1. CPU INSTALLATION

Want to see how it is done?

Click here for CPU Installation Video 1.0MB
Click here for Heatsink Selection Video 846KB
Click here for Heatsink Installation Video 1.5MB
Click here for Heatsink Removal & Re-Use Video 947KB
Click here for Thermal Pad or Paste Video

The CPU socket. Modern socket motherboards use Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) sockets, which have a lever on one side that locks the CPU in place. The lever's on the front of the socket in this picture. Note also the raised side of the socket, with the cam-operated locking mechanism in it.

Unclip and raise the lever, and you unlock the socket...

and can drop the CPU in. Modern socket CPUs can only be installed in one orientation; they're "keyed" by missing pins in the corners.

Push the lever back down until it clicks into place, and the CPU will be locked in. Time to attach the cooler.

If you've got a cooler with no thermal transfer pad or pre-applied goop on the bottom, you'll need to put a thin layer of "heatsink grease" on the top of the CPU now. If you're not overclocking - winding your CPU up beyond stock speed - the amount of grease doesn't matter tremendously. Even if you overdo it badly, all you'll do is make a sticky mess on top of the CPU under the cooler. And you'll still get better thermal transfer than a stick-on pad manages.

The Cooler Master cooler has a pre-applied square of chewing-gum-like thermal compound on the bottom, covered with a peel-off protective sheet. This stuff displaces well under pressure, like grease, but doesn't require any user fiddling. Then again, if you want to re-use the cooler, you should scrape off the compound and replace it with ordinary grease, because you'll never line the cooler up quite the same way twice.

Here's a Cooler Master heatsink that's been on a processor already - you can see where the thermal compound's been pushed out by the pressure.

Once you've sorted out the thermal compound situation, it's time to hook on the cooler.

Cooler clips usually have one end with no way to push it down, and another end with some sort of thumb-pad or plier-grip-tab or something. The end you can't push on is the one you hook on first.

Note the rebate under the cooler, that matches the taller hinge portion of the socket. Try to put the cooler on the CPU in any other orientation and it'll mis-fit in ways which you will probably find unamusing.

The other end of the Cooler Master clip. It's made to neatly receive a flathead screwdriver blade, saving you from putting a dent in your thumb and a spike in your blood pressure graph by jamming the clip on without a tool.

With a screwdriver, it's easy to push the clip-end down to engage the hook on the side of the socket.

Presto, one clipped-on cooler.

Once the cooler's clipped on, remember to plug in the CPU fan. If you don't, you'll have a computer that runs great for a few minutes, then crashes over and over and over.

You are done.