's always a pleasant person to deal with on customer service. But yeah, it's just something every once in a while you might have to do. Then the last piece of advice here he gives is to stick to this, it's two part actually,

stick into a regular maintenance schedule and then updating your drivers and things like that. Yes, every so often you want to just not take apart your computer, but you want to like take off the panels, get like a little duster, make sure there's no dust in there. I actually have to do that to my PC right now. I'm looking at it and it's fairly dusty. You know, and that's going to improve the performance. It's just going to make things run smoother, give you better temperatures, ultimately give you more frames as you're playing video games and things like that. So always a good idea to just clean your PC every couple of months, especially if you keep it on the floor, especially if you have pets, especially if it's by a window, you know, just keep an eye on it because it could get dirty pretty quickly.

And the other thing about the drivers, you brought up an interesting point. You said a lot of people, you know, don't do it. And I have a theory on that based on my own personal experience. And it always comes down to like what I'm doing on the computer at that moment. So for example, this morning, you know, when I've turned on the podcast PC, first thing I do every Friday is I check for updates. It's like my routine. I check for updates on my PC. And this morning I had a lot.

And then it told me I had to restart. But then we were running kind of late. and I deselected like some driver install and I was like I'll just do this later for all I know

maybe that driver is going to cause my PC to crash right now in the middle of the podcast I have no idea but I think a lot of times maybe people just you know

turn on their PC they want to play they want to play a video game and they'd rather do that versus you know updating the drivers

but it's it's actually very important because it could cause a lot of issues you know like when Mike's camera wasn't working this morning And first thing I told you was, are you our driver's up to date?

That's literally step one. When something doesn't work, just check for updates. Agreed. And like 50% of the time, I think it's like, oh, I just had to, like, you know, update my webcam software and now my camera works miraculously. So good, good tips from cranky old dude. Great, you old really, well done. Actually, I looked at, I was looking at some of these, but Tech Lab, who, you know, we talk to

a lot. Vice Rudder over the medic end, you will think. it's later. This right here is probably one of the best like probably one of the best things that you could spend. So spend a little extra on a screw drive because actually let me see.

There was someone here that talked about let me see. There was someone here that talked about dropping like an m.2 screw. I have to find it. But someone

dropped their like screwing into M.D.2 drive. And those screws are incredibly tiny. And also, you're having to work around the motherboard itself. So being able to physically, like, just have that screwdriver pretty much, or had to screw pretty much connected to it. You can literally just do his simple thing versus what I used to do when I didn't have it is you'd pretty much have to stick it to your finger,

hope that's in place, and then slide the screwdriver back onto M.D2, and hopefully doesn't fall down. So yes, a magnetic screwdriver. Please get one. It is worth the money. They're not even that expensive either. Yeah, get it from, you can get it from Linus Tech Tips or from NSGP. We both sell screwdrivers with magnetic tips.

Can you scroll up a little bit, Mike? I think we skip some tips here. Let's see. Nolan Create says, Buy a Good Tower, Thin Metal, combined with any basic, CPU cooler can cause just enough flex to keep a few CPU pins from making contact. Results, half RAM detected, no boop, all sorts of weird fun problems. I think this is a good tip, but I also think it's a little bit outdated because nowadays,

most PC cases I think don't have this issue, but yes, there was a time where a computer case, like, Not only was it, you know, maybe poorly made with like cheap metal, it was very dangerous where, you know, you would get cut and things like that. Sometimes, you know, you would be installing a motherboard and something would snap, things like that. But I think the other part of this tip, kind of like a hidden message here is don't forget about the case. A lot of people put the case last. They don't really think about it. You know, they'll, you know, they have no problem spending $1,000 on a GPU, $500 in the CPU, and then they'll get like a $25 case.

That's like an Amazon special or whatever. And yeah, it's always a good idea. I mean, I'm not saying you have to buy NXT case, but definitely look at the cases and think about them and make sure that you're getting a good one. You know, something that's going to not just take care of your hardware, but last you a long time as well. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I never actually had experience with this because by the time I started building PCs, it never even had like these type of issues. But I'm glad that at least now we don't have these issues with it. I'll go ahead like that. Back in the day, you had to make a blood sacrifice every time you built a PC. let's see from reaper night one thing i learned in the old days power supplies had voltage switches

make sure yours is set to correct voltage to your country or you could fry everything this one i think is not as apparent now um because i mean as long as you're in the thing oh hold on i'll i'll respond to lucian soon because i got a good thing for him um uh i was going to do it too yeah you're here you know what i'll just uh i'll just look it up real quick. So Lucius says something with good airflow is good. NXC shouldn't make one of those cases with good airflow too. Let me go ahead and just go to our things real quick.

