Never, EVER do these 5 things with your PC...
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- Опубліковано 29 січ 2022
- Here are 5 things you should NEVER do with your PC...
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Note on the 2nd thing not to do: After turning off the power supply or unplugging it, it can also be a good idea to press the power button on the case/motherboard to discharge any residual power that may still be present.
Some computers retain a lot of power, some....not so much. I've had one computer I was working on retain enough power to actually turn on for about half a second.
@@gamechaser002 that's some hefty capacitors. wow.
@@gamechaser002 Mine does that :D
Powers the fans for almost a second while holding the button - kinda like watching it get starved for breath... :(
(Super Flower Leadex II Gold 1200W)
You are not wrong. When I turn off my psu, and then hit the main power, I see LED’s light up as well as all fans spin for a brief second until all power is discharged. I do that anytime I work on my PC. Better safe then sorry, especially when the GPU itself costs a ton of cash!!
I do that, especially if I want to completely power cycle and come back to the computer with a cold boot.
1. Don't interchange PSU modular cables
2. Don't plug/unplug components with the PSU powered on. Switch it off at the back or unplug from the wall.
3. Don't vape or smoke near a computer.
4. Don't put your PC or other heat generating electronics in a cabinet. It will overheat.
5. Don't run a water-cooled PC unattended.
For the first point I was a little confused, because a lot of people are rocking these very popular Lian Li Strimer cables. I wonder if that could be an issue.
@king those are extensions. that's not the same
@@KingALLO69 well those cables are simply extensions that go on the original psu cables. They don’t directly plug into the psu
@@Dreyden12274 @Arun got it, thanks! That makes sense.
My house and my PC, I will smoke my joints while at the PC if I want too
There is literally nothing that is obvious to a new builder. Every bit of tips/knowledge helps. Cheers.
I'm building my first complete new system since 2010 soon, so this is a great refresher for me lol. I've built every PC I ever owned since '95 and used to work in a local PC store. This is great advice about the PSU and it's also good to point out that leaving the IEC power lead in is a great way to keep the system grounded as well.
Here's a fun one. Don't overtighten your cpu blocks. Don't have blind faith in the springs to moderate the pressure. You can still bow your motherboard, and crack traces
aka 'just get a Noctua'
It looks like my ekwb classic CPU block did me dirty on my msi z590i unify board. It'll randomly start throwing cpu errors via bios diagnostic lights, and not even show bios.
Only 'fix' is to reseat CPU, and that's temporary
Happened to me with a stock Ryzen cooler, just had to loosen a bit if not mobo wasn't posting
@@G0nZ4Low glad it worked out for you, backing off the screws on my waterblock isn't fixing it though. Damage may be permanent
and crack faces
Always press the power button a couple of times after you unplug it to drain out the capacitors. Also, you can tell if you have juice flowing by checking the network light if it's plugged in both ends. (Thanks Joe!)
*press and hold the power button
The network light won't come on unless both ends are plugged in, and the device on the other end is powered so don't go by that.
@@joer8854 That is a point. I shall make a small edit.
@@jimbass1664 np
Especially since we are all running bigger wattage PSUs cause of today's power-hungry components. 15 years ago a 550watt was considered overkill for 2 sli gpus . Gtx 4090 sounds like 1200watts will be recommended. Mise well just future proof yourself and get a evga t2 1600 watt for your 6090 in 2026
Thanks for another great video Jay. I love the advice about vaping. An old engineer told me that back in the 80's, computer pros were accustomed to the "no smoking in the computer room" rule. This was from the previous experience of smoke tar actually slowing down connections and causing irreversible bugs. Not really an issue today, but defintely telling.
Don’t let your cats lie on top of your tower case. I had a cat that used to love the warm air coming out of the top three fan holes. I ran the fans slow to reduce noise and they still kept the temps down… until one point where my computer alarm went off from overheating and I looked down and my long haired cat had splatted himself on the top of my case, blocking the airflow out of the case entirely.
Lol
gross
Is this serious? Is the cat fine?
So confused rn.
In short: don't get pets, especially cats
*yeeted*
As both a journeyman electrician, and an electrical engineer, I can confidently suggest disconnecting all voltage sources when making or breaking any form of electrical connections, regardless of system. Changing the resistance of a connection while current flows is a good way to see the "arc'y sparkies" and let the magic smoke out.
I heard somewhere that leaving a PC plugged into a properly grounded outlet is safer than me being the only ground... no?
@@burtpanzer That's why you ground yourself before doing anything to a PC internally?
What if I am trying to harvest magic smoke to put in something else?
@@TorpeAlex If it's grounded, and you're touching the metal with one hand you don't have to wear a ground.
@Brian Rogers I went to trade school about 10 years before I went to university.
A tip which cost me 6 months to find. When installing the video card make sure all power supply pins into the card made a klik. I was afraid to break the socket but didn't realize the smallest part wasn't totally in the socket. So i had 4 crashes last week and just by accident I found the problem. Even my neigbour who works a lot with computers overlooked this tiny problem.
By crashes u mean the pc turned on and randomly crashed?
@bruh meme bruh, it rly hard to tell if its COMPLETLY INSERTED or just slightly.. they dont have a click..
@@cj7073 turned off, lost screen first and sometimes also the whole computer. Prob a minor short circuit.
U mean click
They normally have some sort of edge that makes them stick together or be unable to move once plugged in.
But when your new to it pretty much everything can be overlooked. Especially since most youtuber builds focus on making sure the XMP profile is loaded up...
Note on the 1st: BeQuiet has a compatibility site on their site. They tell you which cables you can interchange between your old BeQuiet PSU and the new one.
Taken my eye off the ball over the years. Built MANY systems (and NOT blown or damaged a single component in the process) but was NOT aware that PSU cables are now potentially non-interchangeable !!! I really thought the PSU pinouts were an industry standard. Luckily I've never swapped cables, always using the ones that come with the PSU, but forewarned is forearmed, and I thank you for that snippet alone, and stopping the possible financial loss that would ensue if I'd continued to be ignorant of it.
I think I just learned this lesson 1 week too late, coworker gave me his old 970 to SLI with mine, I was short a cable from my power supply so I grab an old one, no "smoke pressure" was released but....more testing to be done. This is good to know going forward with the trial/error
I always find it really weird that PSU pin outs aren’t standardized.
