Although a single phillips screwdriver is all you need to construct a PC, you may want a few more things on hand just in case. For example, needle nose pliers or a simple pair of tweezers may come in handy to place screws into tight places or retrieve them.
Zip ties are useful for tidying up all your PC cables and luckily, you most likely won’t have to buy them as they often come included with several different types of computer parts. You’ll also need a pair of side cutters (or just scissors) to cut those said zip ties.
You can’t go wrong with an anti-static wrist strap, either – though you can get away with not having one. Unless you’ve been running around on carpet all day, or have cats, you likely aren’t holding enough static charge to damage the electronics. Just do yourself a favor and discharge any latent electricity by placing your hand on metal, like your PC case or power supply.
As for your workspace, you’re going to want to clear off a good bit of table space, as you'll likely be flipping your PC on its side, feet, back and any which way to install everything.
And, before we forget, it’s a good idea to get a monitor, keyboard and mouse set up before you start building, so you have something to plug it into when the building is done. You should also have a power socket and internet connection available.
It’s hard to find a modern build with an optical drive these days, so put the Windows 11 installer onto a USB stick (we talk you through this in how to install Windows 11). If you can’t find a handy thumb drive and a laptop, we would cannibalize an older rig for a CD drive, or even just buy one – you can find them online for less than 10 bucks these days.