im building a new computer and i am worried about destroying valuable parts. but as long as i: dont handle it roughly, make sure theres no static, put the motherboard spacers in right, apply the heat sink silver correctly, and make sure all the fans are spinning, im safe right?

Don't connect the USB headers wrong. Don't go back in the case when the power cord is connected to the AC. Don't try to install the RAM backwards. Place the MBoard spacers under EVERY screw and ONLY under screws. Use the correct length standoffs. Don't set the voltage on the PSU wrong.

The motherboard should be benchtested before installing it in the case. By doing so, you confirm that the board, CPU, RAM & video card all work BEFORE going thru the hassle of installing them & THEN finding out something's wrong. The has been covered plenty of times before. See responses #2 & 3 to this thread: http://www.computing.net/answers/ha...

JUst to add...... "apply the heat sink silver correctly" If you buy a brand new retail CPU that comes with a HSF, it should have a thermal pad preinstalled...USE IT! Do not use "heat sink silver"

"Don't go back in the case when the power cord is connected to the AC." ATX mboards are always powered in some places as long as live AC is being supplied to the power supply and the power supply is connected to the mboard, even when the computer is not running. You should ALWAYS remove the AC power to your case/power supply whenever you make any connection changes or unplug or plug in ram or any card inside your case. E.g. If the computer is plugged into a power bar, switching off the power bar removes the AC but the case is still grounded through the power bar and the power cord to the case if both are still plugged in. "Don't connect the USB headers wrong." Standard stuff.... Some mboards have identical headers/connectors for firewire and USB on the mboard (e.g. Asus for sure - 9 pins on a 10 position header). Make sure you install wiring to USB or firewire ports to the right header - see the mboard manual. If you have the wiring on the wrong header, you don't have a problem until you plug a device into a port - when you do, both the device and the mboard circuits connected to the header can be damaged in a short time, even when the computer is not running. There is a warning about this in most mboard manuals that have both types of headers. The way USB port wiring connectors are wired and the way USB headers on mboards are wired and the pin arrangement was never standardized. A particular mboard maker usually uses the same pin layout and wiring to them for many of, if not all of, their mboards, but different mboard brands may use different arrangements (e.g. Asus ones are different fron some Gigabyte ones). If a mboard came with a USB wiring adapter plate with 2 or 4 ports that installs at the end of a slot, it is compatible with the mboard header(s) for sure, but if you get one from elsewhere, it may not be wired up the same. The wiring pattern of 4 in a row or 5 in a row or double row female connectors from USB ports must match the header on the mboard they plug into. Wires from ports with individual female connectors on each wire will work with any mboard USB header, but otherwise you must make sure 4 in a row or 5 in a row or double row female connector wiring matches the mboard header pin positions and wiring. In this case, it usually doesn't hurt anything if you have the port wired up wrong as long as it's on the USB header - at worst the USB device will just not work. It usually doesn't matter if you get the two data wires hooked up backwards - the USB device will still work. ...... You might run into this problem...... Some USB port wiring has 5 wires for one port. Some mboards have a 5th pin in one row on one end of a row on the mboard header, labelled "overvoltage" or similar on the mboard in it's manual, usually next to the one for ground. If you get a message while booting or in Windows (it is generated by the mboard's bios), even when no USB device is plugged in, about overvoltage or similar while booting when you have plugged in the 5 wires to the row with 5 pins, the port wiring is incompatible with the mboard header wiring and you must NOT connect the wiring to the fifth pin. E.g. if you have a 4 in a row and a 5 in a row connecter from front USB ports or a two port wiring adapter that installs in a slot, that has wiring that is the same as on the mboard header otherwise, install the 5 in row connector on the 4 pin side of the header so the first wire is on the pin for +5v or VCC and the 5th wire connects to no pin because it is missing on the header, and install the 4 in a row on the 5 pin side of the header so the 5th pin (overvoltage)is not used. If you have a one piece double row felale connector, if the wiring is otherwise compatible, you have to cut off the wire to the fifth pin in one row.

I agree with all of the above, but especially Jam's suggestion to use a thermal pad instead of thermal paste. It's a common mistake to use too much paste.

"It's a common mistake to use too much paste." It only needs to be applied sparingly where the cpu touches the heatsink - for many more recent cpu's that's only a small cpu core area in the center of the cpu - too much paste or grease can impede the air circulation under the heatsink. Never use or re-use a thermal pad if it's damaged - the best way to deal with that is scrape it off and apply a new thermal pad, if you can find one, or if not I recommend you use thermal grease instead of thermal paste. You could use both the damaged pad and thermal grease (or paste), but AMD did some tests a while back and found that combo is not as effective as one or the other. I've seen a few cases where thermal paste has hardened over time and is so well adhered to the cpu that it's sometimes impossible to get the heatsink off the cpu without pulling the combination straight up out of the cpu socket (you often can't release the zif socket lever with the heatsink still installed) - not recommended - then it's a big risk prying the cpu off the heatsink. The few examples of that I have myself, I left them stuck together and got a suitable replacement fan to suit the heatsink. Thermal grease (silicon grease; silicon thermal compound) never hardens, at least in theory - it never has for me. Most places that have lots of computer pieces and/or repair computers have capsules of it.