Essential things to do when you first build your PC

Essential things to do:

1 - Go into BIOS and turn on XMP and Resizable BAR
2 - Run MEMTEST86 to check memory (turn off XMP if necessary)
3 - Download Cinebench and HWMonitor or HWInfo and run benchmark
4 - Check benchmark score against "normal" ones to see if yours is significantly lower
5 - Check max temps to ensure CPU is not too hot (and GPU while you're there)
6 - Download latest graphics drivers (use GeForce Experience)
7 - Check for Windows updates
8 - Download Intel Software updater (if you have an Intel CPU)
9 - Download motherboard software to check for essential updates
10 - If you're brave, download and install latest BIOS updates
11 - Activate Game Mode
12 - Activate graphics settings and optimisations
13 - Turn on low latency mode
14 - Speed test NVME

Important downloads:

Related videos:

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[davidanderson]

DDU is good for doing clean GPU driver installs, but I like NVCleanstall for doing this. It will do clean installs of NVidia drivers and GeForce Experience [or give you the option of not installing it, or installing only parts of it]. It will also allow you to roll back drivers to earlier versions if you need to. A very handy freeware utility.

[_GuiltySpark]

I really suggest not recommending HWMonitor, its notoriously wrong and we deal with it reporting things incorrectly constantly across various tech-support channels in major discords. HWiNFO is the industry standard and its great you mentioned it.

[chrisramlow]

Love your accent and manor of which you speak and present all this valuable build detail - sounds like we're getting guidance from European royalty. I've been in the PC tech field for decades, but never too experienced for these solid reminders. Thank you, TPP!

[jpw]

Really enjoy your videos, very informative, always learn something new...Thanks

[Tg]

Thank for you this, very informative. One annoying problem I encounter was with my msi motherboard was that I needed to update my intel drivers for Ethernet to work. But that can only be accomplished by using another computer because neither Ethernet nor Wi-Fi worked initially. I do hope they update their bios for future batches to fix this issue.

[AncientOneAss]

I wished someone would do a complete step to step video on hooking up all cables to motherboard. from the very small ones to all big.and very detailed would be great

[ilyamiskov]

Thank you for this. I am currently in the process of building my first custom watercooled PC, and using glass tubing instead of acrylic doesn't make it any easier. Sadly I can't test out whether my components (RTX 4090, 13900K, 64GB 6200mhz DDR5, 3x 4TB M.2 SSD) are working correctly until everything is fully assembled and water is flowing in the tubes. Will definitely have to do a lot of adjustments in the bios, Windows and different softwares. But I guess that's the fun of it all.

PS: I also have the same motherboard as you ;)

[hex]

have you ever thought about using custom windows builds to get the absolute max performance out of your hardware?

[flo]

Thanks for the great video! I have a question regarding the Cinebench Benchmark: For Single Core my points are totally fine, but for Multi Core I did reach 4 % less than the average score. I did a second test, setting all my fans and liquid cooler to maximum and then got 8 % less, which I found pretty weird considering that I reached 95°C and a max. clock of 5, 17 GHz the first time with all fans on balanced and 93.3°C at the same max. clock the second time. I am using a Ryzen 5 7600X with a Corsair iCue H100i RGB Elite watercooler in a Corsair Airflow Case with 4 additional fans and this is my first PC build ever. The only thing which happened during cooler installation was that the pump head slightly moved around on the cpu (1-2 mm to each side because I had no one to help me) before I screwed it down tight. Could that have messed up the thermal paste already or are my results normal? Thanks for your help and any tips!

[rmorenberg]

do you use or recommend the antisag bracket on the LGA 1700 Z690 or Z790 Motherboards?

[Waygo]

I did run the memtest96 and did all the bios flashback updates but unfortunately the rgb sync for 1 of my ram is not detected in armory crate.. i spent so much but i cant syn the rgb. Its so frustrating 😣

[abhisheksakpal]

What are you using to keep the aio pump pipes together neatly? Are those black clips or velcro straps?

[Coco-xihq]

The temp on my NZXT Aio doesnt match HWmonitor....SOS?

[Tommymartel]

I heard in a separate video that you are supposed to install and boot windows before enabling XMP

[theretrodeck]

Have you noticed any performance impact while having armoury crate installed? Ive seen so many people say its bloatware and kills performance, but id really appreciate an answer from someone who actually uses it like yourself.

[bryanramos]

Hey man is a 3060ti a good pair with the i511400 to run modern games I also want to run games like forza and mw2 and god of war and other games like fortnite and valorant and if I made this gpu upgrade what monitor specs would be best to get the best looking graphics

[samdeur]

Not a gamer but enjoy your in depth thoroughness

[welchx]

What fans are you using Lian li 140mm? I thought that aoi took 240mm and above fans?

[rmorenberg]

I've got a question for you and your viewers, I just built a new system asus maximus hero z790 intel core I7 3700k 3080ti 64mb tridentz ram, I have built 2 other 1700 chipset system I used the Thermalright CPU Contact Frame Anti-Bending Buckle for LGA 1700 Retrofit Kit and had no issues but this newest build had issues right from the beginning I did not use the Thermalright CPU Contact Frame Anti-Bending Buckle for LGA 1700 Retrofit Kit and had system crashes OS install issues from the get go so I used the Thermalright CPU Contact Frame Anti-Bending Buckle for LGA 1700 Retrofit Kit and all my issues resolved just like that. I can not figure out why, has anyone else had these sort of issues? I only changed the anti bending bracket to resolve all issues and passed all stress tests and memory test great scores whats up with that?

[mrpunkyt]

I think msi afterburner is also a very good piece of software for the GPU modification, u could have recommended that