Rasczak
Outstanding Member
I am about to embark on my first significant self-upgrade to my PC - I am upgrading motherboard, graphics card, HDDs etc but am keeping my existing AMD 64 3700 CPU (Socket 754). (I intend to see how dual core develops and then upgrade motherboard/CPU next year when I adopt Vista).
My question is as I'm simply moving my CPU from one motherboard to another can I just move the whole stack (CPU, Heatsink & Fan) over together or do I need to remove the fan/heatsink, clean down any thermal paste and reapply? Obviously I am keen to do the former as it's less work and the application of thermal paste is the one thing I am not particularly confident with. For all I know though the whole assembly could be fused together/fall apart when I lift it off. What should I expect?
Finally, in the event I do need thermal paste, can I pick this up at PC World? I am keen to start building my PC this weekend (before I chicken out!).
My question is as I'm simply moving my CPU from one motherboard to another can I just move the whole stack (CPU, Heatsink & Fan) over together or do I need to remove the fan/heatsink, clean down any thermal paste and reapply? Obviously I am keen to do the former as it's less work and the application of thermal paste is the one thing I am not particularly confident with. For all I know though the whole assembly could be fused together/fall apart when I lift it off. What should I expect?
Finally, in the event I do need thermal paste, can I pick this up at PC World? I am keen to start building my PC this weekend (before I chicken out!).