Assembly pc: 5 tricks to keep in mind when mounting your pc

For any fan of the PC world, the assembly of your computer is a very special moment, the last obstacle before catharsis that involves turning it on for the first time and seeing that everything is in place.

But, despite the standardization of the components and the assembly processes, it is a laborious task that must be faced with the appropriate enthusiasm and care to complete it correctly.

Today we want to share with our readers a bit of that enthusiasm by talking about what, for us, are the five keys to face the assembly of your team.

Index of contents

If you don't know where to start find out well

Although this text is far from being a technical guide for assembling a computer, we will assume that you have assembled before, or that you are somewhat familiar with the ins and outs of PC assembly.

But, if in your particular case, assembling your own equipment is a real chimera, we urge you to take a look at our article step by step to assemble a computer, where it is investigated more closely (and at the same time deep) both in the necessary steps, and in the frequently asked questions that often arise for first-timers.

Have a suitable workspace

It is essential to have a comfortable area where it is easy for you both to handle the pieces with ease and to easily identify them.

Throughout the assembly of the computer you will have to rotate, move, overturn and move on various occasions, both the tower itself and the elements that go into it. A clean and comfortable workspace will help you do all of that with ease.

Disassembling is the key to working comfortably

Although we do not urge it to be the first step to begin the assembly or assembly process, one of the things that can help you work more freely on what your future team will be is to completely disassemble the tower before starting to operate on it..

It may seem counterproductive, but this step will help us have more space to place the motherboard (and the elements attached to it) and organize the cables before completing the assembly process, as well as more freely visualize the distribution that we will make to our computer and know better what distribution we want.

An extra help to have everything in place

Regardless of where you decide to get down to business, without the right tools you won't get very far.

Currently many towers are promoted as "tool-free" (without tools) when operating with them, but sooner or later we will need to tighten a screw to put everything in place. For those situations you will appreciate having a pair of magnetically tipped Phillips screwdrivers and somewhere to safely drop / collect the screws you are using. For most situations you will not need more tools.

Magnetization is especially useful when we have to use the tools vertically, or in closed spaces, and since it is a layer of weak magnetism, it is not possible to damage our components.

Be clear where to start in your assembly

At the end of it all, it may end up inside the tower, but the order in which we introduce the components will determine how easy the assembly process will be.

Normally, it usually starts by mounting the processor on the board outside the tower for convenience, followed by RAM, M.2 storage (if used) and the heatsink, or other cooling system that we use, along with our CPU.

This leaves us with a compact block of components before placing them inside our tower to avoid having to deal with the lack of space. Generally, this will be the ideal procedure: insert the components in blocks. In addition to being an ideal time to check that the board, processor and RAM are in perfect condition.

A good time to talk about the thermal interface

The thermal thermal interface is an almost indispensable element for our heatsink. It is responsible for facilitating contact and heat transmission between the IHS (the silver plate of our processor) and the heatsink itself, and its absence usually triggers serious temperature problems for our PC.

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Toniperis

Generally, a new heatsink will come with some type of thermal paste per-applied to make life easier for its users, but given the quality they generally have, if you have a good brand at your disposal we urge you to change it before placing the refrigeration for the processor.

To do this properly in case you have any doubts, we recommend that you read our article on thermal interfaces to know everything about them, from their types, to how to apply it.

About static electricity

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Kms

For many users, static electricity is a silent enemy that lurks to attack the most delicate pieces of our equipment while we assemble it.

The reality is that the amount of static energy that we would have to store to truly damage the parts of our computer is enormous, it is a somewhat alarming scenario. Still, if you're still concerned, removing it is as easy as getting close to a grounded metal object. A closed faucet, or your connected (and unlit) power supply are two easy ways.

Take care of the look while assembling the equipment

It is common to leave the wiring organization to the end, once we already have all the elements of the tower inside, but that procedure usually ends with a worse result than expected.

The PSU: the origin of all cable jungles

Ideally, you should start planning how you are going to order the wiring of your computer before you even start assembling the equipment, checking what spaces your box has dedicated to them and how you can locate them inside it without hindering the passage of air to the equipment, nor are they like a kind of rubber jungle at the back of the tower.

We are unlikely to use all available cables in a PSU, which often leads to small tangle disasters and a lack of space.

To achieve this, we urge you to check which cables of your power supply (PSU) you are going to need in your equipment and to mess with them before mounting the board. A modular font will help you eliminate unnecessary cables, while a traditional one will require you to take advantage of the inside hole in the mount for your tower's PSU.

Final touches and some extras

For the supply and control of the fans, especially problematic in terms of the number of cables, it can be very useful to use a hub , a controller in charge of managing these moving parts, which also helps us maintain a large part of cables out of sight.

Another useful tool are tapes, flanges, or fasteners to group cables that go to the same points inside the tower, an elegant way to keep everything in place and which is usually good to resort to as we make use of the cables involved in the team.

If you have any questions, don't forget the manual

Each computer is unique and each board a world. Luckily, that world is usually explained in detail in your manual.

Most doubts you may have about the assembly of your equipment, such as the location of the front USB connections, the RGB lighting controller, or the buttons on the front panel (to give several examples), you will find it in the manual from your motherboard.

On the other hand, there are towers that are a real challenge due to their dimensions or peculiarities, which you will be grateful for having a manual that explains the ins and outs of its structure.

We recommend reading our following guides:

Whether you are a simple hobbyist or a true teacher when assembling a team, you should always keep in mind the information you can find in these manuals, so we recommend keeping them on hand throughout the process. With this we finish the tips on the assembly of the PC. What do you think? Do you want to contribute any more?