The PSU to motherboard side is standardized, but not the modular cables themselves.
@@triadwarfare why don't they just use the same plugs as the mobo side???
@@virtualtools_3021 Good question, space may be it.
Still, it's possible to make a standard.
there is no standards body to govern it. PSUs were never designed to have removable cables in the beginning. One of the manufacturers just decided on it as a cool gimmick and everyone followed but nobody ever agreed in a standard.
It's only weird until you realise why they do it - money.
If you change the pin-outs from time to time, customers need to buy YOUR specific cables rather than your competitors' cables.
Thank you for finally covering the PSU modular cable issues.
Now why do they NOT have a standard.
Probably because there's no need (from the PSU manufacturer's perspective) for a standard. Sure, it would be nice from a customer side, but no one is going to buy one PSU over the other because the cables are standardized. It would take someone like Intel to step in to force the standardization but there's no reason for them to care what happens on the PSU side of the cables.
@@nanoflower1 on the contrary. Modular PSUs are generally more expensive, they are touted as the top of the line.
With that expectation, we, the customers, should expect some sort of standards
After all, the wrong cable then becomes a major Safety issue.
Why did they make random bullshit in the first place instead of just using the same connectors as motherboards
@@Jules_Diplopia Not really a major safety issue when you hardly ever hear about it.
It's like evolution; if there's no evolutionary pressure, nothing happens. No adaptation
Because while every PSU manufacturer does want there to be a standard, they also want to be the one to MAKE that standard. Big money in that but because everyone's trying to do the same, it's just a mess.
Dude, I love your videos! I'm no expert on this subject, but I DO build my own and have done so for 18 years now with (thus far) total success. I've learned so much from you and a few others in the last 4 months on building a PC the right way and I thank you for that!! May you have years of success!!
Note on the potential leaks on water cooler system. (I'm a plumber ) put a water detector that sends a message to your phone if water is detected. The more expensive the device the better chance of it telling you earlier rather than later. Not full proof but that might let you turn off your computer (even remotely don't know if possible) before damage can take place and assess where your leak is coming from. All products can have problems just be prepared when they fail never hope that they wont.
Wow, I never knew the power cables could be different. I assumed if they're all ATX power supplies they would be the same. I guess I got lucky because I did mix some cables in my current PC.
I work in a company's computer lab and we mix AC power cables all the time. Never once have had a problem.
Don't know if Jay means something like those PCU's with the removable cables for inside the case tho.
@Jason Fitch only someone without electrical knowledge would just say hot and ground. PSUs have 12V, 5V and 3.3V pins. If you put 12V on 5V SATA pins, your SSD or HDD will blow up.
Is he talking about the cable that plugs in to the outlet? Or the other cables inside? That you don’t want to use on other ps
@@crossbowhunter9118 inside. The modular PSU cables
They are the same, I don't know why this guy says that an MSI standard PCIe 8x is different from Seasonic PCIe8x cable, because it is not. It is the same. Never had any problems for over 32 years now!
There should be a standard for #1. It's a safety hazard currently when companies use whatever connectors they feel like using and the cables have no labels to indicate what pinout or what unit it works with.
I agree 100000%.
tell that to apple
but then people can't burn there houses down if that were a standard
I accidentally got the wrong PSU box when replacing a PSU. So now I have a big box or accidentally mixed cables. So I need to measure them.
@@rednarok Dell even went further with moderboards and PSU that switched the orders of the cables on the *motherboard* side. Just to block use of arbitrary PSU. But resulting in fire for some motherboards and PSU.
I have a 16 year old gaming rig build with closed liquid cooling by Falcon Northwest that I had on for most of the years and never had any issues. Still gaming on it.
Yeah kept my rig alive for 6 years now with these safe practices and keeping the unit low on a open milk crate type box (to keep it off the floor) - recently upgraded the gpu and the ram - planning on upgrading the motherboard and the cpu in the next year or two.
I work as external IT support for many local companies and private customers and have seen quite some cases over the years. I have seen the dirt from car workshops getting sucked in by the fans and sitting there for years, but I have never seen something as disgusting as a PC from a chain smoker. The smell when I first opened a smoker PC was so disgusting I still vividly remember it.
Yea, Jay really understated how bad that crap is, all the nicotine and tar basically. - It's probably worse than vaping. Actually, I'm quite sure.
My neighbor still smokes indoors, as he lives on his own, and everything including the glass of the windows is yellow. - I can see it from outside.
And to think that people suck on that crap. -_-
@@michaelmonstar4276 I vape and build pcs , never have any of my builds have crap in them , some are years old and clean as a whistle .
Smoking on the other hand creates tar so they are going too suck crap in , not so vapes .
@@gazzertrn Back when I worked in a PC repair shop and vaping was much newer, we did see a handful of people who would cloud chase near a PC, and it did get kinda sticky in there. Those were guys with huge mods and subohm coils, though. Not likely to be a problem if you use a Juul or some other modern system that produces less vapor, so long as you aren't blowing it directly into the intake fans.
Edit: Even the worst ejuice filled PC wasn't as bad as when we got machines in from chain smokers, though. Shop manager ended up telling us to just refuse to work on those and refund the customer, it was just too disgusting and probably a hazard to the technicians.
@@samuraiBSD yeah i used to smoke and and the the tar mixed with dust is such a pain to clean. i deep cleaned my system every 6 month or so and sometimes it took 2h just to clean the heatsink of the cpu cooler. it's really bad
Yeah cigarette smoke isn't just particulates, it has various vapours including tar and nicotine. Buy a house from a smoker and you will have to strip the paint, throw out anything permeable (window coverings, carpets, underlays, etc.), and scrub all surfaces. That includes all the ducts and air handling equipment. And wear PPE while doing this - good mask, gloves, disposable coveralls - because what you are dealing with is concentrated carcinogens.
Another good tip is to power cycle after unplugging, before removing or installing components. Even if you unplug the power, there's still power for a brief time and if you just start pulling stuff out or install something... same thing can happen. And I've worked on smoker's/vaper's computers... yes, they both get a thick coating over time that insulates the crap out of everything and slows fans and eventually will stop them up. One of the worst things you can do around any electronic or mechanical device, especially if it's sucking in air for active cooling.
