PC Building guide! Hint: Not The Verge Way!

INTRODUCTION

Having seen the "guide" from The Verge on YouTube (not going to link it for your own safety) I decided to make my own mini written guide so you can avoid some bad practices and/or make sure you fit everything as well as possible. Now I am aware that even my techniques can still be improved a lot and to be fair there is always something new to learn so while my way might not be the best way, it is a basic safe way to build your PC properly. This guide is meant to help those that have a basic ideea of what each part is and for those that usually take way too long to assemble it and end up with all the messy cables. Also I am not going to go into detail to what is wrong in the video from The Verge as there are already popular YouTubers that covered it. You can check Science Studio's video or Bitwit's video to see what was wrong with that.

Required stuff 

- 1x Philips #1 screwdriver (or CR VPH1 screw head) for small screws (like m.2 ssd screw)

- 1x Philips #2 screwdriver (or CR VPH2 screw head) for all the screws

- Isopropyl Alcohol (good for CPU cleaning, more details below)

- Thermal Compound (optional, if you want to make sure you put something better than what the cooling comes with)

- Paper Towels (prefferably some higher quality ones since they're very good for cleaning thermal compound)

- [Optional] [Recommended] Even though I have my ways it's good to get an anti-static bracelet.

From left to right: Isopropyl Alcohol, Thermal Compound, long and slim Philips #2 screwdriver for harder to reach screws, Multi-head screwdriver with CR-VPH1 and CR-VPH2 heads and some random paper towels.

Actual Guide 

[TIP] Always plan your case air intake to be on the front and below and the air exhaust on the back and on the top as hot air rises. (Science bit, when you heat air or any gas for that matter it expands making it less dense than the air around and thus it rises).

1. Get all your screws and screwdriver handy, Sort them for each part.

2. Take your computer case, take off the side panels and remove every drive bay/holder and removable parts from it. Leave it bare bones only to have where to put your motherboard . You will add what you need from them later on as you assemble it.

3.a. If you went with air cooling for the CPU then you can already install your front fan(fans). They don't usually make installing other parts more difficult.

3.b [Situational] If you go the All-In-One way for the CPU and you want to install it to the front then don't do it! You will do it later.

4. Check case manual and see where you would need stand-offs, depending on your motherboard size then screw them in.

5. Insert I/O shield in the back, you will hate yourself later if you forget about it and install the motherboard(or everything)

stand-offs, I/O shield and front fans installed. Kinda bare bones eh?

6. Ignore the case for now and put the motherboard on it's box(best way to keep it until you install it inside the case.

7. Insert the CPU into it's slot on the motherboard according to manufacturer's instruction. If you handle an AMD CPU be very careful not to bend the pins since they're on the cpu and quite exposed.

8. [Situational] If you have an m.2 SSD you should install it now.

9. Insert the ram memory into the slots. Normally, if you have 4 slots, to enable the memory to work in dual-channel mode you have to insert them either into slots 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. Yet it's always best to check motherboard manual as it might be different.

Motherboard ready! Cpu, m.2 ssd and the memory sticks are all where they should be!

10. Time to get the motherboard into the case. Double check that the standoffs fit correctly and the I/O shield is inserted. after you fit it and make sure it's also aligned with the I/O Shield, start screwing it into place.

11. Connect all the case front panel stuff on the motherboard. Also, if you installed your front fans, you can also connect them to your motherboard. [Highly recommended] make sure you nicely route your cables through the back of the case as we want to avoid cluttering the visible area.

not that empty anymore eh?

12. [Situational]  Modular power supply. If you power supply is modular, attach all the necessary cables to the brick now. You need power cables for the motherboard, S-ATA Drives, GPU, Sound Card(if you have one), S-ATA for AIO(if applicable), etc.

13. Insert your power supply brick into the case and screw it in the back. If you got space for it to draw air from underneath make sure you place it with the fan on it, it's helpful in keeping it on it's own airflow. The downside is that it might draw more dust, especially if placed on the ground.

14. Route all your cables from the PSU now.

15. Install the 4/8 pin connector for the cpu on the top of the motherboard and the other cable on the side of the motherboard.

16. [Situational] Add rear fan or 120mm/140mm All In One cooling radiator.

17. Add required number of s-ata cables from the motherboard and route them to the back.

18. Insert the disk drives into their slots. That can range from case to case, having internal HDD racks that can be Installed, screwing SSDs on the case, irremovable drive bays etc. Of course if in doubt check case manual to see where's what.

19. Connect s-ata cables to the drives. Also connect the power s-ata cables to them.

Drives are fitted into place.

20. [Situational] Screw the AIO radiator on the case now if you have one and are planning to screw it on top or front. 

21.a. [Situational] If you prefer to use your own thermal compound(like me) clean your cooler of it's thermal paste and your cpu with isopropyl alcohol, let them dry then add just a small pea sized drop of the compound in the center of the cpu and do NOT spread it!

[TIP] even if it's the first application, always clean your cpu with isopropyl alcohol first just to make sure you remove any grease or dust.

How to apply thermal compound. I dropped a wee bit more than intended but it's okay!

21.b Now screw either your cooler or your AIO head over the CPU. If it has 4 screws in a square then always screw them bit by bit in an X pattern so it will spread the thermal compound evenly.

Almost done!

22. Now pretty much all you should have left by now is the GPU and other PCI-E cards. check motherboard manual and see which slot is a PCI-E x16 slot as that is where you will install your GPU.

23. Remove the necessary back plates that align with the x16 slot where the gpu will be installed and install the GPU. then connect the necessary power supply cables from the back. 

24.[SITUATIONAL][HELPFUL] check the picture below on how to use two screws(tip learned from Jayz2Cents) to fix your gpu to prevent the gpu from wobbling. quite helpful when you got a big gpu!

Two small screws fitted in above the gpu "legs" that get inside the back of the case.

25. [SITUATIONAL] Install the remaining pci-e cards but make sure you leave the gpu enough room to breathe.

26. Now if you followed each step carefully everything should be in working order like in the picture below and all that will be left is to put back the side panels and connect everything to your PC.

Ready to go!