Don't Be Afraid of Installing Your CPU 🖥️ Part 3: How To Build A PC For Beginners 🎮
Welcome back to the PC Build Series.
In the last episode, we got our workspace ready, organized our tools, and made sure we weren't about to build a very expensive computer on top of a carpet made of static electricity.
This is video is the one you’ve been waiting for. We're finally installing our first components onto the motherboard, including the CPU, RAM, and our NVMe SSDs.
If you're building along with me and you're nervous, don't be. A lot of people think installing a CPU is the hardest part of a PC build. Really, once you’ve done it once, each one is pretty similar. Just taking your time and not rushing yourself will give you a perfect placement.
This is somewhere around build 15 for my lifetime, and I tend to do a new one every few years. This one will replace my 6 year old build from late 2019, that I did in collaboration with Nvidia Geforce Garage when I was a show host for them.
This year, I have two brand partners for this build: ASUS and Kingston. So you will see components from these two manufacturers throughout the build.
Components are pricey right now, but you can use this playlist of videos as a general overview and tutorial whether you’re upgrading your current parts, or you’re starting from scratch.
Let's get started.
Setting Up the Motherboard
This is the ASUS ROG STRIX X870-A Gaming WiFi motherboard.
The first thing I'm doing is unboxing the motherboard and it’s components. In the box we’ve got a Wifi 7 Antenna with connectors that click into place - no need to twist to tighten - I love that.
There are stickers and the manual. Under the mobo, we have two SATA cables, zip ties, rubber supports for m.2 drives, an m.2 q-slide to mount smaller drives, and a spare m.2 latching post.
So taking a look at the motherboard, we have an all white PCB, and it’s really pretty and heavy. On the front are heat sink shields. These are quite simple to remove with these few screws so you can see underneath those shields.
Under this heat shield, there are m.2 slots - 3 of em, and there’s one more right above where the GPU will go. That one also has a quick release heatsink. All of em support 2280 type nvmes which are the type of SSDs we’re using in this build, and slot 2 (the top most slot under that giant heat sink shield), supports 22110 type NVMEs.
It’s important to check your motherboard manufacturers storage information, because some slots till support different speeds, or they may share bandwidth with another slot. For example, here’s the specific info for my own motherboard.
PCIe 5.0 x16 (that topmost slot). GPU should go here. The other one is PCIe 4.0 x16.
At the top are dual 8-pin power connectors for CPUs, 4 DDR5 DIMM slots for your RAM (and the manual says where to put them if you only have two). There’s two SATA 6 GB/s ports - but that’s a bit slow.
And for fans: there are three ports on the top, above the RAM, for the CPU fan, the CPU optional, and the AIO Pump. And there are 5 ports at the bottom of the board.
The two white headers at the bottom in between all those fan headers are for aRGB, and there’s one above the RAM.
There are tons of USB ports on this motherboard. 12 for the rear and 9 for the front. There’s two USB 2.0 headers at the bottom (those bigger pins), there’s two 5Gb/s slots on the right side (near the bottom of the RAM), and there’s one 20Gb/s slot just above those.
The I/O shield is already pre-installed and has a DisplayPort, CMOS and BIOS flashing switches, HDMI, 2.5Gb ethernet port, 5x 10Gbps USB A ports, 2 x 40Gbps USB C ports, one 10Gbps 30W power delivery USB C port, 4x 5Gbps USB A ports, Wifi ports, audio and optical.
So now you know what goes where. Next we’re placing the motherboard on top of its anti-static bag, and putting that on top of the motherboard box.
This gives us a nice stable work surface and protects the underside of the board while we work.
Think of this as the central hub for the entire build. Every major component we're installing today connects directly to this board.
Here, take a moment to familiarize yourself with your new motherboard. Since you’ll likely have a different one that me, check where all of your pin headers are, look at where your storage will go, where the RAM will go, where the CPU will go, and read the manual that came with your motherboard to see if there’s anything unique about your board.
Installing the CPU
Let's start with the brain of the system. This is the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X.
For this build, I wanted something that could handle heavy video editing, content creation, multitasking, and basically anything I decide to throw at it.
Now before we install it, there are two important things to remember.
Number one:
Never touch the contacts on the bottom. Same goes with the pins on the motherboard where the CPU will sit. Those pins magically connect with the CPU and let that nervous system and that brain talk to each other. If either piece is not perfectly aligned, you’ll get wonky issues.
Number two:
Never force the CPU into the socket. If something feels wrong, stop and check alignment before you set it into place.
To open the AM5 socket, press down on the retention arm, move it to the side, and lift the retention arm and open the frame. This cover has a triangle on it. Now look for the small gold triangle on one corner of the CPU. If you remove this cover, you'll find a matching marker on the motherboard socket. Another matching feature is a notch on the top and bottom of the socket and the CPU - these will also line up perfectly and will signify whether you’ve got your CPU installed the right way. Line those up. Once aligned, gently lower the CPU straight into the socket. You don’t gotta wiggle it around or apply pressure. Just set it there. If it doesn’t drop into place naturally, it’s probably not perfectly aligned. So pick it gently back up and try again.
