Build The Ultimate Custom PC (2005)

Chapter 14 — Fitting the Basic Parts 229

■Take the plate and look at the marks stamped on it. These face outwards. See Figure 14-7.

■From the inside of the case, orient the plate with the plate hole. See Figure 14-8.

■Push the plate into place. Generally, this is a friction fit, and it will stay in place well after fitting.

FIGURE 14-7: Orienting the connector plate the right way.

FIGURE 14-8: Lining the plate up with the case.

230 Part II — Building Your PC

4.With the PSU and case wiring out of the way and the back plate fitted, lay the board on the mounting posts and begin by using one screw to fit the board in place (see Figure 14-9). It doesn’t matter which one, just choose an easy one. Don’t do this one up all the way — all you need for now is a few turns.

FIGURE 14-9: First motherboard screw in place.

It is important to note that once the motherboard is properly fitted it will have no contact with the chassis other than through the mounting posts.

5.After you have one screw in place, add the rest, but again, only do them up a few turns.

6.When you have all the screws in place, tighten them up. Do this slowly and don’t use too much pressure — hand tight will suffice for these screws, there’s no need to overtighten the screws. The fitted motherboard is shown in Figure 14-10.

As you are working look for any signs of board distortion that might indicate that you’ve either missed a mounting post or that something is wrong. If things look like they are going wrong, backtrack and check out for problems.

Chapter 14 — Fitting the Basic Parts 231

FIGURE 14-10: Motherboard fitted.

Never try to force a motherboard flat by using screws or brute force. If it doesn’t lie flat in the first place, something is wrong.

Once you are satisfied that everything is fitted into place properly, you’re ready to move on to the next step, fitting the CPU.

CPU

People who are new to building PCs are often daunted by the idea of fitting the CPU. Often, the sheer number of pins on the base of the CPU leads beginners to think that these pins must be fitted separately. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If you are one of those people who feels a bit nervous about fitting the CPU, you can rest assured that by the time you’ve finished this chapter you will almost certainly be wondering what it was you were worried about!

Newer Pentium 4 CPUs don’t use a ZIF socket. Instead they use a LGA775 socket. These CPUs don’t have pins at the bottom, but instead they have little metal pads. Fitting these CPUs is much easier. You open up the CPU socket cover, pop the CPU into the socket, and close the cover on it.

232 Part II — Building Your PC

Given the widespread popularity of ZIF compared to the manufacturer-specific LGA775, we will cover only ZIF in detail.

Opening the ZIF Socket

Fitting a CPU is easy because of the ZIF socket that it fits into on the motherboard. ZIF stands for Zero Insertion Force, and that’s exactly what you need when fitting a CPU. The hundreds of pins on the base of the CPU are designed to slip effortlessly into the ZIF socket (see Figure 14-11).

FIGURE 14-11: CPU pins.

For the moment leave the CPU in its box — it’s a lot safer there than anywhere else! Let’s take a closer look at the ZIF socket on the motherboard (see Figure 14-12).

FIGURE 14-12: ZIF socket.

Chapter 14 — Fitting the Basic Parts 233

1.The first thing we want you to notice is the little lever next to the ZIF socket (see Figure 14-13). This lever can be metal or plastic. This lever is held in place by tucking it under a small plastic clip (see Figure 14-14).

FIGURE 14-13: Open/close lever.

FIGURE 14-14: Close-up of clip.

2.To fit the CPU, you first need to lift this lever up. Grasp the lever and gently swing it out to the side and away from the plastic clip, and then swing it to the upright position. This opens the ZIF socket and makes it ready to receive the CPU (see Figure 14-15).

234 Part II — Building Your PC

FIGURE 14-15: ZIF socket in the open position.

Orienting the CPU

Take a look at the ZIF socket or the pins at the base of the CPU. At first glance, it will look like all the pins are lined up symmetrically and give you the impression that the CPU will fit into the ZIF socket in any one of four possible ways (with the straight sides of the CPU lined up with the sides of the socket). This isn’t true, and there’s a tell-tale both on the CPU and on the holes in the socket.

The pin configurations will be different for different types of CPUs.

If you look closely at the holes in the socket, you will notice that one corner of the socket looks different from the other three. The configuration of holes will be different on one or two of the corners than it will be for the others. See Figure 14-16.

Now take a close look at the CPU, paying attention to the pins at the corners. If you look closely, you’ll find that the pins are different at one or two corners. See Figure 14-17.

Chapter 14 — Fitting the Basic Parts 235

FIGURE 14-16: Socket is different at the corners on the right-hand side of the socket.

FIGURE 14-17: Pin configuration matches socket.

Now, flip the CPU over. You’ll notice that there is a marker that conveniently marks the bottom-right corner of the CPU. See Figure 14-18.

236 Part II — Building Your PC

FIGURE 14-18: Corner marker.

So, to fit the CPU you need to line up this arrow with the bottom-right corner of the ZIF socket (with the lever at the bottom) to line up the odd configuration of pins.

Fitting the CPU

The great thing about ZIF sockets is that absolutely no force is needed to fit the CPU. In fact, if you have it lined up the right way and the ZIF socket lever is up, the CPU will just drop into the socket with ease.

1.Pick the CPU up by the sides (usually the packaging it comes in is designed for you to do this), gripping it by the edge of the CPU, not touching any pins or components on the surface.

2.Now all you need to do is line up the CPU properly, and the pins will slide into place with the holes. You can just let it go. (See Figure 14-19.) There will never be the need to press on it with your thumb or fingers at all. If it feels as if force is required, then something is wrong and you need to stop and investigate. Usually, all that is needed is for you to lift the CPU out, realign it, and try again.

Chapter 14 — Fitting the Basic Parts 237

FIGURE 14-19: CPU fitted.

Be sure to properly line up the CPU with the socket before fitting it. Try not to drag the CPU across the surface of the socket because the pins are very delicate and prone to bending or breakage.

Closing the ZIF Socket

All that’s left to do is close the ZIF socket.

1.Gently grasp the lever and pull it down. The clip designed to hold it in place generally will be tapered so that the lever will easily slot into place.

2.With the lever down (closed), the pins on the CPU are gripped and the CPU is held firmly in place. See Figure 14-20.

238 Part II — Building Your PC

FIGURE 14-20: ZIF socket closed and holding CPU firmly in place.

Never try to remove a CPU from a ZIF socket when it’s closed because you are almost guaranteed to damage either the CPU or the socket, or possibly even both.

That’s all there is to it! The CPU is now fitted to the motherboard, and you can now move on to fitting the CPU heatsink and fan assembly.

CPU Cooler/Fan Assembly

The next step of the build is to fit the CPU cooler/fan assembly to the CPU on the motherboard (see Figure 14-21). If you do this right after fitting the CPU, it eliminates the chance that you will forget to fit it later and fire up the system without proper thermal protection.

Fitting the cooler/fan assembly now will eliminate the problems.