Your DIY 4 GHz Dual Core Gaming Rig For $720

Hand-assembling Your CPU Bracket

Building blocks for a do-it-yourself CPU bracket: These parts cost only a few dollars at the hardware store, and take minimal effort to assemble. The only thing missing from this picture is the hexagonal standoff with inside threads to accommodate the screws.

In our case, we had to do some work to assemble the right CPU bracket to use with our water-cooled CPU block. That is why we purchased a block of wood, along with a package of stainless steel screws, metal straps and some threaded hex-shaped brass standoffs to match our screws in order to create a certain distance from the motherboard with the CPU attached. The background to this exercise is that until the Innovatek water cooling set became available, none of the vendors offered compatible brackets for socket 775. Thus, a bit of handiwork was the only option available.

We were able to put our home-made bracket together in about half an hour. The following photos show how it all came together, step-by-step.

A look at the LGA 775 socket on Gigabyte's top-of-the-line G1976X motherboard.

With the help of four hexagonal brass standoffs, available at any hardware store, the foundation for the CPU bracket may be anchored. These parts must be threaded all the way through inside.

A look at the CPU now inserted into its LGA 775 socket, with all four hexagonal brass standoffs.

After spreading a sufficient quantity of thermal paste onto its surface, you can position the CPU cooling head on top of the chip.

Warning: Make sure the cooling head isn't crooked, and avoid contact with nearby condensers.

Now it's time to mount the block of wood...

...and then the metal CPU bracket. Now you can fasten all four stainless steel screws into the brass standoff parts.

This set-up with cooling head enables the cheap Pentium D 805 to outperform the Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 and the AMD Athlon 64 FX-60.