[ale] OT: My Biggest PC Build Blunders

[David Jackson]

In case anyone else would care to share, here are my top three:

1)  One day I noticed a recent (2-yrs ago?) build was running hot.  I
checked the fans and power and BIOS OC settings.  Hmmm.  No problem.  I
removed the cooler from the CPU and then I noticed there was a thin plastic
"peel-off" sticker on the bottom of the copper heat plate with the words
"remove before use" in bright red on the plastic.  I noticed this after I
cleaned the thermal paste.  Oops.

2)  I purchased a spiffy new GPU entry-level gaming GPU.  I installed it,
and turned on the power, and no video or POST.  I looked and looked again,
couldn't find the problem.  So I returned the card to Microcenter, bought
another copy of the same card, and installed it again.  This time when it
didn't "work", I hesitated before returning it to MC.  I noticed that this
card had an auxiliary 8-pin power connector I somehow hadn't noticed.  Oops.

3) Before I learned about negative vs balanced vs positive case pressure, I
installed too many LED exhaust fans on cases and couldn't understand why I
had so many dust bunnies around the intake filters.  They were pretty and
color-coordinated LEDs, but, um, it got hard to see the colors through all
the dust bunnies.
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