Here you go. That's one. That's two. It's still funny, though, to meme that about the airflow, but... One, two, three. I mean, I get it. You know, we had the memes at age five, ten, you know, and no airflow, whatever, but like,

we've had these for months now, y'all. Going back to that tip, though, that's actually something I have seen instances of people that they'll maybe buy a power supply

that's like from the U.S. And it doesn't have the correct cable plug into whatever plug they have. you know where they live or maybe they you know they live in a different part of the world and they move to a different part of the world they use a different plugs and they have to figure out a way to you know plug that in and that's I think maybe kind of going back to like one of the first tips we were talking about

about mixing PSG cables and things like that you definitely don't want to experiment with that and you know just like try to find a random cable that fits Like, you should probably contact the PSU manufacturer and let them know what's going on. You know, let them know, hey, I need a specific plug for my power supply because I can't use it. They'll probably hook you up. It's not worth experimenting with power supplies, guys. This one from Larry. Larry Byerle says, most don't know this, but if you bend the CPU pins before applying the thermal paste,

you'll get a more even cope. Don't do that. That's not a real tip. I wish there was a way you can mark things as like false news on Twitter, but yeah, definitely don't. Don't bend your CPU pins. Please do not bad your CPU pins, please.

I beg of you. I'll just give a quick CPU tip. You always want to hold it from the sides like this. You never want to do this. You know, you probably could do this and maybe not damage anything, but why risk it? You know, that thing is expensive. Hold it by the sides. Drop it in gently.

Don't touch the pins, whatever you do. What do you mean? I deal it all the time and it works. Oh, please know. We usually joke around about that, but as of now, we should not. Let's see. Triple check from Bacon. Triple check if you don't have extra standoffs already installed and if you do remove a short-stucking motherboard is not fun.

Yeah, that makes sense. You know, just making sure that, you know, you have to apply anything or make sure to make sure your motherboard physically fits before you actually put it into the case. Yeah. And for those that don't know what a standoff is, it's a little screw that is between the motherboard and the case that aligns the motherboard correctly onto the case. Every case manufacturer is different. Here at NZXT, we actually pre-install the standoff, so you don't have to do this yourself.

You just open up the case and figure out which ones you're going to use for your motherboard and line it up and put them in there. And, yeah, if you don't do this, it could potentially not only make it so you don't install the motherboard, board correctly you know maybe it's not aligned correctly it could potentially damage the motherboard as well so tip tip you always want to make sure you you know which standoffs you're using and if they're not there you want to make sure that you install those before the motherboard all right next tip is from r 18 they say i never built one but i'll say watch off for static electrical damage do not wear gloves

and anything which will build a static current while working on a PC, it may kill the whole thing. Good tip. This is actually something else that we meme a lot on our own social media channels and the PC gaming community also memes a lot is this whole thing about static electricity. And, you know, there used to be a time

where there was like a lot more metal involved, I guess, with computer parts and people wore anti-static wrist straps and things like that to build PCs. Nowadays, you don't necessarily need that stuff, but you do need to make sure that

you're not building a computer on carpet and you're wearing socks and you're rubbing your feet back and forth really fast and then you're, you know, touching electrical components because you could build up static electricity that's going to discharge and fry something, right? Best practice is you always want to build on a large wooden surface, like a table. And what I like to do personally is, like I'll use the same boxes that the hardware comes in to when, as I'm touching it. So like when I

open up the motherboard, I'll take it out of the box, pick it out of the, uh, the little electro magnetic wrapping or whatever it's called. I'll put the motherboard on that cardboard box, make sure that it's grounded already. I'll install the RAM

on the motherboard when it's on the box, things like that. Yeah, I'm not, like I said, I'm not on the carpet with my socks. I'm making sure that that I'm grounded, basically. I agree.

