75 PC Building Tips

Get ready for an adventure. Don't get us wrong: Assembling your own desktop is plenty fulfilling and worthwhile. But even for veteran builders, it's rarely a straight-line journey from A to B. Each time you take the walk, you find new shortcuts and faster routes to your destination.

We here at Shopper have built (and dismantled) more than our share of desktops over the years. This collection of tips, tricks, and advice is only a sliver of the wisdom we've acquired poking around dimly lit alleys and dead ends. But indeed, we've found that's the royal road to becoming an expert PC builder: Take the walk, and don't be afraid to get a little lost.

1. Metal shavings can doom your PC. Use caution!

Making minor modifications to a PC case can sometimes leave a jagged edge in the metal chassis. Never file or drill anything metal on your case, however, once the motherboard is installed. Tiny metal shavings or filings lodged anywhere on the board can wreak mysterious havoc. Some cases have metal plates that cover unused drive bays, held in place by thin bits of metal. To use the bay, you have to clip or wiggle off the plate, severing the actual metal and leaving jagged edges. Don't file them if the motherboard is installed; instead, blunt them by bending them out of the way with needle-nose pliers, or use a metal-nibbling tool.

2. Do you need an antistatic wrist strap?

One of the most contentious debates among PC builders is whether using an antistatic wrist strap is necessary when assembling a PC. Any static electricity that builds up on your body before you handle PC components can be a major problem--even a tiny discharge can kill those delicate electronics.

That said, we've built several dozen PCs without a strap and haven't lost a component yet. Then again, we live in the temperate Northeast and we never build a PC in a carpeted room—rugs greatly increase the likelihood of static buildup. Also, to help dissipate any charge, we touch a bare-metal portion of our PC's case before picking up any electronic parts.

If you want to play it safe, have rugs, or live in an arid clime, check out a Anti-Static Wrist Strap with Cord. Simply fasten one end to the case metal with an alligator clip and the other around your wrist with elastic or Velcro, and conductive fibers in the wrist-wrap portion will leach away any charge.

3. A household tool makes installing motherboard mounts easy.

In the PC-builder world, a standoff is a simple bit of metal (usually brass, with a threaded bottom and hexagonal top) that screws into the bottom of your PC's case. Standoffs elevate your motherboard a half-inch or so off the metal case bottom--you place the board on them and screw it down.

Most cases come with the standoffs in a baggie, and you need to install them according to your motherboard's layout. (See Tip 9.) It can be tricky to tighten them without the proper tool, however. Pliers will suffice if you're careful, but a better tool is your tool-kit socket set. The 5mm metric socket in the set fits most standoffs, making it easy to tighten them all quickly.

4. Sort your parts eggs-actly how you need them.

A PC build involves keeping track of many different screws and other small parts. An essential accessory: a multi-compartment tray into which you can sort various screws, washers, standoffs, and jumpers. One good dollar-store possibility is a pill sorter, the type with little lids over the compartments. A muffin tin works in a pinch, too.

Even better, though, is a tray you can write on for reference. Our low-tech, no-cost solution: a foam or cardboard egg carton. You can mark up the cups with a Sharpie, labeling each with the source of the screws it contains.

5. Gather the right tools ahead of time.

Certain tools--such as a Phillips screwdriver--are essential for any PC build. But a few other items can make things go a lot smoother. In addition to an antistatic wrist strap (see Tip 2) and cable ties (see Tip 19), handy household items include needle-nose pliers, a small flashlight (the compact LED type is great for placing inside the case, hands-free, while you work), paper and a pencil, and a pair of clippers (even nail clippers will do).

Also useful, but less likely for you to have around the house: a "parts picker." Commonly provided in electronics tool kits, it's a little retractable claw for grabbing screws dropped into inconvenient places.

6. Don't tighten PC screws excessively.

Few items inside a PC case are liable to rattle themselves loose over time, so there's no need to hyper-tighten any screws when fastening a motherboard, drive, or other component. (Indeed, extreme overtightening can cause damage.) Use the "finger-tight" method of applying just enough torque: Grasp the screwdriver with three fingertips, apply just enough grip force to keep it steady while screwing in the screws, and stop when the screw head's underside touches the metal surface and your fingertips meet resistance. Then a tiny turn more--and that's all.

7. PC screws aren't all interchangeable--here's why.

When you buy a PC case for a from-scratch build, lots of screws come with it, as well as with your other components. The kinds used for different purposes vary from case to case (and you'll want to keep them sorted--see Tip 4), but we've observed a few constants.

Hex-head screws, which usually also have Phillips grooves on top, are mainly used for installing optical drives and screwing down the I/O brackets of expansion cards to the back of the case. These screws have thicker heads than other PC case screws. Dome-headed screws tend to be used for installing hard drives, while small flat- or dome-headed screws may be used to mount the motherboard, depending on the case. All these screws may come in different lengths and thread coarsenesses, however, so never force a screw if you meet resistance--you probably should be installing a shorter or differently threaded one in its place.

Your case may also come with flat-headed screws with, relative to the others, a very thick shaft and coarse threading. These are "self-tapping" screws used for fastening the case fans to the chassis. They won't come close to fitting any other screw hole.

8. Install your standoffs strategically if you don't have enough.

Sometimes a case doesn't come with enough brass standoffs to accommodate your board. You can get by without installing a required standoff or two, but choose any that you omit strategically, making sure there's enough support for the board underneath areas you'll press down on when installing hardware--for example, under the PCI and PCI Express (PCIe) slots, the IDE and Serial ATA (SATA) ports, and the CPU socket region.

