Mounting a Heat Sink

[tazwegion]

Test bench eh? :eekers:

A kitchen table makes a great test bench, but the m/board box will do in a pinch... so long as it's a 'quiet period' in the house

 

[tazwegion]

As for the hard drives, I find those easier to install after the motherboard. They tend to get in the way while the board is leveraged into the case. But again, it depends on the size of the case and board.

As has been my luck/experience with the past few installations (SS7) the bedamned HsF combination (mounted) is dab smack in front of the rear opening of the HDD cage... hence it's a toss up between HDD or CPU & HsF installation

Thankfully the practice has been to orientate the CPU socket @ the top/left of the ATX mainboard (under the PSU)... still active NB cooling can get in the way with some mainboard & case combinations