Yup, allow capacitors to discharge, they are like little temporary batteries
I'm a smoker ( for my sins) I clean and wipe down my pc with ipa once a fortnight give it a good blow out with an air duster ,and deep clean it once every three months. so far I've avoided any nasty tarry residue. ( with a predominately white build it needs to be done :)
Good shout.
@@grumpyratt2163 that's impressive if you managed to keep it clean
@@grumpyratt2163 I used to smoke, now i vape. I used to smoke a pack a day, but it never really affected my pcs. A couple of years ago a bought a used computer, and OMG this guy must have smoked 3-4 packs a day. Everything was COVERED in nicotine and smelled horrible. I litteraly pullede everything apart and washed every components multiple times. It took about 4 days, but finally the smell went away
#1 I had personal experience with this. Upgrading from a Corsair semi-mod to a Seasonic full mod. Forgot to replace the sata wire and tried to run the old ones. Luckily just kept tripping some sort of surge protection and didn't affect anything.
I had my PC in a cabinet. It’s a miracle that this thing didn’t completely die. Whenever I looked at the CPU temps it displayed a constant 100 degrees. That little I3 was suffering but it worked as long as it needed to. Had the nice side effect that I didn’t need to put on the heating during Winter. My I7 doesn’t run that hot so now I have to heat during the winter.
getting a cheap multimeter is crucial when doing cable modding so you can check that the pinouts are correct. Yes for some plugs you can also just follow the cable too
Caveat, do not use said cheap meter on anything with serious current or voltage. The very cheap meters can have poor input protection and can be hazardous. I wouldn't trust an Amazon 10$ meter. That said, 30$ will get you something capable of handling more juice.
Of course if all you're going to do is check pinout, etc. even the cheapest meter will be safe.
@@ptitjo42 probably best to get a reputable brand of multimeter (e.g. Uni-T, Fluke, Tenma, Sealey, Voltcraft)
@@Tomd8002 yeah we definitely need A 300 dollar fluke to measure a max of 12v and check continuity
Somebody missed the assignment, 😂
Led plus a battery also dies the trick.
Better with buzzeers.
Me to my PC after I did all 5 of these things: I'm sorry, little one.
Always properly measure your case to see what will fit in there, basic but saves a lot of hassle.
I bought a 2 fan 6600 the other day, and have been waiting a while for the market to stabilise after using Vega 11 for a while.
It has literally only just fit because of how the ram slots sit on the Asus prime mobo and if I got a bigger GPU I'd have to have returned it.
I brought on intuition rather than by what room I actually had and it could have easily backfired.
For the cubby/cabinet bit, that's actually not a terrible idea if you don't have room on your actual desk. I don't, and I do have that little open door area for my pc. The manufacturer actually included a back end for the desk, so air can get out. I basically took that, covered only the necessary parts with it, and cut out the rest. I also have no shelving in there. Air can get in easily, when door is open and pc is on. Air can get out easily, because nothing but the desk is above it (quite a bit of space in between too), and a huge opening in the back. You also have to make sure your case is thin enough, because airflow does have to go through the sides a bit too.
run prime95 and see if it thermal throttles
What you said about putting a pc in a cubby or cabinet is so true, I used to put mine in a cabinet that was attached to my desk because it didn’t fit on the desk and I didn’t want to put it on the carpet. I always complained about my room getting hot and my pc feeling laggy. After getting a new desk and putting my pc on top of it the temps have been way better and pc feels way smoother.
Reverse the fans when in a cubby.
He has a good point except that hot air by default is higher pressure than cold air lol. That just isn't how physics works.
@@cbrunnem6102 hmm internet physics; where people believe pressure from temperature is more influential than pressure generated by a fan.
@@mostlypeacefulrowan8747 not sure what you mean but Jay misspoke but is still kind of right. As the air heats up in a sealed container the pressure will go up. In a cabinet this air will push out till the pressure equalizes which will be pretty quickly then you just have an oven. Pressures we are talking about are super low. Like less than an inch of water low.
@@cbrunnem6102 a cubby hole heats up coz the only place hot air can go is to the front where the intake is. If you turn the computer around or swap direction of fans the hot air gets blasted out into the room.
I would really love if companies actually agreed on a standard for modular PSUs. And for the case front panel connectors. I freaking hate those tiny single cable plugs.
I agree. The ATx standard is already there for slot locations, lengths, and SATA connectors among other things, so why not apply that to other things like pinouts for the internal side of modular power supplies. The case manufacturers have gotten pretty good with their connectors more recently. Instead of plugging in all those tiny connections on the headers we can't see, they're now using a single-piece header that plugs in across all the pins at one. This isn't true of all brands, but the bigger names have gotten smart that way.
But you must live the knowledge gained in gauging, tracking, maybe using a multi-meter.
I agree, but there's something about the plug and play nature of things seems ....... idk, further from the metal. Like a built a PC, but I don't feel like I built a PC, It was easier than Ikea lol; Legos for adults.
I can't imagine someone not absolutely loving those tiny single pin cables /s
@@Clavichordist correction: *You* can't see the little cable headers.
@@thehotdogman9317 That's right we can't, but what's stopping the manufacturers of these modular power supplies from following a standard pin layout?
It doesn't matter what their power supplies do on the inside or outside. The only difference is how they lay things out for their wire connections. If they adhered to a standard just like there is now for pinouts for the ATX power supplies, then if someone had older cables leftover, they could use those instead. This is the same as standard network CAT5 or CAT6, serial ports, RS422 ports, and so on.
To sum it up, they all need to use a set standard for pinouts to the connectors. Simple, Pin 1 = +5, Pin 2 = -12, Pin 3 = Ground, etc.
Great advice on Power Supplies and Cabling are to be treated with special care. I matched my new EVGA PS with my new EVGA Graphics Card & paid very close attention to the new PS cables and made sure that I matched the cables to the plugs on my Graphics card, Motherboard, etc. I didn't want to fry any components. All worked out well. Your advice is top notch. Thanks.
Guilty. I was just upgrading my cpu and putting my old parts into my gf's new build and was trying to be efficient and left the Corsair psu cable in the cpu socket with her new Seasonic and I thought the board was shorting on the case. Just watched this video right now, swapped the cables and voila! Everything fn works! Thank you Jay!