If you can get your hands on some identical extra standoffs--salvaged from an old case, or for a few cents from a local PC shop--install those missing ones. (Just make certain they're exactly the same height.) By the same token, if your case has standoffs preinstalled, don't leave any in place that don't match a hole in the board--it can lead to a short circuit and board damage.

9. Use a paper and pencil to install your motherboard correctly.

As noted in Tip 3, you'll need to mount standoffs in your PC's case to support your motherboard. But how can you tell into which holes you should install them? Your case bottom will have lots of holes. Some cases have indicators stamped next to the holes (for example, marking the holes for ATX- or MicroATX-form-factor boards), but it's best to examine the board you have for guidance.

Get a sheet of paper at least as big as your motherboard, and place it underneath the build. Then, look for the mounting holes and trace them onto the paper with the pencil, or punch matching holes in the paper. When done, place the paper in the case, aligned with the holes in the case bottom or motherboard tray. You now have a perfect template for installing your standoffs.

10. Motherboards are delicate--mind how you hold them.

When installing any motherboard, handle it gently and grasp it only by its edges. Boards today are swathed in fragile pins, pin headers, and capacitors, as well as precariously mounted heat sinks. Any of these can bend or break off with careless handling. If you need to put the board down outside the case, rest it on a sheet of foam padding, back in its box, or, at the very least, on the antistatic bag in which it came.

11. What are those mysterious cardboard washers for?

Some motherboards come with a sheet of cardboard washers and scant explanation for their use. We've left them off in our builds with no apparent consequences, but they do serve a purpose, albeit a waning one. Any mounting holes in the motherboard that have a metal rim are intended to host their mounting screws as they are. You can feel confident screwing these holes down straight to the case standoffs. But any holes without the metallic rimming--though increasingly uncommon these days--should have a cardboard washer above and below the hole.

The metallic-edged holes make contact with the screws for grounding purposes, so no need to worry about the metal-on-metal contact there. But the washers, when needed, serve to isolate their holes electrically, as well as to protect the board from the abrasion of the screw.

12. Swap out the PC's I/O plate with care.

The "I/O plate" is a crucial item to address before installing your motherboard. It's a removable, rectangular panel in the back of your PC case; many of the PC's expansion ports jut out of it through its matching holes. The plate is usually made of thin metal, and any new motherboard will come with one designed for it.

Sometimes, though, not all holes in the I/O plate are fully punched out for the actual ports your motherboard has. Compare the plate with your board's ports, and prepunch any necessary holes in the plate using a screwdriver or other blunt tool--the slugs are harder to remove later, when you're installing the motherboard. Then, swap out the I/O plate for the one installed in the case. (Sometimes the old one will be screwed in, but usually it's just snapped into place.) Use a tool (the end of a screwdriver works well), not your bare fingers, to push on an I/O plate for installation or removal--the metal has wickedly sharp edges and a tendency to pop or spring into or out of place. Also, make sure you install it right side up--it will only match your board in one direction.

13. Keep ports and plates in line along your PC's back end.

On the I/O plate, you'll notice some "bendy bits" (for lack of a technical term) around most of the port openings, little tabs of excess metal that extend inside the case. These springy tabs apply pressure to the ports to align them with the plate openings, as well as perform a grounding function. Make sure none of these tabs gets jammed inside a port when you install the motherboard, however--they tend to do so.

Also, make sure the I/O plate snaps all the way into the case when installing it--a misaligned or half-installed I/O plate is the most common reason a motherboard won't line up with its standoffs when you try to screw it down.

14. Clear out cabling before motherboard installation.

Your average PC case has a mass of cables cluttering up the interior before you even start installing the motherboard (especially if your case has its power supply preinstalled). Untangle and drape all cables outside the case before starting the build; don't try to install around them. Power-supply cables, especially, tend to spring back and not stay where you put them. If needed, restrain them temporarily using rubber bands or Velcro wraps to keep them out of the way while you work.

15. The internal PC speaker may be fading out, but it's still handy.

Many PC cases no longer contain a built-in speaker, but most motherboards still provide the header pins to accommodate one. (Some boards, on the other hand, have a tiny piezoelectric speaker built in.) If your board has a speaker header, it may be a four-pin header or a two-pin one, but in either case only two pins are actually active, so any case speaker should work. And if your case lacks a speaker, you can leave these pins safely unused.

The internal speaker can be invaluable, however, for troubleshooting a failed bootup via its bleeps and bloops. For a speakerless case, you might scavenge a speaker from an old, disabled PC and mount it inside the case. Another option: The ATX Control Kit includes a piezo-type four-pin speaker you can plug directly into the motherboard.

16. An innovative connector makes finicky case wires easier to install.

Once your motherboard's in, your first task should be to attach the tiny wire leads for the case's front-panel connectors (for power and reset switches, drive and power LEDs, and possibly an internal speaker) to the appropriate motherboard header. (A "header" is a grid of fine pins to which you attach various wires or cables--your motherboard will be peppered with them.) This is sometimes tricky, though the motherboard manual should have a schematic that shows where the pins are. You may need a flashlight to see the pin markings on the board.

We like Asus motherboards that employ Asus's Q-Connector technology, which puts these connections on a removable block. You plug the wires into the block outside the case (where visibility and accessibility are much better), then plug the block into the motherboard header. Asus does have a Q-Connector kit it sells separately with Q-Connectors for the main LED/power header, USB header, and FireWire header, but there's no guarantee your motherboard's headers will be compatible. Check carefully for correspondence, pin by pin, before using this.

17. What are your PC-speaker beeps telling you?

18. How to determine positioning for front-panel wires.

When plugging in those front-panel connectors, it can be tricky determining the positive (+) and negative (-) orientation of each lead's connector. Sometimes, the case manual will tell you which is which, or (less often) the polarity will be printed on the connector.

