I have been the most stupid cunt ever - computer related disaster inside

[Lethn]

Warning: This is just me having a bit of a vent because I'm feeling extremely infuriated with myself right now

You know that fantastic gaming PC I built that was working great and let me do everything faster? I went and fucking ruined it, being the idiot that I am despite having carefully researched all the parts I needed I realised the stock heatsink was too loud I bought a heatsink fine, but I watched some twat on youtube put way too much thermal paste on and I assumed it would be fine ( not knowing of course that the thermal paste would already be on a new heatsink which I know know in hindsight ) and didn't check other videos which pretty much screamed at me about using only a pea sized amount. The stuff of course went all over the processor and bits of it on the motherboard, I tried cleaning it off with isoprophyl alcohol as much as I could but it was clearly a lost cause because there was just that much paste everywhere and because the processor had gotten stuck to the heatsink some of the pins were bent.

Thankfully I had the good sense to keep all my old parts etc. and hopefully I will be able to salvage my old computer and recover most of the stuff and be back to normal but FUCKING DAMNIT, perfectly good powerful computer gone down the drain!

I should fucking know better as well but let this be a warning to all of you thinking about building your own PCs, I'm sure you guys have had disasters like this right? I'm not alone right?

[Lauda]

Well 'Extra can't hurt' can't be applied in this case. Since extra paste, extra voltage..etc. is potentially damaging.
I'm sorry to hear that. What were your specs?
You ruined your CPU and Motherboard?

I always put only a little thermal paste, better safe than sorry.

[RodeoX]

If your stupid then so am I. Whenever I build a game PC I cross my fingers at boot. There have been issues.  

Sorry man.  

[Lethn]

Well 'Extra can't hurt' can't be applied in this case. Since extra paste, extra voltage..etc. is potentially damaging.
I'm sorry to hear that. What were your specs?
You ruined your CPU and Motherboard?

I always put only a little thermal paste, better safe than sorry.

No point in me even posting up the specs genuinely, that's how much I ruined it, just having a vent now I just need to remember how to put the stupid pins in right on my old motherboard and it should hopefully work again, no reason it shouldn't >_< I think my graphics card and hard drives are fine because looking at them they don't seem damaged at all, the new RAM I bought also seems to be safe so it's not a total loss at least from what I can tell from the physical side.

Also, the ATX cable fused into the motherboard, so it's definitely ruined, on the bright side, I'm obviously a proper tech guy now, I fried a computer!

Well 'Extra can't hurt' can't be applied in this case. Since extra paste, extra voltage..etc. is potentially damaging.

Yep, I learned that now, I also learned something that should have been obvious and it's that my case is useless for the motherboards I have and it's poorly designed lol, learned a lot on this build, a hell of a lot.

[Lauda]

No point in me even posting up the specs genuinely, that's how much I ruined it, just having a vent now I just need to remember how to put the stupid pins in right on my old motherboard and it should hopefully work again, no reason it shouldn't >_< I think my graphics card and hard drives are fine because looking at them they don't seem damaged at all, the new RAM I bought also seems to be safe so it's not a total loss at least from what I can tell from the physical side.

Also, the ATX cable fused into the motherboard, so it's definitely ruined, on the bright side, I'm obviously a proper tech guy now, I fried a computer!


Yep, I learned that now, I also learned something that should have been obvious and it's that my case is useless for the motherboards I have and it's poorly designed lol, learned a lot on this build, a hell of a lot.

Haha you don't have to stress too much about it. Things happen. When I was a child, I had done something in my OS and killed my motherboard. To this day, nobody knows how I did that. 
I'm just curious to what motherboard and CPU you ruined.
Also I'm interested in your current build, maybe I or someone else could give you some advice. 

[(oYo)]

Sorry to hear about your PC. Hope you can patch together something decent until you can afford to upgrade again. 

[Lethn]

Sorry to hear about your PC. Hope you can patch together something decent until you can afford to upgrade again.  

Thanks, I'm just having a vent really, very frustrated with myself

Speaking of which, do you guys know how you're supposed to tell the positive and negative side of the connectors for those stupid motherboard pins?

Edit: Well I'll be damned - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121758

off the top of my head since I don't have it with me now LaudaM.

Asrock motherboard ATX as it turns out
8 core 4.0ghz CPU
6970 HD Radeon Lightning

The computer worked absolutely fantastic, I could play Star Citizen and Battlefield 4 at max settings, so there was nothing wrong with the build, just me and my stupidity to blame that's what makes it so frustrating, I'll tell you one thing about this build though, I know I should have bought an ATX case now because then everything would properly fit, I got it all working but it was a bit haphazard because I had to take off the motherboard protector on the case and so on but again, what killed it was the thermal paste.

