Maximum PC - USA (2020-09)

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SHIELDS DOWN

SOCKET ROCKET

LET’S KICK THINGS OFF WITH a case stripdown. The cooler and

PSU come screwed into the case, and cables are pre-routed, so

there’s no need to mess with them. First pop out the front glass

panel and rear perforated panel. These secure the U-shaped

metal casing that forms the top and side panels of the case;

once they are free, it should simply lift off the frame. Carefully

remove the polystyrene that’s cushioning the AIO cooler.

That’s all you need to do for now; removing the side panels

is a completely screwless process, so ignore the tiny screws

around the frame. The entire case can be disassembled (the

long edges of the frame are plastic struts secured with Phillips-

head screws), but that won’t be necessary for this build.

BE GENTLE WITH THE RYZEN 9 3950X. That’s $700 in a tiny slab

of metal and silicon. Check that the pins are undamaged on any

Ryzen CPU before trying to fit it to a motherboard, as a slightly

bent but repairable pin may snap and render the whole chip

unusable. No, we’re not speaking from experience. Anyway...

lift the metal retention arm on the CPU socket and carefully

drop it into place, being sure to line up the gold triangle on the

chip’s corner with the triangle on the corner of the socket.

This 3950X is somewhat distinct from the other 3000-series

Ryzen processors we’ve seen; the font is subtly different, and

the gold triangle is smaller. Once the chip is in place return the

retention arm to its original position.

compact computing

22 MAXIMUM PC SEP 2020 maximumpc.com

A TIDY,

PROFESSIONAL

VIDEOGRAPHY

WORKSTATION

LENGTH OF TIME: 2–3 HOURS

LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

SMALL

BUT

MIGHTY