The leads for the switches (power and reset) can be installed in either direction, without regard to polarity. Direction does matter, however, for the LED leads (hard drive and power). The colored wire is usually the positive, whereas the white is usually the negative.

Note also that some boards have a two-pin and three-pin version of the header for the front-panel power switch. Use only the one that matches the cable from your case; it's safe to leave the other unused.

19. Run and restrain cables for maximum airflow and neatness.

As you attach each wire lead to your motherboard, route it carefully around the perimeter of the board, or failing that, along cross braces or other structural members of the case. Be creative, and try to keep the wiring from obstructing fans, heat sinks, or high-traffic areas inside the case. Plastic cable ties--available from any hardware or electronics store (RadioShack sells a variety in many lengths and styles)--or Velcro loops (see Tip 46) are essential for this task. Snip off any excess with wire or nail clippers.

Common household twist ties are also handy for restraining cables, but many of them have a wire core that's ever-so-slightly exposed at each end. Don't use these if there's any chance a stray end might touch the motherboard or other components with exposed circuitry. Stick to pure plastic, instead.

20. Thumbscrews are a cheap, highly handy upgrade.

If you're a frequent hardware upgrader, it's well-worth fitting out your case with thumbscrews for the case lids and expansion cards. They cost only a few cents each and eliminate the need for a screwdriver. Look for large-headed, easy-to-grasp thumbscrews for the case exterior, along with smaller ones for the expansion-card bracket. (Bigger ones won't fit there.) They also come in a variety of colors to match your case.

21. Make sure your processor is oriented properly!

Proper processor orientation within its socket, whether it's an AMD or Intel chip, is crucial. Be especially careful any time you're dealing with the Intel LGA775 socket, which contains 775 delicate pins ripe for bending. Place your Intel CPU into this socket carefully, lowering it in parallel to the board, and make sure the two notches in the socket and chip fit each other. Also, a pair of arrows, on the socket and chip, must point to each other. Never force the load plate (see Tip 23) and its locking lever down onto the chip--if it takes more than firm pressure, something's not installed properly.

The current AMD CPU sockets, Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+, have holes, with the pins resident on the chip. AM2 and AM2+ use a similar arrow scheme for orientation, but--as with LGA775--—the chip simply won't drop into its socket any way but the right way, so don't force it.

22. Cooler or motherboard: Which to install first?

Should you install the processor and CPU cooler onto the motherboard before installing the motherboard in the case? That depends on the design of the cooler. We find it easier to mount most coolers with the motherboard outside the case, since cooler-mounting hardware tends to require frustrating gyrations to get installed. (We're looking at you, Intel LGA775 posts.)

That said, having the board mounted on its standoffs gives it a stronger, more stable base to counteract the sometimes brutish pressure required to install a cooler. Examine the room available for installing your cooler inside your case; if you'll have a hard time reaching or seeing the cooler's base, install it with the board outside.

23. That CPU-socket cover needs to go.

Before you can install the CPU cooler, of course, you'll need to install the CPU. If you're installing an Intel CPU into an LGA775 socket, the socket will have a protective plastic cover shielding the pins inside the socket from damage. The cover will be clipped to the hinged frame (or "load plate") that surrounds the socket. This might be unfamiliar to PC-build veterans for whom LGA775 is the first "pinned" socket they've seen. (The norm has been for the pins to be on the chip.) Remove and discard the protective cover before installation--never install the CPU with the cover in place.

24. A CPU retention plate can throw a curveball at your install.

At the start of your PC build, and especially before you install your motherboard, check the CPU cooler's documentation. Some coolers require you to fasten a retaining plate underneath the board before you install the motherboard in the case. If you install the motherboard first, you'll just have to take it out again.

This plate contains screw holes that accept the posts or screws from the CPU cooler's heat sink. The motherboard is essentially sandwiched between the heat sink and the plate, with the plate helping accommodate the weight of the heat sink while reinforcing the board. Often, the motherboard comes with a piece of double-sided tape for holding the plate in place until you mount the heat sink--use it.

25. Matchmake your cooler and motherboard before the big install.

Before installing a CPU cooler onto your motherboard--especially if it isn't the stock cooler that came with the chip--test-fit it, checking for clearance around the edges. Some CPU coolers and motherboards simply can't coexist, despite the fact that they support the same socket type. Depending on the motherboard design, capacitors, heat sinks for onboard chipsets, and the like can obstruct some particularly large cooler designs. If so, exchange the cooler for a different model--never bend onboard components to accommodate it.

26. Check the bottom of your CPU cooler for faults.

A CPU cooler's bottom surface, often copper, should be perfectly smooth; if the cooler is a used one and the area is scratched or marred, heat transfer in those spots will be imperfect. Some enthusiasts "lap" their new coolers (polishing the bottoms with fine sandpaper atop a hard, flat surface, such as sheet glass) and even the tops of their CPUs to ensure perfect contact-surface smoothness, but we don't recommend this; simply return to the seller any new cooler that has a defect visible on this surface.

Don't forget to remove any plastic protective film from the cooler bottom before installing. The bottom of the cooler should touch the top of the CPU, metal to metal (with, of course, thermal paste between them--more on that in Tip 29).

27. How to restore a damaged CPU or socket.

Okay, so it happened: Our advice in Tip 21 fell on deaf ears, and a pin in the CPU socket, or on the CPU proper, got bent. Don't panic. Also, don't try to straighten it with just any tool--you might break the pin off or bend other pins in the process.

