PC Upgrade: Chapter 5 - Final Countdown

Now on the homestretch for the PC upgrade. We gear up and proceed with the PC internals setup!


It's now Rin for the final phase of the upgrade. Here's the ASUS motherboard ready and unpacked.
Got the AMD CPU out and crossing my fingers that all that pin straightening is not for naught. I lift the CPU socket release/lock lever and very carefully and slowly push down on the CPU. It needs to 'click' into place and lay flat on the socket. And guess what....it did!

Next up is the 4gb (2x2GB) DDR2 PC1066 memory. Again, it snapped in place without any incident.


CPU and DDR2 snapped in place - perfect fit!
Time to 'slather' some thermal grease on the CPU. Take note when putting on the thermal grease - only apply a very thin and even layer. No 'cake icing' style here. I used an old membership card (plastic) to even and smooth out the thermal grease.


Thermal goop on. Rin wasn't in the last few pics as these steps are the 'critical' steps in the phase.
And now to install the N620 heatsink on. The heatsink came with it's own mobo support brackets (top and bottom) so we screwed these on (after taking off the stock black plastic bracket first), and then put on the N620. Way too easy to install.


Rin: 'N620 bracket for the AM2/2+/AM3 socket application. This one goes on the topside. Another bracket goes on the back side of the motherboard."

Rin: 'Ta-dah! N620 installed, very nice!"

After that, we put the motherboard with all the 'trimmings' in the case. Thank goodness the heatsink cleared the case!


Rin: 'It fits in the case, yatta!!"
Next we put on the PCIe video card. This one has 1GB of DDR3 memory onboard - perfect for multimedia apps. The card snapped in without any issues either.


Rin: '1GB DDR3 goodness in a HD video card."

When I was putting the side panel on, I found out that the side panel fan is hitting the heatsink, ack! But easy solution there...install the fan on the oustide part of the panel!


Rin: 'Side panel 80mm fan (intake) installed on the outside, as it was hitting the heatsink when the cover was put on."

Finally, we add the drives and fan controller, hooked up the corresponding power connectors, and closed the case.

Time to flip the switch...what will happen?

Stay tuned!