How to install your new Intel or AMD gaming processor

There’s a huge choice of CPUs available from both Intel and AMD these days, and your first job is to find out if your chosen CPU upgrade is compatible with your existing motherboard, or whether you’ll need a new one. If you plan to buy a new motherboard, we currently recommend going with one based on AMD’s latest X870-series chipsets and buying a new Ryzen X3D CPU with 3D V-cache. These chips have a huge extra cache chip on them, and in our tests, we’ve found that this extra cache provides a significant boost to gaming performance.

2. Earth yourself

While you can often get away without taking antistatic precautions when you’re upgrading your CPU, we recommend taking precautions just in case. After all, there’s a reason why your parts are shipped inside anti-static bags and just one mistake can turn your new CPU into an expensive (not to mention ineffective) paperweight.

For a start, turn off your PC at the wall and unplug your power supply before tampering with your PC’s innards, and then take the following steps before attempting to remove your existing CPU:

• Press the power button once after you’ve unplugged the power supply to flush out any residual power.
• Place your desktop on a hard surface, such as wood, and avoid placing it on carpets or blankets – after all, you don’t want to encourage static electricity to build up.
• Either stand on a hard surface in bare feet, such as tile, or wear shoes with rubber soles if you must stand on a carpet.
• Cotton clothing is your best friend, while you should avoid wearing wool and some synthetic fabrics that could conduct static.

Even if you’ve ticked off all these steps, it’s best to ground yourself so that the static discharge is pushed away from your components. This is easily achieved by wearing and attaching an antistatic wristband to a metal part of the case.

3. Remove your CPU cooler

It’s now time clear your path to your CPU socket. Once you’ve removed the side panel from your PC case, your next job is to detach your CPU cooler, which may be attached by a couple of different methods. If you have an air cooler, start by unplugging its power cable from your motherboard, so there’s no resistance when you take off the cooler.

If you have an air cooler that uses the stock plastic mounts on an AMD motherboard, there will be a latch mechanism to unhook it, where you can push down the latch on one side of the CPU to loosen the clamp, and then unhook that side of the cooler from the mount. You’ll then be able to unhook the other side.

Once both sides are unhooked, wiggle the cooler gently in slight rotations back and forth to loosen the thermal paste – eventually, you’ll be able to work it free and lift it up – don’t be tempted to yank it upward straightway, or you risk damaging your CPU, particularly if it’s a Socket AM4 CPU, which can be pulled straight out of the socket with damage to the pins if you’re not careful.

If you have an Intel stock cooler, it will be surrounded by four plastic circles, each of which corresponds to a pin on the cooler and a hole in the motherboard. Push down on the circle with your thumb, and turn it to loosen the clamping mechanism – it will either turn clockwise or anti-clockwise – the circle will then pop up when it’s unlatched. Repeat this process for all four pins, and then carefully jiggle the cooler gently in slight rotations back and forth – this will loosen the thermal paste and eventually enable you to lift the cooler off your CPU.

Finally, if you have an AIO cooler, start by assessing the cables attached to the pump unit – the block that’s sitting directly on top of your CPU. You should be able to remove this unit without removing the radiator from your PC case as well, but take a good look at all the cables and where they attach to the pump unit first – make sure that, when you remove the pump unit, there will be enough slack in the cables and tubing to keep it out the way of your motherboard.

If in doubt, it’s often best to just remove the whole AIO cooler, radiator and all. Start by making sure all the fans are unplugged from their power sockets, and remove any cable ties securing them to the back of the case, then unscrew the radiator from your case using your Type 2 Philips screwdriver. When you get to the last two screws, hold the radiator with one hand to make sure it doesn’t drop onto your motherboard when you remove the last screw, then put the radiator and fans safely out of the way by the side of your motherboard.

When you’re confident you can safely remove your AIO cooler’s pump unit, or if you’re using an air cooler that uses a custom backplate, it will usually be secured in place by four thumbscrews, which can be removed with your Philips Type 2 screwdriver. Unscrew all of them a bit at first to loosen the clamp, then fully unscrew each one separately and put them somewhere safe for later.

4. Clean off old thermal paste

You’ll now be presented with a gooey mess on both your CPU and your cooler’s contact plate, and this needs to be thoroughly cleaned before you do anything else.

You’ll need some TIM (thermal interface material) cleaner or isopropyl alcohol for this job, as well as a lint-free cloth. I’ve always used ArctiClean for this job, and have found it works really well. It comes in two bottles, one to clean off the thermal paste, and one to re-prep the surface, but it’s the former that’s most important.

Put a few drops of your cleaning solution on the cloth, and then wipe off all the thermal paste from your CPU cooler, making sure you remove every last bit of it. It will take a few wipes, but you’ll eventually be able to see your cooler’s shiny contact plate again.