As a person who was console gamer most of my life and moved into PCs, I love the upgrading and modifying of my PC, but man o man so much could go wrong. I guess that's part of the game. I'm way more knowledgeable than ever before on computers since getting into it at least and that's thanks to channels like Jay's, GN, Hardware unboxed etc.
As long as the PC is not powered on or plugged in while you work and you're not mismatching architectures or using a very staticky sweater in winter, you'll be fine
@@3lH4ck3rC0mf0r7 i used to wash my mb in the sink let it dry and pop it back in, they are pretty resilient
@@Galgamoth Yup. Water can't kill electronics by itself. The device also needs to be powered on. If you remove one of the factors, the shorting will not occur, and the hardware won't die.
You do have to make sure it is completely, 100% dry by the time it's plugged in, though.
Jay: "Do you leave your PC turned on overnight? NO!" also Jay a few months ago: "So, I left this watercooled giant PC alone for dinner and forgot it, returned 1 month later"
i leave my pc turned on every day and night theres no reason not to my fans stay idle when nothing is happening on pc
I'm running a zomboid server on my old gaming pc. Has been on 24/7 for months now
I have garbage internet speeds (thankfully no data caps) because there's only 1 provider for my area. To fully download something like doom eternal 80+ gigs it takes me nearly a week of uptime.
My main rig is on 24/7, and it does have a custom loop in it. Not too worried about it failing since a) I built the whole thing from scratch and took some precautions and b) I built it for the cooling benefit, not at all for looks, which is why it's set up with 16x10mm EPDM rubber tubing (the same black stuff you'd find on cars) and running G11 (blue) car coolant premix, because I've had bad experiences with boutique pc-specific coolant not even lasting a year before deposits started blocking the fins in the blocks. The car coolant has been going for 2 years now with no discoloration or deposits. Only maintenance I had to do so far was clean the rad and fans
I do switch my pc off when I am not using it, as I do have consideration for the environment unless it is a server, switch it off!
Extremely basic knowledge is the sort I benefit from the most! Thanks 👍
I've taken many client computers home throughout the years and, when I have them in a different environment, you can always smell which users smoked inside. For several of my clients that were heavy smokers, the inside of their PCs were lined with sticky tar. On the other note, whenever I vape, I always blow it in a different direction from my PC to minimize any intake.
Well, I like to use my 3080 as a room heater. It works quite well too, especially considering how with the snow storm this works as well as any other heating source for me
Lmao same here, haven't turned on a heater in my bedroom this winter yet, and it's gotten down as low as 25 degrees Fahrenheit
@nomasporfavor That actually kinda means more heat is being pulled from the chip
U guys have winter?
@nomasporfavor that means its working better as a heater
yep, winter so i shut the vents in the office. play some zombies/forza/eu4/dbd and that room becomes a heater.
(I have an Asus hybrid 3080ti)
I would add "Don't use incense in the same room as the computer." I've had to clean plenty of PCs from my past clients where the motherboard and other components had a film buildup of resin coming from the incense, causing the parts to fail. Component failure was even more likely when the air became humid (during or after it rains, etc.). The humidity and resin buildup from the incense will actually corrode the circuits and boards and eventually cause a short circuit. Also, the resin cannot be cleaned with any kind of chemical or product. I would still recommend using an air purifier in the room where the computer is even when the incense is burnt in the room on the opposite side of the house.
Vapes too. Not quite as gross as tar from cigarettes but sticky and unpleasant
I assume it wasn't mentioned due to UA-cam being UA-cam, but the same goes for weed. I have a friend that practically breathes more weed than he does air, and he gifted me a video card once...astoundingly, the fans turned, but not only did it stink my room up almost immediately, but after a couple gaming sessions it left syrupy puddles at the bottom of the case.
@@OOZ662 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮
@Casual Scum Unless you're reaching condensing levels of humidity where your computer is literally dripping wet, then nothing. In OP's case, the resin is trapping moisture to where it can't get away from the components and thus corroding them. Outside the realm of computers, though, I'd recommend getting a dehumidifier if you don't want your entire life to be mold (I was there before I got mine), and even though they're hundreds of dollars, get a real one that's comparable to the size of a mid-to-large desktop computer case and pulls gallons of water per day. The
No matter what you do, if you surf the net you're going to get nonsense into your computer.
Number 1 😅got me on my last build. Needed a slightly longer cable and thought I had grabbed the right one. Luckily it just killed the power supply and nothing else. Lessoned learned, always verify you have the correct manufacturers cable and version for your power supply.
I had a nightmare on first rule mentioned here. I upgraded my psu from Corsair 550 to ROG 850. I used all the correct cables for rog except the drives because i thought surely they are the same, nope!! Luckily it didnt harm my system but it took me about 2hrs to figure out and swap in the build so didnt end up being a short cut 😂
Also, when making sure the power supply is powered down, you can also discharge remnant by holding down the power button to clear any power to make certain there's no hiding juice.
How does that work electrically?
The "unplug the PSU" one, it's been a reflexe since day 1: turn off the computer, switch the PSU off, press the on/off button on the front I/O panel (with my Antec NX210 the rgb fans would turn on for like a sec before turning off) just to "remove" the juice left, then finally unplug the PSU.
You don't actually want to unplug the cable since you will lose ground then. Just turn it off and do a power cycle.
I prefer to switch off the power at the wall socket (an advantage of UK sockets is that most have their own switch) but leave them plugged in, to provide a known good earth (ground) connection for the whole system.
But I've only been working on them since CP/M powered anything smaller than a room-sized computer, so what do I know.
Holding in the power button after everything is switched off will usually discharge the huge capacitors in the PSU as well, which is a jolly good idea.
Why do you press the case's button after switching off the PSU? It doesn't get power, anyway.
@@galgrunfeld9954 There is still considerable power in the huge smoothing capacitors in the PSU even after it has been unplugged - enough to briefly start a PC for up to a second, or enough to present a serious health hazard, so do NOT test this by poking around inside.
@@Kreubs what is a power cycle drain?