I basically, will go up to like a doorknob and i basically just keep touching that doornaub before i touch anything like on the motherboard i literally just like go up to it and go back go back hit it go back so i just it's just to do it and yeah just if you have carpet please do not put your pc on the carpet um i think most PCs are fine even on carpet now but just to be double safe you know you don't want it to accidentally you know accidentally do something to it you know From Silverado Hand-Mock your system parts together

Nothing more infuriated and one thing Just not quite fitting And that's when the tin snaps and drummo comes out Yes I mean, this one I think is Something that people don't realize Just make sure everything works Make sure everything's compatible

I actually had a friend that bought an AMD CPU And was using an Intel motherboard They did not mock up their system They just wanted the top stuff in general and it's like my dad always says measure twice and cut once measure twice cut once

yep I agree and you just got to make sure especially now with GPUs being incredibly big just make sure you know everything fits because things may not fit so well

I actually reminds me there was someone on our subreddit last week or this week they didn't get mad they were just very upset So they had bought, so we built a new PC, right? And then they posted on our subreddit, they said, how can I get this AIO to fit?

It doesn't fit in my case with this giant GPU. And they had just bought all these parts, right? Yeah. And it was a brand new 4090. Like everything's brand new. It was a big 4090 that's literally the size of the case. They were using the H5, H5 Flow. And then they wanted to install a,

a 280 millimeter radiator in the front with the fans, and it didn't fit. And I messaged them, and I told them, well, here's the GPU clearance for this case, and here's the radiator and fan clearance for this case. What you have and what you're trying to do is not possible. Like, I'm sorry, but you cannot install this radiator on the front with this graphics card. You're either going to have to get a lot. a smaller radiator, get a smaller graphics card, or a bigger case. And my suggestion to him was like, you're going to want to get out of those three options,

the case is probably the cheapest. So, you know, I told them to contact their customer service team and try to return the case and get a bigger one. But yeah, it kind of goes back to the other tip, right? Like, you know, measure, you know, measure twice and cut once. You want to make sure everything is compatible, everything's going to fit. before you pull the trigger because this stuff's not cheap

and there's nothing more frustrating than you know, not being able to use something that you spent money on. So, yeah. You imagine that spending all that time energy waiting for the parts to come in

and all of a sudden like, oh, it just doesn't fit. Go back to a drawing board. And it doesn't take much effort, you know? It's just like look up the specs and be like, okay, I want to get this these parts like is this all going to work together this all going to fit together

you know it's always a good practice to do that so I like that tips I like it a lot next tip from that Mike Denison is computer not turning on even though it should turn on make sure it's actually plugged

plugged in and not only is that a good tip it's also a very common thing that happens where someone will build a new PC and then like they go to hit the power button and nothing happens and then like

they feel like an like an idiot because they're like oh I didn't plug the cable or maybe the switch or the power supply is not your none you know every power supply has an on and off button and you know people forget to flip that switch and they think like you know they built a computer wrong so

the good tip it's a common thing happened to me yeah done the same exact thing before I'm like oh my gosh I broke my PC and I just learned it's like oh that would have been that would

that would have been a good caption for our last of us meme when you build a new PC and you forget to flip the power supply that you would have been good it does give you a heart attack when that happens you really you really think either something's broken or you did something wrong and you're like

like no I just got to turn it on easy Let's see Progose patients of time will be needed So since you need to make sure The right things are plugged out to right places on the motherboard Yep Take your time

You don't need a rush Please do not rush when you're making a PC That is probably like That's just a recipe for disaster right there Yeah Thike and Tessa says If you have long hair, tie it Don't test your fans do they spin

Or are they gone with the pencil You spin happen to a friend Yeah, you want to keep objects away from not just fans, but your PC in general. You know, I have two daughters. One has really long hair, one not so much, but the one with long hair, like, they're always like trying to like look at things. So just recently, I remember I was fixing a flat tire on her bike and I'm spinning it, you know, spinning the crank on the bike and the wheels turning and then she hovers over.

and her hair almost got caught. Oh, Jesus. And by the way, back up, you know, you don't want to get it here. That's a good tip. And, you know, I never really think about that when I'm building because my hair is not that long. But, yeah, you don't want to stick anything in a fan or near computer parts. That's not supposed to be there. I read these two, and actually, I really like these two because they go on it.

uh from drenslaas um don't go cheap on your motherboard it's the most tedious thing to replace and you don't want a cheap one bottleneck you also from austin kale no never compromise to build it takes time to save and never settle for something cheap or unbranded do research wait for sales be patient you'll get there i actually really tally like these ones because in PCs it's hard to it's hard to it's hard to admit that like you know if you know if you want PC ASAP, if you have to compromise some things, you may not get the thing that you physically want. So, yeah, like, people, what happens a lot is people cheap out on power supplies.