Your next job is to clean the CPU, and I recommend leaving it in its socket for this job, as it keeps a good grip on your CPU and lessens the chance of you wiping thermal paste onto the pins or contact plates of your CPUs, while also preventing you from getting thermal paste all over your hands.

5. Remove old CPU

All CPU sockets, whether they’re used by Intel or AMD, rely on a latch mechanism to secure the CPU in the socket, and you’ll notice a handle next to your CPU socket. If you have a Socket AM4 CPU, then this job is easy – gently move the lever slightly to the side, and then lift it up.

This will loosen the socket’s grip on the CPU, and you’ll be able to lift it out of the socket. Take care here, being gentle, as you absolutely don’t want to end up bending any of the pins on the CPU. Once you’ve removed your chip, clean off any last remaining thermal paste and put it back in its box for safekeeping. If you don’t still have the box, put it somewhere safe, secure, and firm, where there’s no chance of damaging the pins.

If you have an Intel LGA1700 or LGA1851 CPU, or an AMD Socket AM5 CPU, then these use land grid arrays (that’s what LGA stands for) of pins, rather than having holes in the sockets. You absolutely do not want to end up damaging or bending one of these pins, so take extra care with this part of the process.

Push down the handle next to the socket, then push it to the side and it will lift up, loosening the metal plate on top of the CPU. You can then gently flip up this metal plate, and make sure you’ve removed every last bit of thermal paste from the top and bottom of it. You’ll then be able to carefully lift your CPU out of the socket – grip it firmly by both sides, then gently lift it up and out of the way. Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to touch the socket, as you don’t want to risk damaging it.

6. Install new CPU

Now comes the exciting bit, where you get to install your new CPU. If you have an Intel CPU, or a new Socket AM5 CPU, then take it out of its box now, and hold it carefully at the edges. Look at the the shape of the socket on your motherboard, and the positions of the little notches at the edges of it, and you’ll be able to see how your CPU fits into it.

Somewhere on your CPU you’ll also notice a gold triangle, which denotes the position of pin 1 on your processor – the triangle is much bigger on AMD CPUs than on Intel ones, but it will be there somewhere. There will be a corresponding triangle shape in the CPU socket as well, and you just need to make sure that the triangle on your CPU is right next to the triangle on the motherboard socket – your CPU will then definitely be the right way round to fit into the socket.

You now just need to gently place your CPU in the socket on top of the pins, and when it’s sitting flat and snugly, you can then close the metal lid, pull down the handle, and then lock it in place.

7. Apply thermal paste

You now need to apply a new layer of thermal goo to your CPU, to ensure that all the heat it generates goes straight to the contact plate on your CPU cooler.

You might think that pushing two metal surfaces together would be enough, but in reality neither of these surfaces will be entirely flat, and they will also have tiny, microscopic pits that act as insulators. Applying thermal paste will ensure that every area of your CPU’s heatspreader is connected directly to your CPU cooler.

If you’ve never applied thermal paste before, we recommend using a ceramic-paste based for this job, rather than a liquid metal or silver-based paste, as you then don’t need to worry about excess paste inadvertently creating electrical connections elsewhere. I’m using Arctic MX-4 for this guide, and I’ve always found this paste works really well in my own builds.

8. Refit CPU cooler

Once your thermal paste is in place, it’s time to refit your CPU cooler. If you’re using an air cooler, position it so the fan is directing airflow through the heatsink toward the back of the case or, if this isn’t possible, set it so that it’s directing the airflow to the top. If it uses the standard AMD socket mounts, then you just need to clip the side without the handle to one of the plastic lugs, and you can then hook the other latch over the other clip, and push down the handle to secure it.

If you’re refitting an Intel stock cooler, push down one of the pins so it goes through the hole in the motherboard, then turn it to lock it in place, repeating this process with all four circles around the cooler.

If you’re refitting an AIO cooler, or indeed any cooler with a custom backplate, then you now just need to remount it and put the thumbscrews in place again. Turn one of the screws a part of the way, then screw in another diagonally opposite a little bit of the way, then do the same with the final two thumbscrews. Repeat this process a bit at a time, going between the thumbscrews, until they’re screwed in tight with just your thumb. Unless your manual specifies otherwise, this should be enough tension to keep your CPU cool, and you won’t need a screwdriver to tighten them further.

9. Test your CPU

Finally, it’s time to make sure your CPU is installed correctly and being kept cool. Boot up your PC, and wait a little while for your motherboard’s BIOS to redetect your CPU – this process can take an alarmingly long time on some of the latest AMD motherboards, but let it do its work, and you’ll hopefully then be able to get back into Windows.