Instead, obtain a mechanical (or drafter's) pencil. It should have a tiny metal tube for a tip, through which it admits the pencil lead. Remove the lead and, in most cases, the empty tube tip will be the perfect size to fit over a bent pin, allowing you to straighten it with precision. This trick also works for bent pins on motherboard headers, or hard-drive or optical-drive edge connectors.

28. Old thermal paste can hinder cooling performance.

If you're reusing a CPU cooler, it probably has remnants of old thermal paste on it. Also, if you botch installing your cooler and need to reseat it, you should clean off the old thermal paste and apply a fresh coat. (You want the layer between chip and cooler to be even, without blobs or bare patches.) Remove the old stuff thoroughly using rubbing alcohol and either a lint-free, nonabrasive cloth or paper towels. (Naphtha, which also evaporates quickly, works well, too, but use it sparingly.)

If the old cooler you're going to use is still installed in a working PC, you might first run a PC-stress-test app like Prime95 to heat up the CPU. (Prime95 is widely available by Googling; once you install it, choose Options > Torture Test and run a "large FFT" test.) This can help soften up the old paste and make removal easier.

Also, clean the old cooler's fins and fan while you're at it--an old toothbrush and canned air work well. Dust caked into the heat sink will impede cooling performance.

29. Don't overapply thermal paste.

Unless your CPU comes with thermal material preapplied to its base (usually in the form of a waxy, square pad), you'll need to apply thermal paste to the CPU's top before installing the cooler. (The paste fills any microscopic grooves in the cooling surfaces, improving heat transfer away from the chip.) Some paste typically comes with the cooler, in a squeeze-out packet or tiny plunger-style applicator.

Start with a BB-size blob. Spread it with a stiff card and try to apply an even, almost transparent layer, removing any excess. (Don't slather it on like SPF30 sunblock.) Leave a millimeter or so around the chip's edge to prevent any excess from squeezing out when you press on the CPU cooler, and make sure the chip's core--the center area, which is the hottest-running part--is covered.

30. Third-party thermal paste has its ins and outs.

Don't expect miracles from aftermarket thermal paste, as opposed to the generic goop that comes with most coolers--you won't shave off more than a few degrees, tops, with the premium stuff. Also note that some pastes are electrically conductive, while others are not; if you're buying some, we strongly recommend the latter, in case any stray blobs find their way onto motherboard circuitry.

Also, be very aware of the difference between thermal paste and thermal adhesive. (Arctic Silver, maker of the most popular aftermarket thermal pastes, makes both.) Thermal adhesive, which is essentially a combination of thermal paste and superglue for sticking heat sinks onto chips, is not recommended for CPU coolers. (Not to mention, the bond is permanent.)

31. Always fasten down a four-poster CPU cooler crosswise.

If your CPU cooler locks down onto the motherboard or retaining plate using four press-down posts (à la an LGA775 socket) or via four screws, attach or screw down the first post or screw, then the one diagonally opposite it--don't fasten two adjacent ones in a row. This will make installation vastly easier and also help spread the thermal paste more evenly.

Also, it helps, if the cooler uses screws, not to screw them down all the way the first time around. Screw in the first one just far enough so that it grips, and do the same for the rest. Once they've all gained purchase, tighten them down again in the same order as you attached them, this time all the way.

32. What to do if your CPU fan's plug doesn't match its motherboard connector.

It could be an alarming discovery: Your CPU's fan has either a three-pin or a four-pin power connector, but the "CPU Fan" header on your motherboard doesn't have the same number. But it's okay--either way, it will work.

The fourth pin is used for fan-speed control, so if you use a three-pin fan on a four-pin header, the fan will simply spin at a constant rate. (Same deal if you plug a four-pin fan into a three-pin header.) You'll only get the potential to activate variable speed control through software if both fan and motherboard employ a four-pin interface.

Even more important, though: Don't forget to plug in this connector, regardless of how many pins. You don't want your CPU to overheat, and it probably will--quickly--if the fan isn't running.

33. The secret to installing LGA775 CPU-cooler posts.

Some LGA775 CPU coolers--most notably, Intel's stock cooler that it provides with its processors--use push-and-twist "pop-in" posts that can be infuriating to install. Make sure the post's pegs are all in the "up" position before installing the cooler, with the arrow atop the posts rotated away from the cooler; when down, the peg will push through the hole in the motherboard, spreading a set of prongs and locking the cooler into place.

The problem is that you may have to use an alarming amount of downward force and twisting to get these pegs to engage. If you're installing the cooler with the motherboard outside the case, place the motherboard atop a wooden board or other hard surface with a hole drilled in it, centering the motherboard mounting hole over the hole in the board. This will give the motherboard some supportive backing while you force these pegs into place. Be sure to install them crosswise, per Tip 31.

34. Throttling your CPU fan can reduce noise but have unintended consequences.

Some CPU fans come with a "throttling adapter," often identified as a "low-noise adapter." It's an inline cable that runs between your CPU fan's power line and the "CPU Fan" motherboard header; the adapter forces your CPU fan to run slower and thus quieter. Consider installing it if you'd like to reduce your PC's noise output, but monitor your PC's operating temperature (see Tip 35) to make sure it's not throttling the fan too much. If you hear the CPU fan cycling alternately fast and slow in normal operation, a software or BIOS function in the PC may be adjusting the fan to compensate for the hamstrung speed and inadequate cooling performance--try removing the adapter.

35. A handy utility for tracking PC temperatures.

SpeedFan, a piece of freeware written by Alfredo Milani Comparetti, is an invaluable tool for checking the hardware health of a newly built PC. (Grab it from computershopper.com/downloads.) It reports temperatures from hardware-monitoring chips within your PC, such as your CPU die or hard drive. You'll have to do some sleuthing to determine which sensor governs which component, and SpeedFan doesn't support every piece of hardware out there, but it's good for a quick-and-dirty read on how hot or cool your core components are running.