Like, that's the thing. Like, you know, I'll pay top dollar for the best CPU graphics card and, uh, RAM. And then all of a sudden you have like a 500 watt power supply and you literally destroy everything in your PC, you know. And it's actually reminds me of a, of a sign that my. barber has in front of his barbershop it says good haircuts aren't cheap and cheap haircuts aren't good and I think the same thing could be applied to computer parts right like I don't I'm not necessarily suggesting that you have to get the most expensive of everything that's not

what I'm saying but what I am saying is you don't want to cheap out on something if you know you can avoid it and just for the sake of saving a few bucks because yeah like what is the name Drenslase is right like if you you know if you cheap out on a let's say he gave us a motherboard example right like if you get a $20 motherboard and you know you fire up your PC and you're getting like you know 10 frames on on war zone or something and you have a 4090 and maybe it could be the motherboard, right? Like, yeah, you don't want to chip out on it.

Not only performance-wise, it could also be something that's very dangerous, too, you know? Like if something's being underpowered or overpowered, it could cause some trouble, and you don't want that. Agreed. Come on for, oh, if you think you're going to break the rabbi, I push it in place, and you know it's light up correctly, push harder.

It's scary. I know, it's scary, but it's going to be okay. That is actually the scariest thing when you're, plugging in your RAM and all you hear is like crunching it's like to CPU when you're gonna pull it down and you feel like you're gonna snap it it's the absolute most terrifying thing in the world that is the most terrifying thing in the world especially for first-time builders i think and i remember you probably remember this mike when back in back in the day when you were you were the social media intern you remember um when all the interns built their

first PC and I was like I was the one running the class. Yes. I was like showing everyone here's how to build a PC. I remember when it came to that RAM, like every intern being scared out of their mind like with the RAM because they didn't want to break it. And I had to like, you know, tell them, you're not going to break anything. Trust me. Like it's scary, but it's a rush.

When you hear that noise, you just got to push it in. It's going to click. Yeah, it's for whatever reason you got to give it a little elbow grease. to get that in. It's the one part of a computer where it feels like you're going to break something for whatever reason. Kind of funny.

It's like, I don't know why. It's so terrifying doing it, but you know, you just got to get it done. And if it doesn't go in, just get a hammer and lightly tap it. Right? No, no, don't do that.

That's not a good thing. No, don't do that. Pluto Pengu says, some other boards have different locations for its power SW and reset SW cables. This is something obvious. I should have read the manual. Yeah, I think I've said it a couple times now is save the manual. Like every time you buy a motherboard, it comes with the manual and there's a lot of great and useful information in there.

You might think I'm not going to need this or I'm never going to have to open this manual or I know what I'm doing. I built 20 computers before. Trust me, that manual could save you a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of frustration. If you don't save the manual, most motherboard manufacturers have digital online versions of the manuals. So you can go to their website and check it out. And yeah, it's always a good idea. Just save manuals. You know, obviously, you know, no one wants to be, you know, a hoarder with just like a drawer full of manuals you're never going to use. but you never know, like, they come in handy.

Mm-hmm. I see, I like, I like, uh, Loran and Josh in the chat. Lauren says, yeah, the same guy told me, sold me my car, said the same thing. Cheap things aren't nice. Night things aren't cheap. I said to paperwork. Lawrence still doesn't push hard enough sometimes. Yep, found out my ramble's in the wrong way.

That's actually kind of, it's, it's, it's, it's actually kind of comforting, though, is to hear that, you know, people that have built PCs all the time. and being and people still make mistakes so if you make a mistake don't feel bad it happens to everyone it will happen to you yes and just be okay with it it will all right you want to do like one more each yeah we can do a couple more i got time yeah let's see uh keep track of your screws oh this one i actually really like this one um keep keeping track of your screws from gigalus Like this one's actually really Something that most people don't think about

If you ever built Legos And having all your Legos in like one specific place I think this is something that people Underrail all the time is putting everything in its place So you know get like little bowls So you can literally grab like kitchen bowls And put it all in there or little plates And make sure everything's there

Just make sure everything's in its place What's the kitchen term? Misan Plaza Everything has... Yeah, everything is place I'm gonna give you a little hack when it comes to this. I do it all the time.

Whenever I build on a PC, I put all the screws on my puck. It's magnetic. And then just like line them up right here. Oh, that's kind of smart. I like that. I don't think I have anything yet. Well, this is magnetic. Well, it's not magnetic, I guess.