I just did #1 on the list. Power supply cable that plugs into the wall has seemed pretty standard for awhile now. Was really surprised by #1
It's common to forget that the 5Vstb voltage is expected to be always on. So even when the computer is turned off, the PSU has a side circuit for 5Vstb so that the computer can have wake-on-lan, wake-on-keyboard etc.
And one side effect here is that inserting an expansion board can result in the computer turning on the PSU fully.
Some motherboards has a LED explicitly showing 5Vstb, so there is a LED still on when the computer is off. It's there to warn that it isn't safe to plug/unplug boards.
The normal 5V/12V/... are off, so no power to disks etc. But the 24-pin connector has this 5V live. And 5Vstb is sent to all card slots.
And that's why it's important to remember to disconnect the cable and then have the juice run out of the PSU.
I always test my modular cables with a multimeter before I use them, for the most part, most of the PCI-e and CPU power modular cables have been pretty much the same across multiple power supplies, but the molex/sata cables have been always different
Just double check them before you jam them in, dont just assume that its fine because it fits.
Just finished my first pc build and u help ALOT! i knew absolutely nothing about computers and was very overwhelmed by all of this stuff and u made it alot easier so i want to thank you for all of your content!
Welcome to a wonderful hobby. Whether it's building from the ground up to modding. We were all noobs in the beginning too. Enjoy!
I was a total noob too, when I started over a year ago. It’s nerve racking stuff at first, but building PC’s is easy and fun to do now. It just requires patience. PC’s are sooo advanced now a days.
I have been building mine for months, I'm nervous and am researching and proceeding at a snails pace.
@@Thesyndicate11111 Not how fast or slow it takes you, but the joy in the journey and the final outcome. Your very first PC. I know mine was truly awesome that I actually built a computer from scratch.
@@bretttanton328 Couldn't have said it better. Cheers
I started watching ur videos while building and now I just find myself still watching ur stuff for fun. Like the vids
On the Vape note get a small standalone hepa air filter blow it right at in the intake. It can take hours with ipa and cleaning tools to get the condescending juices off compents. The hepa filter cuts the build up down by 99%
And then you have the same work or issues with the air cleaner 😂
I vape and smoke for years next to my pc and aside from more work with cleaning, there is no issue.
At least if you have air intake filter that keeps most of the dust outside
I think a lot of people made these mistakes, myself included, but I appreciate Jay saying that him and his team are guilty of it at one point or another.
Yeah. I too was working on my older PC the other day and was flipping the switch on and off as I tested things, forgetting to do it at one point and shoved a power cable right into my GPU. Had a mini heart attack when I saw it was plugged in. Card died, but fortunately it was an older one. Still feel like shit tho. Glad to hear this happens to Jay as well lol..
Good point on the water cooling. That's exactly why my server is air cooled. Dropping the temp a few degrees is great but it's not worth the risk in my opinion. Especially since my server typically doesn't have the cpu pegged at 100%. Uses cases may vary of course
To me, the point of liquid cooling is never that it cools better, but that a radiator-configuration spits the hot air right out of the case, rather than keeping it inside first, with a hot GPU, while it's waiting to be transferred outside with some kind of airflow. - Of course, for a server that won't be as much of a problem, as it usually doesn't have a raging GPU inside that needs all the cooling it can get. - But generally high-performance PCs do and need to get rid of that hot air as quickly and efficiently as possible.
But a server needs to be left alone and be reliable, so it makes sense to keep it away from any liquids and potential failures.
@@michaelmonstar4276 You can simply make internal ductwork for your case to isolate it into 2 or more airflow zones. This improves thermals by 3-5C for me.
I must admit I needed to stream Ultra Music Festival Miami high res in 2014 after my old tower died. So I put my laptop on ice packs. Rotated them out. Monitored the moisture and it kept going. Not advised but it worked.
Keep these coming. I did now some of these but am new to pc builds so it is helpful.
Ohms Law the part they don't teach in school. When the smoke gets out those wires and components they don't work any more. Good point concerning modular power supplies. I have used them for 8 years and always used the same brand and models. I always thought the modules were wired to a standard. I'll keep this in mind going forward. Thanks for the tips
I'm using this as a checklist of things to do to my pc
pepega
I got a tip as well: Make sure your home is not too humid. True story: my computer at one point kept shorting out, having power surges, etc. I later found water from high humidity levels collecting on the inside of my case. Amazingly, nothing has died from it. Ever since i got the humidity level balanced within the home, i never had those issues since.
I've left custom loops unattended for weeks at a time, never had a leak. Still good advice.
When I'm working on a PC that has previously been powered (i.e. not a brand new build), I like to plug the power supply into the wall with a modified power cable that has the two power conductors removed but still has its ground pin on the male end.
Then, before I do any work, I press the PC's power button a couple-few times so any leftover juice in the system is expended.
I always say take the plug out of the wall and press the power on button a few times to clear the PSU capacitors before doing anything.
Instead of using different pinouts on the MB side they should have just used "passthrough cables". Use the same MF connector on both sides. Like extension cables but for MB's
I have another one to add. Always Use separate 8 pin cables for 2x 8 pin gpu connectors. and don't use the daisy chain on a single cable.
The thing with vaping is that it's just moisture and that moisture mixing with dust or dirt or pet hair gets really funky. Kind of the same concept with the evaporator coils in your home HVAC unit. Very difficult to clean properly
I have an AIO in my PC and I leave it unattended all the time. Honestly, even if a leak did happen while I was using it, I probably wouldn't notice. I'm not staring at my tower when I use my PC, I'm staring at the monitor. And even then, chances are pretty good that any leak would either be immediately catastrophic (in which case it wouldn't matter if I'm sitting right next to it or not) or it would drip in such a way that it just exits out the bottom of the case without hitting anything important (in which case it also wouldn't matter if I'm sitting right next to it or not, the liquid might ruin something on my desk but the PC itself would be fine until the loop ran dry, and then it would probably shut down from overheating).
Granted, I also don't keep my PC in an office where I might not see it for days at a time either. It's in my bedroom, and even if I don't use it I have to walk right past it multiple times a day, so there would be plenty of opportunity to catch a non-catastrophic leak.
Honestly, I've been running an AIO for almost 10 years and always leave my PC on, I run games servers and other things I don't want to turn off... Also, even with PC off, the power is still live just like Jay said, so a leak even when off while you're away will also immediately be catastrophic and short out the boards etc.
