@LNCPapa I hadn't given it the slightest thought until I read this thread but, wouldn't it be interesting, (just for laughs), to have a separate,
"computer builder's emotional support" sub-forum?
For example, I had an older i3-3225 system laying around just gathering dust. So, I thought to myself, would it be fun to get this up and in service with a vertical 1200 x 1920 monitor, to do portrait orientation photo editing.
Thinking even further ahead, I said to myself, "this turd / relic, only has 8 GB of RAM. I should order 2 more foursies for it". As I searched for the original memory package, to order another 2 x4 GB sticks, I found that I already did that, several years ago. (I think I convinced myself I was saving them to replace a possible bad stick, sometime in the future, then forgot I had them).
with a renewed vigor, and maybe half drunk, I set about installing the additional RAM.
This involved needing to lop off the lowest part of the fan shroud ring on an Arctic Pro 7 to clear the GSkill's heat spreaders., and trying to force the DIMMs in backwards several times as I cursed, and had a few drops of sweat fall onto the motherboard. (By then I was sweating profusely, but managed to keep my head over the side of the case, and the excess sweat mostly landed on the floor.
At this point, I had completely convinced myself I had ruined the memory sticks, and likely the board as well, due to the fact I was uncertain I had successfully found and removed all the sweat droplets from the board.
The moment of truth arrived. I hooked the sucker up to a monitor, and began to try and boot it up. After a half dozen or so POST failures, it finally took and the "starting Windows" screen appeared..........and.................just hung there. No joy. No joy whatsoever..
After disconnecting all the drives save for C:/, and all the memory save for 1 stick in slot 1, I took another shot at it. With several failed POSTs, several long and longing looks at the "starting Windows" screen for minutes at a time, it finally did boot into Windows, but sadly, it wasn't in any way shape or form, repeatable.
By this time, I had myself thoroughly convinced that I had ruined either the board, the memory or both, which caused my anger and anxiety meters both, to blow their needles completely off the dial. As I surveyed the machine for reusable parts, and contemplated a long, embarrassing drive to the recycling center, my head down in shame, I said to myself, "self, for no particular reason why not yank the vid card (EVGA GTX-750 ti), and save it for a future project.
After doing so, I plugged the DVI cable into the board's IGP graphics port, muttered, "what the hell have I got to lose", and hit the power button. What to my poor drunken eyes should appear, but the EUFI notifying me "the BIOS has been corrupted and the backup is being loaded. After that, the machine booted immediately into Windows in mere seconds. (A Samsung 2 1/2" 860 SATA SSD was part of the restoration effort}..
I called EVGA, and as expected, they refused to warrant the 750, as it was maybe 4 months out of warranty, in spite of my truthfulness and sincerity about only getting a day's service tops, from their turd of a graphics card
Oh well, my next graphics will either be Asus or Gigabyte, and I have further promised myself, to fortify myself with Xanax, instead of Bacardi rum for my next project.
Facing a new build, is something akin to opening a closet in one of those dreadful "Chuckie" movies. IMO, Benzodiazapine based anxiolytics are your best defense against the "I'm about to do a new build", jitters.