36. Larger fans can cool more quietly than smaller ones.

If your PC's case gives you a choice, opt for larger, slower-spinning 120mm case fans in place of 92mm or 80mm models, all else being equal. A slower-spinning 120mm fan can move the same volume of air as a smaller fan that needs to spin at a higher rate to achieve the same end. The faster a given fan needs to spin, the noisier it will be, so the larger fans can help you reduce operating noise.

Also, you can replace the case's stock fans with better-quality ones. Models with sleeve bearings tend to run quieter than same-size, same-speed fans with ball bearings; serious anti-noise jockeys favour fans from EBM-Papst. Panaflo-series fans from NMB and Panasonic are also quiet-enthusiast favorites, but some retailers sell these industrial-model fans "bare wire," leaving you to attach a PC-compatible power connector yourself. Check before buying.

37. Outfit your case with fan filters to keep the interior clean.

Most cases don't come with fan filters, but at assembly time, it's a great idea to retrofit yours with them to keep the inevitable dust bunnies out. (Cleaning your case in a year's time can be a bother, and dust clogging the CPU heat sink can impede performance if the CPU starts to run too hot.) You can fashion your own filters from air-conditioner filter material, but it's much less trouble to buy premade, washable filters from one of the PC-modding-gear sellers mentioned in earlier tips. The filter comes in a premade plastic frame for easy mounting; just make sure to match the correct size of the fan in question. (The three standard sizes for chassis fans are 80mm, 92mm, and 120mm.) You only need to install filters on the intake fans.

38. Mount fans properly to reduce operating noise.

When mounting your chassis fans into the case (usually using the self-tapping screws discussed in Tip 7), make sure those screws are fastened all the way to avoid rattling when the fans are spinning. Though in our experience they don't help much, you can buy rubber grommets (tiny donuts) that buffer between the case and the fan to further reduce noise.

We haven't tried aftermarket versions, but a better prospect is the anti-vibration "screw"--not a screw at all, but a rubber push-in mount for your fans that replaces the screw entirely. We've used PC cases that came standard with these, to good effect.

39. Plan your fan scheme for maximum chassis cooling.

When installing your case's chassis fans, take note of the intake and exhaust orientation of each fan and plan your case's airflow pattern accordingly. Don't leave fan orientation to chance--it matters greatly which direction you install fans, because you don't want them working at cross-purposes. The usual airflow scheme in a tower case is to draw cool air in from the front using an intake fan or fans, push it across the hard drives and CPU-cooler region, and send it out the back or top via exhaust fans.

40. Give your graphics card breathing room.

In recent years, with the advent of PCIe slots and the subsequent reduction in old-style PCI slots, PC builders have less flexibility with the location of their expansion cards. Given the choice, however, leave as many slots as possible between your graphics and sound cards. This can help reduce radio-frequency interference (RFI) from affecting the audio signal and allow for better cooling of the graphics card. (It's best to leave as much room as you can around the graphics card, period, as it runs hotter than most other cards.) Likewise, if you're installing a TV-tuner card, situate it as far from other cards as possible, particularly graphics and sound cards.

41. Inserting and removing power connectors can take elbow grease.

Molex connectors are the rectangular four-pin plugs that extend from your power supply, and they can require surprising force to insert into or pull out of a component. When inserting one, check that the cylindrical metal contact inside each of the four pin receptacles in the connector isn't bent or misshapen--this happens sometimes after a crooked insertion attempt. When detaching, check that the connector doesn't require squeezing first (a few do). Gentle side-to-side wiggling will dislodge most stubborn Molex connectors, but pulling one straight out with pliers is safer--sometimes the jack is flimsily mounted on the device and you don't want it broken.

42. Stash excess wire out of the way for neatness and flow.

Unused drive bays make excellent storage areas for excess cable and power-supply leads, allowing for better airflow inside your case. Before stowing any cable slack into a bay, use a cable tie or twist tie to restrain the excess. Don't just stuff them haphazardly out of the way; extracting them later could require some major untangling.

Other overlooked places to stash excess cabling include behind or atop the power supply, beneath a removable motherboard tray, or running inside any hollow structural cross-members within the case. Also, removing the case's opposite-side panel (the one behind the motherboard) can uncover lots of additional storage crevices. This area is invisible, so you can hide lots of cable excess here without regard to aesthetics.

43. Use caution when routing cables under your motherboard.

Stashing cables under the motherboard--in the space between the board and the case bottom--as you install them can make for a clean interior appearance. But bear in mind that some boards have sharp solder or other contacts on their underside that can nick a cable and lead to unpredictable operation, a short circuit, or fried hardware. If you do this, make sure there's plenty of clearance for your cable and no possibility of chafing. A safer bet: Route cables under the motherboard tray, if your PC uses one.

44. Two-wire power connectors are good only for fans.

Some power supplies come with Molex power leads that have just two wires, not the usual four, labeled "fan only." Use these connectors only for case fans, never for items such as drives or graphics cards. On some supplies, fans connected to these "fan only" power leads have their speed automatically controlled for an optimal balance of noise and cooling.

45. Replace clunky, flat drive cables with rounded IDE cables.

Your hard drive and optical drive most likely came with a classic flat ribbon cable for data transfer between drive and motherboard. You can upgrade this cable, however, with an inexpensive rounded IDE cable. Rounded cables are much easier to route, and they block airflow less. They come in a variety of lengths and in versions that accommodate one or two IDE devices. If you buy a two-device cable, however, make sure you have enough cable length between the two drive-end connectors to reach both IDE drives.