Oh, you're my pen is. But yeah, you can put your screws on your puck and it'll just stay there as you're building. It's a good little hack. I like that a lot, actually. Uh, just a little as she says, yeah, go to Harbor Freight, grab magnetic trays. Magnetic trays are amazing because, you know, they'll stay in its place.

Like, one of the most amazing things you could do. Lemon John 21 says, it's not actually too hard to build a PC. It's just time consuming. I think that's a good tip. Well, it's not really a tip. I guess, well, it's more of like some words of encouragement here. Yeah, like, I always tell people, because I've taught like several people how to build computers, and one of the things I always tell them is if a dummy like me can do it, trust me, you can do it too.

Like, I'm not a genius. I suck at math and science and, like, fixing things. And I'm horrible when it comes to, like, being a handyman around the house. Ask my wife, she'll tell you. I'm really bad at, like, all that stuff. But I know how to go to the computer for some reason. And the reason I think is because Lemon John is actually right. It's not that hard.

It's the hard part is just figuring out what you need to do. Like, you know, what parts you need to get, how these parts connect to each other, how these parts work together. What order should you put all these things together, you know, what to do if, you know, what to do if you build something that doesn't work. How do you troubleshoot? Yeah, like all that stuff is very time-consuming. But I wouldn't say it's quote-unquote hard. And also, I think, you know, the more you build, just like anything in life, the easier it gets, right?

I know most people don't work at a computer company like us and just have a bunch of computer parts around and have the opportunity to build computers, like regularly, most people, I think, you know, maybe they build a PC and they don't build another one for, like, seven years later, maybe, or whatever it is. And it might be, you know, time-consuming. But it's not hard. You know, it's just the hard part, like I said, is just figuring out what you've got to do. And, yeah, but just enjoy it. Take your time and enjoy it. It's a fun experience. I always, feel like, you know, it's very, you know, gratifying when you build a computer because you can look at it and be like, yeah, I built that with my own two hands and it works. And now I'm,

I'm able to chat with my friends on Discord. I'm able to listen to the NZXT podcast. I'm able to play call of duty, whatever it is you're using your computer for. Like, it feels good knowing that you built it. And, um, It also feels good knowing that like if something goes wrong or if you want to do it again or you want to help your friend build a PC, you can tell them like, oh, here's how I did it and like, you know, I know what to do. Like, let's rock and roll. I like the comments of the chat too. Like from Marradiere, the research into what to get based on budget took way longer. Honestly, it's kind of like what we talked about with metric twice, cut once.

research, take your time. It takes a while, but spend an extra day researching than having that PC for an extra five or six years, one's going to be better than the other. Yeah. Here it is for Primal Deep. Once you're done, right, turn it on. I'm here to flip the power switch on the back. Done that so many times.

Let's do one more tip, and then we'll wrap it up. we'll do some announcements and give out this secret phrase. And I want to give this tip, actually, from Ari or Carrie Murph, C-A-R-I, however you pronounce it, Carrie, Kerry, Kerry, Murph. She says, or they say, I use N-Z-E-X-T because I'm visually impaired and didn't trust myself not to go boom. So I think this is a good tip because if, for whatever reason, you don't want to want to build your own PC, you can't build your own PC, maybe you have a disability like carry here where, you know, it's just not safe for you to do it yourself. Definitely don't do it.

You know, there's companies out there that'll do it for you, NZT being one of them. I'm not saying you have to buy an NZXT PC because you don't trust yourself. There's tons of companies that do it. But what I'm saying is if for whatever reason you just can't, don't want to, like, that's okay too. Like, it's no one says you have to build your own PC. It always sucks when I see comments on social. Like people post people get excited, you know, like, oh, I bought a new NZXT PC and then they'll post a picture of it on social. Then the comments right away are like, oh, I could build it better or you should have built it yourself or like only. only morons by pre-builds and that's not true like you trust me it's not true a lot of people just

they can't or they don't want to and that's okay um and i always tell people too like on social when they ask you know hey nzxte should i build a pc or buy a pre-built PC and i always tell them the same thing building a PC is definitely more fun but we'll do it for you if you want us to and, you know, obviously we'll charge you $99 to do so. But at the end of the day, those $99 could save you a lot of hassle and help you out a lot. So it's a good tip because I feel like the PC gaming community at times, you know, it could get a little toxic when it comes to building versus going the pre-build route. But there's nothing wrong with gaining your pre-build, you know.

So do your homework. And if you don't trust yourself, just no problem, we'll build it for you. I like that. I like that a lot. All right. I think that's a lot of good tips. Yeah, a lot of great tips, honestly.

