How to Change a Processor in a Desktop PC
If you want to upgrade your computer to make it faster, the best thing that you can do is upgrade the processor. Upgrading the processor itself is not hard, but you need to do some research first and make sure that you choose the right upgrade and meet the new processor requirements.
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Instructions
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Find out your limits. The motherboard your desktop computer uses has limits as to what type and how fast a processor can be inserted. Look at the motherboard and find the name of the manufacturer or contact the manufacturer of your PC and find out who made the motherboard and its exact type. Go to the motherboard manufacturer's website and look for a manual or a page that lists the technical specs for the board. This will tell you the limits of what processor you can use.
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Consider other upgrades. There are two things to consider. First, if your motherboard will accept a newer and faster processor, you may also want to upgrade your memory as there may be a bottleneck there, now that your processor is faster. You will need to check your motherboard again to see how much and what speed memory it can handle. Second, if your motherboard doesn't have the ability to expand you will have to buy a new motherboard and then you will likely also need new RAM. So carefully consider the cost of these upgrades and if you decide to upgrade, then get the fastest you can afford so that you won't need to upgrade again in the near future.
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Buy a new processor. Once you know what you can buy, go to a computer store either online or off and carefully pick out the right processor and any other hardware you want to upgrade. Make sure that you also buy a fan and/or heat sink that fits the processor.
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Open the case and pull out the old processor. Turn off and unplug the computer. Make sure to discharge any static electricity or use an ESD strap. Unscrew the side doors of the computer. Remove any fans or heats inks on top of the processor by unscrewing or unstrapping them very carefully. Lift the bar or cover that holds the processor in place and pick the processor up out of its seat. You may have to grab the sides of the processor to get it to lift up without bending any pins. Put the new processor in place and close everything back.
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- Photo Credit www.sxc.hu
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Comments
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krishna1937
May 22, 2010
The suggestions are good. But persons like me who have no technical knowledge and have in this field late in their life have to to depend on some maintenance engineer and simply nod their heads for whatall he says. We have no option. It all depends on the integity of the engineer. From Krishna1937 -
jenng
May 18, 2010
great article on How to Change a Processor in a Desktop PC 5*
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Telemakos
May 18, 2010
this is a horrible guide, there is way more that goes into replacing the processor, and most of the time replacing the processor won't even help things that much. He doesn't talk about applying a thermal gel or anything else you might have to do. What about replacing the CPU fan if ur processor runs hotter than the old 1. Srsly, take more than 5 minutes to write a guide like this.
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martyjohnsma
May 18, 2010
Hey, before you start changing stuff, ask yourself was the system fast enough when you bought it and has your uses changed. If you have not change how you were using the computer, then you just need a tune up. Not like a free tune up scam on TV or the free tune ups from the office superstores. Back up your stuff, do a full system recovery (not restore). Put your stuff back. If you get a new board you might have to repair your OS anyway. It will run like new. If you want it to run a little better than new, do a RAM upgrade first. If you want it to run alot faster than new, go barebones like ChinoLMB said.
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JReid
May 18, 2010
Hey, I'm not remotely qualified on this subject, but judging from the posts, the old saw about "knowing enough to be dangerous" might apply here.
