 Lina's 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 Hexgears Impulse mechanical keyboard comes with RGB lighting and IP 56 water resistance, so in the event that you do spill on your keyboard, you 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 one. 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 going to 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. LGA style sockets and PGA style sockets. Intel primarily uses land grid array or LGA's, 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 switched 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 1,151 pins while their 2066 socket, which is geared more towards enthusiasts, has 2,066 pins. On the AMD side, AM4 has 1,331, so if AMD was using the same naming scheme as Intel, it would be PGA 1331, I guess. And then their TR4 socket, which is actually an LGA, well that one has 4,094 pins, which is where things get pretty confusing because sometimes AMD does use LGA's. 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 manufacturer's 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 processor is 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 AM4 socket, while TR4, AMD's enthusiast socket for Threadripper, does do things a little bit differently. Before you begin, you're going to 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 CPU's 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 tool-less 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 as 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 marking 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 100% 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 10, almost 20 years, but AMD's TR4 socket? That one's a little more involved. Your Threadripper 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 Threadripper 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 onto 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 torque 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 going to 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 going to 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's ModMad 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 enthusiast CPUs four smaller dots in each corner will do your wonders and for Threadripper 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 a 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 reusing 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 into 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 going to want to go into your motherboard's 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 Threadripper 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 CPU is 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 going to save you guys some time. Private internet access PIA 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 recommendations down there. 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