As for your work space, you're going to want to clear off a good bit of table space, as you'll likely be
flipping your PC on its side, feet, back and any which way to install everything.
It's hard to find a modern build with an optical drive these days, so put the Windows 10 installers onto a USB stick.
Fantastic If you've purchased some replacement or extra cooling fans, now is the time to install them where you need them.
Mobo Installation Before we get to install the motherboard, you'll want to check on a few things about your PC case.
Check for pre-installed motherboard standoffs, ensure the number and arrangement of them conforms to the holes found on your motherboard.
Secondly, see if your PC case has a large CPU cutout or window cut into the back of the motherboard frame.
If it doesn't you may want to install any CPU cooler back plates and M.2 solid-state drives at this juncture.
Now that's done, first find your motherboard's rear I/O shield, and push it into the rectangular slot in the back of your PC case.
Make sure it's right side up by matching the pattern of cutouts to the arrangement of ports on the back of your motherboard.
Next, lay your motherboard down inside the chassis - carefully lining up its reports with the corresponding holes in the I/O shield you just installed - on top of the standoffs installed in your chassis.
Then it's a simple case of securing the motherboard down with the screws that came with your chassis.
Be sure to stow the cover away in a safe place as it'll protect the motherboard's sensitive pins if you decide to remove the processor from the motherboard.
If you're installing an AMD CPU, fortunately installation is much less daunting.
Memory Matters Next on the agenda is installing computer memory.
You can install the memory by carefully pushing down both sides of the memory into the slot.
Most third-party coolers require installing a back plate, which you may or may not have already done from step three of our PC building guide.
Each individual cooler will have its own set of instructions your should follow, but the gist of most installations requires affixing a back plate and threading four pins though back of your motherboard.
For air coolers, you'll want to install most models with the fans unattached.
You'll probably have to attach fans onto the radiator and installing it into your PC case in advance.
Depending on which liquid-cooler you're using, you may also need to plug in a second four-pin cable into a dedicated AIO cooler or optional cooler header on your motherboard.
If your PC case has an integrated fan controller at the back of the chassis to route all your fans into, then directly onto the motherboard.
Installing 2.5-inch drives into these caddies is a cinch, as you can simply slide it into place with the option of fully securing it with four screws.
No matter what type of storage drive you're installing, ensure the connection ports are facing towards a cable cut-out inside your chassis as it will make routing cables easier.
PSU positioning Now you've got your motherboard, CPU and memory installed you're going to want to install your power supply next.
For everyone else, take the individual pins, and, using the motherboard installation handbook,
identify which pins and cables need connecting.
It's important to note that any LED lights, need to be oriented correctly, with the and - cables installed into the and - pins on the board.
Install your USB 3.0 cables into any available slots on the board, making sure to lineup the pins with the holes in the USB 3.0 cables.
Identify your 8 pin EPS cable, and slide it up the back of the chassis, through the cable grommet and plug it into the 8 pin power slot at the top of the motherboard.
Find the bulkier 24-pin cable, slide that through any cable routing recesses on the chassis and plug it into the corresponding 24-pin ATX power port on the motherboard.
If you happen to have a something mounted onto the front of the case, run this SATA power cable through the PSU shroud, appropriate grommets or holes, and into your front mounted 2.5-inch drive.
Lastly, you'll want to thread your PCIe power cable through the cutout in the PSU cover or any side grommets/holes, so that it's ready for when you install your GPU. 11.
From there locate the two PCIe slots next to where you'll want to install your GPU and remove them.
It's worth doing this because you'll want to reattach all those PC case panels and tidy up any loose cables.
Most PC cases come to cable cut-outs to use as tie down points.
Installing Windows Bring the system back to your computer space, where it'll sit forever - or at least until your next upgrade - as we'll want to install the operating system next.
Most modern rigs lack an optical drive to install your OS, so you'll need to create a USB install on another PC. To do this, download the Windows 10 Media Creation Kit and then install Windows 10 onto an USB stick with at least 8GB of space.
From there you can go through the prompts to install the operating system onto your new rig.
Ninite is a nifty tool to get all the programs you want fast without having to worry about installing each one individually is.
On the Ninite site, you can select which programs you want, download the installer and let it run its magic.
Go download and install the correct graphics driver for your card and you'll be all set to sit back and enjoy.
