So in a week or two, I should be going ahead with building my first computer. I've spent months researching the hardware I need and how to actually do it, and I'm pretty confident. The only thing is, I am quite nervous about installing the CPU. all of the videos I've watched and guides I've read stress how delicate the pins are, and how they should never be bent, which I completely understand. However, now I have read all this, I am very nervous about installing the CPU. The guides I've looked at say there should be no physical pressure when putting it in, which I will be careful to avoid, but the whole act of it is very nerve racking. Is it hard at all? It doesn't look it, but still...:S
Very easy, just make sure you match the markings on the corner of the cpu to the one on the mobo and it basically slots in with no force at all, then pull down the arm and thats it, done Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Well, you have to be careful, but the only important part is making sure you've put it in the right way round, if it's the right way round it should just drop into place. If you're going for an Intel CPU then the pins are on the motherboard, and they make contact with pads on the CPU. To install you unhook and lift the little leaver, open up the metal cage, remove the plastic socket protector and drop it into place. Then close the cage and lock it into place with the lever. This is a lot easier than it sounds. For an AMD chip you still have the traditional pins dropping into little holes. To install pull op the little lever next to the socket, double check you've got the CPU the right way round, by lining up the little arrow on one corner of the CPU and the socket, and just drop it in. Lock it in place with the lever. If you're unlucky enough to bend a pin, use a knife blade to carefully bend the pin(s) back upright and you should be good to go. As long as you're careful it's dead easy and will take about 5 seconds, I've not seen many people manage to **** it up, even right numpties, so you should be fine mate
I find that some force is necessary to actuate the locking mechanism, just make doubly sure that the socket and CPU are aligned correctly ! dunx
I found I had to put quite a bit more pressure than I thought to install my CPU into my 1156 socket, just like Dunx said make sure it's properly aligned.
Regarding Thermal Paste, depends on the processor. I bought a Pentium G850 recently and it had pre-applied thermal paste on the base of the cooler. However im not sure if all of Intels current line up do this. You might also want to add your own higher quality thermal paste if you want to overclock (though its not really necessary). It might also be worth ordering as much of your hardware as you can from Scan and using ScanSure, which allows you to get replacement parts in the case of a mistake during an installation for a very small cost (Think pence not pounds). Scan are fairly competitively priced so it should not be to much of an issue. I personally bought my CPU and Mobo from them (despite slightly higher costs) just for ScanSure.
All retail boxed processors come with thermal paste pre-applied to the stock heatsink Regarding overclocking, I really wouldn't on the stock cooler.
If you are buying from SCAN then I would take out the scan-sure. That way of you make an (_|_) of it you are covered. Just a thought.
The first time I installed a CPU (an LGA1366) I found that the lever needed a lot of pressure to go down. The pins also make a horrible plinking sound while you apply the pressure - but do not be put off by the sound or feel, it does require a bit of force. As long as the CPU is in the right way around, and the green PCB is flush with the socket edges, then you are doing it right. As for AMD CPUs, they can only go in one way anyway, and again as long as it is flush against the edges you are fine.
The system I have was built by a company to my specification. And so I had never fitted an 1155 CPU before. But a few months ago I replaced the cooler. I replaced the thermal paste at the same time. Removing the cpu was easy. But when I fitted it back it was a little daunting. The crunch that the pins made scared me. So much so that I took it out again just to check. I found no problems so went ahead with fitting the cooler etc. Its rather easy, and a blob of thermal paste in the center of the cpu should do the trick.
I'll be getting all my stuff from eBuyer, just because they have both the HDD and GPU I need in stock, and are more or less equal to Scan's prices. I won't be OCing, and I'll be using an i5 3450. Should I get some aftermarket thermal paste anyway?
If you get a boxed CPU it should come with a pad on the heatsink, If you decide to go for oem and your own cooler then I'd highly recommend MX4.
Not a great fan of scan but there scansure does have it's benefits. Recently purchased a cheap mobo for my nephews build and there were bent pins, absolutely adamant that I did nothing that could have bent them seeing as I only removed the socket cover the one time. Anyways for the 0.97p it cost me to cover the board it was a life saver (cost me £7.50 to return the board postage wise mind you)
Always wondered how people bend pins doesn't it just drop in with location tabs. Also on a new board make sure the pins are ok so you don't get sold a dud board then think you've broke it.
A while back I was working for Evesham Micros, a few years before they went dead. One guy was responsible for adding the CPUs and RAM to the crates of parts before they went onto the production line. Normally he'd stick each CPU into a little antistatic box, then we'd save the boxes for reuse. One day he ran out of the little boxes, so decided to be helpful and stick the CPUs straight into the motherboards, which was helpful because the builders just had to whack the CPU heatsink on, only thing it, he'd managed to put all 20 CPUs in that batch the wrong way round, and pretty much no one noticed. 20 brand new Athlon64s (I think), all with bent pins on one corner I think we managed to save about 18 or so with careful use of a stanley knife. Still, not the biggest loss of hardware I saw there, but a memorable one.
So I should finally be building my rig tommorow! I'm ordering the parts now, and I was wondering about the CPU thermal paste - the stock paste will be fine for an i5 3450 while gaming, right?
