10 Tips:CPU & Heat Sink Installation(Part 2)

6-Make sure your processor is oriented properly!

Proper processor orientation within its socket, whether it's an AMD or Intel chip, is crucial. Be especially careful any time you're dealing with the Intel LGA775 socket, which contains 775 delicate pins ripe for bending. Place your Intel CPU into this socket carefully, lowering it in parallel to the board, and make sure the two notches in the socket and chip fit each other.

7-Cooler or motherboard: Which to install first?

Should you install the processor and CPU cooler onto the motherboard before installing the motherboard in the case? That depends on the design of the cooler. We find it easier to mount most coolers with the motherboard outside the case, since cooler-mounting hardware tends to require frustrating gyrations to get installed.

8-That CPU-socket cover needs to go.

Before you can install the CPU cooler, of course, you'll need to install the CPU. If you're installing an Intel CPU into an LGA775 socket, the socket will have a protective plastic cover shielding the pins inside the socket from damage. The cover will be clipped to the hinged frame (or "load plate") that surrounds the socket. This might be unfamiliar to PC-build veterans for whom LGA775 is the first "pinned" socket they've seen.

9-A CPU retention plate can throw a curveball at your install.

At the start of your PC build, and especially before you install your motherboard, check the CPU cooler's documentation. Some coolers require you to fasten a retaining plate underneath the board before you install the motherboard in the case. If you install the motherboard first, you'll just have to take it out again.

10-Matchmake your cooler and motherboard before the big install.

Before installing a CPU cooler onto your motherboard--especially if it isn't the stock cooler that came with the chip--test-fit it, checking for clearance around the edges. Some CPU coolers and motherboards simply can't coexist, despite the fact that they support the same socket type. Depending on the motherboard design, capacitors, heat sinks for onboard chipsets, and the like can obstruct some particularly large cooler designs.