Once it's seated, lower the retention frame and lock the arm back down. This will sit VERY tightly together, so don’t feel afraid to apply some pressure to that arm. Once it’s in place, remove that plastic cover. And that's it. Congratulations. The most intimidating part of the build is already done. Back in my day, CPUs were a WHOLE LOT HARDER to install, and a lot easier to screw up. So consider yourself lucky if this is your first time building a PC.
Installing the RAM
Next up is memory. For this build I'm using 128 gigabytes of Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 memory.
That's four sticks total, giving us plenty of memory for editing, content creation, virtual machines, and way too many browser tabs.
Now what does RAM actually do? Think of RAM as your computer's short-term memory. Storage remembers things permanently. RAM remembers things while you're actively using them. The more RAM you have, the more things your computer can keep available at once.
RAM is incredibly important for video and photo editing, as it makes the entire process a lot quicker with less buffering and laggy issues. It also helps if your browser is eating up a lot of memory with 100 tabs open, the more RAM you have, the better it’ll operate.
To install the memory, open the retention clips on each slot. Line up the notch on the RAM module with the key in the slot. The notch is offset, so it only fits one way. Once aligned, press firmly until the module clicks into place. It does take some force. A lot of people stop too soon because they're afraid they'll break something. Just make sure you're applying even pressure straight down.
Repeat the process for all four modules. You’ll hear a really satisfying click when it’s in all the way. This motherboard actually has an LED that’ll light up if there’s an issue, too, so if you have a stick of RAM that isn’t set all the way in, it’ll be way more noticeable when you boot up.
And now we have 128 gigabytes installed.
It’s important to check your motherboard manual to see where you should be putting your RAM, especially if you only have two sticks instead of 4. And, if you do have 4, you may need to fine tune your RAM in your BIOS later in order for your PC to take full advantage of the memory available. We’ll talk more on that later after first boot.
Installing the SSDs
Now let's install storage. This build has three NVMe SSDs. One Kingston NV3 PCIe Gen 4 drive. And two Kingston Fury Renegade G5 PCIe Gen 5 drives. These little sticks are incredibly impressive when you think about it. Years ago we were installing mechanical hard drives with spinning disks. We still use those in NAS’s to this day, but for daily PCs, today, these tiny drives can transfer data at speeds that would have sounded absurd back then.
This board includes heatsinks covering the slots, so we'll remove those first if they haven’t been removed already. Once exposed, slide the SSD into the connector at an angle. You'll feel it seat into the slot and you will need to push it in there. Then gently press it down and secure it using the motherboard's retention mechanism.
This motherboard is so cool - there are no screws required. It just clicks into place. We'll repeat that process for each drive. I have to say, this is the easiest storage drive install I’ve ever done. It’s so simple.
Pro tip: there is a label on each of these drives. Don’t remove it, as it protects important parts of the m.2 drive. Also, there is a thermal compound on the heat sinks. Before you reinstall those, make sure to remove the tape covering those compounds so they can distribute heat.
One thing to note:
I'm placing my operating system and primary applications on one of the faster drives, while the additional drives will handle projects, media files, and other workloads.
We'll cover storage organization later in the series when we install Windows.
Quick Component Check
At this point, let's take a look at what we've accomplished today. The motherboard now has the CPU installed, all four RAM modules installed, and all three SSDs installed.
This is a great checkpoint because we've completed most of the motherboard assembly before it ever goes into the case.
Working outside the case gives you more room, better visibility, and fewer opportunities to accidentally drop a screwdriver (or a screw) somewhere you don't want it. Ask me how I know.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 4.3 GHz 16-Core Processor ($519.00 @ Amazon)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3O70PIU
Best Buy: https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/YRWkZq
CPU Cooler: Asus ROG Ryujin III ARGB Extreme 89.73 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($389.99 @ Amazon)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4bkdodD
Best Buy: (similar option) https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/DyDM4q
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX X870-A GAMING WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($234.99 @ Amazon)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NI9tO0
Best Buy: (similar option) https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/bORgn6
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory ($1359.99 @ Newegg - OOS) x 2
Amazon: https://amzn.to/49SZug7
Best Buy: (similar option) https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/2anB4G
Storage: Kingston NV3 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($311.99 @ Amazon)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4bSOyBO
Best Buy: https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/vPeg7N
Storage: Kingston FURY Renegade G5 2.048 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($424.99 @ iBUYPOWER)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4pTv8QB
Best Buy: https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/N9AYrN
Video Card: Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB Video Card ($1699.99 @ B&H)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NNmKos
Best Buy: https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/GKrYLB
Case: Asus A31 ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4bTH8yd
Best Buy: (similar option) https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/7a3BZO
Power Supply: Asus TUF Gaming 1000G 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4qSDWHG
Best Buy: (similar option) https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/LKeYQO
Case Fan: Asus TUF GAMING TF120 ARGB White 76 CFM 120 mm Fan ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3YWIbG7
Best Buy: https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/QjVx5z
Case Fan: Asus TUF Gaming TR120 ARGB 77.4 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack ($68.54 @ Amazon)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4rzKNpN
Best Buy: https://bestbuycreators.7tiv.net/55OBVD
My Entire Build: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/snubsie/saved/#view=Htk84D
đź“ş Watch the Full PC Build Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLXL7BskZ5w&list=PLeYHKbaShxTHQVUHZfM8_44pjyI9LLzfe