46. Certain fasteners don't fare well in PC cases.

You'll do a lot of cable routing and restraining if you're building a complex PC, and there are two materials you should avoid using: rubber bands and adhesive tape. The interior of a PC tends to be warm, with constantly running air, and rubber bands deteriorate more quickly than usual in this environment. Plus, when one gives way, it can go flying and foul a case fan or, worse, the CPU-cooler fan. Some types of tape also lose their adhesion in heat and leave sticky residue when removed.

Use plastic cable ties, plastic twist ties, or Velcro, instead. (See Tip 19.) Hint: Buy a large patch of Velcro from a craft or fabric store, glue the fuzzy and hook sides back to back, and when dry, cut into small strips to use as excellent, easily adjustable cable restrainers.

47. The front-panel audio jacks on your case require special attention.

The single cable for your case's front-panel audio jacks (usually headphone, microphone, and line) can be one of the trickier cables to deal with. In most cases, the cable has a rectangular 10-pin connector (with one pin missing for keying) that complies with one of two front-panel-audio standards: HD Audio or AC '97. (We've also seen cases that provide dongles for both standards on the cable.) The case manual or printing on the connector itself should tell you which type you have.

Your motherboard must support the same standard for the jacks to work. Some motherboards support both standards via a single set of header pins; if yours does, you need to specify in the PC's BIOS which standard your connector supports. Look for a BIOS entry governing onboard audio. (Note that in some PC cases and BIOSes, HD Audio is called by its early code name, "Azalia.")

On a few Intel motherboards, you may see a 16-pin connector confusingly labled "HD Audio Link." This is not equivalent to HD Audio--don't plug your HD Audio cable to it! We made this mistake--just once. The result: scorched wires and smoke.

48. Don't leave unattached Molex power connectors unattended.

49. Decipher the quirks of front-panel USB and FireWire ports.

50. What to do if your main motherboard power cable doesn't match its jack.

For a long time, the main power line into the motherboard--the fattest cable branching off the power supply--was a standard 20-pin ATX connector. In recent years, it has evolved into a 24-pin connection. If your power supply has a 24-pin plug but there's a 20-pin receptacle on the motherboard, you can plug in the portion of the plug that fits and leave the extra pins hanging over the edge of the socket--as long as the motherboard design allows it. (Some power supplies employ a "20+4" design that lets you snap on or off the extra four pins--if yours does, don't use the extra four pins for anything else; there should be a separate four-pin connector to be used as the supplemental power for the board.) Otherwise, 24-to-20-pin adapters are available; they'll often come bundled with the power supply.

Note that the reverse is partly true--you can plug a 20-pin power supply connector into a 24-pin motherboard power jack--but stable operation is not guaranteed, and there's the possibility of overload if the PC's power demands max out the connection, with dire consequences for the board. We don't recommend it.

51. Make use of all those extra SATA power lines.

Many power supplies are providing more SATA power leads than you'll ever make use of—and fewer of the older-style, four-pin Molex type. (The SATA type uses a thin, L-shape connector; Molex has four round holes at the end.) You've probably seen Molex-to-SATA power adapters bundled with any SATA hard drive you've purchased, but the opposite kind exists, too. You can make use of your power supply's extra SATA power leads with SATA-to-Molex converters from sellers such as Performance-PCs.com.

52. Make sure you have the right power connectors for your graphics cards.

Most recent-model PCIe graphics cards require a direct, dedicated connection to your PC's power supply. Sometimes a card will require a standard four-pin Molex power lead, but increasingly, cards demand one or two six-pin PCIe connectors, which are arrayed 2x3. And the latest graphics cards have begun demanding an eight-pin PCI connector. Usually these leads say "PCIe" right on them, or occasionally "PEG" for PCI Express Graphics.

If you're shopping for a power supply (or for a case with one preinstalled), make sure it has the correct PCIe connector for any graphics card you're considering buying. You can get adapters, but a direct connection is always preferable. Some supplies come with only six-pin or eight-pin connectors; others use "breakaway" or "6+2" connectors that let you snap two extra pins on or off a six-pin connector. Make sure you know what you're getting.

53. Some power connectors look just like PCIe ones--but don't be fooled.

Don't assume that any power-supply connector that resembles the dedicated PCIe ones will work the same. There's the eight-pin EPS12V connector, for example, which is intended to supply certain motherboards with extra power (see Tip 55). You can't plug it into a graphics card that requires an eight-pin PCIe lead; with their 2x4-pin connector, they may look much the same, but their keying and wiring differ. The connector won't fit unless you force it into the socket, and the result of that would be, shall we say, unpleasant.

Likewise, some power supplies provide a pair of four-pin (2x2) connectors--intended to be used as a pair, side by side--to feed the eight-pin EPS12V motherboard power jack on motherboards that require it. Alternately, one of these connectors can be used singly to provide the familiar four-pin 12-volt power connection that most other motherboards require. You can't use these two four-pin connectors, however, as a substitute for an eight-pin PCIe power connector to a graphics card. They're physically and electrically incompatible.

54. Don't ignore the metal plate in your power supply's box.

Here's another power-supply install wrinkle we've encountered. It's generally impossible to install an ATX power supply upside down--the screw holes simply won't match up. Do check, however, that the switch at the back of the supply and the socket for the AC power cord are free and clear of the case rim, and that all four of the screw holes line up. A few supplies we've seen include a converter plate to fit the ATX-standard case back. If you're used to just dropping in your supply, screwing it down, and moving on without a glance at the documentation, such a supply may leave you scratching your head for a while. (It did the first time we saw one.)

