CPU

There are so many choices when picking out a CPU these days. AMD or Intel, single core, dual core, quad core. Once you have your chip picked out, you need to predetermine if you are going to use stock cooling, or pick out and aftermarket heatsink and fan.

Processors used to just have one core, these days, we demand so much speed from our computers the manufactures are building dual and quad core chips. To see which one is faster, head over here and look at the benchmark section.

Although every one of these choices is important, it is not the most critical in determining the overall system performance.

Installation

Installing most processors is fairly straight forward. Care must be taken as these components are all very sensitive. As long as you don't force anything you'll be fine.

Lift the lever on the side of the mounting socket. It needs to be moved as far as it goes. There will be a mark on both the chip and the socket it fits into. In this case it's a shaded corner. Once lined up the chip will slide in on its own. Move the lever back down to it's locked position and your processor is mounted.