Agree... I run my computer 24x7 except when I'm clearning it or something. Current system with AIO running for 2 years now, I just don't worry about it... If the unlikely event happens that it leaks fluid I'll deal with it then, but won't change how I keep things on all day / night.
I posted about this but i had a drip that i couldn't even tell was there until the computer died. You really have no idea until it kills everything. Still sticking with liquid cooling though.
As an enthusiast who has only built a couple of aircooled systems in his time, usually preferring even basic watercooling to air, I will say that there is a great deal of salience to the last point. My father is an engineer who designs power quality management and cooling systems for datacenters. His work can be found in datacenters operated by Microsoft, Samsung, MSI, and others. As an engineer who is used to continuous uptime low maintenance environments, my preference for watercooling seemed insane to him. He went as far as to say he would never mix liquid and computing. As enthusiasts, we have the luxury to be present during uptime; but we should draw the line between uptime and offline time at the extent of our presence.
Although none of these apply to myself I immediately thought of half a dozen people I know to whom it does. Some really good pointers here.
Can confirm with vaping near your computer does upset it a lot, running a msi mag 240r cooler and last night it overheated to 98 degrees Celsius after 2 weeks of vaping and now need a new one
One tip to make sure your system is fully drained from power - When the PSU is unplugged or turned off, try pressing the start button to have the system attempt to start. This will drain all power from the system.
congratulations on repeating Jay like a parrot. You are a real smart one, it's obvious.
Learned #1 the hard way.
In my defense, every other cable in a PC is interchangeable. I can use any Sata Cable with any peripheral. Never imagined those cables would be the exception....
I mixed up monitor cables with my pc cable so idk which is truly which. No problems yet lol
@@MrKfloz We swap AC cables at my job in an IT Lab all the time. Never once had a problem.
@@scaryhobbit211 It wasn't the AC cables. It was the modular cables going from the Power Supply to the various bits inside.. Specifically, the ones that caused problems were the ones going from the Power Supply to the Hard Drive and Disk Drive. .
Well, unfortunately - *unlike virtually everything else* - there's no standard on the modular side of power supply cables. Some manufacturer just innovated (and might have pantented the pin-out?) and others copied it their own way, with different pin-outs, so now we got this mess.
That's why I just got extension cables from cablemod. Replacement cables for your specific PSU are more expensive and possibly need to be replaced when you change your PSU for any reason. Who's gonna see the difference anyway?
@@thomasbedient9191 I see where I got mixed up.
I couldn't tell from his phrasing that he was talking about *Modular* PSUs only and not *all* PSUs.
I mainly work with just normal PSUs with cables that are attached permanently to the PSU. So when I hear "power supply modular cables", the only "modular" cable I'm familiar with is the AC.
Tho admittedly I've just recently swapped out a dying PSU in my main PC for a fresh one (both are just regular, not modular), so there was a bit of paranoia at play.
wow so glad you posted this man. Ops I just bought one without cables I'm going to have to double check before I use it what's going to where.
I literally just installed a new drive today without turning it completely off...fortunately it all went well but I'll absolutely keep it in mind now.
Thanks from Down Under Jay'.
Really appreciated one of the earlier vids in this series with regard to 8 pin power cable to GPU and am now running dual cables and leaving the PCIe slot idling under 75W.
#1 So this one is rather apt again particularly for the aftermarket sleeved cable I purchased a week or so agao now I'll be checking very closely the pinouts from the Seasonic Focus to my motherboard!
#2 Very close to installing my first custom loop :o
I've had custom loops for 25 years now. Never had a leak. I even went away for a week this x-mas and let the computer bake some Projects acoustics. 100% AMD 5950x utilization for a week. Zero problems! :D I have had "leaks" in the form that water evaporate out of the system faster than it should, but never a leak, leak of liquids leaving the system.
Guilty of number 2. Done that several times over the years without ever realizing it. thanks for the reminder 😆
Great advice.
Modular PSUs come with bags to store parts in. I keep the PSU cables and documentation of a specific brand together in each bag. Also, no water-cooling for me. Air-cooled is the closest to maintenance-free PCs. The rest are time-honored practices I've done since my first DIY. Also, an additional practice I do is skip overclocking. The last time I had a real NEED to OC was with the original software-based Quake. I stopped after 3D cards and GLQuake came out and the game was very playable. If people want to strain their PC further, that's their business. Me? I tend to keep my PCs reliably doing it's job, sitting at a corner forgotten.
Instead of simply calling it overclocking, I like to think of it as tuning your components. Because it's possible to lower the voltage of your CPU or GPU (referred to as undervolting) and end up with lower temperatures. And for those components, you can sometimes increase performance while lowering the temps, compared to stock. Though for RAM, when you tune that or enable XMP, the voltage goes up and so does the temp, but I wouldn't consider that anything to worry about and it's generally always worth doing in order to hit the listed specs for it (but going much above the XMP voltage can be risky).
I had a aio cooling for my cpu that lasted 7 years with no issues or maintenance.
AIOs are pretty bulletproof. They might need some maintenance after 5-10 years.
Water Cooled or Closed Loop AIO?
Two different things.
Thanks Jay! I bought a 1000w Seasonic to upgrade my 850w Seasonic and was getting ready to do this without switching cables.
to be fair, its very likely they'll just work, specially going from seasonic to 150extra w seasonic
@@greenumbrellacorp5744 true, but I'm risk adverse.
I watch these all the time, I've learned a lot, I'm building a thermaltake tower 900
I've unplugged and plugged stuff into the PSU while its plugged in and switched on before, nothing happened to me but I will be more cautious about it in the future
The only thing that can really get a pass here would be USB. But even then, there could be a small chance that a short will ruin that plug or worse. I've had it where I plugged something into a usb port and it shorted or had static and the port died :
Weirdly enough I once, years ago, had extremely convenient, one might say considerate, failure.
I had three hard drives, basically every drive in the system, fail within two months. But they failed in such a way and order that I lost zero data and ended up with just moving my data to a mix of SSDs and larger hard drives. Of course I still lost money but given how big an upgrade moving to SSDs is and how lucky having multiple hard drives fail without data loss is I am not complaining.
