Gadgetory

Linus tech tips is over 10 years old now so it's easy for us to forget that many viewers may be encountering the world of PC building for the first time and while there's lots of great PC building tutorials out there there are also some that verge on misinformation so in this video we are going back to basics with episode 2 of how to basics installing a CPU the hex gears impulse mechanical keyboard comes with RGB lighting and IP 56 water resistance so in the event that you do spill on your keyboard yes shouldn't even need to interrupt your game check it out at the link below so let's start then from the very beginning it's a good place to start what do you install the CPU into the CPU socket where's the socket on the motherboard where's the motherboard well here's where we get to step 1 on top of a non metal non conductive surface like the box that it came in now if you don't have the motherboard you're gonna want to go back a few steps and pick one of those up first that's pretty important now there are two main types of CPU sockets that you should probably know about in 2019 and actually for years to come LG a style sockets and PGA style sockets Intel primarily uses land grid array or LG ace meaning that the socket itself is made up of a grid of pins so these touch gold-plated flat contacts or pads on the bottom of the CPU and that is what allows your PC to run all of your spreadsheet simulators AMD on the other hand uses more commonly a pin grid array or PGA configuration that means that the pins are on the CPU instead of on the socket so PGA sockets are simply a grid of holes that the CPU drops into with no force required now this makes it much safer to handle the motherboard without worrying about damaging the pins which can be pretty much the end of your CPU installation endeavor but it also means that you have to be extra careful with the CPU Intel actually originally used PGA's but they switch to LGA around 2002 presumably because processors are generally more expensive than motherboards and if you're going to accidentally bend or break a pin you want your new paperweight to be as cheap as possible with that said it's not impossible to repair socket pins it's just extremely difficult and extremely easy to cause even further damage to other pins while you try to fix the one that's bent so your best bet is to send it to an experienced technician if you run into this no pressure but anyway you aren't just concerned with the type of socket but also the number of pins so Intel's main consumer socket LGA 1151 has 1151 pins while they're 2066 socket which is geared more towards enthusiasts has 2066 pins on the AMD side a m4 has 1331 so if AMD was using the same naming scheme as Intel it would be pga 1331 i guess and then there tr4 socket which is actually an LGA well that one has 4,000 94 pins which is where things get pretty confusing because sometimes AMD does use LG ace now some of these sockets have been around for a few years and may continue to be used by Intel and AMD so something you need to note is that just because a CPU physically fits into a particular socket does not necessarily mean it will be compatible and this was a lesson that Riley who prepared this episode learned all too well in our cheapest Amazon PC video now sockets are different from chipsets a specific configuration of hardware and software that allows the processor memory and the peripherals in a system to communicate with each other processors often launch alongside compatible chipsets but sometimes they'll be forwards or backwards compatible with the next or previous generation the thing though is this might require a BIOS update in order to work so you will need to consult your motherboard manufacturers website in order to know 100% for sure which CPUs work in which motherboards and if a BIOS update is required okay so now that we've done our homework we know our processors compatible with our motherboard it's time to drop that sucker in except don't actually drop it because as I said the pins regardless of what they're attached to are extremely fragile and susceptible to damage now these following steps apply broadly to both of Intel sockets and to AMD's a m4 socket while tr4 AMD's enthusiasts socket for thread Ripper does do things a little bit differently before you begin you're gonna want to grab an anti-static wrist strap that's connected to a ground or you're going to want to keep your feet stationary and touch a metal part of your case or power supply with your power supply plugged into the wall to discharge any static buildup on your body now if you're upgrading your CPU on an existing system the first thing you're going to need to do is unplug your CPUs cooler so find where the fan cable plugs into the header on the motherboard and just pull it off for Intel systems it's pretty common to see these two lists plastic pins installed around the socket simply rotate them in the direction indicated pop them open and pull the CPU cooler off on the AMD side of things you should find a little lever like this on one side of the processor socket pull it up and the latches on either side of your CPU should loosen so you can pull them off the little hooks on the side and remove the cooler be careful though it's not uncommon for the CPU to get pulled off with the heatsink exposing its fragile pins it's not a huge problem as long as you don't bend anything though if you're doing a new installation rather than upgrading though Intel LGA sockets will have a socket cover in place leave this where it is is it will come off by itself when you lock in the CPU instead lift up the retention arm or arms on the side of the socket this will allow you to lift up the socket lid next hold your processor being careful to only touch the edges if you touch the contacts on the bottom not only can this interfere with electrical contact but it can actually cause corrosion over the long term next look for an arrow in one corner of the CPU this will line up with a similar mark on one of the corners of the socket there may also by the way be notches on the sides of the CPU these should line up with tiny nubbins in the side of the socket if you're not a hundred percent sure about your arrows once