Summary

• Remember to install bottom case fans before installing a vertical GPU to give yourself enough room to maneuver.
• Don't forget to buy a fan hub for additional fans to prevent delays and frustration during the build.
• Always replace the thermal paste before installing the cooler to avoid redoing the process.
• Forgetting a crucial BIOS update can easily end up wasting precious time as you replace your CPU to perform the update.

Some PC building mistakes are nearly impossible to come back from, such as bending your CPU pins or tightening a screw or two too tightly. You either damage a component and need to live with it, or ruin it completely and have to buy a replacement. Other mistakes don't have the same ring of finality, but are still quite annoying to fix.

In these sort of cases, you don't end up damaging any parts, but instead forget a crucial step in the building process or completely forget to consider every aspect of your build, and come to regret it later. These oversights are fixable, yes, but they ruin your building experience and waste a lot of your time in the process.

5 Not installing bottom fans before a vertical GPU

Do you hate yourself?

That's what I always think to myself whenever I commit this blunder. If you've installed a GPU vertically before, you'll agree that there's little space left near the bottom of the case to install anything else. Unless you have a massive case like the NZXT H9 Flow, you probably won't be able to install a couple of case fans at the bottom for air intake, at least not comfortably.

Remember to install bottom case fans (if any) before you go through the whole ordeal of a vertical GPU installation.

Instead of struggling to get your fingers between the GPU and the bottom of the case, screwing in the fans (or screwing up, rather), and finding the fan headers, remember to install bottom case fans (if any) before you go through the whole ordeal of a vertical GPU installation. Otherwise, you'll be forced to remove the GPU, unscrew the vertical mount, install the fans, and then put the vertical mount and the GPU back in again.

4 Forgetting to buy a fan hub

It pays to sweat the small stuff

Amidst the excitement of buying a shiny new CPU, graphics card, and other core components of your gaming PC, it's easy to forget a measly fan hub. However, the fan hub decides to assert its importance at the worst possible time — when you realize that you have more fans than your motherboard has fan headers.

If only you could have accounted for that when planning the build, you could have saved a lot of hours, and disappointment.

You desperately wish for daisy-chaining to save you, but it can only do so much, so the only option left is to accept defeat and order a fan hub. This excruciating wait is one of the worst things to go through when you have a build almost ready to go, and a simple fan hub is holding up everything. If only you could have accounted for that when planning the build, you could have saved a lot of hours and disappointment.

3 Not replacing the thermal paste before installing the cooler

"You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me."

Your thermal paste can turn into Thanos in no time if you make the classic mistake of mounting your CPU cooler heatsink without replacing the stock paste. Often, the pre-applied TIM (thermal interface material) on the heatsink isn't good enough, and can lead to higher-than-expected temperatures, and in extreme cases, your CPU thermal throttling and shutting down in a matter of seconds. (I've seen that happen.)

Aftermarket thermal paste doesn't cost that much, and applying it before installing your cooler is something you can easily remember.

It's already too late once you realize your mistake, as you now need to unscrew the heatsink, hold it awkwardly if you have an AIO liquid cooler, clean the stock paste, apply the new one, and install the heatsink back on. This mistake is perfectly capable of wasting precious time, and you'll curse yourself along the way. Aftermarket thermal paste doesn't cost that much, and applying it before installing your cooler is something you can easily remember.

2 Forgetting to install the I/O shield

"Ah sh*t, here we go again."

The I/O shield is a weird one — you can technically do without it, but it'll just keep eating away at you. Besides, not installing an I/O shield can lead to needless dust creeping inside from the back of your case, and you might even dent the ports at the back while handling the motherboard. Hence, it's best to always install it before you put your motherboard in and happily put the entire build together.

Many boards these days will come with an integrated I/O shield on the motherboard, so you don't need to remember this one. However, always check your motherboard's rear and the box to confirm if you need to install one, unless you crave the practice of dismantling the whole build and putting it back together again.

1 Forgetting a BIOS update

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" doesn't always work

The existing instability issues with Intel's high-end processors might necessitate moving to the latest BIOS, but you should not update your BIOS as often as you think. The conventional wisdom is that unless there's a known issue that can be fixed with a new BIOS version, you should let sleeping dogs lie. However, there are also cases where you should absolutely update your BIOS before you end up regretting your mistake.

Your new CPU might not boot without the latest BIOS version.

If you aren't building from scratch, and simply installing a new processor on your existing motherboard, it is probably best to update your BIOS to the latest version. Unless there have been countless reports of the new version messing things up, you can safely update your BIOS. Your new CPU might not boot without the latest BIOS version, and if you reassemble the entire thing without the update, you'll have to undo it - remove the cooler and CPU, put in other CPU, update the BIOS, and then install your new CPU and cooler back in.

This is easily one of the most time-consuming mistakes to fix, and is easily avoided by putting a BIOS update on your to-do list.

Easier to learn from others' mistakes than your own

Building a PC might seem straightforward after the first couple of times you do it, but there are always some mistakes ready to be committed by even seasoned builders. It's best to learn from others' experiences instead of making every single mistake yourself. Not every mistake might be fixable, so take your time to learn the ropes before you dive into building your first PC.