I actually really like using different types of cable ties. I actually really like that one. That's probably the best tip we got. Let's see. Oh, from Ross Sothi. sticks loose screws on some tape so they don't go missing yeah actually i like that and or using magnetic trays either one of those two will work out pretty well

but um yeah as someone that was firmly in the camp of any working build a PC there are some people that just need a people instead yep exactly right that's true it's like you know not everyone can do everything which is uh you know insensibility is something that i I feel like when it comes to technology, it's very important because nowadays, I mean, can you imagine not having a computer, not having a cell phone, not having a tablet, a laptop, not having a car, not having a radio, like not having a TV, whatever. Like, all these, like, different electronics, right? Like, we rely on them, like, on our daily basis to not just do our work, but to just live our life, you know.

Not everyone has the same opportunities as everyone else where, you know, you can just say, like, oh, yeah, I want to, you know, play this game. And then all of a sudden you realize, well, I can't play it because this game doesn't have an accessibility feature that I need. or, you know, I want to build a PC, but, you know, I'm visually impaired like this person. And they can't, you know. And I think, yeah, I think it's very important for technology companies to make things accessible for people. Because, like I said, it's unavoidable. You kind of need technology to live your life nowadays. So hopefully the PC gaming community, like, opens their minds up a little bit.

when it comes to this, because, like I said, there's nothing wrong with getting a pre-built. Some people just can't. Some people don't want it, and that's fine. Agreed. No one's saying you have to build a PC, but it is fun if you can do it. I will say that.

Yeah, I like the Mario Deer. Yeah, gatekeeping, looking down on people, buying pre-builders is not okay. Many people don't have the confidence, even just time to research to build our own. Upgrade kits is also a good place to start learning. Agreed. You mean, you didn't, you, you,

You live in a pre-built house? You didn't build your own house, bro? You should have built it. You know how easy it is to build a house? Driving that pre-built car? Housepartpicker.com. That's how you can find out. What I think you do?

All right, Mike. Let's do the announcements and share the secret word and wrap this up. All right. All right. Let's go to announcements. We pretty much just have. The standard announcements. You know, we have a bunch of new products in our lineup, cases, coolers, fans, monitors, thermal paste.

So check them at ncadc.com. And if they are out of stock, which I know we've been getting a lot of questions on, they will be coming in stock soon. The best way to do it is to sign it for our newsletter or go to one of the products that you're looking for and put your email in. You'll get an email notification when they're back in stock. Keep an eye out for that. Can I add a little bonus announcement?

Yes. So if, you know, if, yes, like Mike said, if something you want from NZXT is not available on our website, sign up for the email alerts. We're working on restocking. We realize a lot of stuff is out of stock. It's not a secret. But yeah, sign up for those alerts.

But their other thing you can do is go to NZXT.com slash retailers and see if another store has those parts you need. The best example I can give is like right now with our newest products, which are the H9 cases and the RGB Duo fans, they're currently out of stock on our website. But all of a sudden, on social media, we're getting a lot of people who are building brand new builds in the H9s with RGB Duo fans, which means they're buying them from somewhere. And it could be Amazon, it could be new, it could be Microsenter, it could be Best Buy, it could be a bunch of different places. So, yeah, that's another PC tip for you Because go to nzexc.com slash retailers I get

All righty I want to go ahead and drop the Secret Word Yes, so if you are tuned in live To the podcast and you stuck it around to the end Thank you very much Your reward is the secret word And today's secret word is

Live Strong Like the bracelets All one word bonus points if you understand the reference and why we use that as the I didn't understand the verse and what I told me the code I go oh my God it's so good yes I wonder if anyone will get the code everyone will get it even if they don't get it fine yeah but yeah thanks everyone for tuning in thanks everyone who submitted their their PC building tips

Hopefully, some of them help you out. I think there was a lot of really good ones, even some insightful ones, like the last one, about being visually impaired and not trusting yourself, you know. So thank you to everyone that submitted those tips. Thank you to everyone who tuned in live and who was listening to the recording, I guess, too. Yep.

Thank you guys for joining us. Remember, TuneiDM live every Friday, attending at Pacific Center time on the official NCC Twitch. And don't forget to listen to previous episodes on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, and SoundCloud. Please leave us a positive review if you like what you hear or even if you didn't. Got any questions for us. Sighted email to podcasts at nzxc.com or tag at NZXT on all social media platforms.

Thank you guys.