So you have some new PC related goodies, but feel a bit unsure about cracking open that case and doing the deed by yourself with out any help from a profesional. Never fear folks, ExtremeTech’s Holiday Installation Guide is here to help!

If you found that cool new bit of PC gear waiting under the tree on Christmas morning, the next thought on your mind is to rip open your PC case and pop it in. Now is the time to take a deep breath, have Christmas dinner with your family, then go tackle the upgrade. But before you do, you might take a little time to review the upgrade process for the component at hand. We’ve got a lot of information on just how to handle these upgrades. Whether it’s something simple, like adding more RAM, or more complex, like swapping in a new motherboard, we’ve probably written about it.

So we’ve gathered our best stories together on installing components. We’ll tell you how to handle and install your motherboard, CPU, memory, heatsink, graphics card, and sound card. Discover for yourself that with a little help and guidance, you too can easily install your new component.

Cracking open your case is definitely the easiest part of the process. Make sure your computer is turned completely off—all the fans should have stopped spinning. You can unplug your PC if you wish, but make sure you’re well-grounded. Unplug your case from the wall to make sure it can’t accidentally turn on while you’re working (this can happen occasionally when inserting an AGP card), but it also means your case won’t be grounded anymore, so you need to make sure you don’t build up any static.