During the whole assembly process I took extreme anti-static precautions. Since my build area was on my dining room table, and carpet was the floor surface, I always wore an anti-static wrist strap to prevent damaging any delicate electronic parts. Though I’ve heard that most people never take such precautions and have not suffered any problems, I didn’t want to gamble with thousands of dollars worth of components. Just be sure to plug the wire into the grounding receptacle on the outlet and not the 115VAC! Other grounding options are available of course.
Next up was the very delicate task that had me the most anxious — mounting the CPU and fan onto the motherboard and then mounting the motherboard into the case. I unwrapped the delicate parts and read and reread the ASUS instruction manual to make sure I followed the proper procedures, feeling very much like a surgeon getting ready to start a delicate operation. I think I might have even had a few beads of sweat on my brow as I started. The complex electronics are an exquisite work of art actually; the copper tubes and heat sinks are intricate and orderly. It is amazing that such a small part as the processor is so incredibly expensive and delicate. Placing the processor into the socket was a bit nerve wracking since I had heard multiple horror stories of people bending pins or damaging the socket, but the chip fell right into place and the cover firmly latched on top of it.