[Lauda]

Edit: Well I'll be damned - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121758

off the top of my head since I don't have it with me now LaudaM.

Asrock motherboard ATX as it turns out
8 core 4.0ghz CPU
6970 HD Radeon Lightning

The computer worked absolutely fantastic, I could play Star Citizen and Battlefield 4 at max settings, so there was nothing wrong with the build, just me and my stupidity to blame that's what makes it so frustrating, I'll tell you one thing about this build though, I know I should have bought an ATX case now because then everything would properly fit, I got it all working but it was a bit haphazard because I had to take off the motherboard protector on the case and so on but again, what killed it was the thermal paste.

Well in regards to the connectors I've always looked at the manuals and guessed at times. It's hard to get it right sometimes. I hate these connectors. Why don't they replace them or integrate it somehow all into 1 cable? So outdated..

Well I'm assuming that 350D is your case. You seem to have an medium build. RAM, Storage, PSU?

[Lethn]

No no, mines a Novatech seriously, don't fucking buy gaming cases lol learn from my mistakes you want a simple one that just uses screws and so on. RAM was 8GB corsair vengeance and PSU I think was between 640 - 740 watts.

[b!z]

How do your parents feel? 

And sorry to hear you broke your computer. Must have really sucked.

[darkangel11]

No no, mines a Novatech seriously, don't fucking buy gaming cases lol learn from my mistakes you want a simple one that just uses screws and so on. RAM was 8GB corsair vengeance and PSU I think was between 640 - 740 watts.

Gaming cases? What's the difference between a normal case and a "gaming" one?
I used to build my computers since I was a teenager and never damaged a single component. That was back in the days when you really had to know what you were doing with all those IDE cables and sharp case edges that made your hands bleed

[Snorek]

No no, mines a Novatech seriously, don't fucking buy gaming cases lol learn from my mistakes you want a simple one that just uses screws and so on. RAM was 8GB corsair vengeance and PSU I think was between 640 - 740 watts.

Gaming cases? What's the difference between a normal case and a "gaming" one?
I used to build my computers since I was a teenager and never damaged a single component. That was back in the days when you really had to know what you were doing with all those IDE cables and sharp case edges that made your hands bleed

Wait what? I built my first PC in 1996 and as long as I remember if you have even a little brain you can't fuck anything really. If you connected something in the wrong way your PC simply wont start.

[Lauda]

No no, mines a Novatech seriously, don't fucking buy gaming cases lol learn from my mistakes you want a simple one that just uses screws and so on. RAM was 8GB corsair vengeance and PSU I think was between 640 - 740 watts.

Well why not?
I have a CM Storm Stryker.



It's amazing and strong (steel build - heavy).

[(oYo)]

No no, mines a Novatech seriously, don't fucking buy gaming cases lol learn from my mistakes you want a simple one that just uses screws and so on. RAM was 8GB corsair vengeance and PSU I think was between 640 - 740 watts.

Well why not?
I have a CM Storm Stryker.



It's amazing and strong (steel build - heavy).

Somehow I doubt you go to many lan parties with that thing. 

[BadBear]

I prefer minimalist mATX designs these days, and yes it fits the humongous video cards of today.


Don't need a gazillion hard drives, and if you do you should have a file server anyway.

[^.^]

take some pics. the worst thing iv ever done to a pc was drop a cpu into the socket smashing all the pins. took me a week to straighten 100 or so pins (socket 1366) and thermal paste is hard to get wrong unless its conductive but then using that stuff your asking for trouble. a good normal thermal past dosnt matter where you get it as there non conductive for this very reason.

[vm1990]

can always send me the parts and ill see what can be saved

[raskul]

sorry for your loss, takes me back 20 years when i did the same 

[Lethn]

Just thought I'd mention I think I've found out why my bloody tower case wasn't switching on and it was a classic of forgetting to check whether I had the molex connector plugged in, I had also not put it into the new modular PSU I had bought as a replacement.

[Lauda]

Well why not?
I have a CM Storm Stryker.

It's amazing and strong (steel build - heavy).

Somehow I doubt you go to many lan parties with that thing. 

Well first off where I live there aren't really any nearby.
Secondly, even though with all parts in the case, it's in the 15-20kg range indeed. But, the case has a very good "handle" and carrying it with it is pretty easy.

Just thought I'd mention I think I've found out why my bloody tower case wasn't switching on and it was a classic of forgetting to check whether I had the molex connector plugged in, I had also not put it into the new modular PSU I had bought as a replacement.

Which one?