In case anyone is wondering one of the SSD advantages is that they do not cause a large transient load when they start up since they do not need to spin up anything. This matters when you repeatedly have multiple hard drives connected to the same power circuit spinning up at the same time. This is the original reason people advocated leaving PCs on. Not really relevant with SSDs and modern power supplies I think? Just do not connect a bunch of hard drives to the same thin wire. IIRC servers started using staggered spin up years ago. It is a SATA feature but not sure if all consumer systems implement it.
Did not expect to actually learn anything from this one but damn I had no idea about power cables being rather brand specific. Might well have saved me as I have been thinking about buying some extra cables the next time I add another HDD to my build.
Just potentially saved me, had a mixed cable in a new build. Might have worked fine, might have blown my new rig 🤣🤯
Great tip about not vaping!
The vape juice is also slightly conductive! The PC I had at the time had vape build up, helped me quit vaping!
Wrong. And nonsense. If it would be even slightly conductive, vapes wouldn't work
@@Duke49th not at all. I used to vape inside a lot, noticed a build up on walls, tested both the juice itself as well as a separate test of the vapor build up. Both did carry a current. The reason you don't short out your atomizer when using it, is because of the high resistance that vape juice has.
You can say and think what you'd like and I appreciate that you put forth thought in the situation. Perhaps a little more mature and respectful questioning would allow you to not look like an ass AND be in the wrong.
Cause surely being in the right makes it okay to be an ass.
OMG, that tech demo running on your screen in the background takes me back!
That's when Nvidia was showing off tesselation technology, wasn't it?
I remember running that on my old GTX 770.
this video is so much needed for ppl just getting into pc building , learning from pros like Jay who already have made all kinds of silly mistakes
Also handy reminder for those of us who haven't built a system in years, thinking about a new flight sim
I absolutely HATE proprietary plugs, but if they needed to exist ANYWHERE, it's in modular power supply cables.
It would make it a little more difficult for companies that make custom psu cables, but I think it would be worth it.
Wouldn’t a standardized plug between all psu get rid of those problems though?
That would be the case if every power supply was built exactly the same. Although they are similar, they are all different in some way.
@@King_DarkSide ya I get that. And any expense added to the standardized manufacturing process would undoubtedly be passed on to the consumer. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t kinda situation.
@@King_DarkSide That's what standardization means... Although each power supply is different than another in terms of efficiency and total power output, they DO the same thing. they supply the same thing. they are already standardized in terms of dimensions and hole placement (ATX SFX). are already somewhat standardized in terms of output cables too. 20+4 pin, 4+4 pin, sata power, molex power, etc... is it so much to ask that the other end of those cables is standard too? they are just wires in plastic blocks, you can put them anywhere you want. can we just all agree what goes where?
@Desktopia agree 100%
LOL at smoke in computers. I used to work in a computer repair shop. I have put on rubber gloves and vacuumed and scraped tar that had absorbed every spot of dust in the computer. I wore the gloves because I was worried about getting a contact high from literally brown layers of tar.
Thanks for the great vid Cad! 👌
Yeah the psu off thing is really important. I have a specific use case for needing my system to power on when AC power is restored. Once when doing a cpu swap, I forgot to power off the psu and I saw sparks under the cpu as the system tried to start. That cpu is now dead.
Did that with my 1070TI years ago
Your PC should have its own dedicated outlet if possible, or at least its own surge protector. A single US home outlet can support up to 15 amps or about 1800 watts. But its recommended to stay below 1500 watts. So maybe plug the window AC, printer, space heater, vacuum, and minifridge into a different outlet... And even then, we're assuming the 1500 watt limit doesn't apply to the whole room. When in doubt, you can flip breakers to see which outlets are on the same circuit.
I did a windows update once before I went to bed. Woke up in the middle of the night and the computer was still on. It froze during the update and I had the push the power button to shut it down. Had fun the next day restoring Window, it got corrupt. :)
@JayzTwoCents Good tips. On 11:00 - 12:00 something to clarify. Hot air is less dense than cold air and when air expands it creates positive pressure. If a PC case is in a closed space, like a cabinet, even if the door is opened or it does not have doors and the back is open, hot air will heat nearby surfaces, they will radiate heat back to the environment and the case panels. The case(inside and outside) will get hotter and hotter because of the hot air loops back in the system and the heat radiation of surfaces. Then the air will get hotter and hotter and less dence, lowering it's mass per volume results in it's heat exchange capability getting lower with time. The system will overheat sooner or later.
i cant escape physics class 💀
In the case of a leakage with a watercooled system - my guess is, that it makes no difference if you are there or not in most incidents.
I mean - how should you being present prevent the fluid from dripping onto the GPU and shorting it out?
I'd rather say: Build the system with as few weakpoints as possible.
If you are concerned about leaks - build with soft tubing ...
Yeah, I mean even the example he gives doesn't support that. He only realized cause he went to clean it not cause he was there when it started happening.
A much better advice would be to do regular checks to the inside of your PC, easier nowaways since so many cases have tempered glass. Just take a peek inside your pc
Thing is IF you are there, and you DO notice it (which, unless you're looking for it, I'd say it'd be easy to miss) you can mitigate the damage. But, in most cases, people aren't going to notice or be looking for a leak.
@@Belkak021 It's so you can pour a bag of kitty litter on the leak. ;)
Aren't many of the fluids non conductive anyways
Best thing is to not have liquid cooling.
I just put together my first rig and it turns on and works!
Talking about leaving the system running when your not around.. I have left mine running for YEARS.. but then you mentioned the water cooled system and I can understand that, and just might be the exception to the rule lol.
The only catastrophic event I've EVER had with my systems is that one time a fan on one of my graphics cards took a crap on me when I was gone long time ago. Came back to no display and soon as I got close to the case I could smell "that smell" and I got lucky it didn't burn anything else out beyond the graphics card.
They do make water sensors that you could put in your case that can be connected to your wifi to alert you if moisture is present in your computer. These are typically used for water heaters.
I have a flow meter and an aquaero programmed to shut it off of the water flow slows. Furthermore, my case is configured in such a way that all of the potential leak points won't drip on components.