55. CPU power connectors vary from board to board. Here's the difference.

When you connect the power supply to the motherboard, don't forget to attach the easily overlooked four- or eight-pin supplemental connector, which provides power to the CPU. The four-pin version is often (and misleadingly) referred to as the "Pentium 4" power connector, but it's actually the "auxiliary" or "ATX12V" connector. The pins are laid out in a 2x2 square, and the connector fits in its corresponding motherboard jack in only one orientation.

Don't confuse this connector with the extra four pins that some motherboards let you snap off a "20+4" main motherboard connector. (See Tip 50.) Though they're both laid out in a 2x2 square, they're not the same.

Few boards nowadays require the eight-pin connector, known as the EPS12V, so it's uncommon to see it on power supplies. Although a few power supplies still provide the connector as a single 2x4 plug, you're more likely to see it as a pair of 2x2 plugs to be used in tandem.

56. A power-supply tester is an inexpensive, invaluable tool.

Troubleshooting a PC build can be tricky enough; determining whether the problem lies with your power supply is even harder, usually requiring you to swap out the supply in question for a known-good one--no trivial task. Frequent PC builders might want to invest in an inexpensive power-supply tester for their tool kit. The Coolmax tester uses a small LCD readout, the Thermaltake audio cues and LEDs.

57. A teetering power supply can be dangerous.

Be careful when installing a power supply. If your motherboard is already in place, always support the supply by hand until you've tightened at least one of its mounting screws; better yet, install the power supply with the case lying flat on its side. The case's support brackets might look secure, but not all designs balance the entire supply without the help of the screws--and you don't want a 5-pound brick crashing down on your delicate motherboard. (In our haste to assemble PCs, we've had a couple of near-misses over the years.) If you can, install the power supply before installing the motherboard.

58. Leave space between hard drives if you can.

Hard drives give off significant amounts of heat, so if you have enough room in your case, leave one or more bays empty between drives for better cooling. This will allow air from intake fans to flow through the case more freely, since most case designs allow for scant clearance between adjacent hard drives.

59. Position your drives to get the best benefit from your case fans.

Remember that there's something of a dead spot at the center of any cooling fan, near its hub. (Put your hand in front of any room fan and move it around to see what we mean.) If you're installing a hard drive directly behind an intake fan, and you have a choice of bays in which to install it, use the bay adjoining the top or bottom edge of the fan, not one that's dead-center, to maximize airflow over the drive.

60. Use SATA ports in sequence to minimize configuration hiccups.

Each SATA port on your motherboard is labeled with a number; sometimes the sequence starts with SATA 1, sometimes with SATA 0. If you have more than one SATA drive to install, use your motherboard's SATA ports in order, with the boot drive plugged into the lowest-numbered one. It's not always necessary, but some PC BIOSes can fail to recognize a drive if ports are skipped in the numeric pecking order.

61. Buying a drive? Go for SATA drives and respectable spin rates.

When purchasing drives for your PC build, favor SATA drives over IDE models, given the choice. SATA drives use thinner data cables, which means easier cable routing and less obstruction to cooling. Plus, if your drive and motherboard both support the latest SATA specification (commonly called SATA II and allowing for up to 3Gbps transfers), expect better performance, too.

Also pay attention to drive spin rate. Although 7,200rpm drives are now the mainstream choice and speedy enough for most purposes, a few 5,400rpm desktop drives are still on the market--avoid them. (Don't confuse these with physically smaller 2.5-inch drives for laptops, for which the 5,400rpm speed is much more common.)

62. An easy way to untangle IDE drive configuration.

Each motherboard IDE port supports two IDE drives, chained off the port using a cable with two drive connectors. If you're using more than one IDE drive in your build, check whether you have one or two IDE ports on your motherboard. Older motherboards always had two, but recent boards tend to provide just one, since SATA has partly supplanted IDE.

If you have a choice of IDE ports, maximize the hard drive's performance by putting hard drives and optical drives on separate IDE channels. If you must, make sure to designate the hard drive as the Master drive. (See Tip 66 for more.)

63. SATA cables with a built-in bend are better than creasing your own.

Sometimes you need to install a SATA drive in a tight spot (say, adjoining an oversize graphics card that bumps up against the hard drive bays). Or, sometimes, motherboard SATA ports are located in tight corners that keep you from using them all because of the position of other cables or components. Don't twist a SATA cable to the limit—consider buying aftermarket SATA cables that have a right-angle bend at one or both ends.

64. Prefit your optical drive to spare yourself extra work.

Removing the front face of your PC case is often necessary to install an optical drive. When you do this, however, it's easy to incorrectly install the drive, since most drives feature several sets of screw holes on their sides. (The different sets let you leave more or less of the drive protruding from the case front, depending on the case design.) Test-fit the drive against the case face before screwing it in to save yourself some trouble.

Also note that you'll usually have to remove a plastic cover blocking the drive bay you're planning on using. In most cases, these covers unclip from inside the case, but occasionally they're held in place with a hidden screw or two. If you can't remove the cover easily, look closer and don't force anything, lest you crack the face or the bay cover. (We speak from experience.)

65. Twisted wiring is okay for floppy cables.

Few PC builders do anymore, but if you happen to be installing a floppy drive, you'll notice that it uses a special 34-pin ribbon cable that looks similar to an IDE ribbon cable, but smaller. The cable has a small twist on several of the discrete wires near one end; the end with the twist is the one that goes into the floppy drive. Like an IDE hard drive, floppy connectors are often keyed with a small tab that only lets you install them in one direction.

