It’s time to upgrade the home computer. I went with the Core I7-4790K processor and Z97 chipset. It’s not the latest and greatest, but this build has the best bang for the buck for gaming and work. I reused the case, fans, power supply, memory and hard drives.

Asrock Z97 Pro4 Motherboard

Intel Core i7-4790K CPU

I removed the old motherboard and left the cooling components, power supply, and hard drives.

In goes the backplate and motherboard.

Next up is the CPU.

I am using an all-in-one water cooler from Corsair from my old build to cool the CPU. The cooling block has old thermal paste that needs to be cleaned off. I used a paper towel and some isopropyl alcohol to clean the copper block. I applied new paste to the cpu and installed the cooling pump.

Now the GPU gets installed. This card runs hot, so I removed the stock cooler and added an NZXT all-in-one GPU cooling unit to get lower temps and also to allow some room for overclocking.

The case that I am using has extra space behind the motherboard to hide the power supply, fan, and SATA cables. Once the side panel goes on, you don’t see any of the clutter.

I added some LED fans for some color.