@bruh memeWe are talking about less than 2 feet of square space to cover. Two sensors would be adaquate , and $100 is not much compared to the $2000+ for a mid-tier rig. I'm sure a skilled modder could come up with a way to make it work. Bonus, some of the sensors can alert you to temperature target settings (if it's overheating) and if it is moved (like stolen, or your psyco cat knocks it over).
Great video thank you Jay. While I can never dispute with how well liquid cooling works I will never go near it - precisely because of the risks you mentioned. Noise from a PC does not concern me and gimme all the big slow RPM fans in the world but nope to liquid cooling!
It's not that bad. I have been using AIO coolers for the past year. Most likely thing to happen is the pump failing.
As Gabriel also replied it typically isn't bad. You do run significantly higher risk on custom loops than with AIOs. I've run water cooled AIOs from Corsair going on about 4 years straight without issue in both my system and my wife's system. I do run air cooling on my server that runs 24/7, but I need the water cooling for the massive overclocks we run on our gaming rigs. We do sometimes leave them unattended, however we try to shut them down at night and when we aren't on them. I've never had an issue, but you can have issues and you should be mindful to mitigate risks. Don't be afraid to move to water cooling if you want it quieter or need it for overclocking, but don't feel like you have to switch if your air cooler is getting the job done well.
I've been running CPU AiOs exclusively since 2013. I've never had one fail or leak. Realistically, if an AiO is going to leak onto expensive components, you probably aren't going to catch it in time even if you're there. And even if you turn it off, it will still leak and the next day you fire it up and... well, you might really fire things up. If you're really worried about it, non-conductive cooling fluid can be purchased, though with an AiO you might have to get crafty.
Ultrasonic cleaning will twist and break small leads going to pads inside integrated circuit chip. This happened to my companies manufacturing department when they wanted to clean up boards from soldering.
I learn so much from this channel :)
Love the channel and advice. Listen, a video demonstrating the steps someone would take if the just upgraded components for their computer might be helpful. Like for instance, if someone just purchased a brand new CPU and MOBI…..what steps would they take in relation to using their current SSD, drivers etc. lia it as simple as slap it in the case, plug in their existing storage and stuff. Just an idea.
disconnect power then press power button to surge residual energy swap parts reconnect everything and boot
your welcome saved you 45min to an hour long video
@@joshph2716 Yup I do that all the time and have done that for years.
The residual voltage is still in the capacitors and is still enough to spin the fans and light up the LEDs on the motherboard. I showed that to a coworker once because he wasn't taking any precautions after powering off a machine before he was adding in RAM.
Some people think it's funny, but when working around power supplies, I still keep my left hand in my back pocket. It's a habit I got into while working as an electronics technician way back when. I used to repair video terminals with flyback transformers and other high voltage devices including switching power supplies. It wasn't uncommon to encounter 30KV off a flyback -transformer or getting zapped by residual voltage still left in the CRT tube.
I know it's a bit outdated for the PCs, but after getting zapped a few times old habits stick.
I always watch my system shutdown fully before I walk away. With modern SSDs, it's seconds. Worth the wait. Also I see a lot of people water cool that never overclock. Most people should just air cool with bulky air coolers. If cpu fans die your cpu can still keep at safe temp with passive cooling. My cpu fan died once and I noticed after a few hours as I walked away, I have Aida 64 dashboard always up on 2nd monitor and temp went to 70 and stayed steady, while I was afk in a game. About 30% usage. Never throttled. Case fans were pushing enough to keep it from burning up.
My PC used to turn on randomly (thanks, Windows 10! 🙄) for a year and I couldn't figure out why. Everything in the BIOS was disabled.
So I just bought a switchable socket adapter and cut the power to the power strip that feeds the PC before I leave or go to bed.
It also cuts down on standby power draw from monitors and such.
Modern CPU's and GPU's will thermal throttle before they burn up. Had a CPU fan die and before I noticed the CPU had throttled down to 500mhz, changed the fan and 6 years later that same CPU is still fine.
@@LRM12o8 yeah had the same issue with my PC waking itself back up no more than ten minutes after I put it to sleep. The fix for me was disabling automatic updates in group policy and disallowing most ports in the device manager from waking the computer.
@@Sir_Tachyon I'm not sure, if I tried group policies, but I defo did the thing in devmgr too.
If I recall correctly, I found the culprit was my ten year old mechanical keyboard, which for some reason (n-key rollover, I guess) has four devices in devmgr, but the checkbox would randomly be reactivated again, so for me it was just a temporary fix. Must've been a bug. It has no flashy "smart"/connected mombojumbo that could cause such behavior (I love this keyboard).
I also had a problem with my AsRock Mainboard that could kill the display output or cause the computer to reboot when plugging in devices and when I got zapped when touching the PC. Guess the board's grounding/shielding didn't work properly. Maybe this issue could also have made it that random voltage spikes in the grid or smth similar could act as a power on signal in the Mainboard. I swapped it out after years of struggling and suspecting other components like the case and PSU.
Since I moved into my own place and finally have my PC in a separate room, I don't always cut the power overnight anymore. Whatever caused the problem seems to have been fixed by an update sometime in the last two years. I only came home to my computer running once or twice and that was within the first months after moving.
Still good practice to cut the power, especially when you're not home.
I'm about to used water cool to a non OC unit. But my reason would because I will do 3d renders and video edits. Especially I'll use 5800x which they say run hot. Is it better to use air cool instead of water cool?
Loved this! (Hot swapping was a good mention aswell as comparison imo)
Just had my power supply give out on me after many years, and luckily I had another one just sitting around from when I helped a friend build his computer. Both were modular EVGA PSUs, and they were the same model, just different wattages. specifically a nex650g to a nex750g. luckily, those PSU's share the same pin configuration even for their 24 pin connector, so it worked out for me. There are some (rare) cases where just a PSU swap can be done safely, but I am absolutely in agreement that as a general rule, you should avoid doing things that carry risk of fire or explosions when done incorrectly without doing a bunch of research or breaking out a multimeter to check your pins.
I know the power supply thing is true. But, before I got my first modular PSU, I thought the whole point of modular PSUs was a universal system so that you could just buy whichever cables you needed. How wrong I was 🤷
no they dont, each cable and psu has their own specs so unless you know what youre doing then just buy same/made specifically cables
although many modders use custom cables just fine so sort of correct as well