66. Correct jumper settings on IDE drives are crucial to proper operation.

If you're installing two IDE drives on the same IDE cable (the cable will have two drive connectors), you'll need to brush up on the rapidly fading art of Master/Slave/Cable Select settings to get the drives to work together properly. You have two possible ways to configure the drives' jumpers. (The jumpers are bits of plastic that bridge a pair of pins on the drive's back.) Both drives can be set to Cable Select (in which case, it doesn't matter which drive is in what position on the cable), or you can set the drive at the end of the cable to Master, with the drive on the middle connector set to Slave. Bottom line: You can't have both drives set to Master or both to Slave. If the first drive is already installed in the case, you may have to remove it to determine how it's set.

If you're installing only one drive on the IDE cable, connect the drive to the end of the cable with a black connector on it (see Tip 67) and the IDE port on the motherboard to the other end (the blue connector). Use the middle connector only if you're installing two drives.

67. Use a modern IDE cable.

If you're reusing an IDE ribbon cable from an older drive or PC, note that recent drives require a cable with 80 "conductors," as opposed to older cables that employ just 40. The physical connector is identical--both use 40 pins, so you won't be able to tell them apart by fit--but if you look closely, an 80-conductor cable uses many finer wires (80, to be exact) in the ribbon portion than a 40-conductor cable does.

You can also identify an 80-conductor cable by its color-coded connectors. A 40-conductor cable tends to have connectors that are all the same color, but on an 80-conductor cable, you'll see a blue connector at one end (for the motherboard port), a middle gray connector (for any slave drive), and a black connector at the other end (for the master drive or a single drive).

68. The second PCIe graphics slot isn't always as capable as the first.

If you're planning to build a Scalable Link Interface (SLI) or CrossFireX dual-graphics-card system, carefully check the specs of the motherboard you're considering. Not all SLI and CrossFireX boards can get top-speed (x16) bandwidth from the second graphics-card slot. That's because the second x16 slot has a physical x16 interface but is sometimes electrically wired only for x4 or x8 bandwidth.

By the same token, if you're installing just one graphics card on an SLI or CrossFireX board, make sure you install the card in the x16 slot with the greater actual bandwidth if they differ. Check the manual.

69. Some PCIe slots accept several classes of card.

It's a little-known fact that some PCIe slots are backward-compatible, supporting several types of PCIe card. There are four types of PCIe card: x1, x4, x8, and x16. The first and last are by far the most common, and the physical interface with the motherboard increases in size the higher the number. (Graphics cards are almost exclusively x16 cards, while x1 cards tend to be relatively low-bandwidth cards such as Ethernet adapters.) On current motherboards, you'll primarily see x16 slots (which support all four types of card) and x1 slots (which support only x1 cards). There are x4 slots (which support x4 and x1 cards) and x8 slots (supporting x8, x4, and x1 cards), but they're far less common.

70. Make sure you get a connecting clip for your dual-card graphics.

If you're installing a pair of graphics cards in a CrossFireX or SLI arrangement, the cards need to be physically connected to each other. (You should first check with the card maker, of course, that the two cards are compatible.) Early pairable CrossFire cards required a clunky, multi-headed external cable that connected the cards from outside the case; nowadays, the physical connection between cards is usually a small ribbon-like internal connector called a bridge clip. If you buy your graphics cards as bare OEM system-builder models, the clip probably won't come with them, so be sure to order one separately.

71. Let internal cables out without attracting dust.

Sometimes you need to pass an internal PC cable from a header, a front-panel device, or another source out the back of the case for connection to an external port (most often, USB). This arrangement is called a "loopback" configuration, but few cases have a ready-made outlet through which the cable can pass, requiring you to leave a PCI-slot back-panel cover off to give the cable egress. Our quick, cheap workaround: Instead of leaving the slot cover off, bend back the bottom quarter to block most of the unsightly gap--but still give the cable room to exit. It will help keep dust out of the case, too.

72. Don't force a PCIe card out of its slot--look for the lever instead.

If you need to reseat your PCIe graphics card and are having a hard time removing it from its slot, note that most motherboards employ a locking lever on the PCIe x16 slot--and it's hard to see once a card is installed in the slot. It's at the back of the slot, the end farthest from the monitor connectors. You may have to feel around to disengage it; sometimes it's a push-up, push-down lever, whereas on other boards it's a springy tab that needs to be pressed sideways.

73. Make sure your RAM is seated properly.

Before installing RAM, push the levers on either side of the motherboard chip slots you intend to use into the down position. Grasp your RAM only by the edges--never by the contacts along the bottom edge--and match up the notch in the bottom edge with the bar in the slot. (The module will insert only one way.) Press the module evenly into place, using the grooves that bisect the levers as a guide to center it; the levers should rise and lock into the cutaways at either side of the chip. Sometimes, you'll get the "click" feel of a properly seated chip even when only one side is actually locked in, so make sure your RAM is fully seated in the slot and that both levers fully engage the ends of the DIMM.

74. Manage your RAM slots for the best performance.

When installing your RAM, it can make a difference which banks you choose to use. Many modern boards support dual-channel memory architecture, which can speed memory transfers if RAM is used in matched pairs and inserted in designated "paired" slots. "Pairable" memory comes as a set of two modules with identical specs; the paired slots, if present, are usually color-coded. If you're using pairable RAM, be sure to put the two modules in the matching-color slots. And if you're shopping for RAM, bear in mind that two sticks of dual-channel memory adding up to a given capacity can provide better performance than a single stick of that capacity.

75. RAM banks are distinguished by number--which should you use first?

As mentioned in Tip 74, many current motherboards support dual-channel memory architecture in which RAM slots work in pairs. An additional hitch: On motherboards with four memory slots, these pairs are sometimes labeled "memory bank 1 and 2" or "memory bank A and B," with each label indicating one of the pairs. Whatever the case, if you're not using all of the slots, always use the lowest-numbered or -lettered bank first.