you've determined the correct orientation lower the CPU into the socket gently there's no need to push or apply any force though I do recommend giving it a tiny wiggle just to make sure that it's seated properly and to let it know that you still love it no matter what next lower the socket lid over the CPU making sure that it fits back under the screw or bracket that held it in originally then push the retention arm down and under the hook so it stays into place if you've got two arms they'll be designed so that one goes down first and then the other just like this now that process is pretty similar for most consumer boards and CPUs for the last ten almost 20 years but AMD's TR for socket that one's a little more involved your thread Ripper CPU will actually come with the Torx screwdriver that you need to install it first loosen the three screws holding down the socket lid it'll say which order to loosen them in so don't just unscrew them all willy-nilly once you've got them loosened those screws will stay inside the socket lid which will pop up on its own because it's spring-loaded so that's pretty fun under the lid you will find another lid which has a plastic tray inside lift this lid up holding it by the sides then slide the plastic tray upward and then put it away to the side next is the actual socket cover which protects the pins we're just going to leave that there for the moment now thread Ripper CPUs come pre-installed into an orange plastic housing do not try to remove it it is supposed to be there holding it by the tab on one side slide the CPU into the rails in that second lid with the bottom facing the socket until it kind of clicks into place then you can remove the socket cover from the actual pins by pinching the grab points in the middle and then lower the second lid containing the CPU now on to the socket gently push and it will secure itself into place at which point you can then lower the first lid and start screwing the screws back into place now that Torx screwdriver that's included is designed specifically for these screws so once they're threaded in a little you can tighten them in the order that's specified on the socket lid until the tool clicks and that's it your CPU is installed but it won't last very long without a CPU cooler now if you have a third party cooler that's probably gonna come with its own instructions detailing how exactly to mount it if it has no pre applied thermal paste you're going to need to add your own to the top of the CPU before installing just remember guys that when it comes to thermal paste less is more you only need to fill the small imperfections between the CPU and the heatsink there's no mystical pentagram of thermal paste required to summon the PC Gamer gods that's only gonna end up with a whole bunch of thermal compound all over your motherboard which probably won't damage it but it'll be really messy to clean up gamers Nexus as mod matte actually has a great guide for how to apply thermal compound to most modern CPUs so consumer chips just the small ones a simple line down the middle is perfect for Intel enthusiasts CPUs for smaller dots in each corner will do your wonders and for thread Ripper you want to make an X with four dots in between the lines to help fill in the gaps the thing is that the larger the actual CPU die under the heat spreader on top is the more thermal compound you need to make sure that you get full coverage because any die area that doesn't have thermal compound is going to result in hot spots on your CPU which at the very least can limit your overclocking potential now main line processors usually come with the cooler while enthusiast ones sometimes do not now many coolers come with pre-installed thermal paste on the bottom in which case there's no need for extra if you do have a stock cooler simply line up the four mounting pins with the four holes on the motherboard socket if you're using it by the way you will need to reset those pins back to their original location and then push down on the opposing sets of pins until they click into place as for AMD it's the same process in Reverse from removal where we simply hook the side of the cooler without the latch first then the latch side and close the arm now it can sometimes take a little bit of force but if you feel like you're overdoing it then you should probably check the bottom side and make sure that nothing's interfering after your cooler is secured you can connect your fan plug in to the closest four pin header on your motherboard which will usually be clearly labeled CPU fan now that we've got our CPU installed we could just say ah that's great let's call it a day but we won't because we're professional technicians it's good practice to make sure that your CPU is actually seated correctly and just because the system boots doesn't mean that it is so you're gonna want to go into your motherboards BIOS which is normally accessed by pressing delete or f2 when you first power on your system to make sure that all of your RAM sticks show up it is very common especially on thread Ripper CPUs for some of the pins to not make perfect contact which can cause one or more of your memory slots not to function correctly if you do run into this it's okay probably nothing is damaged just go ahead and take it out reinstall it and try again and then that's really it your CPUs installed the brain of your system some might call it treat it well my friends treat it well normally these sponsor spots are pretty long but I'm gonna save you guys some time private Internet access P ia VPN go get it now at the link in the video description it makes your internet browsing more secure and it's super affordable go go go go go go go so thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome share it with a friend get subscribed hit that like button or check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured in the video description maybe we could put a couple good CPU motherboard recommend down there also linked in the description is our merge store which has cool shirts like this one and our community forum which you should totally join if you have any more questions any deeper questions that is a great place to go for your DIY PC needs